"A Squirrel Bit Me Mama!" October 2011 - Update 10/17 1900 Park Fare

[cgerdon02]

Well, I've been back for nearly two weeks, and I miss Disney World so badly! We had the most amazing trip ever and I can't wait to start planning our next. In this trip report, I'm really going to "show" you our trip because I have over 800 photos from the trip!! Don't worry I won't make you look at them all. This was a huge trip of firsts and I can't wait to tell you about it!

What's the title all about? Well you'll just have to wait and find that out later :)

Now let's get down to business, the who, what, when and where.

The Who?
My husband, Kevin.
In real life you would never know he was such a softy and sucker for all things Disney. When we get to Disney World, he turns into a kid himself and has the mindset that the kids will have nothing but good memories of our vacation. He goes out of his way to make sure they are having an amazing time. My favorite saying of his on this trip was "We can sleep when we're dead." :) I think Kevin is one of the reasons I love Disney so much!

My son, Isaac.
Isaac is an Indiana Jones loving 7 year old kid. He was most definitely too cool to meet princesses this year, and Disney Jr. Characters were out of the question.
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/cgerdon02/IMG_6179.jpg

My daughter, Ava.
Ava is a thrill ride seeking 4 year old. She was just barely tall enough to ride Space Mountain and Expedition Everest this year, and she can't wait to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster next time.
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My youngest daughter Violet.
Violet was a blast to watch this year. She is two and really surprised me on this trip. Here is one of my favorite photos of her with Tinkerbelle.
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My MIL Rilla and FIL Richard
This was their first trip to Disney in a long time. They came without any kids last time, so it was fun to see them with their Grandkids.
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& Lastly Myself.
My name is Candace and I was the planner of this vacation. This was our first time staying onsite and I had a blast planning everything. I have become a Disney addict and absolutely cannot wait to go back.

Here is a photo of all of us on our first day there.
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Our travel dates were October 21st through October 28th and we stayed at Pop Century Hotel. Our school system was on Fall Break this week and I think half of the people from my town had the same idea as me...Disney World.

I can't wait to share our experiences with you. I learned a lot on this trip, and I would like to share with you what worked and what didn't work. If it wasn't for the Dis I would have been nowhere near as prepared as I was.

[cgerdon02]

Reserved for the Table of Contents

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm first! I'm first! Subbing!!! Can't wait to hear all about it! :woohoo:

[Twoboysnmygirl]

and don't you DARE skimp on the pics! I would look at all 800 of them if you let me (I took over 3000 on our first trip!) :laughing:

[RGirl]

Hi Candace!!! I think we must have been there about the same time. (We arrived on October 20 and left on the 29th.) And I just started my first TR too. :laughing:

That family pic is wonderful!!! I can't wait to read more about your trip. :woohoo:

[cgerdon02]

I'm first! I'm first! Subbing!!! Can't wait to hear all about it! :woohoo:

and don't you DARE skimp on the pics! I would look at all 800 of them if you let me (I took over 3000 on our first trip!) :laughing:

Yay for being first! :banana: I won't skimp on pics I promise :) I would have taken more, but forgot the cord that connected my camera to my laptop so I was scared I was going to run out of space on my memory card. :confused3

Hi Candace!!! I think we must have been there about the same time. (We arrived on October 20 and left on the 29th.) And I just started my first TR too. :laughing:

That family pic is wonderful!!! I can't wait to read more about your trip. :woohoo:

It was a wonderful week to be there! The weather was absolutely amazing and crowds were definitely manageable.

[cgerdon02]

I made sure the van was loaded the night before because I knew it was going to be hard to get out of bed so early (3:30AM :scared1:). I had outfits laid out and all we had to do was literally brush our teeth, get dressed, and get out the door.
Here is a photo of the kids ready and excited so early in the morning.
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By an impressive 4:15, my inlaws had arrived and we were on our way. I live about 45 minutes from the nearest airport so I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get there. I added in extra time because a major bridge connecting Indiana (Me) to Kentucky (airport) was closed and traffic in the mornings has been horrible. We made it through without any problems, so we got our bags checked and through security very quickly and had about two hours to kill.
Here are some pics of us at the airport.
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Haha Isaac cracks me up in this photo. I think the magic was wearing off by this point.
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We were getting hungry so we grabbed breakfast at Quizons in the airport as we waited for our flight.

Before we knew it, we had boarded the plane and were ready for take off! This was Isaac and Ava's first time flying so they were super excited! I put together backpacks for each of the kids. They each had a stuffed animal, Perry for Isaac, Lady for Ava and Minnie for Violet. I also added in some books and crayons. Here they are waiting for takeoff.
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Finally we took off and three hours later we arrived in the land were all things happy are :)

Up next: What did the kids think of Disney's Magical Express, They sure surprised me!

[RGirl]

:woohoo: You're on your way!!!! What good sports the kiddos were getting up so early.

[heaven2dc]

What fun this is going to be! Your kids are so adorable :love: and your DD4 is going to ride Expedition Everest?!!! My grandson is 4 and I can't imagine him riding it - what a thrill seeker she is :thumbsup2

[ChattaAlley]

Sounds like a fun trip. Count me in. Can't wait to hear where the squirral comes in at. LOL.

[cgerdon02]

:woohoo: You're on your way!!!! What good sports the kiddos were getting up so early.
They were goods sports! I expected them to be extremely grumpy the rest of the day.....

What fun this is going to be! Your kids are so adorable :love: and your DD4 is going to ride Expedition Everest?!!! My grandson is 4 and I can't imagine him riding it - what a thrill seeker she is :thumbsup2
DD4 isn't scared of anything. She was upset she couldn't ride on the Rock N Roller Coaster :scared1:

Sounds like a fun trip. Count me in. Can't wait to hear where the squirral comes in at. LOL.
Ah the squirrel, you'll find out soon :laughing:

[cgerdon02]

After making our way through the airport we found our way to Disney's Magical Express. Unfortunately our yellow tags for our luggage never arrived in the mail, so I gave our luggage claim tickets to the nice man at DME and he assured me that they would still get them to our room.... We'll find out later about that.

Here are the kids on the bus. By now it's 10:30AM and they have been up for 6 1/2 hours.
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They were so excited to watch the movie though!
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When I looked back to see how they liked it after the movie had started, I found them like this.....
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Guess the 3AM wake up had gotten to them. You should know that my kids can sleep anywhere! We live a very busy life and they have learned to sleep wherever they can lay their head. Violet slept for about the last 20 minutes of the plane ride. Just enough for a power nap.

Before we knew it, we were arriving here!
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When I walked into the lobby, I was about to fall over. It was 11AM now, and we were all looking pretty tired. I was just really hoping our room was ready so we could get a nap. Sure enough it wasn't ready and wouldn't be until 3. Here is a photo of the lobby. Can I just say that I LOVED Pop Century? It was just so nice!
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Since our room wasn't ready, we had no other choice but to go to a park. We walked out to the bus stop and got ready for our first experience on a Disney Transportation Bus. Here we are waiting for the bus to come.
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The problem with us going to a park, was that we had split reservations (so we could get the free dining) We arrived the day before free dining started so we had a room only that night. Any time I called to make sure I could pick up my tickets a day early, I was told there was no way I could do that. I trusted my fellow Disers though, and we headed to the park anyway. When I got there I stood in the longest line of the week. Guest Relations. After an hour waiting in line, I got my answer.

Any guesses, did I get to pick up my tickets early?

[ChattaAlley]

I say NO. I hope I am wrong. Yall look beat.

Off topic the blonde on the phone looks like Brittany Spears with short hair. Anyone else see this? IDK maybe its just me.

[cgerdon02]

I say NO. I hope I am wrong. Yall look beat.

Off topic the blonde on the phone looks like Brittany Spears with short hair. Anyone else see this? IDK maybe its just me.

Wow! I hadn't noticed that before but she definitely does!

[mommy2mb]

Joining in!

[shan23877]

Joining in! Hope you guys got into a park, only Disney Magic can keep you going with that little sleep!

[cgerdon02]

Well, I left you while I was waiting in Guest Relations outside of the park we were so desperately wanting to get into. I must mention that in the hour long line I was waiting in, my contacts really started to bother me. Everything was blurry and my eyes were burning. Without contacts or glasses I would be completely lost. I didn't bring a contact case with me, and I had to put my glasses on, so I had to throw away my brand new contacts that should have been good for a month :( Lesson Learned.

Okay back to to find out.....did we get our tickets a day early?
















????














http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/cgerdon02/IMG_5585.jpg
Yes! :banana: Yes we did! Despite what the CMs on the phone were saying, we were able to pick up our tickets a day early! So glad I listened to the Dis and saved over $700!!

And by the picture you can obviously tell that we went to the Magic Kingdom. We asked Isaac where he would like to go first and he chose the Haunted Mansion. So we cut across the Hub and headed for Haunted Mansion. As we passed Columbia Harbor House, we realized how hungry we were. It was now 1PM and we hadn't eaten since 5:30AM. We were so hungry that I didn't get any before food pics. I do have some of us eating though. You'll notice that theme through this, and for that I apologize. I promise I'll do better next time though. Thanks to the Dis we headed to the nice and quiet upstairs part of the restaurant. We all got either fish or chicken. If we had time to taste it before we inhaled it, I'm sure it would have tasted just wonderful!
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Here is Violet showing me her chicken nugget, that I personally think looks really gross....
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This was my plate after I had eaten a few pieces of chicken. I have to say I am very picky about the chicken I eat, and I thought this was very good!
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After our bellies were full we headed to Haunted Mansion. The wait time said 20 minutes, but we went through the new queue area and the line never slowed down to really enjoy it. Here are some pics of the new queue.
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It was a great first ride to start out our vacation! Next up was Ava's choice and she chose Space Mountain. Rather than waiting in line, we got Fast Passes and opted for Carousel of Progress since we were completely exhausted. I hadn't been on it since I was 10 so it was fun to see the changes. I looked over to see if my FIL was enjoying the ride, and he was fast asleep...lol

Here's Kevin and Vi waiting for it to start. http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/cgerdon02/IMG_5595.jpg

After CofP we headed to Buzz Lightyear and then The Laugh Floor. Kevin sent a joke in to the Laugh Floor but it didn't get picked :sad1:

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We still had an hour to kill before we went on Space Mountain? Where did we head next?

[cgerdon02]

Joining in! Hope you guys got into a park, only Disney Magic can keep you going with that little sleep!

Welcome! And you are so right! Only in Disney can you go on a few hours sleep and still be so excited and ready to go!

[mommy2mb]

We have flown that 1st flight of the morning with little ones and I agree its the never ending day..Actually this year we did a 10am flight and i think in future we will stick with that till kids are bigger. We had less meltdowns that 1st day. Its hard not to take the 1st flight because I always just want to get there ASAP. Can't wait to read more:goodvibes

[archdandy]

I'm subbing in! It's too bad you're family was so exhausted on the first day. I hope you guys got to your room and had a big nap! :thumbsup2

[kcandbella]

Joining in! Can't wait to read more! :goodvibes

[cgerdon02]

We have flown that 1st flight of the morning with little ones and I agree its the never ending day..Actually this year we did a 10am flight and i think in future we will stick with that till kids are bigger. We had less meltdowns that 1st day. Its hard not to take the 1st flight because I always just want to get there ASAP. Can't wait to read more:goodvibes
You're right! It's so hard not to take the first flight. I just want to spend every second possible there!

I'm subbing in! It's too bad you're family was so exhausted on the first day. I hope you guys got to your room and had a big nap! :thumbsup2
We were tired, but we still had a ton of fun!

Joining in! Can't wait to read more! :goodvibes

Welcome! Glad to have ya!

[cgerdon02]

I left you with our 1 hour wait until our Fast Passes for Space Mountain were ready to use. A little background on Ava and Space Mountain: This year was the first year she has been tall enough to ride, and she couldn't wait! Anytime someone would ask her if she was going to Disney World, she would say "Yes! And I'm going to ride Space Mountain!" Each of the kids got to pick what ride they would like to ride that first day, and of course Ava's was Space Mountain! To kill time, we headed over the Pirates of the Caribbean. This was DH's pick for the first day. The wait was 15 minutes (The park was much more crowded than I had anticipated). The line moved quickly though, and before we knew it we had entered a world of swashbuckling pirates complete with dirty feet. After our ride, the show with Jack Sparrow was starting, so we stopped to watch for a minute. He was a pretty convincing Jack Sparrow!

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Ava got a seat on Daddy's shoulders for a better view.

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After the show, we headed over to finally get to ride Space Mountain. Ava was so excited she couldn't hardly stand it. As we got to the back of Tomorrowland it was eerily empty. As I mentioned before, the park was packed this day, so something was wrong..... Space Mountain was down, and they were doubtful it would be back up before the park closed at 7. Of course we had our first meltdown of the trip, Ava. It didn't take too long though and I found the girls like this.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/cgerdon02/IMG_5602.jpg

We decided it was time for an ice cream break. Isaac picked chocolate, and I decided a bite of his would be enough to hold me over until our 7:40 ADR at 1900 Park Fare. (Yes, this is why we were still in the park and not passed out in our hotel room) This was our most anticipated ADR and I wasn't about to cancel it. Anyway, back to the ice cream. I took one lick of Isaac's cone and the ice cream fell right off and landed on my camera of all things. I don't know if you've noticed, but they make the ice cream cones way to skinny and pile the ice cream on way to tall. Not a good mixture. I salvaged what I could and went to get a bowl. Here is Isaac not too happy with what I had done :(
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After all of the ice cream had been consumed, we headed to the Christmas Shop. Since the girls were asleep, they wouldn't be grabbing at every little thing. I bought my Christmas Ornament and we headed toward Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The girls were still asleep so I sat with them while everyone else rode. We also did the rider sway so Isaac could ride again. The line was 40 minutes long and it took every bit of that. The girls got in a good nap while we waited though. By the time the rest of the crew got back, I decided it was okay to wake Ava up and take her with me this time. And I am so glad I did. This was here first ride on a roller coaster. I'll let you look at the pics and decide if she liked it or not...

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They loved it! This was probably my favorite memory of the trip. I am so glad I captured it with my camera!

When we arrived back, Vi had woke up and was being a good sport waiting for us. We had to start heading to the Grand Floridian for our ADR, but not without Ava begging to ride on Splash Mountain. It was a walk on and I'm so glad we did it! By the time, we got off we had to go really quickly to make it in time. We had 40 minutes to walk from the back of the park get on the monorail and get to the Grand Floridian. I might add that this was at park closing. Do you think we made it? I'll leave you with a pic of Vi rested and ready to go.
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g435/cgerdon02/IMG_5625.jpg

[ChattaAlley]

Oh my I love the pictures of the kiddos on BTMR. So cute.

[cgerdon02]

Oh my I love the pictures of the kiddos on BTMR. So cute.

Thanks! Those are my favorite photos of the trip!

[cgerdon02]

I last left you with us leaving the MK and heading to 1900 Park Fare. This was at parking closing (7PM because it was a MNSSHP night). The crowd leaving was ridiculous! You know how when you are in a crowd and people are pushing you from behind and you just kinda have to keep moving? Well, this was happening to us, we had our double city mini stroller and were trying to make our way to the monorail. Apparently the man to the side of us thought Kevin was pushing the stroller too close to his wife and proceeded to call Kevin names that I won't say on here because of it. Keep in mind that Kevin never hit her, or came close to it. We were shoulder to shoulder and like it or not, it's close quarters. If you don't like crowds of people with strollers, then Disney World is not the place for you.... This guys poor wife looked so embarrassed and I felt sorry for her. We kept moving and thankfully we got away from them. Hopefully he was just having a bad day, and wasn't like that the whole vacation with his family...

Moving on.....(thankfully this was the only bad experience we had all week) we made it to 1900 Park Fare exactly at 7:40! They were very busy and we headed into the GF lobby to look around.

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Here is the gang....looking pretty tired....

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We were seated in the main dining room after about a 20 minute wait. The first character to come around was Lady Tremaine.

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She was hilarious! She asked Isaac what he was going to be when he grew up. He told her an archeologist and she said he would be no where near rich enough for her liking...lol

Next up was Cinderella:
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She was really sweet and Violet and Ava were in awe. Then we had Anastasia. She was sooooo funny with Isaac. She tried to give him and kiss and as she leaned in, he kept leaning further and further away. She acted hurt and couldn't believe that he didn't want a kiss from "her".

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Lastly we had a visit from Drizella. She was funny too and Cinderella actually got in one of the pictures with her and she yelled at her for doing so...Also right before she came, someone dropped some dishes and the Step Sisters yelled "Cinderelllllllllaaaa!" Everything the did was in character.

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Overall we thought the food here was pretty good despite the reviews I had read on here. We all liked everything we got. Here is Ava with strawberry soup which she absolutely loved! She had two bowls of it :)

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They also brought out Isaac a birthday cupcake which we took to go because we were stuffed!

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After our meal, we hopped back on the monorail to the MK, and got on a bus to Pop Century. Finally we were going to get to see our rooms. As we were walking to our room, we remembered our luggage dilemma and were really hoping it had made it's way to the room. Sure enough when we opened the door, there it all was!! We were exhausted and had an early morning wake up call the next morning....Any guesses where we were headed?

[mommy2mb]

What a great 1st day at Disney! 1900 park fare is always a must do for us. The characters are always so funny.

[archdandy]

Great update! I'm really excited to try 1900 Park Fare this trip and I can't wait to get pictures with all the characters. I'm going to guess back to MK to ride Space Mountain? :lmao:

[cgerdon02]

What a great 1st day at Disney! 1900 park fare is always a must do for us. The characters are always so funny.
We LOVED the characters there! Even though we were exhausted it was still so much fun!

Great update! I'm really excited to try 1900 Park Fare this trip and I can't wait to get pictures with all the characters. I'm going to guess back to MK to ride Space Mountain? :lmao:
The characters there are really great! Phenomenal interactions! Sorry it's taken so long, but you'll find out where we were headed real soon!