Embracing Our Inner "Them" - A January TR [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

Colleen27

02-03-2012, 09:38 AM

And now, on to the cast of this little adventure.

First, there's yours truly. Master planner, DISboard addict, 30 something SAHM to three kids and all-purpose office girl for DH's small business. I didn't really get hooked on Disney until my first trip as a parent in 2005, and we've gone almost every year since. I have lots of Disney favorites, from Figment to Tower of Terror, but with another trip always on the horizon I'm over my commando days of needing to fit them all into every trip.

I'm the photographer of the family, so forgive the ancient picture... It isn't easy to find one that I'm in! My oldest & I on the Magic Behind Our Steam Trains tour in Jan '08.
http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/47324/2111494980051332420S500x500Q85.jpg

In a supporting role and funding my habit is DH. He's not as big a Disney fan as I am but he is a sucker for anything the kids and I enjoy so he comes along for the ride. He often jokes that we need a vacation after our vacation and only joins us for about half our Disney trips, but when I do go without him he's the one asking when we're all going back.

Had to go all the way back to '05 for a Disney pic of DH! Between rides on Rock & Roller Coaster
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But the real stars of the show are the kids.

DS14, aka Stitch, isn't a big Disney fan but he'll take any excuse to get away from Michigan winter. His favorite rides are Mission Space Orange, Test Track, and Rock N Roller Coaster, and he loves Disney dining and swimming at all hours of the day and night.

Pirate makeover on our Christmas trip in 2009
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DD10, aka Pocahontas, is my little mini-me. She wants to be in on all the planning, go over the menus for our ADRs, make packing lists, and has a great eye for the details. She's a bit of a bookworm, which was a big part of the reason for our January dates because she was over the moon excited about the chance to attend the YES Literacy Week seminar with Ridley Pearson.

Singing in the rain on our girls' only trip in 2011
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And last but certainly not least is DD3, aka Boo. The biggest Disney fan of us all, she's 30lbs of park commando. She can do rope drop to close and still have energy left to swim afterwards, and is the most wonderful traveler ever. If she's tired she just pulls down the shade on her stroller for a catnap, but doesn't mind being woken up for a ride or character either.

Waiting for Rapunzel in March '11
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My mother and brother also joined us on this trip. My mom travels with us often and follows my lead, but traveling with my brother took some adjustment! A lot of my carefully-laid plans went right out the window and he's the main reason this trip was so different from what we're used to. The kids loved having him along, though, and any minor frustration I felt at some of the changes was easily forgotten since this was likely the only time he'd ever join us for a Disney vacation.

While I'm on the introductions, I want to add a little note by way of explanation for some of what is to come. My brother has had some chronic medical issues that still aren't fully controlled, so at times in this report where he's being especially difficult or just doesn't seem interested in being with the family that is often why. He started a new medication just before the trip that seems to be helping but causes stomach issues and sleep problems that really interfered with his enjoyment of the trip at times. But at the same time, vacationing with the kids was really good for him in terms of staying positive so we were all glad he could come even though he wasn't 100%.

Colleen27

02-03-2012, 10:39 AM

Because we needed two rooms for this trip and because my mom & brother were on a semi-tight budget since my brother hasn't been getting many hours at work, we decided to stay at Pop for this trip.

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Well, Boo was part of the reason too. She absolutely adores the place! On our first stay there, for our girls' trip in March, every night when we were on the bus back to the resort passing the resort sign she'd say "We're home!" in this sweet, excited little voice that was just irresistible. So when my mom asked about ways to make the trip a bit cheaper, it was very easy to give into Boo's wish to go back there.

But while I'm on the subject of "where", I'll give my mini-review of Pop Century.

I did have some misgivings about booking Pop for a whole family trip, and a few turned out to be well founded.

We'd requested 50s, ground floor because Boo just loved the "big puppies" on our first stay, but the only connecting rooms available were in the 80s, building 9, on the 3rd floor. They did offer us the option of moving the next day to our preferred location but I didn't want to hassle with that so we gave the Walkman building a try.

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Our rooms were in a nice location within the building, near the elevator with a view of the gardens between the 70s and 80s, but unfortunately over the area where they park the grounds crew carts which were noisy at times. We were also very close to the computer pool but it was on the cool side compared to the main pool so only Stitch and my brother spent any time there.

The rooms were both clean and free of problems, but small. I knew they were small from our previous stay, but I didn't realize just how small until I was sharing that room with my whole family!

For some reason all the kids wanted to sleep in our room, probably because my brother was up late watching TV and just restless at night. Usually when we have two rooms and my mom is traveling with us the kids argue over who gets to camp out in her room, but this trip they were all with us for 7 of 8 nights. We brought an air mattress so that Stitch wouldn't have to share a bed with anyone and it fit okay, but didn't leave much walking space.

Storage space was also an issue. With 7 people, the dressers in both rooms were full to overpacked, most of the hangers were in use, and there just wasn't room for all our stuff. And I think I travel pretty light - 4 carry-on sized roller bags for my family of 5, including the air mattress.

But the biggest issue was privacy. The curtain is only so helpful when everyone was trying to get ready at the same time, and bedtime was tough without a "quiet" room for the kids (a function usually served by my mom's room, since she heads to bed early). The bedtime issue was further complicated by the fact that the air mattress was in a position without a view of the TV. We brought a few movies with us on Pocahontas' iPod Touch but Stitch couldn't lay down to watch them, and his frustration with that only confirms my doubts about the room layout at Art of Animation where one of the fold-outs is in a similar position.

Aside from the rooms, the resort was great. We had a few bumps at check-in, mostly related to how late we arrived, but the kids had a great time at the pools and took advantage of the daily pin trading on several days.

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The staff was polite and friendly as usual, everything was clean and pretty and colorful, and the facilities were more than adequate for our needs. And my very favorite part of our first stay at Pop - the transportation - was just as good as I remembered, with no long waits and the wonderful perk of only one bus stop and no sharing with other resorts.

Will we stay there again? Not likely, at least not with the whole family. I might consider booking two rooms for the 5 of us if for some reason two rooms at a resort where a king bed is bookable isn't possible and the ASMu suites aren't available, but I won't plan another trip that has DH & I sharing a double bed unless there aren't any better options open.

Colleen27

02-03-2012, 12:05 PM

Day 1 - Jan 24

Our dates for this trip were a matter of much uncertainty and many changes, as is fairly usual for our travel planning, but in the end we settled on Jan 24 to Feb 1 to accommodate the kids' schedules, specifically Pocahontas play rehearsals. To that end we booked a late flight on the 24th so that we could leave after school.

I will NEVER do that again!

The drive down to the airport went smoothly. We left our little town a few minutes before 4pm, picked up my mom and brother around 4:45, and got to the airport by 5:45 with plenty of time to spare before our 7:45 flight. I'd expected more traffic - when we've flown out early in the morning it takes 2 hours or more to get to the airport, but the bulk of the evening rush hour was going in the opposite direction and we made great time.

Getting through security was a breeze. Well, as much of a breeze as possible with 3 kids, 4 rolling suitcases, two backpacks, a camera bag, and a stroller can be. :laughing:

Since we were flying Delta we were leaving from the McNamara Terminal of the Detroit airport, which is absolutely huge. And with the change in Michigan's smoking law they no longer have a lounge or bar where smoking is permitted past security. We had almost 2 hours before our departure, so we found a seat near the fountain at the center of the terminal so that DH & DB could go out for one last smoke before heading to our gate.

The kids were fascinated by the dancing fountain, and Pocahontas had to take a video of it.

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The terminal is so big it has its own monorail to get to the gates at the far ends.

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Boo got a little too close to the fountain. :rolleyes:

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We landed a few minutes early, about 10:15 and quickly made our way down to the Magical Express counter, where we ran into the first drawback of arriving so late. We got right onto our bus... and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I understand that they don't want to run the buses empty, but I'd almost rather they shared between more resorts rather than sitting there for 15+ min waiting for more people bound for Pop and CBR!

Eventually we were on our way and watching the welcome video.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Neelloc27/th_DME.jpg (http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Neelloc27/?action=view&current=DME.mp4)

Boo was VERY excited to see the Pop Century sign at last!

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Neelloc27/th_PopCentury.jpg (http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Neelloc27/?action=view&current=PopCentury.mp4)

At long last we headed off to WDW, where Pop was our first stop. Good thing, too, because everyone was getting a little hungry and if we'd been the second stop the food court probably would have been closed! It was 11:20 when we arrived at the resort so I figured we were okay to check in before heading to the food court.

Here's where we ran into the second drawback of arriving so late... The front desk was seriously understaffed and there was no real order to the line - check-in and online check-in and concierge issues were all being handled by the same couple of cast members. So check in took forever!

I hadn't done online check in because of the reports of it erasing room requests, but checking in so late got us the last of the availability. The only one of our requests that was met was connecting and I think if we ever arrive late again I'll roll the dice with online check in to maybe get a better chance at ground floor at least.

It was about 11:50 by the time we got through the line and made it over to the food court. At that time of night I knew only the pizza station would be open, but I wasn't prepared for them to be out of everything except pizza nor did I think they'd have all the mug refill stations shut down already. I thought that kind of cleanup would happen post-closing rather than during the last half hour of the night, but we found that the soda machines were often all closed down by 11:45 or so on this trip. :confused3

We were all tired and a little cranky, so we grabbed some pizza and a sushi roll, gobbled it down, and headed off to find our rooms. Unpacking and checking out the resort would wait for morning. We all headed straight to bed.

DisMomAmy

02-03-2012, 02:16 PM

Welcome Back!!

And what's this about "Maybe May?" :confused3 Sounds good to me!!

jenseib

02-03-2012, 04:17 PM

I'm here

dara00

02-03-2012, 04:49 PM

joining in!

Colleen27

02-03-2012, 04:56 PM

Welcome Back!!

And what's this about "Maybe May?" :confused3 Sounds good to me!!

I'll get to the details later but in a nutshell there is a special Girl Scout event over Memorial Day weekend that I would very much like to take Pocahontas to, just the two of us. I brought it up to DH while we were at WDW last week and to my surprise he didn't object, but we did agree that it isn't in the budget and wouldn't be right to cut back on our summer family plans to afford it. So that's where the maybe comes in... 112 days for me to save/earn an extra $1200! I have about $150 set aside so far, but the real effort won't start until next week when I'm setting up my Etsy store and listing some things on the local sell/swap Facebook group.

khertz

02-03-2012, 06:55 PM

Checking in & ready for your TR! Sorry about the disappointing check-in experience. :sad2: hopefully everything is on the upside for the rest of the trip!

Colleen27

02-03-2012, 08:29 PM

I'm here

joining in!

:welcome:

Checking in & ready for your TR! Sorry about the disappointing check-in experience. :sad2: hopefully everything is on the upside for the rest of the trip!

We got off to a rough start, but it quickly got better!

We also took a little detour over to WBC just to look around one afternoon, and DH is totally sold on staying there on our next trip with an eye to buying in. More than the rest of us he really felt cramped in the rooms at Pop and missed having a balcony. It isn't DVC, but I'm excited because it would take us a while to save for DVC even on the resale market. WBC, on the other hand, we could manage pretty much as soon as we decide to take the plunge, so if we like it that would be in the near future.

I'm working on my day 2 pics now, and should have another installment up sometime tonight.

lledman

02-03-2012, 09:28 PM

signing on.

Colleen27

02-04-2012, 02:40 PM

Our first full day took us to Epcot. I didn't count on an early start because I knew we'd all still be a little worn out by the late arrival, but the girls were up and ready to go by about 9:30 nonetheless.

The first order of business was to take a very excited Boo over to see "her" Lady in the 50s section.

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While we were out walking, we took the path along the lake to scope out the progress on Art of Animation and then headed up to bell services to pick up our fridge and groceries. The package I was expecting from Soap.com hadn't yet arrived, but a quick check on my phone shows a delay in shipping and a scheduled delivery for later in the day. Good thing I packed a travel tube of sunscreen just in case!

With the fridge tucked into the corner between the bed and the bathroom wall and the milk, berries, and beer chilling inside we headed off to Epcot. My brother still wasn't up and moving so we left him behind; he'd catch up to us later for lunch.

We got to Epcot around 10:30 or 11. Picking up our YES tickets at will call took just a minute and we were quickly through the gate and headed for the Land. On the way we were sidetracked by the Jammitors. Stitch had never seen them before, and since he's a drummer he really enjoyed the show. Pocahontas wasn't as impressed but she passed the time by reading all the inventions plaques embedded in the walkway outside of Innovations. When the show wrapped up we continued along our way.

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It was an absolutely beautiful day, about 80° and sunny with just a little breeze that kept it from bordering on too warm for our used-to-the-cold systems.

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Once we parked the stroller and headed into the Land I took everyone's tickets down to get FPs for Soarin' while everyone else headed for Living With the Land.

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I love these balloons.

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Our FP return was 2:40, not too bad for so late in the morning. As usual there was no wait for Living With the Land, so we walked right on as soon as I caught up.

Boo was a little scared by the storm scene but really liked the greenhouses. She's my little garden helper at home - I plant the veggies, she harvest and eats them. :rotfl: I've always enjoyed LWtL because of the greenhouses, and never fail to notice something new each ride. This time it was sweet potatoes grown in the same method as their famous tomato tree. I wouldn't have thought root crops would grow that way - the tubers were just hanging underneath the vines in open air!

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On the next trip I'm going to make a point of taking the Behind the Seeds tour again. We took it on our '07 trip, but it was August, about 100° outside and even hotter in the greenhouses, and I had the start of a wicked migraine so I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I think it would be a much more enjoyable experience in more comfortable weather anyway.

Next we headed over to The Seas pavilion. Boo loves the Nemo ride, and Pocahontas always wants to spend some time just watching the fish, dolphins, and manatees.

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Of course we had to take a few minutes to watch these guys.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Neelloc27/th_MineMine.jpg (http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Neelloc27/?action=view&current=MineMine.mp4)

Boo found Nemo hanging out with Marlin.

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And spent some time playing Mr Ray's trivia games.

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We checked out the seahorses and their friends.

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And of course took some time to watch the manatees.

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Boo decided she needed a break while we were waiting for the next Turtle Talk show.

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She wasn't all that impressed with Turtle Talk. About halfway through the show she got bored or scared or something and came back to sit with me instead of hanging out on the floor with the kids.

After the show we headed back out into the sunshine. My mom snuck off for a minute to buy Ken a tee shirt with the seagulls on the front, because when we gave him the coffee cup with them on it from our last trip he mentioned that was a Disney shirt he'd actually wear. :laughing:

The monorail rolled on by as we were loading up the stroller.

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Then we headed off, intending to catch Journey into Imagination but the ride was closed briefly and a couple of chipmunks sidetracked Boo.

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Dale is always so impressed by his picture in Boo's autograph book!

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While Boo & I were busy with Chip & Dale, Ken took the older kids to explore Innoventions for a bit. Around this time my brother called to let me know he was at the gate, so I headed back to the entrance to meet him rather than trying to give directions since neither of us could hear our phones very well.

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Then we headed back by way of Innoventions to get everyone together and start making our way back to Canada for lunch.

jenseib

02-05-2012, 09:52 PM

Fun morning. :thumbsup2 I love Boo's outfit

Colleen27

02-06-2012, 07:43 AM

Fun morning. :thumbsup2 I love Boo's outfit

Thanks. :goodvibes I think that was my favorite of the outfits for this trip because it is just so unlike anything you can buy. I didn't get a good picture of it because it was too warm for her to wear it, but the jean jacket Pocahontas wore matches - it has the same painted Figment with a reverse-applique of his name across the shoulders.

Colleen27

02-06-2012, 08:29 AM

Somehow it always happens that we have some event to go to right after getting home from WDW. In March it was the circus. For this trip, it was Sesame Street Live. My mom ordered tickets long before our dates were set, knowing that 1) we don't travel over Super Bowl Sunday because I don't want to waste a vacation day on watching football in our room and 2) the evening show during the big game was likely to be less packed than other weekend shows. And she got the good seats - front row and included a character meet & greet.

So before I've even finished unpacking from visiting Mickey & friends it was time to go meet Elmo!

I made her this outfit on Saturday. That may or may not be why very little of the vacation laundry has gotten done... :laughing:

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One nice thing about having Disney trip experience is that we knew she wouldn't be afraid of the characters for this. The two families in front of us both ended up with crying kids when it was their turn to meet Elmo & Ernie, but Boo was just plain happy.

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The theatre where they hold the show is just beautiful, and our seats were great - front row just left of center.

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Now, back to the Disney adventures...

Colleen27

02-06-2012, 04:33 PM

So when I left off we were all meeting up on the bench outside of Innoventions to head off to lunch.

On the way (sort of) I took everyone's tickets and ran over to grab Test Track FPs.

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To say crowds were light would be an understatement. This was at about 1:30pm.

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On my way back through to meet up with the rest of the family I cut through the hallway of the building that holds Club Cool, Fountainview, and the character spot. I'm not sure I've ever been in here before, and I thought this was a really neat little display that I'm sure most people have no idea exists.

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It is a timeline of Epcot with the opening and retirement of each attraction.

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It didn't take long for us to get to Canada. They had a check-in stand at the top of the path for Le Cellier, which was something we've never seen before and a vast improvement of waiting at the restaurant itself behind a bunch of people looking for walk-up availability!

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After we checked in, my mom found a seat in the restaurant waiting area while we took the kids down to the Kidcot station so Pocahontas could get her passport page stamped and Boo could color for a bit.

Who would have thought a building this big would hold a restaurant so small?

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About 15 min later they called our name and we were taken to a table in Newfoundland, near the kitchen door. It wasn't a great location because of the high volume of passing traffic and in what would turn out to be the start of a trend we were seated at a table for 6 with Boo's high chair pulled up to one end, but I was very impressed to be seated in a reasonable time for a change.

I'm not doing a dining review for this trip for reasons that will become abundantly clear as I get further into this report - it just got impossible to keep track of credits and meals with us going in so many different directions - so I'll roll the few full dining reviews I do have in here.

Our server was Casey, and she was attentive if a little slow sometimes between courses. Everyone ordered something different for lunch, and only my brother and I passed on the price fixe menu in favor of the pricier cuts of steak.

Stitch, Pocahontas, and my mom all started with the cheese soup. It was good, but I have to say I'm not sure I really get the hype. Apparently I was the only one who didn't get it, though, because all three bowls were soon empty and we ran out of pretzel bread entirely. :laughing:

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Ken ordered the chipotle chicken & sausage appetizer, which I thought was much better than the soup. A little sweet, a little heat, and a great combination of flavors and textures.

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For his entree, Ken got the Korean BBQ skewer. I only tried a small bite of the meat, which was tender and not over-sauced, but I didn't think it was all that impressive. I think I'd probably have liked it better if I'd had a proper taste of meat with the accompaniments, but I still don't see myself ever ordering it for myself. Not with so many other good steakhouse options available.

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My mother surprised me by ordering the vegetarian option, potato gnocchi with spinach and eggplant. I'm not sure I tried this at all. If I did it wasn't terribly memorable but my mom enjoyed it. She's not a big beef eater so this was much more to her taste than most of the menu.

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Stitch got the house burger, hold the mushrooms, which was a very good but familiar/basic steakhouse burger. The sauce was a nice balance of tangy and sweet and the onion straws were crisp, and the burger was cooked to a perfect medium-well as he requested. I especially liked the Black Diamond cheddar; the sharpness of the cheese was a good pairing with the other flavors.

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Pocahontas ordered the steak & potato skillet, which was an excellent choice for her. The beef was tender and lightly seasoned, the potatoes were nicely crisp on the outside but soft inside, and she was able to eat around the mushrooms (which we were told couldn't be left off of this dish). She didn't much care for the salad, but that was no surprise as she doesn't really like arugula or blue cheese, but I enjoyed it.

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My brother ordered the NY strip with cream cheese mashed potatoes, but he only picked at his food. It was done to a nice medium and he said it was good but he wasn't feeling all that well and ended up taking most of it to go.

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Somehow I managed to get photos of everyone's entrees except my own, which is a shame because mine was the best of the bunch. I ordered the signature mushroom filet and with the first bite I finally understood all the hype over Le Cellier. It was amazing, rich and earth and fork-tender, and the risotto was the perfect creamy accompaniment without being overpowering or overdone. The lunch portion is just right too, filling without being too much and leaving just enough room for a few bites of dessert.

For dessert Pocahontas and Stitch both ordered the seasonal sorbet. The flavor of the day was passion fruit, which Pocahontas liked but Stitch just kind of picked at.

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Fortunately for Stitch, I ordered the white wine semi-freddo, which was a very interesting dish. It tasted almost like an icewine meringue and while it was very enjoyable it was also very intense and there was no way I could even come close to finishing it. The passion fruit sorbet was much more to my taste, light and fruity, so Stitch and I traded desserts after just a few bites.

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Ken and DM both ordered the chocolate moose. The consensus on this one is that it looks better than it tastes. The mousse inside was pretty good, but no one cared for the crust, and not being fans of maple flavour none of the adults liked the cookie-antlers. Boo enjoyed the cookies, though.

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I didn't get a pic or a taste of DB's dessert because he ordered the chocolate whiskey cake to go. I didn't think to ask him how he liked it later. :confused3

After lunch Brian decided he wanted to go back to the room. The combination of the late night and his meds had him feeling really off and I don't think the warm day was helping matters any - even with this warm winter we've been having a 40° temperature difference from one day to the next can take some adjustment. He just wanted to nap or maybe have a swim, so we decided to head for Journey Into Imagination at Boo's request before he left.

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Unfortunately, the ride was closed. Boo teetered on the brink of a meltdown for a minute or two before something else caught her eye while we were deciding on a new plan for the afternoon. DM and DB decided to head back to the resort for a while, and Stitch opted to tag along for some pool time. I had thought we would send Boo back too, so she could have a nap with Grandma, but she really wanted to stay and had gotten her attitude in check so Ken & I headed off into the World Showcase with our girls while the others left.

jenseib

02-06-2012, 06:39 PM

I didn't think the soup was anything special either. It was pretty salty (all our food was) and it didn't have a cheese flavor at all.

jecskc

02-06-2012, 07:48 PM

I loved your sea horse photos. Enjoying your TR, looking forward to reading more.

Colleen27

02-06-2012, 08:22 PM

I didn't think the soup was anything special either. It was pretty salty (all our food was) and it didn't have a cheese flavor at all.

I'm glad it wasn't just me. It wasn't terribly salty for us, but it just didn't have an outstanding flavor. It certainly wasn't the best cheese soup I've had, and it isn't a dish I love even when the preparation is absolutely top-notch.

I loved your sea horse photos. Enjoying your TR, looking forward to reading more.

Thanks. I swear the sea horses were posing for me! :laughing:

EastYorkDisneyFan

02-06-2012, 09:12 PM

OziJo

02-06-2012, 10:09 PM

Hi Colleen. Just found your TR. Great start!! The lack of crowds in your photos in in contrast to ours.

Looking forward to reading more!

Colleen27

02-07-2012, 02:33 PM

It's funny how you mentioned that such a small restaurant is in such a large building the restaurant is only in the bottom of it the rest of it was more shops when the Canadian pavilion first opened.

Another question why does everyone on the dis seam to get the chocolate moose for desert. I don't get it what is Canadian about it? As for the saltiness of the soup a lot of that probably has to do with the cheese used in it and the bacon.

I don't get the moose thing either. When I first saw pictures of it I assumed it must be a kids' dessert because of the cute factor. We live just across the river from Canada and some of my favorite places are across the border (many of them in your city, actually - that's where DH & I honeymooned, at the Delta Chelsea) and I've never seen anything to make me think that dessert is in the least bit Canadian.

Hi Colleen. Just found your TR. Great start!! The lack of crowds in your photos in in contrast to ours.

Looking forward to reading more!

We did run into some crowds later in the trip. At AK especially the crowds were surprisingly thick though the wait times were still reasonable. It was a little weird!

I think January is off my list of times to go - I hate the pre-trip weather-watching and hoping for warm days, and it wasn't as dead as just a few years ago where I was willing to take empty parks as a trade off for iffy weather and short hours. Of course, I may feel differently if we do pull off a May trip... the heat and crowds of Memorial Day weekend could very well change my mind. :laughing:

khertz

02-07-2012, 02:43 PM

The meal looks delicious!! That picture of your DB's steak has me craving some right about now. :laughing: We have still never been able to eat at Le Cellier, but I would just love to try it someday. Maybe once DS is older...

That's great that the crowds were so low! Although I read in your latest response that it didn't last, and January was not ideal. We felt the same way about November, and I don't think we will choose to visit in that month anymore. At least not for the same dates that we traveled this year. I'm hoping October brings us more luck for the next two years!

Colleen27

02-07-2012, 03:30 PM

Since we were in the area we started off with Captain EO. I talked my mom & Stitch into sticking around for it, because I knew Stitch would appreciate it in a retro/vintage George Lucas way. I know a lot of people aren't big fans of the show but I love it, not that I'd take the time for it every trip or anything but it is definitely worth seeing for the pre-digital George Lucas special effects and "golden age" Jim Henson Creature Shop aliens.

Once again Boo decided the show was a good place for a nap. She did that in March too so it didn't come as any surprise. That kid can sleep anywhere!

Then we said goodbye to my mom & Stitch and headed off for the UK.

I made Pocahontas a passport for this trip so she'd have a little extra space for notes from cast members to use in her presentation when she went back to school. So getting around to every Kidcot stop was top priority for the afternoon.

I cannot say enough about how fabulous the weather was, just beautiful blue skies with white fluffy clouds all day long.

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The girls played a little hopscotch on the sidewalk art while Ken grabbed a Strongbow cider for us to share.

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Then he took the girls over to the Kidcot stop while I browsed the tea shop for a bit. Every trip I pick up another variety of Twinnings to try, hoping I'll find one I like as well as the Constant Comment that I drink at home but can't get at WDW. :laughing:

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Alice was out with just a few people in line, so we stopped for a visit. Boo ran right to Alice and didn't want to let go. She's not all that familiar with the movie, but on her first trip she remembers Alice bending down to visit with her in her stroller. The furry characters were a bit intimidating on that trip but she loved that Alice came to talk to her and she's been a fan of the in-aprk Alice ever since.

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Pocahontas got her first autograph on her purse too. She was selective about which characters she wanted, but Alice made the list.

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Then DH & Pocahontas ran off to save France with Kim Possible while Boo & I got in line to meet Marie. The Aristocats is one of our minivan movies - VHS tapes that live in the van for long drives - so Boo is particularly fond of the kittens.

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I never noticed this little detail before.

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A picture perfect day.

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We got in line to meet Belle & the Beast but while waiting for the Beast, Belle was walking the line talking to the people waiting and signing autographs. After chatting with her for a minute the girls decided they didn't really want to wait for the Beast and the photo op, so we moved on.

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The line for Jasmine and Aladdin was long and Mo'Rockin had just finished their set so we didn't spend much time in Morocco. We knew we'd be back for a second day because Pocahontas wanted a henna tattoo but wanted to get it as late in the trip as possible so it would last to show her friends at home, so we figured we could see them then.

And at last we came to the highlight of Pocahontas' World Showcase adventure - Japan.

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We spent a long time in the gallery, where the exhibit is still the same Japanese legends in pop culture display as we saw in March. This section was really cool - with the lights one way you only saw the crane scroll, and then the lighting would shift and you only saw the origami cranes.

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We went up through the gardens beside Katsura Grill. This is one of my favorite places in all of Disney World, so peaceful and pretty with the waterfall and all the lush landscaping.

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While Pocahontas and I were exploring, Boo discovered her new favorite Disney treat - kaki gori. In March she found them a bit difficult to eat - couldn't keep the ice on a spoon so she ended up making a huge mess trying to eat it like an ice cream cone - but now she's mastered that tricky ice-on-a-spoon issue and loves them.

By the time we left Japan the sun was going down, making for a beautiful display over the lagoon.

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The moon was just a sliver over the temple.

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There was one last thing we needed to do in Japan before heading back to deliver on our promise of a ride on Figment for Boo - catch Miyuki's show. Pocahontas just loved this!

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When the candymaking display was over we headed back to the Imagination pavilion. Lines had Journey into Imagination listed as reopened so I didn't want to disappoint Boo by missing it because of the earlier close time on our first day in the parks. The app was correct as usual and we walked right on, then spent some time playing in the post-show area before riding a second time.

Boo loves this area even though she doesn't seem to be quite heavy enough to activate the sound-pads in the floor. :cutie:

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Twice was enough for now, so we headed out once again to finish our tour of the World Showcase, but not before buying Boo a new best friend.

Every trip she gets another character plush, a tradition started (a little morbidly) by the fact that the aunt who left us the money for our first ever family Disney trip loved Disney so much that her daughters used the parks' collection plush Mickey as centerpieces at the funeral luncheon and gave them to the children in the family afterwards. So we have that Mickey, now kept company by Marie and Minnie from when Pocahontas was young enough to want plush souvenirs, plus Donald and Stitch from Boo's first two trips. Boo knew just who she wanted to add to the collection this time - Figment!

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He spent the entire trip either in the stroller or tucked carefully into my parks backpack with his head peaking out from the drawstring compartment "so he could see". :laughing:

With Figment settled in, we were on our way again.

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Time for a little photo limit break, but I'll finish up day one in the next post!

Colleen27

02-07-2012, 03:39 PM

We started from Mexico this time, because Boo was asking for Donald's boat ride.

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Pocahontas loved the wood carvings in the lobby of the pavilion. I don't think she'd ever noticed them before.

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After finding Donald we continued off to China, where Figment made friends with a little froggy.

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And I found a light fixture that I want DH to copy for my yard (I swear if he ever decides we should stop going to Disney it will be because he's tired of me telling him, "I saw this at Epcot, can you build one just like it?" :laughing:)

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It was a gorgeous night, still not cool enough for Pocahontas to want to wear her jacket. The moon was just perfect.

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We stopped in Germany for another beer and some caramel corn.

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I've somehow never noticed this before - the high fireworks from Wishes from the back of the World Showcase.

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Having finished up her passport and collected an unGodly number of pressed pennies, Pocahontas decided she was ready to call it a night. We stopped in Japan and France for quick service take-out to bring back to the room with us for a light dinner, because no one was really feeling like a full meal after the huge late lunch at Le Cellier.

Of course we couldn't pass up Spaceship Earth on the way out. Boo loved it this time, which was a nice change from last trip when it put her to sleep!

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We were leaving the park just as Illuminations started, and got right on a bus back to Pop.

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Stitch was still down at the pool with DB, so we took the girls down to join them for a little while but we called it a night before it got too late because we knew we had an early morning ahead of us.

OziJo

02-07-2012, 04:05 PM

Beautiful EPCOT at Sunset and at night:cloud9:

While Pocahontas and I were exploring, Boo discovered her new favorite Disney treat - kaki gori. In March she found them a bit difficult to eat - couldn't keep the ice on a spoon so she ended up making a huge mess trying to eat it like an ice cream cone - but now she's mastered that tricky ice-on-a-spoon issue and loves them

My DD3 loved the Kaki Gori too! We had shaved ice nearly every day in Hawaii but she said the one at EPCOT was the best:cool1:

EastYorkDisneyFan

02-07-2012, 08:39 PM

I don't get the moose thing either. When I first saw pictures of it I assumed it must be a kids' dessert because of the cute factor. We live just across the river from Canada and some of my favorite places are across the border (many of them in your city, actually - that's where DH & I honeymooned, at the Delta Chelsea) and I've never seen anything to make me think that dessert is in the least bit Canadian.

I think the it looks cute factor is probably what leads people to order it. Personally I prefer the maple creme brule. But I think they should really change the restaurant to a keg and bring in bill miner pie.

jenseib

02-08-2012, 04:54 PM

Gorgeous night at Epcot!!!

NLD

02-08-2012, 05:25 PM

Here and reading! Sounds like a great first day.

Boo is so cute, and the outfits you make are spectacular!

Colleen27

02-12-2012, 07:36 PM

I really dislike Studios. Of all the parks it is my least favorite from a planning standpoint because trying to fit in all the shows makes me crazy, and I think it is the least appealing from a theme/decor/details standpoint as well. It could be so much more than it is, and while several favorite rides are located there it just isn't a park I really look forward to the way I do the others. In fact, on our shorter trips it is the one park I skip.

It doesn't help that I'm not a morning person, and neither is Stitch. Or DH for that matter. And my brother... :rolleyes: So when we got going for the morning my mom was irritated at my brother for not getting up, I was barely half awake, and DH was not my favorite person in the world because when confronted with two sickeningly energetic girls and a lump of a teenager who didn't want to crawl out of bed, he headed for his coffee fix rather than grabbing a kid to get ready.

This was another of those issues that made me realize values are no good for family trips. I don't drink coffee but DH lives on the stuff, and not having a coffee pot in the room make him significantly less helpful with the morning routines. He'd head down to fill his mug, have a cigarette and his coffee in the smoking area by the pool bar, and then fill the mug again before coming back up to the room.

But eventually we all made it down to the bus stop, and the bus pulled up almost as soon as we'd joined the short line for Studios.

We got to the park just a few minutes before 9 and the turnstiles were already open. Bag check was ridiculously thorough; somehow I ended up with a guard that even wanted me to open my zip-close wallet! But once we were past that entry was a breeze. The YES tickets don't require finger scans and there were no lines at the turnstiles.

The new entry procedure here is great. It is so much nicer making the walk to TSM at our own pace with plenty of room rather than as part of the herd that amassed at the rope under the old way!

The standby wait was posted at 20min, so we decided to ride first and grab FPs later. This was the first time I've gone through the standby queue, and the decor is really cute. An interactive queue would be better with the way the line builds for this one, but for a traditional queue the theme is beautifully carried out.

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The talking Mr Potato Head was funny.

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Stitch was avoiding my camera a little too successfully so far, so I snapped one of him as we were loading the ride.

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Boo happily posed by her favorite game, Candyland.

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After we rode, I grabbed a set of FPs for later and we all split up for the rest of the morning.

Pocahontas and I headed to the Premier Theatre to check in for the Ridley Pearson presentation. It was a very cool event!

I didn't really go into the presentation with very high expectations. It was an all ages event held for Disney's Homeschool Days/Youth Education Series individual enrollment and I thought it would be more geared to children, but Pearson is an excellent speaker and didn't talk down to the audience at all. As a sometimes-writer myself I really enjoyed listening to him talk about his writing process, and I think Pocahontas (who is a bit of a perfectionist by nature) really learned something important out of his description of the creative process, particularly the necessity of re-writes.

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He also had some great stories about the access he had to the Disney parks when researching the books, including one about riding Small World in the wee hours of the morning with all the lights and music off. You could really imagine just how creepy that must have been, and the scene it inspired in the book was very creepy as well - the dolls come alive and attack the kids!

The presentation lasted about an hour with a question-and-answer session at the end, and the kids got a sneak peak at the cover of the upcoming 5th book that will take the main characters on the Dream and eventually to Disneyland.

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We also got as part of our welcome packet a copy of the Kingdom Keepers Quest, which is a math and literacy based scavenger hunt through the Magic Kindgom that isn't ordinarily available to families/individuals, only registered youth groups of 10 or more, which was a very cool little perk. We didn't actually make time to do more than a few pieces of the quest on this trip, but it is with our leftover two-day tickets to take along on the next one.

While we were busy with the presentation, DM took Boo off on a morning of characters and shows.

They met Phineas & Ferb.

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And saw Lightning and Mater, who Boo didn't really like all that much. I guess they just aren't as interactive as she expects characters to be.

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Then they caught the Disney Junior show and met Jake.

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Boo remembered the Little Mermaid show, which scared her a bit last trip, so they decided to skip that one and headed for the Animation building instead. Boo didn't want to wait for Sorcerer Mickey, who had a rather long line, but did stop in to see her new favorite bear (much nicer than Lotso :laughing:).

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They had a little time to fill before the 11:30 Beauty & the Beast, so they stopped in to visit with a couple of dogs that were just hanging out on the street.

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I don't have any pics from DH & Stitch's morning. They hit the thrillers and Star Tours, collecting FPs for Rock & Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror for Pocahontas and I to use later. DB met up with them at about 10am while they were still on their way over to the big rides, so he got to do those with them. We caught up with the guys a little before noon near Tower of Terror.

Shanna had to use the restroom, and while we were in there I started talking to a woman wearing a birthday pin. It really wasn't anything, I just let her know that the sink she was trying to turn on wasn't working and asked Shanna to slide over to share with me so she could use one that was, and I noticed her pin and said 'happy birthday'. Well, as we were leaving the restroom this woman introduced herself as Misty and offered to take us on Rock & Roller Coaster...

As it turns out, she was an "undercover" WDW CM. Her entire job (which sounds like heaven on Earth :cloud9:) is to meet guests and take them on rides, evaluating the CMs she encounters along the way on things like checking for FPs, commenting on celebration buttons, smiling, and generally keeping up the magic. So we all got to ride Rock & Roller Coaster using the FP line without using our FPs! It was really nice chatting with her too because she had some great little stories about details in the parks, including the time she helped out a lost child in one of the parks who turned out to be Eisner's granddaughter. Talk about getting in good with the boss!

After saying goodbye and many thank yous to Misty we went back through the FP line to use the passes the boys had pulled earlier. Then we headed for Tower of Terror to do the same. DB and Stitch didn't really love the ride on their first go-round, so they headed off with two of the TSM FPs we had to ride that on their way to the early afternoon showing of Lights, Motors, Action while DH & I took Pocahontas to the doomed hotel.

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Tower of Terror remains my favorite Disney attraction. It had been a long time since I rode. On our March trip Pocahontas decided she'd rather play in the ESPN Zone (and I'm very glad she did, since that turned out to be the last ESPN Weekend...). In '09 I was sick on our Studios day. In '08 I was pregnant and though my OB okayed morning sickness made me sit it out. In '07 we were only down for a few days and skipped Studios entirely. So the last time I had ridden was on our very first family trip in '05 and I was super excited to finally be riding again!

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It really is the perfect ride experience, with every detail from start to finish so wonderfully in keeping with the theme and story, and all serving to increase the anticipation of the ride to come.

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In the gift shop I picked up the Hollywood Tower Hotel mug I linked in my PTR for DH, to add to his growing collection of oversized coffee mugs. I really like that whole line of merchandise - it is a clear departure from the more homogenized offerings that seem to have taken over, both in originality and quality.

Time for another quick photo limit break... I'll have the rest of the day posted shortly. :goodvibes

OziJo

02-12-2012, 07:59 PM

Colleen27

02-12-2012, 10:00 PM

By the time we were done there, everyone was getting a little hungry. We grabbed a chicken & ribs meal at Fairfax Fare, where one QS credit was enough to feed all three of us. The food was good - nicely sauced ribs and juicy chicken, flavorful beans and a lightly dressed cole slaw, and the pre-packaged carrot cake that is served everywhere but still rather enjoyable.

Just as we were finishing up DM called from the exit of Beauty and the Beast. It turns out Boo slept through the show! :laughing: They were ready to get something to eat and we were headed for Star Tours, so they walked with us and found a table at Backlot Express while we hit the ride.

I love Star Tours 2.0! I used to ride the old one just once per trip because I'm a big SW fan and enjoyed the idea of the ride, but the simulator itself was enough to trigger just a bit of motion sickness so I never rode more than once in a day. Not that there was any reason with the old storyline. The new video is so much better quality and the simulator's movement so much more accurately coordinated that it didn't make me feel off in the slightest, and since the ride was basically a walk-on we rode 4 times in a row. I think we'd have kept going, too, if a big tour group hadn't joined the line just as we were exiting after our 4th voyage.

We went back to Backlot Express to get my mom and Boo, then headed off to Muppetvision.

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Around the time we were exiting the show DB called to let us know they were looking for us (though from what I understand they mainly "looked" in the Star Tours queue :laughing:) so we met up with them near Writers' Stop where it was about time to get in line for the book signing anyway.

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On our way we stopped in the Muppet gift shop because Pocahontas was on a quest for Muppets pins, and while we struck out on that count DH did pick up a small stuffed Perry for Boo. Her reaction when he gave it to her was just too precious - she'd already picked out Figment as her one stuffed animal the day before, so when he handed Perry to her she said "Two animals? For me? Really?" in this "I won the lottery" voice, like she just could not believe such a thing could happen. :cutie: :laughing:

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I love the signs in the Muppets areas.

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We met up with DB and Stitch, and DB was about ready to call it a day. He'd forgotten his "take as needed" pain medication in the room and was really hurting after a day of rides. He knew Pocahontas wanted to ride TSM with him, though, so he took her and two more of the FPs to ride once more then brought her back to me and headed back to Pop.

Meanwhile, I got in line at Writers' Stop for the book signing. It was a nicely run event. They had all 4 books in the Kingdom Keepers series available in the bookstore section of the shop, and I picked up the 4th for Pocahontas since it was the only one she didn't yet own. While I was there I also picked up a carrot cake cookie. I think this little guy was hoping I'd drop a piece!

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Because Writers' Stop is so small they were only letting one family at a time in to meet Mr Pearson. We waited about 20min, but mostly because we were there before the signing actually started. That was Pocahontas' doing - to her, on time is late, and this was something she really didn't want to miss so we had to be early! :laughing: But the time passed quickly and I had a nice chat with a couple from California about the west coast parks while I waited. I have got to get out there one of these days!

Before long it was our turn. Pocahontas was so excited! She got both her book and her purse signed.

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After the book signing something really weird happened - we found ourselves at Studios, the park I find the most awkward for touring, with everything on our must-do list done and well over an hour still to kill before dinner. :confused3

DH really enjoys the Great Movie Ride, so that's where we headed.

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The wait was posted at 15min, I think, but it was really more like 5. We walked straight through to the second row of the queue and were in the next group brought into the loading area. As usual we got the gangster side. I've never actually seen the cowboy storyline.

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Boo was a little scared by the 'gunfire' in the hijacking scene but just covered her ears and kept watching. She loved the Wizard of Oz parts, though! She's a born performer and was happy to sing along with "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". :laughing:

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After the ride we decided to split up again. DM headed towards 50s Prime Time to find a bench to pass the time until dinner, and the rest of us headed back to Pixar Place. On our way there, I had to get what has become an every-trip picture of Pocahontas.

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We had two FPs left for TSM, so DH took the big kids over there and waited while they rode. Pocahontas loved this - it was the first time she'd been on a ride without an adult! I took Boo over to meet Buzz & Woody while they rode.

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We also ran into these guys, who creeped Boo out a little bit. I thought they were great - one was building a big, elaborate something out of drinking straws and the other was just wandering the area, 'playing' with guests along the way.

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Then we headed for 50s Prime Time for our dinner ADR. We stopped by the hat for a few minutes to watch Mulch, Sweat and Shears. Boo just loves music of any variety and wanted to stay, but before long my phone was ringing because DH was at the restaurant waiting for us.

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I'm going to wrap up here because I got a little sidetracked by Walking Dead and I'm about ready to call it a night.

Tomorrow, a 50s Prime Time review and a trip into the wilds of Animal Kingdom.

dara00

02-12-2012, 10:27 PM

why haven't I heard of the kingdom keepers books?

have you read them? are they good? I requested the first one from my library!

lledman

02-13-2012, 06:55 AM

The girls played a little hopscotch on the sidewalk art while Ken grabbed a Strongbow cider for us to share.

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I think we must have just missed seeing you.

http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/48752/2083495990101276400S500x500Q85.jpg (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2083495990101276400mpLtOY)

Colleen27

02-13-2012, 11:23 AM

I can understand your DH's need for coffee but it's a bit tough for him to leave you getting everyone up and going in the morn. I'm the coffee drinker in my family and I was so glad to have coffee makers wherever we went. I would get up before everyone else and put the pot on. I would have one cup then wake everyone up and the morning would be a family effort. But I needed that coffee!!

That was the only day where it was really an issue, because it was the only day that rope-drop was non-negotiable. On our MK day, which was the other semi-early start we had, he got up a half hour before the rest of us to do his thing and get back in time to pitch in with the morning routine. Having that coffee pot in the room at the mods was so much easier, though!

why haven't I heard of the kingdom keepers books?

have you read them? are they good? I requested the first one from my library!

I hadn't heard of them until a thread on the Family board, but I was sort of familiar with Peter & the Starcatchers by the same author. I've enjoyed the books. They aren't like Harry Potter, which I was just as hooked on as my kids, but they're a fun read for Disney fans.

I think we must have just missed seeing you.

http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/48752/2083495990101276400S500x500Q85.jpg (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2083495990101276400mpLtOY)

Too funny! We were told we just missed watching the artist at work, so we couldn't have been far behind you.

DisMomAmy

02-16-2012, 09:35 AM

Colleen27

02-18-2012, 12:49 PM

I'm glad you were having a great DHS day and made up for some not-so-great DHS days on previous trips!

Looks like the weather was warm! I'm so glad - when I was there last year in January it was FREEZING!

We had fabulous weather. There were a couple evenings too cool for swimming after the sun went down and by 1am on our MK night the kids were all glad for their hoodies, but we really couldn't have asked for better weather given the time of year.

Colleen27

02-18-2012, 01:29 PM

Wow, I've been away so long I almost forgot where I left off! Having the next trip in the works, even tentatively, is not good for my trip report focus.

So, back to Studios.

We had a 5:35 ADR for dinner at 50s Prime Time. It really wasn't the time I wanted - I wanted something a bit later because I figured we wouldn't be done with the rides by then, but it was all I could get for 7 so I took it. It turned out to be perfect timing for the way our day went, and we had only a very short wait to be seated.

We were seated in the back of the restaurant at a table for 6 with a high chair on the end. It was a nice location, off of the beaten path, and though we didn't have a TV at our table we had two close enough to have a good view.

The wonder of this place starts with the drink orders - Stitch got a PB&J shake, but even better was the real flavored Cokes, not the pre-mixed fountain stuff. DM, Pocahontas & I all love real cherry Coke, and that was one of the things that we were looking forward to here. The PB&J shake wasn't my thing, but I don't like PB&J (weird, I know). Stitch and DH loved it. I was happier with my unlimited-refills cherry Coke.

Our server was Hassan and he was amazing, attentive and friendly and just in character enough without being annoying or over the top. He talked with both girls for a little while before taking our orders, and made them both up custom plates based on things they told him they like.

Pocahontas got fried chicken, all legs (5 or 6 of them!), with mac & cheese and green beans instead of the mashed potatoes and greens that usually come with the chicken. She dug in too fast for me to get a pic but she loved it! She also loved having a couple of chicken legs leftover to take back to the room for a late night snack.

Boo got a kiddie version of the same, along with the kids' chicken soup as her appetizer, but I only got a pic of her appetizer. She shared a little bit with me and it was really good, homemade style soup. Hassan also brought her extra crackers, which she loved because she dips them in the broth and goes through way more than the one or two packages most restaurants serve.

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This was the only restaurant where we opted to order an appetizer out of pocket, because I'd seen enough photos of the onion rings that I wanted to try them. They were very good, crispy without being greasy with a good balance between onion and breading, and the portion was plenty for two (or more, but they're a "for two" app on the menu).

For our entrees Ken, Stitch and I all ordered the same thing - "A Sampling of Mom's Favorite Recipes", with a little bit of everything that sounded too good to choose between. Everything was excellent, nothing fancy but superbly prepared homestyle food. Stitch thought the meatloaf was the best; he always loves it when it is blended pork & beef rather than all beef. DH liked the fried chicken best, and he's something of a fried chicken expert. I liked the pot roast best, perfectly fork tender with julienned veggies and a wonderfully savory gravy. Stitch cleaned his plate, even the greens which he rarely eats.

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DM ordered the blue plate fish special, which was grilled mahi-mahi topped with a mandarin orange based citrus compote, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I tried a bite and didn't love it; the fish was fresh and well cooked but I thought the orange a bit over sweet. My mom, on the other hand, loved every bite. Mahi-mahi is among her favorite foods, and asparagus is up there too so it really was a perfect choice for her.

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None of us really had room for dessert, but so much looked good that we had to give it a try anyway. Stitch got the brownie sundae and actually managed to eat most of it! This was huge, easily enough for 2 or 3 people if paying OOP, and the brownie was warm and nicely chewy and absolutely smothered in chocolate sauce, ice cream, and a mountain of whipped cream.

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Pocahontas and Ken both ordered the Boston creme parfait. I didn't get a bite of this but it sure looked good!

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My mom & I both got chocolate shakes to-go for our desserts. No picture, but these were great, just chocolately enough and very thick and creamy. I only get a milkshake once every blue moon and this was perfect for that fix.

Boo didn't want a dessert of her own. She had the strawberries off of the parfaits, the cherry and some of the caramel corn from Stitch's sundae, and a little bit of my chocolate shake and was perfectly happy with that.

The park was already closed by the time we were done with dinner but the buses were still running. We headed back to Pop to find DB down at the pool relaxing. He said the computer pool was a little chilly but the main pool was much warmer, and it was a warm night so of course the kids wanted to join him. Ken & I put a little rum in our refillable mugs, topped them off with Coke, and sat at the edge of the Hippy Dippy pool while the kids swam.

jenseib

02-19-2012, 07:14 AM

jecskc

02-19-2012, 08:02 AM

I loved your Prime Time review. We have a ressie there in April that I am really looking forward to. We also end up coming home with lots of plush animals as well. Our DD loves them. "Baby" Lady is the one she wants to add to her quite extensive collection. We give the kids a $50 gift card each for souvenirs and DD pretty much uses most of her money for plush toys. Looking forward to reading more !!

Colleen27

02-19-2012, 08:02 PM

What a fun day. HS is my least favorite park as well. I did ride star tours in Aug. and it made me VERY motion sick. I am hoping it was just where I was seated as I couldn't see the screen very well.
I do want to try 50's primetime too. We had an adr there for Aug as well, but never made it.

That's too bad about Star Tours. I was so happy it didn't make me motion sick because it really is a very cool ride with the way the segments piece together to be a little different each time.

I loved your Prime Time review. We have a ressie there in April that I am really looking forward to. We also end up coming home with lots of plush animals as well. Our DD loves them. "Baby" Lady is the one she wants to add to her quite extensive collection. We give the kids a $50 gift card each for souvenirs and DD pretty much uses most of her money for plush toys. Looking forward to reading more !!

My kids have decided 50s Prime Time is now a must-do for us, the first of THREE restaurants they said that about this trip. At this rate, I'm going to have to start planning 2 week trips just to fit in all our dining must-dos!

My kids aren't big on souvenirs, and I can predict almost exactly what they'll spend their money on - Stitch spends all of his (and then some, because DM spoils him) at the Lego Store, Pocahontas buys a new year or event pin each trip, and Boo gets her character plush.

Colleen27

02-19-2012, 08:50 PM

The next morning was the first of two that I left free so we could decide where to go depending on the weather, and of course the forecast didn't look like the weather was going to cooperate for either of them!

Since it was much cooler with rain in the forecast we decided this would be a good day for Disney Quest, and decided to rearrange some things later in the trip if need be to fit in the waterpark later. To that end I booked a late dinner at Crystal Palace for our first MK day and cancelled Kona for that night :sad1:, then cancelled our Crystal Palace lunch on our second planned MK day since it was looking like that would be the best day for a waterpark.

As it turned out, the day was perfect for staying indoors. We got to Disney Quest just as they were opening and by then it was starting to rain, just a fine mist at first but eventually a full-fledged rain. We upgraded my mom & brother's tickets at Disney Quest, adding days to my moms and both days and the plus feature to my brother's.

My mom, who was the only one with the forethought to pack a travel umbrella, headed off to do her shopping. She doesn't play video games and doesn't swim, so she decided the plus upgrade was a waste for her and had no problem finding other ways to pass the time. She ended up grabbing an appetizer-and-dessert lunch out of pocket at Raglan Road, to try the scallops that we were so disappointed weren't included on the DxDDP when we were there for dinner last March

My original plan for the day was to go see Beauty & the Beast with Boo, but Disney messed that up by not offering a 2D re-release. Feature length 3D sometimes gives me a headache and Boo doesn't keep the glasses on so I didn't see the sense in taking her to see it in 3D. So then I thought maybe Boo & I would join my mom for some shopping because I really didn't think Boo would like Disney Quest, but she wanted to follow her big brother & sister so I decided to give it a shot.

Pocahontas hated Disney Quest on our first trip, when she was 4. It was too loud, there wasn't a lot for her to do, and she was much happier just walking around Downtown Disney window shopping. Boo, on the other hand, LOVED Disney Quest. It helps that they removed the tickets/prizes from the games on the kids level. When Pocahontas was small those games had a cost in addition to admission so we steered her away from that whole area, even though it was where the most age-appropriate games are located. Boo & I spent the whole morning up there.

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It is so funny that Boo recognizes these old games from apps on Pocahontas' iPod. She's actually fairly good at Frogger and Pac Man already.

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This is the coolest air hockey table - it has little bumpers around the perimeter of the table and the 'paddles' have guards so the puck can't catch little fingers that stray too close to the edge, and it is child height so even Boo could play.

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Pocahontas took off with Ken and they spent most of the day on the Buzz Lightyear game.

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Eventually Boo was ready for a snack, even though she had a leftover chicken leg for breakfast, so we headed for the 4th floor food court and ran into DH & Pocahontas. DH wanted to pop over to the cigar store, so I kept both girls for a little bit until he got back. Pocahontas was almost as impressed with the little kid games as Boo.

This was something like Dance Dance Revolution but using kid music and easier steps.

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Then they found a touch-screen Asteroids-type game.

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When Ken returned he had goodies to share.

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The physical/interactive games are on the same level as the kiddie stuff, so Pocahontas dragged DH into a game of Guitar Hero as soon as her candy was gone. Neither of them are any good at this game, by the way. :rotfl:

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By this point we'd done most everything and it was getting a little busier, not bad but enough that the unique experiences and the racing type games had people waiting, so we decided to call my brother to see where he and Stitch had gotten off to. Turns out they'd come to the same conclusion about a half hour earlier and were already over at the Lego Store with my mom, so we headed over to meet them. Fortunately the rain had stopped by this time, and the clouds were starting to break up. More importantly the breeze that had made the rain so chilly had all but disappeared.

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The new sculptures outside of the store are awesome.

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And some of the classics are still there too.

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Stitch found a Lego Technix motorized car kit that he talked DH and DM both into pitching in on because it was a lot more than he had to spend. We'd all planned on this, though - since it was the week after his birthday we set aside $50 to give him and my mom did the same. Good thing too, because the set he really wanted was $120. It is super-cool though, with a working engine and several alternate builds.

To my surprise Boo found something too, a Duplo farmers' market. She just discovered Duplo blocks at Christmas, when Stitch decided she had to have the Winnie the Pooh house set, and she is absolutely hooked. She really wanted a huge, $100 zoo set but we told her we didn't have room for it in our luggage. I've already bought it and put it away for her birthday but that's more than we'd spend just because.

We kept shopping for a little longer, but DB headed back to the resort for a swim before dinner. Around 5:00 we decide to hop a bus to the Beach Club, since dinner was in Japan and that is such a nice walk.

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I tried getting some pictures of the kids at the beach, but they weren't terribly cooperative... The big kids were anxious to get to dinner, and Boo was being very silly.

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One of my favorite things about the Beach Club when we stayed there was the easy access to the back gate at Epcot - no lines, quick bag check, and we were in the park in no time.

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khertz

02-19-2012, 08:51 PM

Looks like you had a great day at DHS! DH and I loved that park pre-DS, but we found with him around, there just wasn't as much to do. It's harder with kids who can't ride a lot of the attractions there that make DHS so much fun! I love the food at 50's Prime Time. That brownie sundae looks DELICIOUS!!!

Colleen27

02-19-2012, 09:38 PM

My brother was waiting for us by the time we got over to Japan. Stitch had been telling him all about Teppan Edo all morning and he was looking forward to it even though I could tell he wasn't quite sure about whether he'd like the food. Authentic-looking ethnic restaurants tend to have that effect on him. :laughing:

Because there were 7 of us we took up most of our table, but we were joined by a very nice couple from Seattle who were on their first visit to the restaurant. My mom chatted with them for much of the meal after discovering that the woman had retired from the same field as my mom (social work).

Pocahontas had me taking pictures of EVERYTHING in the Japan pavilion, and dinner was no exception. This map on the back of the menu is actually kind of neat.

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Pocahontas was excited to get to practice a little of her Japanese with the waitress, who was very polite and patient about it. She doesn't know a lot yet but she's mastered the basic pleasantries like please and thank you, and the waitress said her pronunciation when ordering by the Japanese names on the menu was very good.

Our chef was Hiroe and she was quite entertaining. Pocahontas was pleased to have a female chef because that was a first for us.

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We all ordered chicken, steak, shrimp, or some combination thereof, and we all enjoyed out meal as usual. My brother was surprised and impressed by how simple the food was; he can be very picky but aside from leaving most of his veggies behind he enjoyed his meal.

For dessert we shared the chocolate ginger cake, which is to die for. I don't really love ginger in general but the flavors of the ginger and light chocolate mousse combined with the richer ganache frosting just work so well together. My mom tried the green tea pudding, which is more like a flan, and I did try a bite but it couldn't hold a candle to my cake.

Teppan Edo has been a must do for us for years because the big kids love hibachi dining, something we don't have in/near our town, and it didn't disappoint.

My brother has a friend from Detroit who moved down to Orlando a while back, so he left after dinner because his friend was picking him up to go to some club in the city. My mom was a little annoyed by this, which I thought was silly - he's a 30yo man, I think it is completely understandable that he might want a little more adult fun than Disney offers these days! But her mood improved as Boo dragged her off to get a kaki-gori while we toured every nook and cranny of the pavilion (see why she skipped dessert at dinner? she was totally hooked on these things!).

We spent a long time after dinner just exploring the Japan pavilion. The clouds had cleared and the night was surprisingly comfortable, especially given how the day had started. I couldn't even get Boo to keep her hoodie on.

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Pocahontas is rather obsessed with all things Japanese and had decided that it would be the primary focus of her report for her class, so she wanted to take notes and pictures of everything. And I mean everything.

A history of Mitsukoshi... I am SO going to get to their Tokyo store one of these days.

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We revisited the gallery exhibit, where she had me take photos that she'd be able to read of Every. Single. Piece.

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The moon rabbit is of course our favorite, since we're both huge Sailor Moon fans. That's what started my interest in Japanese language and culture, and my collection did the same for her.

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She also picked out some mango candies from the Mitsukoshi store to share with her class when she gave her presentation. They were really good... So good that we had to come back for more later in the week because the first bag didn't quite last long enough to make it home. :laughing:

By now the dozen or so iced green teas I had with dinner were catching up with me, so we backtracked to Morocco to find a restroom. Mo' Rockin' was just taking the stage and Stitch wanted to stay to watch, so I took a few minutes to walk around the pavilion.

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The whole Moroccan pavilion is so lovely and exotic. I think it is my favorite aside from Japan, and I picked up some incense to bring home for my office.

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Even the light fixtures are beautiful.

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I rejoined everyone to watch the end of the band's set, then we headed over to America for something that was on my must-do list for the trip - the American Adventure show.

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I don't think I'd ever seen it before and I really enjoyed it, not so much that we'd do it every trip but it was a nice little diversion and the whole building is really impressive.

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We left the show just as Illuminations was getting ready to start, so we grabbed a couple of pretzels, found a bench that had a semi-obstructed view - good enough for us, since we've seen the show so many times before - and relaxed for a little while. Just before the fireworks ended we started making our way around to Mexico because Boo had her heart set on another ride on Donald's boat.

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Pocahontas wanted to look around the jewelry store, so she and Ken skipped the ride to do a little shopping and ended up getting a pretty pair of silver and blue Mickey earrings.

El Rio del Tiempo was a walk-on as usual. It was now evening EMH and the KTTW check at the ride took longer than the queue itself.

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I love the Donald pinata.

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After Mexico my mom decided she was ready to call it a night, so we said our goodbyes and sent her and our leftovers back to Pop. Then we headed into Future World for the kids' favorites - Test Track and Mission Space.

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Mission Space had the shorter wait time as usual, so we went there first. I got a baby swap pass but ended up chickening out of riding the orange side when the kids said they didn't care about a second ride. I want to try it one of these days, but I worry that it'll be a motion sickness trigger and wreck the rest of my day. :sick:

Boo had a great time in the play area while the big kids rode. I just love that Disney thinks about things like this, putting in little playgrounds near many of the height-restricted attractions.

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Next up was Test Track. The standby wait was posted at 30 minutes, so we got our baby swap pass and Ken took the big kids for the first ride while I took Boo over to visit her favorite friend.

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She figured out how to avoid the skunk scene...

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We were in the middle of our third consecutive ride when Ken called to let me know they were getting off of Test Track. :laughing:

Pocahontas was getting tired and not really interested in a repeat on Test Track, but I wasn't going to miss it. So Stitch and I took our turn on Test Track while DH and the girls went for a little ride through history. Boo developed quite a fondness for SSE this trip, which was a nice change compared to last trip when it put her to sleep. We caught up with them in the ride post-show area, and after about 10 or 15 minutes of exploring there we headed for the bus.

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We got back to Pop just after midnight and the kids were wiped out. I put Harry Potter on the iPod hooked into the TV and went down to keep Ken company while he had one last cigarette before bed, and by the time we got back to the room all three of the kids were sound asleep. Having the iPod really made these later nights so much easier; the Disney TV offerings are terrible that late, and having something the kids enjoy really helps them with the transition from go-go-go to go-to-bed.

jenseib

02-21-2012, 08:09 AM

Wow, that was a busy day. I'm glad you made the most of a rainy day! Sometimes the Disiney weather isn't perfect, but if you just go wit hthe flow, you can still have a great day.

pattyw

02-21-2012, 10:31 AM

I'm enjoying your TR so much!! Your kids are so cute!! :)

Colleen27

03-07-2012, 09:52 AM

Just popping in to say I haven't forgotten about this report! We've got a lot going on right now, all good, but I've been reading/posting on the DIS mostly from Pocahontas' iPod as we continue work on my office, the kids activities are ramping up for the spring seasons, and I've slipped into planning mode for May, so editing and uploading pics has fallen by the wayside just a bit. But I'm uploading the pics for our Animal Kingdom day as I type this so I should have an update ready to post this afternoon. :goodvibes:

jenseib

03-11-2012, 08:51 AM

Take your time!

Coconuts

03-12-2012, 08:15 AM

Just found your TR and got through it all. It's great so far. I wish I was organized enough to ever write one.:rolleyes: It's so nice that your mom and brother could come; nothing is better than family memories.:goodvibes

Sometimes it sounds like my family when I was reading: my DH does some of the same stuff sometimes, but comes around and is really better than most; I'm very lucky. When we stayed at POP, we were behind the Rubiks Cube, next to the computer pool also. We loved being so close to the food court and bus stop. DS loves legos too and is now in a lego mindstorm robotics club. My DD 3yo also comes home with some stuffed character every trip and fell in love with SSE this trip; we must have ridden it 10 times. DHS is also our least favorite park, especially DH's. We love :love: 50's PTC and haven't been there in a few trips to make room for some new places, but all of us agreed, especially DH who loves his comfort food, that we need to get back there on the next trip. I like to dress my girls alike sometimes, but I don't sew so it's only when I can find their sizes in the store.

I too get migraines and motion sickness. Years ago I tried Star Tours and almost got sick so I haven't been on again. Last trip though I was determined to try Mission Space Orange. I almost got sick on that, but I don't think I was as bad as Star Tours. IYHO, which do you think is worse?

Can't wait to read more, but take your time. We are also so busy with activities that I hardly get on Disboards anymore.:sad2:

Colleen27

03-21-2012, 10:21 PM

Ugh, I've started and lost this update three times this week! Maybe this time will be the charm.

Jan 28 - We had officially crossed the halfway point of the trip, with fewer days ahead of us than behind, and we still hadn't even made it to the Magic Kingdom!

Because we stayed so late at Epcot the night before I decided this would be an ideal day for a park where we don't usually need a whole day - Animal Kingdom. I didn't expect the kids to get up early but by 9 or so both girls were awake and ready to go. I woke Stitch up and then DH & I took the girls for a walk to give him some time to get showered and dressed. We took the path down by the lake before heading up to Everything Pop to get our morning caffeine fix.

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By the time we got back to the room, not only was Stitch ready but to my surprise so were my mom and brother so we all headed for the bus. We got to the park around 10:30 and took our time meandering through the Discovery Island exhibits on our way through.

It was another perfect day, without a cloud in the sky.

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We saw Pumba, and let me tell you... The Lion King jokes about being downwind from a warthog have a strong basis in reality!

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I love all the quirky little details that make up the theming at Animal Kingdom. Check out this light post.

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Finally we made it to Africa where it was time for another stop, this time to trade a few pins. Pocahontas was still on a quest for Muppets and Boo was working on a rather impressive assortment of Figments.

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The crowds for the whole trip were higher than I remember from our last January visit, but this day was the worst. It was a Saturday and the weather was incredible, so I'm sure there were plenty of locals taking advantage of the nice day in the parks, but it was more crowded than I'm used to seeing.

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The standby time for the safari was posted at 40 minutes but the fastpass return was just over an hour out, so we decided to grab FPs and check out some of the animals before our ride. They were working on the Pangini Forest trail and between the crowds and the detours it felt really packed. We didn't spend as much time there as usual, but we did take the time to check out something we've never done before - the kids activity station, where Pocahontas got to learn about identifying animals based on their tracks and 'leavings'.

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We still had a little time to kill before our FP return so we hopped the train to Planet Watch thinking that Boo would like the petting area. I'm not sure if she's been to so many farms at home that petting goats has lost its magic or if it was just that compared to the rest of WDW it isn't that fascinating, but that occupied her for all of 5 minutes. The girls spent longer at the discovery stop.

Boo loved having some room to twirl in her new dress.

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When we got back to the safari we found a very short FP return line. Usually we end up waiting 10 min or so even with FP, but this time we practically walked on. We were on the 2nd truck loaded from the time we arrived at the station.

Apparently the animals were enjoying the weather as much as the people, because the safari was the best I've seen. All of the larger animals made an appearance, and the elephants and rhinos were especially active.

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The giraffes were right up next to the road.

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The baby elephant is really cute! Boo wanted to know if he can fly.

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The young rhino decided it was time to slow traffic down a bit. We waited a long while for him to get out of the road, and as soon as we passed he wandered back out in front of another vehicle.

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The only animals we didn't see were the lions. I guess it just wasn't warm enough for them to sleep on their air conditioned rocks, because they were lying mostly out of sight up on their hill.

After the safari we headed for the other must do of the day, Expedition Everest. The plan was to grab FPs then stop for lunch at Yak & Yeti's counter service, but the standby line was posted at 30 minutes so we decided just to ride. I think EE is really Disney's best pure thrill ride but DH doesn't care for it, so he sat it out. DH & DM took Boo over to a table and got her some lunch while my brother and I took the big kids to Everest.

This was one thing that I really liked about traveling with my brother. I like to think I'm pretty good at stopping to smell the roses at WDW, but I realized on this trip that I plan even that. I'd never been through so many of the standby lines, and on rides like Everest only riding FP is missing part of the total experience. My brother is a Cedar Point passholder, so he's used to long lines for short rides and would rather just wait for the ride than wait around and double back for a FP return.

The wait was a few minutes less than posted and the ride was awesome as always. Even my brother, who really wasn't impressed with what passes for thrill rides at Disney, loved it.

The parade had passed by while we were in line, and afterwards Asia really started to clear out. Lunch was good for counter service, nothing really special but as good as good take out Chinese. Four meals and one snack credit egg roll were plenty for the 7 of us.

After lunch we split up. My brother wanted to go back to Pop for a swim before dinner, and my mom decided to join him. She always has a hard time with our AK days; the uneven walkways and stop and start pace aggravate her knee problems. So they headed off to rest and we continued on with our day.

Before we left Asia I took the girls down by the water to take some pictures.

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They were both in a very silly mood.

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Then we headed off through Asia over to Dinoland.

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I had to trick him into smiling, but I got a good picture of Stitch!

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And the Photopass photographer took one of all of us together.

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On the way through, I grabbed 3 FPs for Everest. The return was very late, in the last hour before the 7pm close, but I knew we wanted to ride once in the dark.

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We spent most of the rest of the day in Dinoland. I know it isn't very popular on the DIS but I love this area, it is so kitschy-cool! It doesn't hurt that Triceratops Spin is basically a walk-on version of Dumbo either.

DH took Pocahontas off to ride one of the few Disney attractions I steer clear of, Primeval Whirl. Stitch didn't want to ride it - he frequently shares my feelings about spinning attractions - so he came on Triceratops Spin with me and Boo.

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Primeval Whirl had a bit of a wait, about 20 minutes, but Triceratops Spin was a walk on so Boo got to ride a bunch of times before DH & Pocahontas caught up with us.

The kids tease DH that he's so old he rode dinosaurs to school, so while they were goofing off by the gift shop I had to snap this shot.

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Next up was baby swapping Dinosaur. DH went first with the big kids while I took Boo to do a little candy shopping. She picked out this lollypop because it matched her dress.

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I took my turn on Dinosaur while DH took Boo on Triceratops Spin yet again, and then Pocahontas and I doubled back to Everest for our nighttime ride before dragging Boo away from her flying dinosaur.

Everest feels very different in the dark! The view from the top is better during the day but the ride itself is scarier in the dark, and you get a much better look at the yeti without the adjustment of coming into the cave from bright sunlight.

After Everest it was time to head out. On the way we stopped in to see Tough to be a Bug. DH loves this show, so he talked us into it even though I'd planned to skip it because I worried Boo would be scared. It didn't bother her a bit, though, not even when the bugs go scurrying out ahead of the human guests.

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Once again we missed Festival of the Lion King. It is high on the list for May, though - air conditioning will certainly be a perk in the summer heat, and with that trip just being Pocahontas and I there won't be anyone along who tends to derail my plans!

Up next, dinner at Chef Mickeys!

jenseib

03-22-2012, 07:12 AM

What a great day! You guys were really busy. And Wow! the park did look really busy.

Colleen27

04-01-2012, 08:46 PM

After a busy day at the Animal Kingdom, we hopped a bus straight to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickeys.

Let me start this review by saying I'm not a fan of character dining. They're loud and expensive, with mediocre food and generally rushed character interaction. But my kids labelled this one a must do with my brother coming along, so I booked it.

We got to the Contemporary about a half hour before our ADR and checked in right away. My mom and brother arrived about 5 minutes after we did, while I was still in the line at the podium which was moving SO slowly!

We didn't have much of a wait once I got us checked in, partly because I let the hostess know we'd skip the plate photo. When we were seated there were about 6 families waiting to have that picture taken. I wonder how many of them knew how much the prints cost?

I don't remember our waiter's name but he was adequate. Not outstanding - there were some waits for refills and he didn't make an impression at all, but for the most part pretty good. The food was about what I expected, standard buffet fare without anything really outstanding. My brother loved it - basic, uncreative American food. He ate almost exclusively off the kids' section of the buffet.

The character interaction was surprisingly good, though the timing wasn't great. Pocahontas missed Mickey completely because she was at the buffet, but she didn't really mind. She knew we'd be seeing him in his new Town Square home at the Magic Kingdom the next day.

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Pocahontas needed all of the Fab Five to sign her purse.

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Goofy made a fuss over Boo's outfit and decided to take her off to hang out with the other chefs.

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And Minnie brought over a special treat for Boo - a 5x7 print of all 5 characters, signed by all of them. Unfortunately Pocahontas was tired of us interrupting her dinner for pictures, so she's making silly faces here!

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After we saw all the characters we finished up our meal in peace. This is when Stitch and my brother discovered the disappointment of the evening - no more gummy bears on the sundae bar! The whole ice cream area was sort of lame this time, with fewer toppings than we remembered and kind of watery, not quite frozen enough soft-serve.

It was a nice enough evening but only reinforced my opinion of character meals. The character interaction was better than I expected, and as an overall trend I've noticed that the custom outfits and autograph books seem to prompt better interaction across the board, but the food was just okay and the atmosphere is loud and chaotic. Unless somehow we have another first-timer with us, Chef Mickey's isn't a restaurant I'd go back to.

After dinner we decided to just call it a night. I thought about hopping over to MK for a little while, just because we hadn't gotten there yet and they were open late, but the rest of the family wasn't really up to it and I did want to get an early start the next day. We got back to Pop around 10, put a movie on the iPod, and were asleep by 11.

jenseib

04-03-2012, 12:55 PM

I find CM's to be one of the worst character meals for food. We've only eatne once for breakfast and it was just ok. I hear bad reviews about the food all the time though.

Colleen27

04-24-2012, 05:07 PM

Day 6 - Jan 29

Finally we were heading to the Magic Kingdom! Rearranging our dates at the last minute to accommodate Pocahontas worked out well all around, but I just couldn't get my usual MK first & last trip schedule to fall into place so it seemed like it took forever for us to actually get there.

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We woke up early and got moving without too much trouble. It was just us for the start of the day, since my brother had been out late the night before and my mom planned to sleep in because we had such a late night planned. By 8, DH & I were taking the girls for our morning walk to get his coffee while Stitch got dressed, and we were on a bus by 8:30. It was cooler than earlier in the trip so the kids wore their high school football team hoodies to the park, the first time they'd needed them all trip.

We caught the end of the welcome show as we were making our way through bag check and the turnstiles, and then it was off to Tomorrowland to start the day.

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As we were crossing the bridge an older couple stopped to chat with us - they saw the kids' hoodies and had to comment because they were from a small town about 20 miles north of us, home to one of our HS's big football rivals. They're both snowbirds and work seasonally for WDW during the winter, which is exactly what DH and I hope to be doing at that stage of life.

The big kids wanted to go on Stitch first, of all things, so DH took them while Boo & I rode Buzz Lightyear a couple of times. She really liked it and is actually getting the idea of the ride now, though letting her "steer" our car made for some minor motion sickness for me!

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When we were all back together again we headed for Space Mountain, which was showing a 20min standby but couldn't really have taken 10. We baby swapped so everyone got to ride and grabbed a set of Fastpasses for later before moving on.

By now the kids were getting a bit hungry but I didn't want to get anything too big because we had lunch reservations at Tony's. The little place at the base of Astro Orbiter wasn't open yet for the day so we decided to head over to Cosmic Ray's. On the way we ran into PUSH. Boo absolutely loved him! He called her princess and said thank you when she "fed" him a napkin. For the rest of the day, though, she kept expecting the trash cans to talk to her! :cutie:

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He posed for a picture for me. Said "cheese" and everything!

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At Cosmic Rays we got an order of fries for the kids to share and added cheese from the toppings bar. It made a just-the-right size snack to tide the kids over, and the iced mocha I got myself wasn't too bad either.

After the snack we headed back to Tomorrowland for another ride on Buzz since the big kids hadn't ridden earlier, and then went over to Monsters Inc. I knew we'd have the late night for Fantasyland, so I was pretty much following the kids' lead on what to do for the morning. With Dumbo down I didn't really see any reason to rush to Fantasyland anyway.

The Monsters have been among Boo's favorites since she first saw the movie a year or so ago, and she loved the show. In a funny small-world moment, it turned out that the family picked on as "that guy" were from a town just 8 miles north of us, and we stopped to chat a minute with them after they too commented on the kids' hoodies as we were leaving the attraction. This actually ended up being a trend throughout the trip - my mom met a woman by the pool from another town in our county, and when we went to see Tink later in the day two of the three cast members in the room were from our area as well. It was cool in a weird way, running into all these people from little (population 4000 or so) towns in our area, and all because the weather had turned cool enough to need our (orange-and-black, very distinctive) hoodies.

After the show it was almost time to head back to Main Street for lunch. We took our time making our way back there, watching part of the trolley show and grabbing Fastpasses for the Mickey & Princess character greetings.

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I snapped this perspective of the rather ugly Main Street Bakery tarp (that I am stunned to read is still there!)

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Our timing was perfect - my mom & brother called to let me know they were at the gate just as we got to the restaurant. We checked in at Tony's a few minutes before they started seating and the girls settled in to watch the movie playing on the TV in the waiting area.

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I wasn't all that excited about this ADR because Tony's doesn't get the best reviews, but it was the only restaurant in the Magic Kingdom that we hadn't tried and the girls really liked the Lady & the Tramp tie-in so I made the reservation mainly for them. We were seated in the back of the restaurant, near the "window" out into the alley where Lady & Tramp are sharing their spaghetti.

Our waiter was okay, a little slow with the refills but otherwise competent, and it didn't take us long to decide on what to order. Boo had to have the kids' spaghetti just like Lady, and it was a HUGE portion. She ate the meatballs but barely made a dent in the noodles before laying down on the booth and dozing off.

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I had the chicken parmesan which was good, not great but enjoyable. Stitch had the salmon salad but didn't care for the dressing, so halfway through the meal we swapped plates and he finished mine while I tried his. I agreed with him on the dressing, though - it was just weird, overly sweet and very strong. It might have been better had he eaten the fish with the salad but the salmon was presented atop the greens and he polished off the fish first. My mom ordered the eggplant, which I think was the best entree of the bunch but then again I really enjoy eggplant in general.

Dessert was a bit of a bummer - my brother and I, not being big on sweets, intended to order cappuccino instead of dessert which is an acceptable substitution on the dining plan but our waiter returned a minute later to let us know the machine was broken. That was really disappointing, because to me an after dinner cappuccino is part of any good Italian meal and it was weird that the machine would be broken at the start of their business day. Someone was there working on it as we were leaving so I guess they either didn't schedule the repair for when the restaurant was closed or didn't complete it in time.

The cheesecake flavor for the day was cappuccino, though, so we both decided to try that instead. The presentation was very cute with Lady & the Tramp stamped on the plate in cocoa powder, and the cheesecake itself was fabulous, very creamy with just the right amount of coffee flavor.

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Pocahontas got the spumoni which I don't think she really liked all that much, and DH got the pistachio creme brulee which he loved. I didn't try either because I don't generally like pistachio as a dessert flavor. My mom ordered a chocolate cake that I didn't try either; it looked good, but I'm a terrible judge of chocolate desserts because I just don't care for it all that much. In the end we left Tony's satisfied. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had in the Magic Kingdom but it was enjoyable enough and far surpassed the low expectations I had based on the reviews I've read.

After lunch the girls and I headed straight for Mickey's meet and greet, while my brother and Stitch headed off together to do some rides.

The Town Square character area hadn't opened yet when we were there last so this was our first time experiencing it.

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The whole area is really cute but on days like this fastpass is entirely unnecessary - there was almost no one in line at midday. Boo was thrilled to see Mickey and Minnie together, and we ran into another cast member from Michigan guiding people into the character room. Next trip I think we'll skip the lousy character dinner and just meet Mickey & Minnie here. The background is so much nicer with no other people in our shots, and it doesn't have a fraction of the wait that Mickey used to in his old house in Toontown.

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When we were done with the mice we met back up with DH, who had stepped away to have a cigarette. The smoking areas in the park are getting ridiculously scarce these days - he had to go all the way down to the outdoor seating area overlooking the castle moat to find one from Main Street because the corner that used to be a smoking area near the front of the park is now FP distribution for the characters, but that wasn't as bad as Animal Kingdom which no longer has any smoking area in Africa. I get not wanting people smoking just anywhere, but I think fewer people would break the rules if they didn't keep eliminating smoking areas!

We all got on the train back to Frontierland to hit Splash Mountain. My mom & Boo stayed with us just long enough for us to get our baby swap pass and then headed off to Country Bears. This has been one of my mom's favorites since our first trip with the kids and Boo likes anything with music so I knew she'd enjoy it too. That's one of the best parts of traveling with my mom - she does the little kid shows so I don't have to! :rotfl:

Splash was posting a 20 minute standby and it was plenty warm enough to enjoy it, so we rode twice - once standby with my brother & Stitch who had already ridden twice before we got there, and once with the baby pass just the four of us when my brother decided he'd had enough Zippa Dee Do Dah for the day. Then I headed off to catch up with my mom and Boo to see some characters while DH & the big kids went out to Tom Sawyer Island to look around.

My brother wasn't really loving the Magic Kingdom now that it was starting to get more crowded, so he decided to head over to Disney Quest for a few hours and join us after dinner for some of the more classic rides.

Boo & I met Tiana while my mom browsed the Christmas shop, then she decided to head back to the room for a while and Boo & I caught up with DH and the big kids at Pirates.

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We rode Pirates with only a short wait, most of it due to a temporary ride shutdown. It had just started running again when we got in line. By now the park was starting to feel pretty crowded but the wait times weren't reflecting that - Jungle Cruise was showing a 30min wait with FPs only an hour out, so we grabbed FPs and split up again. DH took the older kids through the Swiss Family Treehouse while Boo & I got in line to meet Tink.

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Some of the craziness of Tink being meetable has evidently died down because the line was posted at 20 minutes, which we found to be pretty accurate. The MK location is so much nicer than her Flower & Garden digs last spring!

Pocahontas joined us just before it was our turn, while the boys grabbed floats from Aloha Isle and had a seat in the smoking area there to relax for a few.

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Tink and the other fairies are always some of the best character experiences we have and they were cute as always. Pocahontas got both autographs on her purse, which was really starting to fill up.

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We met back up with the guys and decided to use our Jungle Cruise fastpasses before moving on. Our skipper wasn't that great, she knew the jokes but didn't deliver them well, pauses in the wrong places and things like that. Boo still loved the ride though; she thought the baby elephants were hilarious.

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Since Dumbo was closed we stopped to take Boo on the Magic Carpets but of the Dumbo clones this is her least favorite and she didn't want a second ride. I was glad, because the line was about 15min and I don't think any of the spinners are worth that, especially after our walk-on Triceratops Spin marathon the day before.

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It was getting to be late afternoon now and the kids wanted to hit Splash once more before it got dark and too cool to be all wet, so we headed back to Frontierland once again. We used the FPs we'd grabbed earlier and baby swapped so the big kids got to ride twice while DH & I took turns hanging out in the Laughing Place play area with Boo. She loves that little structure, and it is in the perfect location for keeping little ones occupied while baby swapping the Frontierland mountains.

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Colleen27

04-24-2012, 05:28 PM

We all missed Big Thunder Mountain this trip, but Stitch was glad Splash wasn't down for its usual January closure because that's his favorite of the MK mountains.

DH stopped for a cigarette, mostly because he knew where the smoking area is here and didn't want to have to hunt one up later. This is a really pretty area and really empty with BTMRR closed.

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Next up was Haunted Mansion to check out the interactive queue for the first time, or so we thought. When we got over to the ride it was closed at CMs were blocking the queue so it appeared it wouldn't be re-opening any time soon. Boo got a little upset by this because she loves that ride, but she was distracted easily enough when we decided to go for a ride on Small World instead. By the time we were done with the ride I realized she was just getting a bit hungry/cranky from having slept through most of lunch.

We headed over to Columbia Harbour House for a bite. We didn't really want a full meal since we had ADRs for a late dinner at Crystal Palace, so we got three meals to share between the 5 of us - fish, shrimp, and chicken. All three were very good for take-out, piping hot and not overly greasy, and it was the perfect amount of food.

Haunted Mansion was still closed when we were done eating, so we headed back towards Main Street to find ourselves a spot for the fireworks. We ended up watching from the hub, which was nice except for the guy behind us taking flash photos through the whole show. It wouldn't be a very good spot for most of the year, because if the trees had leaves they'd have blocked our view, but for January it worked.

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We did have a nice view of Tink's flight.

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After the fireworks we had just enough time to stop by and see the Princesses before checking in for dinner. We used our Fastpasses, which were again totally unnecessary, and met Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella in their new little room.

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Notice Pocahontas' shirt? We got it at Studios. Candace's sign says "Brother for sale. No offer too low!"

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Belle is Boo's favorite princess.

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While we were in there my phone rang - it was my mom & brother, who had watched Wishes from right near the train station and needed to know how to get to Crystal Palace, so we met up with them on the Town Square building porch and headed off to our dinner reservation.

Crystal Palace was a disaster. It was our only negative experience with the new ADR policy, and the whole place was just a mess. The line to check in stretched all the way along the porch and I overheard several families checking in for pre-Wishes ADR times even though it was now nearly 9pm. Our ADR was 8:45 and by the time I got through the line I barely got us checked in on time.

A half hour later we still hadn't been seated and I talked to a hostess about cancelling our ADR because the kids were getting impatient, and was told in no uncertain terms that we'd be charged if we did so. Stitch and my brother ran off while we were waiting, to use Space Mountain FPs and ride Pirates and Haunted Mansion. After each ride they called to check in and we still didn't have a table. At 9:30 I asked to speak with a manager, who was apologetic but firm on the fact that we would be charged if we left; he said he was sure guest services would reverse the charges, but who wants to hassle with that? I'm not sure if it is because at this point we'd become a bit of a squeaky wheel or if it was just finally our turn, but we were seated within a few minutes of that conversation.

Unfortunately, the experience didn't improve from there.

Our server was okay, prompt with refills but a total doormat when it came to the behaviour of some obnoxious guests. We were seated at a table for 6 with a high chair on the end, again, which was tight to begin with.

To make matters worse there was a family at a table just behind us with the two most ill behaved little girls I'd ever seen in a WDW restaurant. When we arrived this family had desserts in front of them, and the girls, clearly bored with the restaurant, were twirling and dancing in the walkway. Since Boo was on that end of the table, sticking out into the walkway because the table wasn't meant for 7, this made getting through the area next to impossible. But it only got worse. When they tired of spinning, they got out coloring books and laid down in that same walkway. Then they started playing a hopscotch-like game using napkins they'd spread out on the floor. This went on through our entire meal with not a single cast member saying a word to the adults at the table. They were still there an hour later when we left.

The character interaction was bad as well. In an hour and 15 minutes, we only saw 3 of the 4 characters.

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The handlers for Tigger and Eeyore were too busy chatting with the waitstaff to do their jobs, and two little boys from another table kept running up when the characters were at our table to butt in. Of course their parents couldn't care less either, and without a proactive handler the characters were left kind of helpless as to how to shoo the wayward kids away.

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We'd had such great interaction here in Dec '09 when we'd come for breakfast but this time was just the opposite - rushed characters, which didn't make a lick of sense considering how long it took them to get around to us, absent handlers, and just chaos all around.

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Fortunately we'd met Pooh at Studios so when he was the last to come around we decided just to skip him.

I won't even attempt a review of the food. We all ate. None of us were impressed, but given the rest of the experience they could have been serving Michelin-starred cuisine and I don't think we'd have enjoyed it much. Nothing stands out in my mind as especially good or bad and we certainly won't be back. In fact, this was the first time I've ever had an experience at Disney that was so bad that I wrote to guest services about it when we returned home. I never did get a response. :(

Dinner left a bad taste in all our mouths, metaphorically speaking, but the park was open until 1am and we had rides to do so we shook off our annoyance and forged ahead.

First stop, Haunted Mansion which was up and running now. The interactive queue is really fun. We let quite a few families pass us by while we were playing.

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I love the new effect at the end too. I rode with Pocahontas and the hitchhiking ghosts swapped our heads!

As much for my mom as for Boo we stopped to ride Small World again. Stitch and my brother sat it out - they're both "too cool" for Small World! Then we headed over to Philharmagic, which is another of my mom's favorites. After that she decided to call it a night, as she was getting tired and had seen all of her favorites. My brother went too, ready to call it a night. No stamina, those two!

We were having no such problems though!

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The girls rode the carousel twice so they could each take a turn choosing which horses to ride, then decided we had to see Philharmagic again. Without a doubt this is the best of Disney's 3D movies.

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Then all three kids rode the tea cups twice in a row with DH while I watched.

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We hit Winnie the Pooh but didn't even ride; the kids just played in the queue for about a half hour.

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We rode Snow White's Scary Adventure for the last time (though I thought that in March too! I guess third time is the charm - we'll be there again the week before it closes forever) Then it was one more ride on the tea cups before heading back to Tomorrowland to finish out the night.

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Back in Tomorrowland we traded off riding Space again. Ken took the big kids while Boo & I walked on Buzz a couple more times. She really loves this ride now, it was all she wanted to do!

Then I took Pocahontas for another round on Space while Stitch decided to take Boo on Astro Orbiter. I'm happy to skip that one these days because for some reason the height makes the spinning effect more intense than the grounded rides like Dumbo & the Magic Carpets, but Boo loved "flying" way above the Magic Kingdom. Then we all rode Buzz one last time before deciding to call it a night. Stitch won, as usual. The only time I win is when it is just me and Boo riding!

It was well after midnight by the time we made it back to Main Street so we stopped in to use a couple snack credits at the bakery and confectionery on our way out, knowing that everything at Pop would be closed by the time we got back. We got back to our room around 1am and fell right to sleep. Ken & Pocahontas had an early morning ahead of them and we were all pretty wiped out from a very long, very fun day at the Magic Kingdom.

Colleen27

04-24-2012, 05:51 PM

Day 7 - Jan 30

Despite the late night, DH and Pocahontas had to get going early for her YES Ocean Discovery class. The meeting time was 8:30 at the flagpole at the Epcot gates, so the buses were running in plenty of time for them to be there. They tried to be quiet when getting ready so that the rest of us could sleep in a bit, but Boo & I woke up as they were leaving so we decided to head to Epcot for a little just-us time.

Stitch decided to sleep in, and with my mom & brother next door I didn't think twice about leaving him behind.

Boo & I got to Epcot around 9:30.

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The first stop was to see Daisy and Stitch just inside the gates, since we hadn't run into either of them elsewhere yet. Neither of them had much of a line and it didn't take long to meet them both.

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Then it was on to a morning of riding Journey Into Imagination over and over, playing in the post ride area, and eating popsicles on the bench under the monorail beam.

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Pocahontas really enjoyed her class. In fact, she wants us to plan our future trips around YES open enrollment so she can try some of their other programs. They toured the Living Seas with a particular focus on conservation. The main topic of the class is sea turtles but Pocahontas said they got to spend quite a bit of time with the manatees too and she loves manatees.

The class wrapped up around 11:30 and DH called to see what the rest of us were up to, so they met up with us and we headed off to see some of the World Showcase characters we didn't catch on our first Epcot day.

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We met Mary Poppins in England, Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco, Snow White in Germany, and Mulan in China.

Mary Poppins had Pocahontas hold her parasol while she signed the purse.

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And Boo danced with Mr Penguin.

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Aladdin was impressed with Boo's dress and Pocahontas' purse, and decided I must have phenomenal cosmic powers. :rotfl:

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Pocahontas got her henna tattoo in Morocco and was very excited to show it off to her friends when we got home.

In Japan, we watched Miyuki for the second time and got pictures with her this time too.

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We stopped for lunch at Tangerine Cafe, where two meals was way too much food for the 4 of us but everything was very tasty. I wasn't minding counter service as much as on past trips, I think because now I know the parks well enough to have a sense for where to find better options. The last time we did the basic dining plan was '07 and I really didn't like most of our counter service experiences.

While we ate we talked about the options for the afternoon. My original plan had been to go to the waterpark but it was a little on the cool side and very breezy so getting in and out of the water didn't sound like much fun.

Then we debated going over to the Magic Kingdom to try some of the Kingdom Keepers Quest scavenger hunt since Pocahontas had gotten the materials at Thursday's seminar, but she was sort of tired from the late night/early morning and we ultimately decided that swimming sounded good.

I expected to find my brother and Stitch when we got back to Pop but as it turned out they'd gone over to Disney Quest again when they woke up, and my mom made a last minute appointment for a massage at Saratoga Springs spa. So it was just DH & I and the girls at the pool. It wasn't bad swimming at Pop - the trick was not getting out of the water, so it was a good thing we decided against the water park!

Everyone else got back to the room around the time the girls got tired of swimming and we sat down to decide where to head for the evening. I hadn't made dinner plans, thinking we'd probably go to ESPN Club and then to Studios for evening EMH because we never quite finish Studios in a day. But since we did so much on our full day there no one was all that interested in going back.

My brother had seen T-Rex on one of his many trips over to Downtown Disney and wanted me to check if we could get in there. The Disney site wasn't showing any openings but I'd read on the DIS to call and that got us a table for 7 at 8:00, which gave us just enough time to get everyone dried off, dressed, and ready.

I wasn't sure about trying T-Rex with Boo because on our last visit to the local Rainforest Cafe she got scared every time the thunderstorm cycle started and I spent most of our lunch holding her. She had no such problems with T-Rex, though. The space is so much larger and the ceilings so much higher that the sound doesn't boom and rumble the way our local RFC does, and she really liked the jellyfish decor. We were seated against the wall under a pterodacyl, with a good view of the jellyfish bar area.

Everything we ordered was excellent. The food isn't creative or especially unique but the portions are large, everything was very tasty, and compared to Disney's restaurants the menu selection was massive. I was glad they added this place to the dining plan because it ended up being one of the best meals of the trip. I had a seafood combination plate with a mixed seafood scampi and grilled shrimp on a skewer that was just wonderful, and Boo was thrilled to find popcorn shrimp on the kids' menu. Stitch had a pulled pork sandwich but didn't leave me a bite, DH had chicken-fried steak that was as big as his plate, and Pocahontas got a rib dinner that was enough to have midnight-snack leftovers for DH & both big kids to share later.

I was surprised that there were no menu restrictions or rules for the DDP with the exception of requiring 4 people to combine desserts to order the extinction sundae, and we did just that. It was plenty for all 7 of us and the kids loved the smoking (dry ice) presentation.

While we were there we almost had a disaster - Pocahontas was taking pictures of the restaurant and stopped in to use the restroom, and left her iPod Touch on the toilet paper holder in the stall. Fortunately for her some kind soul turned it in and when she asked about it at the hostess stand they had it waiting for her. The manager was great about it too, asking her to describe the case (which is rather unique - she has a heat-sensitive color-change back on hers) to be sure it was hers and making a fuss over her case which really helped calm her down.

After dinner we took our time heading back to the bus stop. I almost bought Boo a pair of headphones until I saw the price tag - $50 is a bit much for headphones for a 3yo, even if they do have Minnie ears. I'll probably buy them for her eventually because they're the style she likes and that even Pocahontas prefers when size isn't an issue, but I'm watching for a sale or coupon for DisneyStore.com before I order. They are so very cute, though!

We stopped in at the outdoor bar at Raglan Road to have a drink since we weren't in any hurry to get back to Pop. The patio area there is really nice, with outdoor heaters that offset the cool night air just enough to make it pleasant, and we probably spent most of an hour sipping on our drinks before finally heading back to the bus stop. Since it was such a cool night the kids didn't want to swim, and they fell asleep pretty quickly watching the new Planet of the Apes movie on the iPod.

After they dozed off Ken & I grabbed a couple of the beers out of our fridge - we had to finish them before we left after all! - and went for a walk down by the lake and got to talking to a security guard who was riding around in his golf cart. He was a really nice guy, a recently retired NY cop working Disney security a couple nights a week, and boy did he have some stories to tell... I never would have thought of Disney resorts as a place where security would have to remind young women not to swim topless! LOL Apparently some of the college cheer groups and the Brazilians can get pretty wild late a night.

It was probably close to 2 before we got back to the room and we were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows. The weather forecast was looking good for finally squeezing in some waterpark time so we didn't want to sleep too late the next morning.

dara00

04-24-2012, 05:55 PM

what a fun MK day!

I love this:

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You can see Push's control guy in the background!

NLD

04-24-2012, 07:26 PM

All caught up and enjoying it! As always, Boo's outfits are adorable and your photos are fantastic.

We were at MK the same day, the 29th. Way more crowded than I had expected for late January. And the 28th... yikes. (That was arrival day for us and we were at MK that night. I had wondered if it was just MK, but your AK pictures confirm the crowds weren't restricted to one park!)

pld5

04-24-2012, 09:48 PM

I was there the same time as you, but it looks like the only overlap we had was the Epcot Extra Magic Hours. What great weather we had that week!

I'm loving your report. I love the outfits that your Boo is wearing.

Colleen27

04-25-2012, 02:20 PM

what a fun MK day!

I love this:

http://inlinethumb28.webshots.com/32603/2913675330051332420S500x500Q85.jpg

You can see Push's control guy in the background!

Funny! :cool1: I didn't even notice him until you pointed that out!

All caught up and enjoying it! As always, Boo's outfits are adorable and your photos are fantastic.

We were at MK the same day, the 29th. Way more crowded than I had expected for late January. And the 28th... yikes. (That was arrival day for us and we were at MK that night. I had wondered if it was just MK, but your AK pictures confirm the crowds weren't restricted to one park!)

I was there the same time as you, but it looks like the only overlap we had was the Epcot Extra Magic Hours. What great weather we had that week!

I'm loving your report. I love the outfits that your Boo is wearing.

Thanks. :goodvibes I forgot to mention... At Epcot on the 29th I actually got to meet a fellow DISer who recognized Boo's dress from the DisBoutique Project Runway competition! I was so totally flattered that it made such an impression!

The weather really was perfect for January. Watch out for that week next year, though - our last two winter trips had nice weather, but the following year the same dates got hit with record cold. :lmao: So expect Jan '13 to be a chilly one!

Colleen27

04-25-2012, 02:56 PM

Day 8 - Jan 31

Our last full day in Florida. :( My original plan had been to go back to the Magic Kingdom, but since the weather was looking wonderful we decided to hit Blizzard Beach instead.

My mom stayed at Pop and did laundry. She's a little odd that way - she doesn't like having a suitcase full of dirty clothes when she gets home, and since she doesn't swim or go on waterslides she often spends our waterpark days doing laundry and reading by the pool.

The rest of us headed out around 10am and got to Blizzard Beach just a few minutes after they opened.

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Forgive the so-so pics in this installment - I don't take my SLR to the waterpark for obvious reasons and didn't think to grab the point & shoot from my mom, so these are all from my phone.

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The place was dead. No lines for anything and for the first few hours Boo was the only kid in the little kids' play area.

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I mostly hung out with her, sitting in the shallow water and reading on the Nook app on my phone. The water in both the toddler area and the bigger kids' play area was warm, but the lazy river was cold so we skipped that even though she usually likes them.

Boo didn't want to go on any of the slides at first, but then Pocahontas convinced her to try the tube slide in the bigger kids' area and she was hooked. She spent the rest of the day going on all the slides in both kids areas, and she made friends with another little girl with the same name that joined her in going round and round the slides in the toddler area for a while.

Stitch and my brother went off together to hit the really big speed slides. Stitch really liked having Uncle B along because it let him do more at his own pace, including chatting up cute girls. The two of them ended up spending a good part of the afternoon with two Chinese girls, both college program CMs on their day off. :rotfl: At home Stitch is still too shy to talk to girls he thinks are pretty.

Ken & Pocahontas ran around to all the slides for a while, then took a break to hang out with Boo while I went on the big tube slide. We also traded off so we could all ride the family raft ride - first DH & Uncle B took the big kids, then Uncle B took Boo to get some lunch while Ken & I & the big kids rode.

It was about 4 when we decided to call it a day.

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Pocahontas wanted to be back to Pop for the afternoon pin trading at 5 and 5:30 because there was a Muppet she was still missing, and we all wanted to shower and change into proper clothes before dinner.

Pocahontas never did get her Fozzie but she did find one of the old guys from the balcony to add to her collection, and Boo picked up yet another Figment pin. The big kids each gave her a few of their "traders" to get her started and by the end of the trip she'd traded every one of them for Figments.

Dinner was at Ohana at 8:20. Rather than take the bus to the Magic Kingdom, which is the longest ride from Pop, and then deal with the closing-time crowds on the monorail or boat to the Poly we took a bus to Epcot and rode the monorail over. I'm not sure it was significantly quicker but it was relaxing - a nearly empty bus and a monorail car all to ourselves, and then the nice walk from the TTC to the Poly main building. Wishes was going off when we checked in for dinner, and we had a little bit of a wait to be seated, maybe 20 minutes or so.

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Dinner was great. I wasn't looking forward to it all that much because I'm just not a big meat eater and wasn't wowed by our first visit to Ohana in '08, but this time was much nicer. The salad was excellent and I could have made a meal of the wings and pot stickers. I didn't have much of the main course meat actually, just one piece of each to get a taste. The chicken was a little on the dry side and I hate how messy peel & eat shrimp is, but the rest was was really tasty. And dessert was absolutely fabulous! I don't think the bread pudding was the dessert when we were there the first time because I can't imagine I'd have forgotten that! The service was good too, and Boo had a lot of fun with the little parade and maracas.

It was nearly 10pm by the time we were leaving the Poly so we hopped a cab back to Pop rather than transferring at Downtown Disney. It is well worth the $20 to save the hassle of transferring if there isn't a nearby park still open! It hadn't been an especially long or busy day, but we were all pretty wiped out. Waterparks always do that to us - all those stairs and the sun & water are far more tiring than walking the parks! So I put Lion King on the iPod and we all crashed pretty early.

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Colleen27

04-25-2012, 03:21 PM

Day 9 - Feb 1

As a rule I don't plan anything for departure days, and this was no exception. The plan for the day was to lounge around the resort or maybe head over to Blizzard Beach for a while before our 3pm ME pick up.

However I found myself up early and had one day left on my ticket since we didn't spend a second day at the Magic Kingdom, so I decided to head over to Studios on my own to pick up a t-shirt that I regretted not buying for Stitch.

I got there about 8:30, the turnstiles opened at 8:45, and by 9:30 I'd ridden Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster, bought Stitch's "Lord of the Strings" shirt from the RnR gift shop, stopped at Starring Rolls to burn a couple of counter service credits on muffins for breakfast and sandwiches to pack in our carry-on for the long afternoon at the airport, picked up a few goodies from the candy shop, and was on the bus on my way back to Pop. Everyone else was just getting up when I got back.

I love being in the parks solo, even for just a little while! One of these days I'm going to fit in a solo trip...

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Uncle B and Stitch went over to the waterpark for a couple hours right when they opened, but the rest of us decided just to hang out around the resort.

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Boo & Pocahontas swam and did a little pin trading in the lobby, then we used up the last of our snack credits on the movie-theatre style boxes of candy that the kids like, and had lunch at the food court. I also picked up a couple more to-go items, sandwiches for the adults and chicken strips for the girls, and packed it in my new Mickey tote bag for the flight and we headed out.

Since we got in too late on arrival day, the girls decided to play with the toys out front while we waited for the bus.

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ME got us to the airport plenty early, as usual, and our flight home was uneventful except for a stalling problem when pushing back from the gate that was enough to have me on edge for the whole flight home.

Colleen27

04-25-2012, 03:25 PM

A few more pictures from my phone...

On Magical Express on the way to Pop, excited even though it is the middle of the night.

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My favorite warning sign in all of WDW. "May" get wet? :rotfl:

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And the view from the top. A decent waterproof camera is high on my Christmas list!

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Colleen27

04-25-2012, 03:30 PM

Some final thoughts...

All in all it was a good trip. Traveling with my brother took some getting used to and it really isn't something I'm in a hurry to do again, but the kids enjoyed the experience and so did he. I learned some things too, in the course of relaxing my usual over-planning approach and taking each day more as it came. My brother will never be a Disney person; he just doesn't appreciate the attention to detail and prefers parks where he can run from ride to ride, but he does want to join us whenever we get around to doing Universal.

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Pop Century was nice enough for our girls' trip in March but I won't stay there again with DH. We don't sleep well in a double and he really hated having to trek down to the food court for his morning coffee, not to mention having to settle for what passes for coffee from Disney's dispensers. At least at a moderate or better he gets that one small pot of brewed coffee, not great brewed coffee but better than Nescafe or whatever it is that the food courts serve.

We had great weather all week but I'm still not sure I want to go back in January. That'll probably be a moot question, though, because at this point there are so many things limiting and influencing our choices in travel dates that my personal preference falls way down the list of priorities.

The parks were much more crowded than on our last January trip and the Brazilian groups more noticeable, though not as bad/rude as I'd gotten the impression that they'd be. The group staying at Pop was quite friendly and polite, offering to stand on the buses and other common courtesies that I don't see many American teens extending without a parent's prompting, and they seemed to be having such fun. Loud at times, sure, but I'll take loud & excited over the spoiled brats that walk through the parks texting and oblivious to the people they run into!

Flying in so late was horrible and not an experience I plan to repeat, but like our travel dates sometimes other commitments make that the best choice so I can't really say "never again" with any confidence. I'll do my best to avoid it, though!

The dining plan really didn't work for us this trip. We've used the deluxe plan for so many in a row until this one, but I don't think that'll work in the future either. Between the credit card policy on signature dinners and the fact that neither of my girls want to eat according to their age level we've decided we're going to skip the plan altogether next time unless it is offered for free. We ended up leaving 6 counter service credits unused between the 2 rooms, and paid out of pocket for a couple of appetizers here and there.

The YES program, on the other hand, was such a hit with Pocahontas that she wants to plan all our future trips around taking classes. The ticket discount is a great perk too - we saved about $800 on what comparable tickets would cost at normal prices, and about $550 compared to the tickets we'd have bought without the program (WP&M but no hopper). Meeting Ridley Pearson was great, the presentation was awesome, and she thought the class was even better.

All in all it was a really fun trip. There were some bumps here and there but we all had a really good time. I can't wait to get back!