PTR for the planning obsessed....Updated 11/5 We're home now.

[Charleston Princess]

Thanks for the welcome home!!!

I enjoyed reading all about Epcot in 1984 this morning -- I didn't realize that Test Track still retains World of Motion's original shape -- I don't know why I thought they rebuilt the building entirely.

Those air-brished overalls -- WOW!

 

[MRYPPNS]

You are so adorable with your WDW pennant!

I can't wait to read more about your planning and you should post about DL!

I'm hoping to be able to post today while DS is napping.

Thanks for the welcome home!!!

I enjoyed reading all about Epcot in 1984 this morning -- I didn't realize that Test Track still retains World of Motion's original shape -- I don't know why I thought they rebuilt the building entirely.

Those air-brished overalls -- WOW!

That's cool that you had Epcot 2008 fresh in your mind while looking at 1984! That's why I want to take more pictures...things change so much and it's hard to remember how it was.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I'm hoping to be able to post today while DS is napping.


That's cool that you had Epcot 2008 fresh in your mind while looking at 1984! That's why I want to take more pictures...things change so much and it's hard to remember how it was.

I took sooo many pictures while we were there this time -- I was a little camera happy!

 

[MRYPPNS]

I'm working on an update but I have to work today so hopefully I'll get it up in a couple days. And I have another mini tr from Stroyland that I want to share with you.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I'm working on an update but I have to work today so hopefully I'll get it up in a couple days. And I have another mini tr from Stroyland that I want to share with you.

I will definitely be looking forward to it!

Are you feeling better?

 

[DisMomAmy]

Can't wait for the update! Hope you had fun at Storyland! Amy

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm working on an update but I have to work today so hopefully I'll get it up in a couple days. And I have another mini tr from Stroyland that I want to share with you.

Ooh...I love Storyland!

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Ooh...I love Storyland!

Me too... One of the attorneys is taking her DD tomorrow...

 

[MRYPPNS]

For those of you that don’t know Storyland in Glen NH is a theme park mainly based on children’s stories with rides and shows, food and shopping. Sound like another place you know? My family has been coming here since the 60’s (I have two older sisters). 2 years ago all my nieces and nephews were home for my wedding so we all trucked it up to the White Mountains the weekend before. We had a great time, and by the way, my sister Sue can do the spiel for the Silver Mines better then the employees!

So I knew this was the prefect place to take Liam to see how he would react and to test run his parents thru a theme park with the stroller for the first time. DH usually has Friday’s off so we decided to go the Friday of Father’s Day weekend (it helped that the tickets were discounted….I tell you I don’t pay retail!)
It’s 1 ¾ hour drive to get to the park and I wanted to get there at opening – 9am. My plan was to pack everything up the night before and be ready to go. DH was going to be late Thursday night from work. He’s was suppose to get home at 7:30pm. He calls at 9pm and says he’s gonna be later. Oh did I mention that he has an hour commute home? Yeah cool huh? I went to bed sometime after 10pm thinking he would be home by midnight. I woke up with a start at 2am…no DH in bed….ok must be sleeping on the couch….nope…..not home. I managed to find my cel phone and call him….I wasn’t so nice. He got home sometime around 3am!!! We were leaving the house at 7am! I slept like carp, not to mention that I was wearing a serious pair of cranky pants because I was generally PO that this was going to spoil my plans….he got about 3 hours worth of sleep when I woke him up at 6:30 to ask him if he was going….the smart man answered yes. We left at 7:30am…I drove, he dozed.

The parking lot was pretty busy for 9:15am…missed opening but it was fine. I would suggest not getting there after 10am.

Here’s Liam having a banana in the back of our Trailblazer.

This is the first picture that we always take with Humpty Dumpty

The old women in the shoe gives you a sticker. There really is an old lady in there….back when I was a kid it was a little piece of painted metal with the logo on it that you folded over a tab on the top to “pin” to your shirt.

This is the Grandfather Tree playground…Liam was too little this year.

For my DISER’s I took pictures of the bathroom…I give them all high flush marks! Jordan I think would approve of them.

All the bathrooms have a girl’s side, a boy’s side and in the middle is a single “family” bathroom stall. I only went in the girl’s side but it was clean and had a nice citrus smell.

On the side of every bathhouse is a part called Mama’s House. It’s for Mom and babies ONLY. There was a small sink and mirror, a couple rocking chairs and 4 baby changing stations. They were great….I changed Liam in one everytime because they are all over the park…..something that I wish Disney would do. I thought of an idea to make the diaper changes quicker when we are at Disney so this would be a great place to try it. For each diaper that I needed I put it in a quart size Ziploc bag with 2 paper towels and 1 disposable changing pad. In a little mesh bag that had handles I had the travel package of wipes, rash ointment, sun block and pruell. So all I had to do was thrown in a ziplock bag and I was all set. It worked really well except that my bag of ziplocked diapers kept getting buried in the bottom of the stroller storage thing. I need to think of a work around for that.

This is by the Tea Cups

Then they have a whole section with story book animals. Here are a few:

3 Little Pigs

Billy Goat Guff

Our first ride was the swan boats...it was a walk on.They have all sizes of life vests and Liam was really good about putting one on and wearing it (unlike a little girl behind us in line). And Storyland has thought about little kids because they is an adult waist high bench to sit the kids up on to get the life jackets on.

Here's the castle

You can walk to it or wait for the pumpkin coach to take you up (you can just barely see it in the picture). When my sisters were little it was real horses that pulled the coach....now they are fakers.

Then we went on the Carousel. No lines again.

(this posted before I was done)

To Be Continued........

 

[DisMomAmy]

Yay!! I was hoping you'd get some Storyland pictures posted before we go. One week from tomorrow.

Can't wait to see the rest of your pictures. Looks like you guys were having fun so far. Next time, can I recommend the day and a half visit... if you get there after 2 or 3 you get free tickets to go back another day. That's our plan for next Thursday - get there at 3 and go back on either Friday or Saturday for a full day. But that only works if you plan to stay overnight - then it isn't really coming back for free.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Storyland Continued....

This is their rip off of It's a Small World...it's just a entrance way

This is the Polar Coaster...we didn't ride because you have to be 48 inches tall

This is the frozen "stick" thing out in front of the Polar Coaster...they have to replace it everday after it melts.

Next up is lunch.....to be continued

 

[stagemomx3]

Liam is really just to cute! DH looks like he's holding up ok for not much sleep. Looks like you are having fun so far.

 

[willwriteforears]

I've seen you on the Lapuettes thread so I thought I'd pop by. Liam is adorable!

I'd never heard of Storyland, but I'm in Colorado, so... *shrug*

But seriously: "A Child's Visit to Other Lands"? Total rip-off! With a not-too-clever name.

But the park on the whole looks interesting. My neck of the woods doesn't have anything like it.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I now understand your comment about your DH from the LapuLapuettes thread!

Storyland looks like a lot of fun! Wish it was closer to Georgia!

Liam looks like he is having a grand time!

So, I have to ask, because your pictures are fab! What kind of camera do you have?

 

[MRYPPNS]

Yay!! I was hoping you'd get some Storyland pictures posted before we go. One week from tomorrow.

Can't wait to see the rest of your pictures. Looks like you guys were having fun so far. Next time, can I recommend the day and a half visit... if you get there after 2 or 3 you get free tickets to go back another day. That's our plan for next Thursday - get there at 3 and go back on either Friday or Saturday for a full day. But that only works if you plan to stay overnight - then it isn't really coming back for free.

Right now it's still a day trip for us...I'm having a hard time convincing DH that we need to stay over night for an evening wedding in CT in Sept. that we are going to. I did see a lot of families come in at 3pm and that's what my friend Stacy does with her 3 girls and hubby. I'll have some seating advise coming up for you.

Liam is really just to cute! DH looks like he's holding up ok for not much sleep. Looks like you are having fun so far.

Thank you...he's 13 months now! DH did do very well....he knew to keep his cranky pants at home.

I've seen you on the Lapuettes thread so I thought I'd pop by. Liam is adorable!

I'd never heard of Storyland, but I'm in Colorado, so... *shrug*

But seriously: "A Child's Visit to Other Lands"? Total rip-off! With a not-too-clever name.

But the park on the whole looks interesting. My neck of the woods doesn't have anything like it.

Thanks for coming by! Thing is a lot of Disney like things there but most of them are done to very well.

I now understand your comment about your DH from the LapuLapuettes thread!

Storyland looks like a lot of fun! Wish it was closer to Georgia!

Liam looks like he is having a grand time!

So, I have to ask, because your pictures are fab! What kind of camera do you have?

The next time you find yourself in New England I'll take you!

We have a Sony Cyber Shot 7.2 mega pixels....it's super easy to use and has a huge LCD monitor.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Storyland continued....

Before lunch we rode some more rides, including the Great Balloon Chase. I have no pictures of that one. It was basically a little ferris wheel but the seating is in hot air balloons. Folks don't bother with this one if there is a line. It was walk on for us but it loads and unloads really s-l-o-w-l-y. We also rode the Tractor Ride (that's the name: Tractor Ride). This was very cute and we ended up riding it again later in the day.

This is the farm that Cinderella must get her pumpkin coaches from!

[DS just woke up....I'll finish later.....]

 

[Charleston Princess]

The next time you find yourself in New England I'll take you!

We have a Sony Cyber Shot 7.2 mega pixels....it's super easy to use and has a huge LCD monitor.

Okay!

I wonder how close it is to Barre, VT where Charles has scads of family...

A digital camera HAS to be my next major vacation purchase -- right after I put down a deposit on our next WDW vacation.

That pumpkin coach is too cute!

Tractor Ride??? Somebody lost their creativity when it came time to name that one!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Okay!

I wonder how close it is to Barre, VT where Charles has scads of family...

A digital camera HAS to be my next major vacation purchase -- right after I put down a deposit on our next WDW vacation.

That pumpkin coach is too cute!

Tractor Ride??? Somebody lost their creativity when it came time to name that one!

You I had to look it up on Mapquest....Barre is about 1 1/2 hour drive from my house and a bit over 2 hours to Storyland.

And yes girl you have to get a digit camera! I want a waterproof one now for the water parks.

Tractor Ride...I know....I even double checked the map. It's really cute too, and in the barn the farmer takes your picture and let's you know it's coming.

 

[MRYPPNS]

The never ending Storyland story continues.....

It was 11am and I wanted to eat lunch early like we do at WDW, plus I wanted to catch the 12pm circus show.
We decided to eat at "Flying Carpet Sandwich Oasis". I actually don't think anything else was open expect for the Pixie Kitchen in the front of the park...probably should have eaten there....
I made 2 mistakes here. First we all ordered together and pretty much waited for the food together. What we should have done was split up so one of us could set Liam up so he was ready to eat...I under estimated how long that takes when your not at home. My second mistake was not ordering a cheeseburger. I love cheap greasy cheeseburgers...they really can't be messed up.

Sorry no food porn. We ordered:
Hot Dog $1.50 for Liam
BBQ Pork Sandwich $5.45 for DH
Chicken & Cheese sandwich $ 5.95 for me
Frozen Lemonade $1.50 for DH

The hot dog was very good…nice soft white bun. DH thought the BBQ Pork sandwich was OK. My sandwich was billed as a Philly chicken & cheese. It had pepper and onions but they were pretty cold and there wasn’t much meat. None of our sandwiches came with fries or chips. I should have gotten my cheap cheeseburger! Oh and the frozen lemonade was nice…it was pink lemonade so it was on the sweet side.
In planning for this day trip as practice for Disney I had purchased a portable booster chair for Liam that auto inflates without a pump or your mouth and in packs down to about 3 inches high. I really wanted to try it out because we’ll need it for CS meals at WDW. I didn’t get to try it out because we ended up at a picnic table style table for lunch at Storyland….we’ll just have to have another outing so I can test it !

Here’s the view from the upstairs sitting area.

Next up was the circus. This is new to the park this year. I was on the fence about seeing it until I figured out there were no animals expect for housecats in the show. I’m not looking for a debate but I have major issues with animals in traveling circuses. It’s not Humane….they travel by box car. It the summer. They perform un-natural tricks. End of soapbox.

So a little before noon we headed up to the tent. It wasn’t very full in there and it was hot. It’s gonna be nasty under that big top in August at the 2pm shows…ugh. There were 4 or 5 acts…about ½ hour for the whole show. A tip on seating since I know DisMomAmy is going up next week. When you walk into the tent you are facing the ring…let’s say you are the 6 o’clock position….I would suggest you sit between the 5 o’clock and 8 o’clock positions. We sat at 3 o’clock and all thou we could see everything fine, the illusion of the first act was a bit spoiled and from the 3 o’clock side you are really close to the big walk of death wheel.

Liam did pretty good during the show. It was pass his normal nap time and it was really loud in there so he just kinda snuggled into me and didn’t watch much.

Oh yeah I almost forgot about the housecats….there were only 2 tricks that I didn’t like the cats doing but one was really minor and the other well I didn’t find to be a very natural position for the cats to be in (they weren’t harmed or anything). I’m not giving details because I don’t want to spoil the show for anyone going this summer.

After that we walked around some more

This is the wet play area

This is the Crazy Barn...I went on it in 2006 and I'm not going back on it until I have a kid that is begging me....and then I might still not!

The Dutch Shoes.....a cousin of Dumbo

You can actually milk this cow....water will come out of the udders

The attention to detail is actualy very good for a small seasonal park.

there is more if you can believe it.....to be continued again!

 

[Charleston Princess]

You I had to look it up on Mapquest....Barre is about 1 1/2 hour drive from my house and a bit over 2 hours to Storyland.

And yes girl you have to get a digit camera! I want a waterproof one now for the water parks.

Tractor Ride...I know....I even double checked the map. It's really cute too, and in the barn the farmer takes your picture and let's you know it's coming.

Really? You are that close!!! Hmmm, that trip my MIL keeps pestering us to take to see family (she keeps emailing me pics of lakeside cabins up there) is suddenly sounding like a lot more fun.

I liked that I found the cybershot in pink! Hello, my birthday present in November!

Oh dear Lord!!! Does that thing just shake and go way over from side to side??? There is no way you'll see me on that thing!

These are hilarious to me!!! I want to ride in a pair of Dutch shoes!!!