Going from Friday the 13th to Enchanted- Day 9: 'Round Midnight update 7/19/11

[Moira222]

HERE WE GO! I had such a fun time doing my PTR I am following up with a TR!

The rest of this post is saved for adding chapter links.

WELCOME!

• In the Beginning
• Friday the 13th
  
• Day 2: Four Rooms (part 1)
• Day 2: Four Rooms (part 2)
• Day 3: Up! (part 1)
• Day 3: Up! (part 2)
• Now a word from .....
• Day 3: Up! (part 3)
• Day 3: Up! (part 4)
• Day 4: Joy Ride! p4 and 5
• Day 5: Katie's Turn at the Kingdom (p5)
• Day 6:Happy Birthday Joe (or Joe vs the Volcano) (p6)
• Planting the seeds
• Day 7: Pool Party! (p7) and part 2 of day 7
• Day 8: May the Force Be With You
• Day 8 part 2 Kouzzina
• Day 8 part 3: Pearls & farewell EPCOT
• Day 9: 'Round Midnight part 1
• Day 9 part 2
• So Sad...Going Home Day
  

 

[KatMark]

I'm here.

 

[All7OfUs]

No better place to start than right at the beginning! Glad to be aboard!

 

[Moira222]

OMG you guys are FAST! I was just playing with my signature and saw you beat me to the first post LOL too funny!

 

[Moira222]

In case you haven’t read my PTR, let me introduce my little family to you:

Joe, aka Dad, Shrek, Grumpy, or Prince Charming (Or Officer Joe when he’s working) – depends on when you catch him! This is his “BIG TRIP”. We were originally going to travel to WDW in October 2011 but a few things in life changed, and in mid-January I did some math, some weather & crowd comparisons and realized that we could go in May for Joe’s birthday. He was SO thrilled and excited to be going for his birthday. His family has always been on the dull side when it came to family travel, celebrations, anything cool like that. You know how you’re doing something silly and child like, and you say to your spouse/SO “remember when you were a kid and you …..” (fill in the blank with anything fun like block chase, long bike rides in the rain, water balloon battles with your whole family, family day trips to a lake, etc.) and his answer is always “No, we never did that”. Seriously. EVERY TIME. Very annoying, and almost like a joke now that we have a 7 almost 8 YO and I am forever trying to give her crazy funny memories like the ones I have from my childhood.

So I just loved being able to say yeah, let’s go to Disney for your birthday. WAHOO!

Katie, aka Princess and also Minnie-me. She is 7 ¾ -- turning 8 in July. She is very much in the middle of being a little girl and trying to be a big girl. Secretly still loves the princesses, but also wants to rock out with Hannah Montana and the Lemonade Mouth crew. Add to this that my “little girl” is about 55” – so she towers over most kids her age and is frequently mistaken for being closer to 9 or 10. She is our only child, and after many prayers and tears, we were blessed with her presence right after our 11th wedding anniversary, so heck yeah we spoil her. But just because we spoil her does not mean we accept spoiled bratty behavior. It’s a constant battle. UGH!

Mary Ellen – ME! Aka Moira22 here on DISBoards and many other boards. If you have seen moira222 as a sign on, there’s a really good chance it’s me! I wanted to go to Disney World when I graduated from college in 1994, but Joe wouldn’t commit to taking vacation time and it ended up being a weekend in the mountains of PA. When Katie was born I started a Disney Savings account – every other week $10 goes into it automatically. We were going to go for the first time in 2008 when Katie was almost 5, but well 2006 was such a monumentally crappy year that we decided we weren’t going to wait, and went in January of 2007 when she was 3 ½. WE LOVED IT! Literally on the plane on the way home from that trip, Joe apologized for taking so long to come around. We went again in January of 2009. It was the Celebrations year, and it was one month prior to my 40th birthday so yeah, I mentioned we were “pre celebrating” my birthday. It was so cool – I got a birthday pin and everyone wished me Happy Birthday. I received a 5 x7 glossy of Mickey, autographed, in a card/frame and a very nice print, sort of like the ones that you see in the Contemporary’s lobby. (remember that later) I have been impressed from the beginning with the way Disney has truly mastered Customer Service and goes over the top to ensure customer satisfaction (well, usually…) I totally enjoy planning out all the different aspects of a DisneyWorld trip, and even though I plan things pretty thoroughly I am a “roll with it” sorta chick. I rarely stomp my foot to get my way, and follow the philosophy of “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and really, it’s ALL small stuff in the big picture right? If it won’t matter 50 years from now, well then it really shouldn’t matter 5 minutes from now either. (usually) It’s not that things don’t bother me, it’s just that I try to blow them off—as my Pop-pop would say “like water off a duck’s butt”

We have one more family member who didn’t make the trip with us: Thor. He’s our furry child – a 5+ year old German Shepherd 100lb lap dog. We missed our baby on our trip, but had a most awesome house & dog sitter who was kind enough to drop us off at the airport & pick us up when we returned.

You'll get to know us soon enough, Let's get this party started!

 

[KatMark]

GREAT introduction Mary Ellen. I'm really looking forward to this after your fun PTR. As you said, let's get this party started.

 

[Moira222]

Finally finally finally we get to the last loop on our countdown chain…the one that says WALT DISNEY WORLD! Wahoo! Of course it’s still a regular school day for Katie who has to keep her excitement in check until we pick her up at 3:25 pm.

After dropping Katie off at school, I head to CVS for a few personal items, back track to the bookstore to buy her Diary of a Wimpy Kid book 2—she is halfway through her book from the library but we refuse to let her take a library book on vacation. sheesh. I should have let her – the book store only has these in $14 hard covers, as opposed to the $6 soft bound book the library has. Head up to the liquor store for a bottle of rum then home for the rest of my to do list. No rest of weary finish up packing, cleaning bathrooms, remaking beds, change my purse around, all sorts of good stuff then shower and off to get my nails done. YEAH. I got the new gel colors – have you heard of them? they go on nice and thick, dry quickly and really, its 13 days later and my nails still have not chipped. of course now I have a ridge at the bottom where my nails have grown, but ya can’t have everything can you? lol. Nails done, I picked up subway sandwiches for dinner at the airport, and headed home.

Our house/dog sitter arrived a few minutes before me so we chatted, got her set up to check her email using our laptop (the desktop area was just a mess though Joe did show her) and Joe packed up the car. tick tick tick tick..yippee 3:10. Time to go get Katie and head to the airport… WAHOOOO

We get to the airport without a hitch. Check our bag, rearrange a few things to get it below 50 lbs, and head to security. love it when a plans comes together, don’t you? Except…. going through security I do a carry on bag check. Uh oh, where is Katie’s back pack? Joe has no idea and is not very happy that I realize it is missing now. grr. he is always stressed out when he had to fly and I am not making it better! So I get Katie and Joe up to the gate, then head back downstairs, calling Sharon to explain what the bag looks like that is still in the office. She is a doll and grabs it, turns around, and drives it up to the airport. THANK GOD for flying locally!

Joe and Katie are done eating (well Katie saved half of her sandwich for later). Lesson for the day: toasted subs don’t get soggy. I’ll remember that one!! Katie sat on the floor and started on her homework journal, when I see a certain text message on my phone. I reply back and within a minute my phone rings. I tell Katie to answer it and she is so EXCITED because its Tinkerbell!!! She chatted very happily for a few minutes with her but had no idea what they talked about other than Pixie dust everywhere. but she was so cute and funny and thrilled that she got a phone call from Tink.

We have a very nice flight but have a delay once we get to Orlando.

there is a storm and we have to circle for about 20 minutes or so, stressing Joe a bit. Once we get off the plane its straight to the ME with only a brief hello to Goofy on the way.

We get on the bus right away and AWAY WE GO yeah!!!! Can you see I get all teary eyed with excitement? I’m such a mush!

Finally we arrive at the Wilderness Lodge about 9 pm. YIPPEEE! Only this is where its not so yippee. I had done online check in, so we go to the online checkin section, right behind another family. and we wait. and wait. and wait. Whaaaaat? after about 10 minutes a cast member comes to take care of the family in front of us. Then its our turn. I get our packet and room keys, and Joe gets a birthday pin. We’re on the first floor - great I say, so our balcony walks right out to the pool, right? Oh, no. when I get there we have a view of the walkway behind the building oh. and king sized bed. yeah, for three of us. Clearly not the courtyard view with two beds that we had reserved. sigh. back to the lobby to the front desk. Joe is annoyed so he goes to watch cartoons. After disappearing for a little while – two or three times – and about 20 minutes later, the young lady at the desk comes with a new room key – 6013 – she says it a “water wheel view” …we still have no idea what this is (has anyone ever seen a water wheel at WLR?) but the way she is apologizing says it’s not a courtyard view. (OK I looked this up – 6013 is a water view, of the bay, but you can only see the water if you stand on the balcony- there is a wall that blocks about half way up.) Plus it has bunk beds, which really make the room feel much smaller. She tells me we can keep this room for our whole stay, or we can just stay the night and request a room change the next day. Are you kidding me? By now, Joe is coming over to see what the delay is. When I explain it, he is TICKED. He actually took his birthday pin of and flung it across the counter telling them that they’ve pretty much ruined his trip for him with all this room mess up. He asks them “What is the purpose of making a reservation and checking in online if it doesn’t reserve your room for you?” silence. no answer to that one. He asked for a manager and a young woman came up. I went over to stay with Katie and let him deal with her. He’s pissed and I know this attitude and there is no good to come of me being over there. When he finally comes over he tells me we have yet a new room number (room three now) that is just for the night, and we will be moved the next day to our “right” room. The manager also comped our room fee for that night, so we would have about $200 credit on our room (they would have taken it off of our Visa card but what’s the difference? we just charged things back to the room). FINALLY we get to a room

and, because we promised Katie weeks ago that she could swim the first night, we dig our swimsuits out of our carry on luggage and head to the pool. Its now 11:45 pm so I make a pitstop at the roaring forks to get mugs and drinks for us and meet up with Joe and Katie at the pool and hot tub. sigh. that was much more work and aggravation than I ever expected from a Disney resort.

Up next: Just how many rooms did we go through???

 

[Moira222]

GREAT introduction Mary Ellen. I'm really looking forward to this after your fun PTR. As you said, let's get this party started.

You're killing me! Its like having a part time job writing out all the good stuff and then figuring out what pictures to put in!

You'll have to let me know if I have too much or not enough. I took about 100-200 pictures a day

 

[KatMark]

You are doing great and definitely NOT too many pictures (I say add more...you can post up to 25 images to a post).

What a terrific dog sitter to go back home and get Katie's backpack and come back. You've got yourself a gem there.

Sorry about all the trouble at check-in at the WL; I would have been right there with your hubby and having a fit. What is the point of paying for a certain room/location and then not having it????

 

[All7OfUs]

yeah? And OMG!! You're a fast poster!! Already 2 chapters, and I REALLY need to get off here and get to work. I will have to come back during a break to catch up some more, but looks great as I scrolled the pix!

 

[Moira222]

You are doing great and definitely NOT too many pictures (I say add more...you can post up to 25 images to a post).

What a terrific dog sitter to go back home and get Katie's backpack and come back. You've got yourself a gem there.

Sorry about all the trouble at check-in at the WL; I would have been right there with your hubby and having a fit. What is the point of paying for a certain room/location and then not having it????

Sharon was so great, when we got home she had even cleaned my kitchen. I wanted to not let anyone back in the house because it was so tidy!

Interesting bit about the room -- I saw some reviews of WLR for the same week---there were LOTS of room mix ups, and while some people were "made up to" quite nicely, others were ignored continuously for their stay. Guess they really over booked and hadn't planned on how to correct the issues.

yeah? And OMG!! You're a fast poster!! Already 2 chapters, and I REALLY need to get off here and get to work. I will have to come back during a break to catch up some more, but looks great as I scrolled the pix!

LOL I have been writing my TR in a Word file for 2 days now and more or less ignoring work. and I still only have one more day 1/2 written. So don't be to impressed!!!

 

[disney2mom]

Hi Mary Ellen Great start to your TR....I absolutely LOVE Wilderness Lodge, can't wait to hear all about the trip! Katie is super cute!

 

[Moira222]

Hopes of making rope drop at Hollywood studios at 8 am faded as we got into bed about 1 am.

We let Katie sleep in a bit while we did our own morning things. After digging through various pieces of carry-on luggage to get what we needed for the park for the day (remember, I couldn’t unpack, we weren’t staying in this room) and then packing up everything we’d used that morning, piling the luggage (bell services delivered our checked luggage by now too) on the bed and leaving a note to remind them that we had food in the fridge, we headed down to Whispering Canyon for breakfast. This was an unscheduled meal, and our first breakfast at WC, but we needed a good start so figured this was as a good point as any.

We were not disappointed. Katie LOVES playing at the Lincoln Log table, and it didn’t take long for us to be seated (but long enough to build a house!).

We were seated very quickly in a great table right next to the lobby (I love the lobby at WLR. Wish I could make my living room look like that.) After we ordered, they called up the kids for …PONY RIDE…this Katie also remembered and was so excited to run over.

Yeah baby this is the Disney magic we are expecting.
Breakfast was delivered. Joe had eggwhite spinach and cheese omlette with potatoes,

I had raisin break French toast (AWESOME!) This was just the most deliciously desserty breakfast. It was drizzled with cinnamon icing – just the right amount. It was almost sinful.

and Katie had Mickey waffles (don’t know where that photo got to!).

Naturally we asked Katie to request Ketchup for Daddy’s potatoes. LOL she had no idea! We had 16 bottles of ketchup delivered to our table.

too funny! She counted them twice. She got such a kick out of it…and out of delivering them all to the next table requesting ketchup.

Our very charming server didn’t miss Joe’s birthday pin (yeah he put it on again) and brought a birthday cupcake for him while the whole dining room sang. sweet! Doesn’t he look happy?

He was very surprised and really enjoyed the cupcake. (Sadly it was the only Happy Birthday cupcake or treat that made its way to Joe the entire trip. That part was not very magical.)

While Joe finished his coffee, Katie went to play with the Legos some more & I went to go wash my hands. What do you think could go wrong with this picture?

My backpack broke! Yeah. I was seriously thinking that Friday the 13th was a bad date to start a vacation. . The loop/handle on the back came completely off, so I pushed the strap through the two grommets & tied it in a knot & hoped for the best.

Guess that’s why it was only $12.99! I saw LOTS of bags like this (apparently it’s a close rip off of a Vera Bradley design) in the parks so maybe I just way overloaded mine?

After fixing my bag, I stopped and checked in with the front desk manager to make sure that the room fiasco would be resolved, and pick up a few things I forgot in our room (like the video camera!), then we headed off for the bus to Hollywood Studios—only three hours after I had planned to be there.

All morning we saw an overwhelming number of people with bicycles we saw. It was weird. Not until we had an extended bus wait and chatted with other people did we learn that this was an Iron Man weekend and there were bikers every where. We saw an Iron Man sign on the way in the night before but had no idea what it meant. They were really everywhere with bikes.

Finally the bus comes and we are on our way…

 

[Moira222]

Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

We are HERE! yeah!

We headed up the main street and browsing through blessedly air conditioned stores we adjusted to Florida temperatures. (because now of course I am looking for a new bag) Joe caught a great keystone cops routine on the street while I took Katie into the ladies room. bummer.

I love catching the shows and he really does not. That was the one thing I mentioned to him after our trip was that he did not stop to watch the “random” street performances that pop up all over the parks. He mentioned watching this one to which I said “Yeah, cuz we were in the bathroom!” silly man.

I just love the details and thought put into the parks.

Matching up handprints -- Joe was surprised at how small Tom Selleck's hand prints are

though Stallone's was almost a perfect match.

and Katie had to get in on it too!

A refreshing Mickey ice cream for Katie and a pineapple bar for me (no pics, it was too hot!) and we headed to Tower of Terror. I was so psyched! Katie too! The line was very short and we headed right in.

I loved the décor…I kept expecting to see Mrs. Havisham’s wedding cake. Katie gripped our hands tightly as we entered the front room to watch the movie intro. The movies and special effects had her rather freaked out. We were buckled and entered the elevator. I just had NO idea what to expect, but for sure it was not expecting my butt to physically leave the seat by several inches.

WILD! You can bet that I was holding onto that seat belt (and Katie) to make sure I didn’t go flying. But it was fantastic! LOVED it!!

After TOT we aimed for mellow for Katie’s sake and headed to the Animation Studio.

I don’t remember all of the movie--I thought they had some newer clips added to it since 09…but it was fun and funny and Joe really enjoyed it too.

Finally we meet our first characters at DisneyWorld.

Who is it?

The Incredibles!

Yeah for hubby who was very happy for this meet & greet! While waiting we had a nice chat with the cast member monitoring the area. There was a really weird number of people from the Northeast in WDW – PA, NJ, and CT people were EVERYWHERE.

Right after this we managed to get into art class and learning how to draw Donald.

It was getting hot, and it was about 1:30-2 pm by now so we headed back to the Wilderness Lodge to see where we would end up this time. (short photo opp on the way out of course!

We had early dinner reservations – 4:30 at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[johnsonginad]

Loving your trip report so far! Makes me want to be at WDW right now so badly!!! =) Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[Moira222]

Loving your trip report so far! Makes me want to be at WDW right now so badly!!! =) Can't wait for the next installment.

Welcome!! glad you can join in!

 

[Moira222]

When we got back to the resort, I checked in at the desk while Joe & Katie did something…dunno what. Cartoons maybe? New room assignment: 4041.

One last irking comment about the process: when I went to get our new keys, the girl at the desk seemed very thrilled to tell me that it was “A courtyard view – the best view we offer here. A very nice upgrade.” I calmly took a deep breath, but on a happy face, and said “Thanks I’m glad it’s a courtyard view because that’s what we paid for, it’s not an upgrade”…in my mind I am thinking “but an upgrade would have been nice seeing as you have botched the start of what was supposed to be a super magical fantastic birthday for my hubby”. But I buried that comment in my head and didn’t let it escape.

So up we go to see room number four. It is a BEAUTIFUL view of the whole pool, courtyard, and the lake.

Really really gorgeous – no complaints there at all. Except that there is no luggage in this new room.

Apparently the phone call saying “your room is ready” did not include “and your luggage is waiting for you there”. “Hello? Bell Services? Can we please have our stuff? Please remember our grocery order – it should be in the fridge.”
Bell services delivered promptly to an always pleasant me, and a very grumpy Joe. Our grocery bag had not been in the fridge, but it felt cold. Ok. ……but there’s no milk there. (good think they didn’t miss the wine!)
So this time I went downstairs myself to the bell services desk. Can you believe they sent me outside to track down my own milk? SHEESH!
Now I have to say, the CMs were all ever so nice and friendly, just apparently not proactively service oriented. Guess I am not the only one experienced at putting a happy face over a grumpy one.

Back up I trek (in case you are wondering, its about 2:30 -2:45 pm now) and while my loving family chows down on peanut butter & jelly, I finally get to unpack. Which take a while because I have to put everything where I will remember where it is. I manage to shovel a PB&J in as I go about my work. (what? work at Disneyworld? GASP!) I finally am able to change my clothes and freshen up for dinner…and then run out the door to get to our 4:30 reservations.

Transportation Tip: Ferries are faster! I tried to tell Joe let’s take a ferry to MK and then transfer to Monorail or ferry to Grand Floridian but he thought it was complicated. So we hopped a bus….to the Fort Wilderness Campground. UGH! Wrong bus! After touring all the stops at FWC we ask the driver who explains that there are two different busses at stop one and no, his didn’t say Magic Kingdom. He was nice enough to explain to us that the DTD and the Epcot bus goes from WLR to GF then on its way. So we were about 15 minutes late for our reservation--Joe is freaking out (he is early for everything) convinced that we won’t be able to get a table.


Happily there was no issue with us being a bit late, apparently we were one of the first seatings at Park Fare so there was no crowd.

We were glad we’d freshened up a bit because we didn’t know about the photos! As we were seated we could see the step sisters around. We had a nice seat – we could see each Royal Entrance when it was announced, and we were close to the buffet. Score!(sorry nice family shot has not arrived in the mail yet)

Ok food first: I really enjoyed the buffet here. I always start with salad -0- really I love salad! I had a roasted pork loin with a cherry sauce, chicken marsala, delicious potatoes,

I think I went back and tried some of the other pasta and veggie dishes on the buffet as well. I am not even sure what Joe ate—he filled and ate a plate of food before I even got back from the buffet! Katie had noodles (not impressed), a pasta with meat sauce, and mashed potatoes – she also went back for two helpings of the pasta and the meat sauce. I think she tried some of the broccoli as well but can’t remember. and only took one photo:

I have to laugh because the man who has been so religious about tracking every morsel of food for the past year made it a point to sample pretty much every dessert available on the buffet ….and then wonder why the table next to us had this big ice cream dessert and we didn’t
(Ours came a few minutes later)

– it was like a banana split except that the strawberries and bananas were sliced and in sauce on either side of the ice cream. The crunchy mickey sprinkles on top were good too! Katie loved these.

She also got a drink that came with a light up Tinkerbell clip.
So as we ate we saw Cinderella’s Steps wandering around. The steps are great, especially Anastasia. She was just bopping around, aimlessly dancing at tables whenever she felt like it. In the next room there was a fairly large group of girls who had all been to BBB. She went over and got them all up out of their chairs doing a dance. it looked like so much fun!

Then Lady Tremaine wandered over and gave her the “evil eye” and then she stopped.

Finally Anastasia made her way over to Katie. She pointed to her Tinkerbell light and said “you have a bug on you” – it just made Katie giggle. then she commented on Katie’s dress and hair she was very sweet and funny!

Lady Tremaine came by and was “sizing up” Katie and I snapped her picture as she was signing Katie's autograph book –

and was promptly scolded. “I wasn’t ready” . oops! shame on me!

In between Lady Tremaine’s visit and Drizella’s, Katie went for some dessert. I told her she needed to get some fruit as she hadn’t had any veggies at dinner. So she got grapes along with cookies and some cheese cake I think.

Drizella came over while she was having dessert and pointed to the grapes and said “what’s that?” Katie says “grapes” Drizella: “why do you have that ruining your dessert? did mom make you?” Katie: “well yeah she did”

As she is leaving, Drizella tells Katie quietly “you don’t have to eat those, you can hide them under your napkin” They really were just great to interact with!

Naturally it would not be a complete evening if we did not get a visit from Cinderella

and Prince Charming – who had Katie absolutely giddy

So dessert over, bellies full, we took a little time to wander around the Grand Floridian. What a beautiful resort. Sadly I did not take photos – too busy gawking! There was a wedding party having photos taken on the grand staircase. I think Joe took video while Katie spent about a half hour in the ladies room. There is not a restaurant or a resort that we set foot in that Katie did not manage to take full advantage of their facilities !

 

[Moira222]

So dinner over, tummies full, pennies made (we did stretchy pennies all over the World! What to do, what to do?

Epcot of course!

There had been rain again while we were in dinner, and I’m guessing that due to the rain there were quite a few attractions already closed for the night by 7 p.m.
We tried for Innoventions but they were closed. Then we saw the list on the electronic board. oh well. Off to see Nemo!!

.
Katie and Joe rode in one clamshell, I rode alone. A nice calming ride, I love that ride. After Nemo, we took a visit to Bruce!

we took the same picture in 2007:

and some Turtle Talk with Crush. DUDE! whoa! I rode Nemo once more with Katie, and then we headed out to try for Illuminations. The sky was looking rather sketchy but the crowd was non–existent! We couldn’t pass up the opportunity – it was a slightly cool evening, low crowds, and then we found a perfect little spot, tucked behind the back corner of a Flower & Garden sales booth. I left Joe and Katie there and wandered through a few booths, buying some whirligigs for a song, and a really cute Mickey Gnome planter for my BFF

Illuminations was awesome! We had a great viewing spot…but as I learned quickly my camera eats batteries like crazy and it just didn’t have enough juice to get a good clear night shot in. Once again Joe took video…but that won’t help here!

After Illuminations, we browsed through Mouse Gears for a little while where Katie got a cute pair of pink glittery mickey mouse antennae.

These are black - she bought the pink ones. they turned out to be a fun purchase for the whole trip!

 

[Lidian]

Ooo! I'm here!!! Now I gotta go read up on what I missed!

EDIT: Sorry to hear about the issues with the room. That doesn't make for a great start for any trip! Glad they did fix it in the end, but I still wish they had sprinkled some pixie dust your way to make up for their mistakes.

Totally loving the photos! Go crazy! I'm game for more pics!

 

[jm106]

I am enjoying hearing about your vacation. Sorry about the room issues and the bag breaking. Ill be around to read more about all of the fun!