(3X Update & FINAL!! 3/24)*~*EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!*~*A Mother/Daughter Feb 2013 TR!

[littlenellbell]

Hello! I've been a lurker for a couple years on DIS. I love reading trip reports but never comment. Your trip report caught my eye because we were at WDW the same time as you. I was surprised to see myself in one of your pictures! That's me at the end of the bridge waiting in line for BOG. I'm wearing a tan/white striped shirt reading the menu. My husband has a red shirt/glasses. How funny!!!
Anyway, I wanted to comment about the BOG line. When we got in line the CM said it would be 1 hr to 1 1/2 hr wait. I was like "Wow, really?" He said that the wait normally runs about 1/2 hour, however this day they were experiencing "magical issues" whatever that means??? We were waiting for my DH and DS to get back from a ride anyway, so I thought I might as well wait in line and see how fast it was moving. It moved very fast. My DH and DS joined us in line and we waited a little less than 45 min from when I first got in line to when our food arrived. I never noticed any magical issues and the rose worked fine for us. We split 2 counter service meals between the 4 (kids 7 and 4) of us. Ham sandwich and steak sandwich. I also used a snack credit and got the french onion soup. Everything was good and fresh and we enjoyed the atmosphere.
Looking forward to reading more about your trip! Your pictures are awesome!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

You now have Stitch spitting at me?? I'm beginning to see a theme here. You are lucky I'm going to be busy making ADR'S this morning!

Don't you feel special?!?! Hope you got those ADR's, I saw you were on hold a long time!!! ACK! (couldn't you do it online??/)

Wow, Karen! You really got a lot done! That's funny that you pointed out that you GermX-ed your hands after touching the interactive wall at Pooh! I would've done the same thing That thing seems like a petri dish to me, but I still want to touch it! BOG looks amazing! I especially like that the wrought iron looks so worn and old.

It was so pretty! Yes, I had read so many reports about the flu, I didn't want us to catch anything...and Savannah carries germx with her everywhere!

YHEA!!!!! The BOG update I was waiting for!!!!!

It looks amazing! Even with that line- AMAZING. I can't wait to try it as I just love Beauty and the Beast..... Belle is my favorite princess!

Now the question is lunch or dinner? Dinner looks a little too fancy for my family's limited taste buds (hubby and kids are FUDDY DUDDIES with food!) so maybe just lunch!

And I looked at the menu and those deserts.. how will I choose? I think I'll just go with one of each!

Great pics, great updates, great everything! Love that you guys got on so many rides. And awesome job on the indoor POC pics without a flash. Totally impressive!

Happy Monday!!

-Nicole

I chose lunch because it was cheaper and I thought being brought your food at a CS was pretty cool! Hopefully the lines will die down in the future! Happy Monday to you as well!

Following your TR.......the title caught my eye cause I am taking a mother-daughter trip with my daughter next Feb! She will be 13 and we both love Disney!!

Looking forward to reading more!

Welcome and OHMYGOSH...you are going to have SO much fun! This really was my favorite trip, although they are each special for different reasons. It was just magical to share this time alone with my girl in our special place. I know she loved it too b/c she's talking more about Disney now with me than ever before!

Hello! I've been a lurker for a couple years on DIS. I love reading trip reports but never comment. Your trip report caught my eye because we were at WDW the same time as you. I was surprised to see myself in one of your pictures! That's me at the end of the bridge waiting in line for BOG. I'm wearing a tan/white striped shirt reading the menu. My husband has a red shirt/glasses. How funny!!!
Anyway, I wanted to comment about the BOG line. When we got in line the CM said it would be 1 hr to 1 1/2 hr wait. I was like "Wow, really?" He said that the wait normally runs about 1/2 hour, however this day they were experiencing "magical issues" whatever that means??? We were waiting for my DH and DS to get back from a ride anyway, so I thought I might as well wait in line and see how fast it was moving. It moved very fast. My DH and DS joined us in line and we waited a little less than 45 min from when I first got in line to when our food arrived. I never noticed any magical issues and the rose worked fine for us. We split 2 counter service meals between the 4 (kids 7 and 4) of us. Ham sandwich and steak sandwich. I also used a snack credit and got the french onion soup. Everything was good and fresh and we enjoyed the atmosphere.
Looking forward to reading more about your trip! Your pictures are awesome!

OMG! Not only did I catch you in a photo, but you have been a longtime lurker?!?! That is so funny! I have never seen myself in anyone's shots, but I rarely find people that go at exactly the same time as me, I guess? I'm so glad you posted!

 

[abbie13_15]

My name is Karen, I will be 40 in just mere weeks! I'm a photographer, runner, homeschooling mother of 3 (my boys are 17 & 18) and I have my own petsitting business that has funded most of these trips! My husband and I have been together for 21 years and we live in rural Missouri. I grew up a city girl, so it was somewhat of a culture shock moving out here! I've grown to love it though, but escaping to Disney is my favorite thing to do.

Excited to read all about your mother daughter trip! My mom and I are doing a mother daughter trip in June. We are also from a rural Missouri town. We are west of Kansas City. What part of Missouri are you guys from?

 

[robinstrip]

I love your Trip Reports!! I went back and read all the previous ones! Can't wait for the rest of it!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

My name is Karen, I will be 40 in just mere weeks! I'm a photographer, runner, homeschooling mother of 3 (my boys are 17 & 18) and I have my own petsitting business that has funded most of these trips! My husband and I have been together for 21 years and we live in rural Missouri. I grew up a city girl, so it was somewhat of a culture shock moving out here! I've grown to love it though, but escaping to Disney is my favorite thing to do.

Excited to read all about your mother daughter trip! My mom and I are doing a mother daughter trip in June. We are also from a rural Missouri town. We are west of Kansas City. What part of Missouri are you guys from?

Hello neighbor!!! We're in St. James (outside of Rolla), so not that terribly far from you, about 3 1/2 hours or so! Where are you and your mom staying in June?!??! How exciting!

I love your Trip Reports!! I went back and read all the previous ones! Can't wait for the rest of it!

A diehard reader!! I cannot believe you went back and read them all!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Chapter 9: Little Mermaid or Pool?...BOTH, naturally!

We left off finishing up our well-worth-the-wait-lunch at BOG and heading out of Beast's Castle. The first thing I noticed was the SUN! It had been overcast and I thought we might just spend the rest of the day at MK if it stayed that way, but the sun made me long for the pool!

Ramble alert!... I have seasonal issues. It's not as much depression as fibromyalgia (dang, I can never spell that and I'm too lazy to go look it up). Anyway, I actually have PAIN, not just depression, when my vitamin D gets low. I realized a couple years ago that the pain seemed to appear in the winter and was gone in the summer when I was spending hours outside. I started taking vitamin D and pain is gone! unfortunately, the blahs and depression sometimes still rears its head and even taking loads of vitamin D all winter, getting ACTUAL sun has a far greater effect on me. Anyway, I need me sun! Shew, you needed to know all that!

In any case, you now understand that the pull of the pool and Little Mermaid was actually a difficult decision for me! I believe it was about 12:35-12:45 at this point and remember there had been a sign saying that LM was closed until 1pm? Also remember that we had a FP, but not until 1:15? I decided that we should go check it out, since we had been pixie dusted with lines all morning, why not check and see! SCORE!!!!! Walked up to a posted FIVE MINUTE wait! (it actually took about 10 and when we came out it was posted at 45, so we really had good timing!)

I know you are dying for pictures after all this rambling! The queue is stunning. I loved it! The line was actually moving TOO fast for me to take as many shots as I wanted!

The details are what I really love. Disney makes it so real that if they didn't have these little things, I think I would notice b/c I'm so used to them having such detail (omg, I'm not making much sense this morning! LOL)

across the way, you can see the Seven Dwarves Mine Train better:

I didn't get many shots of the inside b/c the line just kept moving so fast! There are little interactive things for kids, but I didn't get a good look at them.

I decided to just enjoy the ride and not take any shots, which naturally means I took one! I really did only take 1!

We really liked LM! I know it's not cutting-edge new technology, but it was really well done! Colorful, fun, cheery, DISNEY ride and I thought it was done really well. My favorite part was when you go down into the water. It looks like the clam shells are going under water and they change color. We gave it a thumbs up! I do understand, however, how people can feel like FLE doesn't really have much. I think they will feel differently with the addition of the coaster, maybe.

So! Out of LM and headed to the exit!...continued in the next post.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Chapter 9 continued...

So, we were headed to the pool! We had to stop for a picture of Gaston's, although we didn't go in, and we also went into the gift shop, forgot what it was called?!?

I saw this cool pewter? goblet that I thought of getting for Rey. It was really heavy. BUT, he told me not to get him anything. He was kicking himself for saying that when he saw the picture!

We headed through Tomorrowland and briefly thought about waiting the 15 minute wait for Buzz (this was 1-something in the afternoon, so I thought that was a great time!) but Savannah's feet were hurting and we decided we would just go straight to the pool. Moderate crowds at this point, although obviously the ride times didn't reflect that. Sometimes I'm ok with it, but other times I need to escape all those BODIES everywhere!

Savannah actually needed to sit for a minute right after the bridge, so another castle shot was necessary. I see blue sky!

I've seen it way worse than this mid-day, so I guess I picked a good day for MK! I know my stuff! Funny, I didn't notice that scrim when we were there, just in the picture.

Took a picture of the clock heading out! Fantastic way to remember stuff! I know, I'm a genius.

We just popped right onto a bus and headed back to PoP! In fact, my notes say we were back, changed, and sitting by the Hippie Dippy pool by 2pm! We were situated right by Petals bar. Perfect for me.

We have never gone to the Hippie Dippy pool, we usually have swam at the quiet pools, this was a nice change.

Savannah enjoyed sitting in the sun more than ever before, I had to convince her to leave when it was time to go! She didn't really want to swim either. Weird!

They had my mango margarita! It was NOT the same as the one I had at AKL, which was the BEST drink I think I have ever had, but it was still fabulous.

At some point I went in and got us each a snack that we shared poolside.

The pool was a PERFECT choice for us! We had gotten so much done in the morning and it was so nice to relax and VACATION too. The pool was not busy at all, but they were doing the pool party and games with a few kids and Savannah really enjoyed watching them. I know Savannah loved it too b/c she was posting on FB about what could be better than laying in 75 degree sun by the pool.

We had to drag ourselves away from the pool at 4:15, but we had changed our evening plans while laying there. What? Me? Deter from the PLAN??? Up next, an unexpected evening of fun...and DANCING???!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

And can I just say...I really cannot stand the size of my photos now. My previous reports were better before photobucket started uploaded at a certain size. I can change EACH.PICTURE. manually once they are uploaded, but I'm just not sure I have the HOURS to do that. I have so many shots and it would take a long time to resize each. If anyone knows how to change the upload setting to smaller on photobucket, please let me know. Until then, you get huge shots. Ugh. I really feel like it overwhelms the updates and they are too large.

I have started to resize the ones in the last updates, not sure how they are showing up b/c my browser isn't showing a change?

 

[Tinker326]

Great update & pics- as usual! Love the goblet & Belle ornament as well. Really can't wait to see the new FL in November. Hoping that Mine ride will be ready by then!

Love Little Mermaid as well (the movie)... and the new LM ride looks like it might be similar to the one in Disneyland which we rode a few years ago- even though not cutting edge, I still really enjoyed it. As did my kids....

Mango Margarita. Now that's vacation!

And lastly- I agree with the photo size. The only way I have found around it is to resize in photoshop to a 400x600 size (vertical 4x6) before uploading to photobucket. Takes a long time to do for EACH picture, like you said....

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Wow, your timing for LM was awesome! You really had a lot of Pixie Dust during this trip. I'm sure Savannah appreciated your not taking pictures during the ride. Was it just the other day she was irritated or did you have to be cautious for the rest of the trip? So, neither of you went swimming? Although I can totally understand just sitting in the sun. MMmmmmm that's going to be so nice during my trip in March. Very anxious to hear about your evening off the "plan" plans!!

And as far as using the website for ADR's.....YOU'RE FUNNY!!! That website is miserable right now and it would not let me do a single one. Why else would I have waited 55 minutes...(you read that right --- 55 MINUTES) to make them??

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Great update & pics- as usual! Love the goblet & Belle ornament as well. Really can't wait to see the new FL in November. Hoping that Mine ride will be ready by then!

Love Little Mermaid as well (the movie)... and the new LM ride looks like it might be similar to the one in Disneyland which we rode a few years ago- even though not cutting edge, I still really enjoyed it. As did my kids....

Mango Margarita. Now that's vacation!

And lastly- I agree with the photo size. The only way I have found around it is to resize in photoshop to a 400x600 size (vertical 4x6) before uploading to photobucket. Takes a long time to do for EACH picture, like you said....

Yes, I heard that LM was similar to DL. I have no idea when the mine train will open, but we are planning on the end of Feb 2014 and it would be fantastic to ride it. They seemed to get a lot done from November to February, so maybe they will finish early! I still don't know about the photos, I spend enough time editing, I'm not going to resize every shot too! Ah well, I hope they aren't too big, but I think I'll just leave them.

Wow, your timing for LM was awesome! You really had a lot of Pixie Dust during this trip. I'm sure Savannah appreciated your not taking pictures during the ride. Was it just the other day she was irritated or did you have to be cautious for the rest of the trip? So, neither of you went swimming? Although I can totally understand just sitting in the sun. MMmmmmm that's going to be so nice during my trip in March. Very anxious to hear about your evening off the "plan" plans!!

And as far as using the website for ADR's.....YOU'RE FUNNY!!! That website is miserable right now and it would not let me do a single one. Why else would I have waited 55 minutes...(you read that right --- 55 MINUTES) to make them??

She didn't say anything the rest of the trip, but I got the distinct feeling that she didn't want me shooting ALL the time, so I tried to control myself. We got in the pool ONCE, can you believe that?!?!? I was really pleased only b/c I was worried she would want to swim the WHOLE time and I wouldn't get to relax and just sit in the sun. She used to hate sitting in the sun and wanted to swim every moment. Somewhere between age 11 and 12 she decided she likes just sitting in the sun? Works for me!

OMG, your ADR's! They better get that site working, it's a PR nightmare. It's been months as well and I have no faith after the whole "online check-in" debacle that I went through!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

The Little Mermaid ride looks really cute! I can't wait to see it in person!

Pool time is definitely an important part of the vacation time! Looks like it was a beautiful day to relax outside with that margarita!

 

[jrar4ever]

Haha, I'm from St. Louis too! What high school did you go to?!? (sorry folks, St. Louis joke!)

Oh the dreaded high school question? LOL Gateway Tech, BTW

YAY! I'm finally all caught up. Nursing school is kicking my butt this year. I think I have had 10 hours of sleep since Saturday. Luckily I have tomorrow off.

BOG looks amazing. I was really not wanting to go because the menu does not appeal to me, but your pictures have me rethinking my plans. My husband wants to go because he is a photographer in his free time and he wants to get some shots. So we shall see.

I think I can feel Savannah's annoyance there. I am always annoyed when it takes my husband what seems like forever to get one shot. He already has a list of the places he MUST get. Have any other suggestions for him?

The Little Mermaid is my all time favorite Disney movie. Can't wait to ride it.

 

[WDWaddictt]

Hi Karen, I am here a little late but joining along. Life has been a whirlwind since I have been home. Sorry for my tardiness!

My daughter is scared of flying too. The pressure from landing really hurts her ears. She was crying so much this time that I though we wouldn't get to go. But then she calmed down and it was good. I gave her cold medicine to help clear her ears and it worked.

Wow that sucks that they lost your reservation. We did the same thing but we were lucky and they had our reservation ready and we got our request to be close to the lobby.

Yummy...tye dye cheesecake!!!

Love your pictures BTW!!

You had really good luck with your ride wait times. We did sometimes and other times not so much. We founds the crowds to be larger then what I was expecting them to be for early Feb.

You were lucky someone found your KTTW...lol

Savannah looks so happy on the Tea Cups. Beautiful smile!

They really did a great job with the expansion. Dumbo area, Belle's cottage, Gaston's village and the Little Mermaid area all very well done. Tons of details.

Wow what a long line for lunch at BOG. We went for supper there and it was awesome! We sat in the 3rd Wing it was cool. I would go back here in a heartbeat. Sorry you were a little disappointed with the meal. The strawberry cupcake was the best dessert ever...yummy!!

I can't believe you got on LM with only a 5min wait. Pixie Dust!!

2 thumbs up for pool time and relaxation!!

I am all caught up now, great start to your TR. I always enjoy reading them.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

The Little Mermaid ride looks really cute! I can't wait to see it in person!

Pool time is definitely an important part of the vacation time! Looks like it was a beautiful day to relax outside with that margarita!

It was great! I was worried that we wouldn't have time to enjoy the pool with such a short trip, but I feel like taking a mid-day break really works for us, so that's our new plan always!

Oh the dreaded high school question? LOL Gateway Tech, BTW

YAY! I'm finally all caught up. Nursing school is kicking my butt this year. I think I have had 10 hours of sleep since Saturday. Luckily I have tomorrow off.

BOG looks amazing. I was really not wanting to go because the menu does not appeal to me, but your pictures have me rethinking my plans. My husband wants to go because he is a photographer in his free time and he wants to get some shots. So we shall see.

I think I can feel Savannah's annoyance there. I am always annoyed when it takes my husband what seems like forever to get one shot. He already has a list of the places he MUST get. Have any other suggestions for him?

The Little Mermaid is my all time favorite Disney movie. Can't wait to ride it.

Does he have a lens that will work well in low light for BOG shots? If not, I would suggest he bring a tripod or gorillapod! It's pretty dim and hard to get the shots you want. A wide angle would also help capture how GRAND it is! As for photo suggestions, anything and everything comes to mind. I think I could take a "photography trip" sometime and just shoot the whole time. There's so much there, I just feel like a kid in a candy store, even after 5 trips!

Hi Karen, I am here a little late but joining along. Life has been a whirlwind since I have been home. Sorry for my tardiness!

My daughter is scared of flying too. The pressure from landing really hurts her ears. She was crying so much this time that I though we wouldn't get to go. But then she calmed down and it was good. I gave her cold medicine to help clear her ears and it worked.

Wow that sucks that they lost your reservation. We did the same thing but we were lucky and they had our reservation ready and we got our request to be close to the lobby.

Yummy...tye dye cheesecake!!!

Love your pictures BTW!!

You had really good luck with your ride wait times. We did sometimes and other times not so much. We founds the crowds to be larger then what I was expecting them to be for early Feb.

You were lucky someone found your KTTW...lol

Savannah looks so happy on the Tea Cups. Beautiful smile!

They really did a great job with the expansion. Dumbo area, Belle's cottage, Gaston's village and the Little Mermaid area all very well done. Tons of details.

Wow what a long line for lunch at BOG. We went for supper there and it was awesome! We sat in the 3rd Wing it was cool. I would go back here in a heartbeat. Sorry you were a little disappointed with the meal. The strawberry cupcake was the best dessert ever...yummy!!

I can't believe you got on LM with only a 5min wait. Pixie Dust!!

2 thumbs up for pool time and relaxation!!

I am all caught up now, great start to your TR. I always enjoy reading them.

Yay! I'm glad you are here! It's been pretty crazy since we have gotten back too, starting to get back to normal now. BOG was worth the wait, I knew going in that there might be issues with the vegetarian meals and we had stuffed ourselves with breakfast, so fries and cupcakes filled us up enough!

We totally got pixie dusted! It's funny, until I thought about how much we got done, I still FELT like it was crazybusy. I think we just got lucky and went in the opposite direction of the crowds that day b/c there definitely were more people than I'm used to. Although the reports from the following week were MUCH worse, I think, so I think we just got a less busy busy week. Make sense? There's no non-busy time now, just less busy of busy times!

 

[sjs314]

Just happened to stumble across your TR today still have a bit of catching up to do but loving it so far.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Just happened to stumble across your TR today still have a bit of catching up to do but loving it so far.

WELCOME!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Karen, I am having withdrawals here!!! UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Chapter 10: A Change of plans...

This update is coming to you, via Winter Storm Q! We just started getting pelted with ice here in mid-Missouri and I'm luckily home with nothing to do! You can thank the storm for freeing up my schedule so you get another update!

So, after our amazing pixie-dust morning at MK and our relaxing afternoon time at the pool, we were supposed to head to Epcot for the night. As I look at my plans here, that I had carefully typed out, we were to grab a FP for Soarin, do standby for TT, eat dinner at Sunshine seasons, and do a few other rides such as Spaceship Earth, and Norway/Mexico rides. Possibly get some pastries in France and watch Illuminations. That was just not in the cards for us.

First off, I knew already that Epcot is Savannah's least favorite park, aside from Test Track. After spending tons of time there with Rey on our Anniversary trip, I was ok with missing a bunch of it. We only had 3 park days, so something had to give.

As we sat by the pool and talked about the plan, Savannah started talking about Downtown Disney. We ALWAYS go to DTD on our arrival evening and since we arrived so late this trip, we didn't get to do that. That's where she wanted to go. So, I concocted this crazy idea to go to Epcot, ride Test Track standby and then head to DTD for the evening. This plan *might* have worked but as you will see, even new plans can get derailed!

(sorry, that was a lot of talk before giving you a picture, huh?)

We headed out to Epcot at 5pm and stopped for an obligatory photo when we arrived!

We booked it straight to TT and the wait time was 50 minutes.

We KNEW it would be this long b/c I had been watching a wait times App, but as we walked into the standby line and saw people SITTING in the line, we stopped in our tracks. I have NEVER waited 50 minutes for a ride. Never. The thought of standing there that long did not sit well, so I convinced Savannah of a NEW new plan!

We would grab a FP, go to DTD to shop and eat, and then come BACK to ride! Yeah...that will work!

Ok, so it was 5pm and we had 3 hours to get to DTD, do what we wanted, and get back. I was thinking this might not work out, but we booked it to the bus station and grabbed the POFQ bus b/c we figured riding the boat to DTD was the easiest way to get to DTD from Epcot. And, I really wanted to see the resort!

I may have underestimated how quickly Savannah wanted to get to DTD, however. She barely let me take a handful of shots as we walked through the resort to the boat dock! She was not about to slow down for me to take photos.

Oh how I wanted more TIME! I loved the resort, just like I thought I would, and wanted to take more shots, but as you can see...she was on a mission!

We arrived at the dock to a line! AND, the boat was there but there were people already on it. The captain said they had room for 12 and I realized we were going to have to wait for another boat (he said 10-15 minutes)...but then, the sky parted and tink tossed pixie dust from the heavens down upon us as he looked back and said "are there any groups of TWO??" and I raised my hand! This was not the last time we would get pixie dust for being 2 instead of a larger group! He called us to the front and we walked right onto the boat. WOOT!

This was a lovely boat ride, BUT, you know when people say it's "just 20 minutes" to DTD on the boat and that sounds like not much? Well, it was something I enjoyed doing and I can see at the end of the night from DTD it would be faster, but it is ALL of those 20 minutes, and seemed really slow. enjoyable, yes, but slow! We probably could have gotten there faster by bus. SO pretty though!

I LOVE all the different colors on the buildings. This reminds me a bit of my house! Every room in our house is a different color. Livingroom-purple, kitchen-lime green, bedroom-bright blue, hallway-yellow...we like color!

Got to see the treehouse villas on the way:

Getting closer!

Finally we saw DTD! Such a lovely sight from this vantage point. I really loved riding up in a boat and seeing it from the water. The balloon was being blown back and forth, we shuddered at the thought of going up in it when windy!

Up next...new new plans change again?!?!?

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Karen, I am having withdrawals here!!! UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE!!!!

Sheesh, no pressure Ann! Just posted it...read SLOW so you can savor until the next update!