It's a Cat World After All! A Sept TR (Updated 8/4 Page 11)

[Dancegrl624]

Wow you guys really got so much done at DHS that morning! It looks like it wasn't that crowded, how awesome.

I feel like I always pick the one turnstile that's having problems

We really did get a lot done! It was a great morning at the Studios!

Ugh...I hate when that happens. First thing in the morning, I have NO patience and am just dying to get into the park.

 

[Dancegrl624]

We got to the bus stop arond 3:40pm and a bus pulled up right away. We went straight to MK...no stopping at POR! When we got to the MK, I could tell it was going to be a busy evening! According to Touring Plans, this was a park to avoid, but we were going to tough it out. From the looks of my pictures, we stopped for some PP pics before we did anything else.







We headed over to Tomorrowland next to grab FP’s for Space Mountain (5:10-6:10pm) and of course, we couldn’t resist more PP pics!


Is it just me, or do the trees/shrubs on the sides look bigger than usual?








Madison loved the special attention

We then went over to the Jungle Cruise…time to test out the FP+! Our FP was for 4:40-5:40pm and it wouldn’t work! We tried a few times and still nothing. We had to go over to a CM who had an iPad..she told us to go ahead and ride and then come back to her. We had a lovely ride on the Jungle Cruise and our skipper was very funny. After our ride, we went back to the iPad CM and she had to issue us brand new cards. I was hoping that the new ones wouldn’t give us any problems!

We went back to Tomorrowland so we could use our Space FP’s and Rider Switch around 5:30pm. Maybe we took some of those PP pics on this trip over…I didn’t write it down! I did note that criss crossing the park to use our FP’s was annoying…we always returned after our window closed. I also noted that I was starting to get hungry. Anyways…Madison rode Space with Tony first.


Look at my poor child’s face! She rode Space a million times back in 2010 and loved it. However, she always rode with her eyes closed but I told her she should try with her eyes opened.

Madison rode with me next and almost chickened out before we got on! I told her to just close her eyes…I hadn’t been on Space in ages! I think maybe January 2009 was the last time? I believe it was closed for it’s long refurbishment in June 2009 and then in Sept 2010, I was pregnant with Cole.


Yup, still traumatized!

We went to Winnie the Pooh next and this time, no FP+ problems!!! (our return time was 5:40-6:40pm) Yay! Cole loved this ride too. Afterwards, we knew we had to eat some dinner. I really wanted to eat at Columbia Harbor House, so off we went. Madison had chicken nuggets with grapes and yogurt, Tony had the lobster roll with fries and I had the chicken and fish with fries. We both had the chocolate cake for dessert. Everything was very good as usual. It was busy, but we managed to find some peace and quiet upstairs.





After dinner, it was time to use our FP+ for Peter Pan. The family in front of us arrived a bit late and the mom was giving the CM’s a very hard time. I wish she would have stepped aside to let everyone else through, but no. She held us all up. Anyways…we finally were able to get through with no problem.

Once we were done, we started moving to the hub for the MSEP…another FP+ option! First, we had to meet up with Amy (onescgirl) and her family…DISmeet! We had been texting each other and she let me know that they were in the hub across from the private viewing area. We found each other and chatted for awhile. We did take a picture, but I think it’s on Tony’s phone. After our meet, we had to go back to the reserved area entrance. The CM’s had little hand held scanners…very cool. We found a great spot right in front of the Castle!


A little blurry! Cole loved playing with our water bottle fan







Continued in next post

 

[Dancegrl624]

The parade started and Cole just loved it! Get ready, here are a million MSEP pics!


Tink!


Look at that sweet face!






Alice!




Cinderella….I caught the pic right as the wheels lit up!

















*I really was loving my new camera...it took great nighttime pictures!

I do love MSEP, but I miss Spectromagic. Once the parade was over, it turned into a nightmare. The hub was literally wall to wall people and no one could move. I was trying to push Cole in the stroller and he kept screaming. It was so hot and I was starting to have a panic attack….I don’t like confined spaces and this was the worst situation for me. I started getting dizzy and tears were forming in my eyes. They really need to do something to help the flow of traffic! We finally made it to a sidewalk and we headed straight for the Emporium. We all need to cool off!! We walked around and waited for Wishes to begin.









For Wishes, we watched from the middle of Main Street. I was holding Cole and he loved all of the fireworks. I, of course, started crying. I just love the music, watching Tink fly from the Castle and watching Cole was just precious. After Wishes, we made our way out of the park. The park was open until 11pm, but we had an early day the next day (MSEP was at 8pm and Wishes was at 9pm…there was another MSEP at 10pm). We got to our bus stop and had to wait a little, but that was ok.

As you can see, we didn't do too much this evening. We did our FP+ attractions, rode Space with FP, ate dinner and watched MSEP & Wishes. It was an action packed evening!! We were really tied down to our FP+ attractions and we knew we couldn't be late. Plus, the park was very crowded this evening.

Cole fell asleep on the bus and he stayed asleep all the way back to the room! We quickly changed his diaper and got his pajamas on. He woke up just for a second, but went right back to bed. Yay! The rest of us got ready for bed and I was ready to pass out around 10:20pm. It had been a very long day! I was also sad because we only had 2 full days left.

 

[jenny105]

Hey! I've been MIA lately. I'm glad you started your TR back up. I have to catch up. You are not the only one who cries during Wishes

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hey! I've been MIA lately. I'm glad you started your TR back up. I have to catch up. You are not the only one who cries during Wishes

Hi there! I'm glad I started back up too. I know I've been an updating machine, but I hope people are enjoying it! I'll probably be done with the TR soon.

Wishes always makes me cry! I have the soundtrack in my car and even that makes me cry.

 

[Disneychix]

Madison's face is so cute with her eyes open! I think it's funny because your DH is making almost the same expression!
Do you think she'll go on the thril rides again? Brady loves Space Mt but he closes his eyes too. He did open them on ToT and seemed to enjoy it.

Cole looks very cute while watching the parade!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY MEGHAN!!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Hm I like the idea of the FP+ for parades! That's much better than having to fight for a spot for an hour.

It seems like it could definitely cause a lot of walking back and forth across the park though!

I'm glad Cole liked Wishes! I always start tearing during it too

 

[Dancegrl624]

Madison's face is so cute with her eyes open! I think it's funny because your DH is making almost the same expression!
Do you think she'll go on the thril rides again? Brady loves Space Mt but he closes his eyes too. He did open them on ToT and seemed to enjoy it.

Cole looks very cute while watching the parade!

I don't know why she was so scared...you can't see anything anyways! She will probably do Space again, but we have yet to get her back on Splash Mountain (rode it in Jan 2009 and never again). She is totally against ToT and RNRC.

He discovered that he enjoys playing with our phones. You can see him holding Tony's iphone in that picture.

HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY MEGHAN!!!

Aw, thanks! It was a nice day.

Hm I like the idea of the FP+ for parades! That's much better than having to fight for a spot for an hour.

It seems like it could definitely cause a lot of walking back and forth across the park though!

I'm glad Cole liked Wishes! I always start tearing during it too

The FP+ could also be used for preferred fireworks viewing...I don't remember where it was, but I like standing right in the middle of Main Street.

The enforcing of the FP return times is what made us keep criss crossing the parks. We hardly ever went back during our window...we would use our FP's hours upon hours after the window had closed. We miss that freedom now.

Cole loved all of the nighttime shows!

 

[Dancegrl624]

My alarm went off at 5:30am, but I didn’t get up until 5:45am. I got myself ready and then woke up Tony around 6:30am. We really needed to get moving! Madison and Cole woke up at 6:45am and we headed out the door around 7:15am. Once again, as we got to the bus stop a bus pulled up right away. Yay! We were on our way to the MK by 7:25ish and through the turnstiles at 7:40am. I took some pictures down Main Street as we walked towards the Crystal Palace.




It was a beautiful morning!








I love the way the morning light hits the Crystal Palace




Looking towards Tomorrowland


Casey's


Trying to be artsy



We checked in at Crystal Palace and were seated quickly…right around the corner from the buffet.  Piglet came around first.


Cole could care less....


But then he actually smiled for the camera!

We were done eating by 8:50am and we still had only seen Piglet. Cole was getting restless! Finally, they all made their way around to us.


This is why Tony is not allowed to take pictures!


Cole loved Pooh







Continued in next post

 

[Dancegrl624]

After breakfast, we walked down to the Barber Shop, but the wait was quite long. Bummer. So, we stopped for some PP pics on the walk back up Main Street.








We saw Amy and her family again! They were in line right in front of us.

We decided to head over to Adventureland and we rode the Magic Carpets. Now, before I go on…while waiting to be seated at CP, we saw some CM’s in yellow polo shirts approach a family with a little girl (maybe 4 or 5 years old). I heard them ask if she wanted to meet a very special guest. They whisked her and her family off towards Liberty Square (I’m guessing they were going to meet Tiana). What a Magical Moment for them!

Ok, back to my family. When we got off the Magic Carpets, we were approached by the same CM’s! There was a whole bunch of them hanging around in that area. They told us they had snapped some pictures of us while riding the Carpets and they might be used in future promotional items!!! What?! We had to sign some paperwork and they gave us 4 vouchers that we could use for 5x7 Photopass pictures! Cool! They also told us they would send us the pictures and also some Mickey lithographs. This was the coolest thing ever! Well, we didn’t get those pictures until I think January or February and they’re nice, but I don’t think we’ll be in a promo stuff soon. Hey, I got 4 free 5x7 pictures out of it and it was cool experience.

After this cool encounter, we headed off to Pirates. While Tony went to get the stroller after our ride, I held Cole while Madison looked around the shop. I saw a roaming PP photographer who was taking some candid shots of a guy sitting on a bench. After she snapped away, she handed him a PP card and kept walking. Well, while I wasn’t looking, she started taking pics of me and Cole! You can see his excitement as he watches Tony get closer and closer to us.




This is my Facebook profile picture right now





The Cast Member came over to us and handed us a PP card with the pics on it. She loved how excited Cole got and I love that she captured this special little moment for us.

After this amazing little moment, we headed over to Frontierland to ride BTMRR. It was a 20 minute wait and we didn't want to wait. So, Fantasyland it was! We rode Small World and then decided to head out. We checked the Barber Shop again, but still a long wait. I was so disappointed. I had made an appointment before we went on our trip, but I had to cancel it because it didn’t fit into our plans. I started crying on the way out and Tony (being the smart one at this moment) suggested we come to the MK first thing the next day before we went to Epcot. Good plan!

You’re probably wondering why we were leaving MK so early in the day. Well, it’s because we decided that this would be the day we’d head back to AK! We had done absolutely nothing there on our first day (besides eat lunch and get rained on) and we just had to get back. So, we walked to the CR and hopped on a bus there. (This was around 10:40am) Well, we should have gone to the GF because I forgot that the MK resorts share buses. It took FOREVER to get to AK and we stopped at Blizzard Beach first. GRRRRR! We finally got to AK around 11:30/11:40am.

This was out last time at MK for this trip and that always makes me sad. We had such wonderful times at the MK on this trip and I can't wait to take Cole back. He now LOVES Mickey so much more and thinks Goofy & Donald are hilarious.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Wow, how cool that you got some magic at MK! I absolutely ADORE that picture of you and Cole - I can see why you have it as a profile pic. So cute and the way you're looking at him is just so loving!

Sorry the barber shop didn't work out for you, and that bus situation to AK takes forever, doesn't it? I hope you got over there and got to do some stuff!! Thank heaven for those hoppers, right?

 

[Disneychix]

Cute pictures! And cool experience with the photogs!

I love CP breakfast. I don't know why but it's my favorite! There were a lot of people on Main St at 7:45 am when you were there.
My husband does NOT take good pictures, or he'll take 1 picture and it'll be awful and he'll try to tell me that was good enough! Ugh!

This past trip was the 1st time we did busses and Brady is now obsessed with Blizzard Beach because we had to stop there to/from AK. He's never been inside but he keeps telling me about it like he's been there.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Wow, how cool that you got some magic at MK! I absolutely ADORE that picture of you and Cole - I can see why you have it as a profile pic. So cute and the way you're looking at him is just so loving!

Sorry the barber shop didn't work out for you, and that bus situation to AK takes forever, doesn't it? I hope you got over there and got to do some stuff!! Thank heaven for those hoppers, right?

It truly was a magical day!

I love that picture too...it makes me melt!

Stay tuned for more Barber Shop news!

I would love to stay at a Monorail resort someday, but the bus situation makes me cringe! However, having easy access to 2 parks is a perk. We can't live without our Hoppers!

Cute pictures! And cool experience with the photogs!

I love CP breakfast. I don't know why but it's my favorite! There were a lot of people on Main St at 7:45 am when you were there.
My husband does NOT take good pictures, or he'll take 1 picture and it'll be awful and he'll try to tell me that was good enough! Ugh!

This past trip was the 1st time we did busses and Brady is now obsessed with Blizzard Beach because we had to stop there to/from AK. He's never been inside but he keeps telling me about it like he's been there.

Thanks!

CP breakfast is one of our favorites and we can't seem to take it off our list. There were a lot of people, but most of them were heading towards CRT. Lots of little princesses that morning!

Tony can take great pictures on his phone..he captured some great moments on this trip. However, when it comes to posed photos...not good. I was trying to get Cole to look at Tony and he decided that was a good time to snap away. I asked if he got it and he said yes. I sat down, looked at it and just gave him the look of death. Normally we would have kept Cole in the high chair for character pictures, but like I said we had finished breakfast and he was ready to go.

The stopping at Blizzard Beach (or Typhoon Lagoon) makes me lose my mind! I am not always patient and I just want to get to my destination!

 

[Dancegrl624]

We got to AK around 11:30/11:45am and Tony & Maddie went to get us FastPasses for KS while I changed Cole. (FP was for 12:25-1:25pm).



He was getting sleepy, so we decided to walk through the Pangani trail. Well, he screamed most of the way so we had to power walk through and couldn’t stop to see any animals. I thought he was getting hungry, so off we went to Pizzafari. However, he fell asleep on the way there! We decided to head in anyways and just enjoy some a/c…it was HOT! There was not a single cloud in the sky which was beautiful, but hot. Tony went to get us some ice cream treats…a Mickey bar and frozen banana (around 12:10pm). It was nice to just sit and chill for awhile. We were in a nice quiet room at Pizzafari and it was wonderful. We finished up our ice cream and filled up Cole’s juice cup.We knew he’d be hungry when he woke up!

We head to KS around 12:35pm and unfortunately, we had to wake Cole up to get on the ride. We saw lots of animals so that made Cole happy.


















Smart hippos….chilling in the water








Look at that gorgeous sky!



Here come a few giraffe pictures…my favorite!



















Rhino

Continued in next post...too many pictures

 

[Dancegrl624]

After the safari, we headed to Asia. I got my frozen chai (should have gotten the frozen cappuccino) and we headed towards EE.


Look who we saw along the way!

Tony and I took turns through the Single Rider line on EE because Madison still refuses to give it a try. While Tony rode, we went towards DinoLand (I had to carry Cole because he was angry and Madison ran me over with the stroller. Ouch!).


My ride photo


Tony’s ride photo

I changed Cole and we headed for the a/c at Restaurantosaurus. Madison said she didn’t want to ride Dinosaur. Hmm…don’t know what’s gotten into her lately. Cole had a snack and it wasn’t long before Tony met us inside the restaurant. We decided it was time to head out since Madison didn’t want to ride Dinosaur. We snapped a few quick PP pics on the way out.








*The sun was in Cole's eyes...poor little guy

We got to our bus stop and we were on a bus at 2:35pm. I needed lunch and a swim….it was so hot!

 

[klacey1]

Those candid shots of you and Cole are precious!

I'm glad you had a do-over day at Animal Kingdom and actually got to do some things!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Those candid shots of you and Cole are precious!

I'm glad you had a do-over day at Animal Kingdom and actually got to do some things!

Thanks! I love those pictures so much.

I am too. We didn't do a lot, but at least we got to do a few of our favorites. It was just so hot that day! I don't remember feeling too hot at MK, but at AK we were roasting!

 

[Dancegrl624]

We got back to POFQ around 3pm, grabbed some kids mac & cheese with grapes and apples (juice box too) and went back to the room. We all chilled for a bit and then got ready to swim. Tony took the kids down and I went to fill up our mugs. I took some pics along the way.










Do you see Cole & Tony by the alligator? Cole has a white rashguard on with red sleeves.





I didn’t manage to snap a picture of Madison…she was either playing a pool game, going down the water slide or swimming. She loved that pool….we all did! It was a nice size and never crazy. The pool felt so good and it was very refreshing. Cole and I went back to the room around 4:30pm. He was cold and had had enough. He does love to swim and he liked the alligators with the instruments that squirted water. I got him changed when we got to the room and he had some Cheerios.


I guess he also played with my Vera Bradley camera case!

Tony & Madison came back to the room and we all got ready to head out to …..Downtown Disney! We left the room a little after 5pm and headed to the boat dock. A boat was waiting and we were able to get right on. Once we got to DTD, we went straight to Earl of Sandwich. Tony had the Original, I had the Hawaiian BBQ and Madison had grilled cheese. For dessert we had a fruit cup, cookie & brownie. Cole ate all of the melon and we took the sweets with us. We were full! EoS has to be one of my favorite counter service meals. YUM!

After dinner, we thought Cole would fall asleep. WRONG! Tony had to carry him while we shopped. Madison did lots of pin trading and then we went to World of Disney. We bought some pins, friendship bracelets (for Madison’s friends), keychains, and a t-shirt for Cole. After all that shopping, it was time for some dessert….Ghiardelli!!! Madison got 1 scoop of cookies and cream and Tony & I both got 1 scoop of chocolate (he had a dish and I had a cone). We found a table outside, but I had to clean it off. It was so gross! (this was around 8pm)

The ice cream was delicious and it gave Cole a burst of energy. We decided it was time to head back to POFQ so we walked to the boat dock. A boat came right away and we were back at the resort around 8:30/8:45pm. I snapped a few nighttime pics of the pool.





Madison took a quick shower and I gave Cole a bath. He was so tired so I stayed with him while Tony & Madison went out to our courtyard to watch “Up”. It started at 8:30, but they didn’t mind missing the first half of the movie. It was so cool to have the movies right outside our door! Cole fell asleep quickly and I had some time to relax and write in my journal.

I wrote that it had been a great day and I didn’t want our trip to end. I knew it was really feeling like fall back home due to FB posts I had read and my weather widget on my phone. I love Fall, but going from extreme heat to cool weather does a number on my sinuses! I was glad that we were able to go to AK that day and at least do a few things. I guess I was up writing for awhile because I wrote that it was getting late and I needed to get some sleep (10:10pm).

Stay tuned for the last full day of our trip…it just happens to be my favorite day!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Love the CP pictures!

That's so awesome that they took pictures of your family for promos! Even if they don't end up using them, the vouchers were a nice touch and what a great memory!

Aw those pictures of Cole are adorable! How cool that there was a roaming PP around capturing photos.

Love all the safari pictures.