6 down, 1 to go: Completing my DVC mission! An April '13 PTR...TR LINK p. 16

[WDWaddictt]

We saw all of those characters this past trip in early Feb. Phineous and Ferb are by far the best, Mike and Sully were great too!

I would like the link...I have been watching them because of maybe going to BLT for our next trip.

[RachelNinja]

It was so much fun meeting you in 2010 even though I was a bit nervous! Haha, it was that Vera Bradley bag that was the clear indicator that it was you! And I loved meeting your dad too. It must be so fun to have a Disney dad!

Ooo now that we've actually seen Brave, I think it'd be fun to meet Merida! Funny thing is that before the movie, I was pronouncing her name wrong!

[wdwgirl03]

Originally Posted by mommytothreeboys

Great list!

We like to meet characters, but don't spend a lot of time standing in line for them or seeking them out. If we stumble on one that we want to meet and the line is not too long, we'll wait. The exception being the Tink meet and greet on our last trip. That was a must do for me and we did wait for about an hour to meet her.

I hope you manage to meet all your favorites!

Yeah, I've only waited an hour for characters a couple of times: also for Tinkerbell and the fairies and Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. SO glad we waited for Flynn Rider since he's only out at parties or special events now!

Thanks! I hope so too.

Originally Posted by khertz

Loved your AKL recap. Looks like such a beautiful resort! It's one I have wanted to visit for awhile, but we just haven't made it there yet.

Great character choices. At Pete's Silly Sideshow, it is always Minnie & Daisy meeting on the left side and Donald & Goofy meeting on the right side. It's two separate lines, so you'd stand in line to meet Minnie & Daisy, then have to exit and re-enter the separate line for Donald & Goofy to meet them. Early in the morning both sides were pretty empty.

I am excited about meeting Wreck It Ralph! (And it's a great movie if you ever get a chance to watch it!). I hope Ralph and Vanellope are both still there when we go in October.

Thank you! AKL is a great resort and I'm glad we got to stay at both Jambo House and Kidani. Hopefully you can visit it soon! It's fun to even just go over there for a little bit and walk around!

Ahh, OK. Thanks for the info...that was really helpful!

Yeah, hopefully Ralph and Vanellope will be there for you guys. It seems though like lately they switch those characters out pretty fast. I wonder if they'll do something with Monsters Inc. since the new movie is coming out over the summer (even though there already is a meet and greet area for them).

Originally Posted by danceintherain

This makes it look like they're all there all the time... kind of like the Character Spot at Epcot
http://www.insidethemagic.net/2012/1...rybook-circus/

I too love the Animal Kingdom. It's just such a well-themed park. I always wish I had more time to spend there.

I'm not a huge fan of waiting in line for characters. We're more if we see one, we'll jump in the line if it's too short type of people. That may change as DS gets older, but for now he won't know what he's missing.

My favorite character M&G is King Louie & Baloo. We've stopped to see them every trip in the last few years.

Thanks for the link about Pete's Silly Sideshow. I just love all those characters. They are adorable!

Oh, the only ones I'll wait really long for are the newer/rarer ones, or the ones that I really want to meet. One of my regrets was not meeting Russell and Mr. Frederickson from Up! a couple of years ago. Luckily Russell is not at DAK with Dug so I got to meet them last year.

Originally Posted by marDgreen88

WOOHOOO, 5 weeks! Not bad at all! Hooray for your new camera!

I'm sure someone has already told you, but from what I read on twitter (various different accounts) it sounds like all the characters at Pete's Silly Sideshow have a personal set that they each stay at.

OMG, you haven't seen Wreck-it Ralph?!?!?! I'm telling you, you HAVE TO see it before you! It comes out on DVD on March 5, which is next week, so you honestly need to rent it at least!!!! I'm insistent on this because I honestly have an obsession with it. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. And I'm pretty sure that you get to meet Ralph AND Vanellope there! Wooooooo!

Anyways... YAY CHARACTERS! One of my favorite things to do at Disney!

Edit: I totally forgot to say this, but I watch resort walk-thrus on you tube all the time! (Okay... THAT is a bit of an exaggeration but I do watch them a lot.) Do you watch the Popsong1 channel, or AllEarsNet? Or something else?

Yup, I tried out my camera last night. Can't wait to take it to Florida!

Thanks for the info on Pete's Silly Sideshow. I guess it really doesn't matter how it's set up because I want to meet them all!

No, I haven't seen Wreck-it-Ralph. I know you loved it though. Maybe we will rent it before we go. And yes, you're right, it is both Ralph and Vanellope. Emma went over there one day and met them both!

It was the PopSong1 channel!

Originally Posted by gtpoohbear

LOVE all of your pictures, it's making me want to be there NOW, lol!

Meeting characters is one of my very favorite things. I'm just a big kid at heart Pooh is my favorite of course (if you couldn't guess), but I also love meeting Mike & Sully, Mickey & Minnie, and really want to meet Buzz & Woody this year, we've never braved the line before. The fairies are a LOT of fun too, though I doubt we'll see them this year as DD is a little older, and DS surely won't be interested .

haha, it's making me want to be there right now too! Only 34 days left!

I've met Buzz and Woody before but never at the spot at DHS. That might be a cool one too. Ahhh too many characters!

Originally Posted by WDWaddictt

We saw all of those characters this past trip in early Feb. Phineous and Ferb are by far the best, Mike and Sully were great too!

I would like the link...I have been watching them because of maybe going to BLT for our next trip.

Yeah, we've met Mike and Sulley before so I doubt I'll bother waiting for them again. But maybe we can squeeze them in too.

Here is the link for the youtube channel I was talking about: POPSONG1 YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Originally Posted by RachelNinja

It was so much fun meeting you in 2010 even though I was a bit nervous! Haha, it was that Vera Bradley bag that was the clear indicator that it was you! And I loved meeting your dad too. It must be so fun to have a Disney dad!

Ooo now that we've actually seen Brave, I think it'd be fun to meet Merida! Funny thing is that before the movie, I was pronouncing her name wrong!

Aww, I was kind of nervous too. But I'm glad we were able to meet up. And then again last year! It is fun that Dad loves going to WDW so much. I think it's cool that Howard loves Disney too!

If the Merida meet is as good as the Rapunzel one then I definitely want to do it.

[danceintherain]

Originally Posted by wdwgirl03

Thanks for the link about Pete's Silly Sideshow. I just love all those characters. They are adorable!

Oh, the only ones I'll wait really long for are the newer/rarer ones, or the ones that I really want to meet. One of my regrets was not meeting Russell and Mr. Frederickson from Up! a couple of years ago. Luckily Russell is not at DAK with Dug so I got to meet them last year.

They look like so much fun, so now I'm thinking about trying to add them in...
DH is fairly against characters, otherwise, I would probably wait for more. We did Mickey back in 2009, and ended up waiting FOREVER (it was probably only like 40 minutes and the queue wasn't air conditioned) so he resists. This trip will really be determined by how DS acts towards them. If he gets super excited when he sees them, then DH will be excited with him, and we'll get lots of opportunities. If he resists, then I won't have a problem skipping them, or only doing them with my sister.

[wdwgirl03]

Happy Wednesday! I am off of school today for a snow day which is kind of exciting. Though I'm not excited about the fact that we will have to make this day up. I just don't get why we don't have any snow days built into the school calendar. But anyway...

Since I'm off, I figured I'd do the next trip flashback! I'm sorry again if the pictures are really big. I thought I went through to resize/save them all but some of them still look bigger than others. Ugh, I don't get photobucket...

DVC Flashback #7: August 2010

2010 was another year when I originally wanted to go after Christmas. However, 2010 was also the year there was a very exciting addition coming to the Orlando theme parks. No, it wasn't anything in Disney...it was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! My sisters, dad, and I all really enjoy the Harry Potter books and movies. Out of all of us, Emma is definitely the biggest fanatic. So basically she felt like she needed to get there ASAP to check it out. Another thing that was sort of intriguing was that during the summer, Disney revealed they were going to be doing something called "Summer Nightastic!", which was when they brought back the Main Street Electrical Parade and instead of doing Wishes, they had a different fireworks show (it was pretty much the same show they had for the Pirate and Princess Party).

Since Claire and I also really wanted to visit the WWOHP, we ended up booking a trip. The sad part was that a December trip was no longer going to happen but hey, any trip is better than nothing! And the nice thing about having Saratoga Springs as our home resort is that it is so big, which means you can pretty much always get a room there.

This trip turned out to be our sisters-only trip which was pretty exciting. The day we left, Dad took us to the airport and we said our good-byes. While I knew we were going to have an awesome time, it was sort of strange going without either of our parents!

That trip got off to a pretty great start. At security, the guy checking our IDs asked Emma if Mickey Mouse was a boy or a girl. When she said a boy, he said wrong...he's a mouse. And then we had a hilarious flight attendant (we took Southwest).

When we arrived in Orlando, we headed down to get the Magical Express to SSR. I was very happy that we got on one of the actual ME buses. I'm sorry, but the regular Mears buses, or even the DCL ones, are not the same.



Once we got to Saratoga Springs, I checked in. Whenever we stay at SSR, we always request Congress Park because we like being able to walk to Downtown Disney. I was a little disappointed that we ended up in the Paddock but it actually turned out to be just as good as Congress Park (our building we were in was right at the end of the Paddock section, and we used the Congress Park bus stop because it was right across the street from our building).

One of the things you have to deal with in the summer is sudden thundershowers. Well, right after we checked in and were ready to head to our room, the skies opened up. So we had fun dodging in buildings and walking under cover to get to our room.



Thankfully, those showers never last too long and we were able to go over to Downtown Disney for a bit.



(See, this is why we LOVE Congress Park...who wouldn't love this DTD view?!)

When we got there we went into a few stores, including Once Upon a Toy where all three of us had to purchase our first vinylmation of the trip. The little keychains were so cute!



On our first full day we visited the Magic Kingdom (of course!). Here's a random shot of SSR. Seriously, it is such a pretty resort and I honestly feel like I could live there!



We ended up calling home so Dad could listen to the song in the welcome show. We were able to do a bunch of our favorite attractions before the heat got too bad. This is one of my favorite pictures from this trip:



After a morning in the MK, we spent a little bit of time at Epcot in the afternoon and then went back to the MK for those Summer Nightastic! shows.

TINKERBELL!




Other highlights of the trip were:

Staying at Saratoga Springs again
I know there are a lot of people who aren't big fans of this resort because of its size and "lack of theming" (WHAT?!) but I love it and am so glad we get to call it our "home." It is peaceful and beautiful and I can't wait to go back there this December!





Mini golfing
OK, so it's not like this was the first time we had been mini golfing in WDW before but it's always amusing, especially when stuff like this happens:



Yep, that's Emma fishing her ball out of the bushes...haha

The Animation Academy
I think this was the first time Emma had done it, and after being really nervous the first time, she ended up loving it. We ended up doing the class three times over the course of that trip. My favorite drawing was my Stitch!



Saying farewell to Mickey's Toontown Fair
With the big announcement about new Fantasyland, we knew that Toontown would be closing soon so we had to walk through one last time! Does anybody else sort of miss it? I do. I just think it's so sad that they had to knock down Mickey's house!






Visiting the Boardwalk
After our adventure at WWOHP, we got pizza at the Boardwalk and caught one of the performers which was really cool!





Oh yeah, and then there was that visit to that other theme park...

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER!!!
Because we didn't have a rental car, we ended up taking a Mears shuttle to Universal. It cost $18 per person (roundtrip) which was pretty reasonable. To take one of the shuttles, you just have to call Mears atleast 24 hours ahead of time to tell them where to pick you up. I actually called a couple weeks before our trip though. The shuttle worked out really well and we arrived safely at Universal!



I think the two parks might've had their version of EMH for their resort guests. It was pretty funny because there was NOBODY going into Universal Studios. Everyone was going into Islands of Adventure.

When we got into the park, there was a big line before the park officially opened for non-Universal resort guests.



The big headliner attraction in WWOHP is the Forbidden Journey ride. Because I wasn't really sure what the ride was like (I kind of thought it was like a motion simulator), I was so terrified and almost talked myself out of riding because I was afraid I'd end up getting sick on it. But, once we got to the park, we called home again and Dad convinced me to try it because I would probably regret it if I didn't. I also think that once we got closer to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, excitement took over. I mean, the detailing and theming there is AMAZING!



As for the Forbidden Journey, all three of us absolutely loved it. Walking through the castle was pretty cool, and then as soon as we loaded our ride vehicle, all the fear I had just vanished. I still have a really hard time coming up with anything comparable to it. It's like part Soarin, part dark ride, and part roller coaster. It was AWESOME.



We also did the two other rides, Flight of the Hippogriff (basically like the Barnstormer) and the Dragon Challenge.



After the rides, we went into the shops (which if you have never been before, they are VERY small) and ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks where we finally got to try Butterbeer!






My chocolate frog. I loved how they came with wizard cards like they do in the books.


Unfortunately, we didn't really do much else at IOA, partly because it was just so hot. The only other ride we did was the Cat in the Hat. But, it was still a really fun day and it was definitely exciting getting to visit the Wizarding World. I would love to go back, especially since they are supposedly expanding it.

So once again it was another fun trip! Hopefully my sisters and I can take another sisters-only trip sometime soon.

[mommytothreeboys]

Your sisters only trip sounds so fun! I only had brothers so I missed all that sister stuff.

I spent a weekend in the "real" Saratoga Springs, NY last summer. Very pretty there....I'm sure Disney did a great job recreating the feel of the area.

LOVE the view of DTD!

[danceintherain]

I would love to do a sister's only trip to WDW. I'm not sure if it would ever happen though. If we do it, I really want to go in October, so we can go to the Halloween party together dressed up as Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather.

[RachelNinja]

I remember your sisters-only trip! I wish that I could one day see WWoHP, but I don't think I ever will because I won't go on any of the rides. It'd be too much of a waste of money sadly. I still hold hope that ONE day I will get to pretend I'm right there!

[marDgreen88]

The Summer Nightastic thing started just like two weeks before my first trip EVER, and I thought I was awesome because I was gonna see MSEP when nobody else ever did. BAHAHA, yeah... so much for being awesome. The fireworks were SO COOL though! They also had really awesome effects on ToT... do you remember those? Fun times.

[Angies1274]

Love your August 2009 and April 2010 flashback pics...especially since we were there during that time too!!

Your must-do's at MK look great! Aww...there's nothing better than the Magic Kingdom! I miss it!!

Our Phineas and Ferb meet and greet was one of the highlights of our July trip! They were so much fun!! My boys loved the Wreck-it-Ralph movie! I thought it was really cute....not my favorite but still cute.

As much as I LOVE the new Storybook Circus, I do miss seeing Toontown especially Mickey and Minnie's house.

[brookelizabeth]

Originally Posted by wdwgirl03

Characters at Pete's Silly Sideshow...(MK) (Goofy, Minnie, Donald, etc.)...does anybody know if these characters rotate out? Like does who you see depend on when you go? Also, how many characters are in there at a time?

I didn't read all the replies, but in case no one else answered, no - they don't rotate out. There is one line for Minnie and Daisy and then another for Mickey and Donald. All four are always there! It's a great meet & greet!

You arrive on April 1, right? What time? We leave on April 2, maybe we can meet-up!

[wdwgirl03]

Originally Posted by danceintherain

They look like so much fun, so now I'm thinking about trying to add them in...
DH is fairly against characters, otherwise, I would probably wait for more. We did Mickey back in 2009, and ended up waiting FOREVER (it was probably only like 40 minutes and the queue wasn't air conditioned) so he resists. This trip will really be determined by how DS acts towards them. If he gets super excited when he sees them, then DH will be excited with him, and we'll get lots of opportunities. If he resists, then I won't have a problem skipping them, or only doing them with my sister.

You should try to fit them in! It is so much fun to meet the characters. I figure because I've been so many times it's fun to do something different for a change.

Originally Posted by mommytothreeboys

Your sisters only trip sounds so fun! I only had brothers so I missed all that sister stuff.

I spent a weekend in the "real" Saratoga Springs, NY last summer. Very pretty there....I'm sure Disney did a great job recreating the feel of the area.

LOVE the view of DTD!

It really was a blast! We had a great time!

Ohh, that must've been cool! I wonder how the real Saratoga Springs compares to the resort.

Isn't it awesome?!

Originally Posted by danceintherain

I would love to do a sister's only trip to WDW. I'm not sure if it would ever happen though. If we do it, I really want to go in October, so we can go to the Halloween party together dressed up as Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather.

Aww, well I hope you can do a sisters trip. The Halloween party is a lot of fun and those are some great costume ideas.

Originally Posted by RachelNinja

I remember your sisters-only trip! I wish that I could one day see WWoHP, but I don't think I ever will because I won't go on any of the rides. It'd be too much of a waste of money sadly. I still hold hope that ONE day I will get to pretend I'm right there!

Yeah, a little part of me felt like we wasted money because we didn't really do anything other than the Wizarding World, but after all, that was our main reason for going anyway. It definitely is a lot of fun there.

Originally Posted by marDgreen88

The Summer Nightastic thing started just like two weeks before my first trip EVER, and I thought I was awesome because I was gonna see MSEP when nobody else ever did. BAHAHA, yeah... so much for being awesome. The fireworks were SO COOL though! They also had really awesome effects on ToT... do you remember those? Fun times.

haha, you are still awesome. I was going to say something about the Tower of Terror because I do remember that was a part of it too, but I don't really remember any of the effects.

Originally Posted by Angies1274

Love your August 2009 and April 2010 flashback pics...especially since we were there during that time too!!

Your must-do's at MK look great! Aww...there's nothing better than the Magic Kingdom! I miss it!!

Our Phineas and Ferb meet and greet was one of the highlights of our July trip! They were so much fun!! My boys loved the Wreck-it-Ralph movie! I thought it was really cute....not my favorite but still cute.

As much as I LOVE the new Storybook Circus, I do miss seeing Toontown especially Mickey and Minnie's house.

Glad you enjoyed those August recaps. Those trips were fun but I seriously doubt I'll be going back during the summer any time soon. But you never know...

I miss the MK too. Only a month until I'm there though! SO EXCITED.

Glad to hear the Phineas and Ferb meet was so great for you guys! I bet it is a lot of fun. And I think I'm going to have to check out Wreck-it-Ralph. It seems to get a lot of good reviews.

Me too.

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

I didn't read all the replies, but in case no one else answered, no - they don't rotate out. There is one line for Minnie and Daisy and then another for Mickey and Donald. All four are always there! It's a great meet & greet!

You arrive on April 1, right? What time? We leave on April 2, maybe we can meet-up!

Yes, my dad said the same thing about the characters. Thanks for the info! I can't wait to meet them.

Yup, we arrive on April 1! Our flight leaves Milwaukee at 2:15, so I'm guessing we'd be arriving at Bay Lake Tower by 7:00? It would be SO much fun to meet up! Do you have any plans for that evening? Depending on when we do arrive I was thinking about going over to the MK for a little bit. Let me know!

[shalom]

Ive read the Hidden Magic book, and as a matter of fact I was frustrated a time or two that it didn't have pictures of some stuff, but it never occurred to me to take the pics myself. Duh! Thanks so much for sharing the shot I most wanted!

My two younger girls met Merida and my two older girls met Phineas and Ferb -- there are photos and write ups in my trip report if you're interested, but basically they were all great. There was no line when we saw Phineas and Ferb, and I suspect they would have been happy to mess around with us longer, however my youngest doesn't like them so we decided it was time to move on. There was a line for Merida and she still chatted the girls up a bit, and then of course there's the opportunity to take bow and arrow in hand, which is fun.

I don't get why Animal Kingdom gets so little love, either. It's my youngest's favorite park, and I really like it, but everybody else likes Hollywood Studios better. I most want to stay in Bay Lake Towers, but I know some of that is just because I've been dreaming about staying in the Contemporary literally since it opened, and AKL looks way cool, plus I owe my youngest, so it's at the top of our list for next time.

But, really, I'd be happy with Saratoga Springs. Overall, that's the resort we all like best. I don't think it's anyone's favorite, but everyone who has visited there likes it a lot. I just wish it had bigger units! *sigh* That's the only thing I have against it, and really we'd be fine there, but their two bedrooms are really small, IMHO. That's my main gripe with DVC. That and the fact that none of the dining room tables have enough chairs for my crew. And the ridiculous small balconies.

Okay, that's one of my main gripes about DVC. Love, love, love the resorts -- the units, not so much, some of them. I need to tell my two oldest children to fend for themselves, then the 2 BRs would be a better size for us.

[wdwgirl03]

Happy Saturday everyone! This post is pretty pointless, but since I missed our ONE MONTH mark yesterday, I had to post today to say

WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!!

AHHH!!!!! I can't believe it's getting so close and that I can say this time next month we will be there!

As some of you might know, one of my favorite Disney blogs is Simple Disney Things. I was looking on there yesterday and found some fun pictures to share. They're just a couple things I am so excited for!!!!





(I really hope we have a killer view of the MK!)



Sorry this is a short post. Hopefully I can update again tomorrow (or maybe later today) because I still have 3 more DVC trip flashbacks to do, plus Downtown Disney/miscellaneous must-dos! Only 30 days to go!

[mommytothreeboys]

Dancing the "less than a month" dance with ya!!