“All Aboard the Seven Dwarfs Whine Train!” A May 2015/Mother's Day TR! ***TR COMPLETED 2/8!!!

[ksromack]

I'm reading too
So many funny happenings in your trip....you just can't make that stuff up! I think we need that carrot cake "cookie"!

 

[princessesandpascal]

Thanks everyone for reading along and welcome to everyone who's just joining in! I'm in the midst of quite the busy week/weekend, so it might be a day or two before another update. I'm in the process of packing/moving back to school on Monday, and that plus a thing out of town tomorrow has got me pretty occupied! I have a few more chapters written so once I'm moved in and settled then I can start getting them out more regularly.

It's too early in the morning to read, apparently. On first glance, I thought, "wow, your drawing of Daisy Duck is PERFECT!"

I won the animator's drawing, too, once, but sort of cheated. He said the first person to correctly identify whom we were drawing would win it. I shouted out, "Chip!" Which I knew, because we were starting with the exact steps we used to draw Chip earlier in the trip.

BTW, why is there a child urinating in the background of your photo with the animator?

The whiny family from 'Ohana is my new favorite family. They have both the silly complaints AND incorrectly naming parks and attractions things down.

Our son started high school this week and told me he heard several upperclassmen saying they hate Freshmen. I told him they were probably hated as Freshmen, too. And that, when they get to college, they will start hating ALL high school kids.

We didn't hit the Frozen sing-along, but we did go see the sing-along version of the movie when it was in theaters. Only nobody sang. Nobody. I was very tempted to stand up and belt out, "INNNNNNN SUMMMMMMERRRRRRRRRR..." at the conclusion of Olaf's song, but decided against embarrassing the rest of my family. If given the chance, I wouldn't make that mistake again.

"...a celebration of all nations...but mostly America" is one of my favorite lines at WDW

I really didn't like Muppets Most Wanted at all. Which is sad, because I like most of the other Muppet movies. The original is still the best, however. "Would you like to smell the bottlecap?"

Great update!

I should've just gone with it! We had an animator that did that later in the trip, but we didn't remember the steps even though we'd done the drawing before. It was Grumpy with us, I think.

(I burst out laughing at the "urinating child"! Never noticed his strange position before!)

I think every Disney trip deserves a whiny Ohana family. It gave us something to laugh about.

That's true: it doesn't help though that often I feel like a crochety old lady in a twenty-one year-old's body.

(Sing-alongs with no singing are the worst! We watched the High School Musical sing-along in class back in elementary school and nobody sang then either. Such a bummer.)

I loved the one with Jason Segel, but the second fell a little flat. MAA-ppets struck my funny bone that day in a ridiculous way.

Thanks!

hahahaha! I seriously laughed out loud!

That's what I like to hear! Thanks for reading!

YOU. ARE. HILARIOUS!!!

I'm late, but I'm SO on-board for the rest!!!

Thank you! Glad to have you along! (Better late than never )

Having a great time reading your TR! However, I had to stop when I saw this picture! Actually I was very happy to see it! *SHE* was the absolute HIGHLIGHT of my trip last October for my birthday! It all started with her throwing "shade" at Cinderella... and when she realized I was a "Friend-of-Dorothy's"... it was like we were family! Absolutely the *best* Character interaction I've ever had. I cut myself out of the pic, because I look RIDICULOUS! She on the other hand, is gorgeous! Can't wait to continue reading!

She's my favourite Ariel I've ever had! I'm so happy to hear you had a great interaction with her too. I'd love to run into her again on another trip!

I think I would have lost my restraint and started laughing!

You smart cookie you!

Mmmmmmmm Carrot cake cookie!!

We were DYING. Like, muffled-laughter-biting-lip-slightly-shaking laughing. On the bus ride there we were absolutely losing it.

I try!

It was delicious! I can't believe it took us that long to get one.

I am super late to the party but we had Kim (his last name starts with a K) when we did breakfast with the princesses in 2012! He was pretty dreamy then too!

Thanks for joining in! Kim should join the Disney prince roster, IMHO. You're lucky!

Yum...that looked so good!!!! Everything did!!

Yum...I love raspberries...and you never get a whole bowl of them like that!

Yum...and I'm so jealous you got to do the animation class...I'm so sad this won't be there when we go!

The one perk of being that weird allergy kid!

I am so heartbroken to know it won't be there next time. Some of our best Disney memories happened in that room. Luckily we got in a few classes this trip, and I hope it'll come back elsewhere.

I'm reading too
So many funny happenings in your trip....you just can't make that stuff up! I think we need that carrot cake "cookie"!

Thanks for joining! It was a hilarious trip, sometimes it feels like they're too funny to be real but then there they are, in my notebook, written down as they happened! It was so delicious, I highly recommend it!

 

[BrdwayBoy]

She's my favourite Ariel I've ever had! I'm so happy to hear you had a great interaction with her too. I'd love to run into her again on another trip!

I'm actually pretty sure I'll be booking Akershus for my next trip in the hopes that she's there. I know it's about a year away and anything can happen... but here's hoping!

 

[princessesandpascal]

First week of my fourth year (senior year @ America) of university is done, so here's another update!

Chapter 15: “They’re IN Our CAR!”, or, Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre!

This will be a short-ish chapter because not much happened! It’s time for another dining report: we had 4:45 reservations at Sci-Fi! We hadn’t been in a few years and were looking frward to it immensely. It was a pretty good experience overall: so let’s get to it.

We arrived and checked in, and the waitress was able to seat us almost immediately. Mom asked if we could have a front seat, and she told us that parties of two never get the front seat. We knew we’d gotten it before, but we were hot and hungry and just wanted to sit down. We were put in the way back of a car, and luckily the guests in front of us were nearly done. We could still see the screen, so we were happy.

Our waiter was incredibly nice, but with our allergies we were told by the snippy hostess that we weren’t allowed to order anything off of the normal menu, just the allergy only menu. At that point, I saw the normal bacon cheeseburger I wanted on the allergy menu and just said screw it instead of trying to fight it. I was starving and I didn’t want to wait any longer to order: I probably should’ve taken the time to explain, but no one makes good decisions on an empty stomach.

We were a bit miffed by the crispness of our hostess, and our waiter sensed that immediately and began to diffuse with a few jokes and a great attitude that made both of us far happier. We ordered milkshakes and settled in to watch the wonderfully cheesy sci-fi movies, and everything was taking a turn for the better.

Our burgers were good: the only thing we disliked was the bun (which, because of the allergy menus, were definitely gluten-free buns even though we explained we weren’t allergic to anything else). I’m sure it’s because they have a policy so no one gets hurt or sick from the allergens, but we felt like we’d just had big “allergy” stickers slapped across our faces and we’d never felt like that at any other restaurant.

But they were good burgers nonetheless, and the fries were great, and we were pretty happy.

With any other waiter, we would’ve been upset, but our amazing waiter whose name i’ve forgotten made everything as magical as he could, even going so far as to grab two photos of us once the other party in front of us left, one showing the movie screens.

They were blurry, but it’s the thought that counts.
Of course, our free view of the screen couldn’t last forever, and we were pretty miffed when two individual couples were seated one by one in front of us, after being told that parties of two don’t get the front seat? We were fine if that was a policy, but it clearly wasn’t an enforced one which was quite annoying.

Adding to the annoyingness (definitely not a word), the guy in the couple in front of us kept turning around a little to see we were there, and at one point he said to his girfriend, “Babe, they’re IN our CAR!”

The girlfriend replied something along the lines of: “That’s how this restaurant works. I told you!”
Thankfully, we were finished our meal by that point, we paid, said goodbye to our wonderful server, and headed back out into the Studios for an evening of fun!

Final Thoughts:

Food: 7/10. Burger was great, but the bun was like eating cardboard. But the shakes were really delicious!
Service: 7/10. We had a wonderful waiter, but the way the restaurant handled our allergies by just treating us like “stock” allergies and not listening to our individual needs really put a damper on our meal. Also unimpressed with the CM that told us that parties of two never get the front seat and then seated three other couples in the front of a car. Seat people in the front, that doesn’t matter to me: but be honest about it.
Atmosphere: 8/10. We love this place, but every time we get the back of the car the people in front seem to visibly not want us there.
Overall: 7/10

Will we be back?: Not sure. It was pretty expensive not on the DDP, and if I make the decision to attach my allergy to our reservation next time, we’ll likely skip it. Not worth the hassle.

Up Next: Chapter 15! “If There’s 8 Of Us, They’ll Know We’re Not Lying!”, or, Disaster Strikes at Toy Story Mania!​

 

[buzzrelly]

Great update! That doesn't even make sense that they wouldn't put a party of 2 in the front seat. I hate when people just make up random rules as they go along!

We ate at Sci-Fi once and I don't feel the need to ever go back. We didn't hate it, but we didn't love it either. And it was almost really too dark to see what you were eating! We'll stick to The Plaza or Beaches & Cream for our less expensive, out-of-pocket table service meals!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Service like that is what keeps us away from trying that place again.

Adding to the annoyingness (definitely not a word), the guy in the couple in front of us kept turning around a little to see we were there, and at one point he said to his girfriend, “Babe, they’re IN our CAR!”

I probably would have been snippy and said something like "Actually as we were clearly here first it would be you that was seated in OUR car."

 

[princessesandpascal]

Great update! That doesn't even make sense that they wouldn't put a party of 2 in the front seat. I hate when people just make up random rules as they go along!

We ate at Sci-Fi once and I don't feel the need to ever go back. We didn't hate it, but we didn't love it either. And it was almost really too dark to see what you were eating! We'll stick to The Plaza or Beaches & Cream for our less expensive, out-of-pocket table service meals!

We've had the front seat before with just two of us. Honestly, everyone was just in a mood that day, except for our waiter.

I've never done Beaches but I'm hoping to on our next trip! It looks so good! (And yes, Sci-Fi is so dark! Hence the awful food pictures.)

Service like that is what keeps us away from trying that place again.

I probably would have been snippy and said something like "Actually as we were clearly here first it would be you that was seated in OUR car."

We had good service the first time, but the hostesses were awful this time. At least we had a good waiter.

(That would've been a good one! At that point, we just wanted to leave. It was rough!)

 

[nilla]

Also unimpressed with the CM that told us that parties of two never get the front seat and then seated three other couples in the front of a car.

I am AMAZED that they were able to fit six people into the front seat of your car! Were they waif supermodels? Clowns, perhaps? That act alone should have bumped the experience up to an 8/10, IMO.

 

[princessesandpascal]

I am AMAZED that they were able to fit six people into the front seat of your car! Were they waif supermodels? Clowns, perhaps? That act alone should have bumped the experience up to an 8/10, IMO.

Front of A CAR not OUR CAR Trust me, if that many people had fit in a car their dining experience would've been lower than ours!

 

[kristenlees]

i have loved reading your trip report!! so well written and fun, and i love all your outfits, backpack and ariel bow. adorable. i need it.

ps. favoUrite is definitely the right way aussie over here.

pps. man you had some crappy luck with staff and waiters! i have allergies as well, but i never tell anyone about them.. it's not life threatening and i can figure it out myself when i am there. i know some people can't, but i just hate the way some waiters and whatnot act when they know you have an allergy, or the food that is available to you. like eating a GF bun when you don't have celiacs?! ew.

 

[princessesandpascal]

Chapter 16: “If There’s 8 Of Us, They’ll Know We’re Not Lying!”, or, Disaster Strikes at Toy Story Mania!

When we last left off, we had just left our meal at Sci-Fi and wanted some more things to do before our 7:30 FP+ at Toy Story Mania! We were right by the Great Movie Ride, so we decided to take a ride on that and go from there. As usual, there was hardly any line in the GMR, but we were held in that big room with the movie screen while we waited for a car to arrive.

When we got to the ride cars, we took our seats in the second of two cars. I was a little disappointed, because I realized if there were two cars, the front one was going to get the cowboy scene, which we’d never seen before. However, being in the back car gave us the greatest GMR experience in history…

All because of Lowell. (We are 99% sure his name is Lowell. We’re going with it because we didn’t get a picture of his name tag and that’s the name we remembered.)

So while we were waiting in our car, we watched some of the CMs standing near the podium, chatting to each other while they waited for the ride to depart. But one CM, a younger guy (hint: this is Lowell) walked down the row of the back car and said hello to all the guests: commented on their hats, asked how their days were, etc. When he reached our row, he bowed low and greeted me as Princess before talking to the two guys seated next to us.

Then, the first tour guide got into her car, and we still didn’t have a tour guide in ours. Suddenly, Lowell jumps up from below and starts his commentary off with a bang by startling half of our car and delivering the best version of the GMR spiel ever! His energy was incredible and it felt like everything was just as new for him as if he’d never done it before. I took video clips of the ride before and after our lackluster gangster took over, just so I could re-watch him doing it. At the end of the ride, he hurried past us to get ready for his next car and Mom and I both stopped him for a moment to tell him how incredible he was as a tour guide. We also mentioned him at guest services, because he was brilliant. He made the GMR come alive and it’ll be so hard if we get a different guide in the future!

We still had time to kill, and we were itching to do another drawing, so back to Animation Academy we went! We got a different animator who taught us how to draw Pluto, which Mom was so excited about!

Then, we went out and got back in line since there was hardly anyone there. This time we drew Grumpy!

(Q: Shannon, where are the pictures of the drawings?
A: Two hours away at my parents’ house. YIKES.)

After our second class, it was time for our FP+ at Toy Story Mania!

This is one of my favourite rides on property, so I was pumped to say the least. We got through the line, into our car, and set off on the ride. We sailed off into the cavernous abyss of what I believe is underneath Andy’s bed and did the practice screen. Which we didn’t really need, since we’re old pros when it comes to TSM. Then, we zoomed toward the first competitive screen…

And drove right past it.

As Anna would say, “Wait, what?”

We slowed down just a little as we passed the screen by, but our car never stopped and we were thrown right past it. As the cars spun around on their way to the next screen, the couple in the other car on our rotation started calling to us. “What happened?” they asked, sounding mildly panicked as if we may not stop at all.

“No idea!” we called as we were thrown around another corner and into screen number two. We stopped this time, but when I started pulling my drawstring, nothing happened. Same with Mom’s. We leaned over to the people on the screen next to us, who were on the other side of the ones we’d called to before, and they shook their heads. Also nothing.

After watching the little sheep targets move sadly across the screen, we were hurtled off into the abyss once again. “We’re complaining after this!” the party in the other car called. “You guys should too!”

We hadn’t given it much thought at that point, but we were game if it meant we might get another ride that didn’t feel like it was going to hurtle us away to Infinity and Beyond. Besides, if all eight of us went, they’d know we weren’t lying, which I mentioned to Mom. “We will!” I called as we flew past an oversized Tinker Toy.

The next two screens worked alright, to my memory and my notes. But everyone was still annoyed from the beginning fiasco, and we all called back and forth to each other every time the screens changed. “Are you staying?” One would ask. “Yeah!” we’d reply. “Okay, good!”

Finally, we saw our scores (which I believe were pretty good for missing two of the five screens) and got out at the exit. “Our car got thrown past the first screen and it wouldn’t work for the second,” I said to the CM, who didn’t seem to care much, but sent us to stand with everyone else who complained as soon as our feet hit the floor. There was us and one of the other parties in our set of cars, along with another few girls whose screens were overly blurry, apparently.



A CM came to ask us which car we’d been in (it was Woody) and what exactly all of our problems were. She then told us we could wait for another ride. Score! We boarded back through the exit side into one of the cars and we were off!

Luckily, this time it mostly worked. One of the last screens was glitching out on us, but at that point we didn’t want to wait again to complain again. We told the CM on the way out that the Potato Head car was screwing up too, and then hightailed it out of there. We were headed back to the Studios in the morning, so we’d play again then and hope things were going a little more smoothly.

We left the ride, and then were greeted by a man in uniform once again!

We decided to browse a couple gift shops before leaving, since a friend of ours asked us to pick up a set of R2D2 mouse ears for her grandson. We headed out on our quest to find them.

After browsing for so long that I saw a Jasmine mug and thought it was Flynn Rider for a moment, we decided that heading back to the resort was our best idea. We hopped a bus out of the park, saying farewell: until the next morning, of course!

Up Next: Chapter 16! "Baymax, That's Cheating!" Toy Story Gets a Revenge Arc and We Meet a Certain Personal Healthcare Companion...​

 

[princessesandpascal]

i have loved reading your trip report!! so well written and fun, and i love all your outfits, backpack and ariel bow. adorable. i need it.

ps. favoUrite is definitely the right way aussie over here.

pps. man you had some crappy luck with staff and waiters! i have allergies as well, but i never tell anyone about them.. it's not life threatening and i can figure it out myself when i am there. i know some people can't, but i just hate the way some waiters and whatnot act when they know you have an allergy, or the food that is available to you. like eating a GF bun when you don't have celiacs?! ew.

Thanks for following along! (yay for favoUrite!)

Luckily the end of our trip turned our luck around somewhat. It was about half and half for so-so service. Some places like Ohana (and upcoming Garden Grill) were amazing but most fell flat. So likely next time I'll just not mention it, and then just not eat some of the fruit/veg if there's melon/cucumber with it. We'd researched and thought it'd work out for us, it didn't and we learned that! I'm fortunate to have an easily avoidable albeit weird one so I can get away with it.

 

[ksromack]

I did mention my shellfish allergy on almost all of our ADRs. I hope that wasn't a mistake. My allergy IS pretty bad, and although I can avoid shellfish, some restaurant kitchens don't keep the cooking surfaces separate. I have always been impressed with how seriously Disney takes food allergies!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm joining in! I love your report!

It looks like you had a great trip with your mom! I love that you had a great mix of rides, restaurants, and character meet and greets.

I stayed at Pop for the first time in May (just a few weeks after you!) and really liked the resort. I'd be happy to stay there again.

 

[nilla]

We also mentioned him at guest services, because he was brilliant.

Wouldn't that be funny if his name ISN'T "Lowell"? "Um, we got a comment from a guest who was extremely happy with the performance of a Cast Member who doesn't really exist. Where do we file this?"

Confused about you "never seeing the Cowboy scene", however.

We sailed off into the cavernous abyss of what I believe is underneath Andy’s bed and did the practice screen.

I don't do the practice screen because it's a waste of arm strength, IMO.

Sorry to hear about the ride glitches, but since you got a bonus ride out of it, it's actually a win for you. Gotta love how accommodating Disney is in these situations. As they should be.

Great update, as always!

 

[princessesandpascal]

I did mention my shellfish allergy on almost all of our ADRs. I hope that wasn't a mistake. My allergy IS pretty bad, and although I can avoid shellfish, some restaurant kitchens don't keep the cooking surfaces separate. I have always been impressed with how seriously Disney takes food allergies!

Probably not a mistake. We're just one experience, and I've heard of trips where the accommodation was different. In my case, the severity isn't really known, it's more precautionary. But it's smart for the cooking surfaces like you said. They take it really seriously!

I'm joining in! I love your report!

It looks like you had a great trip with your mom! I love that you had a great mix of rides, restaurants, and character meet and greets.

I stayed at Pop for the first time in May (just a few weeks after you!) and really liked the resort. I'd be happy to stay there again.

Thanks!

It was nice to have a mix of all three. Pop is fantastic! I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip with my best friend for our graduating next year, and we're between Pop and ASMo. ASMo is a better discount, but I love Pop so much!

Wouldn't that be funny if his name ISN'T "Lowell"? "Um, we got a comment from a guest who was extremely happy with the performance of a Cast Member who doesn't really exist. Where do we file this?"

Confused about you "never seeing the Cowboy scene", however.

I don't do the practice screen because it's a waste of arm strength, IMO.

Sorry to hear about the ride glitches, but since you got a bonus ride out of it, it's actually a win for you. Gotta love how accommodating Disney is in these situations. As they should be.

Great update, as always!

Well, we provided the time and date too We said we were pretty sure on the name, so I'm sure they'd be able to figure it out. Better than our post Fan Expo Canada comments where all I could say was "that girl wearing the hat passing things to Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoechlin" and hoped for the best.

In the GMR, where occasionally one car is overtaken by the bandit in the western scene while the other is overtaken by the gangster in their scene? Mostly you get overtaken by the gangster, but the first car stopped in the room in front of us while Lowell was being chased off of our car. I figured they were chased off by the bandit/cowboy in the western room, since I'd heard on the DIS that it happens sometimes, but we'd never seen that scene in person. It ended up in us being way farther away from the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz scene than usual.

It was the best kind of ride glitch ever! No getting stuck for an hour listening to the pirate from POTC being dunked in the well over and over...

Thanks!

 

[ksromack]

We were actually stuck on PotC at Disneyland last year........it was the part where you go up a little incline, I think. We eventually continued on the ride though.

 

[KathyM2]

Great update!! Interesting about the cars at Sci-Fi - we've never been and are planning to go on our upcoming trip...I do hope we can get a front seat since there will be just two of us...sigh...but if we do, I will turn around and smile at the people behind us lol. Weird about the glitchy ride on TSMM! That's another one I can't wait to try...I don't know if I'd even notice if it was glitchy because I've never been on lol...but so looking forward to it!! Love the Frozen ears too )

 

[401Disney]

Just finished reading all of the TR so far and I love it!!!!! My wife and I were there in May as well for our honeymoon so its awesome to see a similar timed trip through someone else's eyes.

I'll ref be checking in for updates on this for sure

 

[princessesandpascal]

We were actually stuck on PotC at Disneyland last year........it was the part where you go up a little incline, I think. We eventually continued on the ride though.

We ended up being evacuated off the WDW Pirates after an hour. That was back in 2009, and we had a dinner reservation! It was a pain but also a really cool experience.

Great update!! Interesting about the cars at Sci-Fi - we've never been and are planning to go on our upcoming trip...I do hope we can get a front seat since there will be just two of us...sigh...but if we do, I will turn around and smile at the people behind us lol. Weird about the glitchy ride on TSMM! That's another one I can't wait to try...I don't know if I'd even notice if it was glitchy because I've never been on lol...but so looking forward to it!! Love the Frozen ears too )

We got the front a couple times before, hence why it felt so weird to be denied it outright.

You'd know! There was a screen there and we just went right on by without even stopping. So bizarre!

Just finished reading all of the TR so far and I love it!!!!! My wife and I were there in May as well for our honeymoon so its awesome to see a similar timed trip through someone else's eyes.

I'll ref be checking in for updates on this for sure

Thanks for reading! It was a great week!