13 Days of Disney - Everything We Never Knew We Always Wanted - June 2016 TR Update 1/30

[Jfsag123]

Sorry for my delayed responding. It's been a crazy week!

Same here. The only one I can beat is my 8 year old son. And that's because he's inherited my terrible hand-eye coordination

I totally try to make myself feel better by comparing my score to my kids'. It's pretty shameful. People with poor hand-eye coordination unite!

Those Disney World birds are no joke! I'm a little nervous to encounter them after what I've read in several trip reports now

I had heard of them, but this trip was the first time they were really a problem - I will be describing a second encounter a little bit later in the report....

The kids have the posing for the props down to a tee!!! They are great pictures. Buzz and Woody are ones I would like to meet on my trip in November.

Thank you! This was their third time posing with the props, so they've had a bit of practice lol. We love meeting Buzz and Woody here! They are always a lot of fun.

Yay! This is awesome! (Although, I shall give your hubby a run for his money with the Donald love, signed, Angryduck71!)

Ha! Thanks! And I won't tell DH that he's got some competition with the Donald love, but I will just leave these here.

No, actually he'd be thrilled to know there are other adult Donald fans! He gets some strange looks when he wears his Donald t-shirts, hat, and watch outside of WDW.

 

[disny_luvr]

I love all your Buzz and Woody pics! Your kids did an excellent job posing with the different props. Your son's Woody hat is great, too!

We have not visited with Buzz and Woody in years. Come to think of it, we don't visit with many characters except the fab five and Chip and Dale. It makes me sad as I'm realizing my boys are outgrowing the characters. On the bright side, it frees up time to do other things.

 

[Jfsag123]

I love all your Buzz and Woody pics! Your kids did an excellent job posing with the different props. Your son's Woody hat is great, too!

We have not visited with Buzz and Woody in years. Come to think of it, we don't visit with many characters except the fab five and Chip and Dale. It makes me sad as I'm realizing my boys are outgrowing the characters. On the bright side, it frees up time to do other things.

Thank you! This is completely the way I console myself when I think about my kids aging out of the characters - time for other stuff! Even with 10 park days we still missed a lot of things we wanted to do, in large part because we spend so much time meeting characters. We figure we'll just roll with it, as there will always be time in the future for the other attractions, but the big desire to meet the characters is likely time-sensitive.

 

[Jfsag123]

Day 2 – June 7: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, part 2

After eating, we headed over to use our first FP of the trip at the Frozen Singalong. The CM welcomed Alex and Cora by name when they scanned their bands, which they got a kick out of. After the Frozen show, it was time for the kids to train to become Jedi – third time for Cora, second time for Alex. On our trip last year Cora was convinced she was picked as the rebel spy on Star Tours instead of Alex because she had already trained and he hadn’t yet.

My kids take JTA very seriously – no grinning from these two!

Once they had completed training, we headed back for a break at the resort. It was 1:00pm at this point and hot! We had driven (across the street) that morning to get to DHS at rope drop and decided to leave our car in its space at the front of the lot and take the Friendship Boat back. This was our first time riding the boat and it was a really nice ride. The Swan and Dolphin are huge! I had never seen them up close and was stunned by how big they are in person.

We got back to the resort and the kids headed back to…you guessed it!

Sadly, I did not get to experience Stormalong Bay at all on this trip, as I was not allowed to swim with my surgical wound still not completely closed. It was a bummer! I had bought a new suit and everything. But, that just means we will have to find a way to stay at BCV again, which I think I can live with.

So the day went from looking like this during our break:

To looking like this when we headed back to the park:

The weather was a bit of a rollercoaster that day, but Alex insisted on getting his picture with the Sorcerer Mickey topiary (which he LOVES) and Cora grudgingly obliged. We rode the boat back over hoping to catch Characterpalooza, but knew it was unlikely to happen with the rain. Instead we headed back into the park and just decided to see whatever we wanted that didn’t have a crazy wait. That ended up being the Olaf meet, which had a posted wait of 5 minutes. The kids had been asking to meet him all day, so it worked out well. We got in line soaking wet in our ponchos and were given a red card by the first CM, which we promptly handed off to the second CM as soon as we finished walking the queue, as there was no one else in it. The CM asked us excitedly “are you ready to meet Olaf??” I really don’t know what our problem was, it was just like the question didn’t compute for any of us! I think we were just drenched and disoriented since there was absolutely no one in line but us. We just blankly stared back at him. After an awkward silence, the CM finally said “…okay, I guess not.” I then woke up and went into pep mode to compensate for our weirdness. We ripped off our ponchos (I literally did accidentally rip mine, which I would regret later…), remembered how to smile and respond to simple questions, and headed in to meet the snowman.

He likes warm hugs!

After meeting Olaf we went over to Star Tours to use our FP+ for a second ride that day. Our first voyage took us to Jakku followed by Naboo. This trip again took us to Jakku (of course), followed by Coruscant. Good times!

We had planned to try to see the Indiana Jones show this evening, as we’ve never caught it before, but I realized we may have another shot at Characterpalooza, as the rain had stopped. We killed a little time walking around, then headed that way with our fingers crossed.

Victory!

We ran over to Mulan first, as she’s tied for Alex’s favorite princess (the other is Pocahontas). She talked to the kids about some of the decorations on her new dress.

Then taught them the warrior stance!

Next we saw Stitch. The kids were so into hugging him that I don’t even have a picture with their faces in view.

We then moved on to Tiana. The kids talked to her about her gumbo recipe, as compared to mine – no hot sauce!

I love the way Alex is pretty much just laying on her dress.

Finally, we met the character that made me squee with excitement. If you’re wondering why, check my avatar picture.

Alex always clasps his hands together like this when he’s super nervous. The Evil Queen can have that effect on a kid!

I am enough of a villain fan (read:dork), that I had to get in on the action here myself. I could not control my grinning, felt like an idiot, and loved every second of it.

There were a couple of other characters out (I know Aladdin was one, can’t remember the others), but we stopped our meets there. It was time for us to catch our final FP+ back at Toy Story Mania! When we rode after rope drop, I took my wheelchair through the line, but was instructed to disembark and load as normal when I got to that point and told the CM I was able to transfer. This time, we were sent through to the actual ride vehicle meant for disability access – first time riding in one of those! It was pretty nifty.

As soon as we got out of TSMM I hopped on my phone to try to schedule one for The Great Movie Ride. As I mentioned earlier, Alex loves this ride. Like, he REALLY adores it.

We were seated in the very front row and Alex scooted up right next to our driver, who I think he had a little crush on. After our journey through the movies we decided we were hungry and headed over to ABC Commissary. I had the chicken club, Rees had a burger, and the kids each got a power pack.

I had scheduled our 5th FP+ of the day while sitting in the ride vehicle on The Great Movie Ride waiting for everyone else to load – Fantasmic! Once we finished eating, we still had some time to kill before we headed down to the show, but didn’t feel like trying to hit another attraction. Instead we spent some time looking at the handprints/footprints in the courtyard in front of TGMR. We ended up having a lot of fun, and this is actually one of my favorite memories of the trip. It was the first time we actually spent some time with that stuff and the kids were excitedly running around and calling out the names of people and characters they found. And there weren’t a lot of other people around, which made it extra special.

Alex with Mickey Mouse.

Cora found her favorite ever – Michael Jackson.

And Rees found HIS favorite ever, Donald Duck.

We started making our way toward Fantasmic! (always with the exclamation point!) a little after 8:00.

Mommy and kiddo Fantasmic!(!!!) selfie. Notice how frizzed out my hair is at this point. Niiiiice.

…and now it’s starting to get dark…

…and then we see this guy!

This is totally my picture and not a Disney stock photo included with photopass. Did you believe that even for a second? Probably not. We really really REALLY love this show. I know a lot of folks are not fans, but it’s a Disney character-lovers dream (no pun intended), and you might have noticed that we are sort of a character-loving family.

You have not experienced slow until you have attempted to exit Fantasmic! in a wheelchair. Oh. My. GOD. We parked the chair in the area at the top and then walked down the steps and sat about mid-way down. Just getting to the chair was ridiculous, but then trying to move? With a kid on either side?? Fuhgeddaboudit. We decided to just let go and accept that it would take as long as it took. And then it was fine. This was a lesson we learned over and over on this trip. It made for a much better experience all around.

We eventually made it back to the car, drove across the street to our resort, got ready for bed in record time (showers for all included), and shut down for the night by about 11:00pm.

Up next: A PPO breakfast, our 2nd-longest wait of the trip, and my favorite park

 

[ALEXandFAB]

Next we saw Stitch. The kids were so into hugging him that I don’t even have a picture with their faces in view.

Very cute! Stitch is one of my favorite characters.

I am enough of a villain fan (read:dork), that I had to get in on the action here myself. I could not control my grinning, felt like an idiot, and loved every second of it.

You were totally fangirling That's awesome.
I just noticed that I have the same crossbody bag you have in the pic. Mine is black. I love it so much...it's my every day bag and I plan to have it with me as my park bag.

This is totally my picture and not a Disney stock photo included with photopass. Did you believe that even for a second? Probably not.

The Disney copyright in the corner kid of gave it away

We really really REALLY love this show.

Our family does too. It's a wonderful show. I don't get the F! hate

 

[ariane37]

YAY, you caught characterpalooza Isn't it the coolest thing?? And yes, the Evil Queen is like the best part of it; she's almost always there and of course that's the only place you can meet her (other than the most awesome Club Villain). I did the same thing, I didn't need to be in any characterpalooza pics except with her lol!

Looks like such a great day at HS overall which I love to see since it's my favorite park Steve and I stopped and studied all the hand prints back in January. I don't think we've done that at all with Chris and not with Ricky since he was maybe 5 or 6. Making a mental note for Nov. And Cora's MJ pose is adorable!

Ah, no worries on the frizzy hair. I promise I'll post a picture of mine after our trip next month; yours is nothing compared to what mine looks like down there in pretty much every month except November. I have the worst hair EVER, and I have not met many people who have hair thicker than mine

I need to think about doing Fantasmic again in November, it's the nighttime entertainment I always seem to forget about yet as I said, HS is my favorite park! We all enjoy it and since we don't see it every trip nobody gets tired of it. We didn't see it last November either so I think we're due

 

[disny_luvr]

It looks like you guys had an excellent time at DHS. We did the Frozen Sing Along this year for the first time and I LOVED IT! My boys were not happy about going but they also enjoyed it. I looked over at them a few times during the show and they were both grinning from ear to ear.

I had read on here about Characterpalooza but we never stumbled upon it. It's okay because I'm sure my boys wouldn't have taken pictures with any of the characters, but DH and I would have. How did you find out about the time of it? I need to make a mental note of this for our next trip even if it is 3 years away.

I'm glad your kids were able to spend some time at SAB. We sure spent a lot of time there, too.

We all love Fantasmic, too. It is my one son's favorite show in all of Disney. We always have to make time to see it. I'm glad you guys enjoy it, too.

 

[Jfsag123]

Very cute! Stitch is one of my favorite characters.

My kids love him and my mother hates him, which makes my kids love him more! They always want to get a good picture demonstrating their Stitch love to send to Grandma.

You were totally fangirling That's awesome.
I just noticed that I have the same crossbody bag you have in the pic. Mine is black. I love it so much...it's my every day bag and I plan to have it with me as my park bag.

I totally was! Lol. And the Evil Queen was not having it, which just made me giggle more.

I love that bag too! I bought this one to use before our first trip and it has held up beautifully across all three. I love that you can just toss it in the wash! I bought the same bag in red and use that as my everyday bag.

The Disney copyright in the corner kid of gave it away

Shh! Maybe the others won't notice.

Our family does too. It's a wonderful show. I don't get the F! hate

It is just so Disney to us. We have done Epcot as our first park day on our previous trips, but didn't want to this time because of the EMH schedule. I consoled myself with the thought that DHS would still be a great first day choice because we'd get to close out the day with Fantasmic!

 

[Jfsag123]

YAY, you caught characterpalooza Isn't it the coolest thing?? And yes, the Evil Queen is like the best part of it; she's almost always there and of course that's the only place you can meet her (other than the most awesome Club Villain). I did the same thing, I didn't need to be in any characterpalooza pics except with her lol!

We actually caught it last year, but there was no Evil Queen that time! I was sad because I had heard she could often be met there, but this year more than made up for it. It really is the coolest thing! Love that you did the same thing with the pics!

Looks like such a great day at HS overall which I love to see since it's my favorite park Steve and I stopped and studied all the hand prints back in January. I don't think we've done that at all with Chris and not with Ricky since he was maybe 5 or 6. Making a mental note for Nov. And Cora's MJ pose is adorable!

It was a really great day! It's Rees' favorite park too. I hope y'all get to spend some time with the hand prints in November! I have pictures of Cora in various tribute poses to MJ dating back to when she was 2.

Ah, no worries on the frizzy hair. I promise I'll post a picture of mine after our trip next month; yours is nothing compared to what mine looks like down there in pretty much every month except November. I have the worst hair EVER, and I have not met many people who have hair thicker than mine

Oh, if you had seen it down I think I may have been able to give you a run for your money lol. I pulled it back and let any dreams of looking decent go about halfway through the day pretty much every day. I will be waiting for that pic!

I need to think about doing Fantasmic again in November, it's the nighttime entertainment I always seem to forget about yet as I said, HS is my favorite park! We all enjoy it and since we don't see it every trip nobody gets tired of it. We didn't see it last November either so I think we're due

It's time! Do it! DO IT! (My attempt at peer pressure )

 

[Jfsag123]

It looks like you guys had an excellent time at DHS. We did the Frozen Sing Along this year for the first time and I LOVED IT! My boys were not happy about going but they also enjoyed it. I looked over at them a few times during the show and they were both grinning from ear to ear.

It really is a cute show! I was pleasantly surprised the first time we saw it, as I wasn't expecting much.

I had read on here about Characterpalooza but we never stumbled upon it. It's okay because I'm sure my boys wouldn't have taken pictures with any of the characters, but DH and I would have. How did you find out about the time of it? I need to make a mental note of this for our next trip even if it is 3 years away.

Check out Kenny the Pirate's Character Locator site. There is a small fee, but we have found it to be more than worth it and have caught Characterpalooza twice with his guidance. And no shame in the parents stopping to get character pics. Hoping the 3 years will fly by!

I'm glad your kids were able to spend some time at SAB. We sure spent a lot of time there, too.

They were there part of every single day. I think it is their new happy place lol. I hope to get to try it myself one day!

We all love Fantasmic, too. It is my one son's favorite show in all of Disney. We always have to make time to see it. I'm glad you guys enjoy it, too.

Yay for more Fantasmic! fans!

 

[alizas3figs]

What a fun day at HS! Some of our favorite rides are at that park and we have the best time despite the minimal offerings. My kids aren't interested in JTA but maybe one day that will do it. Looking forward to reading more of your family's trip!

 

[ArielSRL]

You guys got so much accomplished!! Even more envious! JTA, Characterpalooza, Fantasmic! Sorry about not getting to experience Stormalong Bay.

I was trying to remember if it rained while we were at AK on this day and I do remember it doing so. I think we missed some of it while we were in Lion King and while we were on break, but I do remember the rain.

Awesome on the no wait for Olaf. We ended up waiting a little bit but I think it was because the heavens opened up right as we got there and everyone went in the line because it was covered.

Glad the weather cleared up and you were able to experience Characterpalooza. I think I forgot to check for it on our DHS day because I was so concerned with us getting back in for Indy, which ended up getting almost totally rained out (which means Characterpalooza probably did too). No worries...another thing to add to the list for next year!!

Mom did GMR this past trip when the rest of us did TSMM, and we were supposed to go back and do it too, but we never did. Glad you guys had fun on the ride and around the ride! Glad to hear you were able to get F! as a FP. We won't be doing the F! pkg this next trip because I don't think they offer it for breakfast (we are planning a PPO to get signed up for JTA...and I think I've already mentioned this several times so forgive me...lol) and since we are paying OOP, I'm not sure I would want to pay the extra for it anyway. So I'll plan to try an additional FP for it.

Oh and my hair does the frizzy thing all the time too; in this humid GA weather and most definitely in the humid and rainy FL June weather! Love the F! selfie though and the Mickey photo. We missed it due to the Friday evening rains so I'm hoping we are able to catch it June 2017!

Great update and looking forward to more!!

 

[soniam]

Great report. Finally found it again, after starting it earlier, and got caught up. Can't wait to hear more. I really need to finish mine from my March trip We area heading out to WDW again on Wednesday though, so I don't know if I will have time.

 

[DisneyJo]

Your little Jedis are so cute and I love your Characterpalooza photos

 

[c3h3a3r]

Loving your report

Got teary watching your bid at the beginning...

Can't wait for the next installment

 

[Jfsag123]

What a fun day at HS! Some of our favorite rides are at that park and we have the best time despite the minimal offerings. My kids aren't interested in JTA but maybe one day that will do it. Looking forward to reading more of your family's trip!

We just love the atmosphere there. I hope it doesn't change too much as they continue to add to the park! Thanks for following along!

Great report. Finally found it again, after starting it earlier, and got caught up. Can't wait to hear more. I really need to finish mine from my March trip We area heading out to WDW again on Wednesday though, so I don't know if I will have time.

Welcome back! I think you get a pass for not having finished your March report since you've been actively planning a new trip. I hope you have the best time and can't wait to hear about it!

Your little Jedis are so cute and I love your Characterpalooza photos

Thank you! Characterpalooza is just the best.

Loving your report

Got teary watching your bid at the beginning...

Can't wait for the next installment

I'm sure I will be crying over that video for years to come lol. Thanks for reading!

 

[Jfsag123]

You guys got so much accomplished!! Even more envious! JTA, Characterpalooza, Fantasmic! Sorry about not getting to experience Stormalong Bay.

We were really surprised at all we were able to accomplish despite the weather, me being in a chair, and us taking a decent break in the afternoon. Staying so close to the park definitely helped! Thanks for the Stormalong Bay sympathy. I am determined to make it happen one day!

Glad the weather cleared up and you were able to experience Characterpalooza. I think I forgot to check for it on our DHS day because I was so concerned with us getting back in for Indy, which ended up getting almost totally rained out (which means Characterpalooza probably did too). No worries...another thing to add to the list for next year!!

We had the exact same struggle, both with the weather and with the Indy stress. I told the kids it was either Indy or the characters, since the non-Indy conflicting set had been rained out, and they chose characters (surprise surprise). We were fortunate that the second set didn't get rained out.

Mom did GMR this past trip when the rest of us did TSMM, and we were supposed to go back and do it too, but we never did. Glad you guys had fun on the ride and around the ride! Glad to hear you were able to get F! as a FP. We won't be doing the F! pkg this next trip because I don't think they offer it for breakfast (we are planning a PPO to get signed up for JTA...and I think I've already mentioned this several times so forgive me...lol) and since we are paying OOP, I'm not sure I would want to pay the extra for it anyway. So I'll plan to try an additional FP for it.

If you don't find the Fantasmic! FP+ on the first try, just keep checking. I first checked when we were in line for GMR and it showed no availability. Checked a few minutes later while waiting in the ride vehicle and there it was. I'm convinced the first try was a glitch or something, as I've never seen it unavailable (though my experience is admittedly quite limited). This was at about 7:25pm for the 9:00 show.

Oh and my hair does the frizzy thing all the time too; in this humid GA weather and most definitely in the humid and rainy FL June weather! Love the F! selfie though and the Mickey photo. We missed it due to the Friday evening rains so I'm hoping we are able to catch it June 2017!

Great update and looking forward to more!!

There seem to be a lot of us frizzies lol. I think I'm just going to start conceptualizing it as part of my "Disney look."

 

[ArielSRL]

So there was two sets of Characterpalooza?? Or am I mistaken and you are talking about Indy?

I subscribe to KTP and I did check it a few weeks before our trip but I forgot to check for changes right before. So maybe I missed this second set?

 

[Jfsag123]

So there was two sets of Characterpalooza?? Or am I mistaken and you are talking about Indy?

I subscribe to KTP and I did check it a few weeks before our trip but I forgot to check for changes right before. So maybe I missed this second set?

Just one set because of the rain, but yes, there were two sets listed on his schedule.

 

[ArielSRL]

Ok, I'm so annoyed with either the Internet or the Disboards bc it won't let me quote your post.

I've never seen it listed twice. Is that usually just for summer months?