A Disney-addicted mom braves the August (2010) heat! *11/28 Update!*

[DrMomof3]

We shopped along the Emporium. 1st priority was buying my Dooney & Burke bag that I had been promised!!!

That's it. My beautiful bag!!!

We also bought some t-shirts for N and J.

Jessica wearing her new t-shirt on Saturday in Epcot.

And Nathaniel. He LOVES this shirt. He wears it again the minute it comes out of the wash.

We bought Tom a new t-shirt but I can't remember if we bought it at the Emporium or someplace else on a different day. I also bought the kids more Vinylmations as a surprise for later. And various little gifts for people at work, etc.

Zachary was still sleeping and the big kids were getting antsy so Tom took them out while I was finishing my shopping and paying.

This is where he took them:

Post haircut. Note the silly bandz? Nathaniel insisted on buying his siblings (and himself) silly bandz after we rode Space Mountain in the morning. He picked out Mickey Mouse for Zachary, Tinkerbell for Jessica, and Toy Story for himself. He and Jessica each got a multi-colored Mickey Mouse bracelet, too (Jessica is wearing hers).

The Barber Shop was totally empty because it was almost time for the 3pm parade. It was great to be able to just walk-in!

Amanda

 

[Native NYer]

Just started reading your report. Love it! And love your D&B bag

 

[-Hope-]

All caught up! That pretzel looks yummy! Sorry I missed that since I think cream cheese is just about the most perfect food every created.

The haircuts are cute and you gotta love silly bandz! Love your bag!

 

[Momofthreemen]

I love the hair cuts. I really love the purse!!!

 

[lexmas]

Umm, that pretzal sounds amazing. I will have to get one!

I'm not crazy about jungle cruise. I am, however, impressed that Zachary will just fall asleep like that though!

The pictures from the barber shop are so cute! And I love all the bracelets. It sounds like fun!

I love the bag, and the shirts. I think Nathaniel's shirt is great too, I can see why he wants to wear it all the time! I would too!

 

[natebenma]

Finally caught up on your report. Yeah!

What a nice date night you had! I'm sure it was a nice break from having to cut everyone's meat and blowing on meals to cool them off. I hear nothing but good things about KNO, but frankly, after busy days at Disney, I can barely make it past 9:30 myself, so I would be very poor date material to my DH!

How fun that you got to visit with a friend during your trip.

What a fun, busy morning you had at MK. Yeah for making it to the rope drop ceremony. It is really fun to see all of the characters arriving by train.

Very nice D&B bag. Bet you get lots of compliments on it!

The barbershop is such a hidden gem. We have never done this, but I've only heard raves from people who have gone. Jessica's cut and styling is so cute, just enough bling in her hair to be tasteful.

 

[Dizfan4life]

BTW... I love your trip report and your family is adorable! I noticed that you planned your trip at the end of August - can you tell me what it was like? I am thinking about planning a trip next August only because I don't want to take DD(will be 10 next year) out of school for a week and I don't want to plan a vacation over spring break and Christmas along with the rest of the country . Can you tell me how wait times were for rides, how bad the crowds were, did you have difficulty getting ADR's(since it is Free Dining), and how uncontrollably hot is the weather? Since we are thinking about a summer trip to WDW and since we are from Michigan the summer here gets to be in the 90's with what feels like 100% humidity. I wouldn't think the temperature shock would be huge problem since our body wouldn't have to adjust from 30 below zero to 90 degrees WITH humidity !

 

[DrMomof3]

Just started reading your report. Love it! And love your D&B bag

Thank you! I love my bag, too!

All caught up! That pretzel looks yummy! Sorry I missed that since I think cream cheese is just about the most perfect food every created.

The haircuts are cute and you gotta love silly bandz! Love your bag!

Yummy, yummy pretzel! Seriously, it's a food that I *must* eat on each trip.

I love the hair cuts. I really love the purse!!!

Thank you!

Umm, that pretzal sounds amazing. I will have to get one!

Yum!

I'm not crazy about jungle cruise. I am, however, impressed that Zachary will just fall asleep like that though!

Remember, this is the kid who still doesn't sleep through the night on a consistent basis!

The pictures from the barber shop are so cute! And I love all the bracelets. It sounds like fun!

Great fun!!!

I love the bag, and the shirts. I think Nathaniel's shirt is great too, I can see why he wants to wear it all the time! I would too!

Nathaniel's shirt is awesome! I let him choose which shirt he wanted.

Finally caught up on your report. Yeah!

What a nice date night you had! I'm sure it was a nice break from having to cut everyone's meat and blowing on meals to cool them off. I hear nothing but good things about KNO, but frankly, after busy days at Disney, I can barely make it past 9:30 myself, so I would be very poor date material to my DH!

I totally know what you mean!!! I'm always ready for an early bedtime!!!

How fun that you got to visit with a friend during your trip.

There are so few people who do what I do so I tend to know many of them. It's lucky that one lives in Celebration!

What a fun, busy morning you had at MK. Yeah for making it to the rope drop ceremony. It is really fun to see all of the characters arriving by train.

I love rope drop!

Very nice D&B bag. Bet you get lots of compliments on it!

Mostly everyone laughs at me and says that the bag is so perfectly "me."

The barbershop is such a hidden gem. We have never done this, but I've only heard raves from people who have gone. Jessica's cut and styling is so cute, just enough bling in her hair to be tasteful.

I was so pleased with the Barbershop. The 2 CMs who were working at the time were just lovely.

BTW... I love your trip report and your family is adorable! I noticed that you planned your trip at the end of August - can you tell me what it was like? I am thinking about planning a trip next August only because I don't want to take DD(will be 10 next year) out of school for a week and I don't want to plan a vacation over spring break and Christmas along with the rest of the country . Can you tell me how wait times were for rides, how bad the crowds were, did you have difficulty getting ADR's(since it is Free Dining), and how uncontrollably hot is the weather? Since we are thinking about a summer trip to WDW and since we are from Michigan the summer here gets to be in the 90's with what feels like 100% humidity. I wouldn't think the temperature shock would be huge problem since our body wouldn't have to adjust from 30 below zero to 90 degrees WITH humidity !

Thank you for the compliments!!!
I thought this was a great time to go! Yes, it was hot. Yes, it's hot in NY in August too. We don't have central a/c in our house in NY so Disney was an improvement in some ways. We had some rain almost every afternoon. The only issue with the rain was that the thunderstorms made an afternoon swim impossible. This wasn't a huge issue because we found other things to do.
I got most of my ADRs at 180 days. The only thing I wanted and didn't get was Le Cellier. But I looked for 6pm dinner and rejected 8pm dinner or lunch. In retrospect we should have made a lunch ADR for Le Cellier if we had really cared that much (which I didn't). I did change around my ADRs a million times without a problem. We never had a long wait for a meal. We used a room-only discount instead of free dining since we have APs and a TIW card. I don't really like the dining plan for my family so room-only discounts are far more useful for us. Personal preference! I didn't really find that free dining affected us at all.
In terms of lines for attractions? Seriously, we had very few. Obviously if you try to ride Soarin' without a FP at 2pm, you're going to wait. We asked for Baby Swap passes all the time and rarely used them. I came home from the trip with a purse full of unused Baby Swap passes. The regular lines were generally short enough that Baby Swap wasn't necessary! I was pleasantly surprised by the low crowd levels.
We had a few days that were miserably hot/humid. Our first full day and our last day were both a bit uncomfortable. And the kids do tend to get a little whiny by the early afternoon in that weather. But I think younger kids get whiny in the afternoon regardless!!!!
We will return to Disney next August unless something happens to change that plan.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

After the haircuts I had one more stop before heading back to BCV.... The Hat Store. I know it has a name but I can't remember it. I needed to buy a pair of Mickey Mouse ears for a very special patient of mine. He's an older teen who is severely mentally disabled and wheelchair-bound. He comes from a fabulous family who drives 2 hours just to see me. I had operated on him right before leaving for Disney and felt terribly guilty about going out of town with him in the hospital. So I wanted to buy him a pair of mouse ears.

We went to the hat store and found the ears. While we were waiting for the name to be put on the back, we were chatting with the CM. I explained that I was buying a gift for a special patient, etc. It turns out her son had recently been shot in NYC and was in rehab in the Bronx. She knows all about my hospital. We talked for a long time before she turned to Jessica to ask if she planned to be a doctor like her mommy. Jessica replied that she had plans to become a rock star like Hannah Montana. The CM asked her to sing something so Jessica sang the Best of Both Worlds (from the tv show). The CM was so impressed that she brought us next door to the confectionary and gave Jessica 3 special lollipops for my 3 kids (they were white chocolate and marshmallow with sprinkles - not sure I have a pic). Disney magic strikes again!

At that point the 3pm parade was starting so we watched a bit before heading back to BCV.

Here's Zachary with the lollipop. I don't think the kids liked them that much (not to sounds ungrateful - I was so touched).

I guess we aren't really parade people because the kids were getting restless (and by kids I'm including Tom!) so we took the bus back to the hotel. Where we were greeted by.....

Amanda

 

[Dizfan4life]

Thank you for the compliments!!!
I thought this was a great time to go! Yes, it was hot. Yes, it's hot in NY in August too. We don't have central a/c in our house in NY so Disney was an improvement in some ways. We had some rain almost every afternoon. The only issue with the rain was that the thunderstorms made an afternoon swim impossible. This wasn't a huge issue because we found other things to do.
I got most of my ADRs at 180 days. The only thing I wanted and didn't get was Le Cellier. But I looked for 6pm dinner and rejected 8pm dinner or lunch. In retrospect we should have made a lunch ADR for Le Cellier if we had really cared that much (which I didn't). I did change around my ADRs a million times without a problem. We never had a long wait for a meal. We used a room-only discount instead of free dining since we have APs and a TIW card. I don't really like the dining plan for my family so room-only discounts are far more useful for us. Personal preference! I didn't really find that free dining affected us at all.
In terms of lines for attractions? Seriously, we had very few. Obviously if you try to ride Soarin' without a FP at 2pm, you're going to wait. We asked for Baby Swap passes all the time and rarely used them. I came home from the trip with a purse full of unused Baby Swap passes. The regular lines were generally short enough that Baby Swap wasn't necessary! I was pleasantly surprised by the low crowd levels.
We had a few days that were miserably hot/humid. Our first full day and our last day were both a bit uncomfortable. And the kids do tend to get a little whiny by the early afternoon in that weather. But I think younger kids get whiny in the afternoon regardless!!!!
We will return to Disney next August unless something happens to change that plan.

Amanda

Hey thanks!!! This has me a little more excited to get the trip planning going after hearing your report on crowds! I having no lines at all and I am sure that helps with the heat. Heat + a TON of people = not such a good time !

I am checking out staying at a DVC resort just to get the extra room for when kiddies crash early then DH and I could watch some TV. However, I have a gut feeling that I might have a hard time persuading the members of my family to stay somewhere other than CBR.... the kids LOVED the pirate kiddie ship area.

Oh... I feel for ya that you don't have A/C at home. Hopefully you have some good shade trees!!! Summers in MI usually require the constant use of A/C for us! I appreciate your feedback! Glad you all had a great trip!!!

 

[-Hope-]

That's so sweet of you to get ears for your patient. And love that the kids got the marshmallow pops- even if they didn't like them all that much it was such a sweet gesture by the CM.

We aren't really parade people either and while we all enjoy it at first after a while we are all wondering how much longer it's going to be.

You get the best towel animals! So cute.

 

[DrMomof3]

Hey thanks!!! This has me a little more excited to get the trip planning going after hearing your report on crowds! I having no lines at all and I am sure that helps with the heat. Heat + a TON of people = not such a good time !

I am checking out staying at a DVC resort just to get the extra room for when kiddies crash early then DH and I could watch some TV. However, I have a gut feeling that I might have a hard time persuading the members of my family to stay somewhere other than CBR.... the kids LOVED the pirate kiddie ship area.

Oh... I feel for ya that you don't have A/C at home. Hopefully you have some good shade trees!!! Summers in MI usually require the constant use of A/C for us! I appreciate your feedback! Glad you all had a great trip!!!

Glad I could ease your fears about the crowds. We're lucky that school doesn't start until after Labor Day here. Since I work full-time, it's great for me to take vacation when there's no school or camp so I don't need to look for childcare!
We aren't DVC memebers (yet!) but we love the convenience of the villas. I don't cook a lot on vacation but I like have a full fridge with a freezer. And I like being able to make breakfast in the room or heat up leftovers.
The a/c thing isn't that bad. We have an old house and our electrical has not been updated yet so we couldn't run a lot of a/c. The house is stone so it stays relatively cool.

That's so sweet of you to get ears for your patient. And love that the kids got the marshmallow pops- even if they didn't like them all that much it was such a sweet gesture by the CM.

We aren't really parade people either and while we all enjoy it at first after a while we are all wondering how much longer it's going to be.

You get the best towel animals! So cute.

Thanks Hope. This patient is very special. I think the CM gave the marshmallow pops as much because I was doing something thoughtful and I truly appreciated that!
We really were blessed with awesome towel animals!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

The never-ending trip report!

So we went back to BCV, found our towel animal, chilled out for a while, and got ready for dinner. This might have been the day that the kids all climbed into the whirlpool bathtub with me (can't remember which day it was).

We had an ADR at Garden Grill. This was a first for us and I wasn't sure how we'd like the family-style dining.

We stopped for some photopass pics on the way:

Then we headed to the Land pavilion for dinner. I was unimpressed with the CM at check-in. One of the least friendly people we had encountered on this trip. After a short wait we were seated. Our table was quite small for a party of 5. With Zachary on the end in the high-chair, the seats weren't a problem but there wasn't enough table space.

I bought all 3 kids a vinylmation as a surprise while I was shopping at the Emporium. They were thrilled!!! The waitress was fine. Not the typical friendly service we expect at Disney but certainly efficient enough. The food was fine. Not outstanding but certainly good enough. And obviously there was plenty to go around.

The highlight of this meal was the characters. For all of my above complaints, the character interaction was among the best we've ever had! Only the princess dinner in Norway compares. Cape May was fine. Hollywood & Vine was fine. This was outstanding! My kids were giddy with excitement. Maybe they just felt very comfortable with characters at this point or maybe the characters were just really good.

Pics to follow...

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Pics for Garden Grill:

 

[DrMomof3]

More pics!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

And even more....

Even my normally shy Nathaniel got into the action!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I think we did a Kim Possible mission on the way back but I don't remember any more! We did have more photopass pics taken...

Home to BCV, laundry, packing, and sleep!!!

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

I've never seen a Photopass guy on that side of the ball. It's a great picture spot. Love all the character pictures. The character interaction is what we love about Garden Grill too. The characters never seemed rushed and are always really playful. I'm with you on the food. Nothing to write home about, but it's edible.

 

[natebenma]

Too cute!!!

 

[lexmas]

We have had great character interaction at Garden Grill too. I love the pictures, you can tell the kids are having a great time. And how funny that Jessica can wear that bracelet on her head like that!

It's kind of funny how having a "friendly enough" CM or server interact with you is always disappointing...we're all so used to the CMs being SO very friendly at disney!

I'm always surprised that you can even get 5 people looking at the photopass guy, muchless get such great pictures! I love it!