A Long Awaited (9 years!) Disney Return, this time with kids of my own!

[Rebecuberduber]

Oh my gosh, I’m afraid to even log in, it’s been so long. Christmas pretty much swept me up and away from the computer. Now I’m back, and it’s only nine days until our next trip!!! There’s no way I’m going to have time to finish this beforehand, so to flagrantly disappoint one last time (this report) I’m going to have to do a summary of our last few days. I apologize profusely for this, but I will do my best to give the highlights, at least, there deserved coverage.

Ok, so for today I will summarize day 6. We woke up late, as usual, and started the day with a swim. It was cold, but the kids loved it. My mom and I sat sipping hot coffee in our sweaters while we watched the kids happily splash in the frigid kiddy pool. Once they finally had enough, we all went up and took warm baths to put color back in their blue lips before heading to Hollywood Studios.

When we got back to our rooms, though, Mickey and the gang left a surprise! A lollipop and a personalized letter from the Mouse was waiting for each kid. (I snuck ahead and planted them while they were on their way from the pool. The letters we had pre-written to look like Mickey’s handwriting and signature. Don’t tell Disney that we forged it!)

By the time we reached the Studios it was time for lunch. We ate at Pizza Planet. We found a nice table outside, all by itself, next to the Christmas store. It was nice and quiet, and the kids had fun playing with the fake snowman outside the shop while we ate.

After lunch, it was definitely Morphin’ Time! Dash had no idea the Power Rangers were visiting Disney World the same time we were! What a happy coincidence! They were even kind enough to stop their turbo car and sign a few autographs. (Side note, we definitely need to find where they rent those Turbo Cars at the parks. What a cushy way to tour!)

Dash was so cute. He took it all so seriously. He was just so awe struck we couldn’t even get a smile out of him for the pictures. He was doing some severe power ranger poses, though.

We attempted Star Tours, next, but Dash and Aunty Cinderella were both turned away for being too short. We kind of figured that would happen, but the one or two times they let them pass previously on our trip made it worth the shot.

After this was sounds dangerous, but there were obnoxious people with cell phones in the back the whole time, who were almost as disruptive as the announcer who kept repeating “All cellular phones must be turned off during the presentation”.

We watched the Indiana Jones stunt show next, which was pretty awesome. I know my dad isn’t too keen on this attraction, but I though it was really neat. I couldn’t believe they actually had a real plane onstage at the end! At least, it was actual size. I admit the show was pretty corny, but the stunts were still cool to watch.

We tried Toy Story Mania after this, but the wait was over an hour long so we passed on by. At this point it was getting dark. We found ourselves back at the hat and the kids had fun playing in the star lights that were dancing around the floor. They were having so much fun that a few of us grownups decided to do the movie ride while they played.

A pretty hat picture

The stars on the floor

And that brings us to park closing and extra magic hours. The cold morning swim was beginning to take its toll on the youngsters, though, who were getting pretty tired and grumpy. Dad suggested we could take the boat over to the Boardwalk resort, though, and this grabbed my interest. I have never seen this resort, and it sounds cool. We decided to give it a shot, thinking perhaps a change of scenery would revive the grumpy children. We ended up waiting for the boat for I think about half an hour, though, and then finally gave up. The kids were just too tired. Of course, as soon as we left the line, the boat arrived. But we didn’t care anymore. We were just eager to get the little ones into their beds.

By the time we got back to the resort, though, they had all fallen asleep. We decided since the rest of us weren’t quite ready for bed yet, to visit the ice cream shop in our hotel. This was fun and a pretty good concession to missing out on Boardwalk that night. And after this, we all hit they hay.

Next up, a summary of our second day in Epcot. It’s a wonderful, serene day, and possibly one of my favorites of this trip.

 

[Rebecuberduber]

I forgot to note that I updated last time. I don’t think anyone saw it. Oh well. Moving right along. We’re back from our trip, now, and I’m so excited to get this one done so I can start on the new one. So I’m going to continue summarizing, for now.

First let me just briefly say that the trip we just returned from was so wonderful!! There were some bumps along the way with weather and such (you’ll hear all about the little ‘bumps’ when I start a report), but over all the trip was maybe our best yet. At the very least it was one of our very best. Now that we’re back, though, I’m in major withdrawal because we probably won’t return to Disney until 2012 to Disneyland. That seems so far away! It will be all that more magical, though, I hope, after such a long wait.

Ok, so back to the trip report at hand. The big kids took off early, again, to let the little ones sleep in. We ate cinnamon rolls from the resort commissary and then headed for Epcot to meet up at Mission Space. The big girls were still on Mission Space so we hung out for a while and waited for them. We saw the Jammin’ Chefs and then the little ones splashed in the nearby water squirters. This may have been one of the highlights of the day for them. They got soaked, which was fine because it was a hot day, already, and it was only morning.

getting soaked

When the big kids were through with their Mission to Space, we split up again. Grandma, Auntie Wendy, and Auntie Cinderella had not yet gotten a chance to ride Soarin’, so I joined them to ride that ride. I knew my little sis, Auntie Cinderella, loved this ride, and wanted to experience it with her. The others trudged on to Canada and spent some time making masks at the kidcot station.

My poor father was starting to feel really miserable, though. He had a tooth ache that just started hurting the night before. He was dosed up on Tylenol, but that wasn’t doing the trick. He was a trouper, though, and carried on as our fearless leader.

Can you just see the misery?

Our fearless leader, dialing his dentist. Still in fearless leader poise, though.

We met up with them at Canada after our Soarin’ ride, and watched the Oh, Canada movie. I don’t think any of us had seen the newer version with Martin Short. That was fun. It made me want to visit Canada. I also loved the scenery in the pavilion. The waterfalls were beautiful! It would be fun to eat at the restaurant, sometime, but not with so many little kids.

After Canada, it was time to tour the World Showcase. We journeyed onward to the United Kingdom. The kids loved the toy store, here, and Dash was more than thrilled that they had some of his Thomas trains that he’d been missing so much. Donald and I, while wandering about the store, found Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger in the back. We put Snow White down and let her have a photo-op with them. Eeyore was very friendly with Snow White, which scared the jeepers out of her. She had been doing fine with the characters, but she’d never had a photo-op by herself with them, before. She always had her bigger aunties and her brother with her. She was a little terrified to be by herself with three huge animals crowding in around her. Needless to say none of the pictures came out that well. They were all on photopass, anyway, and I don't have those to share. I felt bad for poor Eeyore. He was just trying to be friendly, and ended up giving the little child the fright of her life. I guess that’s life for Eeyore. Nothing quite goes the way he would like.

Our journey continued, and brought us to France. There were some guys balancing on chairs so we stopped to watch.

When the crowds dispersed from this, we saw Sleeping Beauty signing autographs across the way. I had no idea she was French. The girls of course had to stop and get her autograph. I ducked into the perfume shop and came out all smelly. We stayed and watched Impressions de France, and then journeyed further toward Japan.

At Japan we stopped and ate lunch at the little outdoor noodle restaurant. Ok, hang on, I’ll look up the name. It must have been Teppan Edo. It wasn’t the fancy restaurant where they throw your food around in front of you. It was a quiet outdoor counter-service. At least, it was very quiet and serene when we were there. We loved it. The atmosphere was very pretty. It was a nice quiet spot surrounded by trees away from the main thoroughfare. It was also nice to break up the usual pizza and hotdogs counter service fare with something different.

When we came out of Japan, we found ourselves arriving in Italy just when the street juggler was coming out to perform. We stopped and watched. It was fun and impressive, but not quite as impressive as climbing up a large tower of chairs. DH, Donald, thought that it was the same guy, though. I don’t think so, but maybe.

Snow White, having the attention span of a two-year-old (which, incidentally, she was), got bored of the juggling, though. Donald, being a good daddy, took her off on a quest to find some gelato while we stayed behind to watch. Donald is very into food, and probably mainly wanted the gelato for himself. Since he has to watch what he eats, though, he feeds all the food he wishes he could have to our kids, instead. It’s not the ideal system, but it works for us. Anyway, so they found some gelato. Then, coming away from the gelato stand, whom to their wondering eyes should appear but the actual Snow White herself, in the flesh. Little Snow White was actually the first to spot her and point her out to Donald. She was just arriving to sign some autographs near Germany. Donald did a quick about-face with the stroller, and wheeled right up into the line which was just forming. The rest of our group happened to be leaving Italy just at that time, and rushed over to join him. We only had to wait a few moments before Snow White was face to face with her namesake, the real, actual, Snow White. Little Snow was so happy to see her! She took big Snow White’s hand and just stood there staring at her happily as big Snow White signed our autograph books.

Then, after posing for a picture, we gently coaxed little Snow to get back into her stroller. Alas, she had an iron grip and would not let go of Snow White’s hand! I think big Snow White was starting to worry. We eventually managed to pry the poor little thing away. She was so sad to leave Snow White’s side that she cried and cried. That is, until Donald gave her back her gelato. Then she was alright. It was surprising, and touching, and pitiful how much she latched onto Snow White, though! All in all, I was so happy for her that she got to meet her. Especially since it obviously meant so much to her. It’s hard to know, at that age, how much they will understand.

I just realized, I said I was going to summarize, but I’m writing quite a bit, here. I guess there’s just too much to tell to do a quick summary. Anyway, our travels brought us to China, next. Here, we spotted Mulan and Mushu and stopped for some autographs. We don’t have photographic evidence of this, for some reason. You’ll just have to take my word for it. We watched the China film, but after this my father just couldn’t go on. His toothache was getting to be just too much. He decided it was time for him to part ways and go back for a rest at the resort. He made plans to meet up with us, again, for dinner at the Polynesian, that night, and then bid farewell.

Bewildered, we found ourselves without our guide. We trekked on, nonetheless, and found ourselves in Norway. We skipped Maelstrom since we’d already ridden it and the wait was a bit long. Well, it was only 20 minutes, but that was a bit much for Maelstrom. We went on to Mexico, instead, and took the Fiesta Tour for the second time.

We left the World Showcase, after this, satisfied with our travels. We saw Club Cool across the way, and it was just to intriguing to resist on a hot afternoon, like this one. This was our first time at this stop, and it became a fast favorite. We tried every soda, including the Beverly. Yes, the Beverly was bad. We even made the little ones taste it. We’re that cruel.

Finally, it was time to wrap up our afternoon and start heading toward dinner. We stopped at Spaceship Earth for a final go ‘round, then went to catch ourselves a monorail to the Polynesian. And here is where I will leave off, for now. I’m apparently not good at all at summarizing, so I will have to break this day up into two installments. Tune in, later, and I will tell you of our dinner at one of our favorite resorts, the Polynesian, followed by EMH at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Connie96]

Hey girl! I just wanted to let you know that I really am still here and still very much enjoying your report. Between the holidays and spending an insane amout of my time on work over the past couple months, I still try to read when I can, but haven't taken much time to reply.

Now that we’re back, though, I’m in major withdrawal because we probably won’t return to Disney until 2012 to Disneyland. That seems so far away! It will be all that more magical, though, I hope, after such a long wait.

I know just what you mean. It has been just over four years since my last WDW trip and what I'm afraid of is that my next trip could possibly pale in comparison to the fantasy I've been conjuring in my head for so long. We're hoping to take our daughter for her first trip some time later this year, but we're just gonna have to wait and see if it'll work out.

Alas, she had an iron grip and would not let go of Snow White’s hand!

You want so bad for them to love the characters without fear and really experience the magic. And sometimes, that's exactly what you get!

I just realized, I said I was going to summarize, but I’m writing quite a bit, here. I guess there’s just too much to tell to do a quick summary.

Exactly the kind of "summary" I was hoping for. Keep it coming!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Somehow I missed your last two updates. The quick summaries were great. Love the photos as always. So glad to hear that you Christmas trip was awesome! I hope you do a TR. Maybe you are doing a TR and I haven't seen it yet. I'll go look now.

 

[GreatBiscuit]