And the Rain, Rain, Rain Came Down, Down Down - or Oy, Fay! Updated 10/1. The End.

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Day 5 dawned bright and early. We had a date for breakfast, so at least we didn’t have to be up in time to eat first, just dress & go.

We had planned an early breakfast with Janet & her crew at CP for 8:05. More time for friends!

We did have a bit of a wait for the bus, though, because of the pre-opening time. My notes say we got downstairs at 7:25, but the bus didn't come until 7:40. And I was worried.

Janet texted me whilst we were still waiting to say she’d just gotten on, so I knew that she was at least on the way.

She got there whilst we were just passing the CR, so she waited for us. We quickly got through the “guests with breakfast ADR” line, but Janet did have to wait a bit for her mom’s CM stuff. No worries – the boys just had a ball picking up a ton of Mickey head confetti left over from the night before. (Last year, a Dream Team member had Buzz close his eyes, and Tink came and left him pixie dust – i.e. the confetti – for bravery. And it worked, not only in WDW but for months after. This is something burned in their little brains. )

Soon enough, we were moving on in, with Janet, her family, and her friend Denise and the kids. D got the requisite empty park pic:

We ended up being a little late for the ADR, but that was fine. We didn’t have to wait too long before they let us in. With 11 of us, we had two tables in the far back corner on the right side as you walk in. Piglet was already making his rounds, and at that point the restaurant was still pretty empty.

Piglet:

Eeyore:

Pooh:

The grown-ups took turns grabbing food for ourselves and the kids, and fighting a bit over the coffee carafe. Some of us were a little fuzzy.

Once again, though, it was just eating with old friends, no awkwardness, nothing.

Sorry, Mo, I’m not much of a sweet breakfast person, so I don’t think any of us had the puffy goodness, either. Buzz loved the Mickey waffles, though.

Now, somewhere in there they stopped to do the “parade” and we were all pretty much done eating. But we hadn’t seen Tigger. And still hadn’t seen Tigger. And at this point, the room was full, so once he DID get going, it still took a while for him to come. So we did end up paying first, then waiting for Tigger to come. The rope had dropped, so we were getting kind of anxious to get our rides on. Especially as this was an EMH day, and I was leery of it – we had found in 2007 that the EMH days are just too crazy crowded for our liking.

Finally Tigger arrived. He is Buzz’s favorite – I love this picture because of his expression:

And then Janet’s nephew Andrew got into the action – it was cute to see the teen loving the characters:

Now, here’s where I feel bad. We love Splash and D was planning on heading out there to get FPs, and meeting the boys and I in Fantasyland for a few quick rides there before the crowds got too bad.

I knew Janet’s plan was similar but not exact, but I was sure we’d be seeing them shortly. So I feel like we just rushed off with a “see you later” and not much fanfare. And then – spoiler, I guess, but… - we never again saw them, even though we were both in the park so much that day and on into EMH. Gah. I’m sorry, Janet.

As D ran off to Splash, the boys and I strolled over to Fantasyland. Woody got very upset that “You didn’t promise that we’d see them again, Mom, not even next time in WDW.”

We decided not to torture D, and I took the boys on IaSW whilst we were waiting on him. I did have a brief moment of panic that we were getting stuck in the last “whole world” room, but we moved on. Pshew!

We came out to find D just coming up, but Fantasyland FILLING up, so we left to head back to Frontierland. Splash still had a 10 minute posted wait, so we decided to go on standby. Thank goodness. Just as we were finishing up, coming up on the loading dock, the ride broke. We were stuck sitting there for quite a while. They were emptying the ride from inside, but since we were about 1 log away from the loading area, there was no way to get us off.

Ugh. So we waited. Finally they got it to move enough to unload us, but the ride was still down. But we did grab another set of FP’s in case it was back up later!

We walked over to BTMRR and had a little wait – probably most of the people finding Splash down ended up over there – but it wasn’t horrible. We checked back on Splash afterward, as our FP would have been good, but it was completely closed, so we hopped the train to ToonTown. We hadn’t hit this area on our first night, so the boys were kind of excited. They were, however, also pretty tired.

D & Buzz on the train:

Me & D – I had to buy those sunglasses the night before at AKL. I had left mine in the van at the airport at home, but hadn’t needed them until now! (Remember this - Disney priced "cheap" sunglasses...)

Buzz, looking a little worn out:

Woody, looking a lot worn out:

Just after that picture, he really broke down. I carried him off the train crying – he was so sad about not getting to see Jimmy & Andrew & Maddie and “her boy” (that’s Evan ) again soon.

As we pulled into ToonTown, we could see some characters around the back of the Mickey house area, past the DSA, and Buzz saw Pinocchio and really wanted to meet him. I find this odd, because as far as I know, they’ve not seen the movie.

But we did first take the time to wind through Mickey’s house and meet him. The line was pretty short:

Then when we came out, we went ‘round back to find Pinocchio. Who was gone. But we saw a ton of other characters:

Anyone have a clue? He signed the books as “Mr. Penguin” but I don’t know where he’s from, unless maybe Mary Poppins?

Robin Hood:

I particularly love Prince John from the animated movie:

It was actually like Florida in August this day – HOT and humid. We were all really feeling it. The boys took a little turn in Donald’s Boat, and then they wanted to do the Barnstormer. Thankfully it was a walk-on, so we all did it. Then we did it again. And again! The boys were brave enough to do this one on their own:

Now, I would have told you that we went back at this point, (my notes end here, sadly) but the pictures tell a different story, and it did jog my memory. We had the big breakfast, so it would have easily been lunch time by now, but the boys were really wanting for some reason to eat at The Mara at AKL (the CS place.) And none of us were that hungry. So, we grabbed a couple of pretzels and drinks at the stands by Pooh’s Playful Spot. The Fantasyland lines were really too long at this point for us to get to any of them.

We sat down at a slightly shady table and all shared a small snack – perfect. There was a lady sitting at the table next to us who very politely asked if she could smoke. I don’t think we even answered – our faces must have told the story – and she said she’d go elsewhere. D felt a bit bad until I explained that there are DSA’s, and this wasn’t one.

After we got fed and watered, Buzz really, really wanted to ride Buzz, so he & I headed over there, whilst D & Woody did the Speedway. Woody was concentrating!

Buzz was about a 40 minute wait, but we had a great conversation in line with a family from MI, who were leaving that evening.

I won pretty handily.

The boys then wanted “that relaxing ride” so we did TTA:

And then we went back to see if Splash was back up. It was, and of course they were honoring the earlier FP’s because of it being down. But the FP line was HUGE for that reason – still, they were taking more FP than standby, so it wasn’t too bad. By the time we went around again – we had that second set we had grabbed “in case” - the FP line was working pretty quickly again.

We did decide at this point that we could all use a break. It was hot, the boys wanted to swim – last chance, as tomorrow’s our last day and we don’t swim before getting on the plane – and eat at Mara for dinner. So D & I decided that could work fine, and then if we wanted to come back after dinner we could – it was EMH, even, so we could have a lot of time.

We hopped on the train and rode around to the front. As it turned out, the parade was just coming round, so we stopped and watched it go by, then skedaddled out. A bus came relatively quickly and we got back to swim in no time. I kind of think it clouded up here some, but not sure that it ever rained this day. Anyone? If so, it was the typical quick downpour from the heat build-up, then over.

Too many pictures, so onto the next post:

 

[cmp1111]

We swam, and Buzz in particular made really good friends with a boy from England. They had a ball, D & I swam a bit and had a drink. It was probably nearing 6:00 when we headed inside, got changed and went down to the Mara. I feel like the boys & I went ahead – D must have wanted to shower or something. We all ate – I grabbed a sandwich from the grab-n-go, D got some sort of salad, I think, and no clue what the boys got. I don’t love the menu there – not the food, the actual menu - it is on a screen that changes, and I saw things too late that I might have liked better. But we were all full and fine.

We did decide to head back out. I had checked with the desk about printing our boarding passes, but we would have had to be there in person. We finally decided that we’d check in on D’s blackberry, and just have them reprinted at the airport, so we had to set an alarm to remember to do that – the flight was at 7:55 and we wanted to be quick on the 24 hour mark.

It went off just as the bus pulled into the MK, so I know what time we got there! They were handing out the EMH bands as you entered the park by that point.

The park was still pretty packed. I’m pretty sure we went and did the Astro Orbiter, which was fairly quick. And we got some FP’s for Buzz. We had been trying all day to talk the boys onto Space Mtn. – they’d both done it last year – but no dice. Poor D.


And I know we all did the Indy cars again, which was kind of fun in the dark – as it was now. Sadly, though, it was still around a half hour wait – the park was still just busy.

And then I think we were able to go back and do Buzz on the FP. We then just wandered along the back of the park and did the tea cups – short wait, then Pooh. There was a posted 20 minute wait for Pooh, but we were going ahead with it, when the CM working the ride handed D some FPs over the fence, so we jumped right on! Thanks, Christina!

By now, Fantasyland was really clearing out, so we were able to do Peter Pan with no wait. I was pleased, because that was the last “must do” ride for us in MK that we’d not gotten to between our first day and now. We all love it. And then we headed over to do Haunted Mansion. The only bad thing about this was that somehow the timing was really off and all the elevators let out at once. The little space between the elevators and the loading dock was just wall-to-wall people – we had to hold onto the boys for dear life. We all liked that again, and when we came out, Wishes was starting. We just hung out in Liberty Square and watched the fireworks. Lovely!

We discussed doing Splash or BTMRR again, but neither boy was up for it. Woody found a popcorn stand and we finally got him some – more than 24 hours after the meltdown in Epcot, but he was finally happy.

We then debated what to do next. Somehow they got in their heads that they wanted to do Aladdin’s carpet, so the boys and I did that whilst D held the popcorn, and it was a short line. We talked about doing Pirates or the Jungle Cruise, but they were ready to leave.

So we wandered down Main St. and out the park – I think it said 10:45 when we passed the clock on Main St. Nice use of EMH, no? Here we are – the boys had seen Jessica & Ellie’s TT pose and had to copy it:

So we headed out and I was surprised that we got a bus fairly quickly, but it was crowded. We ended up NOT giving up our seats, but putting the boys in our laps instead, as we knew they’d wind up asleep and might fall over.

I feel fairly sure D & I probably had wine on the balcony again, and I am also sure we did some packing up, putting away everything but the next day’s items, as we were planning on making rope drop, but had to check out and leave everything with the bell desk.

Reading back, we really did get a lot done, but I had felt all day that my touring plan wasn’t working that well – we still had lines and with Splash down we were doing a lot of running back and forth. It just didn’t feel as smooth as Wed’s part-day had, and definitely not like our full day last year. I'm sure part of that is EMH. When Janet & I made our plans, we had been hoping for a morning Little Ones EMH as well. I had known from last year that I didn’t like the parks that had the evening EMH’s as they seem so crowded, plus we can’t stay out that late for them, anyway, yet. Not that I would give up our breakfast for anything, but next time let’s pick a non-EMH day…

So, I had high hopes for making rope drop on a quietish Monday for our final day. We didn’t have to be back for the ME until 5:00, so we had a lot of time.

Next up: Last Day, and will D get fired?

 

[KatGarcia]

I def agree that I do not like Morning EHM;s, I avoid them like the plague!!! You really did get a ton done, even if you had to cris cross the park a bit. I can't believe it's almost over!

 

[Goofyluver]

Fired? Lordy...I hope not!

Great update! It was just long enough for me to be satisfied...but not long enough to forget!

Loved the CP pics! That's JOn's fav...and he requests it EVERY time.

My other observation? Both you and D have really nice teeth...your kids will have nice smiles!

It's not over yet...right?

 

[cmp1111]

I def agree that I do not like Morning EHM;s, I avoid them like the plague!!! You really did get a ton done, even if you had to cris cross the park a bit. I can't believe it's almost over!

Well, the problem here was the park was overcrowded (I thought) because there were evening EMH's. They ended up not doing the LOEMH. But, it did work out.

Fired? Lordy...I hope not!

I'll explain in the next update.

Great update! It was just long enough for me to be satisfied...but not long enough to forget!

Thanks!

My other observation? Both you and D have really nice teeth...your kids will have nice smiles!

Thanks, but we both had orthodontia. So they may have expensive nice smiles.

It's not over yet...right?

Nope, another (nearly) full day, plus the wrap up...

 

[jcc0621]

We had planned an early breakfast with Janet & her crew at CP for 8:05. More time for friends!

She got there whilst we were just passing the CR, so she waited for us. We quickly got through the “guests with breakfast ADR” line, but Janet did have to wait a bit for her mom’s CM stuff. No worries – the boys just had a ball picking up a ton of Mickey head confetti left over from the night before. (Last year, a Dream Team member had Buzz close his eyes, and Tink came and left him pixie dust – i.e. the confetti – for bravery. And it worked, not only in WDW but for months after. This is something burned in their little brains. )

Phew

The grown-ups took turns grabbing food for ourselves and the kids, and fighting a bit over the coffee carafe. Some of us were a little fuzzy.

I'm surprised Jim didn't just ell the waiter to bring you each a caraffe

Once again, though, it was just eating with old friends, no awkwardness, nothing.

Ditto my friend

And then Janet’s nephew Andrew got into the action – it was cute to see the teen loving the characters:

I have this same picture. It reminds me that teenagers aren't also poopy heads!

Now, here’s where I feel bad. We love Splash and D was planning on heading out there to get FPs, and meeting the boys and I in Fantasyland for a few quick rides there before the crowds got too bad.

Me too

: Gah. I’m sorry, Janet. [/SIZE][/FONT]

No worries. We thought the same thing

As D ran off to Splash, the boys and I strolled over to Fantasyland. Woody got very upset that “You didn’t promise that we’d see them again, Mom, not even next time in WDW.”

This made my heart jump

[

. Splash still had a 10 minute posted wait, so we decided to go on standby. Thank goodness. Just as we were finishing up, coming up on the loading dock, the ride broke. We were stuck sitting there for quite a while. They were emptying the ride from inside, but since we were about 1 log away from the loading area, there was no way to get us off. [/SIZE][/FONT]

So you were the one's who broke the ride that we weren't able to ride all day.

]Just after that picture, he really broke down. I carried him off the train crying – he was so sad about not getting to see Jimmy & Andrew & Maddie and “her boy” (that’s Evan ) again soon. [/SIZE][/FONT]

Anyone have a clue? He signed the books as “Mr. Penguin” but I don’t know where he’s from, unless maybe Mary Poppins?

That is the only thing I can think of Unless it's Wheezy from Toy Story!

[

There was a lady sitting at the table next to us who very politely asked if she could smoke. I don’t think we even answered – our faces must have told the story – and she said she’d go elsewhere. D felt a bit bad until I explained that there are DSA’s, and this wasn’t one. [/SIZE][/FONT]

How rude when there are DSA's all over the place. Trust me, I know where they all are

. I kind of think it clouded up here some, but not sure that it ever rained this day. Anyone? If so, it was the typical quick downpour from the heat build-up, then over.[/SIZE][/FONT]

I think it rained for about 20 minutes around dinner time and that was it!

It went off just as the bus pulled into the MK, so I know what time we got there! They were handing out the EMH bands as you entered the park by that point.

I can't believe we didn't even see each other at EMH either

The park was still pretty packed.

And it stayed like that the whole night

. Not that I would give up our breakfast for anything, but next time let’s pick a non-EMH day…

It's a deal And maybe next time Mo won't ditch us

Next up: Last Day, and will D get fired?

WHAT?

 

[princessjv]

Poof! Just like magic my post blew up!


No one is allowed to get fired whilst visiting WDW! No one!


poop. I forgot what I wrote. darn computer.


edited to add...

Looks hot. Jo is a liar. Tried to fool me that it wasn't hot. she's caught!

 

[jcc0621]

Looks hot. Jo is a liar. Tried to fool me that it wasn't hot. she's caught!

it was hot, BUT....in Jo's defense it wasn't as HOT as it usually is. I go the same 2 weeks every year, and this one wasn't as bad as usual!

 

[cmp1111]

I'm surprised Jim didn't just ell the waiter to bring you each a caraffe

would have been smart. I was a little, um, slow.

I have this same picture. It reminds me that teenagers aren't also poopy heads!

He was great with my kids!

No worries. We thought the same thing

Pshew.

So you were the one's who broke the ride that we weren't able to ride all day.

Apparently.

That is the only thing I can think of Unless it's Wheezy from Toy Story!

We talked about that, but then wouldn't he sign "Wheezy"???

I think it rained for about 20 minutes around dinner time and that was it!

I thought it rained, but wasn't sure. There was so much...

It's a deal And maybe next time Mo won't ditch us

Sounds good to me!

WHAT?

Did I not tell you? Because by then we were really worried!

Poof! Just like magic my post blew up!

I hate when that happens.

Looks hot. Jo is a liar. Tried to fool me that it wasn't hot. she's caught!

it was hot, BUT....in Jo's defense it wasn't as HOT as it usually is. I go the same 2 weeks every year, and this one wasn't as bad as usual!

I will say that it was absolutely the first hot day out of the 5. I liked Fay. But to be fair, Jo was there nearly a whole week before Fay & I came to town.

 

[englishrose47]

Great Update I love Cp and Pooh and friends. Go everytime even SOLO!!

 

[LISAMWDW]

Great update!

No one can get fired while in WDW! I'm sure that is illegal!

 

[jcc0621]

We talked about that, but then wouldn't he sign "Wheezy"???

Doh! Good point. THen I am going with a penquin from Mary Poppins!

 

[cmp1111]

Great Update I love Cp and Pooh and friends. Go everytime even SOLO!!

it was one of our repeats from last year, though we did lunch before instead of breakfast. We love Pooh around here.

Great update!

No one can get fired while in WDW! I'm sure that is illegal!

Thanks! And it was more about the flight back...

Doh! Good point. THen I am going with a penquin from Mary Poppins!

I really am at a loss, and I love penguins, so you'd think I'd know.

 

[DisneyJo]

The grown-ups took turns grabbing food for ourselves and the kids, and fighting a bit over the coffee carafe. Some of us were a little fuzzy.

So who was fighting then?

Once again, though, it was just eating with old friends, no awkwardness, nothing.

It really is great how well we all get on IRL too

Woody got very upset that “You didn’t promise that we’d see them again, Mom, not even next time in WDW.” :

Awwww bless him

Woody, looking a lot worn out:

They did both look shattered!

then they wanted to do the Barnstormer. Thankfully it was a walk-on, so we all did it. Then we did it again. And again! The boys were brave enough to do this one on their own

I find the Barnstormer too small, you're so much taller than me, it must hurt your knees

when the CM working the ride handed D some FPs over the fence, so we jumped right on! Thanks, Christina! :

Woody found a popcorn stand and we finally got him some – more than 24 hours after the meltdown in Epcot, but he was finally happy.

At least he got it

Here we are – the boys had seen Jessica & Ellie’s TT pose and had to copy it:

Hilarious

Looks hot. Jo is a liar. Tried to fool me that it wasn't hot. she's caught!

Maybe it was a tad warm

it was hot, BUT....in Jo's defense it wasn't as HOT as it usually is. I go the same 2 weeks every year, and this one wasn't as bad as usual!

Thankyou Janet

I liked Fay. But to be fair, Jo was there nearly a whole week before Fay & I came to town.

Hey

 

[jcc0621]

:
Did I not tell you? Because by then we were really worried!

You must not have been too worried

So who was fighting then?

Not me, I don't drink the vile stuff!

It really is great how well we all get on IRL too

::yess::

Thankyou Janet

Anytime Jo

 

[PrincessV]

We had a date for breakfast, so at least we didn’t have to be up in time to eat first, just dress & go.

I'm always impressed with you folks who can do Bfast ADRs. I can't even function to get us anywhere until I've had Bfast!

I knew Janet’s plan was similar but not exact, but I was sure we’d be seeing them shortly. So I feel like we just rushed off with a “see you later” and not much fanfare. And then – spoiler, I guess, but… - we never again saw them, even though we were both in the park so much that day and on into EMH. Gah. I’m sorry, Janet.

I think we've all done this at some point in our DIS careers... good thing there's always another year/trip, right?!

As we pulled into ToonTown, we could see some characters around the back of the Mickey house area, past the DSA, and Buzz saw Pinocchio and really wanted to meet him. I find this odd, because as far as I know, they’ve not seen the movie.

This reminds me of when Leo got a burning desire to take a picture with Brer Bear and Brer Fox... having never seen Song of the South and having never ridden Splash Mtn.!

Next up: Last Day, and will D get fired?

 

[cmp1111]

So who was fighting then?

Maybe I just fought with D?

I find the Barnstormer too small, you're so much taller than me, it must hurt your knees

Yes, and when I had to share the tiny seat with D...

You must not have been too worried

Oh... Huh. Maybe we didn't want to think about it!

I think we've all done this at some point in our DIS careers... good thing there's always another year/trip, right?!

Exactly!

This reminds me of when Leo got a burning desire to take a picture with Brer Bear and Brer Fox... having never seen Song of the South and having never ridden Splash Mtn.!

Yeah, and then Buzz and his Tiki Room desire the first day... What is UP with that?

 

[englishrose47]

We are trying CR next Sept. DD really wants to go for the aquariums !!

 

[cmp1111]

We are trying CR next Sept. DD really wants to go for the aquariums !!

Sounds fun, but this is Crystal Palace (CP) at the MK.

I'd love to hear how you like it, though - my kids are becoming more and more into fish and seafood.

 

[csuzannet]

So glad that Fay didn't, um, rain on your parade.

Or, more accurately, that you didn't care that Fay rained on your parade.

I was just telling my Mom how much I was getting done this semester, and I couldn't figure out where I found the time.

Now I know. It's been ages since I've been on the boards. There is a method to this no-trip report reading madness. I'm working on that tenure/promotion/pay raise thing, so I can afford to take more WDW trips and write my own TRs!!