Dream Big, Live Grand - 4th of July at the Grand Floridian!
- Thread starter LittleMissMagic
- Start date
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
We headed to Epcot for our ADR at Tokyo Dining. We were late, so Dad decided to make us trek it across the park. Good thing Rachel had changed into her crocs!
We were seated with a lovely view of the World Showcase Lagoon...
Our waitress was super sweet, but a little difficult to understand.
She brought us warm washcloths to wipe our hands with. Mom, Rachel, and I wipe our hands... well, Dad proceeds to wipe off his head and neck!!
Ohhh, the embarassment!!! 
I ordered the volcano rolls. They were so cute - stacked as a volcano! Also delish!
Idk why Dad decided he wanted food pics at this meal...
We were seated with a lovely view of the World Showcase Lagoon...
Our waitress was super sweet, but a little difficult to understand.
She brought us warm washcloths to wipe our hands with. Mom, Rachel, and I wipe our hands... well, Dad proceeds to wipe off his head and neck!!
Ohhh, the embarassment!!! I ordered the volcano rolls. They were so cute - stacked as a volcano! Also delish!
Idk why Dad decided he wanted food pics at this meal...
disneylovin24
~Let It Go~
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2010
O wow, the view from your table is amazing!!! The food looks pretty good too.
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
After Tokyo Dining, we had just enough time to use our Soarin' FPs before claiming a spot for IllumiNations.
Dad was creeping with a camera....
I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I kind of love it...
Even with FPs, Soarin' was still a good 30 minute wait. However, I really do enjoy the attraction.
Dad was creeping with a camera....
I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I kind of love it...
Even with FPs, Soarin' was still a good 30 minute wait. However, I really do enjoy the attraction.
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
We stopped at took some pics at the "Kodak Spot" before heading on to find a fireworks viewing location.
I was a little annoyed with our initial spot. We were trying to find a location close to Future World so we wouldn't have a super long way to walk to the monorail, but of course the FW side was very crowded. So, Mom and Rachel staked out our initial spot (with partial view blocked by a giant rock) and Dad and I kept walking. Then I found a pretty good spot on the bridge by International Gateway.
I was a little annoyed with our initial spot. We were trying to find a location close to Future World so we wouldn't have a super long way to walk to the monorail, but of course the FW side was very crowded. So, Mom and Rachel staked out our initial spot (with partial view blocked by a giant rock) and Dad and I kept walking. Then I found a pretty good spot on the bridge by International Gateway.
TeaForTulips
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
Love it! 
Those crocs are adorable.
Yall are such a cute lil family.
Great pics!
Those crocs are adorable.Yall are such a cute lil family.
Great pics!
Joining in!!
We were there at the same time (June 25 - July 9) - and were really surprised by the low crowds. (Well except at MK where it always seemed crazed)
I love all your pictures - and those bags your mom made are fabulous! Is she going to do an etsy store? I would so get them for my girls! (and me, too
)
And the crocs - I adore crocs. Well. The cute ones anyway. And they do make some cute ones. But I love the ones your sister got. I have never seen those before - will have to look for them when we go in August!
Can't wait to hear more!
We were there at the same time (June 25 - July 9) - and were really surprised by the low crowds. (Well except at MK where it always seemed crazed)
I love all your pictures - and those bags your mom made are fabulous! Is she going to do an etsy store? I would so get them for my girls! (and me, too
)And the crocs - I adore crocs. Well. The cute ones anyway. And they do make some cute ones. But I love the ones your sister got. I have never seen those before - will have to look for them when we go in August!
Can't wait to hear more!
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
IllumiNations pictures:
After, we hung back for a bit because we didn't want to fight the crowd.
Once we got to the resort, Rachel discovered Disney Channel. She fell in love with it and has been watching it everyday since we've gotten home! (Rachel has always been a Disney Channel watcher... but I noticed that after I got back from school, she was more on ABC Family with that Secret Life show - now it's back to Disney Channel... she loves A.N.T. Farm [that's a cute show], Shake It Up [also cute], Life with Charlie [okay, that's a cute one, too], and My Babysitter's a Vampire [now this one's just dumb - and I thought Twilight was bad!!!])
They fought me on the time to arrive at Blizzard Beach - I had planned for the 9 am opening time. "Come on - 10?" "No, it will be crowded!"
After, we hung back for a bit because we didn't want to fight the crowd.
Once we got to the resort, Rachel discovered Disney Channel. She fell in love with it and has been watching it everyday since we've gotten home! (Rachel has always been a Disney Channel watcher... but I noticed that after I got back from school, she was more on ABC Family with that Secret Life show - now it's back to Disney Channel... she loves A.N.T. Farm [that's a cute show], Shake It Up [also cute], Life with Charlie [okay, that's a cute one, too], and My Babysitter's a Vampire [now this one's just dumb - and I thought Twilight was bad!!!
])They fought me on the time to arrive at Blizzard Beach - I had planned for the 9 am opening time. "Come on - 10?" "No, it will be crowded!"
Ellen aka Snow White
<font color=blue>I AM LIVING IN MY MINI-VAN!!!<br>
- Joined
- Oct 13, 1999
I'm waiting for more . 
.
disneylovin24
~Let It Go~
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2010
Love the Illuminations pictures!!!!
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
Everyone got up early. We sent Dad to Gasparilla's to bring us food while we got ready (don't fuss, MB dads - all he has to do is shower and put on clothes! :laugh
. We took the car to BB as suggested on here.
The parking spaces at BB are super tight!!! Have they redone the parking lot since the large SUV push?? We were crammed in there!
We thought to bring a cooler rather last-minute. It was definitely a good idea. They checked our cooler for alcohol upon entering the park. However, they did not check our bags. Just a thought...
We've never been to BB before, so we were kind of walking blind. We found our way to the tidal pool and got chairs in a place which we assumed the sun would rise over (we were correct). Mom wasn't feeling the slides quite yet, so she stayed to sun, and Rachel, Dad, and I headed onto the slides.
Rachel was not feeling Summit Plummet. So, we started off slow. We did the Double Dipper first. It was a fun little slide, but the line was already a little long, and it got huge later in the day. It just doesn't put people through quickly... getting the tubes was taking longer than waiting to slide.
Next, we did the Toboggan Racers. Rachel loved this slide! I sucked at it! No matter how hard I pushed off, I could never make it to the Finish Line! I was stopping once it first got flat, along with the kiddies!!!
I forget the name of the other Toboggan slide, but it was fun as well.
Next we tried the tube slide. Rachel and I grabbed a double tube. Dad grabbed a double tube, too. Once we got to the top (long climb!!!), there was no wait for the double tube slides. So, Rachel and I went on down. And waited and waited for Dad. Well, obviously he wasn't allowed to go down the double slide by himself. He told us later that he ended up switching tubes with someone who had a single and wanted a double. So, he got in the single line and that was taking long, so he moved to another line, then it turned out to be a double, so he had to go back to the single line and wait, again. :closedeye Well, after waited for a bit, Rachel and I figured he was just waiting in line for the single slide, so we took a double and went up again. Well, when we got to the top, Dad was nowhere to be found.... once we took the slide to the bottom, again, stil no Dad. So we walked back to our chairs. A couple of minutes, Dad comes walking up. The guy had gotten in the lazy river, but missed his stop and accidentally took it halfway around the park and had to walk back to the chairs!
Mom was still not ready to slide, yet, so we took the chairlift to the "green slopes." Green when skiing indicates easy... which is ironic because these slides were definitely black diamonds! First, we did Teamboat Springs. Behind us in line was a tour group from Argentina. The lifeguard was trying to tell one of the girls that she needed to wear her shorts on the slide - she couldn't hold them. However, they were having trouble understanding him. I was just chilling there when it hit me - I know Spanish!
inch: "Necesitas llevar tus pantalones cortos." I always worry if I conjugate correctly when I talk... not sure if it was exactly correct grammatically, but it must've worked because the girl put her pants on. 
Well, we ended up riding down with three Spanish-speaking girls. Which was cool because I could understand what they were screaming. However, this one chick didn't understand personal space because her legs were all over Rachel's... this tiny girl was taking up half of the raft!
Oh... another note on the tour group from Argentina.... most all of the girls(including the 12-13 year olds) were wearing thong bottoms. At first I was like, what the heck, why would you wear a thong to a waterpark? But then I realized that if you're already wearing a thong, then you don't have to worry about getting a wedgie on the waterslides!
After Teamboat Springs, we decided to go "all in" and get in line for Summit Plummet. It took us about 30-45 minutes to get to the top. Unfortunately, there was a tour group from Argentina towards the front of the line... and the other part of their tour group was right behind us. So they would yell back and forth between each other, and then burst out into random cheer. Now, the English translations of their cheers were rather lame... one of them went "Where is Argentina? Where is Argentina? Argentina is here! Yes, we are here!" :laugh: They were just having fun, of course, but they were bothering the heck out of everyone else. And the sad thing is..... most of the people in the park probably assumed that they were from Brazil!
Waiting in line was whatever, but once we got to the top platform, we realized what we were doing. However, after waiting so long, there was no way we were chickening out.
Rachel went first because she was scared she would chicken out otherwise.
Yeah, I did a cheap screenshot of the image on the PhotoPass website....
I was next... what a glamorous photo! I'm so calm-looking!
It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I don't like slides that you have to lay down on because the joints between the different pieces of the slide hurt my back. However... I DIDN'T TOUCH THE SLIDE!!!! The water like formed a barrier between me and the slide. Kind of hurt my bum.
Then Dad.... what a stud!
After our Summit Plummet adventure, we were ready to go back to Mom!
. We took the car to BB as suggested on here.The parking spaces at BB are super tight!!! Have they redone the parking lot since the large SUV push?? We were crammed in there!
We thought to bring a cooler rather last-minute. It was definitely a good idea. They checked our cooler for alcohol upon entering the park. However, they did not check our bags. Just a thought...
We've never been to BB before, so we were kind of walking blind. We found our way to the tidal pool and got chairs in a place which we assumed the sun would rise over (we were correct). Mom wasn't feeling the slides quite yet, so she stayed to sun, and Rachel, Dad, and I headed onto the slides.
Rachel was not feeling Summit Plummet. So, we started off slow. We did the Double Dipper first. It was a fun little slide, but the line was already a little long, and it got huge later in the day. It just doesn't put people through quickly... getting the tubes was taking longer than waiting to slide.
Next, we did the Toboggan Racers. Rachel loved this slide! I sucked at it! No matter how hard I pushed off, I could never make it to the Finish Line! I was stopping once it first got flat, along with the kiddies!!!
I forget the name of the other Toboggan slide, but it was fun as well.
Next we tried the tube slide. Rachel and I grabbed a double tube. Dad grabbed a double tube, too. Once we got to the top (long climb!!!), there was no wait for the double tube slides. So, Rachel and I went on down. And waited and waited for Dad. Well, obviously he wasn't allowed to go down the double slide by himself. He told us later that he ended up switching tubes with someone who had a single and wanted a double. So, he got in the single line and that was taking long, so he moved to another line, then it turned out to be a double, so he had to go back to the single line and wait, again. :closedeye Well, after waited for a bit, Rachel and I figured he was just waiting in line for the single slide, so we took a double and went up again. Well, when we got to the top, Dad was nowhere to be found.... once we took the slide to the bottom, again, stil no Dad. So we walked back to our chairs. A couple of minutes, Dad comes walking up. The guy had gotten in the lazy river, but missed his stop and accidentally took it halfway around the park and had to walk back to the chairs!
Mom was still not ready to slide, yet, so we took the chairlift to the "green slopes." Green when skiing indicates easy... which is ironic because these slides were definitely black diamonds! First, we did Teamboat Springs. Behind us in line was a tour group from Argentina. The lifeguard was trying to tell one of the girls that she needed to wear her shorts on the slide - she couldn't hold them. However, they were having trouble understanding him. I was just chilling there when it hit me - I know Spanish!
inch: "Necesitas llevar tus pantalones cortos." I always worry if I conjugate correctly when I talk... not sure if it was exactly correct grammatically, but it must've worked because the girl put her pants on. Well, we ended up riding down with three Spanish-speaking girls. Which was cool because I could understand what they were screaming. However, this one chick didn't understand personal space because her legs were all over Rachel's... this tiny girl was taking up half of the raft!
Oh... another note on the tour group from Argentina.... most all of the girls(including the 12-13 year olds) were wearing thong bottoms. At first I was like, what the heck, why would you wear a thong to a waterpark? But then I realized that if you're already wearing a thong, then you don't have to worry about getting a wedgie on the waterslides!
After Teamboat Springs, we decided to go "all in" and get in line for Summit Plummet. It took us about 30-45 minutes to get to the top. Unfortunately, there was a tour group from Argentina towards the front of the line... and the other part of their tour group was right behind us. So they would yell back and forth between each other, and then burst out into random cheer. Now, the English translations of their cheers were rather lame... one of them went "Where is Argentina? Where is Argentina? Argentina is here! Yes, we are here!" :laugh: They were just having fun, of course, but they were bothering the heck out of everyone else. And the sad thing is..... most of the people in the park probably assumed that they were from Brazil!
Waiting in line was whatever, but once we got to the top platform, we realized what we were doing. However, after waiting so long, there was no way we were chickening out.
Rachel went first because she was scared she would chicken out otherwise.
Yeah, I did a cheap screenshot of the image on the PhotoPass website....
I was next... what a glamorous photo! I'm so calm-looking!
It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I don't like slides that you have to lay down on because the joints between the different pieces of the slide hurt my back. However... I DIDN'T TOUCH THE SLIDE!!!! The water like formed a barrier between me and the slide. Kind of hurt my bum.
Then Dad.... what a stud!
After our Summit Plummet adventure, we were ready to go back to Mom!
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
We returned to Mom and convinced her to come with us on the slides we thought she'd like. By now, all of the slides had 15-30 minute waits. Double Dipper had a 45 minute wait - pass! Our first stop was the Tobaggan Racers. She liked that slide. I still failed at reaching the Finish Line. Next we did the other tobaggan slide, and she liked that one, as well. We were going to take her on the slide with the double tubes, but the line to get tubes was long, so we decided to pass. It was nothing special.
Our next stop was Steamboat Springs. We knew she'd like that. And she did!
I want to buy this picture, and I really want a border for it. Unfortunately, the two Blizzard Beach borders are for Summit Plummet. Hmph... I guess I will have to go borderless.
We then got in the Lazy River. There were many people trying to hoard tubes by the stairs to get in. However, we found if you just got in the river and started traveling along, you'd come across an empty tube. Much easier than sending someone out to fight the current and bring back a tube one at a time.
We made it back around past the tidal pool, then returned to our chairs. We swam a little bit... the water was really cold, though! I guess because it's "melted snow!"
We left Blizzard Beach around 2:30 or 3:00. And... get this... Rachel and Dad were saying, "This is definitely a morning park! You really need to get here when it opens." Umm... yeah, I told you that!
But now they are convinced! The first hour or two we were there, there was hardly a wait for anything. Then after 11:00, the crowds started picking up. We're guessing that around 5-6:00, the crowd starts thinning out, again.
Our next stop was Steamboat Springs. We knew she'd like that. And she did!
I want to buy this picture, and I really want a border for it. Unfortunately, the two Blizzard Beach borders are for Summit Plummet. Hmph... I guess I will have to go borderless.
We then got in the Lazy River. There were many people trying to hoard tubes by the stairs to get in. However, we found if you just got in the river and started traveling along, you'd come across an empty tube. Much easier than sending someone out to fight the current and bring back a tube one at a time.
We made it back around past the tidal pool, then returned to our chairs. We swam a little bit... the water was really cold, though! I guess because it's "melted snow!"
We left Blizzard Beach around 2:30 or 3:00. And... get this... Rachel and Dad were saying, "This is definitely a morning park! You really need to get here when it opens." Umm... yeah, I told you that!
But now they are convinced! The first hour or two we were there, there was hardly a wait for anything. Then after 11:00, the crowds started picking up. We're guessing that around 5-6:00, the crowd starts thinning out, again.
LittleMissMagic
Victoria on Vacation
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2008
After we got back to the GF, it was time to get ready for dinner at 1900 Park Fare.
Mom - "What time is dinner?"
Me - "4:50"
Mom - "4:50!!!!???????!!!!!!!!!!!! Who eats that early???????????"
Me - "Chill out - we're gonna get there late, and we probably won't eat until after 5, anyway."
Mom - "I just wish I wouldn't have eaten those Wheat Thins..."
Dad - "Good thing we didn't tell her when dinner was - huh huh (Dad's laugh) - then we would've had to leave an hour earlier! Huh huh huh!"
No worries, guys... we made it.
Mom - "What time is dinner?"
Me - "4:50"
Mom - "4:50!!!!???????!!!!!!!!!!!! Who eats that early???????????"
Me - "Chill out - we're gonna get there late, and we probably won't eat until after 5, anyway."
Mom - "I just wish I wouldn't have eaten those Wheat Thins..."
Dad - "Good thing we didn't tell her when dinner was - huh huh (Dad's laugh) - then we would've had to leave an hour earlier! Huh huh huh!"
No worries, guys... we made it.
MarieTheCat24
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2007
Hi, Victoria! 
I'm joining in! Your family reminds me so much of my own. Plus, we were at WDW at the same time (July 3rd-8th)!
I'm majorly in love with the bags your mom made. I mean, putting the bows on pins so you can change them out to match different outfits/occasions? GENIUS. If she ever decides to sell them, let me know!
Your Grand Floridian photos are GORGEOUS. OMG. I'd love to stay there one day.
Space Mountain is the best for crazy photo taking. And I totally know what your sister means. I looked at the flash once and my eyes were quite wonky for a while.
I love your Daisy Duck top!
AH! I saw those new Mickey Mouse crocs and was desperately wishing they sold them a few years ago when I was having foot issues and was forced to buy a pair of the regular old crocs. Those things are not fashionable (though they are quite comfortable) but the new Mickey Mouse ones are ADORABLE!
I've never been to Blizzard Beach, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun.
Can't wait for more!!
I'm joining in! Your family reminds me so much of my own. Plus, we were at WDW at the same time (July 3rd-8th)!I'm majorly in love with the bags your mom made. I mean, putting the bows on pins so you can change them out to match different outfits/occasions? GENIUS. If she ever decides to sell them, let me know!
Your Grand Floridian photos are GORGEOUS. OMG. I'd love to stay there one day.
Space Mountain is the best for crazy photo taking. And I totally know what your sister means. I looked at the flash once and my eyes were quite wonky for a while.
I love your Daisy Duck top!
AH! I saw those new Mickey Mouse crocs and was desperately wishing they sold them a few years ago when I was having foot issues and was forced to buy a pair of the regular old crocs. Those things are not fashionable (though they are quite comfortable) but the new Mickey Mouse ones are ADORABLE!
I've never been to Blizzard Beach, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun.
Can't wait for more!!
Ellen aka Snow White
<font color=blue>I AM LIVING IN MY MINI-VAN!!!<br>
- Joined
- Oct 13, 1999
Thank you!! I can't believe you guys have never been to BB!! Getting there first thing when it opens is the best way to get everything done. Sounds like you had a good time! Keep the updates coming...please?
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