kjungrl1971
I've Earned My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2010
The cast for our trip was DH - 40, ME - 37, DD - 4 (turned 5 on trip). This trip report is WAY overdue, as we traveled in Nov. 08..and we are currently 67 days out to our next trip! We left Dallas on Friday and stopped in Louisiana to visit my parents for one night, Saturday morning we had a small birthday celebration for DD, everyone gave her Disney Dollars or Disney gift cards to spend on the trip! She was so excited. We spent the night at Ft. Walton Beach that night, we ate at a great seafood place called Floyd's...fresh gulf shrimp..yum! We got on the road the next morning around 6:30a, as we still had about 7 hours to drive that day. We arrived at the POP Century right at 3:00pm, our check-in was flawless, my DD got a First Visitor button, along with a Happy Birthday button. The castmember at check-in asked my DD who her favorite character was, and she replied Cinderella. Remind me to tell you about why this was important later....
We had reservations for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue that night, but the surprise was that my sister-in-law was going to surprise her brother (my DH, and my DD)...they had no idea she was meeting us there. We got to our room, we had a corner room overlooking the lake..in the 50's section. The room was clean, quiet and we had 2 towel animals waiting for us upon arrival. We took our time to unpack and get freshened up, we had the first seating at HDDR, we drove over and got on the bus that took us to Pioneer Hall, as we are walking up, my DH notices his sister standing there watching us wal up, he is just stunned and confused. I'm hanging back just giggling with excitement, and when DD sees her, laughter and happy tears ensued! Great moment! I finally pulled a surprise off! SIL had brought DD a lunch box full of fun WDW goodies. We got in line and had our picture taken, and stood out in the cold to wait for them to ring the dinner bell. We had a seat on the main floor, towards the back...but it was center stage. The food was really good, the show even better. At the end, my DD and SIL played the wash boards with spoons! Such a hoot!
After dinner, we drove to DTD for some retail therapy. It was cold out and none of us had brought jackets. We went in to the World of Disney store and found jackets, DD got a princess jacket, I got a MM, and DH got a grumpy...which is SO not his personality. By the time we left, it was almost 11p, we had to bring SIL to the Contemporary, as this is where she was staying. She wanted us to see her room, and while we were up there, the MK fireworks show started, and she had the perfect view! We stood out on her balcony and watched. Great end to our very first day!
Monday morning, we were up early as we had a mid-morning appointment at the BBB (this was a gift to my daughter for her bday from SIL). We met SIL at her hotel and had breakfast there. We took the monorail to MK and rushed to get to BBB. What a neat experience this is. My daughter decided she wanted to be "Tinkerbell"
and so a few minutes later, we heard "Princess Emily, your dressing room is waiting". The Fairy Godmother in Training swept the big velvet curtain back and her outfit was waiting, complete with twinkling wings and sparkly shoes! We got her dressed and she was taken to a chair to have hair, makeup and nails done. The photopass folks were everywhere in this place. Her FGIT was so sweet and really made her look more beautiful. Before they spun her around for the big reveal, DD had to close her eyes, and her FGIT sprinkled Pixie Dust (glitter) in her hair..she was spun around to see what she looked like! I had tears in my eyes! I know, such a sap! We had a photo shoot included in the package, but we had to go from the Castle, all the way up to the Kodak shop at the front of Main St USA. But we wanted to do it before hair/makeup was messed up in any way. There was no wait when we got there and the photographer took a lot of pictures. We then had to pick the one's we liked best, not an easy thing to do when they are ALL GOOD! By this time, it was time for lunch w/Cindy in the Castle. So back to the castle we go. Everyone kept saying "Hello Tinkerbell" to DD, she was eating the attention up! We arrive at the castle and got in line to take our pic with Cindy. We were then told to go upstairs to the dining room. We were seated right away and the Princesses started walking around the dining room. We met, Snow White, Jasmine, Princess Aurora, and Belle. Our lunch here was delish! The crowds were so light, we walked on to every ride with the exception of Dumbo and Peter Pan's Flight. The weather during the day was gorgeous...blue skies and 73 degrees! Couldn't ask for better. Dinner this night was at Chef Mickey's! The buffet was good, and the Characters interacted well with each table, some even coming around twice. We walked back up to SIL room and watched the fireworks again, then we drove back to POP Century and crashed for the night!
We had breakfast reservations at Akershus on Tuesday morning. We waited maybe 10 minutes for our name to be called. DD took pics with Belle and we were seated at a lovely table. We saw Jasmine, Princess Aurora, Snow White and Mulan here. The food was excellent. Would recommend this meal to anyone. As we were leaving, we spotted Mary Poppins walking alone. We got great pics with her. We didn't spend any time in WS this trip, there was too much to see in FW. We went right to Test Track, we all loved this ride! SIL was flying home this day, so DH left to bring her back to airport. DD and I were on our own in Epcot for a couple hours. We did Journey into Imagination, which she loved. We also did Soarin' which was a favorite. When DH got back, he wanted to ride Mission Space, he rode it alone and came off sick and nauseated. He didn't ride anything for the rest of the day, and we ended up skipping our dinner reservation at Coral Reef because he felt so sickly. Back to the room we went, got to bed early.
Wednesday morning everyone felt so much better, we had breakfast reservations with JoJo and Goliath at Hollywood and Vine, in HS. The park was empty, and the breakfast crowd was very light. This was nice, as the characters spent more time at each table. Very cute interactions with us. We went straight to ToT, and walked right on. No wait whatsoever. I had ridden this before, but DH and DD had never been on it, we all loved it! Laughed so hard. From there, we went right to RnRC, DH and I had to ride one at a time, since DD wasn't tall enough to ride it yet. Walked on to this ride also, first time for me to ride it! OMG, was it fun!!!! Such a rush when I got off. DH loved it also. We did MMClubhouse, Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, DH was picked as an extra, we got a kick out of this! We did backstage tour, Great movie ride. Dinner was at 50's Prime Time Cafe. This was my 2nd visit to this place, love it! We were in a small room with another family, and their DD was celebrating her birthday that week also. Our waitress got them to sign DD's bday card. It was so much fun talking to them. The DH of their group kept putting his elbows on the table, so the waitress took a napkin and made him hold it up to the wall with his nose! So funny to see grown adults actually doing the stuff they make them do! Lot's of fun!
Thursday, we were back at the MK, as this was my DD's actual birhtday. We did lunch at Crystal Palace, and DD was chosen to lead the parade around the restaurant with Eeyore. So cute! We rode everything again this day. We even met Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow also...which, we waited in line a while to do this, but they had just opened PH not too long before our trip, so it was still very popular. We ended up eating at Casey's Corner and watching the "snow" fall for MVMCP, we were walking out at the end of the day as it was snowing in MK. When we got back to our room, "Cinderella" had left an autographed picture for my daughter wishing her a Happy Birthday and also left balloons for her! What a nice surprise to have this waiting on her.
Friday morning we couldn't get up in time to make Donald's Safari Breakfast in AK. We ended up eating at POP, and making our way to AK mid-morning. We rode the safari first which was a mistake....don't ride this after a meal...too bumpy! I was a little green when it was done. We stood in line for It's Tough to be a Bug. This show was fantastic. We had not gotten to see the parade at MK during the week and really wanted to see one before the week was up, so we made our way back to MK and got a great spot right in front of the castle for the parade. DD was so excited and we all had a great time. We ate dinner at Tony's Town Square. It was yummy. We were sad that was our last day in the parks.
Saturday morning, we went back to DTD for last minute shopping before getting back on the road. We had great memories, great photopass pictures and our first official family vacation was fantastic! We are going back the same time this year also (the week before T'giving.) The only difference is, our DD has NO CLUE we are going. We are going to tell her the day we leave! We are going to celebrate her 7th bday! She is going to freak! I promise to do a trip report much sooner after the next trip is over. Hope you enjoyed reading!
We had reservations for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue that night, but the surprise was that my sister-in-law was going to surprise her brother (my DH, and my DD)...they had no idea she was meeting us there. We got to our room, we had a corner room overlooking the lake..in the 50's section. The room was clean, quiet and we had 2 towel animals waiting for us upon arrival. We took our time to unpack and get freshened up, we had the first seating at HDDR, we drove over and got on the bus that took us to Pioneer Hall, as we are walking up, my DH notices his sister standing there watching us wal up, he is just stunned and confused. I'm hanging back just giggling with excitement, and when DD sees her, laughter and happy tears ensued! Great moment! I finally pulled a surprise off! SIL had brought DD a lunch box full of fun WDW goodies. We got in line and had our picture taken, and stood out in the cold to wait for them to ring the dinner bell. We had a seat on the main floor, towards the back...but it was center stage. The food was really good, the show even better. At the end, my DD and SIL played the wash boards with spoons! Such a hoot!
After dinner, we drove to DTD for some retail therapy. It was cold out and none of us had brought jackets. We went in to the World of Disney store and found jackets, DD got a princess jacket, I got a MM, and DH got a grumpy...which is SO not his personality. By the time we left, it was almost 11p, we had to bring SIL to the Contemporary, as this is where she was staying. She wanted us to see her room, and while we were up there, the MK fireworks show started, and she had the perfect view! We stood out on her balcony and watched. Great end to our very first day!
Monday morning, we were up early as we had a mid-morning appointment at the BBB (this was a gift to my daughter for her bday from SIL). We met SIL at her hotel and had breakfast there. We took the monorail to MK and rushed to get to BBB. What a neat experience this is. My daughter decided she wanted to be "Tinkerbell"
and so a few minutes later, we heard "Princess Emily, your dressing room is waiting". The Fairy Godmother in Training swept the big velvet curtain back and her outfit was waiting, complete with twinkling wings and sparkly shoes! We got her dressed and she was taken to a chair to have hair, makeup and nails done. The photopass folks were everywhere in this place. Her FGIT was so sweet and really made her look more beautiful. Before they spun her around for the big reveal, DD had to close her eyes, and her FGIT sprinkled Pixie Dust (glitter) in her hair..she was spun around to see what she looked like! I had tears in my eyes! I know, such a sap! We had a photo shoot included in the package, but we had to go from the Castle, all the way up to the Kodak shop at the front of Main St USA. But we wanted to do it before hair/makeup was messed up in any way. There was no wait when we got there and the photographer took a lot of pictures. We then had to pick the one's we liked best, not an easy thing to do when they are ALL GOOD! By this time, it was time for lunch w/Cindy in the Castle. So back to the castle we go. Everyone kept saying "Hello Tinkerbell" to DD, she was eating the attention up! We arrive at the castle and got in line to take our pic with Cindy. We were then told to go upstairs to the dining room. We were seated right away and the Princesses started walking around the dining room. We met, Snow White, Jasmine, Princess Aurora, and Belle. Our lunch here was delish! The crowds were so light, we walked on to every ride with the exception of Dumbo and Peter Pan's Flight. The weather during the day was gorgeous...blue skies and 73 degrees! Couldn't ask for better. Dinner this night was at Chef Mickey's! The buffet was good, and the Characters interacted well with each table, some even coming around twice. We walked back up to SIL room and watched the fireworks again, then we drove back to POP Century and crashed for the night! We had breakfast reservations at Akershus on Tuesday morning. We waited maybe 10 minutes for our name to be called. DD took pics with Belle and we were seated at a lovely table. We saw Jasmine, Princess Aurora, Snow White and Mulan here. The food was excellent. Would recommend this meal to anyone. As we were leaving, we spotted Mary Poppins walking alone. We got great pics with her. We didn't spend any time in WS this trip, there was too much to see in FW. We went right to Test Track, we all loved this ride! SIL was flying home this day, so DH left to bring her back to airport. DD and I were on our own in Epcot for a couple hours. We did Journey into Imagination, which she loved. We also did Soarin' which was a favorite. When DH got back, he wanted to ride Mission Space, he rode it alone and came off sick and nauseated. He didn't ride anything for the rest of the day, and we ended up skipping our dinner reservation at Coral Reef because he felt so sickly. Back to the room we went, got to bed early.
Wednesday morning everyone felt so much better, we had breakfast reservations with JoJo and Goliath at Hollywood and Vine, in HS. The park was empty, and the breakfast crowd was very light. This was nice, as the characters spent more time at each table. Very cute interactions with us. We went straight to ToT, and walked right on. No wait whatsoever. I had ridden this before, but DH and DD had never been on it, we all loved it! Laughed so hard. From there, we went right to RnRC, DH and I had to ride one at a time, since DD wasn't tall enough to ride it yet. Walked on to this ride also, first time for me to ride it! OMG, was it fun!!!! Such a rush when I got off. DH loved it also. We did MMClubhouse, Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, DH was picked as an extra, we got a kick out of this! We did backstage tour, Great movie ride. Dinner was at 50's Prime Time Cafe. This was my 2nd visit to this place, love it! We were in a small room with another family, and their DD was celebrating her birthday that week also. Our waitress got them to sign DD's bday card. It was so much fun talking to them. The DH of their group kept putting his elbows on the table, so the waitress took a napkin and made him hold it up to the wall with his nose! So funny to see grown adults actually doing the stuff they make them do! Lot's of fun!
Thursday, we were back at the MK, as this was my DD's actual birhtday. We did lunch at Crystal Palace, and DD was chosen to lead the parade around the restaurant with Eeyore. So cute! We rode everything again this day. We even met Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow also...which, we waited in line a while to do this, but they had just opened PH not too long before our trip, so it was still very popular. We ended up eating at Casey's Corner and watching the "snow" fall for MVMCP, we were walking out at the end of the day as it was snowing in MK. When we got back to our room, "Cinderella" had left an autographed picture for my daughter wishing her a Happy Birthday and also left balloons for her! What a nice surprise to have this waiting on her.
Friday morning we couldn't get up in time to make Donald's Safari Breakfast in AK. We ended up eating at POP, and making our way to AK mid-morning. We rode the safari first which was a mistake....don't ride this after a meal...too bumpy! I was a little green when it was done. We stood in line for It's Tough to be a Bug. This show was fantastic. We had not gotten to see the parade at MK during the week and really wanted to see one before the week was up, so we made our way back to MK and got a great spot right in front of the castle for the parade. DD was so excited and we all had a great time. We ate dinner at Tony's Town Square. It was yummy. We were sad that was our last day in the parks.
Saturday morning, we went back to DTD for last minute shopping before getting back on the road. We had great memories, great photopass pictures and our first official family vacation was fantastic! We are going back the same time this year also (the week before T'giving.) The only difference is, our DD has NO CLUE we are going. We are going to tell her the day we leave! We are going to celebrate her 7th bday! She is going to freak! I promise to do a trip report much sooner after the next trip is over. Hope you enjoyed reading!
