Let the memories (of our May 2011 trip) begin! *UPDATED SEPT. 18th- LINK to NEW TR!*

[Queila]

DAY 1- THURSDAY- MAY 12TH 2011- MAKING THE MOST OF OUR TIME AT MAGIC KINGDOM.

So I have a Brazilian friend who was part of the Disney College Program in 2009. He worked at DTD at the Pooh store for 12 weeks and then he went back to Brazil to finish his bachelor's degree in Tourism.

Now he got invited to go back to Disney as part of the International Professional Program and he had arrived for his year in Orlando only 20 days before us.

I am so excited for him and I always tell him to live the dream for me. Actually, I think I am living it through him at this point.

Anyways, he is working at Guest Relations at Epcot and as soon as his shift finished he came to MK to meet us. I had emailed him our itinerary so he pretty much had an idea of our plans for the week.

As soon as we finished with the Speedway he called us to see where we were so we had to stay put until he found us. We took the time to go to the restroom, reapply some sun screen and drink some water.

It did not take long before he joined us and it was great to see him again!

So then he asked us what attraction we were heading to next. I told him that I wanted to do Carrousel of Progress. I have never been to this attraction and since I consider myself a WDW junkie I thought it was time for me to finally visit this classic.

Well, he talked me out of it.

He said that the ride is... sleep inducing and that I should take advantage of his presence and ride one of the mountains with Joey while he would watch Beatriz for us.

Brilliant

So just like that Caroussel of Progress got pushed to "next time".

Now which mountain should we try to conquer?

We had ridden Space Mountain in 2009 and Splash Mountain was out of question since Joey is not a fan of wet rides (he just does not get "the point" ). Last time I had ridden the Big Thunder Mountain was at Disneyland back in 1994 and this would be a first for Joey so we decided we had done everything we wanted at Tomorrowland and we crossed to Frontierland.

However, because we decided to cross through Fantasyland and we still had quiet some time before the parade we ended up taking advantage of the very short lines and doing a couple of rides with Beatriz right away. It was a great opportunity to get them "out of the way".

So Beatriz and Joey had a daughter/father moment and they rode the Mad Tea Party together. I sat that one out because I get dizzy just looking at that thing.

I uploaded a little video of Beatriz on her first tea cup ride and you can watch it here. WARNING: The video is 1m30s long and must be watched at your own discretion. The high level of cuteness can be intoxicating.

Then we did one of her last year's favorite: Cinderella's carrousel. We practically walked straight right in and I was so excited I decided to hop on the horse with her:

We considered doing Dumbo but the wait was over 30 minutes so we decided to go to the Big Thunder Mountain instead.

The stand-by was only 10 minutes so after a little pep talk with Bia, Joey and I went for it . I was LOVING the low crowd level that day! Unfortunately we forgot the camera in the stroller and we have no proof that we ever were in the ride. In the meantime Beatriz did some bonding with my friend A. (we will call him like that) and he even bought her a lollypop. Way to bribe a child into cooperation!

By this time it was over 8 o'clock and we decided it was time to make our way to the Main Street to try to find us a spot for the parade.

The castle was so beautiful all lit up in different colors so we had to stop for a couple of family shots. Sadly the camera focused on the castle and not on us.

​

 

[heaven2dc]

Hurray - another TR! Beatrice is so adorable and I loved the Tea Cup video

 

[natebenma]

Cue the ducks!

 

[Queila]

Cue the ducks!

Please do not laugh but I even googled what the expression "cue the ducks" (I am assuming it is an idiomatic expression) mean and I could not find it.

Still lost here.

 

[onescgirl]

You can always visit Carrousel of Progress during your next trip when you need a rest & maybe a nap.
The video was very cute.
That is great you were able to meet up with your friend at WDW

 

[francis6306]

Sniff Sniff I miss Magic Kingdom!

I'm not a fan of the teacups either! Luckily we didn't have to deal with it during our Dec trip! We DID ride Dumbo and my daughter still talks about going on Dumbo and has her dolls "ride Dumbo" all the time when she's playing!

 

[TanzUnited99]

How cool that you got to meet your friend and ride BTMRR!

I love the video of DD on the tea cups and the castle shots!

 

[pinkxray]

I LOVE the picture of Beatriz next to the height sign for the race track. Too cute. She looks so happy. You must have been very happy to be in the car behind them.

I can't believe you are moving along so quickly. Didn't you finish up your last one pretty close to this trip? Not that I am complaining

How nice that you got to see your friend in Disney. I happen to love the COP though. I don't think it is sleep inducing. I think it is just one of those attractions that remind me of going to WDW as a kid and I will always love it.

 

[cdotla]

Loving your report so far!

Yay for early arrival at MCO! I don't know what it is, but every flight I have had from Mtl or Toronto into MCO in the last year or so has been early! So not complaining about that! LOL!

Love your family photo on the Magical Express -you all look so happy!

Great room at Pop!

I totally agree with you about getting that kick of excitement and happiness from the transportation speaker. I could hear him speaking and feel those thoughts as I read your words.

I have to admit...Cosmic Rays has never jumped out at me. I have never eaten here, and after your review, I don't think I will! I also have never tried CHH, but I can surely vouch for Peco's Bills. Have you tried it???
I love their taco salad.

Looking forward to more!

 

[lbuzz52]

Found your trip report because of the May title. We took a May trip too. Your daughter is adorible!
Sounds like you had the perfect spot at the Speedway. I rode with my dd and it was as painful as it looked LOL!
can't wait to hear more!

 

[natebenma]

Please do not laugh but I even googled what the expression "cue the ducks" (I am assuming it is an idiomatic expression) mean and I could not find it.

Still lost here.

Sorry about that!!!

You couldn't find the reference because the actual quote is "Cue the deer". It is from a Chevy Chase movie, Funny Farm:

cue the deer
A prompt to pull out all the stops, in an effort to impress someone.
The expression "cue the deer" comes from Funny Farm, in a scene where a couple were showing their home to prospective buyers. The sellers wanted to make their home as attractive as possible. As the potential buyers were approaching the home, Chevy Chase's characters says "cue the deer" into a walkie talkie and a small deer is released from a cage and scampers across the lawn, charming the socks right off the buyers.

I saw the ducks in your magical photo and that is what I thought of. The folks at Disney "cued the ducks"

 

[natebenma]

I meant to comment on your post, but I was busy all day and didn't get back to your TR. I loved the story about meeting up with your friend. That's nice that he watched Beatriz while you went on BTM. Did you love it??? This is probalby my favorite roller coaster ever. It makes me smile. Just the perfect speed and lots of fun stuff to look at.

I agree with your friend about Carousel of Progress. We have not taken the kids. It has been awhile, but I'm not in a big rush to try it again. One year I think we got a "bonus" fast pass to COP- they were trying to get people onto the attraction.

 

[Queila]

Hurray - another TR! Beatrice is so adorable and I loved the Tea Cup video

Thank you, The video is my favorite one from the entire trip. It captures her personality perfectly.

You can always visit Carrousel of Progress during your next trip when you need a rest & maybe a nap.
The video was very cute.
That is great you were able to meet up with your friend at WDW

I still want to do Carrousel of Progress one day for sure. Even f I have to go by myself.

Sniff Sniff I miss Magic Kingdom!

I'm not a fan of the teacups either! Luckily we didn't have to deal with it during our Dec trip! We DID ride Dumbo and my daughter still talks about going on Dumbo and has her dolls "ride Dumbo" all the time when she's playing!

That is so cute about your daughter making her dolls ride Dumbo!! Beatriz shrieks in excitement every time she sees Dumbo on TV in a commercial. I guess there is something really special about it.

How cool that you got to meet your friend and ride BTMRR!

I love the video of DD on the tea cups and the castle shots!

Thank you! I was not expecting to be able to ride the Thunder mountain at all so it was a great surprise.

I LOVE the picture of Beatriz next to the height sign for the race track. Too cute. She looks so happy. You must have been very happy to be in the car behind them.

I can't believe you are moving along so quickly. Didn't you finish up your last one pretty close to this trip? Not that I am complaining

How nice that you got to see your friend in Disney. I happen to love the COP though. I don't think it is sleep inducing. I think it is just one of those attractions that remind me of going to WDW as a kid and I will always love it.

I WILL ride COP one day. Even if I have to go in it by myself. In the meantime, I was happy to be able to take advantage of a third adult to watch over Beatriz for us.

My last TR took FOREVER to complete by it took me 2 months to even start it. It is not easy to find time to seat down and do it but I will try to move faster this time.

Loving your report so far!

Yay for early arrival at MCO! I don't know what it is, but every flight I have had from Mtl or Toronto into MCO in the last year or so has been early! So not complaining about that! LOL!

Love your family photo on the Magical Express -you all look so happy!

Great room at Pop!

I totally agree with you about getting that kick of excitement and happiness from the transportation speaker. I could hear him speaking and feel those thoughts as I read your words.

I have to admit...Cosmic Rays has never jumped out at me. I have never eaten here, and after your review, I don't think I will! I also have never tried CHH, but I can surely vouch for Peco's Bills. Have you tried it???
I love their taco salad.

Looking forward to more!

Hello and So nice to see you here. I followed your last TR and loved it. I hope you get to stick around...

I chose to eat at Cosmic Rays this time based on location and it served its purpose. I never gave CHH a try but I surely will next time. As for Pecos Bill, well, we love it! It is usually the only place we have burgers in our entire trip and it is so good.

I cannot wait for the Fantasyland expansion to be over so we can try the new restaurants. "Gaston's Tavern" sounds particularly fun for me.

Found your trip report because of the May title. We took a May trip too. Your daughter is adorible!
Sounds like you had the perfect spot at the Speedway. I rode with my dd and it was as painful as it looked LOL!
can't wait to hear more!

Hello and !

I know I had the best seats in the house at Speedway. LOL.

Glad you made it here and I hope you stick around.

I meant to comment on your post, but I was busy all day and didn't get back to your TR. I loved the story about meeting up with your friend. That's nice that he watched Beatriz while you went on BTM. Did you love it??? This is probalby my favorite roller coaster ever. It makes me smile. Just the perfect speed and lots of fun stuff to look at.

I agree with your friend about Carousel of Progress. We have not taken the kids. It has been awhile, but I'm not in a big rush to try it again. One year I think we got a "bonus" fast pass to COP- they were trying to get people onto the attraction.

The funny thing is that we knew we were going to spend time with my friend but it never even crossed my mind to ask him to watch over Beatriz for us. I am so glad he had the idea. It gave me the opportunity to introduce the Thunder Mountain to Joey. I love the ride too! I specially love keeping my arms up the entire time and enjoying the wind blowing on my face. I also think it will be the perfect ride to introduce Beatriz to roller coasters one day. Maybe next year!

I still want to try COP one day. Even though I do not consider myself an 'A- type' personality it bothers me that I haven't scratched it off my list, you know what I mean??

BTW, thanks for the explanation on the "cue the ducks" joke. I would have NEVER gotten that on my own. Haha.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just got back from Disney World and saw that you had started your report. Now, I need to go back and catch up.

 

[Queila]

DAY 1- THURSDAY- MAY 12TH 2011- EVENING AT MAGIC KINGDOM

Because we had not waited in line for anything up until that point and the park seemed a bit empty to me I just assumed we would not have too much trouble finding a spot at Main Street to watch the parade.

Well, it turns out I was... RIGHT!

We managed to snatch a pretty decent spot in the middle of Main Street. It wasn't wonderful but it was good enough.

We had approximatively 30 minutes to go so I positioned the stroller and opened the glow stick I had brought from home (it was actually a glow wand) and handed it to Beatriz. I always buy my glow sticks at the dollar store and Beatriz had never noticed the difference between hers and the ones sold in the parks. Well, this time she asked me how come hers did not spin.

I just said hers was extra special because it was purple (her favorite color). I guess it is fair to say it is the last time I will be able to pull that stunt.

The guys were hungry so they decided to go to the Main Street Bakery to grab something to eat. I wasn't really hungry so I just asked for something to drink. In the meantime, I fed Beatriz the food she hadn't really touched earlier at Cosmic Rays.

I also took some pictures of the Main Street getting ready for the parade:

And then the guys got back. Joey got himself an ice cream cookie sandwich (1 snack credit) and A. got himself a sandwich. Joey brought me an iced moka that totally hit the spot (also 1 snack credit). I had it with my no sugar added brownie from Cosmic Rays.

Can you tell Joey is happy with his snack??

Let the parade begin!!

Now I know the Electrical Parade is cherished by a lot of people and it has a special place in the heart of some "old timers" but I have to say I did not like it. I missed the Spectromagic. I guess Spectro is the parade of my childhood and the Electrical Parade just did not do the same for me. I am pretty sure it has a lot to do with the music...

Beatriz did not seem to mind the change:

So after the parade it was time to try to move a little closer to the castle for Wishes. But that is when Beatriz started acting out. She did not want to be in the stroller. She did not want to be picked up. She did not want to walk and she did not want to be on our shoulders. We had officially hit a wall. If you have a toddler, you must know exactly what I am talking about.

I wanted to push it and stay.

I figured out more than ever in this trip that I have a VERY HARD TIME turning my back to a park. When I am in a park I simply want to be the last one to leave. I hate the feeling that we are missing out on something great.

And that is when Joey comes in. He brings balance to my force.

He reminded me that it was just our first day at WDW and promised me that we would be back to see Wishes. I love how he brings reason back into my overly excited Disney mind.

So with a bit of a disappointment but still with a heart filled with contentment I decided to throw the towel and call it a night. We still had to go back to the hotel, shower and unpack before we could rest and get ready for another day.

Last family picture before leaving the park:

So we said good- bye to A. and made our way back to Pop Century. Beatriz fell asleep as soon as we got in the bus. I could hear the fireworks in the distance...

It was a great day.

................. End of Day 1.................

Next up:
Day 2- Hollywood Studios day aka the day of the inconvenient potty breaks. ​

 

[patches07]

That is a great Family picture

 

[Native NYer]

Enjoying your report!
Your daughter is adorable.

 

[QuirkyButterfly]

I have just caught up with reading your TR, I am glad you had such a great first day. I am sorry that you hit a wall, but your DH is right you always can go back later. Your daughter is so cute ! I can't wait to read more.

 

[mousegear]

Love the update on MK.

 

[jecskc]

Can you tell Joey is happy with his snack??

​

I have seen other picture of these things on the boards. But this is the first one that show how huge that sandwich really is. Did you say that is was 1 snack credit ?? If so, my family is so going to split that when we go .... in TEN days !!! ​