Sweet Caroline, Bum, Bum, Bum. A Groovy Mother/Daughter Trip Nov/Dec 2016. Updated 6/6 X 5! The End

[missangelalexis]

Cute window decorations!

Great PP pictures!

You got some nice pictures on the safari, love the hippos one!

 

[solana131]

Ok, how did I not know about that jacket??? Or did I? Either way.....I must have one! Hopefully they still have some left when I get there.

Wow I hope the bell services CM was apologetic at least...that's awful!

Those crowds....holy moly! Looks like summertime!

Mmmm...Columbia Harbor House is my favorite.....can't wait!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I still am not sure why I thought Jazz Hands = scared. LOL. Mom said she didn't hear the photographer and just did what I did.
That's so funny You just took her right along for the ride, didn't you? At least you match in the picture!
I'm definitely doing the 5K next January even if I walk most of it. Sign ups are less than a month away on February 14th! I haven't pinned down exact dates for our trip but the Expo should be on 1/3/18 and the 5K on 1/4/18.
GAH! I knew sign up would be coming up fast but didn't realize it was THAT soon!! We have 4 weddings this year (2 we have to travel for) so I'm afraid a January trip might not be in the cards for me. I'll have to see what I can brainstorm
I'm not sure if I could do the cold one you did! My lungs couldn't handle all the cold air.

It was cold!!! My lungs did better than I thought--it was my foot that gave me trouble. I felt like it went numb and I thought I was getting frostbite!

The male elephant was determined to pull a branch down from this tree.

On our Wild Africa Trek they mentioned him specifically. They said no matter what food is available he ALWAYS has to go for the unreachable

 

[VACamm]

I just found your trip report, and am now following along! I'm still flabbergasted at the Magical Express line AND the Frontierland crowds!! I can't wait to read more!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

I just read your trip report. How I missed it I don't know. I hope everything is working out for you flight wise to Disneyland.

I think coming around the corner and seeing that line for Magical Express would have had me crying. And the entire mix up with the luggage. Rough start to your trip, but I love the jacket you bought. It is really cute. I am curious to know how the crowds were after the weekend or if they were always that crazy.

 

[BlvInMagic]

Love the sleeping hippo picture! The open mouth with the teeth peaking through are adorable

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

I'm following along too. I am also curious about the crowds after the weekend as we are going down that same week this year.

 

[Pluto0809]

Love the window! My mom has foot swelling issues too. I hope it didn't bother you too much that day.

That funny that your mom went back to the room with you everyday when you wants to save her walking.

Great photos! It's weird how the lighting changes between photographers, maybe they are using different settings?

The Safari is never bad. The painted dogs were very active for you. They were all laying down when I was there two weeks ago. We did get to see baby elephant Stella though which was awesome.

The first few days were a little rough with my ankle but it did work itself out later.

My Mom can be stubborn like that. At least at Disneyland she did let me do the FP running.

My guess would be different settings too.

I do think they had just let the painted dogs out into their enclosure because they were all running around like crazy. Awwww, I hope I get to see the baby next month (more on that below).

Cute window decorations!

Great PP pictures!

You got some nice pictures on the safari, love the hippos one!

Thanks! I did have more window clings with me but with us being so out of the way I only did a little bit.

That hippo shot is one of my favorites from the trip.

Ok, how did I not know about that jacket??? Or did I? Either way.....I must have one! Hopefully they still have some left when I get there.

Wow I hope the bell services CM was apologetic at least...that's awful!

Those crowds....holy moly! Looks like summertime!

Mmmm...Columbia Harbor House is my favorite.....can't wait!

I'm glad you were able to find the jacket when you were there even though you didn't buy it. I do love the sweatshirt you got!

Yes, they were very apologetic but it still didn't make the wait any easier.

It was crazy crowded that day. It did thin out a bit the rest of the week but not as much as I thought it would.

I want some CHH fish right now!

It was cold!!! My lungs did better than I thought--it was my foot that gave me trouble. I felt like it went numb and I thought I was getting frostbite!

On our Wild Africa Trek they mentioned him specifically. They said no matter what food is available he ALWAYS has to go for the unreachable

I'm doing a 5K this coming Saturday and it's supposed to be 37 degrees that morning. I'm going to freeze. LOL. That would probably be a heat wave to you. I'm so glad you are running the 5K next January too. Of course I'm sure you will leave me in the dust.

That's a great fact about the elephant. I loved the WAT when we did it back in 2012.

I just found your trip report, and am now following along! I'm still flabbergasted at the Magical Express line AND the Frontierland crowds!! I can't wait to read more!

Welcome! Thanks for reading along and sorry for the long gap. I swear I'm usually much better at updating than this.

I just read your trip report. How I missed it I don't know. I hope everything is working out for you flight wise to Disneyland.

I think coming around the corner and seeing that line for Magical Express would have had me crying. And the entire mix up with the luggage. Rough start to your trip, but I love the jacket you bought. It is really cute. I am curious to know how the crowds were after the weekend or if they were always that crazy.

Disneyland was a wonderful trip, all the flights worked out great and the rest of the trip was near perfect. I hope to have that TR up and running by the end of this week.

I think I was just in shock when I saw the line. But what can you do other than get in it and hope for the best! Crowds did thin out a little bit but it was still much more crowded than when I went during the same week in 2012 and 2014.

Love the sleeping hippo picture! The open mouth with the teeth peaking through are adorable

That's one of my favorites from the trip! And I had my camera up above my head and didn't even know what I was getting. It was pure luck that it turned out so good.

I'm following along too. I am also curious about the crowds after the weekend as we are going down that same week this year.

Welcome! Thanks for following along. It was very crowded the first couple of days. It did thin out a bit midweek but then picked up again towards the next weekend. It was definitely way more crowded than when I went that same week in 2012 and 2014.

 

[Pluto0809]

Hello All! I hope there are still some people out there following along, sorry it's been so long between updates.

Disneyland was awesome, a near perfect trip. The only thing that spoiled it a tiny bit was rain on two of our park days but we still had a blast! I hope to get that trip report up and running by the end of the week so keep an eye out for it. I'll post a link here and in my PTR.

I have a short update written on this TR and will post after immediately after this update. Hopefully I can keep up a more steady stream of updates.

But first off, let's talk about my new tickers!

Two days after I got back from Disneyland I saw the devastating news that Wishes was being replaced. I kind of knew it was coming but I didn't realize it would be so soon. I was sad for a few days but then I decided that I had to see the show one last time. So I booked a very short weekend in March so I could do just that!

I'm staying at All Star Music which is my favorite of the All Stars. I'm only doing the Quick Service Dining to save time and money so no sit down meals. Here's a very quick PTR for that trip.

Friday, March 17th, 2017
Flight lands in Orlando at 8 am, Magical Express to ASMu.

Hoping to be in Epcot by 11 am, lunch at Sunshine Seasons or Yorkshire Fish

Quick turn around World Showcase for Flower and Garden and a few of my favorite shops.

Afternoon FPs for Spaceship Earth, Soarin' and LWTL

Also want to do TT single rider and maybe Figment and Nemo if time

Dinner at whichever CS listed above that I didn't eat lunch at

Hop to MK for Wishes at 9 pm

MK is open till 11 pm but I don't think I'll make it that late. I will have to get up around 2 am for my flight that morning.

Saturday, March 18th, 2017
Morning EMH at AK, no FPs for this park

Plan is to catch EE, Dinosaur, Safari and FOLK

Lunch at Flametree

Hop to MK with FP starting at 2 pm for Pirates, BTMR & 7DMT

Catch anything else I can ride wise. Crowds are supposed to be 8 out of 10 so I may be doing a lot of shopping and shows.

Dinner at CHH or Casey's

Wishes at 9 pm and Once Upon a Time at 9:45 pm

MK is open till 11 pm and I plan on closing it down.

Sunday, March 19th, 2017
Morning EMH at HS, no FPs for this park

My only three goals are TSM, TOT and the Moana meet and greet. Anything else will be a bonus.

Leave HS by 12 pm at the latest to hop to MK for 1:30 pm lunch ADR at BOG (you didn't think I was going to miss my triple chocolate cupcake, did you?)

Afternoon FPs for Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion

Dinner at CHH or Casey's

Wishes again at 9 pm

MK closes at 10 pm and they will probably have to drag me kicking and screaming out of the exit.

Monday, March 20th, 2017
My flight leaves at 1:25 pm so I'll be able to sleep in a bit and get some Mickey Waffles for breakfast. I plan on bringing cereal for the other two days since I will be heading out pretty early each morning.

OK, so that's the first trip. I think it's going to be over in a blink of an eye and it won't take me long to write the TR. My second trip (which does have a ticker, it's just cut off at the bottom of my signature right now) is for next January. I have signed up for the 5K during Marathon weekend 2018 and Jim and I will be going for that trip. I've only just begun the planning process and have not settled on dates or a resort at this point. I'm sure I'll start a PTR once the trip gets closer and I have something to talk about.

Finally before I move on, I need to introduce the newest member of our little family. Jim and I had no intention of getting another dog until after Eddie was gone or even for a while after that. But when this little lady came into the local shelter where I volunteer, we could not resist. She just looks way too much like our Alex. She's a schnauzer mix and about 8 months old. The other three dogs (not Eddie, he's in his own world and doesn't even know there's another dog in the house) are a bit out of sorts right now but they will get used to her. We named her Ellie and I'm sure most of my Disney friends on here will know where that came from. The first two pictures were taken by one of the shelter employees and the rest are from my phone.

 

[Pluto0809]

Meeting Up with Family

When we got off of the Safari I received a text from my cousin Morgan letting me know that they were in the park and heading towards Dinoland. I said we would meet them near Dinosaur for our shared FP and Mom and I started in that direction. Our plan was to be standing in front of the big Dinosaur out front of the ride and see if they noticed us. But as we crossed the bridge into Dinoland, we ran smack into them as they were heading to the boneyard. The kids didn’t react too much, I think they were a little overwhelmed with the whole surprise trip since Morgan woke them up in the middle of the night to go to the airport. Jordyn did say later that she wasn’t surprised to see me there since I’m always at WDW, but she was surprised to see my Mom.

We still had a little time till the Dinosaur FP and Morgan and I being like-minded, thought of the Pluto and Goofy meet and greet right there. They weren’t out yet but were scheduled to come on in about 10 minutes and there was only one family in line.

The kids went up first and got autographs and hugs, then the adults joined in to get a group picture. Goofy must have known that my Mom was a fan because he grabbed her right away. I of course had to get a hug from both before leaving the meet and greet.





It definitely pays to get in line before the meet and greet starts. By the time we finished I estimated the line to be about 45 minutes.

It was now time for our Dinosaur FP so we headed that way.



I can’t remember the reason for this picture but Esther wanted a picture with just Kennedy.



Mom and I also got a picture with the kids there but Morgan took it with her camera and I have yet to get a copy.

Just as we used our FP and got in line, the ride went down and we were lead out through the gift shop and given a paper FP. So much for sharing that ride!

Morgan and her gang had not eaten yet and they were starving. Mom and I would have joined them but we had an ADR at Yak and Yeti for lunch. So we split up and they headed towards Flametree which was just opening and Mom and I made our way towards Asia. We made plans to meet back at Dinosaur around 3 pm to use our paper fast passes.



As we walked around to Asia, I took some pictures of the new Rivers of Light theater. It wasn’t being used for anything during the time we were there.





We had a little time before lunch so we headed towards the Maharajah Jungle Trek to kill some time. But we were almost immediately sidetracked by the Gibbons. They were very active that morning and swinging all over the place. I took quite a few pictures but only two of them came out.





We finally tore ourselves away from the Gibbons (my family can spend hours at a zoo and we especially love the primates) and headed down the trail. We said hi to the Komodo Dragon who was out catching some sun.



Then we headed into the bat enclosure. This guy was in a tank in that area but I don’t remember what he is.



The bats weren’t very active, I think they were enjoying the sunshine too.





Sleepy tigers.





All the animals seemed to be laying down and taking it easy.









I can’t help myself when it comes to these flags, I have to take a picture.



Then we headed through the bird aviary.







It was still a ½ hour before our ADR time when we finished with the trail. We were hungry though so we decided to head towards Yak and Yeti and see if they would take us early.

Up Next: What Else Can Go Wrong on this Trip?

 

[rteetz]

Welcome back!

That's awesome you booked a March trip for Wishes! I wish I could get back before May to see it but college is in the way.

I'm so excited for you for signing up for the 5K! I can't wait to hear all about the planning for that one and hopefully we can meet during that week.

Congrats on the new dog Ellie! She's beautiful!

 

[rteetz]

Love the family photos!

That sucks that Dinosaur was down but at least you got a paper FP.

Love the jungle trek photos! I didn't get to go in there in January.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Aww, Ellie, what a sweetheart!!

Yay for signing up for the 5K!!! We can get our do-over of our first disMeet and take a picture so people believe it actually happened!!!!

What a bummer not being to ride Dinosaur together like you had planned---I hope things went well for the 3 p.m. ride you planned, but by the "what else can go wrong on this trip?" I'm not so sure!!

 

[missangelalexis]

How awesome that you have a quick trip planned! Your plans sound great!

Ellie is so cute! Congrats on your new fur baby!

Sounds like a fun morning! Love all the animal pics!

 

[Pluto0809]

The Disneyland TR has been started! Hope to see you all there.

Mom, You Know We're in Hell, Right? A February Disneyland/LA TR

 

[Pluto0809]

Before I get to replies I want to post my Magic Band for my trip in a few weeks. 17 days to go!

I hadn't seen a side by side comparison of the old bands vs the new so I pulled out one of my old ones and put both of them on my wrist. I really like the new one, it's not that much bigger than the old ones and it's much more flexible. It wraps around your wrist much better than the old ones.





Also, I decided on a whim the other day to check and see if there were any Wishes Dessert Party openings. I did not expect anything and was shocked to actually find a reservation. So I added that on for Saturday night. I picked the Plaza Garden view because I think it will be a better spot to watch Wishes plus I already did the old version a few years ago.

Now onto replies.

Welcome back!

That's awesome you booked a March trip for Wishes! I wish I could get back before May to see it but college is in the way.

I'm so excited for you for signing up for the 5K! I can't wait to hear all about the planning for that one and hopefully we can meet during that week.

Congrats on the new dog Ellie! She's beautiful!

Thanks! I'm hoping to stay caught up this time but I doubt that will happen.

Sorry you can't make another trip back.

We definitely need to meet up that week. I'm sure I'll be in a much lower corral than you. I did a 5K this weekend and finished in 45.26. I really need to work on improving my time! I've found two more races, one in April and one in May to sign up for so hopefully that will keep me motivated to train. Plus I'm going to sign up for the Disney Virtual Races this summer since the mascot is Pluto.

Thanks, we really love Ellie already.

Love the family photos!

That sucks that Dinosaur was down but at least you got a paper FP.

Love the jungle trek photos! I didn't get to go in there in January.

I'm glad we got that photo since it's the only one of all of us from the whole week.

As you'll see we did get to ride it later that day.

We got the Tiger trail in but not the Gorilla one so I need to try to get to that one in a few weeks. I missed seeing the babies.

Aww, Ellie, what a sweetheart!!

Yay for signing up for the 5K!!! We can get our do-over of our first disMeet and take a picture so people believe it actually happened!!!!

What a bummer not being to ride Dinosaur together like you had planned---I hope things went well for the 3 p.m. ride you planned, but by the "what else can go wrong on this trip?" I'm not so sure!!

Thanks, we love her already!

Yes, we must meet up! I did OK this weekend, I was pretty slow, but I've found a few more to sign up for and I'm going to work to improve before the Disney race.

It actually did go well for the 3 pm ride together. You'll see here in a minute what did go wrong that day.

How awesome that you have a quick trip planned! Your plans sound great!

Ellie is so cute! Congrats on your new fur baby!

Sounds like a fun morning! Love all the animal pics!

I'm really excited about the trip!

Thanks! She's such a sweetheart. I can't figure out how she ended up as a stray.

We did have a lot of fun that morning, we just had one more bad incident coming up and then the rest of the trip was great.

 

[rteetz]

We definitely need to meet up that week. I'm sure I'll be in a much lower corral than you. I did a 5K this weekend and finished in 45.26. I really need to work on improving my time! I've found two more races, one in April and one in May to sign up for so hopefully that will keep me motivated to train. Plus I'm going to sign up for the Disney Virtual Races this summer since the mascot is Pluto.

First, I really love the new magicbands too! I bought two of them already...

Well Dopey tends to put you in weird corrals for the 5K and 10K so we might end up on the same corral. I was in E for the 5K and 10K this year. The 5K has corrals A to F.

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad to hear a positive review of the new magic band! How exciting that your trip is so close and that you snagged the dessert party!

 

[Pluto0809]

What Else Can Go Wrong on this Trip?

Despite having a pretty large breakfast, Mom and I were getting hungry. It was around 12 pm and our ADR was not until 12:30. We decided to try to check in any ways and headed to the restaurant.



They were able to seat us right away and we were lead upstairs to a 2 seater table along the railing that went around the stairs. This was the first time either of us had eaten at Yak and Yeti and we were excited to give it a try. I was a little wary of the menu being so picky but I knew they had a burger if I didn’t find anything else.

Our waitress took our drink orders, Mom got iced tea and I got a soda. When the waitress brought the drinks back, she set the iced tea on a small wooden pencil that was there with a comment card and the whole thing spilled all over Mom. Poor Mom was soaked! It had also ran down onto her purse which was on a ledge next to our table.

Now we all know that accidents can happen but boy did our waitress drop the ball on this one! She honestly wasn’t very personable before this but she barely apologized and even seemed mad like it was Mom’s fault that the pencil had been there. She brought Mom a small stack of napkins and a tiny dish towel to clean up. Mom cleaned up the best she could and I wiped off her purse which luckily wasn’t too bad. Then we placed our orders.

Mom got the Seared Miso Salmon.



And I got the Chef’s Fresh Catch which was Grouper served with Jasmine Rice and Succotash. I can’t remember what the sauce was but I got it on the side and did not care for it.



Both of our meals were delicious and despite Mom’s soaking we thoroughly enjoyed them. Well, I wasn’t all that thrilled with the Succotash but that was just because I’m picky. Mom tried it and thought it was delicious.

For dessert, Mom got the Mango Pie.



And I got the Chocolate Pudding Cake



Holy crap guys, that cake was out of this world delicious! Mom really enjoyed her dessert as well. While we were eating, Mom managed to flag down a different server and had him bring her another one of the pathetically small dish towels.

We settled up our bill (no discount or anything on our bill) and headed downstairs to the bathroom so Mom could clean up some more but there was a line so we left and went to the bathroom across from Flame Tree. I really wanted to talk to a manager or leave a bad comment for our waitress but Mom doesn’t like to do that kind of stuff and I respected her wishes.

I did try to talk Mom into going back to the room to change but she didn’t want to waste the time. She used the dish towel which we took with us and cleaned herself up some more. She was pretty much dry by this point but she wanted to clean off some of the stickiness.

Despite the horrible waitress I do think that Mom and I would go back to Yak and Yeti again. Our meals were delicious and I really want another piece of that chocolate cake right now.

We had some time till our next FP+ so we spent it in the stores around Discovery Island. I saw a few things I wanted but we decided to come back and pick them up on our way out of the park. I also spent some time looking at the jewelry. I hadn’t decided if I wanted to get an Alex and Ani bracelet or a Pandora bead. I still couldn’t decide so I walked away empty handed. One thing I saw that cracked me up but didn’t come home with me was this stuffed Dug complete with the Cone of Shame.



Our third FP was for Expedition Everest from 2:10 – 3:10 and we used it towards the beginning of the time since we were meeting back up with the family around 3 pm.

I do love Expedition Everest but I can only ride it one time now or it gets my stomach going.



We made our way slowly back around to Dinoland, stopping to take a few pictures along the way.







Mom and I made it to Dinoland well before Morgan and her gang. I think they had just gotten off the safari but I could be wrong. We sat on a bench for a while until they found us. While waiting, I hopped onto MDE and made Mom and me a 4th FP for the Finding Nemo show at 4 pm.

We ended up with a car all to ourselves which was fun. This was Kennedy’s first time on the ride and she hated it. You can see her cowering in the back row between Mom and Morgan. Jacob and Jordyn look pretty scared to but they said they liked it. I was the only dork in our group who knew were the ride photo was and I went with the old classic, roar back at the dinosaur. I'm really out of ride photo ideas, I need to come up with some new ones for next trip.



After we finished up our ride, we all parted ways again. Both girls were doing the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique that evening at Disney Springs and Morgan wanted to get settled a bit in their room before heading there.

Mom and I went and used our FP for Finding Nemo. FP probably isn’t necessary for this show but it at least got us in and seated before everyone else. I took a grand total of one picture the whole show.



This was Mom's first time seeing Finding Nemo and we enjoyed the show but both agreed that they need to put in better seats. Those wooden benches are so uncomfortable!

We had pretty much accomplished everything we wanted so we headed back to the stores to pick up the items we had seen earlier. We made a quick stop at Flame Tree along the way to get some ice water.

I bought a Pluto key chain.



And a Pluto magnet.



Mom bought a Goofy magnet in the same style as the Pluto above. We also went back to the sweet shop so she could get the wooden spoons she saw earlier. I did not get pictures of either of her purchases.

We were kind of hungry at this point but not enough for a full meal so we decided to get a snack. I wanted a pretzel so we stopped at the Harambe Fruit Market near the Safari. Mom had been wanting popcorn but when she saw the Mickey pretzels she changed her mind.



We found some seats in the new Harambe Market and I grabbed us a couple of ice waters to drink.

After we ate, we made our way towards the front in order to exit the park but stopped along the way to see the new Tree of Life Awakenings. I did take a few pictures but this is the only one that semi came out.



I know a lot of people have talked about how great the Tree of Life Awakenings are but honestly Mom and I weren’t all that impressed. Maybe we were at the wrong angle or too far away but neither one of use could seem to follow what was going on. We only watched one show and then turned and headed out. We were also really tired at this point after our late night waiting on luggage so maybe that factored into our lackluster response to the show. I definitely want to give it another chance someday.

It was around 6:30 when we headed out and we paused for just a minute to admire the beautiful tree all lit up.



We caught a bus in less than 10 minutes and it was one of the tour bus kind with nice comfy seats.

As we made it back to our room, the Jingle Bell Jingle Bam fireworks were going off across the lake. I will admit I was a little on the stupid side as I got way too close to the water to get these next few shots. I should have been more careful because who knows what was lurking around the edge of that lake.











I always seem to have great pin luck at Animal Kingdom, there are lots of pin boards out all around the park. I ended up trading for six total.



And my Fitbit stats for the day. I will say at this point my ankle was extremely swollen and hurting a lot. I was hoping that a good night’s sleep would help.



We were ready for bed and reading by 8 pm but neither of us could keep our eyes open so we turned out the lights around 8:30 pm. I’m not even sure if I remember my head hitting the pillow before I was out.

Up Next: I Like Warm Hugs

 

[Pluto0809]

First, I really love the new magicbands too! I bought two of them already...

Well Dopey tends to put you in weird corrals for the 5K and 10K so we might end up on the same corral. I was in E for the 5K and 10K this year. The 5K has corrals A to F.

I'm sure I'll be in F!

Glad to hear a positive review of the new magic band! How exciting that your trip is so close and that you snagged the dessert party!

I'm so excited for this trip and the dessert party!