Tropical Storm Ernesto and I are going to WDW for my B-day! Complete! Posted 10/8

[MickeyNicki]

Love your report, I feel like I am right there with ya!

 

[sharonW]

I left chat when sue said you reported! Just had to read about more
of the magic. Even Ernesto can't spoil your love of the mouse! I'm glad
your having fun! Hope Malcolm arrived safe and sound. Somethings got
to be done to make that man as passionate as you and the kids are about
disney!!

 

[Torjohnson]

great report. No reference to my e mails though. Guess I have to move to London to get some respect...
yay

 

[tictoc]

Okay david, I owe you an apology1 Your emails have been the highlight of the trip! Keep 'em coming!

 

[cherokeemamma]

Good Morning tictoc,
Hope you are having a magical day!
Loving your TR and the pics! Your kiddos are so cute.

Thank goodness Ernesto decided to move on up north a bit. It looks like you guys only had the one day of partial rain.

How are the crowds in general? Wait times? I'll be there the end of next week and just curious.

As far as the ice cream sundae making CM...What's up with that? It sounds like she needs some pixie dust added to her coffee!

Have fun and thanks for posting!

 

[DeterminedOne]

For dessert we thought we would get ice cream sundaes. We ordered two chocolate and a strawberry. First the cast member Anita sighed heavily when she realized she was almost out of chocolate ice cream and would have to get some more To the point where I actually apologized to her. So, I stood back and I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. . . . Finally I said I was gonna run and get Rachel some Benadryl for her runny nose while she made them. When I returned she had not even started them.

Rhonda—“I need to pick up my sundaes”
Anita—“I will make them in a minute”
Rhonda—“You mean you have not even started”
Anita—I have been busy, I got a lot of customers”
Rhonda—“Well wasn’t I your first customer in line? Why would you help the people behind me first?”
Anita—“I have to take care of everyone”
Anita-- got a styrophome take out container. Not the cute bowls they normally put them in. Scooped a huge amount of ice cream and whipped topping in each while glaring at me the entire time. Glaring at me she sprayed the topping on the counter instead of in the containers! Glaring to the point where the lady in line behind me said I can not believe she keeps looking at you like that. Glaring at me so much that I knew if I had not been watching her make those “sundaes” there would be a bonus in them that I would not want.
Rhonda—went and got a manager and showed her the fruits of Anita’s labor. The pseudosundaes.
Manager—I can not believe this. I will deliver real sundaes to your room”

Now considering we ate those sundaes and they were made out of my sight, I sure hope Anita did not make them!

I'm glad you got the manager involved. Anita's behavior was unacceptable!

 

[NUguyinCrew]

Great report so far! Cant wait for more!

 

[GOOFYsince71]

Hey,Nuguy,
The countdown is ON!!
We will be at Pop,,same time!!
Start Packin'
Hey tictoc.............
What's the day been like for ya?
Thanks for the extra helpin' of
Soooooooo looking forward to the new installment!

 

[femail]

and i should be thinking about packing, or something, but instead, what am i doing? reading the boards!! i am so hooked!! 0 see you in 2 count em 2 days......femail "hippie chic"

 

[BeautyNBeast]

Glad you guys are having fun, and not letting Ernesto ruin your trip.

 

[kimwim8]

Loving your report again!

That's the way to do it, too. Get it done each day while you're still AT WDW!!! That way everything is fresh in your mind...and when you come home to reality, it's so hard to get them posted (at least for me!).

Have fun and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

[katiesmomluvsdizne]

Glad to see you are having a great trip. Here's wishing good weather the rest of the time
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Glad to see you are having a great time!! We are leaving in 20 days I also pull my DD out of school, and will continue to do until it causes problems!!!
Can't wait to hear more.

 

[GOOFYsince71]

"When last we heard from tictoc,the family was settling in for a much needed rest.They were due to visit MGM in the morning with an 8AM Breakfast reservation.................."

Did They make it?
Was Breakfast Not-So-Magical?
Did Ernesto Show up and Drench the Poncho Family?

The answer to these and many other questions on the minds of all the Dissers, to be answered by tictoc..........soon.........we hope...........!


Hope all is going well
Your audience is waiting with SHARKBAITed Breath!!!!

 

[tictoc]

thanks to everyone that is reading. i have written several of the days( all except the last two). I will post on Wednesday to the report. I have good notes for those days!

 

[tictoc]

Hi Rhonda,
I heard Ernesto is just rain now-so I hope it doesn't hamper your day today and tomorrow. Get them poncho's on and head on out.

Happy pre-birthday. I think we talked in chat how our birthdays are around Labor Day and how nice it is to have off when Labor Day lands on our birthday. Mine is the 6th and I have to work-so celebrate in spirit for me, I'm just going to ignore mine this year.

OhMari
aka Marisa

We did talk about our birthdays in chat. Happy Birthday--Yours is today. I am back at work now feeling pretty tired! I hope you have a blast today.

 

[tictoc]

One more thing about the family from New York.

Man from New York-- “It is gonna rain out those fireworks”
Rhonda—“They still have Illuminations in the rain”
Man from New York—“No, no, they will cancel them”
Rhonda—“Okay” I thought to myself, no they do not!
About ten minutes later. . . . .BANG
Man from New York—“Listen to that thunder”
Rhonda—“That is Illuminations”
Woman from New York—“I want to go watch them.”
Man from New York—“I don’t”
Woman from New York—“I want to go watch them.”
Man from New York—“Bye”
Woman from New York leaves alone.

They were seriously cracking me up!

For those of you who red my previous trippie, you know that on my last trip these rotten kids of mine made me watch Power Rangers every night. Now they have supposedly outgrown Power Rangers but the other option was Raven and they can’t stand that show!

So this trip so far the kids have all been asleep long before I have gone to bed so I have been able to watch real television. You know the kind where there is a host sitting in a chair talking to a celebrity sitting across from him. So the first night I lucked upon Orlando Bloom. I think he is really attractive. So last night, I came across Jimmy Kimmel and Tommy Lee. I think he is really hot. I have really had some pixie dust!

This morning Stitch called at 6:00. I hung up on him! I listened to the weather and found out that it was 70% chance of major rain. A lesser soul would have rolled over and gone back to sleep. But not this Disney loving Momma. No, I rolled out of bed and into the shower. Within minutes of waking up the boys they got in a major fight. Now a lesser soul, or a better mother, would have enforced the no fighting rule and cancelled the park visit fo the day. Not this Disney loving Momma. So everyone is dressed and teeth are brushed and here we go! I will punish those big boys though. We are off to MGM to eat breakfast with JoJo. Hopefully I will be able to really seal the punishment by getting tickets to see The Wiggles in concert. The power of being a mother.

Drew—“Momma?”
Me—“Yes Drew?”
Drew—“Did you know that South America has never been involved in a war?”
Me—“No, I didn’t”
Drew—That is because they are simple people like farmers. We should be that simple.”
"Interesting thoughts at Disneyworld, but could you help me find the keys we are late for breakfast.”

So we get to MGM and park in Stage 41,

take the photo so we will know where we parked at the end of this day and head toward the gate. The intent is to head to breakfast and then go get tickets for the earliest showing of the Wiggles.

When we got to the front we were surprised to see a very long line already in place to go get tickets. Hmmm, breakfast is at 8 and the cast member informed me that this line moves in at 8. So, do I skip JoJo for breakfast or do I chance not getting to see The Wiggles? There was a manger type guy walking around so I explained my dilemma to him. He said not to worry. Just go to breakfast and I will bring the tickets to you! Wow that Disney magic.

So we headed to Hollywood and Vine. Now those of you that are familiar with my travel to the world know that my daughter is a very hard sleeper. She sleeps through us dressing her, putting her in the car and getting her back out. She sleeps through the entrance and we wake her up when we are getting on the first ride or going into breakfast. So as we rolled the stroller into stroller parking we roused her awake.

She usually wakes up in a great mood when we wake her up this way. When we wake her at the hotel she is usually so worked up by the time she gets to something fun, there is heck to pay.

This proved to be an excellent character meal. The characters came to each table and spent time dancing with the kids. The characters also seemed to work the room pretty efficiently. In about 40 minutes we had seen all of the characters and the kids had all eaten. I of course, kept my policy about not eating buffets. I remember when Hollywood and Vine was a character meal where Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale were all dressed in old Hollywood Glam and they danced with you as well. That was one of the best meals and this proved to be the same standard. So, if you want a meal that is all about the little kids, here is the ticket!

During the meal Steven really wanted to go see those characters. He knows he is really too old to still like the preschool characters, but he really is still such a kid at heart. So I said, “hey Steven I would really like to get a picture of you and Drew with the characters and Rachel too. Would you mind?” He leapt from the table!

Drew had been very patient during that meal. Thank goodness for Game Boys and books! After lunch we headed to Tower of Terror.

Drew is the only one of the kids that likes this ride and he loves it! We could only get a fastpass because we had to line up for The Wiggles soon. We got one lonely fastpass for Tower. Man how I wanted to ride! I did not however want to ride it badly enough to force the other two to ride it. So one solo pass for Drew and two passes for Rockin’ Rollercoaster was all we got. Man that one would really hurt! I love that ride. I love rock, I love Arrowsmith and I love the combination.

With the security of no lines later in hand we headed toward the Indiana Jones Theater to watch The Wiggles. Rachel was so excited about this concert. She danced throughout the show. It was kind of weird at the beginning. One of the dancers came out to introduce the main characters and announced that Greg had been suffering from fainting spells and had to return to Australia so that he could see his doctor. The part of Greg will be played by Sam. The entire rest of the day and even now, I find myself very worried about Greg.

The concert was so cool and it was so cool that it was free. Of course Rachel made friends with the two little girls behind us. The older of the two was named Avery and she will be five on Malcolm’s birthday.

After some rides we headed over to see that spaceman, cowboy and that cute little cowgirl. Today they threw in a green army man for good measure.

I was amazed all day that the crowd was so light. We just kinda meandered our way around though. We did not accomplish tons of things. We watched Ariel and Playhouse Disney. We did Star Tours and of course shopped at Tattooine Traders. We got R2 Patatoo and Spud Trooper. We needed play mates for Darth Tater.

We went through the Art of Animation and met some Incredibles and Cars and learned how to draw Pluto.

We took a picture, but did not eat at Pizza Planet because I hate that pizza!

We went to fight some gangsters in the Great Movie Ride.

After all of that it was time for our dinner reservations at Mama Melrose’s. Dinner at 3:30 so I guess you could really call it Lunner. While we were waiting the 35 seconds it took to get a table this is the conversation Rachel and I had:
Rachel—“Momma those fruit people are naked”
Me—“I know”
Rachel—“Momma, why are they naked.”
Me—“Because it is art”
Rachel—“But you can see their booties.”
Me-“Yeah, I know—it is art”

So then Rachel went to tell the other kids, kids that we do not know, about the naked fruit people. I sure wish I had taken a picture of that statue to share! Maybe I will update this after our visit to MGM on Sunday!

Here was the issue: Steven had just eaten a giant pretzel. Steven loves pretzels and is not a big eater anyway. So when it came time to eat he was not hungry. I told the waitress that he was not hungry and in a minute the manager Eric approached our table. He explained that even if Steven did not eat he would be charged for a meal. Because it was the Fantasmic Dinner Package everyone that gets in the special place gets charged. So my answer was to not give us the ticket into Fantasmic. There was hardly a crowd in the park today and it had been raining off and on anyway. So, he gave me the ticket to get all four of us into Fantasmic. Happy Birthday he said as he smiled from ear to ear. I think it made him happy happy to do this for me. It made me happy happy too. So we three ate and Steven played video games and he and Rachel called their grandparents to say hi.

When the dessert menu came around, Steven had suddenly regained his appetite. Funny how that kids tummy works!

Leaving the restaurant this conversation took place:

Rachel—“Mommy can you draw a heart? I can.”
Me—Yes, but probably not as beautifully as you”
Rachel—“Well you know hearts don’t look like hearts.”
Me—“You will need to explain that.”
“Well I saw a book that had a picture in it. The picture showed what the inside of your body looks like/. The heart did not look like a heart. It is oval with a bunch of lines coming out of it. It was ugly.”
Me—Hmmmm.

After dinner I had another camera issue. This time it was with the only working camera on the trip. I did not have a charger for the battery. I lost the piece that plugs in. I know they sell these chargers at MGM because I bought one here In June. Why, you ask? Because I lost the little piece tat plugs in. Sound familiar? It is becoming a pattern!

The camera shop amazes me at MGM. They are the best camera shop on property. Jean Claude and Bill work in that shop. They go way out of the way to make customers happy. Bill is kinda older and maybe a little impatient with kids, but that is some of his charm. When Steven and Drew turned the television volume up too loud he simply walked over and turned it down. He did not get frustrated; he just took care of the problem.

The problem was that they do not sell those chargers any more. In fact Jean Claude said they are very hard to come by period. He searched every nook and cranny looking for one of those pieces to just give me. He gave me a European one and told me to go to the gift shop and they will have an adapter. Bill told me to come by there every morning and they will charge my battery and loan me one to use while it is charging. I do not have the solution yet, but I am still working on it!

So it was time for a midday break. We had some really special decorating to do. Malcolm arrives tonight and we wanted to decorate the room for his arrival. So we returned to the hotel and made a sign for the door.

I went to the front because I had very special Fairy Godmailer packages and post cards to send out. I had 7 kids total to send things too. I still needed to find name badges and plying cards, but otherwise I had all the stuff! Leaving the lobby I got turned around and it took me forever to get back to the room. So much for my rest!

If we were gonna make it back to Fantasmic, we needed to get going!

Fantasmic is my absolute favorite thing at Disney World. I have a lot that I love but this stands out. I think this show is so beautiful. I first saw this show in the late eighties or early nineties at Disneyland. I fell in love. I have been a fan of Disney and Walt has been my hero since I was quite young. This epitomizes Disney for me. I love the belief that the good guy always comes out on top and that the power of believing is enough to defeat evil. I am also a sucker for the love stories!

The part I do not like about Fantasmic? The wait is so long! The kids get impatient and I am the only adult to entertain them. This time it will be different. I made sure that I had game Boys, books and coloring supplies for Rachel. I had my Blackberry and plenty of emails to answer.



Something was noticeably different about Fantasmic tonight. Not at first, not until the almost very end. The part where Maleficent catches the water on fire did not happen. The River Boat with Steamboat Willie did not happen either. Instead all of the characters lined up on stage and waved their banners around. It was not bad it was just different. I felt betrayed a little that they had changed my favorite part of Disney without consulting me first. So on the way out I asked a cast member. Not to worry, the difference was due to technical difficulties not permanent change.

On the way out I found one of the Godmailer items I still needed. One more set of kids down and only one more to go.

We returned to the hotel a little glowy. We had a great day and it ended on such a good note as well.

Plus, Daddy would be here soon. We all kind of settled in, Rachel drifted off and the boys waited anxiously for Daddy to arrive.

He just got here and they went down at Midnight almost to get something to eat. Six a.m. will come awfully early tomorrow! Oh yeah, and guess what is on television—Power Rangers!

 

[tictoc]

first : & all your wishes come true! and lots
for some magical moments!

ha! ..you not foolin me, i know a few lil rain drops can stop you...but
hobo's..hiding in bushes.. naw...hoping [ ] this is a DREAM come
true for your family! here'
a lucky

p.s..we're doing a disney cruise in bout 18days....so close...

Howdy Lil' Grumpy--We are back and barely even water logged! There were no hobos hiding in the bushes this trip and my husband came and had a good time! Oh boy Oh Boy!! It was the best birthday ever!

I can not wait to hear about your cruise!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Oh man... The Wiggles?!? That Greg is H-O-T! Too bad he wasn't there. We get Ralph and his boring World when we go to WDW. I would have soooo loved The Wiggles.
I love the "Art" convo with Rachel

 

[brandt79]

Love it - can't wait for the next installment!

 

[tictoc]

Love it - can't wait for the next installment!

Is that a Bichon in your pictures?