Belle1962
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
Cast:
Leading roles:
Me, Trip Director, almost 40, frequent WDW visitor
DH, 40, not as frequent as me WDW visitor
DS, 18, been there done that attitude but still wouldn't miss a trip to the World
Brother, almost 40, third trip to WDW (all have been with my family)
Sis-In-law, 40, third or fourth trip to WDW
Nephew, 22, frequent WDW visitor when younger (with Grandma) but this is his first trip in over five years and first ever with his mom and dad
Niece, 11, third trip to WDW, all have been with the coolest Aunt in the World (ME)
Bit parts:
Cousin, almost 40, first trip
Cousin's wife, almost 40, first trip
Oldest Son, 15, first trip
Daughter, 12, first trip
Youngest Son, 2, first trip
Cuz's wife's mother, older than the rest of us, think her first trip
Cuz's wife's brother, not sure of age (30ish)
Cuz's wife's nephew, 3
Day Two, Nov. 18
The plan for today was to hit the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT. Giving in to the requests that we not be the VERY first people at the parks each day, I planned on arriving around 8:30 am instead of the usual 8:00 am. Everyone could sleep in. I thought that rather generous of me.
Received our Mickey wake up call at 7:00 am, called the boys to wake them up and hit the showers. By 7:45 am we were meeting the boys at the Food Court for breakfast. A word on meals here: I had the kids meal for dinner last night and this morning had the kids french toast. This was enough for me, especially knowing in a few hours I would begin my tour through the food festival. I can not stand to throw food away and an adult portioned meal would be wasted.
We were at EPCOT around 8:30, parked and went to the ticket window. My SIL had CM one day passes she had gotten from her sister (who is a TDS CM) and every day she had to exchange one of the vouchers for an actual ticket. We hit Spaceship Earth and then went over to Test Track. The line at TT was already 30 minutes, so we used Fastpass and went over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. After Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which my nephew had never seen, we went back and did Test Track. Because of neck and back injuries I received in a car accident 14 months agoâÂÂthe plan was to have them ride Test Track and then let me know if I could ride it. They came back and said if I used some of the neck stabilization exercises I had, it would be ok. So we jumped back in line and rode again. It was ok. The best part was the outdoor part at the endâÂÂwe love speed. We then went over to Wonders of Life and I waited while they rode Body Wars. I have ridden it numerous times over the years and knew my neck and back wouldn't be able to handle it. The wait for Body Wars was less than five minutes. Does anyone else remember when it was "the" ride at EPCOT and waits of 45 minutes to an hour were common? By then World Showcase was opening so we made our way over to begin our food feast. We started on the Mexico side of the lagoon and stopped at each booth and ordered something. My niece and I were really the only ones doing this and I felt a little guilty as we stopped at each booth, picked out what we wanted to taste and then shared it. I told the others they could go on and do whatever they wanted but Nooooo, they wanted to stay together. So they stood around looking bored while my niece & I sampled the World.
When we hit China, the Character bus rolled up and off hopped Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Pooh, Tigger, and many others. We stalked, er um followed, Donald to his spot and lined up. We were second in line. A CM came by and asked us to move the line along the wall and out of the walkway. Being the good little guests that we are, we moved. Unfortunately, when it was our turn, another couple with their child stepped up to Donald. I said "How rude" and the woman looked at me and said "We followed him here". (Well then DuhâÂÂwhy weren't they in line ahead of us???) I didn't say anything else but her husband said something to her and they left arguing. After that we got in line for Tigger, stayed to take a picture of the group behind us with him and then moved on to Minnie Mouse. At Minnie, people were just standing around while a CM was trying to get them into some sort of line. She finally got us into a line and then moved on to help Mickey get his line in order. When it was our turn guess what happened? Yes, a group of girls stopped beside us and one of them went up to Minnie to have her picture taken. When that girl was done I immediately went up to Minnie and motioned my niece to come up. Well, before she could get to Minnie another one of those girls jumped in. Minnie, shook her head to the girl "No" and shook her finger at her and waved my niece on up. It's nice to know the characters can get the point across so much nicer than I can. We always get in line and never just run up to a characterâÂÂbut then I guess we know the line routine and first time visitors don't know to line up or look for the line (even when a CM says to form a line or they're standing right beside it). I can still remember the days when there weren't lines and it was basically a free for all. You don't know how many pictures we have at home of my DS and other kids with the charactersâÂÂit was just too hard back then to get a single picture with the characters. I personally think Disney made great strides when they started making people form lines for the characters. When we hit the dwarves at MK two years ago we had a routine downâÂÂeach adult got into a separate line while my SIL walked around with my niece. When she would get an autograph and picture, she would then move my niece onto the next adultâÂÂwhoever was closest to a character. This worked pretty well, except sometimes she wouldn't make it to someone soon enough and they'd have to go back to the end of the line to wait for her.
After the character encounter we continued eating our way around the world. We made it to Germany before my niece petered out and said she was too full to eat anything else. By this time everyone else is hungry for lunchâÂÂwhat can they eat. HUH? We've been doing nothing but eating for the past two hours and you want to know what you can eat? Ok. How about America for cheeseburgers? Sounds like a plan so we head to America. My brother starts talking about going back to the room for a break and coming back later. We have a 3:00 pm Ice Cream Social Reservation so why leave now? Of course, it's now past 1:30 and we're eating ice cream at 3:00 so why bother with food at all. Everyone munches on snacks from their fanny packs. At Japan my DS gets a DragonBallZ poster and we watch about five minutes of the drummersâÂÂthey are really good. They don't want to finish walking around the World so we catch the boat back to the Future World side. This is a decision they will later regret as they missed the entire Millennium Village. We go to Future World and after a stop through Ice Station Cool, the guys and my niece head to Innoventions while my SIL and I go back to the car. I have a bag of stuff I need to give my cousin when we meet up with them for the ice cream social. When we get back from the car we meet up with the others and go to the Living Seas and spend time at the exhibits.
We then head over to The Land for our Ice Cream Social. I was a little concerned because I had read a previous post that said the characters were no longer available for the Ice Cream Social. I was trying to figure out how the characters could be there for lunch but not ice cream but figuredâÂÂhey anything is possible. No worriesâÂÂthe characters are there for the ice cream social. We met up with my cousin and his group and were seated within 10 minutes for our event. The character interaction was great. All of the kids except the 2 year old played with the characters and had their pictures takenâÂÂeven the "cool kids". The 2 year old wanted nothing to do with those things and would rapidly climb into his mom's lap whenever he heard us say look here comes XXXX. By the end of the ice cream he was willing to call out BYE BYE from his mom's lap but that was all the interaction he wanted. After the ice cream social we all went downstairs to see Food Rocks and after reminding everyone to be at the dock of the Yacht & Beach Club at 8:00 PM for our Illuminations Cruise we went our separate ways. My group headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for the cruise. I recommended that everyone wear jeans and bring a jacket plus I had more stuff I had to get to pass out on the cruise.
Once back at the hotel my DS wanted dropped off at the Food Court for REAL food not ice cream, snacks or snails. (Escargot was featured in France). We then met up about 7:15 and headed to the Yacht & Beach Club for our cruise. Now, I ALWAYS valet park at the resorts plus this time I had two bags full of goodies I wanted to pass out on the cruise. So I pulled right up to valet. My brotherâÂÂnot realizing this was valet--pulled in right behind me.
Our Illuminations Cruise was wonderful. Almost everyone was at the dock of the Y & BC at 8:00 pm. We met up with another family from the DIS who was sharing one of our boats. We waited a little bit for the people who had not shown up yet, paid the drivers and I passed out the goodie bags I had made for everyone. Everyone got a goodie bag with Princess Fruit Rolls or Winnie the Pooh fruit snacks, Mickey lollipops and Mickey & Minnie candy canes. In addition they had little items like pvc figures, key chains, magnets, emory boards, erasers, notebooks, etc. in them. The adults each received an additional giftâÂÂeither the gift that had a set of Mickey & Minnie drinking glasses (enough for the whole family) and or a gift that had kitchen itemsâÂÂtowels, potholders, etc. in either Christmas Mickey or Pooh. Each family received both the glasses and the kitchen stuff. (Funny how I worked that out-LOL) The family we met through the DIS bought me a goodie bag too with Ohio State coasters and a keychainâÂÂcool!! We cruised around the Boardwalk area, past the Swan & Dolphin and up towards MGM then turned around and headed back to enter EPCOT to see Illuminations. By the time we passed the Y&BC again, the rest of our group had arrived so we made a quick stop to let them board the other boat. Then onto EPCOT. The show was awesome and our seats spectacular. A group had reserved the area that juts out near the International Gateway for a private party and one of the ladies from there asked how she got onto the boatsâÂÂshe was ready to jump the fence before she realized THEY had the little area and not the boats. I am sorry that WDW has changed the cruise programâÂÂthe Illuminations cruise was excellent and well worth the money. I also received a Millennium Moment certificate from one of the captains to commemorate the event. I wish we could do a cruise every trip.
Coming up: Day Three: Magic at our DoorâÂÂLiterally
Leading roles:
Me, Trip Director, almost 40, frequent WDW visitor
DH, 40, not as frequent as me WDW visitor
DS, 18, been there done that attitude but still wouldn't miss a trip to the World
Brother, almost 40, third trip to WDW (all have been with my family)
Sis-In-law, 40, third or fourth trip to WDW
Nephew, 22, frequent WDW visitor when younger (with Grandma) but this is his first trip in over five years and first ever with his mom and dad
Niece, 11, third trip to WDW, all have been with the coolest Aunt in the World (ME)
Bit parts:
Cousin, almost 40, first trip
Cousin's wife, almost 40, first trip
Oldest Son, 15, first trip
Daughter, 12, first trip
Youngest Son, 2, first trip
Cuz's wife's mother, older than the rest of us, think her first trip
Cuz's wife's brother, not sure of age (30ish)
Cuz's wife's nephew, 3
Day Two, Nov. 18
The plan for today was to hit the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT. Giving in to the requests that we not be the VERY first people at the parks each day, I planned on arriving around 8:30 am instead of the usual 8:00 am. Everyone could sleep in. I thought that rather generous of me.
Received our Mickey wake up call at 7:00 am, called the boys to wake them up and hit the showers. By 7:45 am we were meeting the boys at the Food Court for breakfast. A word on meals here: I had the kids meal for dinner last night and this morning had the kids french toast. This was enough for me, especially knowing in a few hours I would begin my tour through the food festival. I can not stand to throw food away and an adult portioned meal would be wasted.
We were at EPCOT around 8:30, parked and went to the ticket window. My SIL had CM one day passes she had gotten from her sister (who is a TDS CM) and every day she had to exchange one of the vouchers for an actual ticket. We hit Spaceship Earth and then went over to Test Track. The line at TT was already 30 minutes, so we used Fastpass and went over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. After Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which my nephew had never seen, we went back and did Test Track. Because of neck and back injuries I received in a car accident 14 months agoâÂÂthe plan was to have them ride Test Track and then let me know if I could ride it. They came back and said if I used some of the neck stabilization exercises I had, it would be ok. So we jumped back in line and rode again. It was ok. The best part was the outdoor part at the endâÂÂwe love speed. We then went over to Wonders of Life and I waited while they rode Body Wars. I have ridden it numerous times over the years and knew my neck and back wouldn't be able to handle it. The wait for Body Wars was less than five minutes. Does anyone else remember when it was "the" ride at EPCOT and waits of 45 minutes to an hour were common? By then World Showcase was opening so we made our way over to begin our food feast. We started on the Mexico side of the lagoon and stopped at each booth and ordered something. My niece and I were really the only ones doing this and I felt a little guilty as we stopped at each booth, picked out what we wanted to taste and then shared it. I told the others they could go on and do whatever they wanted but Nooooo, they wanted to stay together. So they stood around looking bored while my niece & I sampled the World.
When we hit China, the Character bus rolled up and off hopped Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Pooh, Tigger, and many others. We stalked, er um followed, Donald to his spot and lined up. We were second in line. A CM came by and asked us to move the line along the wall and out of the walkway. Being the good little guests that we are, we moved. Unfortunately, when it was our turn, another couple with their child stepped up to Donald. I said "How rude" and the woman looked at me and said "We followed him here". (Well then DuhâÂÂwhy weren't they in line ahead of us???) I didn't say anything else but her husband said something to her and they left arguing. After that we got in line for Tigger, stayed to take a picture of the group behind us with him and then moved on to Minnie Mouse. At Minnie, people were just standing around while a CM was trying to get them into some sort of line. She finally got us into a line and then moved on to help Mickey get his line in order. When it was our turn guess what happened? Yes, a group of girls stopped beside us and one of them went up to Minnie to have her picture taken. When that girl was done I immediately went up to Minnie and motioned my niece to come up. Well, before she could get to Minnie another one of those girls jumped in. Minnie, shook her head to the girl "No" and shook her finger at her and waved my niece on up. It's nice to know the characters can get the point across so much nicer than I can. We always get in line and never just run up to a characterâÂÂbut then I guess we know the line routine and first time visitors don't know to line up or look for the line (even when a CM says to form a line or they're standing right beside it). I can still remember the days when there weren't lines and it was basically a free for all. You don't know how many pictures we have at home of my DS and other kids with the charactersâÂÂit was just too hard back then to get a single picture with the characters. I personally think Disney made great strides when they started making people form lines for the characters. When we hit the dwarves at MK two years ago we had a routine downâÂÂeach adult got into a separate line while my SIL walked around with my niece. When she would get an autograph and picture, she would then move my niece onto the next adultâÂÂwhoever was closest to a character. This worked pretty well, except sometimes she wouldn't make it to someone soon enough and they'd have to go back to the end of the line to wait for her.
After the character encounter we continued eating our way around the world. We made it to Germany before my niece petered out and said she was too full to eat anything else. By this time everyone else is hungry for lunchâÂÂwhat can they eat. HUH? We've been doing nothing but eating for the past two hours and you want to know what you can eat? Ok. How about America for cheeseburgers? Sounds like a plan so we head to America. My brother starts talking about going back to the room for a break and coming back later. We have a 3:00 pm Ice Cream Social Reservation so why leave now? Of course, it's now past 1:30 and we're eating ice cream at 3:00 so why bother with food at all. Everyone munches on snacks from their fanny packs. At Japan my DS gets a DragonBallZ poster and we watch about five minutes of the drummersâÂÂthey are really good. They don't want to finish walking around the World so we catch the boat back to the Future World side. This is a decision they will later regret as they missed the entire Millennium Village. We go to Future World and after a stop through Ice Station Cool, the guys and my niece head to Innoventions while my SIL and I go back to the car. I have a bag of stuff I need to give my cousin when we meet up with them for the ice cream social. When we get back from the car we meet up with the others and go to the Living Seas and spend time at the exhibits.
We then head over to The Land for our Ice Cream Social. I was a little concerned because I had read a previous post that said the characters were no longer available for the Ice Cream Social. I was trying to figure out how the characters could be there for lunch but not ice cream but figuredâÂÂhey anything is possible. No worriesâÂÂthe characters are there for the ice cream social. We met up with my cousin and his group and were seated within 10 minutes for our event. The character interaction was great. All of the kids except the 2 year old played with the characters and had their pictures takenâÂÂeven the "cool kids". The 2 year old wanted nothing to do with those things and would rapidly climb into his mom's lap whenever he heard us say look here comes XXXX. By the end of the ice cream he was willing to call out BYE BYE from his mom's lap but that was all the interaction he wanted. After the ice cream social we all went downstairs to see Food Rocks and after reminding everyone to be at the dock of the Yacht & Beach Club at 8:00 PM for our Illuminations Cruise we went our separate ways. My group headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for the cruise. I recommended that everyone wear jeans and bring a jacket plus I had more stuff I had to get to pass out on the cruise.
Once back at the hotel my DS wanted dropped off at the Food Court for REAL food not ice cream, snacks or snails. (Escargot was featured in France). We then met up about 7:15 and headed to the Yacht & Beach Club for our cruise. Now, I ALWAYS valet park at the resorts plus this time I had two bags full of goodies I wanted to pass out on the cruise. So I pulled right up to valet. My brotherâÂÂnot realizing this was valet--pulled in right behind me.
Our Illuminations Cruise was wonderful. Almost everyone was at the dock of the Y & BC at 8:00 pm. We met up with another family from the DIS who was sharing one of our boats. We waited a little bit for the people who had not shown up yet, paid the drivers and I passed out the goodie bags I had made for everyone. Everyone got a goodie bag with Princess Fruit Rolls or Winnie the Pooh fruit snacks, Mickey lollipops and Mickey & Minnie candy canes. In addition they had little items like pvc figures, key chains, magnets, emory boards, erasers, notebooks, etc. in them. The adults each received an additional giftâÂÂeither the gift that had a set of Mickey & Minnie drinking glasses (enough for the whole family) and or a gift that had kitchen itemsâÂÂtowels, potholders, etc. in either Christmas Mickey or Pooh. Each family received both the glasses and the kitchen stuff. (Funny how I worked that out-LOL) The family we met through the DIS bought me a goodie bag too with Ohio State coasters and a keychainâÂÂcool!! We cruised around the Boardwalk area, past the Swan & Dolphin and up towards MGM then turned around and headed back to enter EPCOT to see Illuminations. By the time we passed the Y&BC again, the rest of our group had arrived so we made a quick stop to let them board the other boat. Then onto EPCOT. The show was awesome and our seats spectacular. A group had reserved the area that juts out near the International Gateway for a private party and one of the ladies from there asked how she got onto the boatsâÂÂshe was ready to jump the fence before she realized THEY had the little area and not the boats. I am sorry that WDW has changed the cruise programâÂÂthe Illuminations cruise was excellent and well worth the money. I also received a Millennium Moment certificate from one of the captains to commemorate the event. I wish we could do a cruise every trip.
Coming up: Day Three: Magic at our DoorâÂÂLiterally
