“Bubble” - licious – A Northern Family's Disney Tale! UPDATED 8/27/09 (LAST CHAPTER)!

[MEK]

10 1/2 hours in HS! That IS a long day! Phew! No wonder you were crashing near the cement cones! TSM is such a great ride, but its such a tease since it leaves you wanting more.

I can't believe your DH went to the gym at the end of your day. One thing nice about the moderate resorts is that there are lots of places to run, if he likes to do that instead of the gym.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hey Readers!

I am working on writing the next few chapters right now! Once I get a little ways ahead again, I will post the next couple! I appreciate your patience!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Good Afternoon all my faithful readers!

Guess What? I am finally ready to post a few more chapters! I am currently waiting on Photobucket to finish uploading a few more pictures! Hopefully there will be at least one, maybe 2 chapters up before I have to go pick up my girls from school!

Thanks for sticking with me! I appreciate your support! I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Chapter 14: An Early Morning in the Magic Kingdom!

Date: January 22
Time: 630am
Place: Wilderness Lodge

Our next day of adventure dawned bright and early...and cold! Warmer than the day before but still quite a bit lower than normal! We got up and did our morning routine of washing, dressing and tidying up the room. Since we were planning on having a meal later at the Main St. Bakery we just ate some fruit and yogurt that we had in our fridge!

We were downstairs at the bus stop by 7am to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom! There were a lot of little princesses on the bus going to have breakfast with Cinderella that morning! All of them were dressed up so pretty! After a very quick ride (really, it is less than 5 mins!) we found ourselves through the bag check and waiting for the 8am opening!

I was surprised to see the morning show happen! I didn't think it was done on EMH mornings! What a great surprise! It brought tears to my eyes! When the gates were opened we hightailed it to Fantasyland cause the girls were just itching to have another shot at Dumbo! So Dumbo we did! Followed in turn by Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh! These were followed by a potty break and then we decided to go get in line for our breakfast! It was 840 and we wanted to be in Adventureland soon after the rest of the park opened.

Oh MY WORD! I cannot say how much I enjoyed the breakfast we enjoyed at the Bakery! It was absolutely incredible! Ken and I each had a breakfast sandwich AND a cinnamon bun as well as coffee and orange juice! The girls each had their own bun as well and something else that I can't remember! We gorged ourselves on the amazing food and declared that we would have to return here again on any future trips! SO YUMMY!

It was now after 9am and the park was open to ALL guests! Happy and full we found our way to Adventure land to ride Pirates! Natalie had finally relented and had agreed to give the Pirates a sporting chance! There was absolutely no line so we entered the queing area! As we went down into the ride Emily started singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirate's life for me!” Natalie picked up the tune and joined her sister! Soon enough they were practicing their “aarrgghhh”s and as we climbed into the boat, Natalie called out “Aarrgghhh Matey” I be a pirate! So funny that little girl of mine! Every time Jack Sparrow appeared in the scenery she would call out “aarrgghh Jack”! Good Times, Good times!

After our pirate adventure, we decided to have a whirl on Aladdin's Magic carpets! I hadn't ridden on this ride yet as it was an addition to the park After my previous trips! I was actually quite impressed! Same style as Dumbo but with a twist! My girls ended up having a contest to see who could tilt their carpets the most! Lots of fun!

Next we headed over to take a ride on the Jungle Cruise! I was excited about this one as it was one of the first rides I had ridden on my very first trip in 1988! I had heard that it was not showing it's years so well and was wondering whether or not I would still enjoy it! I was not disappointed! We had a very good tour guide – Sarah – and she made it a very fun ride indeed! Yes the technology is a bit dated but it is still a fun ride and a nice time to rest the feet!

It was still my turn to pick our next adventure so, still feeling rather sentimental I chose for my family to see the Country Bear Jamboree! It had recently been reopened after a refurb and I was anxious to check it out! I can't speak for the rest of my family, but I enjoyed it! I like the music and the Bears are just so cute!

I wanted to see the Tiki birds next but Ken and girls were itching to go for a train ride over to Toontown! So I rendered control back to my family and we hiked over to the Fronteirland Station to catch the next train!

Toontown was hopping as it was already past 10am! Ken and Emily immediately got in line to catch a ride on the Barnstormer. Having expended all her bravery by riding Pirates, Natalie decided to sit this one out! So, instead, she and I went on a tour through Minnie's house! It was just as cute as I remembered it and even a little different I think! I think on my last trip, Toontown was still being called Mickey's Starland!

After their ride on the 'Stormer, Emily and Ken had a turn to tour the House of the Mouse and Nat and I waited on a bench and people watched! When we were all together again, we decided to walk the path from Toontown over to Tomorrowland. A very nice walk!

We quickly jumped in line to ride Buzz! This is another new ride since my last trip. Honestly, it was fun, but not as much fun as TSM! I think perhaps I would have enjoyed it a lot more had we ridden it first! Natalie had her bravery back and was wanting to ride Buzz again. She wasn't big enough to ride Space Mountain so Daddy did Buzz again with her and Emily and I went to see if we could ride Space Mountain!

We grabbed some FP's first of all and then got into the Standby line which was sitting at about 35 mins! We had said we would meet Ken and Natalie at the Carousel of Progress at 1130. We waited in line as long as we could before giving up the fight. Oh well we had our Fps for 1215! We found the other half of our family and we decided to go and visit some Monsters! What a great show! Too funny!

After that Emily and I took our ride on Space Mountain! AWESOME! I was a bit nervous about the seating and Emily not being able to sit right next to me but she was fine! I kept asking her through the whole ride if she was okay! Afterwards she asked me if I was okay! “You were screaming a lot Mommy! I thought you were scared!” she said!

It was getting pretty warm out now and we were all hungry and a bit tired so we decided to head back to WL for a bit of a rest.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Great update, as usual. Love the pictures of the girls. So cute...

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Great update, as usual. Love the pictures of the girls. So cute...

Thanks! I will have another one up very shortly! Please stay tuned!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Chapter 15: An afternoon break and an evening of lights!

Date: January 22
Time: 1pm
Place: Wilderness Lodge

We arrived back at the WL by boat this time and proceeded directly to Roaring Forks to grab some food as we were fairly hungry at this point! We took our food up to the room and had a little picnic style lunch with all of us sprawled about in the room!

Once we had finished eating, Ken and the girls settled down for a nap and I sorted through some dirty laundry! FUN!!! I scrounged up all my quarters, threw the laundry in a bag and headed down to the laundry room! I got 2 machines going and went to have a peek about the pool area. (Sorry, no pictures yet – I left the camera in the room)

After a little alone time, I went back to the room to rouse the troops for our inaugural swim! YES! These Crazy Northern Loonies were going swimming in January! I think we were at the pool by about 3ish and stayed for about an hour. (Again I apologize for the lack of pics – we were a little leary about leaving our only camera lying unattended at the pool side!)

The temperature was still fairly cool – only about 63 degrees I think, BUT, the water was heated to a lovely 82! It still felt a bit chilly getting in though! We had some good splash time and the kids really enjoyed the slide! Ken and I REALLY enjoyed the hot tub! VERY NICE!!! I could have stayed in that baby for a LOOOONG time! Aaahhhhh! I had to go collect our laundry as it was about finished at that point so I left Ken with the kids and found my way back to collect our clean dry laundry!

We had decided to meet back in the room and when we arrived we found these guys waiting for us!

We had left a not in the morning asking Mousekeeping if they would wait until late afternoon to clean our room as we would be returning for a mid day break! They were more than accommodating and always left us nice surprises!

It was now about 4ish and we were going to get ready to head back to the Magic Kingdom for some night time fun! We ran ourselves and the kids through the bath and gor dressed and ready to go! I think we chose to travel by bus again as it is the quickest way to arrive at the MK! I believe we arrived at about 530. We had just enough time for one quick spin on Aladdin's Magic Carpets before we needed to go and find ourselves a place for....SPECTROMAGIC!!!

This was one thing on my to do list that I was determined to make happen! I had never seen this parade before and had been told that it was a definite not miss! I had been told by JenJolt that a great spot to watch was right in front of the Fronteirland Shootin” Arcade! We staked out our place right in front of the Arcade right next to the little platform thingymajig! PERFECT SPOT! No one could stand in front of us and the kids had a great spot to stand so they could see perfectly!

We were there to hold our place by about 615pm so we had a while to wait before the parade started and even a longer while to wait before the parade actually got to us! The girls played around with and danced on the platform with a bunch of other kids and Ken and I stood our ground and people watched! We were feeling only a wee bit peckish so we decided to grab some pretzels and cheese sauce from a nearby vendor. YUMMY! I also had a few snacks and bottles of water in the backpack so we dined by the light of shootin' arcade and waited for the parade to start!

Something else I had so cleverly stowed in my pack were glow in the dark bracelets which prevented outbursts of the gimmies when our girls saw other children with light up toys that cost their parents upwards of $15! Smart woman I am! Go me! They each were given 1 bracelet for every 10 minutes that they waited patiently without whining or asking “Is it coming yet?” ! Worked like a charm! By the time the parade actually showed up, each girl had herself an armload of colourful glowing bracelets to wave around in the night air!

The parade finally made it's way into Fronteirland at about 725! I can say that it was definitely worth the wait! This was BY FAR the single most amazing parade I have EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!! It was AWESOME! My cynically unimpressible husband was extremely impressed! The girls were in awe and I was near tears! Needless to say that we enjoyed it very much! Pictures just can't do it justice! As hard as you may try, there is no way to immortalize SpectroMagic! It MUST be seen with your own eyes!

Well, after it had passed us by we stumbled our way into the hub to decide where to watch Wishes! YES ladies (and perhaps the occasional gentleman!) this was the night we were about to subject our poor noise sensitive child to the wonder of Wishes! We had prepared Natalie as best as we could and could only hope that she would enjoy it a little bit! We found a place on the bridge between Liberty Square and the Hub. It wasn't the greatest spot but it would do as we didn't want to be dragging two very tired little girls all over the park through the giant crowds that appeared!

We waited a few minutes in the quickly cooling night air for the fireworks to start while pointing out all the different colours of the castle! At about 7:55 Natalie pipes up and says “Mommy, I NEED to use the washroom! NOW!” Since I had taken her the last 3x that day, I asked my wonderful husband if he would do it this time! I pointed them in the general direction of the nearest washroom and off they went! I felt really bad knowing that they would likely miss the beginning of the show, but I was not about to miss it either!

Emily and I were both quite delighted with “Tinkerbell's Flight” and as the fire works began, I found myself wiping a tear from my cheek! Ken and Natalie returned before too long and we all partook of the beautiful spectacle that is Wishes! Well, almost all of us enjoyed it...Nat spent most of the time sitting on the groud with her fingers in her ears! Oh well, maybe next time she will be able to enjoy it! Ken and I snuggled up close and thoroughly enjoyed this magical moment together! Emily was in awe the whole time! She was practically speechless! She finally found her tongue as the last explosion hit the sky and she proclaimed..”I can't believe I am here in Disney World watching these beautiful fireworks with all the people I love the most! This is so wonderful!”

When it was over, we slowly made our way out with the hundreds of other people and made our way to the boat dock! We were hungry and tired and sore of foot but we had just finished a most magical evening! We enjoyed the boat ride back to WL and grabbed some food at Roaring Forks and crashed in our room! What a wonderful day!

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Still hanging in...

Your pictures are really great! Bringing back some great memories of my very first time seeing Wishes in 2006. I think I cried too!!!! It just seemed so surreal.

 

[KathyRN137]

Ah, yes! SpectroMagic is my all-time favorite parade, too!! I'm so glad your family was able to stake out a perfect viewing spot! They go fast!!

Brrr! It must've been downright chilly stepping out of that pool int 63 degrees! And why do we moms always wind up doing laundry while everyone else naps or swims??

A great day... thanks for sharing it!!


Kathy

 

[Dancegrl624]

Great updates! I'm a huge lover of Spectromagic. I'm glad you were able to see it. I guess I'm lucky in the face that Madison has never had a problem with fireworks. When she was about 2 years old, my DH had to cover her ears on the 4th of July, but after that she was fine. Madison really enjoyed Wishes back in January. We can't wait to see it again!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I cry every time I see Spectro or Wishes!! I am such a sap. My older son covers his ears for everything. Even POTC!!! Drives me nuts. He misses out on lots of stuff from doing that , but he doesn't mind...it makes him happy.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I am currently working on another chapter right now, hopefully should be up within a couple of hours!

 

[KathyRN137]

I am currently working on another chapter right now, hopefully should be up within a couple of hours!

Great!

Have you thought of trying those squishy ear plugs for DD(5)??

Our son is sensitive to noise and they really help him (and us) enjoy the fireworks a whole lot more!

Kathy

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I am so sorry for the delay...here you go... hope it was worth waiting for!

Chapter 16: A Wild Morning at Animal Kingdom!

Date: January 23
Time: 730am
Place: Wilderness Lodge

We had decided the evening before that we would not get up with the alarm but get up when we woke up instead! We were all really tired and needed a bit more sleep! None of us had ever been to Animal Kingdom before (It was just starting to be built when I had my last trip in 1994) and we were feeling pretty okay with NOT making Rope Drop! We needed a slower start! Well, it was not to be...our bodies decided that 7:30 was the time to be awake and we were all bright eyed and bushy tailed at exactly that time! Drat! Oh well!

We slowly got up and prepared ourselves for the day and slowly made our way down to Roaring Forks to grab some breakfast. IT WAS PACKED!!! It was about 815 and there were no tables at all! We got our food and were instructed to take it up to Territory Lounge which was being used as overflow seating. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and slowly made our way out to the bus stop! It was about 850 when we boarded the bus. We arrived at Animal Kingdom at about 9:15! We had barely missed rope drop – we still had a chance!

We entered the park and immediately found a photopass photographer! We did some fun shots and then found our way over to the Fastpass machine for Kilimanjaro Safari! The standby line was already at 40 mins so we decided to head into Pangani Trail for a bit of a looksee! WOW! Really neat! We saw lots of cool stuff and some neato animals too! My favourite was the Meerkat family! I just loved the little guy up on the rock being the lookout! I could've watched him all day!

After exploring the exploration trail we went to see about doing a Safari! I have to say that after all the hype and build up to riding this ride, I am a little under impressed! I was expecting something a little more exciting! I think the whole “Elephant Story” has lost its ability to thrill! It was very cool to see some of the world's most amazing animals though I can't say it was my first time seeing some of the biggies!

We have been to many of the wonderful zoos that Canada has to offer and we have seen our share of Lions, Elephants, Zebras and Giraffes! What I WAS impressed with was Disney's ability to make me actually believe that I was in AFRICA! The authentic African foliage and landscape was absolutely incredible! Some of the “behind the scenes” magic that I learned was cool to see with my own eyes! The lions' air conditioned rocks being one of them! TOO COOL!

Ken and Emily wanted to ride Expedition Everest. I knew that it was out of my realm of possibility and Natalie is still too short so they went off to get some Fastpasses while Natalie and I explored the trails just off the road between Africa and Asia. She wanted to try playing the drums but there were already too many kids there for her liking! Soon enough Ken and Emily were back and we decided to have an early lunch at Pizzafari!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hey!! Great chapter! Tell me about the a/c rocks. I didnt know about this.
A couple of years ago, when we first did it, it was amazing---the giraffes came right up to the vehicle and were trying to eat the top! Last time, we didn't see too much---and the little girl driving was talking soooooo fast, I hardly understood one word she said. I love elephants, but geez, that is a long line to stand in just to zip past them so quickly. I liked ya'lls pictures too--they are really cute!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hey!! Great chapter! Tell me about the a/c rocks. I didnt know about this.

I am trying to remember my source on this...I think it might have been Celebrations magazine! The "rocks" are poured cement made to look like rocks... formed over top of an airconditioning grate with holes in the "rocks" so the Lions have cool places to lay within sight of spectators! Pretty COOL!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Girl, you are a wealth of knowledge!! Thanks--my kids will love knowing that----we are trivia lovin' people!!!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Another great update! We too are big meerkat fans! At the Buffalo zoo, Madison could watch them for hours!!!! I didn't know about the air conditioned rocks either. I knew about some other things, but that sure is neat! We actually enjoyed the Safari very much, although Madison didn't like the poachers story. She was upset for DAYS about the "elephant tusks" at the camp. I had to keep reminding her that they weren't real.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Whew! I was behind by three installments. Glad to have caught up again.

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Girl, you are a wealth of knowledge!! Thanks--my kids will love knowing that----we are trivia lovin' people!!!

Me too! I like to know everything about just about everything! I love knowing "behind the scenes" stuff!

Another great update! We too are big meerkat fans! At the Buffalo zoo, Madison could watch them for hours!!!! I didn't know about the air conditioned rocks either. I knew about some other things, but that sure is neat! We actually enjoyed the Safari very much, although Madison didn't like the poachers story. She was upset for DAYS about the "elephant tusks" at the camp. I had to keep reminding her that they weren't real.

My girls didn't really pick up on the story that much...I guess our driver just wasn't into it!

Whew! I was behind by three installments. Glad to have caught up again.

So glad you are here! Thanks for hangin' out!

I plan to work on another installment when the little girl I babysit is having her nap!