“What?! No! That’s Crazy!” Feb 16 - 21, 2014 (Complete)

[geckodani]

Day 2, Part 1: ♫ Welcome, welcome, welcome! ♪

Before we left I had mentioned to my mom that one of the things I really wanted to do this trip was make it to MK for rope drop. I wasn't willing to set an alarm to make it happen, but if we happened to wake up stupidly early...

Hey, look at that, we woke up at 6:15!

Why? I don't know. We're crazy that way I guess - too used to waking up early! So, sleepy but excited, I realized that we had PLENTY of time to make it to MK for rope drop!

So we scarfed some granola bars and coffee (well, I had coffee), and grabbed a bus to the Magic Kingdom!

We got there at about 7:30, if memory serves. Early enough that we were able to get this sleepy pic:



Please note the ubiquitous can of Diet Coke.

People slowly filled in all the available space - and then, the Rope Drop Show! I had been listening to my Disney Parks sound track, so I knew it by heart, but had never seen it!









Look at that sky!!! Not a cloud in sight!!

After the show (and yes, I teared up a bit) we shuffled through the bottleneck and headed straight to one of my Fantasyland favorites - Peter Pan!

After Peter we rode Winnie the Pooh, and then it was time for a ride I hadn't done since my childhood - Dumbo!

Dumbo Selfie!!!



After Dumbo, we tried to ride Barnstormer, but it was closed.

Never one to let something like that get me down, we decided to ride the teacups instead!

Unlike last year, when we made ourselves positively ill on the teacups, we took things at a more sedate pace this time.





Okay, so we've done Peter, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Tea Cups - what's that you say? It's only 8:30 a.m.?

Yup, only 8:30. Oh, the power of Rope Drop! I think it was also EMH, which probably helped quite a bit as well. I tried once again to convince mom to ride IASW, but she wasn't going for it. So we decided a ride with Ariel was in order!

At this point it was only about 9:00 a.m. ... but we decided that perhaps a bit of sustenance would be wise, as the granola bars were wearing a bit thin!

I had wanted to try the egg and cheese waffle sandwich at Sleepy Hollow, and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint! I can't find it on the menu at Allears anymore, so I hope it's still there! It was AMAZING. And huge. We split it, and I had a coffee, and it was more than enough!

Bellies full, it was time to ride my favorite ride - Haunted Mansion!



I ADORE this ride. Love it. Rode it 7 times last trip.

I was in for a bit of a disappointment at the end though. It almost looked like they had the lights on in the room behind the hitchhiking ghosts at the end. You could clearly see the screens they are projected on, could not see your reflection, and it lost a LOT of the magic for me.

I told a cast member at the exit, and she told me they were working on it. In my opinion, I think they should have shut it down. It was a huge bubble burst.

Now, normally I would have immediately wanted to ride again. But not with the ending broken, so instead we decided to go and ride the wildest ride in the wilderness!

Hold on to your hats!



After Thunder I think it was still only like 10:00, maybe 10:30. We wandered over to Pirates of the Caribbean and took a dip (not literally, that would have sucked) and then wandered around the dump shop for a bit.

Mom's a teacher, and she picked up some awesome pirate books for her classroom, before beginning what would become another trend for this trip; trying on every funny hat we could find!



After Pirates we decided we were ready for a change of pace, and started to mosey on towards the front of the park to catch the monorail over to Epcot!

Up Next: Day 2, Part 2: Postage Stamp Triage

 

[geckodani]

Joining in ... I'm not a big fan of pecans (I know, what's wrong with me, right?!) so I brought along some and a instead!

YES! Finally! I'm not the only one who was disturbed by that photo of Walt. It is on the cover of his biography I bought back in high school and I remember thinking how mysterious and kinda scary it portrayed him.

Love the idea of handing out glowsticks - I usually have leftovers that I'm trying to pawn off on people at the end of my trips, but I love sharing as it happens. You gave me a great idea!!!

Thanks for joining in! I'm not sure I can wrap my head around no pecans though - that just seems WRONG.

I love handing out glowsticks. It's fantastic. Especially in line for Haunted Mansion and ToT - if there's a kid that looks scared, I give them one and then they have a little bit of light to take with them.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Ahhh the morning show. It still amazes me that I've only seen it one time (at least from the front). So worth the extra effort though.

Oh my, that would suck to see the hitch-hiking ghosts in that fashion.

 

[pellegirl]

Following!!!!! We left from metro a day before you did and stayed at POFQ also! Building 4! We love FQ and not sure if we will stay anywhere else.

 

[geckodani]

Ahhh the morning show. It still amazes me that I've only seen it one time (at least from the front). So worth the extra effort though.

Oh my, that would suck to see the hitch-hiking ghosts in that fashion.

I'm going to try to catch it again in October! Since it's just me, I might even set an alarm.

Yeah... I was super bummed, I'm not going to lie. I adore HM, and was really disappointed with the malfunction at the end. Especially since I really think it was something super simple like a light left on where it shouldn't have been.

Following!!!!! We left from metro a day before you did and stayed at POFQ also! Building 4! We love FQ and not sure if we will stay anywhere else.

It really is a small world! I ADORE FQ. I was seriously considering staying there again in October, but for just one person Pop seemed to make more sense financially! Unless some unreleased deal comes out between now and then, I think I'll try out Pop!

I will really miss FQ though! It's home away from home at this point.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

congrats on making the park opening show! I am yet to see it (we usually have a pre-park opening ADR) but am hopeful to fit it in next trip as we have an extra day planned now

That is really a bummer about the lights being on and impacting the effect in HM - I agree, they should have shut the ride down until they could fix it

 

[geckodani]

congrats on making the park opening show! I am yet to see it (we usually have a pre-park opening ADR) but am hopeful to fit it in next trip as we have an extra day planned now

That is really a bummer about the lights being on and impacting the effect in HM - I agree, they should have shut the ride down until they could fix it

It was a lot of fun! My only complaint was that trying to squeeze through the tunnels afterwords was kind of claustrophobic! Worth it though.

Yeah... super bummed about the hitchhiking ghosts!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hi Dani!!! I'm joining in on the fun!! Oh, you are so lucky to get to travel with your Mum. My Mum is 74 and just can't tour Disney like she used to. Oh, we've had our trips in the past, so I have those memories! I absolutely LOVE your haircut!! I wish I could do something like that with mine, but my face is really round and I couldn't get away with it. Loving all your selfies!!

 

[geckodani]

Hi Dani!!! I'm joining in on the fun!! Oh, you are so lucky to get to travel with your Mum. My Mum is 74 and just can't tour Disney like she used to. Oh, we've had our trips in the past, so I have those memories! I absolutely LOVE your haircut!! I wish I could do something like that with mine, but my face is really round and I couldn't get away with it. Loving all your selfies!!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in! I LOVE traveling with my mom. Adore it. Favorite travel buddy EVER!

Unfortunately, she's starting to have some problems touring Disney as well. I'll get into it more later in the TR, but she was just diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (after we got back) and was on new pain meds this trip that made her a little spacey. She'll go until she drops though, and I spent a lot of time worrying about her this trip. I could tell she was having a hard time with all the walking, and when we go again (and we WILL!) I told her she's getting an ECV or a wheel chair. We'll just scoot her around, and I think it'll be a lot more enjoyable for her! She retires in 2 years, and I'm planning on taking her to Flower and Garden to celebrate.

Thanks for the compliment on my hair! I love my short hair. It's so easy! Can you believe it used to be down past my waist?!?! My face is so long and my forehead so high that with long hair it just makes everything look LONGER. The short works out so much better.

Ah the selfies... just wait, they get more ridiculous as the week goes on!

 

[amberg93]

The opening show! I sort of saw it last week. I need to try again to see it better but you guys were like on top of your game. Go you.

And that's the way to do EMH when showing up that early

Aww that is a bubble bust. We got stuck on it right before the mirror scene and it was like a 5 minute wait right there but the audio kept going and so when we started moving again nothing happened in our mirror. It was sad.

But still, good back up choices. Looks like it was a really great morning.

 

[geckodani]

The opening show! I sort of saw it last week. I need to try again to see it better but you guys were like on top of your game. Go you.

And that's the way to do EMH when showing up that early

Aww that is a bubble bust. We got stuck on it right before the mirror scene and it was like a 5 minute wait right there but the audio kept going and so when we started moving again nothing happened in our mirror. It was sad.

But still, good back up choices. Looks like it was a really great morning.

We did the same thing last year - woke up before 7:00 on our first day. I was awesome though, and made for a really great start to the trip!

Bummer that your getting stuck messed up the ghosts.

 

[Ellsbells]

Following along and I'm now on a mission to learn how to use gif's on here!
Going from the 4th to the 18th next feb so intrigued about the crowd levels you experienced. Also LOVE creeper Walt!

 

[geckodani]

Following along and I'm now on a mission to learn how to use gif's on here!
Going from the 4th to the 18th next feb so intrigued about the crowd levels you experienced. Also LOVE creeper Walt!

Yay - welcome! Quick gif tutorial.

1. Find a gif online.
2. Copy the URL of the gif.
3. Click the Insert Image Icon, just like you would to add a pic.
4. Paste in the URL.
5:

As for the crowds, I'm not going to lie, I won't go on a school break again unless absolutely necessary. We made good use of FP+ and were fine, but having been there in Dec and Jan the year before, there was a HUGE difference in the crowd level! We felt it the most as MK and AK. There was one afternoon at MK where it was so crowded you could barely walk through Adventureland, and AK was a madhouse. The earlier we got there, the better it was though. And Epcot never feels as crowded to me as the other parks; I think it absorbs the crowds much better than the others!

 

[Ellsbells]

Urgh I'm hoping because we will be there mostly for the start of Feb that we can beat the bigger crowds or at least get what we really want to do done in the first week then the second week will just be take this as they come kinda week what am I saying I can't sleep let alone not have my days planned out.
I might fall in love with Epcot this trip I'm thinking.

 

[teekathepony]

I thought I commented on this. This keeps happening to me and I'm thinking of getting tested for early onset Alzheimers.
HOORAY for rope drop! I've only done it once ever. I'm always up early but I just never made it a priority for some reason. But I do love that opening show!

Okay, so we've done Peter, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Tea Cups - what's that you say? It's only 8:30 a.m.?

Score! That's awesome!

The waffle sandwich sounds so good... I may have to try that some time. I have to keep it in mind this September!

You guys got so much done in such a short time! Gotta love early mornings!

 

[Villainess]

Awesome progress in only 30 minutes!!!! I think it takes me 30 minutes to get down Main Street (I take too many pictures!).

I've seen the Rope Drop show twice, but my children have not - I plan to change that this trip!

 

[geckodani]

Urgh I'm hoping because we will be there mostly for the start of Feb that we can beat the bigger crowds or at least get what we really want to do done in the first week then the second week will just be take this as they come kinda week what am I saying I can't sleep let alone not have my days planned out.
I might fall in love with Epcot this trip I'm thinking.

Honestly, it wasn't that bad crowd wise, except for MK on our second afternoon. It was INSANITY! Other than that, it didn't seem too terrible, and we were there President's Day Week, so I think you'll be okay!

Epcot... I dunno. I don't get it. I don't dislike it, but I could easily go once and be done. Spoiler alert; we only spent one afternoon at Epcot this trip!

I thought I commented on this. This keeps happening to me and I'm thinking of getting tested for early onset Alzheimers.
HOORAY for rope drop! I've only done it once ever. I'm always up early but I just never made it a priority for some reason. But I do love that opening show!

Score! That's awesome!

The waffle sandwich sounds so good... I may have to try that some time. I have to keep it in mind this September!

You guys got so much done in such a short time! Gotta love early mornings!

Hee hee - no early onset Alzheimers. Not allowed!

Rope drop was really amazing. I still can't believe how much we got done in 30 minutes! It was crazy!

The waffle sandwich was AMAZING. I think we got it twice more on this trip. Or maybe 3 more? A lot, at any rate.

Awesome progress in only 30 minutes!!!! I think it takes me 30 minutes to get down Main Street (I take too many pictures!).

I've seen the Rope Drop show twice, but my children have not - I plan to change that this trip!

I'm still amazed by how much we accomplished! It's a good thing too - (again, spoiler alert) because by the end of the trip I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, but since we'd already gotten so much done it wasn't as much of a bummer as it could have been!

Definitely change it! It's so fun!!!

 

[geckodani]

Day 2, Part 2: Postage Stamp Triage

I think at this point it was a little after 12:00, so we decided to head over to Epcot for lunch and to use our afternoon FP+ reservations. I had one for Soarin, and I had used fillers for the other two; Spaceship Earth and ... I don't remember the other one. We didn't end up using it.

I purposely scheduled dinner at Epcot, knowing that we could take the monorail from MK - so that's what we did!

Monorail Selfie!



After switching at the TTC, we monorailed our way over to Epcot!



The weather this year was definitely nicer than last December... for reference if you missed that TR:



Aaaanyway. We had a 1:00 FP+ for Spaceship Earth, but we were HUNGRY! So we skipped past SE and went to Sunshine Seasons!

I don't have pics, but I know we both got the Mongolian Beef, and it was quite tasty!

After filling our bellies, we decided to ride Living With the Land while we waited for our Soarin FP+. I believe that time was 2:00. The queue for LWTL was about 20 minutes, but that was fine. It was President's Day, after all!

I love this pic of my mom!



Do you want to build a... Sand Man?



I love this ride! I think I'm going to do the Behind the Seeds tour this October!

We got out of LWTL just in time to use our Soarin FP+!

Soarin holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in California, and have wonderful memories of going to Yosemite with my parents and sister as a little girl. My dad passed away when I was 12, and whenever we soar over Yosemite, and Disneyland, I get such a heartache, but in the best possible way.

Now, we need to backtrack a bit. Back all the way to when I was packing the day before we left. My DH was helping, reading off a packing list. I was more chaotic than usual with my packing this year, and didn't bring a few things I have in years past. I used to take everything but the kitchen sink, and never ended up using most of it. So this time, when he got to shoe inserts, I said, "nah, don't need them." Same thing with cold meds etc.... this would prove to be a bad thing. One thing I did remember was spare shoes! Sort of...

Our first night, my shoes were bothering me (had surgery a few years ago, and sometimes still have issues) so I went to grab my spare set on Day 2... and realized I had packed, not my lovely broken in but still in good condition pair... but the broken in to the point of falling apart pair.

They were still better than the other ones, except I the lining was wearing thin. Remember those shoe inserts I decided not to bring with me?

Yeah... about that. So as we're walking out of Soarin, I realize that my shoe is rubbing on the bottom of my foot. So we sit down right outside the Land pavilion, I pop my shoe off, and realize that the lining has almost completely separated, the tag is pulling the actual sole apart and is now irritating my foot.

I was fairly despondent at this point. I mean, we were only on Day 2!!!

But my ever resourceful mother came up with a solution.

Postage Stamp Triage!



And the associated FB post, because the comments amuse me:



So, now with the lining of my shoe successfully repaired, and ready to travel anywhere in the US... we were off to enjoy the rest of our evening at Epcot!

If memory serves, we rode Nemo, did Turtle Talk With Crush, watched Captain Eo (I can still quote the whole thing from memory, including the opening behind the scenes reel), and then got in line for Figment.

While in line, we saw a family using a FP+ for the nonexistent queue... a bit concerned, we chatted with them briefly when we got off of the ride. It was their first day, and they were going to HS the next day. I gave them some tips on which rides FP+ would be beneficial on, and I can only hope they listened! The FP+ reservations they told us about were not great. They had a FP for Figment, but figured they'd just wander over and see how the line was for Soarin. I sincerely hope that I was able to save them some time at HS! I told them to get a FP+ for Toy Story etc. Here's hoping!

After exercising our imaginations, we shopped a bit.



Come now, you only wish you looked that cute.

We were both slowing down a bit. Remember, I was nursing a busted knee, mom was on new meds for muscle pain (we now know she has fibromyalgia ) and Epcot is ALL INCLINES. OMG people, I had never realized how many inclines and hills Epcot has until I started having a problem with them. Yipes I tell you, yipes!

Since we'd already done everything we cared to in Future World (mom didn't care about Test Track, and that was fine with me, and we're both claustrophobic, so no Mission Space!) we decided to grab a boat over to World Showcase and do a bit of shopping before dinner.

Up Next: Day 2, Part 3: "Very... American."

 

[amberg93]

Eek, that's not a good thing to have happen on day 2 at all. Shoes are so important for trips. At least your mom was brilliant enough to come up with the postage stamp Though, why did she have one on her? Moms have everything on them at all times, it's amazing.

And I do wish I looked that cute

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Hmmm, yeah, I'd say that's better weather Dani.

Goodness, is there anything Mom's can't do??? How incredibly resourceful with the postage stamp.