10 days in Disney w/ pics

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Fantastic trip report


Thank you

 

[jj1403]

Sorry for being a pain in the butt Lesley I just wanted to clarify. That the parent swap passes are giving from the CM's beside the FP machines.

And I'm not sure if you know this is there an age limit for the child? My niece is 8 and she's afraid for some of the thrill rides. Would they think my sister was nuts if she tried to parent swap pass?

p.s Thanks for all of your great tips and secrets! They will be very usefull for our upcoming trip.

Jen

 

[timandlesley]

Jen,

Your not being a pain in the butt! You can get the parent swap passes for ANY member of your party that is too scared or not old enough to ride and requires adult supervision while the others are riding. They are given out by CM's next to the FP machines and at the FP return and standby entrances. Just ask and you shall receive!!!
Lesley

 

[Amy&Dan]

What a great trip report, I can't wait to read more! I am very impressed you gave up a night at MGM, I too am trying to let things flow a bit on WDW trips but its not always easy!

 

[tinknme]

I am loving your trip report! Your children are adorable Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip, thank you for sharing

 

[byoung]

Loved your reporting and pictures.

 

[KathyRN137]

and i wanted it all posted before we leave, didn't want to leave anyone hanging for that long.
Lesley

Thank You!!! There is nothing worse (OK, maybe there are a few things worse) than getting hooked on a TR and then......................

Kathy

 

[TinkerTracy]

wonderful WONDERFUL trip report
Subscribing!

 

[timandlesley]

I am having to split Day 8 into two separate posts because it keeps saying I have too many images.

Day 8 (part 1) :

O.K. I’m gonna break the pattern. . . 6:45 WAKE UP CALL this a.m. so we could get on the 7:30 boat to the Contemporary grab the monorail to the Magic Kingdom for our 8:05 reservations for Crystal Palace.

We got into the park at 8:00, it was WONDERFUL. The kids got stickers from the people at the gate that said “Main Street Resident” so that was cool. We walked down Main Street all to ourselves, it was truly MAGICAL. I will book one of these breakfasts every trip just to experience this. We had this picture taken by another family before we checked in for breakfast:

As we waited to go in I took this photo of Lauren with the castle behind her:

We walked in, and I had never been inside of the Crystal Palace before. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL RESTAURANT. We were seated towards the back of the restaurant near windows with a water view. We took turns going to the buffet line because we didn’t want the kids to leave in case a character came by. Our waitress told us if we missed one of them it would take 1 hour and 20 minutes for them to circle back- well we couldn’t let that happen ! The food was great!!! Our favorites were the Tigger, Pooh, and Piglet waffles, of course the bacon/sausage, the yummy breakfast potatoes, and all of the fresh fruit, especially the strawberries. I tried the breakfast lasagna after hearing great things on the Dis, but YUCK, not my favorite- sorry!

Eyore came to the table first:

Then came piglet:

FINALLY Pooh:

And last but certainly not least. . .Tigger:

The kids absolutely loved this meal as you can tell by the pictures. We left the restaurant at 9:05 and I raced the stroller to Tinkerbells Treasures. I DID NOT TELL MY KIDS ABOUT THIS. I heard from Disers that it is next to impossible to be the first one in the store, but figured I would give it a shot. I opened the door and the store was empty. I asked the CM “is Tinkerbell awake today” and they said “Yes!” and I thanked them and we continued on our way. No trauma for my kids being disappointed, which is the exact reason I didn’t tell them. Luke said “Mom, why did you ask them that”. I just said, “oh mommy just heard Tinkerbell gets up early.” And he dropped it.

We then headed to Fantasyland to get in some attractions we hadn’t done yet. We jumped onto Peter Pan’s magical Flight with NO wait. As always, good time had by all.

Lauren was BEGGING to ride Small world again (her new favorite ride). Here she is in all her glory as we rode that morning:

In all our years in Disney we have never ridden the cars on the Indy Speedway because of the long lines. We went back there and the line was only 5 minutes that early in the morning so we rode. Lauren and I raced Tim and Luke and the GIRLS WON!!!! Luke was ticked off (ha ha ha).

We then went to the rope drop at ToonTown. Quite a crowd had gathered. Pluto came out and dropped the rope, and we were off.

We rode Goofy’s Barnstormer as a family.



The kids saw Donalds boat next to it and asked to go play and we obliged:

After the kids got soaked (especially Luke) we wandered across the street to explore Mickey’s house.

Here is a family pic in front of his house:

We wandered back to the judges tent to see Mickey and were surprised to see we were the next in line. Mickey got some very WET hugs from Luke and Lauren and we posed for this pic:

We said our good-byes to Mickey and headed to Minnie’s house. Here was my view as Tim took the lead with the kids (love this picture):

Boy did the kids love Minnie’s house (especially Lauren). They enjoyed lounging on her sofa, but the huge favorite was the kitchen.

Here is Lauren exploring:



Popping popcorn in the microwave:

Hey. . .I wonder what’s in here?

We went next door to the huge tent and saw the lines for other characters. We were greeted by a lady that gave Lauren Princess Aurora stickers and told Lauren she could meet her and a “surprise princess” in the tent. Well that’s all she had to say. . .next thing I knew we were waiting in line. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the front, but luckily they had video screens with cartoons to entertain the kids as we waited. We got into the princess room and were happily surprised to see the “surprise princess” was Snow White.

Here is the pic of Princess Aurora (I am probably spelling this wrong)

:



There was an empty tent and the photographer told us to sit there for a family photo as we waited our turn for Snow White:

Here was the kids moment with Snow White (I think Luke is in LOVE):

After we saw the princesses a very excited Luke and Lauren (with parents in tow) headed to the huge store that is right there under the tent. I bought Lauren Mickey ears with her name on it.

In my opinion EVERY child deserves their very own pair of personalized Mickey ears. We also got her a cute Minnie Mouse hair “thingy” that was so cute (you’ll see it in future pictures). Luke picked out a Mickey cookie he wanted and entertained himself by making this Mr. Potato head creation:

After we were done we decided to head over to Frontierland Luke wanted to do Thunder Mtn. Railroad again but I wanted to do Splash Mtn. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I had never ridden it before. We grapped FP’s for Splash before sitting down to eat

at Pecos Bill. It was a great lunch (they had the best chicken wrap there), and Tim loved the burgers and fixin’s bar.

After lunch our FP time was approaching so Luke and Tim rode first and Lauren and I (parent swap pass in hand) headed to the little playground they have for kids by the exit. She had a lot of fun playing.

She fell down really badly though off of the side trying to step down like some of the bigger kids were doing. She had the WORST cut and bruise on her back, I felt bad for her. She recovered quickly and went right back to playing.

I then got to ride with Luke. What a cute and fun ride, we didn’t get very wet but I had so much fun experiencing this for the first time with Luke. He held my hand the whole time (now those are the memories with your kids you hold onto).

Tim had Laurens picture with the (Brar, spelling?) Fox while we were on the ride:

She called him the “big bad wolf”

 

[timandlesley]

Here is Day 8 (part 2)

After that it was close to 1:00 (our witching hour) so we caught the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge. Here is Lauren on the boat stealing Tim’s coke on a HOT afternoon:

Lauren and I went back to the room for naps. Tim and Luke rented water mice Luke had been begging the entire trip). They had a wonderful time. Tim said he wished the went over 15 MPH, but all in all they had fun!

I never could get Lauren to go to sleep and about 3:00 the phone rang. It was Tim saying he had just rented a surrey bike and for us to come down and join them. We went down. The kids had a BLAST on this bike, it was HARD WORK for Tim and I and we were laughing about what a “great time” it was : )

We went back to the room to clean up for dinner (quickly because it was now 4:00) and caught the bus back to MGM at 4:30 so we could be there by 5:00 for the 5:30 parade. Here is Lauren’s new hairstyle with her new Mickey hair “thingy” I talked about before:

Here she is waiting for the bus:

When we got to MGM it was 5:00 and the streets were lined with people for the parade. The right side of the street was shaded and the left was BRIGHT sunshine and it was HOT. Of course all of the shaded spots were taken so we ended up in the sun. I stayed with the stroller and staked out the spot and let Lauren sit in the shade. Tim and Luke went for a potty break and to get frozen lemonade. They got back right as the parade was about to begin. The parade was INCREDIBLE. Here are some of the shots we took:

Here is Lauren waving at Ariel:

Mickey in the parade:

This is the kids favorite parade, all of their “hero’s” are in it, and I enjoy it every year too. It’s nice that this one is at 5:30 because as a family who takes breaks in the afternoon it is one we can see. (we have missed the MK daytime parade and AK parade every year due to this).



We then went to dinner at Mama Melrose. The food was INCREDIBLE. We had a great waiter and Tim had a few beers, the kids were NUTS due to no naps and Lauren was quite cranky. At this meal and we were at our wits end. Here are some pics of the kids picking on eachother:

And me loosing my mind but just laughing through it all:

We decided that Luke and I would stay for Fantasmic and Lauren and Tim would head back to the hotel (Lauren was EXHAUSTED)

Lauren was BEGGING to see the Ariel show so Tim took her. Are you ready for the quote of the trip???? Tim tells me that as the lights went down and Ariel came out and the entire theatre was silent. Lauren loudly says “Little Mermaid has ****ies. . ..WHAT THE HECK!!!” Tim said he got some SERIOUS stares at this comment. I was laughing so hard when he told me, and of course we’ve told everyone about that line since we’ve returned home.

O.k, back to the day. Luke wanted to do rides so badly but at this point it was 8:00 and we didn’t do the Fantasmic package this year and I didn’t know what to expect with the line. I stopped a CM and asked if I needed to be in line to get into the 8:00 show, he told me I needed to get up there as fast as possible. I told Luke that if we wanted to see the show we’d have to wait an hour but promised him rides after the show.

We got into the theatre no problem (in fact that night there were still seats available at 8:30 so we honestly could have waited) but we had GREAT seats in the Mickey section in the middle. As Luke put it “the best seats in the house”. Here is Luke as we waited for the show to start:

The show was AMAZING. I must say this is my FAVORITE thing to do at Disney. This show is just incredible. It gives me chills every time and a smile to my face. If you haven’t gone. . .GO!!!! Luke loved it too.



As the mass of people exited the park at 9:30 as Fantasmic wrapped up (the park closed at 10 this night). Luke and I headed to Star Tours. As we walked we had the dark street all to ourselves. Luke said “this is SO peaceful mommy”. I squeezed his hand tight and said “it sure is Luke, we have it all to ourselves baby!” It was THE BEST feeling ever. We rode Star Tours (literally walked on and only shared the ride with 2 other people). It was 9:50 at this point and he wanted to ride something else. The only thing I could see close that we hadn’t done yet and could get in by 10 was the Great Movie Ride. It had been years since I had ridden this so I didn’t remember it at all.

Again, it was just us and one other family so we walked right on. What a great interactive show. I loved every minute of it. I felt terrible though because during the gunfight part Luke was literally fearing for his life. I kept telling him it wasn’t real but he was convinced it was and was afraid he’d be shot. Again, bad mommy feelings!!! He loved the Wizard of Oz part, the Alien part FREAKED him out. Of course if you ask him about this ride being the tough guy he is he’ll tell you the ride was AWESOME and didn’t scare him at all, but there were moments when his whole body was shaking and tears were in his eyes. I wouldn’t recommend this ride for small children. COOL ride though and I loved it!!!

It was now 10:05 and MGM was closed and we walked the silent streets to the bus, again it was so incredible walking around with no one bumping into you.

A VERY tired Luke and I headed to the bus. He fell asleep in my lap and I carried him to the hotel room. (this was HARD to do since he is 47 pounds). Now I was tired J

What a GREAT night with my little buddy, I will always remember this night. Luke is a GREAT date !!!

What a wonderful day. I was getting sad knowing we only had one more full day (boo hoo!!!)



To come in Day 9:

Father’s Day for Tim, Flag FAMILY time!!! Tackling MGM by myself with the kids.

 

[Beana9802]

Wow...that's all I can say....

 

[timandlesley]

Wow...that's all I can say....

I sure hope you mean that in a good way

Lesley

 

[scoutsmom99]

Tim tells me that as the lights went down and Ariel came out and the entire theatre was silent. Lauren loudly says “Little Mermaid has ****ies. . ..WHAT THE HECK!!!”

Lesley,
I'm throughly enjoying your trip report. I too am sad that your trip is almost over Thanks for taking the time to write a fabulous trip report.

I have a question for your DH though how far in advance did he order your tuxedo strawberries? Did he do it before you got to WDW or once you were at your resort? They look so devine I think I might need to order some for my girls trip.

 

[DisneycrazedX6]

Wow what a great trip report and it isnt even over yet!! You seem to be a great Disney family and I want to thank you for sharing your lives with us!!!
I can't wait to read more and find out how being the Flag Family was. We stayed there last year but it was already all booked.

 

[Scot-n-Michelle]

hi - i have two questions for you - this year when we went to Disney (my first time) we did no actual dining inside of disney. I would love to take my kids to a character meal - which one do you think is the best that is not terribly expensive. And what were you talking about when you asked the CM about Tinkerbell??
Thanks
Michelle

 

[Momof2goofys]

Still loving it! Like I said, I'm a newbie, and have NO IDEA what a flag family is, but I can't wait to find out! Thanks for such a great report!

 

[timandlesley]

Lesley,
I'm throughly enjoying your trip report. I too am sad that your trip is almost over Thanks for taking the time to write a fabulous trip report.

I have a question for your DH though how far in advance did he order your tuxedo strawberries? Did he do it before you got to WDW or once you were at your resort? They look so devine I think I might need to order some for my girls trip.

I just asked him and he ordered them at the counter at the WL two days before my b-day. He just paid for them, ordered them and told them the time to deliver. I think they were 20-25 dollars. GREAT deal because they were DIVINE!!
Glad you are enjoying the report.
Lesley

 

[scoutsmom99]

I just asked him and he ordered them at the counter at the WL two days before my b-day. He just paid for them, ordered them and told them the time to deliver. I think they were 20-25 dollars. GREAT deal because they were DIVINE!!
Glad you are enjoying the report.
Lesley

Thanks for the quick reply and to your DH for thinking of ordering them I can hardly wait to try them in Sept.

 

[timandlesley]

hi - i have two questions for you - this year when we went to Disney (my first time) we did no actual dining inside of disney. I would love to take my kids to a character meal - which one do you think is the best that is not terribly expensive. And what were you talking about when you asked the CM about Tinkerbell??
Thanks
Michelle

If you want it to be the least expensive then go for Breakfast. It depends on what characters you want to see. If you want Pooh and the gang the Crystal palace for breakfast (8:00-8:15 time on a morning the MK doesn't open until 9:00) is the BEST. Or Chef Mickey's for breakfast is a lot of fun if you want to see Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Minnie, and Goofy. Our kids loved it. Another option to see Mickey for breakfast is Donald's breakfastasauras at Animal Kingdom. They had Donald, Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy when we went last year. It was a great meal and we had an 8:05 reservation so got into Animal Kingdom before it opened.
We went to 1900 Park fair to see Cinderella this year and the buffet was awesome and character interaction was great. If you want to see Cinderella this is the way to go because they have drastically upped the price to eat with her in the Castle, even for breakfast/lunch. I highly recommend it for dinner buffet to see Cindy at 1900 park fair but it is more expensive than a breakfast buffet.
To see menus and prices I go to allearnet.com and click on dining, they list the prices there.

As for Tinkerbell. If you are the first to go into Tinkerbells treasure at MK you can wake up Tinkerbell. They give your child a wand to tap on the box and Tinkerbell flies through the store and the child gets a certificate. I've never been lucky enough to get there on time. Like I said in my report, I didn't tell my kids for this reason, I didn't want their little hearts to be broken.
Glad you are enjoying the report!
Lesley

 

[timandlesley]

Still loving it! Like I said, I'm a newbie, and have NO IDEA what a flag family is, but I can't wait to find out! Thanks for such a great report!

Ohhhh, it's GREAT!!! I'll have lots of pics for you when I post it too!!!
Lesley