10 of us together and whose taking bets on when the bus will get here! UPDATED 10/6

[bballbabe]

The CSR advantage is they have their own busses. No sharing with other resorts. Direct to park and back. It is a nice feature. They have 4 stops and run about every 15 minutes. We were going to do Riverside because of the trundle then found out CSR had the queen beds. It was a no brainer for us. We have no small people in our group.

POR had 4 stops at the resort also. We were supposed to go to POFQ, but we never made a stop there. I am just hoping the buses are better this year than last year.

You hit the jackpot with all the characters. We didn't see any in WS, but then again we had about an 1 to 1 1/2 of rain.

It's funny, because the only thing we really did at Epcot was see characters. This year I have been out voted about seeking out characters. If we see them and there is no long line we will meet. Hopefully it won't be too bad when we go because I really want to meet the characters.

 

[dismagiclover]

It looks like you had a great time exploring the World Showcase. After every trip I think, "I wish I would have spent more time exploring the World Showcase." That is great to hear you enjoyed Coral Reef so much. We've never eaten there, but I've read some not so great reviews so it's nice to hear something positive. And a 60 minute wait in the Fastpass line What is the point of fastpass if you still have waits like that. That is crazy!

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

You got some great WS photos. I've yet to go there! We always do Future World and leave. Okay, being honest, I was not at all impressed with Snow White. She didn't look like her at all to me. And what was up with Aurora? She looked TERRIBLE! I tried to give her some slack, but I just couldn't. Whoever helped her get dressed could have done a better job.

I think you had some REALLY great character interactions. I mean, you hit the character gold mine!

 

[bballbabe]

It looks like you had a great time exploring the World Showcase. After every trip I think, "I wish I would have spent more time exploring the World Showcase." That is great to hear you enjoyed Coral Reef so much. We've never eaten there, but I've read some not so great reviews so it's nice to hear something positive. And a 60 minute wait in the Fastpass line What is the point of fastpass if you still have waits like that. That is crazy!

I am actually looking forward tyo getting back to Epcot this year and doing WS right. With my Dad not feeling well and the late hour we got there and the early dinner, it felt like we didn't do anything. When I was there in '92 with Kenny we did SO MUCH and saw most of the entertainment. My favorite still is the players in UK. They put on a funny version of Romeo and Juliet calld Romeo and Edna. It was hysterical. We video taped it and I still love pulling it out and watchng it. I think with the Kim Possible missions we will be able to get in and explore the countries more while the girls are busy.

We have Coral Reef ADRs again this year and I am hoping our experience is just as good as it was last year.

You got some great WS photos. I've yet to go there! We always do Future World and leave. Okay, being honest, I was not at all impressed with Snow White. She didn't look like her at all to me. And what was up with Aurora? She looked TERRIBLE! I tried to give her some slack, but I just couldn't. Whoever helped her get dressed could have done a better job.

I think you had some REALLY great character interactions. I mean, you hit the character gold mine!

We did hit the jackpot with characters there. Had I had my way we would have waited in line for Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie and then we would have hit the UK to see what characters were there.

THe girls were SOOO disappointed with Sleeping Beauty. Rachel still makes fun of her until this day. I would really like to see her again with someone else so we could get decent pics with her.

 

[bballbabe]

Sorry for the delays in posting, but it has still been hectic around here. The girl's started high school last week and we ALL have been getting up early. Kenny gets up at 5:30 and then gets the girls up. Since everyone is up and making noise, of course I am up also. The girls leave at 6:25 to catch the bus, Kenny leaves for work and I get my cleaning done. It is taking us a while to gwt into a routine again.

Because D-Day (departure day) is starting to near I've been doing more research about what we plan on doing this year and what to do differently. The girls and I have decided to watch a Disney movie every night to get us even more excited about the trip. I have even started to get our clothes together for the trip. Hopefully there won't be too much we will need to get.

I hope to get the next installment posted either later today or tomorrow. Thanks for sticking with me.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I've been wondering where you have been. Glad things are ok, just busy. That first month of school is so busy getting back in the routine. You are very close now. But ready for more any time.

Ginny

 

[bballbabe]

I think we have finally gotten into a routine and the days are running smoother. I am hoping that I can get the classwork that the girls will miss while we are down at Disney a head of time and get them ahead instead of behind.

 

[bballbabe]

Day 6: DTD and Typhoon Lagoon

Since we knew the water park didn’t open until 10am, we decided not to rush this morning. Besides, it was still a little chilly outside. We had been having beautiful sunny weather all week, but the temp never went above 75 outside. Today it was supposed to hit 78. So we had a leisurely breakfast and afterwards we decided to head to DTD before Typhoon Lagoon to do some shopping.

We headed to the bus stop. I can’t remember how long of a wait we had, but I think that the bus did come within 20 minutes, so not bad for us. I never did mention that along with the LOOOOOONG waits we had for the buses, we never did get a seat. It was always standing room only and we were packed in there like sardines. If we ever had gotten into an accident, there would have been MAJOR injuries. When the bus did come for DTD, we were so excited because we were finally going to be able to sit in a seat.

Our first stop after we got off the bus was to Pin Traders. The girls were in hog heaven with all of the pins that they had there. They were each allowed to choose one pin that was going to be from Grandma. This took a while. I was searching for pins from the water parks for the girls. I had wanted to get them a pin from each of the parks we went to, our hotel, the luau and of any ride that they conquered. We ended up coming home with a lot of pins!! Here we all are looking for pins.

When we finished up looking at the pins and making our purchases, we headed over to The World of Disney. My mother was in search of silver charms for the 4 girls charm bracelets. This also ended up taking a while as to who was going to get which charm. Did they want the same, did they want different ones, back and forth back and forth until finally a decision was made. While my mother was making her purchase, I discovered the hat room. So what did I make the girls do, that’s right, try on all of the hats!

They had a lot of fun with the faces they made also while trying on the hats. After we were done with the purchases we headed back to catch the bus to Typhoon Lagoon. My parents had already decided that they were not going to go to the water park with us, it was still a little too chilly for them, they did come with us to see what it did look like though before they headed over to DHS. My Dad wanted to get my mother on RnR before we left to go home. We were a little worried about if we would be able to find a spot when we got there because it was almost lunch time. We decided we would just hope for the best. Here are some shots of the park.

Right after this we bid my parents adieu and we went off to find a place to sit. After wondering around for a bit, we found a great place over by Shark Reef. There was hardly anyone sitting over here and we had a great location. We were close to food, the bathrooms, shark reef, the storm slides and humunga cowabunga.

Continued in next post

 

[bballbabe]

Continued

We had a great time on all of the water slides. Beca and Lauryn weren’t too keen on some of the slides so they spent a lot of time swimming over in Shark Reef and in the wave pool. I think my families favorite ride had to be the three at Crush n Gusher. And the best part of the day was that there were hardly any lines to go on the slides. I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes. All and all, we had a fantastic day here. Here are some pics from our day there.

Kenny and Frank on Crush n Gusher

Meghan and I on Crush n Gusher

The family on Gangplank Falls

Lauryn & Rachel

Rachel

When we got back to the hotel we were anxious to see if my Dad got my Mom on RnR. Unfortunately, they hadn’t gotten back from the park yet. So we all showered and got ready for dinner. We were eating at the hotel at Boatmans. As we were getting ready, my parents got back and my Mom had this HUGE smile on her face and she was chanting, “I did it, I did it”. She said it was nice and smooth and the fact that she couldn’t see anything made it all the better. They also rode ToT again and were able to catch the Block Party parade. My Dad said it was really good and they we will need to see it the next time we are down here.

We headed over to Boatman’s to have dinner. The food was good, but the service was terrible. Because of being out in the sun all day, Lauryn wasn’t feeling well and my sister wanted to take her back to the room. So she asked if she could get both of their desserts to go and if she could bring them to her now. I think we asked her at least 3 times if she could do that and she still hadn’t done it. As a matter of fact, she started to bring the rest of us our desserts before she even had the to go ones ready. My sister finally got her desserts and they went off back to the room. Now the bill comes and she has that all fouled up. After about 15 minutes she finally gotten it all straighten out and we were able to leave. One thing is for sure, even though the food was good, I don’t know if we would ever eat there again. There’s just too many other good restaurants out there to try. Since we were all tired from the day, and we knew we would be going to the other water park, Blizzard Beach, the next day, we called it a night and got a good nights sleep.

Up Next: Blizzard Beach and the Bierengarten

 

[mickeystoontown]

Love the two updates. My daughter used to collect the Disney pins too. The older she got, the less interested she became. My wallet gave a great big sigh!

The hat pictures are absolutely adorable.

I wish I had taken my camera to Typhoon Lagoon but I just took along a little waterproof disposable one. You got some great shots around the water park. Our photopass water slide pictures turned out horrible!

Lookin' forward to another update.

 

[bballbabe]

Love the two updates. My daughter used to collect the Disney pins too. The older she got, the less interested she became. My wallet gave a great big sigh!

The hat pictures are absolutely adorable.

I wish I had taken my camera to Typhoon Lagoon but I just took along a little waterproof disposable one. You got some great shots around the water park. Our photopass water slide pictures turned out horrible!

Lookin' forward to another update.

We had a great day there. I just wished we had gotten more photopass shots and have thought to bring along a waterproof camera.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I've missed you. Hope everything is well.

I wanna to Typhoon Lagoon. I love the water. It looks like lots of fun.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Great updates! Love all the different hat pics. Looks like you'll be going back again very soon. How exciting!

 

[bballbabe]

Hello All. No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I know I have been very negligent about doing the trip report, but since school has started with the kids and our trip getting closer, I have picked up extra hours at work so we could have some extra spending money and to buy a new video camera. I have also been doing the final planning and packing for the upcoming trip. I will be finishing up this report before we head down again next weekend. So without any further ado:


Day 7: Blizzard Beach and the Bierengarten

We awoke to another beautiful morning at Disney. Because the water parks don’t open until 10am we FINALLY made our first rope drop. There was quite a crowd gathering and waiting to enter the park. While we were waiting we snapped a few pics.

I thought we took more, but I guess not. While waiting, we opened the map to see where would be a good spot to put our stuff. We ended up with a good spot in the corner above the wave pool and at the bottom of Downhill Double Dipper. It was a good thing we got there early, because the park filled up quite fast. We managed to only get 1 photopass pic of the group of us in the lazy river.

Some part of everyone is in the photo. We rode the lazy river to the other side of the park to go on Teamboat Springs. We had a lot of fun on this tube ride. First we did all of the adults in one tube and all of the kids in the other tube. Then we did the Grandparents and Grandkids in one and the parents in the other. I wish there was a photopass person here. We would have had some funny pics from here. Here are a couple of more pics from our day.

We left the park around 3pm to head back to the hotel and get ready for our dinner reservation at the Bierengarten.

Cont. in next post

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I'm glad everything is good with you. I can't imagine with two teenage girls you are busy?

It is so close to time to go again. Lucky. Hope you have great weather.

Which water park did you like better?

 

[bballbabe]

Continued

We made it back to the hotel, showered and changed and were on our way to Epcot for dinner. We actually caught a bus in a reasonable amount of time. Since we had some time to spare, we decided to take the boat across the WS lagoon and I managed to get some pics from our boat ride over.

While we were enjoying our meal, the girls mentioned that they thought they saw someone that they knew from school, their friend Emily. She was going to be down there the same time as us. They pointed the girl out to me, but were too afraid to go over to see if was her. So my sister starts yelling Emily to see if she would turn around. Rachel and Meghan were mortified. I finally took a walk with them by her table to see if it was her and as it turns out it was. So they had a nice quick little visit.

The show at the Bierengarten I thought was good, but not as good as when Kenny and I had saw it back in 1992.

When dinner was over Rachel realized she had lost one of her pins off of her lanyard, My mother and I went to the front desk to see if by some chance someone had found it and turned it in. The guy at the desk went in the back and came out with a handful of pins. My mother and I looked at them and didn’t see Rachel’s pin. We told the CM thank you, but her pin wasn’t in the bunch he brought out. He then said, well, just take these. We came out with 10 pins!

We started to visit the other countries in WS, when Rachel started to feel sick. I guess she got too much sun that day. So the 2 of us headed out of the park and left the rest at Epcot. When the rest of the group returned back to the hotel, I heard an earful of what they had done. Since I was not there to lead them around and let them know what rides were good, my husband took them all on the Journey to Imagination with Figment. He thought he remembered seeing a sign of Robin Williams being in this ride. Apparently not. Till this day, they won’t let him forget about the lame ride. They then headed over to do the orange version of Mission Space. The only 2 brave enough to go on were Kenny and Frank. Kenny said that they were fine at first and then all of a sudden they both started to freak out. When the ride was over Frankie ran out the entrance and Kenny hightailed it out the exit. They both said that they would NEVER ride the orange one again.
With everyone now back at the hotel, we were all starting to feel sad because we were leaving to go home the next day. I started to pack things up a bit, so it wouldn’t be total chaos the next morning.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Great update! How cool is that to see someone you know from school??? Disney is such a big place, it's a wonder they were at the same place at the exact moment.

When we went in March, I knew of two different families who were going to be there same time as us - never saw em!

How exciting you have another trip coming up so soon.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Very cool that you got to do Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. We've only been to TL. Which did you guys like better?

I hate that Rachel lost one of her pins but I am sure that she was okay with getting 10 pins as a replacement!

I guess you are getting super excited about your upcoming trip. I know I would be.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Good finish to your day. What fun. Hate it that Rachel lost her pin. Glad she got some extras.

You are getting close to your next visit. Yay for you.

Ginny

 

[bballbabe]

Great update! How cool is that to see someone you know from school??? Disney is such a big place, it's a wonder they were at the same place at the exact moment.

When we went in March, I knew of two different families who were going to be there same time as us - never saw em!

How exciting you have another trip coming up so soon.

My husband kept saying the same thing, What are the odds of seeing someone you know eating at the same time in the same restaurant as you.

I am not sure who is more excited about going, the girls or my father. We started packing some things up last weekend and plan on finishing the rest of packing this weekend.

Very cool that you got to do Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. We've only been to TL. Which did you guys like better?

I hate that Rachel lost one of her pins but I am sure that she was okay with getting 10 pins as a replacement!

I guess you are getting super excited about your upcoming trip. I know I would be.

I actually liked Typhoon Lagoon better. I felt very closed in and crowded at Blizzard Beach. Typhoon Lagoon was more enjoyable for all of us. My nieces were able to swim with the fish because they didn't care for some of the slides and of course they all LOVED the wave pool. If I was given the choice it would be TL everytime.

Rachel wasn't too upset about the pin, but was very excited to have 10 new ones. She even gave 2 each to Meghan, Rebeca, Lauryn and my father.

I just came back from Best Buy with a new camcorder. I felt like we didn't take enough movies when we were there last year.

Good finish to your day. What fun. Hate it that Rachel lost her pin. Glad she got some extras.

You are getting close to your next visit. Yay for you.

Ginny

The extra pins Rachel got more than made up for the one she lost. WE are getting very antsy about next Sat. finally getting here!