12 Days of Disney = 1 Happy Family! June 2011 TR (Update x2 7/19)
- Thread starter ZFamily5
- Start date
Queenofallthings
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2008
Joining in! Great start and I too love the picture of you three girls with your Mickey ears on
teachermommy78
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2011
Yay!!! You have a TR!!! You need to put the link in your signature, young lady! 
You look like you are having tons of fun already! When you mentioned mourning Disney in your PTR...I'm relating to that right now! I call it PDD...post Disney depression. We are planning a trip for 3 years. UGH. Though dh and I are secretly hoping to be really good with money so we can maybe go in 2!
You look like you are having tons of fun already! When you mentioned mourning Disney in your PTR...I'm relating to that right now! I call it PDD...post Disney depression. We are planning a trip for 3 years. UGH. Though dh and I are secretly hoping to be really good with money so we can maybe go in 2!
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
Thanks for joining in!
Thanks for joining us!
Joining in! Great start and I too love the picture of you three girls with your Mickey ears on
Thank you so much!
Yay!!! You have a TR!!! You need to put the link in your signature, young lady!
Yes I do need to post the link!! I am going through a major case of PDD!! I'm in the process of trying to convince my parents we need Annual Passes...they aren't going for it quite yet. I'm hoping maybe we can fit in a short trip December 2012, but we'll see what happens! And if Annual Passes work out, maybe Summer 2013....and a long weekend in the fall of 2013...and maybe another weekend around Thanksgiving...I'm obsessed!
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
When I last left you, we were sitting on the Magical Express waiting to go to POR. FINALLY, the bus driver got on and we started moving! The video started and all was well in my world!
First we stopped at the Boardwalk, then Yacht Club, Beach Club and Port Orleans Riverside last. We hopped off the bus and were instantly immersed in the warm Florida air. In our area, it was just barely getting warm when we left (we had snow in May), so this was heaven! Thing3 kept jumping around saying that "Today is the best day EVER!". After getting our bags, Dad and I went to check-in (we hadn't done online check-in). There was no line and in just a few minutes Kieran had us checked in. While he was putting together our paper work, he told us that he has a fourteen year old sister with my name (not a terribly common name)! It was a strange, but neat coincidence! While we were there, we got Thing2 a birthday button AND found out that we had been upgraded to a preferred room! We were in building 18, room 1856. It was a FABULOUS location! Right by a quiet pool, short walk to the main pool, and the lobby/bus depot! After dropping our stuff off in our room, we went to the Riverside Mill food court for dinner. At this point it was about 9:30, and we hadn't eaten anything since our lunch at the airport, about 8 hours ago! Here's what we had to eat:
-Mom and Dad shared fish basket, water, carrot cake
-Thing2 had some sort of roast beef plate with corn and mashed potatoes, milk and cheesecake
-Thing3 and I shared pesto pasta with mushrooms, water and mint chip ice cream (but she ate the carrot cake instead)
All of it was really good and we were excited to use our first dining credits! Next, we walked back to the room to put on swimsuits. When we got to our room, we saw that Mickey Mouse had been there!
Mickey had left a special note and Silvermist doll for Thing3! She was sooooo excited! We put on our swimsuits (we packed them in our carry-ons) and headed down to the quiet pool near our room. Thing2 and I jumped right in, but Thing3 was really tired, so Mom took her back to the room while Dad stayed with us. Around 11, we went back up to the room to shower and put on pajamas (also in carry-ons). This was around the time we noticed that our room was FREEZING! It was 80 some degrees outside, but I was still cold wearing my sweatshirt in there! Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, and Thing2 and I weren't tired yet, so we convinced Mom and Dad to let us take a walk around the resort. About 20 steps outside our room, Thing2 decided she was scared of the dark and wanted to go back. I convinced her that we could take a quick walk to the lobby and back, and she agreed. While we were in the main building, we stopped and listened to the piano show for a few minutes. He was playing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Thing2 and I were a little bit on the hyper side, so we started singing and dancing along. After a few minutes, we decided to head back to the room. We got in bed and read for a while, then drifted off to sleep. I think the luggage finally came a little bit after midnight.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, there are many more other days! Thanks for reading!
First we stopped at the Boardwalk, then Yacht Club, Beach Club and Port Orleans Riverside last. We hopped off the bus and were instantly immersed in the warm Florida air. In our area, it was just barely getting warm when we left (we had snow in May), so this was heaven! Thing3 kept jumping around saying that "Today is the best day EVER!". After getting our bags, Dad and I went to check-in (we hadn't done online check-in). There was no line and in just a few minutes Kieran had us checked in. While he was putting together our paper work, he told us that he has a fourteen year old sister with my name (not a terribly common name)! It was a strange, but neat coincidence! While we were there, we got Thing2 a birthday button AND found out that we had been upgraded to a preferred room! We were in building 18, room 1856. It was a FABULOUS location! Right by a quiet pool, short walk to the main pool, and the lobby/bus depot! After dropping our stuff off in our room, we went to the Riverside Mill food court for dinner. At this point it was about 9:30, and we hadn't eaten anything since our lunch at the airport, about 8 hours ago! Here's what we had to eat:
-Mom and Dad shared fish basket, water, carrot cake
-Thing2 had some sort of roast beef plate with corn and mashed potatoes, milk and cheesecake
-Thing3 and I shared pesto pasta with mushrooms, water and mint chip ice cream (but she ate the carrot cake instead)
All of it was really good and we were excited to use our first dining credits! Next, we walked back to the room to put on swimsuits. When we got to our room, we saw that Mickey Mouse had been there!
Mickey had left a special note and Silvermist doll for Thing3! She was sooooo excited! We put on our swimsuits (we packed them in our carry-ons) and headed down to the quiet pool near our room. Thing2 and I jumped right in, but Thing3 was really tired, so Mom took her back to the room while Dad stayed with us. Around 11, we went back up to the room to shower and put on pajamas (also in carry-ons). This was around the time we noticed that our room was FREEZING! It was 80 some degrees outside, but I was still cold wearing my sweatshirt in there! Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, and Thing2 and I weren't tired yet, so we convinced Mom and Dad to let us take a walk around the resort. About 20 steps outside our room, Thing2 decided she was scared of the dark and wanted to go back. I convinced her that we could take a quick walk to the lobby and back, and she agreed. While we were in the main building, we stopped and listened to the piano show for a few minutes. He was playing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Thing2 and I were a little bit on the hyper side, so we started singing and dancing along. After a few minutes, we decided to head back to the room. We got in bed and read for a while, then drifted off to sleep. I think the luggage finally came a little bit after midnight.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, there are many more other days! Thanks for reading!
Blessed_wth_Triplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2007
Joining in! So are you the biggest WDW fan of the family? Your parents' trained you well!
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
Joining in! So are you the biggest WDW fan of the family? Your parents' trained you well!
Yes I am! And yes they did!
Thanks for joining in!
DisneyMom14
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
Yes I do need to post the link!! I am going through a major case of PDD!! I'm in the process of trying to convince my parents we need Annual Passes...they aren't going for it quite yet. I'm hoping maybe we can fit in a short trip December 2012, but we'll see what happens! And if Annual Passes work out, maybe Summer 2013....and a long weekend in the fall of 2013...and maybe another weekend around Thanksgiving...I'm obsessed!
PDD!
I now know what I suffer from after every trip! I'm also laughing at your plan for annual passes. I secretly have the same plan but instead of having to convince my parents, I have to convince my husband!
I actually would love to take a cruise next fall and get an annual pass in 2013 for maybe a Mardi Gras, Summer and either Thanksgiving or Christmas trip. I really hope it works out for you and me. 
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
PDD!
I'm also laughing at your plan for annual passes. I secretly have the same plan but instead of having to convince my parents, I have to convince my husband!
Yup, it's PDD!
I'm already counting down the days until you can start pricing for December 2012 (August 7th...I asked
)! Is it too early to start a PTR for that? Your plan sounds great! I'd love to take a Disney cruise, but we've cruised the past 2 years and I think my parents are done with that for a while! You'll have to keep us posted on how your quest for annual passes is going!
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
When we were first planning the trip, this was going to be our first Magic Kingdom day, but when we found out that my aunt, uncle and cousin would be joining us things got moved around, so our first full day became one of our "break days". As much as I liked having a day to "break into" vacation and relax right away, it was VERY difficult to not get up and head to a park right away! Dad, the early riser in the family got up around 7, grabbed his Kindle and went to sit by the pool and read. About half an hour later, I got restless, so I texted him to find out where he was so I could join him. He came back up to the room, I grabbed my Kindle (everyone but Thing3 has one; Mom, Dad and Thing2 got theirs at Christmas, I got mine for my 13th birthday) and we left the room. First we took a walk around the resort. We looked at the main pool, the lobby, the gift shop and some of the other buildings. Then we got back to the quiet pool right outside our building, so we decided to sit down and read. After about 15 minutes of sitting still and reading, I got restless again. At home I am typically very active between tennis, track, dance, school and whatever else I have going on, so sitting still and reading was hard for me, ESPECIALLY because I was ready to swim! While sitting by the pool, we heard a couple people talking about how there had been a bobcat by the pool sometime last night, which freaked me out a little bit. Based on what we heard, I guess they found this out from a CM. FINALLY at 9, Dad took me up to the room so I could put my swimsuit on! While Dad and I were changing, Thing2 got up and decided to join us. Thing3 and Mom woke up a little bit, but decided they would join us later. Dad, Thing2 and I made our way over to the main pool. I was looking forward to getting right in, but the water was COLD!! I really don't like to swim in cold water, so I was standing on my tip-toes jumping up and down trying to get used to the water. This became a joke throughout the trip and my Dad would imitate me doing that quite frequently. I was not amused. Finally, I decided that I was done trying to get used to that gelid water, so I sat in the chair and Dad swam with Thing2. Mom texted and said that they were putting on swimsuits and sunscreen and would be here soon. 35 minutes later...still no Mom and Thing3. When they finally showed up, they were in CLOTHES! 
Apparently Thing3 decided she did NOT want to swim and was going to have nothing to do with it. Since the rest of us had been at the pool for a while, we decided to go back to the room. Thing2, Mom and Dad made a quick detour to go pick up breakfast and Thing3 and I headed straight back to the room. We aren't big breakfast people (really it's only Thing2 and Thing3 who eat breakfast, but sometimes I nibble), so we used 4 snack credits to get 2 Mickey milks, a muffin and some fruit. Sometime after we took showers, Mom realized we needed another hairbrush for BBB, which was later that afternoon. Thing3 and I went to the gift shop in search of another hairbrush. We found one and headed back to the room. While waiting for Mom and Dad to finish getting ready, my sisters and I watched "Must-Do Disney". When they were ready, we walked to the boat dock so we could go to Downtown Disney. I love riding the boat, it's so relaxing!
When we arrived, we went straight to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. There was a long line, but it moved quickly. I got the veggie sandwich, potato salad and water, Thing2 and 3 shared the American with pudding and milk and I'm not sure what Mom and Dad got. It was okay, not my favorite meal, but certainly good. Since we had some time to kill before BBB, we browsed through a lot of shops. We looked through Once Upon a Toy, Goofy's Candy Co., the Christmas shop and Art of Disney. Then it was time for BBB, something Thing2 and I had wanted to do for our 2008 trip but didn't have enough money for. Here's a before picture of us:
I'm not exactly sure what order these were taken in, but here are some assorted pictures of us:
And one of all of us:
We had a great time doing BBB! We spent quite a while looking around World of Disney, before Thing2 and I escaped to Goofy's Candy Co. to purchase some snacks as a surprise for Mom and Dad. We ended up getting a big "crisped rice treat", a huge cookie, a giant lollipop and 2 create your own "crisped rice treats". I'll leave you with 1 last picture of us at Downtown Disney before we headed for dinner.
Thanks for reading!
Apparently Thing3 decided she did NOT want to swim and was going to have nothing to do with it. Since the rest of us had been at the pool for a while, we decided to go back to the room. Thing2, Mom and Dad made a quick detour to go pick up breakfast and Thing3 and I headed straight back to the room. We aren't big breakfast people (really it's only Thing2 and Thing3 who eat breakfast, but sometimes I nibble), so we used 4 snack credits to get 2 Mickey milks, a muffin and some fruit. Sometime after we took showers, Mom realized we needed another hairbrush for BBB, which was later that afternoon. Thing3 and I went to the gift shop in search of another hairbrush. We found one and headed back to the room. While waiting for Mom and Dad to finish getting ready, my sisters and I watched "Must-Do Disney". When they were ready, we walked to the boat dock so we could go to Downtown Disney. I love riding the boat, it's so relaxing!
When we arrived, we went straight to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. There was a long line, but it moved quickly. I got the veggie sandwich, potato salad and water, Thing2 and 3 shared the American with pudding and milk and I'm not sure what Mom and Dad got. It was okay, not my favorite meal, but certainly good. Since we had some time to kill before BBB, we browsed through a lot of shops. We looked through Once Upon a Toy, Goofy's Candy Co., the Christmas shop and Art of Disney. Then it was time for BBB, something Thing2 and I had wanted to do for our 2008 trip but didn't have enough money for. Here's a before picture of us:
I'm not exactly sure what order these were taken in, but here are some assorted pictures of us:
And one of all of us:
We had a great time doing BBB! We spent quite a while looking around World of Disney, before Thing2 and I escaped to Goofy's Candy Co. to purchase some snacks as a surprise for Mom and Dad. We ended up getting a big "crisped rice treat", a huge cookie, a giant lollipop and 2 create your own "crisped rice treats". I'll leave you with 1 last picture of us at Downtown Disney before we headed for dinner.
Thanks for reading!
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2007
You know your 6 year old sister has a Disney obsession when she sings "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for 30 minutes straight and knows ALL the words! She's a keeper all right!
Love your BBB pictures.
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
Love your BBB pictures.
Thanks! We had a lot of fun!
DisneyMom14
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
Your first day sounds like it was relaxing but I would have been restless too!!! I'm always go, go, go and being at Disney and NOT going straight somewhere would have driven me bananas! 
I love the BBB pictures. I brought my DD there a few trips back and we have great memories of that experience and some great pics. You girls look so beautiful!
That's so cute!
I love the BBB pictures. I brought my DD there a few trips back and we have great memories of that experience and some great pics. You girls look so beautiful!
You know your 6 year old sister has a Disney obsession when she sings "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for 30 minutes straight and knows ALL the words! She's a keeper all right!
That's so cute!
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
Your first day sounds like it was relaxing but I would have been restless too!!! I'm always go, go, go and being at Disney and NOT going straight somewhere would have driven me bananas!
I love the BBB pictures. I brought my DD there a few trips back and we have great memories of that experience and some great pics. You girls look so beautiful!
That's so cute!
Thanks! It drove me bananas too! It helped a little bit that we at least got to see the castle on our way to dinner (next update), but I got a little impatient to get to a park!
Thanks!
Thanks for joining in! We had a great time and I'm glad people are enjoying hearing a TR from different perspective!
ZFamily5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2010
When I last left off, we were just finishing shopping at DTD and were going to head for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. At this point it is about 4:30 and our ADR isn't until 7:40. We decided that we would kill some time riding a couple loops on the monorail. We went to the bus depot and waited for the first monorail resort bus to come. The first bus that came was a Contemporary bus. We got on. I soon wished we hadn't. There were 2 very obnoxious girls on the bus behind us. They were screaming at each other, hitting each other, trying to pull down each others shirts and running from seat to seat. If the girls had been around Thing3's age, I might not have gotten so upset. These girls were around 12 and 9 or 10. Their dad was in a wheelchair, and most of the bus ride he was screaming at the girls, who payed absolutely no attention to him. They continued hitting and kicking and screaming. The dad then proceeded to say call them idiots and tell them that "they were dead once they got off the bus". Again, the girls payed no attention whatsoever and kept yelling and hitting each other. We were talking to another family on the bus, and after a few minutes, the mom we were talking to turned around and told the girls to please quiet down. She told us she is a substitute teacher and boy, did she make those girls quiet down! I was very thankful that she put them in their place! When we got to the Contemporary, we went straight to the monorail. We got on and rode to the TTC. There we transferred to the EPCOT loop. Thing3 loved getting to see "her EPCOT"! As much as she loves the princesses and the castle and everything at Magic Kingdom, her absolute favorite park is EPCOT. She fell in love with Figment on our last trip (2008; she was 3) and still claims it's her favorite ride. When we got back to the TTC, we switched back to the resort loop and rode one full loop and then another half of a loop to get back to the Grand Floridian. We had a blast just relaxing and riding the monorail! When we got to the Grand Floridian, it was only 6:30. Dad tried to put our name in early, but they said he couldn't for a little while still. We looked around the lobby for a little bit and then we sat down on one of the couches to wait.
We were pretty worn out. Thing2 and I decided that we should just tell Mom and Dad what we had originally planned (go watch Wishes from the Poly beach with our treats) but suggest that maybe we should just go back to the room to enjoy our treats and get to bed earlier. Mom and Dad agreed with us, as they were pretty tired too. After about an hour, we got called back. My thoughts on 1900 Park Fare: the food was okay. There weren't a lot of options for me, because I don't eat meat, but I made do. Based on what I wrote in my notebook I especially liked the mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse cups. I made this reservation for Thing2 and Thing3. I don't really enjoy meeting characters, except Donald and Stitch, so I had told Mom and Dad that I was only getting my picture taken with Cinderella. Mom and Dad said that was fine, it was my choice whether I wanted to be in pictures with the stepsisters and stepmother. Cinderella came first:
When I saw Prince Charming coming, I conveniently managed to escape to get more food before he got to our table.
Then the stepmother came along...she was funny, picking up Thing3's stuffed tiger, Simba, and petting him while chatting with us. When she asked if we wanted a picture, Thing2 and Thing3 hopped right up, while I stayed seated. She glared at me and told me to come take a picture with her. I said something along the lines of, "No, I'm good...I'll stay right here". She promptly answered, "Your parents paid good money for that hairdo, now get up here and take a picture". Reluctantly I got up and took a picture, but in my head I was thinking, "my parents didn't pay for me to get this hairdo, I did!".
Can you see the joy on my face? Basically the same conversation happened with Anastasia, and somehow I ended up taking another picture.
When Drisella came, I set my foot down. I let Mom and Dad go be in the picture so that my excuse could be that I was taking the picture. She dubbed me the "royal photographer".
After we had mingled with all the characters, we decided to head outside and look around for a few minutes.
We then got on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.
From there we caught a bus back to POR. Mom, Dad and Thing3 went to the lobby to ask a question or something. Thing2 and I went straight back to the room. When Thing3 got back she was happy to see that Mickey had left her another gift, an autograph book. Before I took down my bun (it was really hurting my head), we decided to take a couple of pictures comparing our 2008 trip to this trip. Thing2, Thing3 and I in 2008:
And 2011:
And finally, 2 good ones:
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
We were pretty worn out. Thing2 and I decided that we should just tell Mom and Dad what we had originally planned (go watch Wishes from the Poly beach with our treats) but suggest that maybe we should just go back to the room to enjoy our treats and get to bed earlier. Mom and Dad agreed with us, as they were pretty tired too. After about an hour, we got called back. My thoughts on 1900 Park Fare: the food was okay. There weren't a lot of options for me, because I don't eat meat, but I made do. Based on what I wrote in my notebook I especially liked the mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse cups. I made this reservation for Thing2 and Thing3. I don't really enjoy meeting characters, except Donald and Stitch, so I had told Mom and Dad that I was only getting my picture taken with Cinderella. Mom and Dad said that was fine, it was my choice whether I wanted to be in pictures with the stepsisters and stepmother. Cinderella came first:
When I saw Prince Charming coming, I conveniently managed to escape to get more food before he got to our table.
Then the stepmother came along...she was funny, picking up Thing3's stuffed tiger, Simba, and petting him while chatting with us. When she asked if we wanted a picture, Thing2 and Thing3 hopped right up, while I stayed seated. She glared at me and told me to come take a picture with her. I said something along the lines of, "No, I'm good...I'll stay right here". She promptly answered, "Your parents paid good money for that hairdo, now get up here and take a picture". Reluctantly I got up and took a picture, but in my head I was thinking, "my parents didn't pay for me to get this hairdo, I did!".
Can you see the joy on my face?
Basically the same conversation happened with Anastasia, and somehow I ended up taking another picture.
When Drisella came, I set my foot down. I let Mom and Dad go be in the picture so that my excuse could be that I was taking the picture. She dubbed me the "royal photographer".
After we had mingled with all the characters, we decided to head outside and look around for a few minutes.
We then got on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.
From there we caught a bus back to POR. Mom, Dad and Thing3 went to the lobby to ask a question or something. Thing2 and I went straight back to the room. When Thing3 got back she was happy to see that Mickey had left her another gift, an autograph book. Before I took down my bun (it was really hurting my head), we decided to take a couple of pictures comparing our 2008 trip to this trip. Thing2, Thing3 and I in 2008:
And 2011:
And finally, 2 good ones:
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
Sooze
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2006
We have never eaten at Park Fare... I'm thinking I better schedule a meal there before MY little girl starts avoiding pictures like you did!!! I LOVE how the stepmother bossed you around... that is SO in character!
Thanks for sharing your meal and pics... I often forget about this restaurant!
Thanks for sharing your meal and pics... I often forget about this restaurant!
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