1437 Miles From Mississippi to Magical and Back

[saintstickets]

I had heard that that was what they were working on there, but I wasn't sure. Aren't they also about to start some DVC units at the Polynesian?

It's been rumored due to some sight line balloons being spotted at the Poly. Nothing confirmed yet. If GF DVC sales are strong, I suspect Poly DVC is in the near future.

 

[SheenaXena21]

Even at Disney World, I am only willing to put up with so much out of my child so after a few more minutes of "fit throwing" Maddy got a spanking. Yes, I am the parent who will spank a child at the happiest place on earth (please don't hate me).

You're not the only one... my sister would have done the same thing!!!

Question: Maddy looks like she's around the same age as my niece (she's really tall for her age, 42"+), who is 3 1/2. Did she (Maddy) like Soarin? I think my DN would like this ride, but I'm afraid she'll freak out. Did she do okay with the height of the ride and it going up in the air?

 

[JAMIESMITH]

You're not the only one... my sister would have done the same thing!!!

Question: Maddy looks like she's around the same age as my niece (she's really tall for her age, 42"+), who is 3 1/2. Did she (Maddy) like Soarin? I think my DN would like this ride, but I'm afraid she'll freak out. Did she do okay with the height of the ride and it going up in the air?

Maddy turned four about five weeks before our trip. She's 43" tall. Soaring and Big Thunder Montain were her two favorite rides. She also really liked Phillarmagic. The two things that scared her (not too badly, though) were Dinosaur and Splash Mountain.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

AHHHH!!! I am one terrible blogger!! But I am loving reliving our trip through this.. I promise I'm going to help starting tomorrow. I literally just got my wifi turned on at the house and my husband (woah - that was weird to type) has demanded use of the computer.

Tootles!!

I have the pictures loaded to my photo bucket account if you want to start our first Magic Kingdom day

Sorry, just got all caught up! Nice shot of the alligator! I knew they were in that water!!

You never did tell me what longhouse you were in?

Great TR! I'm in Jackson, so I am familiar with Meridian.

Thanks for the tip on Lake City. We were talking about where to stop on the way down.

Lake City worked really well for us. There were several nice hotels, but the Red Roof Inn had the best price and was clean and quiet.

 

[saintstickets]

Don't mean to hijack your thread but since I see more than one from the Magnolia State here, we are trying to put together a DIS meet in the next few months probably in Hattiesburg. There are people from the capital to the coast interested in attending. If it's something you might like to attend, go to this thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2992997

Sorry for the interruption....now back to your regularly scheduled EXCELLENT trip report.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Don't mean to hijack your thread but since I see more than one from the Magnolia State here, we are trying to put together a DIS meet in the next few months probably in Hattiesburg. There are people from the capital to the coast interested in attending. If it's something you might like to attend, go to this thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2992997

Sorry for the interruption....now back to your regularly scheduled EXCELLENT trip report.

Depends on when. Marie doesn't need much of an excuse to visit Hattiesburg.

 

[SheenaXena21]

Waiting on an update...

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Waiting on an update...

Sorry! I've started an update twice and my computer keeps crashing. I'll try to have one up this afternoon

 

[JAMIESMITH]

After we got off the boat, had our bags checked, and went through the turn styles, we headed for Main Street. I believe we just missed the opening ceremonies. This was the first day of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and the crowd calendars at EasyWDW.com said this would be the least crowded day of the week to visit Magic Kingdom because of how early the park was closing.

Our first Magic Kingdom photo

I was trying to take a picture of the Halloween decorations, but I caught Marie in the shot, too!

We saw a few characters right after we entered the park. I know Pluto was one of them, but I’m not sure who else was out. I also noticed that the wait times for both the princesses and the Mickey Mouse characters was listed at ten minutes, but we had other things on our minds.

The castle and some pumpkins. I’m sure Cinderella’s fairy godmother could turn them into excellent carriages!

We headed straight for Main Street Bakery. Marie and I had been dreaming of trying a cinnamon roll for months! The bakery was packed and the line was long, but it moved pretty quickly. We were lucky enough to grab a table just as another family was leaving. We filled our mugs up at our resort before catching the boat to the park so we only used three snack credits for breakfast (Madilyn and I shared a cinnamon roll).

The BEST cinnamon rolls ever!!! Seriously, we’re still raving about these.

The view from our table looking back out at Main Street. I loved the giant balloons, but I was too cheap to buy one (especially since Maddy never asked for one!).

After breakfast, we ventured back out into Main Street and headed towards Cinderella’s Castle. We didn’t make it far before cast members starting clearing the streets to make way for a horse drawn trolley. Eight cast members got out of the trolley and performed a cute autumn song and dance routine.

I had really hoped to walk through the middle of Cinderella’s Castle on our way to Fantasyland, but the castle was roped off. We thought that it was just for the Dream Along With Mickey show that was about to start, but when we asked later in the day we were told that the castle is always roped off now. Apparently the only way to go in at all is to eat at Cinderella’s Royal Table. I’m not sure when that happened? Anyways, we walked around the castle (the long way, I think).

Madilyn and me in front of the castle.

Madilyn in front of Cinderella’s Fountain.

Our first ride of the day was Cinderella’s Carousel. I knew Madilyn would want to ride it as soon as she saw it. She loves carousels. Our hometown is actually home to one of the oldest ones in the country. Maybe some of you Magnolia State residents have heard of the Dentzel Carousel in Meridian’s Highland Park? It's totally worth visiting if you're ever in this area.

Madilyn on the carousel.

And Marie.

And the obligatory picture of Marie trying to pull the sword from the stone.

This is the point at which my camera (and apparently Marie’s, too) went on hiatus in my bag, but we got a lot accomplished! After the carousel we rode Peter Pan’s Flight which was pretty cool! Then we went across the street to It’s A Small World. Madilyn loved all those dolls and the grown ups thought it was a neat ride, too! The clock began to strike 11:00 just as we were leaving the boat. That is one cool clock!

We rode the Mad Tea Party. We had to ride in a yellow cup at Maddy’s request. Yellow is her absolute favorite color. After our tea cup ride, we headed into the new Fantasyland expansion. We had already decided that we would let Madilyn try the Barnstormer first and if she liked it we would let her ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She LOVED “Goofy’s Roller Coaster”. We waited ten minutes to ride Dumbo and ten minutes to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (these were our longest waits of the day). Dumbo offers a nice view of the parts of the Fantasyland expansion that are still being worked on. I almost wish the line had been longer for Pooh because there was so much to do while we waited!

I’ll try to get another update in later this week! We got loads more done before we even ate lunch!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

After riding Dumbo, we headed back towards the old part of Fantasyland. We saw the white rabbit doing a meet and greet near the tea cups, but since Madilyn has never seen Alice in Wonderland we passed him up. My husband saw the Tommorrowland Speedway and wanted to ride it. This was one of the lamest things we did at Disney World. My husband and I were able to get out of our car right away and we walked up to the bleachers to wait on Madilyn and Marie to get out of their car. They were right behind us, but they got stuck waiting on a whole group of cars to reload. Maddy got really hot while they were stuck there sitting in the sun. Her cheeks were flushed and I could tell she wasn’t feeling too good.

Marie and Maddy waiting to pull up so they could get out of their car.

I told everyone that we should head to Mickey’s Philarmagic so we could sit in the air conditioning for a little while. We waited only a few minutes for the next show to start. This was our first 3D experience at Disney World and we thought it was really neat. Maddy is still talking about how Goofy got “shocked” before the show started. The twenty minutes or so spent sitting down in the air conditioning really helped our feelings!

After my husband found another elusive smoking area behind some gift shops, we headed for the Haunted Mansion. Jamie said he was expecting a normal haunted house where people in costumes try to scare you. He was really impressed with the ghosts! Maddy had a great time and wasn‘t a bit scared. She rode with her daddy on this ride. We swapped “riding partners” on practically every ride. I really enjoyed getting to experience different things with everyone.

It was 1:00 when we exited the Haunted Manison and our lunch reservation at Crystal Palace was not until 2:00. We decided to squeeze in one more ride: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This and Soarin were Maddy’s favorite two rides of the entire week.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Even after riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we arrived at Crystal Palace at 1:30. They were able to take our 2:00 reservation after about ten minutes of waiting. We did hear the lady at the podium tell another family that they were not taking any walk-ins and that they did not have any reservations open that day.

A shot of Cinderella’s castle from the porch of Crystal Palace.

As we walked inside, the hostess made very clear to us that the characters would come to us and that we should not get up and go to them. I’m sure they’ve had problems with people getting excited and interrupting other families’ time with the characters, but the way she said it was almost rude. When we approached the dining room our table was in, we saw that a character parade was in progress. Our hostess encouraged Maddy to join in. Maddy fell in line behind Eeyore, but the parade stopped when she was all the way across the room from where we were standing. Madilyn didn’t know what to do or where to go and she couldn’t see us so she started squalling. A family that was seated near her tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with them. Jamie made it across the room and picked her up, but she was really upset! I took her to the restroom to get cleaned up and calmed down and then we joined Marie and Jamie at our table.

Our waitress took our drink order, but advised us to wait before we headed to the buffet because Pooh bear would be at our table at any moment.

Then came Eeyore. I was afraid the parade might have left Madilyn with some abandonment issues, but she was glad to see him! We even got a photo of my husband with a real smile. That’s rare!

Piglet was next. Marie wanted to be in this picture.

Tigger was last. I slipped into this picture.

We all went to the buffet and fixed a plate. I swapped seats with Jamie so that I could help Maddy eat. In mom speak, make her eat! There was plenty to choose from and we all got enough to eat, but food-wise this was the worst table service meal of our trip.

After the characters made their rounds, there was another Friendship Parade. This time Madilyn followed Piglet and didn’t freak out as she had a table to return to when the parade was over.

When I went back to see what kind of desserts we had to choose from, Pooh came back by our table. When I got back, Eeyore was sitting in my chair beside Madilyn. She was grinning from ear to ear and told me “Mama, Eeyore stole your chair so he could sit by me!” She gave Eeyore one last hug and I got my seat back. I had fixed another plate of food because none of the desserts were very appealing to me.

Tigger came back by. Madilyn told him that he is her very favorite. I told her to tell Tigger how much she likes to bounce. Tigger took her by the hand and they bounced together by our table. By this point, the restaurant was emptying out. I believe there were only about five families seated in our section.

I said that food-wise this was not our best use of a table service credit, but experience-wise it was totally worth it! We had better interaction with the characters the second time they came around, but I think that may have been because the restaraunt was not as busy. My daughter still mentions Eeyore stealing Mama’s chair and bouncing with Tigger. If we were to eat here again it would be for the experience, not the food. We might give breakfast a try next time.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Perfect Timing For a Parade

When we left the Crystal Palace, we decided to walk back down Main Street and catch the steam train back to Frontierland. Our late lunch was almost as refreshing as a nap! We noticed that people were starting to line up along the sidewalks. After Marie looked at her watch, we realized that the parade would be starting in about five minutes. We found an empty area on the sidewalk in front of Main Street Confectionary. Maddy and Marie sat down on the curb and Jamie and I stood behind them. We could not possibly have timed this any better!

Lots of pictures!

Captain Hook tried to shake hands with Maddy, but she wouldn’t touch his hook.

I was really surprised to see Cinderella’s mice!

After the parade, a cast member came out of the confectionary and handed free caramel apples to anyone who wanted one. Disney magic for me!

 

[SheenaXena21]

Great pics of the parade!!!

 

[SheenaXena21]

After the parade, a cast member came out of the confectionary and handed free caramel apples to anyone who wanted one. Disney magic for me!

Now I know where to stand!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

After the parade, we headed towards the Main Street Train Station. This is the point in our trip at which Maddy discovered that she didn't have to walk. She could be carried by a grown up! In this case, her daddy. If you've never been on the train around Magic Kingdom, I suggest that you give it a try. There are a few scenes set up in the woods around the park that you wouldn't otherwise see. I wish we had taken pictures of them! In fact, I just realized that I have not pictures for this post!

We got off the train in Frontierland and headed for Splash Mountain. We put a poncho on Madilyn because we did not want a repeat of yesterday's Kali River Rapid experience. It wasn't neccesary. Madilyn said that Splash Mountain was fun, but that she didn't want to ride it again. We rode Big Thunder Mountain again... about five times in a row.

Marie and I had seen the Christmas Shop before lunch so we headed over to check it out. Marie bought a really cute ornament. It was an engagement ring with Mickey and Minnie sitting on the bottom part of the circle. I bought an ornament that looked like a snow globe with Mickey and Minnie inside it. Madilyn got a simillar ornament, but with the princesses inside. I'll try to remember to take a picture of them to upload.

We rode the steam train around the rest of the park and back to Main Street Station where we got off and caught a boat back to the Polynesian. I think this was around 4:30. We had started to see people entering the park in costumes just before we left.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We got back to our room and settled Madilyn in for another nap. Jamie went out on the balcony to call his parents and tell them about our trip so far. Marie and I decided to do a little exploring. We wanted to check out the two other Magic Kindom resorts. We filled up our mugs at Captain Cooks and took the boat back to Magic Kindom.

A shot of the Contemporary.

We got off that boat and jumped on a boat to Wilderness Lodge. This is the resort that my parents would be most likely to choose if they ever came to Disney World and it would be right up Christopher's (Marie's Finace's) alley. We wanted to check it out for a potential future stay

We walked up the dock and down the path and took a couple of shots of the outside of the resort.

We walked inside and looked around the lobby.

Marie on the bridge.

We looked around the gift shop. I bought a neat photo holder for my mom. It looks just like the totem pole out side the gift shop.

I also picked out a Marie kitty charm for the charm bracelet Marie started for Madilyn on her March 2011 trip. I told Madilyn we'd get her another charm next time we go to WDW.

We went back to the dock and caught the boat that runs from Wilderness Lodge to Fort Wilderness to the Contemporary. This is the boat ride that was so interesting.

Looking back at Wilderness Lodge.

I would love to stay at Wilderness Lodge in the fall or winter, but not during the summer.

The man driving the boat was yet another New Yorker and his name was Chris. The only reason I remember this is because Marie's fiance shares the same name. Marie saw something as we were approaching Fort Wilderness and asked Chris what it was. Apparently River Country was Disney's first water park, but it was shut down several years ago. I had no idea it even existed! Chris said that the shut down was due to bacteria in the lake water which was where the water for the park came from. I found a thread here about River Country that's really interesting: River Country Thread The old slides look pretty eerie with the trees growing up through them and falling around them. It's amazing how quick nature will take back what man abandons! Chris said that it was cheaper to leave the water park there than it would be to tear it down.

As we were leaving Fort Wilderness, Chris asked us which of the resorts was the oldest. Marie and I answered: The Contemporary. Chris told us that we were technically correct, but that before anyone ever slept in the Contemporary, the construction workers that were building it slept at the campgrounds. Once construction of the first few resorts was done, these campgrounds were made available to park guests as Fort Wilderness. I may be boring you to death, but Marie and I thought it was all really interesting.

A shot of the Contemporary.

Chris also mentioned the wave machine that is buried in Bay Lake, but was turned off because of the erosion it caused to the Polynesian beach. He said that people were able to surf near the Poly for a short while because of this machine.

After our educational tour by boat, Marie and I came to the Contemporary.

We walked around the lobby here also because my husband was very impressed when he got a glimpse of the resort on the bus ride back from Animal Kingdom the day before. Neither Marie nor I liked how busy this resort felt. Maybe Bay Lake Tower is a different story, but the lobby here was crowded and noisy.

Looking out the monorail window. You can see the flags at half-staff for September 11th.

We rode the monorail back to the TTC and walked back to our room.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

This is another post that I don't have any pictures to go along with. I know, I'm such a bad DISer!

After Marie and I did a little resort hopping, we returned to the room to find Madilyn and Jamie watching the WDW channel that tells all about what there is to do at each park. Jamie was now really excited about Hollywood Studios and wanted to know what day we would be going. His face fell when I told him that we weren't going there until our last day Maybe next time he'll take more of an interest in helping me plan our trip!

We lounged around our hotel room until 8:15. Then we headed to Captain Cooks. Marie and Madilyn grabbed a table between the pool bar and the beach while Jamie and I went to order our food. Marie and Madilyn were able to see part of Lilo and Stitch on the big blow up screen by the end of the pool from their seats. Marie ordered a chicken salad. Jamie got a hamburger. I got the grown up grilled cheese. Madilyn had chicken nuggets...again The sad part is that Madilyn's chicken nuggets were probably the best thing any of us ordered! Jamie had a brownie for dessert and Madilyn had a cookie. Marie and I gave Dole whips at try. The were... different. I'm not saying that I disliked it, but I don't understand the hype about them either

We saw the Electric Water Pageant and then about thirty minutes later, the fireworks started. Lilo and Stitch was paused when the EWP started and restarted after the fireworks were over. Hallowishes was really great! The music was neat and the fireworks were just AMAZING!!! This was my favorite fireworks show of the week

 

[luckylady]

Great updates. I remember RIver Country. When DD now 25, was 5 we brought her for her first trip and we went there. Lots of fun and sad they closed it down.Great pictures. Poly beach is a great spot for all sorts of after dark things. Can't wait to hear about the next day.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

At some point Tuesday night Madiyn fell out of the bed and hit her forehead on the table between the two beds. Marie and I both woke up, but after a few tears everyone fell back asleep. Maddy had a nice goose-egg on her head for the next few days.

Women are notorious for taking forever to get ready in the mornings, but the only man in our group was to blame for our late start Wednesday morning. Marie, Maddy, and I were dressed and ready to go while he was still fixing his hair and deciding what to wear.

After my husband FINALLY got dressed, we filled our mugs at Captain Cooks, and rode the monorail to Magic Kingdom the park had already been open for over an hour. There were noticably more people in Magic Kindom on Wednesday than there had been on Tuesday. That Josh does know what he's talking about

Since nothing at Captain Cooks had been very appealing, we decided to repeat yesterday's cinnamon roll breakfast at Main Street Bakery.

The photo pass guy took a few photos with my camera while his battery was recharging.

We also walked around the rose garden. I have to say my roses at home look healthier than the ones we saw there.

We headed for Tommorrowland.

There was no wait for Space Ranger Spin. I got the high score! At the exit of the ride we saw Buzz Lightyear with only a short line. Madilyn had done really well with the characters up to this point, but she wouldn't go near Buzz without me. I think the big space ranger suit was a little intimidating to her!

We also saw Chip and Dale, but they went back inside while we were meeting Buzz.

Jamie and I rode Space Mountain. We are in agreement that this is the worst roller coaster at WDW. It's hard to see anything and the ride is really jerky. Marie passed on the ride because she felt a little sick from our sugary breakfast.

We waited ten minutes to ride Astro Orbiter. This is one ride I wouldn't want to do again, the elevator ride up is crammed full of people. I hate being in small (especially warm) spaces with so many people.

We had done everything we wanted to do in Tommorrowland so we headed back towards the castle. We saw Merida's Meet & Greet, but skipped out after we saw how slowly the line was moving. Dream Along With Mickey was scheduled to start in a few minutes so we stood in front of the castle. Unfortunately, the show was canceled due to the light rain that had just started to fall.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We headed into Adventureland. We saw Aladdin and Jasmine near the Flying Carpet Ride, but they weren't letting anyone else into the line Pirates of the Carribbean had about a ten minute wait. We enjoyed finding Johnny Depp Jamie found a cool shirt for himself in the gift shop at the end of the ride.

Ariel and Eric were just outside the fairy meet and greet, but we decided to skip out on them. The wait for the fairy's was posted at 35 minutes. Similar to Mickey Mouse and friends at Epcot and also fairly accurate.

First up was Tinker Bell. She was perfectly in character I called her "Ma'am" and she corrected me saying that I could call her "Tink" or "Miss Belle", but certainly not "Ma'am" because she was "not Fairy Mary."

See her new winter outfit.

The next fairy was one I'd never seen before. By now we've all seen the previews on tv and I saw the new movie for sale last weekend, but I'd never heard of Periwinkle at the time of our trip. I had really hoped Maddy would see some of the fairies she knows from the movies, but now she's really looking forward to seeing The Secret of the Wings. I guess that's the whole idea And it was pretty cool to be among the first to meet Tink's sister. Periwinkle was a lot quieter than Tinker Bell. I liked her costume a lot!

After meeting the fairies we decided to get some lunch at Columbia Harbour House. We had originally planned to try Cosmic Ray's, but fish sounded good and it was closer. Everyone except Marie got fish. Maddy and I really liked it, but Jamie said it tasted just like frozen fish sticks. He has a point, but I happen to like frozen fish sticks and these were a lot bigger. Marie got the lobster roll which she said was really good. Our chocolate cake was really yummy, too!

After Lunch we headed over to Frontierland for another couple of rides on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Then we decided that a certain little girl needed a nap because we had big plans for that night!

I also have to add how much I love the characters in the shop windows.