2 kids, 2 dogs, 1200 miles: 2 weeks and 2 birthdays in Florida - COMPLETED!



For another perspective on ToT, check out my Facebook notes if you get the chance. I wrote up our experience on it from our trip in 2006.

:lmao::lmao::lmao: Very funny. I loved ToT. Only rode it once. My wife on the other hand hated it. In the picture they take on the ride, it looked like she has her head in my lap. :rotfl2: I still wish I had bought that picture. :lmao:
 
:lmao::lmao::lmao: Very funny. I loved ToT. Only rode it once. My wife on the other hand hated it. In the picture they take on the ride, it looked like she has her head in my lap. :rotfl2: I still wish I had bought that picture. :lmao:

FreezinRafiki said:
I forgot to mention (and was kindly reminded by DW) that Grandpa refers to this attraction as "Hotel Hell"

I'm glad I rode it once at least. The effects on that ride are astonishing. But it'll be a long time before I get back on... :laughing:
 


After a few days away from the boards, I had quite a bit of catching up to do. Your DHS day looks fun. My DD loves the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground too. She could stay in there all day.

We almost got an ADR to WCC last time but went with HDDR. I think we are going to eat at WCC in March. Sorry about the kids mac n cheese. I'll have to remember not to mention that to my DD. LOL

It seems nice to have a day off in-between park days. (I could imagine... we've never done it LOL). :goodvibes
 
I really love DHS, I think a lot of people don't give the park a real chance. I think some are in such a rush to hit the big attractions that they don't stop every once in a while and soak up all that is being offered. It appears by your pictures that you and your family took it all in. The "streetmosphere" is something I really enjoy and your daughter is just too cute in that chair.

Keep up the great work on the TR.:thumbsup2
 
:lmao::lmao::lmao: Very funny. I loved ToT. Only rode it once. My wife on the other hand hated it. In the picture they take on the ride, it looked like she has her head in my lap. :rotfl2: I still wish I had bought that picture. :lmao:

Years ago (before kids!) we convinced Bambi's dad to take his one and only ride. A few years before that he took a bad fall and has had some back issues since. The picture we got from that ride was priceless - he was pretty stoic, but Bambi, her brother, and her mom are all looking over at him to see how he's doing with it. He was fine, but this is when he nicknamed it Hotel Hell.

:rotfl:
Sharks with frickin' laser beams! That must have cost one MILLION dollars!

Actually, it was one BILLION dollars!

I'm glad I rode it once at least. The effects on that ride are astonishing. But it'll be a long time before I get back on... :laughing:

Heck, even to walk through the queue line and see how it's decorated is worth it, even if you don't ride.

We almost got an ADR to WCC last time but went with HDDR. I think we are going to eat at WCC in March. Sorry about the kids mac n cheese. I'll have to remember not to mention that to my DD. LOL

It seems nice to have a day off in-between park days. (I could imagine... we've never done it LOL). :goodvibes

WCC is totally worth it. It's a blast! And after reading your trip report, I think we'll try HDDR. :thumbsup2

We usually don't do off days either, but with 2 weeks of vacation it sure was nice to be able to put them in.

I really love DHS, I think a lot of people don't give the park a real chance. I think some are in such a rush to hit the big attractions that they don't stop every once in a while and soak up all that is being offered. It appears by your pictures that you and your family took it all in. The "streetmosphere" is something I really enjoy and your daughter is just too cute in that chair.

Keep up the great work on the TR.:thumbsup2

It's one of our 4 favorite parks!:rotfl2:
Seriously, though - you're right. There is so much of the stuff that people miss that really make a vacation. Combining all the times we've been there, we've probably spent hours watching those street performers.

fishin in the pool. worms, flys or night crawlers?:lmao:

Nah - 1/4 stick of dynamite with a water-proof fuse. Wait for the boom and the sploosh, then walk by with the fishin' net and skim 'em off the top!:rotfl:

(Note: if anyone from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is reading this, that last statement is purely hypothetical.):thumbsup2
 
Facebook 10/17 3:28pm: I guess we have to take the good with the bad on this vacation. Record Highs in the 90s last week, and record lows predicted for tomorrow night (upper 40s).

Oddly enough, I got absolutely no symphony from my friends back in Wisconsin for that comment. :rotfl2:

Facebook, 10/18 10:06 am: Phase two of the vacation starts today. We leave the dogs with Bambi's parents and check into Disney's Beach Club hotel this afternoon. Tonight is Mickey' Not So Scary Halloween Party.

I guess that pretty much says it all. I'm not sure I've ever taken a vacation while on vacation before, but it was pretty fun. We had bought into DVC before the in-laws moved down there. Despite having free lodging so close to Disney World, we never saw a reason to get ride of it. You can't beat the atmosphere of any Disney Resort Hotel, and besides - it gave the kids another pool to swim in!

We hung around until after lunch, kissed the dogs goodbye, and packed up some of our stuff to the Beach Club. Grandma & Grandpa would give us about an hour or so head start so we could get checked in and settled, then they would meet us there to go over to Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP.

We got room number 557. Sorry, no picture of the room number sign, but this was the view from our balcony:
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We dumped our stuff and got the kids changed into their costumes. All week we were very worried about the weather for tonight. Madison wanted to be Jasmine, which we though would be fine since we were in Florida. We decided to switch it so she would wear her Jasmine costume on her birthday when it was hot and Cinderella for the party. Evan had his Buzz Lightyear costume, which we thought he would sweat to death in. Up until a few days ago we were working on contingency plans for what to do if/when he overheated in that thing. By the time we were actually getting him dressed, we were wondering how many layers to put under it!

Grandma & Grandpa arrived and we headed off to MK - us on the bus and them in their car. They would leave right from there to head home after the party. The bus driver greeted Madison with a bow, and as we pulled away, he hit the button for a special announcement - something to the affect of "we have a princess on board, so everyone must be on their best royal behavior". Disney loves the little touches that make thing so much more special.

Luckily, we met up with Grandma & Grandpa just as we were getting off of the bus. We arrived about 4:30, got our wristbands and trick or treat bags and headed in.

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Somehow, this was our 10th day in Florida, and we still had not eaten Casey's Hot Dogs. (Mmmm...mini corn dogs) Madison, Evan and I grabbed a table outside and waited for the others to get the food. While we waited, Madison walked over to the piano and started toe-tapping along. He even let her lean over the rail to help him play.
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After she finished eating, she ran right back over to keep dancing while the rest of us finished up.

After dinner, we set off for Tomorrowland where the kids wanted to ride the TTA.
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While in line for the Astro-Orbiter.
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We had never done this ride before - It's nothing more than a spinning ride like Dumbo or Aladdin's Carpets, but being so much higher made it all that much cooler. The kids absolutely loved it! Ok, we all loved it.
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After we landed we started walking over towards Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. When out the corner of my eye, I saw the man himself. Madison wanted to ride, but Evan wanted to show off his suit:
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Buzz seemed to think that Evan was his replacement. After exchanging pleasantries and posing for photos with Evan, he waved goodbye and motioned for the next person in line to come get his picture with Evan and walked away. Evan stood there for a few seconds and the dad behind us actually came up for a picture with him. Buzz came back, high 5s were given and Evan hasn't stopped talking about it yet.


We couldn't find the rest of the family, and since Bambi was not answering her phone, we assumed they were still on Buzz's ride. We jumped in line and went in ourselves. Evan got quite a few salutes from the cast members while were boarding. He didn't use the gun much, but loved to push the lever to spin the car. But somehow when I looked over at the end, he had scored a few hundred points. Natural born assassin, that boy.


It was getting pretty close to the start of the Party, so we headed back behind the tea cup ride to get in line for Snow White and the 7 dwarfs. Grandpa is a very big fan of this movie and didn't want to pass up the opportunity for a group picture. I had read this this line fills up very quickly. By the time we got in line at about 6:30, we were already about 20 or so families back. We used this as a base of operations. Someone would hold the line while others went to ride the teacups or Goofy's Barnstormer. About 7:00, they came out and told us that Snow White & Friends would be out at 7:30. Hmm... what to do now? Send people on Candy runs, of course!

By the time they did arrive, the line stretched from their location behind the tea cups to just about into Toontown. That was a lot of people, and I'm so glad we got there early! Happy gets a kiss, and Snow White is very excited by Evan's space suit.
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Disney knows that this is a very popular attraction and they keep it moving quite well. They got people in and out in a hurry, yet we never really felt rushed. Good work on their part.


After the dwarfs, we did the Hunny Pots and rode Dumbo again. I was fiddling with the camera, and this came out. Kind of intersting.
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By the time Dumbo was back on the ground, the dance party was in full swing. Madison was getting a lot of attention from the Fairy Godmothers In Training.
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Each one sprinkled some pixie dust on her. By the time we left, it looked like Tinker Bell sneezed on her head.
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Daisy Duck
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After the carousel, we ran into a little water art from the custodial staff. I had actually read about these guys before we left. The are custodians who get training by the artwork team to draw characters with their mops. And as you can see from the picture, they're good at it.
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We wandered over to its a small world. I got in line for a picture with Cinderella's coach while everyone else rode that for about the 9th time this trip. Who got the better end of that deal?
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After I took one of little Cinderella with her ride, Bambi and Evan joined from stage left, and I set the camera down and ran in for a family shot. This is when things went horribly, horribly wrong. I know it sounds lame, but an old high school football injury came back to haunt me. I somehow took a wrong step or twisted just enough that my knee popped and sent a shooting pain up my leg. Lucky for you, it's captured on film.
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But I smile through it for a nice family photo.
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We walked (well, they walked, I limped) over to find a spot for HaloWishes. We settled on a nice spot next to a popcorn cart in the hub. I have a few seconds of video of the show. Not bad for being shot on my Blackberry with two kids wrapped up in blankets sitting on my lap, huh?





Awesome display. Disney knows how to do fireworks, that's for sure. From there, we sqeezed through the tiny bridge back to Liberty Square with about 7,000 of our closest friends. Grandpa and I took in the new Hall of Presidents while the women and children rode Peter Pan's flight again. The HoP is really well done and we enjoyed the show. Unfortunately, it we had to wait a bit longer than we had realized. By the time we came out, it was 10:30 and we had missed the Headless Horsemen starting the 2nd parade. I had seem him a few years ago and was really looking forward to him again.

We met up the the rest of the family near the bubblers by the river boat. (Some of you may refer to them as "water fountains" or "drinking fountains", but in Wisconsin, where they were invented (see here), they are known as bubblers. How's that for a history lesson inside a trip report!)

We were expecting the 2nd parade to be less popular. But at least where we were standing, it was packed! We were probably 5 or 6 people deep. I had Madison on my shoulders, Evan was up on Grandpa. Despite that, this really is a good parade.

Throughout the parade, I would glance over in disbelief at Splash Mountain. It's 50° and windy outside and people are getting soaked on that ride. I consider myself a pretty hardy Mid-Westerner, but the thought of that made me shiver.

After the parade, we wandered over to Adventure Land to ride the carpets again and then slowly made our way out, as both kids were pretty worn down.

As we rode the bus back to the Beach Club, the driver pointed out the lines of people waiting for a tram back to the parking lot. I have never seen those lines that long before. The driver was nice enough to turn on the interior lights and have us all wave as we drove by. :rotfl2:

The rest of the drive was uneventful as we arrived, went to the room, changed into our jammies and crashed.

Up next: Breakfast with Minnie, Goofy and Donald; shopping; and golfing Disney's Palm course.
 
It looks like you guys had a blast at MNSSHP! You hit a lot of rides too!

That pic of you in front of the coach is too funny!!!! :rotfl:

I can't believe the bus driver turned the lights on so you could wave to people standing in the tram line.... now that's just wrong! :lmao::lmao::lmao:
 
Great job on the TR, love the pics of MNSSHP, we are hoping to take a trip at this time of year. I was actually trying to push the family to move our Jan trip to Oct and maybe go for 2 weeks:cloud9:. But my older son says we should go for a week in Jan and a week in Oct.:lmao:

Smart kid, he must get it from his Mom:rotfl2:


Sorry, this looks painful, but I can't help but laugh :rotfl:

Hope it feels better.:)

That pic of you in front of the coach is too funny!!!! :rotfl:

Agreed!:lmao:
 
Disney loves the little touches that make thing so much more special.

They are the best, no doubt.

FreezinRafiki said:
After the dwarfs, we did the Hunny Pots and rode Dumbo again. I was fiddling with the camera, and this came out. Kind of intersting.
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Wow! They managed to incorporate the pink elephants scene! Disney is really amazing. :lmao:


FreezinRafiki said:
We wandered over to its a small world. I got in line for a picture with Cinderella's coach while everyone else rode that for about the 9th time this trip. Who got the better end of that deal?

Nice work! Still waiting for Nate's Its A Small War idea to catch on.

FreezinRafiki said:
After I took one of little Cinderella with her ride, Bambi and Evan joined from stage left, and I set the camera down and ran in for a family shot. This is when things went horribly, horribly wrong. I know it sounds lame, but an old high school football injury came back to haunt me. I somehow took a wrong step or twisted just enough that my knee popped and sent a shooting pain up my leg. Lucky for you, it's captured on film.

:lmao:

Your kids look great in their costumes!
 
It looks like you guys had a blast at MNSSHP! You hit a lot of rides too!

That pic of you in front of the coach is too funny!!!! :rotfl:

I can't believe the bus driver turned the lights on so you could wave to people standing in the tram line.... now that's just wrong! :lmao::lmao::lmao:

We had a game plan going in as to what we were going to do at the party. Snow White, Halowishes and the 2nd parade. Everything we could fit in between was bonus.

You can tell some of those drivers love their jobs. They'll talk the entire ride - history, trivia, etc. And if laughing at people in line is wrong, I don't want to be right!:lmao:

Great job on the TR, love the pics of MNSSHP, we are hoping to take a trip at this time of year. I was actually trying to push the family to move our Jan trip to Oct and maybe go for 2 weeks:cloud9:. But my older son says we should go for a week in Jan and a week in Oct.:lmao:

Smart kid, he must get it from his Mom:rotfl2:
You may want to bookmark this site for your son. You know, just in case. http://www.mensa.org/ :worship:


Sorry, this looks painful, but I can't help but laugh :rotfl:

Hope it feels better.:)
It's happened a few times before. I limp for about 30 minutes but then it feels better. And yes, I can sense changes in the weather by the ache in my knee. Geeze, I feel like an old man. Now GET OFF MY LAWN!:rotfl2:

Wow! They managed to incorporate the pink elephants scene! Disney is really amazing. :lmao:
We were watching that movie the other night. You have to wonder what was being passed around the animation room when that little beauty was being drawn. :upsidedow

Nice work! Still waiting for Nate's Its A Small War idea to catch on.
Bambi and I were just discussing that. They could incorporate the technology that they use at the shooting arcades with the laser guns and little targets next to each figure. Hit the elephant, and he drops the kids off his trunk into the water. Hit the guy on the tightrope, and the rope snaps plummeting the kid on the bike into the open jaws of the alligator with the pink umbrella. Hit the kid with the boomerang and his dingo dog starts chasing around. The possibilities are endless!

Your kids look great in their costumes!
:thanks:
 
Great Report. I just found and finished reading all of it. :surfweb:
I also am from Racine, WI...This is the first time I saw someone from where I am on here. I am leaving for Disney in 12 days with the kids, but the dog is staying home :)

Sounds like you had a great time so far, can't wait to read the rest..
 
Great Report. I just found and finished reading all of it. :surfweb:
I also am from Racine, WI...This is the first time I saw someone from where I am on here. I am leaving for Disney in 12 days with the kids, but the dog is staying home :)

Sounds like you had a great time so far, can't wait to read the rest..

So you live near me and will be out of town for a while, huh? Where exactly do you live, again? :idea:

Just kidding, just kidding. Are you driving or flying? On-site or off?

Thanks for reading and have a great trip!
 
We are starting out by staying at CBR for 4 nights then going to Saratoga for 3 nights then going to Vero Beach and staying in a beach Villa for 2 nights and ending the trip with 3 nights at Animal Kingdom.
We are Flying out of Milwaukee (Airtran)

Did both of your kids get the birthday thing they have this year? was it easy to get and what if anything did they choose? (the free enterance or the gift card or the fast passes?)
 
We are starting out by staying at CBR for 4 nights then going to Saratoga for 3 nights then going to Vero Beach and staying in a beach Villa for 2 nights and ending the trip with 3 nights at Animal Kingdom.
We are Flying out of Milwaukee (Airtran)

Did both of your kids get the birthday thing they have this year? was it easy to get and what if anything did they choose? (the free enterance or the gift card or the fast passes?)

Busy, busy! Holy cow! A split/split/split/split stay. That sounds like a lot of fun! If you do a trip report for it, post a link here. I'd love to read it.:thumbsup2
The birthday thing was very easy. Just sign up on Disney's Birthday website, print out the certificate that it creates for you, and bring that and the child's birth certificate to the ticket windows marked for "Will Call". Some windows may be marked "Birthday Tickets" or something similar.

Both of my kids got the free admission. They get a special Happy Birthday ticket with Mickey on it that is in their trip scrapbooks now!
 

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