3/29There's No Crying at the Guest Relations Counter..TheyTook Me Into the Back Room!

[appleorchard]

Well, we were definitely in a princess mood when we left the castle. But we'd seen most of the princesses already  except for one. Well, two actually, but one  Pocohontas  was back at the Magic Kingdom, and you know we weren't going back there.

So we set off to see Tiana. But we made a few detours on the way, like picking up a few jewels at Mickeys Philharmagic. J declined to go on the Carousel; we didn't get her on it once the entire trip. This kid will go on some crummy carnival carousel over and over, but when faced with the real deal, its:

No, thanks.

We bypassed The Haunted Mansion, because we think J isn't ready for it yet and the Hall of Presidents, because M thinks its a big snooze. And there was Tiana, right around the corner, with a really short line. In fact, we were the second people in it.

Naveen wasnt there today; sometimes he is, sometimes he isnt. J doesnt seem to care, either way; the only prince she really seems to like is Eric. Maybe thats because, on our first trip, when J ran and threw herself at Ariel, knocking her backward, Prince Eric was laughing his head off.

Chatting with Ariel and Eric last year after knocking her over

Oh, and Aladdin. But then, who doesnt like Aladdin?

Ignoring Jasmine and hanging with Aladdin last August

So we checked Tiana off our list and headed, with trepidation, towards Pixie Hollow. With trepidation because I knew the line would be an hour long; it always is. And no fastpass. But at least it's inside.

We wiled away the time taking turns leaving and going to the bathroom, getting a snack and checking out the gift shops. Finally, we got up to Tink and spent a few minutes conversing. We'd recently -- as in the day before we left for our trip --  seen Tink at Disney on Ice --  yes, M really hates to have J miss anything in life, so we cram it all in. So we had lots to talk about.

J chatting with Tink

Then we saw the other fairy; Im not good with their names, Terence is the only other one I actually recognize, although I know one of their names starts with an R. I ca'nt get into the Tinkerbell movies at all.

We watched the Castle show after that; I never get sick of this show, and luckily J doesn't either. She was dancing to it standing on the bench; she got this new dance move where she kind of moves her hands in the opposite direction of her feet; its very cute and people were looking at her and smiling, which made her self-conscious, so she stopped. I did get some of it on video, though.

With this and that it was after 2 by the time we left to try and get in a bit of swimmingtheir plan, not mine, Id learned my lesson by then. We had to be back tonight for the dessert party around 7, so we figured wed eat at the Contempo Café for an early dinner, head to the Magic Kingdom, maybe do a few rides and then go to the Dessert Party.

M loves this party. J slept through it last time we went. The entire thing. She didn't eat a single cookie. The first time they went was the first time Id ever been there and we went to the wrong place, because I thought I knew what I was doing and I didn't. It went like this:

After irritating my son-in-law by taking J away from Caseys to watch the Castle show(I should find out the name of this someday), we walked over to what I thought was the Tomorrowland Terrace for the party. We walked past the Plaza restaurant and then headed down the steps on the left. To the terrace. Isnt that a terrace, down there?

It had tables set up and a person with a checklist guarding the steps. Its also where the DSA was. M was thrilled.

Name? asked the person with the list.

I gave her my name. All of our names, even.

She looked at the list. And looked. And looked.

"You're not on the list," she finally said. She even managed to look a little sad for me.

I told her we must be. I told her to please check again. I almost started crying, because this trip was already a mess, if you remember that I told you.

She took pity on us and told us to go on in.

It was strange. There were no names on the tables. There were also no desserts.

Very strange.

It was freezing, so M and her DH went off to buy him a sweatshirt. I nearly dropped dead when he came back in a Mickey sweatshirt. You cant imagine how out of character this was. You really can't.

But that was later. That they came back. Because while they were gone, I suddenly realized that we were in the wrong place.

And I didn't know what to do. M wasn't answering her phone. I was afraid to leave and afraid to stay. I went up to the lady with the list (whose private party we'd crashed) and told her that when they came back, to please tell them I had messed up. And they should hurry up before all the desserts were gone.

So J and I checked in at the REAL dessert party, and miraculously, M and M made it back in time to get some desserts before the fireworks started.

Ever since then, M has loved the dessert party and wanted to go every time. Dont ask me why. It wasn't a very auspicious first visit there.

And this one had its problems too. All of our own making.

Next chapter

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Loving your report, too bad it's almost over. You must keep posting for each report hereafter.

 

[Enchantress01]

Sounds like a wonderful last day, especially for J! Princesses, fairies and jewels-oh my!

Thanks for the jewel tip btw; I can't wait to try it with my grandcuties.

The dessert party "caper" was hilarious! (although, I'm sure it wasn't at the time) Soooo glad you figured it out in time. I'm always on the fence about the dessert party so I'm anxious to hear what you thought about it.

Hopefully, you'll find time to do another TR for your upcoming trip. I will certainly be along for the ride!

 

[minandmick]

I have loved reading your trip report! I love your style of writing and hope you do many more trip reports in the future!

OH, and just so Disney knows, children CAN get past the turnstyles. Last year, at Hollywood Studios, my friend's little boy got past them and to the buses before another guest brought him to a cast member to bring back inside the park. He said he lost his family and was thinking maybe they went back to the hotel so he went out of the park and to the buses by himself. He was 5 at the time. My friend said it all happened in a matter of minutes!

 

[shalom]

Our last day is always so bittersweet—I’m sure that’s true for most of us. We hate to see a single minute go by, knowing that the next day we’ll be back to the grind of worrying about work, adding up the bills, wishing we’d done certain things differently and—in our case—heading back to colder weather, although, wouldn’t you know it, New Jersey was having a heat wave the week we were gone.

That's one of the reasons I'm glad we drive. When we leave Orlando, we still have "vacation-y" things to do, plus the drive gives us lots of time to absorb and process the vacation, plus tires us out enough we're ready to be home by the time we get there.

I can understand Queen M's jealousy (my 18-year-old son is heading back to WDW in a few weeks, and I'm not ), but I think your approach makes sense. One of the exciting things about visiting grandma when we were kids was that we'd get very individualized attention; tough to get that if all the grandkids are around! Although she'll mix cousins (one kid from one family, one from another), my mom won't take more than two grandkids at a time, because she thinks one of the advantages of being a grandma is being able to cater to one (or two well-matched) kids' preferences, so that the bigger kids don't have to do "baby stuff", while the little ones can spend as long as they please exploring without an older sibling getting bored.

 

[appleorchard]

Loving your report, too bad it's almost over. You must keep posting for each report hereafter.

I hate for it to end, too! I don't know if my son and DIL will want me to write about our trip in May-- that's a whole 'nother dynamic lol. But M,J and I will be back in October!

Sounds like a wonderful last day, especially for J! Princesses, fairies and jewels-oh my!

Thanks for the jewel tip btw; I can't wait to try it with my grandcuties.

You won't regret it! It's one of the most "special" things, for J.

The dessert party "caper" was hilarious! (although, I'm sure it wasn't at the time) Soooo glad you figured it out in time. I'm always on the fence about the dessert party so I'm anxious to hear what you thought about it.

Hopefully, you'll find time to do another TR for your upcoming trip. I will certainly be along for the ride!

I SOOO wanted to look like the Disney expert on their first visit and instead I looked like a bit of an idiot lol.

I have loved reading your trip report! I love your style of writing and hope you do many more trip reports in the future!

OH, and just so Disney knows, children CAN get past the turnstyles. Last year, at Hollywood Studios, my friend's little boy got past them and to the buses before another guest brought him to a cast member to bring back inside the park. He said he lost his family and was thinking maybe they went back to the hotel so he went out of the park and to the buses by himself. He was 5 at the time. My friend said it all happened in a matter of minutes!

Oh, my gosh -- I hope she followed up big-time with Disney. That poor little guy--and his poor parents! I'd be beyond livid. And another guest had to bring him back. Amazing.

That's one of the reasons I'm glad we drive. When we leave Orlando, we still have "vacation-y" things to do, plus the drive gives us lots of time to absorb and process the vacation, plus tires us out enough we're ready to be home by the time we get there.

I can understand Queen M's jealousy (my 18-year-old son is heading back to WDW in a few weeks, and I'm not ), but I think your approach makes sense. One of the exciting things about visiting grandma when we were kids was that we'd get very individualized attention; tough to get that if all the grandkids are around! Although she'll mix cousins (one kid from one family, one from another), my mom won't take more than two grandkids at a time, because she thinks one of the advantages of being a grandma is being able to cater to one (or two well-matched) kids' preferences, so that the bigger kids don't have to do "baby stuff", while the little ones can spend as long as they please exploring without an older sibling getting bored.

Maybe if I had more than three, they'd be used to me splitting my attention. But each of them is pretty used to being the big cheese with me, so there's lots of competition when they're all together!

For our trip in May, M and E, who are 11 and 8, are going to be a challenge, because E doesn't have a fearful bone in her body while M is not as brave about rides. Should be interesting!

 

[LibbyLovesDisney]

Can't wait to read more into this one!
I have so many TR to read! SO LITTLE TIME!

 

[shalom]

For our trip in May, M and E, who are 11 and 8, are going to be a challenge, because E doesn't have a fearful bone in her body while M is not as brave about rides. Should be interesting!

Yeah, if there are only two kids it makes sense to take them both at once, but that'll be a challenge I think. Mom had an interesting combo the first time she mixed cousins -- my eldest and the cousin who idolizes her. Unfortunately, my eldest does NOT like to go-and-do, but her cousin does; mom and dad split duties a lot and that worked fine, but since then said cousin has visited grandma with one of my other kids -- the ones who will actually go somewhere with her.

Do I remember rightly that you'll have M and E's parent or parents along? That'll be a help I'd think; we do better at Disney when there are enough adults (parent or sibling) to split up regularly, because while we have no true dare-devils, our ride tolerances vary considerable. If there's someone else along, grandma can go on the rides with the adventurous kid in the morning and the cautious kid in the afternoon, too, so everyone gets "grandma sitting beside me" time. If not, I'm sure you'll work it out.

If the parents are coming, I'm tempted to ask if there'll be as many DSA visits, but I'll resist.

 

[appleorchard]

Yeah, if there are only two kids it makes sense to take them both at once, but that'll be a challenge I think. Mom had an interesting combo the first time she mixed cousins -- my eldest and the cousin who idolizes her. Unfortunately, my eldest does NOT like to go-and-do, but her cousin does; mom and dad split duties a lot and that worked fine, but since then said cousin has visited grandma with one of my other kids -- the ones who will actually go somewhere with her.

Do I remember rightly that you'll have M and E's parent or parents along? That'll be a help I'd think; we do better at Disney when there are enough adults (parent or sibling) to split up regularly, because while we have no true dare-devils, our ride tolerances vary considerable. If there's someone else along, grandma can go on the rides with the adventurous kid in the morning and the cautious kid in the afternoon, too, so everyone gets "grandma sitting beside me" time. If not, I'm sure you'll work it out.






















If the parents are coming, I'm tempted to ask if there'll be as many DSA visits, but I'll resist.

NO DSA visits with this group, which should speed things up a bit! But my son, who said he was "burned out" on Disney after their last trip with my DIL's mom in December 2011, has ALL sorts of suggestions for things we need to do--he who originally said, "Just tell me when and where to show up lol." They'll be there the last 4 days- seriously, they might just as well come for the whole time.

Every group is stressful in their own way.

 

[Enchantress01]

I SOOO wanted to look like the Disney expert on their first visit and instead I looked like a bit of an idiot lol.

Oh stop, not at all! I'm sure we've all been turned around at one point or another. I tried on the "expert" hat at MCO because I knew exactly which side of the airport DME would be on because of all of my Dis knowledge. So help me, you had to see us going up, down and all around that airport until we stumbled upon those little blue mickeys on the ground. In my defense, they really need to improve the signage in that place.

You made the trip really fun for J and M! I'm sure you'll have a great time on the next trip too.

 

[appleorchard]

Oh stop, not at all! I'm sure we've all been turned around at one point or another. I tried on the "expert" hat at MCO because I knew exactly which side of the airport DME would be on because of all of my Dis knowledge. So help me, you had to see us going up, down and all around that airport until we stumbled upon those little blue mickeys on the ground. In my defense, they really need to improve the signage in that place.

You made the trip really fun for J and M! I'm sure you'll have a great time on the next trip too.

Oh, I hate being wrong about which side of the airport to go to! Been there, done that one too lol.

We had a really busy weekend-- Easter egg hunts, cake decorating at the grocery store and then T ball on Saturday. Church today, then I had a home visit for a preemie just released from the hospital, then a board meeting for a charity I'm involved with at 5 and I just got home.

It's supposed to snow here tonight and I've got a bus run tomorrow morning,(riding with medically fragile kids to and from school on the bus in case of emergencies) so got to go to bed. Not enough time to write and finish this thing!

 

[Enchantress01]

Whew! I thought I was busy with my crew...I'm exhausted just reading that.You are really going to need your next trip!

In the meantime, I'm waiting to see if we get the snow too. Yikes! Where's spring already?

Thanks for the amazing TR; so glad you had a wonderful trip! No worries, when and if you get back to it, I'll be here.

 

[appleorchard]

I'll skip over the pool time, except to say that it was cold and I didn't put more than two toes in the water before retreating to a chaise lounge, a big towel to wrap up in and several small towels strewn across my legs and feet for good measure.

Somehow, we whiled away enough time at the pool and starting to pack up the room -a monumental task, if you saw all the stuff M brings with her and the stuff we accumulate while were there --  that we ran a little late on our time.

Thinking about packing up our stuff. You can see M lying down while she mulls over the best way to pack it all.

So we walked over to the Contempo Café for a quick dinner, because they've got some pretty good stuff over there.

We ate, and I made the first of several mistakes for the evening.

Let's take the monorail, since were already here, instead of walking over the Magic Kingdom, I said.

M stupidly agreed with me, but only after some discussion of my feet and under duress.

It seemed like a good idea. We'd already walked back and forth once. My feet were getting tired.

I never should have put my feet first.

My feet are kind of a trump card. Last year, after working a night shift where I honestly hardly leave my chair (it's a home care case and my client is asleep) I noticed in the morning that the ball of my foot was very swollen.

VERY swollen.

I went to see the podiatrist that morning. Didn't even go to sleep. I could hardly see straight, but it was worth it.

My podiatrist was very impressed with my foot.

"There's a significant amount of swelling here," he said.

I'm so glad to know that Im every bit as good at diagnosing a swollen foot as my podiatrist.

Well, after X-rays and CT scans and blood tests, the answer was a torn tendon. On the bottom of my foot.

My podiatrist was impressed again.

This is the kind of injury we only see when people fall off a tall building or something, he said.

I tore the flexor hallucis brevis tendon. No one ever heard of it. There's almost no information on it on the internet. Probably because if you fall off a tall building, a torn tendon on the bottom of your foot is the least of your worries.

The day after I found this out, DH and I left for Disney World. Where resting your foot is really easy.

Yes, I got a scooter. Hated doing it. Felt like an imposter. In my mind, there was nothing wrong with me.

After the trip, things were no better. Three months non- weight bearing. NON weight bearing. I had a little scooter thing for the house that I rested my knee on as I drove around, crashing into walls.

It looked ridiculous. But it allowed me to leave the house.

So thats the long explanation for why, when I mention that my foot hurts, M jumps to attention and does whatever I want her to.

J was happy to ride the monorail. She still loves it, because she slept through our monorail debacle a few nights ago, if you remember.

The monorail was sllllllloowwwwwww. It didn't come to a complete halt, like it had a few nights before, but it just seemed a little tired as it chugged along the tracks. We had several brief stops waiting for traffic to clear. We waited for people to mosey up the walkway at the TTC. M almost had time to get out and take a quick smoke break.

We finally got to the Magic Kingdom, emptied out the stroller once again and got through the gates. I cant remember what time it was. But I knew it was late enough that we should go over and get into the dessert party instead of messing around.

J in the castle on our August visit, just because it's a cute picture

"Lets go see Monsters, Inc." M suggested.

"We should go to the dessert party and wait. Its only 15 minutes before we can get in," I answered, because I knew, somehow, that this was a bad idea.

"Oh, but they're right next to each other," M parried.

We hadn't seen the show yet this trip and M really likes it. J slept though it the last time we saw it. So I gave in.

Mistake number 2.

We must have missed entering a show by the skin of our teeth, because we waited a long time. I like this show, but I hate the wait to get into it. We never get there at the last minuteever.

J wanted to play with the bubbles when you first go in, but I rushed her past them, in the vain hope of getting into a show right away.

Nah.

We waited 15 minutes and then got into the show, which also lasts about that time. It was cute; it's always cute. Not hilarious, like it sometimes is. But cute.

And when we got, its was 7:30. It was 7:35 when we got to the Dessert party. Well, J and I did. M had to find a DSA first.

Wishes started at 8. The projections on the castle started at 7:45. That left around five minutes to choose our desserts and wolf them down before finding a spot on the rail.

Not the most relaxing start to the dessert party, which costs around $5 per little tiny cookie or cake and should be savored.


Next chapter

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Another great update! Hope you got to enjoy the dessert party after all. The foot story telling was hilarious (sorry you had go through it though)

 

[appleorchard]

Another great update! Hope you got to enjoy the dessert party after all. The foot story telling was hilarious (sorry you had go through it though)

I think maybe we've done it one too many times in a row--it didn't have quite the same affect on us as it did in the past-- as if two other times constitutes a past lol.

Almost finished so I'm just dragging my feet with the last few installments... in the meantime, here's a picture of a rainbow I took on one of DH's and my last trips.

 

[Enchantress01]

You tore your what WHAT?????! So sorry to hear that but the way you described it was so funny!

Thank goodness for those scooters! My mom used them and it really helped to make the trip enjoyable.

I'm glad you made the dessert party. I hate being frazzled and having to skid into events at the last minute. But at Disney as soon as the fireworks, ride, meal, parade, etc. starts - I forget the stress and the anxiety just melts away.

J looks so adorable looking up at that beautiful mosiac.

 

[LAC1990]

Appleorchard ....... I've enjoyed reading you trip report! I am a DVC Member and I am still learning about the membership. I was wondering if you could explain what is an "owners locker"? Who do you call for one and where are the located! Also, I have never heard of the dessert party before. Where is it located and how do you register for it??.

Thank you!

Lisa
Saratoga Springs --- Spring Break 2013

 

[appleorchard]

So we were late. And rushed. I was grabbing desserts for J and me while M was out doing her thing, getting J a drink, going back for napkins, getting her another of those things she liked, and nervously watching the clock.

Needless to say, I had a stomach ache by the time the Castle projection show started.

I really love this show. Specifically, I like the Tangled and POTC sections. I'm sorry they took the family pictures away, even though I could never really see them. Maybe they didn't take them away; maybe I just still cant see them.

We were sitting fairly close to the desserts and pretty near the front, so we had a decent view. But for some reason, the sound wasn't coming across right hereeverything sounded a bit muffled. This has never been a problem before, but it was disconcerting.

At first, I thought it might all be due to the bigmouth standing with his three-year-old in front of us. Lord, this guy was loud and he was explaining every bleeping thing to the kid.

Now, at first, I thought he might be deaf and the kid blind. (Just kidding about this, but holy cow, do you have to tell the kid every single thing hes seeing?)

I do understand the loud part; M can be loud because she has some hearing loss from ear infections that weren't properly treated in Korea. But his conversation went like this:

Look, child, (in his booming voice), It's a train going around the castle!

Oh, do you see that big blue whatever? Look, it's a yellow something else with green sparkles! See how it moves up the castle? Wow, watch those fireworks; did you see that, child?

Naturally, it was hard to hear the music, the narrator or anything else if you were anywhere within half a mile of this guy. And he wasn't just talking to child; he'd yell commentary back to his family somewhere in South America at regular intervals too.

So by the time it was over, I was determined to go stand somewhere else to watch Wishes. This is, after all, why we pay for this partyto see the shows.

In peace.

I guess nobody told this guy. Though he couldn't have thought he was paying all that money just to eat some very small cakes.

So I moved down a bit for Wishes, where I could hear a bit better. But it wasn't a magic experience. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Being rushed put a definite damper on it for me, but M also wasn't as impressed with the dessert party this time, either. We decided we'd skip it next time.

So Wishes ended and everyone exited, and we went to find a bathroom and a DSA for M again. Since there are both down on the terrace where we mistakenly went for our first dessert party, we ended up sitting down there for a bit.

And, amazingly, they played the Castle show again.

I could hear it and even better, see it better from down here.

And guess what? It was magical.

The magic was back.

Just in time for us to have to go home, but it didn't matter. We knew it would be there the next time we came back.

Since I didn't have time to take pictures this night, here's some random pictures from other events with magic. Like this parade.

A 3-D show, but which one? Beats me.

The really fun sidewalks in Epcot at the end of the night.

Next chapter

 

[appleorchard]

You tore your what WHAT?????! So sorry to hear that but the way you described it was so funny!

Thank goodness for those scooters! My mom used them and it really helped to make the trip enjoyable.

I'm glad you made the dessert party. I hate being frazzled and having to skid into events at the last minute. But at Disney as soon as the fireworks, ride, meal, parade, etc. starts - I forget the stress and the anxiety just melts away.

J looks so adorable looking up at that beautiful mosiac.

Flexor hallucis brevis tendon lol. You can find lots on the hallucis longus or the extensor, but what I tore-- not so much.

Appleorchard ....... I've enjoyed reading you trip report! I am a DVC Member and I am still learning about the membership. I was wondering if you could explain what is an "owners locker"? Who do you call for one and where are the located! Also, I have never heard of the dessert party before. Where is it located and how do you register for it??.

Thank you!

Lisa
Saratoga Springs --- Spring Break 2013

An Owner's Locker is something you rent from the company of the same name. It stays in Florida, and you just ask for them to deliver it whenever you go down. Their service is fantastic and it saves packing so much stuff.

The dessert party is listed as a special event on the Disney site, but it's held almost every night. Reservations aren't available until 4-6 weeks before the date; it's called Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party. It's a great place to watch the fireworks depending, of course, on who else is on the terrace lol.

 

[SusieBea]

You have no idea how much I've enjoyed your TR! I love the sarcasm and your method of expressing it! I will be sorry to see this end. Looking forward to your next trip (oh, and mine, too).