5 days on $1300!?! Did we do it? - a July 2011 TR - update 2/15: Link to new PTR!

[ksl5f123]

This is why I have not been to Fantasmic! before...I need to do the package. Everytime the line is cut off because there are so many people!

Crazy, isn't it? I couldn't believe how many people were packed in there. If you want to see it, you really need to do the package.

This is awesome! I loved this part! Don't you love it when everything works out int he end and they have wonderful memories to carry with them!?

It was such a relief. The girls were so cute rushing to call Daddy and tell him how good the show was.

Sorry about having to cancel the ADRs but I bet you still managed to find something awesome and fun to replace them! Can't wait to hear!!

We did our best.

 

[ksl5f123]

I left you with the question: Would we make rope drop at the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday morning? The answer? YES! To my great surprise, the girls happily got up at 7 AM Wednesday morning, got dressed and enjoyed some oatmeal (now that we had some milk). We left the condo at 8 AM and were getting out of our van in the parking lot only 14 minutes later!

We decided to take the ferry over that morning from the TTC. We went through bag check and were the 3rd family at our turnstyle that morning. We chose the right-most turnstyle on the left side so that we also had a great view of the opening show.

Now came the great challenge – what do we do? We had done all of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland on Monday. Do we repeat them? If not, what do we choose. While we are standing there, I ask the girls what the want to do and probably unsurprisingly, they choose all of Fantasyland. OK, at least I have a great plan for that!

When the park opens, we head up Main Street and do something we never do. Something that breaks all the rules of good touring plans. Something that can “put you behind the crowds” all day. Something so simple. We stop for Photopass pictures! I know, I know, you are never supposed to do this if you are trying to get to Dumbo. But, we did it anyway because at 9 AM, there were only a couple of people in the background of our pictures. Who could resist!

Now that we feel like touring plan rebels, we head off to Dumbo and still make the 3rd cycle. Here are the girls in line (notice the spray bottles they have on their lanyards this morning – they will be REALLY important in just a minute):

and here we are boarding our elephant at 9:06 AM!

A view of the castle (showing a not yet busy Fantasyland):

And some of the Fantasyland construction (it has really come a long way from how it looked when we were there in March!)

After Dumbo, we headed over here:

(arriving at 9:11 AM).

Here are the girls waiting to board:

So far, everything this morning has gone perfectly – there was no traffic, we easily boarded a ferry, we made rope drop, we got great pictures, we rode Dumbo. Obviously that means we are due for something to go wrong. Yep!

It is our turn to board Peter Pan. The CM asks how many in our party. I reply, “3”. She says take that one. DD7 steps onto the moving walkway and …...... BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is a huge popping noise. The other CM working the ride immediately hits the emergency stop. What could have made that noise? Did a ride vehicle fall? Was there a gunshot? What could it be?

I look frantically at DD7 wondering what could have caused that horrible noise. Remember that spray bottle I told you to pay attention to? Yeah, it EXPLODED!!!!!!!! Luckily, it only broke into about 3 pieces. We quickly picked them up and made sure DD7 hadn't gotten hurt. The CM who did the emergency stop asked if we needed a towel to clean up the water and the CM at the loading point said, “No, there isn't very much.” We apologize for causing a disturbance and DD7 steps back off of the moving walkway. They restart the ride and we get to board and ride. I will have to say that I didn't enjoy the ride as much as I usually do. I was still so shocked (and a little embarrassed).

We learned a few things from this incident: 1) CMs have lightning fast reflexes. He hit that emergency stop so fast I had no idea what had happened. 2) Do not let 7 year olds pump those bottles. They clearly build up too much pressure and cause explosions.

BTW, if you were riding Peter Pan at 9:12 AM on Wednesday July 13, I am sorry that we made your ride stop.

On our way out, we grab our first set of fastpasses for the day. I figured it would be good to have a more relaxing ride on Peter Pan later in the day.

 

[Mombits]

Thanks for the info! I'll check into the YES program further if we ever get even close to being able to do something like that. Right now all our energies are focused on the trip to Europe that we have planned for 2013.

I can see why you would be so disappointed in missing out on those ressies if your dh doesn't want to eat there

Oh my!! I can't believe that thing exploded!!!Holy Cats!! I'd have had a heart attack and then been so embarrassed. Poor kid, I'll bet she was embarrassed too.

 

[ksl5f123]

Thanks for the info! I'll check into the YES program further if we ever get even close to being able to do something like that. Right now all our energies are focused on the trip to Europe that we have planned for 2013.

I can see why you would be so disappointed in missing out on those ressies if your dh doesn't want to eat there

Oh my!! I can't believe that thing exploded!!!Holy Cats!! I'd have had a heart attack and then been so embarrassed. Poor kid, I'll bet she was embarrassed too.

Oooh, a trip to Europe. That sounds like wonderful fun! We have been to Italy twice (I LOVE Italy), but I would really like to go to Germany/Austria/Switzerland. Maybe some day...

I couldn't believe it exploded either. Now, I admit as a physics professor, I knew it was theoretically possible to build up too much pressure and cause that to happen. I just didn't think my 7 year old could do it!

Even though she didn't say anything and nobody blamed her for what was clearly an accident, I would guess she was probably embarrassed too. Chaulk that up as another reason we rode again later.

 

[ksl5f123]

When we last left off, we were exiting an eventful ride on Peter Pan. Our next stop was Winnie the Pooh. There was about a 5 minute wait when we arrived at 9:24 AM. I sort of wish it had been longer because the girls were having so much fun in the interactive queue.

Playing with the “honey” walls – I love these. They are so neat. However, the engineer in me just can't imagine how they are going to hold up long term.

Honeypots in the background:

We had a fun ride on Winnie the Pooh and then decided to go ride the Teacups (9:37 AM for those keeping track). We often skip this ride because it is the only ride at the Magic Kingdom that DH will NOT ride. But, since he wasn't with us, we were off to do some spinning.

DD7 is excited. DD5 is leary.

DD7 loves the teacups and would have enjoyed going as fast as we could possibly spin it. Her sister does not share this enthusiasm. She spent a large portion of the ride saying, "no faster, no faster!"

When we exited the ride, a Photopass photographer came over and handed us a card. He had been taking pictures of us while we rode.

You can see that DD7 was smiling from ear to ear. She was really having a great time! : DD5 was trying to have fun, but was certainly concerned.

Just outside the Teacups, we noticed that Alice and the White Rabbit were meeting. We have never met either of them. This was one of the few moments where I regretted deciding not to bring autograph books on this trip.

Our next stop was the Carousel (at 9:52 AM). I am still a little sad that we missed this one on Monday when DD5's princess hair looked better.

After the carousel, we headed over to ride it's a small world. I didn't take any pictures on this one, we just enjoyed it.

When we pulled our Peter Pan fastpasses, we got the bonus Philharmagic ones also. I was surprised by this. They used to come with the Winnie the Pooh fastpasses. Anyway, we decided to see the show for the first time in 5 years. I was scarred by our first two visits to Philharmagic with children – both led to me leaving the theater with screaming kids in my arms. DD7 saw the show at 2 years old and was terrified by it. DD5 saw the show at 1 year old and couldn't take the volume (we didn't know then that she has really sensitive hearing like I do).

We tried really hard to find a CM to take our fastpass, but there wasn't anyone around. We just walked right into the theater, got our glasses and sat down with no more than a 2 minute wait. Since we hadn't seen this in the girls' memory, they liked the little staging area where we waited for the theater to open. I warned them that this movie would be like the Muppet one at DHS which we saw last June with the appearance of things coming out of the screen. I reminded them that if it bothered them all they needed to do was remove their glasses.

It didn't matter – they LOVED the show. :thumbsup: I was happy (I really didn't want to remove screaming kids) and now it is something we can put back on our itineraries.

We finished up our morning in Fantasyland by using our Peter Pan fastpasses. By 11 AM we had done everything in Fantasyland (except ride Snow White – although I did try again to convince them), including Peter Pan twice, and met Alice and the White Rabbit. I call that a successful morning!

 

[TinksThree]

Wow what an amazing morning!! I love seeing the pictures of the expansion and how fast it seems to change! I also love that the Photopass Photographer got your pictures on the tea cups! That is very cool and what a great memory that you could have not captured!

We adore Mickey's Philharmagic!! I have heard several people say they got bonus FPs for this when they got PP FPs. I have wondered about that since the longest we have ever waited is 15 minutes. Even at Spring Break.

 

[teekathepony]

Holy cow! I think if my water bottle exploded the CM's would be picking me up from the floor too!
Glad the kids liked PhilharMagic this time, I love that show!

 

[sherylcin]

Wow! It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're there at rope drop! I think I will use this as ammunition to convince my daughter (not a morning person) that it's worth it at least once!

Also wanted to say I noticed the girls outfits and they are so cute. Is Ariel the favorite princess right now? Anyway, what a great idea. The Toy Story skirts and shirts were adorable too. You are quite creative!

Thanks for the construction progress pics too. Hoping something is done and open when we go next February. I'm afraid I'm with your husband about the teacups. I can't do round and round without feeling . Glad you all enjoyed them!

 

[ksl5f123]

Wow what an amazing morning!! I love seeing the pictures of the expansion and how fast it seems to change! I also love that the Photopass Photographer got your pictures on the tea cups! That is very cool and what a great memory that you could have not captured!

We adore Mickey's Philharmagic!! I have heard several people say they got bonus FPs for this when they got PP FPs. I have wondered about that since the longest we have ever waited is 15 minutes. Even at Spring Break.

They are building really fast in the expansion. I was surprised at how much it had changed in the 3.5 months between our two trips.

I was so happy that the Photopass guy was there! Such fun pictures!

I kind of think the Philharmagic fastpasses are given out to remind people that attraction is there. It is easy to get caught up in all of the rides and miss Philharmagic altogether.

 

[ksl5f123]

Holy cow! I think if my water bottle exploded the CM's would be picking me up from the floor too!
Glad the kids liked PhilharMagic this time, I love that show!

Yeah. If that had happened to me instead of DD7 I probably would have had a more dramatic reaction. DD7 just wanted to get on the ride!

I was happy about Philharmagic too. I love getting to add new things to our touring plans as the kids get older.

 

[ksl5f123]

Wow! It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're there at rope drop! I think I will use this as ammunition to convince my daughter (not a morning person) that it's worth it at least once!

Also wanted to say I noticed the girls outfits and they are so cute. Is Ariel the favorite princess right now? Anyway, what a great idea. The Toy Story skirts and shirts were adorable too. You are quite creative!

Thanks for the construction progress pics too. Hoping something is done and open when we go next February. I'm afraid I'm with your husband about the teacups. I can't do round and round without feeling . Glad you all enjoyed them!

I think rope drop is crucial to getting a lot done in the parks. By mid afternoon, I am usually too hot to really enjoy the park - so I don't want to be there then. Mornings work really well for us.

Thank you for your compliments on the outfits. We already had the Toy Story shirts from our last trip. I just made the skirts to go with them. Then we each picked one fabric for the other 3 days. This is the fabric that DD7 choose. She actually prefers Aurora, but wanted blue fabric and we couldn't find Aurora on a blue background.

Strangely, the teacups don't bother me. But if the kids make Dumbo go up and down too fast - I'm in trouble.

 

[ksl5f123]

After our wonderful morning in Fantasyland, we were off to Adventureland and Aladdin's Magic Carpets. As we walked past the Adventureland veranda, I contemplated a stop to meet Ariel since we all had our Little Mermaid outfits on, but her line was quite long (about 45 minutes) and we were getting pretty hot. I didn't even mention her presence and we continued on to the Magic carpets. DD7 hadn't ridden these in years because we have been sending her with DH to ride Big Thunder Mountain while I ride Aladdin with the little ones. DD7 tried hard to add BTMRR to our itinerary, but DD5 would not budge.

We arrived at Aladdin a little after 11 AM. Usually, I like to get here earlier, but the line was still only about 5 minutes. Since she hadn't ridden it in a while, DD7 really enjoyed flying the carpet. Somehow, I didn't get any pictures.

After Aladdin, it was time for lunch! We went back to Columbia Harbour House since it was pretty close to where we were. My receipt says we got our lunch at 11:26. We ordered one adult order of chicken nuggets with fries (the girls didn't eat any of the fish on Monday so we decided to go with all chicken this time) and one kid's mac and cheese with grapes, applesauce, and chocolate milk. We also got two cups of water. Grand total $13.72 for plenty of food for all 3 of us! We sat at the same table at the top of the stairs as we had on Monday.

Now that we were nourished, we went back to Adventureland and tried another new attraction (at least to us). We climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse. The girls have never seen the movie, so I explained the basics of the plot to them as we started in. Once again, I will say that I can never predict what my girls will like because they really liked this!

Views from the top:

We must have eaten lunch at a lightning pace, because my camera says these pictures were taken at 12:04 PM.

The only other thing we wanted to do before our break was to head up front to see Mickey and the princesses. Once again, their wait times were listed at an hour long. I do not stand in one hour long lines! So, we got fastpasses for both sets. Our return time for Mickey was 1:20 PM and for the princesses was 2:20 PM! We decided we would shop our way up and down Main Street and then see Mickey. We would save our princess fastpass and try to use it after the return time when we came back from break.

This was a super fun and girly thing to do. Could you even imagine spending an hour walking through shops with a 2 year old boy? Yeah, wouldn't work at all! But the girls were great and it was so much fun. The first stop was the Confectionary. We have never been in here before (yeah, I know). Everything looked so yummy and smelled so good. I had to keep reminding myself “we are on a budget” or we would have gone home with a sack full of candy – OK, the fact that it was 95 degrees and chocolate wouldn't have made it 2 steps out the door helped a little too.

Doesn't this look like a party waiting to happen?

For a little entertainment, I let the girls alternate taking pictures. Here are some things that caught their interest:

We had wandered through about 2 or three stores when we heard the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party starting up. So, we went outside to watch that:

Then we were back into the stores:

As we finished up our browsing, these guys were out on the street:

Finally, at exactly 1:20 we checked in to go meet Mickey and Minnie!

 

[Mombits]

Wow! You did so well! Not only hitting so many attractions so quickly but also staying on budget. I couldn't have gone into that confectionary with out buying something for the kids. I'm a sucker that way. Good job!!!

 

[teekathepony]

Going through the shops is always my favourite way to pass time <3 even if I don't buy anything it's always nice to see what's around!

 

[Mombits]

Well, I haven't actually been to Italy before but we are going and actually I am taking a solo trip in February to Rome. It's a training trip! The touring company that we are going through is sending me there for free. I really need to get my passport soon.

I lived in Germany for three years when I was little. Ideally, I'd love to go to Greece. That won't be happening

 

[sherylcin]

Your willpower is amazing! That Mickey rice krispie treat is our traditional buy only we get the one covered in chocolate. Now we usually have it for several days and there are 13 of us so don't judge us too harshly! Looking at all your pics of Main Street make me realize that we don't spend enough daytime hours there. We love the shops but are usually in them at night and, therefore, we miss all the street performers. We have caught the Street Party tho and my "grands" loved it (so did I).

Don't think you could've planned a more perfect MK day so far!

 

[Taja]

Thoroughly enjoying your TR, OP!

Your DD5's emergency dress looks terrific--not at all like a nightgown! More on the order of a casual spring/summer dress. The little detail at the top makes a big difference!

I love that you and your DH thought a ladies only WDW visit was a good idea before your DD7 is too old--or considers herself too mature!--to enjoy WDW. I have a feeling your DS and DH are enjoying their time together just as much--just differently!

 

[TinksThree]

I kind of think the Philharmagic fastpasses are given out to remind people that attraction is there. It is easy to get caught up in all of the rides and miss Philharmagic altogether.

And I think Philharmagic is one of the best things there! Sure it isn't a thrill attraction but the music, the smells...I wonder if I could fly down this weekend!!

I love spending quality time on Main Street. It is such an overlooked "attraction". The entertainment and shops are so fun!! Yay! for FPs to see Mickey now! You could have remained in line for an hour or experience some fun on Main Street after grabbing a FP...that is a no brainer I do believe!!

 

[ksl5f123]

Wow! You did so well! Not only hitting so many attractions so quickly but also staying on budget. I couldn't have gone into that confectionary with out buying something for the kids. I'm a sucker that way. Good job!!!

My girls are pretty good about not asking for candy. My 3 year old son on the other hand....

 

[ksl5f123]

Going through the shops is always my favourite way to pass time <3 even if I don't buy anything it's always nice to see what's around!

It was fun just to walk through and see what was there. We went in with the expectation that we weren't going to buy anything so it was never an issue.