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

[jerseygirl81]

I'm loving your trip report! Your girls are so cute, nice budget trip. Linda

 

[ksl5f123]

I'm loving your trip report! Your girls are so cute, nice budget trip. Linda

Thank you! I think they are cute too. We worked really hard to stay on budget.

 

[ksl5f123]

After our meet & greet with Jasmine and Aladdin, we were off to Japan.

We wandered through the store there and then went outside to wait for Miyuki. I have been trying to see her for the last 2 trips and somehow we are never anywhere near the Japan pavilion during the afternoon when she does her shows. I was NOT going to miss her again!

While we were waiting, we watched a little bit of the drumming show. I found it rather entertaining, but the girls thought it was boring. Luckily, it wasn't too long before Miyuki appeared. We were right up to the rope around where she works, but on the side. The girls tried really hard to get chosen to pick an animal, but she only chose children from in front. I will remember than in the future!

I took a ton of pictures here. I hope you enjoy them.

First, she made a flamingo. Look at the detail on the wings! Absolutely amazing!

Then she made a tiger

Then a blue dog

And a rooster

From left to right, the tiger, a pink bunny, the rooster, the flamingo, the dog, and a grey cat.

After the show, she lets the kids come up and hold one and get pictures taken.

In contrast to the drumming show, the girls were mesmerized by Miyuki. They couldn't wait to see what she was going to do next and were really enthralled with the whole idea. We never saw her back when she used to give the candy away, but I now understand why everyone was so upset when she stopped. What a wonderful souvenir that would be! I have to say this show is now a must see for us in the future. She is so talented and it was just amazing to see how much artistry she put into each piece.

After Japan, it was time to get our Kimmunicator and go save the world. We did our first mission in Germany. It was so much fun! For those who haven't done a Kim Possible mission before, I am not going to give away all of the little tricks, but lets just say that you spend about 30 minutes going from store to store pressing the buttons on the Kimmunicator and watching the decorations on the wall move and reveal various clues. Unfortunately, right as we started our mission, the skies opened up with one of Florida's famous afternoon rain showers. We wanted to finish the mission so we could move on to other pavilions, so we were constantly dashing in and out of the rain in the German pavilion as we crossed from one side to the other. By the time we finished our mission in Germany, the rain had ended. The Kimmunicator asks if you want to do another and lets you pick your country. DD7 wanted to do another, but DD5 didn't. We decided we would try the one in China when we went over there.

Before leaving Germany, we also stopped in the Karamel Kuche shop. Mmmm. It smells AMAZING in there. I really wanted to try something so I asked the girls what they wanted. DD5 quickly picked something, but DD7 launched into meltdown mode. She has some orthodontics and is militaristic in her observance of the “forbidden” foods. She declared loudly that she wasn't allowed to have caramel so she couldn't have anything and it wasn't fair that little sister could. Extremely disappointed, I decided it would be better if we just leave. I can't believe I didn't get to try anything. Next time, I will not be deterred!

 

[jerseygirl81]

That caramel shop in Germany is good. We had some caramel corn with chocolate drizzled over it, they also had them with nuts that was delicious! Linda

 

[ksl5f123]

That caramel shop in Germany is good. We had some caramel corn with chocolate drizzled over it, they also had them with nuts that was delicious! Linda

Mmmmm. That sounds awesome! I WILL try something there next time...

 

[ksl5f123]

Leaving Germany, we head on to China. We had two main goals in China – do our 2nd Kim Possible mission and give Jasmine's message to Mulan. We worked our way through our mission. With the exception of the very last special effect, I didn't like this one as much as Germany. The girls were starting to get bored with it and we skipped a lot of the extraneous text from the Kimunicator.

“My” only meltdown of the trip started in China. It was now almost 3 PM. We had been at the park since 8 AM. Somehow between the rain in Germany and China I lost my hat. I have worn that one hat at WDW for the last 5 trips. I was also hungry and frustrated that I didn't get a snack in Germany. Then the girls got bored with the Kim Possible mission, but somehow managed to push the button making it so we didn't know where to drop it off and had to do a 3rd one. Finally, we couldn't find Mulan. We knew she was supposed to be out at 3 PM, but we asked 3 CMs who all gave us the run around about where exactly she would be.

I just had to make the executive decision that we were going to sit down on the rain-soaked benches and wait and watch for Mulan. Of course, after that she came out quickly.

She played along with the game and said how much she was looking forward to tea that evening with Jasmine. She clearly wanted to continue the game and send the girls back to Belle, but I had to veto that one.

After China, we went over to Norway for our final Kim Possible Mission. I don't even remember this one because the girls had completely lost interest and I just wanted to hurry up and finish it and turn in the thing. Of course, this is the hardest one as far as figuring out exactly where you need to stand to see the special effects and get your next clue. At one point I was ready to just put the thing down and let somebody else finish it. Eventually, we did figure it out and get the Kimmunicator dropped off.

Our last stop in World Showcase was the boat ride in Mexico. It actually had a line, but the line moved quickly. It took maybe 5 minutes. I like this ride. It is dark and cool and not too loud. It was a good break when I was near my breaking point.

From the World Showcase we went back to Imagination to get DD5 a new Figment. It took quite a while because there was only 1 CM working the register and apparently she was doing some sort of inventory or something that couldn't be interrupted, so we just had to stand there and wait. Can you feel my frustration building?

With a new Figment in hand, we made our way over to the Land pavilion to use our Soarin' fastpasses. Wouldn't you know when I am already cranky and tired this was the one time on the whole trip when an entire Brazilian tour group entered the fastpass line just as we got there? Ugh! OK, I am not going to go stand in the fastpass line while they load all those kids. We find a nice bench and sit for 10 minutes to let them get through. We still have a wait once we get in the fastpass line, but it isn't too bad. We enjoy our flight over California (especially, the orange grove!)

Our last stop of the day is Spaceship Earth which is a walk-on. DD7 is thrilled that she gets her own car while DD5 and I share. We love this ride. We have a great time. I enjoy the time sitting down and cooling off and feel better by the time we exit.

We stop on our way out for a few Photopass pictures.

By 5:30 PM, we are back at our condo. I make everyone a quick supper and we head out to the pool for a couple hours. Knowing we won't return to the pool on our last day, we turn in our pool key and get our deposit back before leaving.

By 9 PM, we are back in the condo. The girls head to bed while I do some laundry and most of the packing.

Money spent: $14 for parking, $7.41 for Figment, $6.45 for a snack in the Land, $8.73 for some Fish and chips
Total spent this day = $36.59
Money remaining for our last day = $34.58!

 

[TinksThree]

Boy have I gotten behind!! I love the little game the princesses had your girls play! That is so cute and they will probably remember that for a long time!

The candy maker is amazing! I caught the end one time and I hope to get to see her show next time!

We all have meltdowns at some point! I know I have mine ....and then we move on!

 

[ksl5f123]

Boy have I gotten behind!! I love the little game the princesses had your girls play! That is so cute and they will probably remember that for a long time!

The candy maker is amazing! I caught the end one time and I hope to get to see her show next time!

We all have meltdowns at some point! I know I have mine ....and then we move on!

It's OK. I haven't been on the DIS much lately either. I will try really hard to do another update tomorrow.

The girls had a blast being sent on missions by the princesses. It was so special!

I LOVED Miyuki! She was incredible. I am going to add her to all of my future touring plans!

Thanks! I was actually surprised it was my only meltdown of the trip. My kids say I turn into a growly bear when I am hungry.

 

[ksl5f123]

Our last day was Friday, July 15. It was sort of an emotional day for me. On one hand, I was at Animal Kingdom with my girls having a great time. On the other hand, it was my 11th anniversary and DS's 3rd birthday and neither DH nor DS were there. It was a real balancing act between enjoying our day at AK and wanting to leave and get to the condo.

As with all our other days, we began bright and early. We finished packing up the car and did the last couple of things to clean up our condo before departure. Then we made the 5 minute drive to AK.

Although all of the websites had said that AK was opening at 9 AM this day, they were already open when we arrived at 8:50. So, we headed on in and went straight to Triceratop Spin. We rode 2 or 3 times (there is NEVER a line for this in the morning) and then made our way to Kali River Rapids.

When we arrived at Kali at 9:15, there were about 10 people in line at the gate and it wasn't running yet. Now, I know from reading the DIS that Kali doesn't always open at 9 AM. Sometimes it opens at 10 AM. We decided to wait in the line for a few minutes to see if it would open. While we stood there, we watched as the fastpass time got later and later. By 9:25, the fastpass return time was 11:15! I was beginning to get concerned. For the first time ever, I got out my new smartphone and used the Lines app to see how the line was going over at the Safari. The Safari was the only other fastpass enabled ride that we wanted to do that day. According to the app, the standby line at the safari was 45 minutes and the fastpass return time was 10:30.

Several people tried to ask the CM working the gate when the line would open and she gave the usual obtuse answer. Is there something in Disney policy that prohibits them from telling you what time something will happen? They almost never tell me.

Finally, I decided that we better do something and I sent DD7 over to get fastpasses (I could see her the whole time). Just as she returned, it was 9:30 and they opened Kali. Why couldn't the CM have just said that all along? Oh well. This time DD5 got the KALI stamp on her hand indicating that she was tall enough to ride. If you read my March TR, you might remember that she had been very upset that she didn't get one on that ride. I guess it just depends on the CM working the entrance.

We made our way through the queue and onto our boat. We quickly dropped our bags into the center compartment and took our seats. Apparently, waiting in line for 15 minutes didn't give the other people on our boat enough time to organize their things. There was a woman standing in the middle asking her husband about where something was in the bag. The CM standing on the edge of the boat asked her to sit down. She continued standing and continued her conversation. The CM began counting down, “Ma'am, if you don't sit down we will have to stop the ride in 10 seconds...5 seconds...3...2..1” Yep, our 2nd emergency stop of the trip! It was probably another 30 seconds before the woman finally finished her conversation and sat down. Good grief!

We floated our way down the river and got totally drenched. DD5 and I in particular really took the brunt of it. We were wet for the next couple of hours.

My next goal was to make our way over to Camp Minnie Mickey because I have heard the lines are really short when the characters first come out. We headed over there and arrived with very few people in the area. We originally got in line to see Chip and Dale first, but then noticed that we could be the first people of the day to meet Donald!

My picture

And a bunch from the Photopass

See how wet I am?

Then we noticed that Thumper had just come out. Since we were wearing our Bambi outfits that day, we hurried over there next. Thumper LOVED the outfits and really managed to thump that foot. It was adorable. I really wish there had been a photopass photographer with Thumper, but my pictures will have to do.

Next, we hopped back over to Chip and Dale.

I wish I knew why he took such an interest in her hand!?!

Then we were off to Mickey

And finally, we stopped to see Minnie

 

[pinkxray]

I just wanted to say that I was looking at your AK pictures and your crocs look adorable for some reason. Totally off topic and random, but I just thought you should know that you are one of the only people I have even seen who looked good wearing crocs in pictures.


Anyway, back to Epcot.

We have never seen the candy lady. She looks amazing.

If I was DD7 I would have been upset if everyone could have something from the caramel shop and I couldn't. It would be torture watching others eat those yummy treats in front of me.

I thought Kim Possible was a bit boring and it was very annoying having to finish the mission just to turn in the set. I can't imagine having to go through 3.

I didn't realize you would be missing DS birthday and your anniversary. That must have been tough.

 

[TinksThree]

You got to ride Kali! I hate we missed riding this year! It drives me crazy when people are indecisive and slow down my fun!!

I love the pictures with the characters! I just love meeting the characters....even as an adult!

I feel your "pain" in missing your guys on the special day! That would have to be a tough one!!

 

[sherylcin]

Just got all caught up. I haven't had much time for DISing lately (my mother passed away although not unexpectedly). Anyway, the pics are wonderful and it sounds like your days at Epcot and Animal Kingdom (so far) have been pretty amazing! I think that was some pretty great pixie dust getting the Figment replacement. I've also done the KK game with my grandkids. It is a little annoying to finish up if they're losing interest. Epcot is one of our favorite parks and we've spent lots of time there but I've never seen the "candy lady" in Japan. Putting her on my list.

Waiting to see how the budget ends up...............

I'm leaving in a month with my daughter and oldest granddaughter to celebrate her turning 13 (BIG SURPRISE TRIP). Can't wait to see if I can stay in MY budget!!

 

[ksl5f123]

OK, I know I have gone completely AWOL for the past two months. I really don't like unfinished trip reports, so I am determined to finish this one. In fact, it is all written now and just waiting to be posted.

So, what happened to me for the past 2 months? Well, we went to visit my parents in Ohio for Christmas and their internet was spotty. So I didn't get to post then.

However, more important than that is that I have been sick - but it is a good sick. I have had REALLY bad morning sickness! (As in haven't kept a whole day's food down in over a month ) We are expecting baby #4 to arrive in late July!! (+1)

With feeling as bad as I have been, I just haven't been interested in getting on the DIS. I still feel bad, but it is time to finish. So, with that, back to the trip report...

 

[ksl5f123]

I just wanted to say that I was looking at your AK pictures and your crocs look adorable for some reason. Totally off topic and random, but I just thought you should know that you are one of the only people I have even seen who looked good wearing crocs in pictures.

Gee, thanks. I only wear them on days when we know we are going to get wet feet because in general I don't like th elooks of them either. The ones I am wearing at AK are the Mary Janes which I like because I am such a klutz and I need the extra straps so I don't trip myself.

Anyway, back to Epcot.

We have never seen the candy lady. She looks amazing.

Totally amazing! She is now a must do for me on any future trip.

If I was DD7 I would have been upset if everyone could have something from the caramel shop and I couldn't. It would be torture watching others eat those yummy treats in front of me.

I was frustrated because she immediately started in with the whining about not being able to have something. I realize that with orthodontics she can't have a chewy caramel candy, but a cupcake or a cookie or a strawberry with a caramel drizzle wouldn't have hurt anything. She just didn't give me the chance to explain that.

I thought Kim Possible was a bit boring and it was very annoying having to finish the mission just to turn in the set. I can't imagine having to go through 3.

I was SO done with KP I almost just left the thing on a bench somewhere! If we ever do this again there will be a new rule - only one mission!

I didn't realize you would be missing DS birthday and your anniversary. That must have been tough.

Yeah. I was ready to go celebrate with them, but we still had a fun last day.

 

[ksl5f123]

You got to ride Kali! I hate we missed riding this year! It drives me crazy when people are indecisive and slow down my fun!!

I love Kali! It is always hard for me to miss it.

I love the pictures with the characters! I just love meeting the characters....even as an adult!

We had wonderful luck with characters on this day. The Camp Minnie Mickey meet was excellent!

I feel your "pain" in missing your guys on the special day! That would have to be a tough one!!

It is hard to be away, but luckily the little guy couldn't read a calendar to know what was happening. I won't get away with that much longer.

 

[ksl5f123]

Just got all caught up. I haven't had much time for DISing lately (my mother passed away although not unexpectedly). Anyway, the pics are wonderful and it sounds like your days at Epcot and Animal Kingdom (so far) have been pretty amazing! I think that was some pretty great pixie dust getting the Figment replacement. I've also done the KK game with my grandkids. It is a little annoying to finish up if they're losing interest. Epcot is one of our favorite parks and we've spent lots of time there but I've never seen the "candy lady" in Japan. Putting her on my list.

Awww. I am so sorry to hear about your mom. Even when it is expected that is tough.

It was definitely pixie dust to get the new Figment. It is now 6 months later and she still sleeps with him every night. She just loves that tiny little guy.

There needs to be a "I'm done" button on that Kimmunicator for people who just want to be finished.

The candy lady is awesome! Make sure you check her schedule, she isn't there everyday.

Waiting to see how the budget ends up...............

I'm leaving in a month with my daughter and oldest granddaughter to celebrate her turning 13 (BIG SURPRISE TRIP). Can't wait to see if I can stay in MY budget!!

Ooooh! From your ticker you only have one week to go. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[ksl5f123]

After a great visit with the characters, we headed straight in to see the 10 AM showing of the Lion King. I LOVE that show. We were in the 2nd row in the elephant section. I'm not very good at elephant noises. I much prefer being in the lion section.

DD5 really wanted to be picked to go down at the end, but it didn't happen. We did have a tumble monkey jump up right next to our seats and give the girls a high five (which DD5 did happily and which caused DD7 to hide behind me).

After the Lion King, we made our way back to Asia to see the Flights of Wonder show. The girls had loved this on our March trip – especially the part about the baby bird. We enjoyed the show again, but the girls were hugely disappointed because they didn't do the baby bird part!

By this time, it was 11:30 and we were ready for lunch. However, since it was now our ride time for our Kali fastpasses, we needed to jump over to the Safari and get a set for that. To my surprise, we got a 12:45 PM return time!

After a little discussion, the girls chose to go eat at Pizzafari – I think the air conditioning won them over. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to try Flame Tree, but I have to admit the A/C sounded pretty good to me too.

There wasn't much of a line when we got to Pizzafari, but it was still challenging to find a table. Since it was our last day, we decided to splurge a little bit and I allowed the girls to each get a meal – no sharing required! The girls each got mac & cheese – DD7's with carrots, a cookie, and a Sprite and DD5's with grapes, a cookie, and a lemonade. I got a Chicken Caesar salad and a diet Coke. We spent $21.26 on this meal.

We then started making our way back toward the Safari. Along the way, we stopped to visit with Baloo and King Louie. They were standing completely alone when we saw them. We have never met them before so the girls were excited to meet some new characters.

King Louie really enjoyed hugging DD5 and it took a little while to convince hime to let go of her. She still talks about the "monkey who wanted to keep her".

I don't usually take animal pictures on the Safari (DH has taken so many we could make a whole book), but we actually had to stop the ride for several minutes because there was a rhino on the path! Look how close he is to DD7!

At this point, DD7 and I wanted to go use our Kali fastpasses, but DD5 didn't want to get all wet again. We told her to take a few minutes to think about it and we would go walk the Maharajah Jungle Trail.

On our way, we stopped to watch this:

She is so amazing! We had never found her before and the girls were fascinated.

Then off to see some more animals. A picture of the bats:

To my surprise, the tigers were really active that day! I didn't expect them to be doing too much on a July afternoon (HOT!!). We watched them for at least 10 minutes.

Finally, we really enjoyed trying to identify all the birds.

After we finished the Trail, DD7 and I tried really hard to convince DD5 that we should go on Kali again, but she wasn't going for it. Eventually, we gave up and made our way back to the front of the park. Along the way, we took some Photopass pictures.

continued in the next post

 

[ksl5f123]

And then we ran into Lilo and Stitch with about 5 people in line. I didn't really want to wait, but the girls had just watched the movie for the first time on this trip, so they really wanted to meet them. I gave in.

On our way to the front, we also saw this bird. DD7 insisted that I take a picture so that we can figure out what it is. Six months later, we still don't know.

One last set of photopass pictures:

And that is the end!

Money spent this day: $14 for parking, $21.26 for lunch
Money remaining: -$0.68!!!! Can you believe it?!! We only overspent our budget by 68 cents!!!!!!!!!

So, I finally answered the question that I have wanted to discover for over two years: Can we do a trip to Disney that allows us to both have a great time and not break the bank? The answer is absolutely YES! We went to BBB. We ate at Chef Mickey and Mama Melrose. We enjoyed all 4 parks. We saw Fantasmic! for the first time. We had a wonderful trip and we STAYED ON BUDGET!

If you came back and read the last two posts, Thank you! I will be starting a PTR for our March trip soon. Look here for the link!

 

[TinksThree]

However, more important than that is that I have been sick - but it is a good sick. I have had REALLY bad morning sickness! (As in haven't kept a whole day's food down in over a month ) We are expecting baby #4 to arrive in late July!! (+1)

With feeling as bad as I have been, I just haven't been interested in getting on the DIS. I still feel bad, but it is time to finish. So, with that, back to the trip report...

OMGoodness! Congrats!!!!!! That is amazing and a perfect reason to not updating!! I was beginning to wonder if all was well! I will come back later to read the update due to work beckoning.

 

[pinkxray]

Welcome back! I was wondering how you have been. For some reason when I saw that you had updated, I had a feeling that you were pregnant. I have no idea why, it seems to be going around on the dis.

Congrats!

I am glad you decided to finish up. Great job coming in on budget. I have so many trips that I want to do that include WDW at different times of the year, Disneyland, DCL and other cruises on different cruise lines that I need to start trimming the cost of our Disney trips. The less money you spend, the more trips you can take

Can't wait for you to start you pre-trip report. I hope the morning sickenss passes soon