5 Newbies Visit the World!! - UPDATED! - Our Last ADR and A Magical Moment

[mom2cgj]

He's the FAMOUS Mark!

Im back!

It looks like you had an amazing time at your first disney park! I love AK but ive never been on Dinosaur so that will be a new ride for me.

I cant wait to hear more!!!!

You need to try Dinosaur on this trip! At least so you can say you've done it. It's definitely not my favorite...but I might have liked it better if I wasn't so worried about Nugget getting scared! Now I know he's fine with it, so I'd do it again! G-Bear has been talking about it lately (with the boys in her 1st grade class) and says she wants to do it again. I guess we'll have to see when it gets time to try!

 

[mom2cgj]

I'm still alive! Between kids starting school, a sick little Nugget (summertime flu is not fun), and some other things going on, it's been hard to keep up on my TR! I promise to get an update up tomorrow!! I know some of you are dying to hear about our experience with a horse at Disney!

 

[mom2cgj]

So, you know how sometimes life gets in the way, and you can’t get around to writing your trip report? Yeah. That’s been my last two weeks! But, I’m back!

Our second day at WDW, I woke up SO excited! This was going to be the best day ever! We were headed to the Magic Kingdom!! I had a special surprise waiting for G-Bear. I knew she would just be head over heels today. So, we got up early and got ready. G-Bear was going to wear her Cinderella dress.

The rest of us were wearing shirts I had made from a DISign I found on the boards. (So sorry I can’t find my sheet that tells who made what! I will look for it!)

We had pre-park opening ADRs at 8:10am, so we headed to the bus stop about 7:00. The bus came very quickly, so we made it to the park in plenty of time. Unfortunately, it was pretty foggy that morning so here was our first view of the train station.

We got in line for the turnstiles, and everything was going perfectly. Until G-Bear got up there. Remember the card with the 1/2 printed barcode? Mike had gone to the front desk at the resort, and they had happily reprinted the card for her. Unfortunately, something was wrong...again. So the CM sent Mike and the kids on in to wait in the ADR line, and I ran (literally) over to Guest Services to see what in the world was going on. Well, it turns out, the resort had not loaded her tickets on to the card. Thankfully, the CM at GS was very efficient, and I made it back to my family in only about 15 minutes (which seemed like 15 hours). I went to the same CM, who remembered me, scanned my card and rejoined my family. She had already let G-Bear in with Mike, so her card didn’t get scanned. (Remember this for later.) I caught up with the fam and was shaking I was so upset. Was it a huge deal? No. But this was supposed to be our perfect first morning at Magic Kingdom!! I was crying a little (OK, a lot). Then this lady behind me in line tapped me on the shoulder. At first, I was like “Oh, please leave me alone!” (in my head), but I turned around. She said, “This is your first trip, isn’t it?” I said it was, and she started talking about how now that we had our one hiccup out of the way, everything would be magical. She asked where we were having breakfast and I whispered it to her (it’s still a surprise!). Then she asked if I was on the DIS...she recognized our shirt design! I was so shaken up, I didn’t think to get her name, but she was so fabulous. By the time they started to let us in, I was no longer sad and back to being super excited about our trip!!

As we walked into the MK, we got our first, very foggy, view of the castle!!! G-Bear was absolutely beside herself. The boys were excited, too, but she was just completely wowed. And she had no idea what was coming!

We stopped for some photopass shots along the way. Unfortunately, they were in the process of taking down the Christmas lights, so that stupid crane is in every one of our castle pictures. Grrr. (I did try photoshopping it out, but didn’t want to “fake” the memories.)

Here’s the close-up. No crane.

And a magic shot of G-Bear and Tink!

We continued our walk down a mostly empty Main Street. Just like our early ADR at Tusker House, I was so happy to have the park almost empty when we entered! Pre-park ADRs are going to be a must for us from now on. I do kind of regret not spending more time checking out Main Street. Next time we will have to. I was so focused on the castle, I don’t really think I saw much of what was around us.

By this time, the kids were starting to notice people going to Crystal Palace, and they thought that’s where we were headed. Nope! Not today! We’ll do that in a couple of days. We just kept walking toward the castle. And up the ramp.

Do you know where we were going yet? Yep! We’re having breakfast in the castle!!

Here is G-Bear’s face as we came around the corner and saw Cinderella - live and in person. She couldn’t even speak. She just stared. We had to keep pushing her forward in the line. So precious!

When we got to the front, we held the boys back so G-Bear could have her own private moment with Cindy. Cindy complemented her on her dress, and they danced a little. It was beautiful.

Then we all jumped in for a family pic.

Finally we headed up the stairs to the dining hall. I love this picture of my princess climbing the stairs in her castle!

Breakfast was really yummy. Again no food pics. (Bad DISer!) I know the kids all had the Royal Children’s Special Breakfast (Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, and French Toast Sticks). Mike had the Traditional Breakfast (Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Bacon, and Rosemary-Lemon Roasted Potatoes). He said it was good. Nothing special, but he liked it. I had the Caramel Apple Stuffed French Toast (Decadent French Toast stuffed with sweet Cream Cheese, baked with Caramel Apples, and drizzled with a Calvados Caramel Sauce). I loved it! I’m a cream cheese nut, and this was perfect. It wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be, and I was very happy with my choice.

During breakfast, the princesses came around. We had to keep reminding G-Bear to eat. Snow White was definitely the best interaction - she spent a lot of time at each table. Aurora actually went around Snow, and ended up skipping our table. We kept waiting for her to come back while we were eating, but she didn’t. We had finished our meal and were settling our bill, and our fabulous waiter went and got her for us so we didn’t miss her before we left.

The service, food, and characters at CRT were all great. I’m not sure we’ll go back next time. I want to try Akershus, and I’m not sure we’ll do both. But I’m sure we’ll go back in the future!

Now it's off to...

 

[mom2cgj]

When we left CRT, it was right at 9:00, and the crowds were just coming in. I knew from the great people on the DIS, that the first thing we needed to hit was Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Belle and Ariel are G-Bears favorite princesses, so this was an absolute must. I knew Cubby would not be thrilled with all the princess-y stuff, but he didnt complain! We headed straight to Maurices house, and got in line. We were about the 3rd family in line, so I knew we would be in the first group. They dont open the cottage until 9:15, so we had a short wait, but it was worth it! Unfortunately, the guy in front of me thought I would be impressed with his knowledge of forced perspective and kept telling me how Beasts castle wasnt as big as it looked, etc. Im sorry, but I like a little magic. Keep your mouth shut, buddy.

Finally, we got into the cottage! I hadnt told anyone what we were waiting to see, so Mike was a little like its a cottage. So what? I could tell he thought Id completely lost it at this point! I loved all of the detail in the cottage. Absolutely beautiful.

We went through the magic mirror (now Mike was finally impressed). When the wardrobe started handing out parts, G-Bear and Nugget were really excited. I had to kind of nudge Cubby to get him involved, but he finally agreed. I knew I wouldnt get a Belle pic if he didnt. Cubby and Nugget ended up as magic mirrors. (sorry for the dark pics. There wasnt much light in the room)

G-Bear got the part of Phillipe! She was so happy! She loves Phillipe!

And the photopass photographer evidently loved G-Bear. Sorry to all of the other people in our showing who ended up with 40-some pictures of my beautiful daughter on your ETWB photopass card. Here are just a few.

Then they got the individual poses with Belle. Everyone got one picture.

Except G-Bear. She had 6. I love this one.

G-Bear (and I) was in heaven! But it was time for a potty break, so we headed over to the bathrooms right by Gastons Tavern. I like the theming of the tavern. It was very cute. We also took this time to switch G-Bear out of her princess dress. By this time, the ETWB line was very very long. I was so glad I had listened to the people on this board and went there first thing!

To continue the morning with G-Bears favorite princesses, we headed deeper into New Fantasyland, and found ourselves at Prince Erics castle.

It was time to go Under the Sea! I thought the queue for this ride was really neat. We went through pretty fast, so we didnt get as much time to check things out as I would have liked. But it was fun. The ride itself was nice. G-Bear loved it, of course!

After our seashell ride, we hopped in line for Ariels grotto. I was a little worried about G-Bears reaction, since we had just seen Ariel at CRT. But I guess enough time had passed that Ariel had had plenty of time to go back under the sea and turn back into her mermaid form.

G-Bear and Ariel had quite the conversation. I adore how much time all of the characters were taking with the kids! It was fantastic!

It was time to move on from the princesses for a while and do somethings the boys would like. Where would we go next?

 

[Mjp935]

OH my gosh!!! I LOVE CRT!!!!!!!! I had the Carmel French Toast! So good!!!!
I love this!!! So excited you're back! I hope all is well with your family!!
Akursuse (I never know how to spell it) is really good too! I love Princess dining!

Great Updates,

Mark

 

[sue_88]

Nice photos. It looks like the boys didn't mind the princess experiences either.
Looking forward to the next update!

 

[kate_wdw]

I'm just catching up on your TR. G-Bear's photos from her first MK morning are so sweet So, what did Mike think of Disney at this point in the trip?

 

[mom2cgj]

I'm just catching up on your TR. G-Bear's photos from her first MK morning are so sweet So, what did Mike think of Disney at this point in the trip?

He really liked Animal Kingdom...a LOT! I think FOTLK was what really got him excited. He's a huge musical lover! By the time we got to breakfast at CRT, I think he was completely in the Disney spirit! Probably had something to do with seeing his little princess completely over the moon!

Now, he's just as excited as I am to go back...OK, maybe not quite, but close!

 

[mom2cgj]

Im back! Things are finally starting to slow down around here now that the kids are getting into a school routine. Wow, those first few weeks of school get nuts, dont they? I am in definitely need of a DIS-break!

A friend of mine is heading down for her first trip to WDW with her 3 girls in just a couple of weeks! I am so excited for her (and jealous). They are staying at AoA, just like us!

So where was I? Oh, yeah!

We had just left the Under the Sea Ride. I really love the way the area around this ride is themed! We stopped to see Ariel one more time...

and then we head off to do some non-Princess things for the boys. We decided to check out the rest of Fantasyland. Starting with a ride with our favorite tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff! This was one of the longest lines we waited in all day. BUT...it had a lot of awesome stuff to do! Still, I think we only waited about 15 minutes.

The kids had a blast...

And even Mike got into it!

I love the honey walls. I didnt get a picture...probably was having too much fun playing with them! The ride was really cute, too. I dont think the kids were too impressed, but for those of us who grew up on Pooh Bear, it was very nostalgic.

We headed on over to Mad Tea Party next. Honestly, Im not usually much of a tea cups fan. But, maybe it was the Disney Magic. I had a lot of fun on these tea cups!

We got off the ride and found a cute little fuzzy bunny to say hi to! OK, so he wasn't so little, and he seemed to be in a hurry...

Up next was a trip to...

to ride on...

The kids absolutely loved this play area. Mike and I chose a bench and let them run around. Honestly, the worst part of this is finding your kids when your pager goes off! We joked that they should give the pagers to the kids and say when this buzzes, find your mommy or daddy.

So after running around and climbing in the circus, we were off for a flight on an elephant!!

Theres that crane again...

We went over and road the Barnstormer next, but I didnt take any pictures, I guess. By the time we got done, we were getting hungry and Storybook Circus was packed, so we decided to head off and find some lunch. Wed thought about trying to go to Be Our Guest, but the line was WAY too long. Heading out of New Fantasyland, Nugget saw the carousel. Hed been dying for a horsey-ride, so we thought, why not? Lunch can wait a little bit.

As we got off the carousel, we noticed a line for another special friend. We got in line, and the CM started telling everyone that the line was closed. So we were the last ones for that line. G-Bear got to meet the Fairy Godmother! She was so happy! She even showed her the wand from CRT, and the Fairy Godmother taught her how to wave it. So cute!

Since we were right outside, we decided to have lunch at...

Mike had the meatball sub sandwich, and I had the pepperoni flatbread. I have no memory whatsoever of the kids meals! Again, no pics. I remember being pretty disappointed in the food. Not that it was horrible, just not anything special.

Wed now spent an entire morning and early afternoon in Fantasyland! Where to next?

 

[mom2cgj]

After lunch, we were ready to head out and explore other areas of the park. Except, first...we hadnt completely finished Fantasyland! We crossed the street and decided to pick up Fast Passes for Peter Pan since the time was out to about 4:00. We went up to the FP machines and put in our KTTW cards. Four of them worked perfect. Then we put in G-Bears card. Remember our issues at the turnstile that morning? Remember how her card never got scanned? Yeah. So, no FP for her. We tried to ask the CM standing there if there was something we could do, but he was too busy entertaining a group of teenage girls to pay much attention and told us - Sorry. Nothing I can do. We decided to just pocket the FPs and come back during the window and see if there was a different CM working. Think it will work?

Mike wanted to see Philharmagic, so we went there next. Sorry for the lack of pictures. The digital camera was having issues (it ended up dying right after we got home!) and my iphone was overheating. So, we went pictureless for a while until I got the camera working again.

After Philharmagic, we hopped across to...

This is a ride we HAD to do, since it is so iconic. Evidently everyone else had the same idea, since the line was long. But, I had only planned Fantasyland as our must do for the day (wed come back for the rest of MK later), so I wasnt too worried.

We had done everything we had to do that day, and it was only 2:00! Our FP for PP were for 4-5, the parade wasnt until 3:15. What should we do? Why not try out...

Stanley was excited to try it! (Wait! Stanley? Where has he been? Stanley has been in my backpack. All day at AK and most of the morning we completely forgot he was with us! Well make up for it.)

We decided to go through the cemetery entrance. The lines were about the same length, and we thought it might amuse the kids. We were right! They loved playing with the sliding books and the instruments in the queue. The preshow scared G-Bear a LOT, even though I had warned her what to expect. But, by the time we were loaded on the Doom Buggies, she was fine. I rode with the two boys, and G-Bear and Mike rode right behind us. Everything was going fine, until we got to the hallway where the doors push in and out? We came to a dead stop (no pun intended). And sat, and sat, and sat. 15 minutes in that hallway. Eventually we started moving again, but after that, Im not sure Ill get the kids on the ride again!

By the time we got out of the Haunted Mansion, it was about 2:45 - perfect time for a snack and getting a spot for the parade. G-Bear begged to have her Cinderella dress on again for the parade, so I helped her change while Mike went to get snacks. G-Bear and Stanley really enjoyed their Mickey shaped pretzels!

Ive decided our family just attracts photographers when we are waiting for parades! A PP CM came along and took these. (Nugget was trying to cut my leg off with his CRT sword.)

Then it was time to Celebrate a Dream Come True!

The best part of the parade was when Cinderella and her "entourage" came by. Lady Tremaine caught a glimpse of G-Bear in her Cinderella gown and gave her a great glare. G-Bear said "She gave me the stink eye!!" Then the Fairy Godmother saw her and waved her wand and when G-Bear waved her wand back (the way she was taught earlier), FG said "You remembered!" So cute!

After the parade and a change of clothes for G-Bear, we headed over to use our FPs for Peter Pan. Now, remember we only had 4 since G-Bears ticket wasnt working earlier. So we told the CM at the FP line what had happened that morning with her ticket, and she said it was no big deal and she was sorry that had happened. Much better than the guy from earlier!! Then we went flying over London. Everyone agreed this was one of our favorite rides of the day!

After PP, we wandered over to Frontierland. Splash Mountain was closed for refurb, so we headed to Big Thunder Mountain. I wasnt sure if Nugget would be interested in riding, but he decided he wanted to. So, we did! It was a hit! The kids all loved it so much we ended up going around and getting in line for a second ride! (Stand-by lines were only at 10 minutes.)

We had a dinner reservation out of the park at 6:30, but it wasnt quite time to head out yet. So we thought we would stop and see the Country Bear Jamboree.

Nugget fell asleep in about a minute. No one else napped, but I think we all realized at this point how tired we were! Sitting down may have been a mistake!

It was time to head to dinner! Where would we be eating tonight? Heres a clue...we hopped on the monorail to get there!

 

[mom2cgj]

When I left off, we had boarded the monorail to head to dinner. Next stop?

The Contemporary Resort! For dinner at...

Family picture with the little chef...

We were seated right away, and the characters were already making their rounds. We decided to wait to go up to the buffet so we didnt miss anyone. That actually turned out to be a great idea. This was a super fast meal for us since we saw all of the characters right away and didnt have to wait for anything. The characters came through really fast. I wouldnt say we felt rushed - they were spaced pretty much exactly right. But we didnt have time to go get food until they had all come through. I thought this was great, as I wasnt trying to balance eating, prepping autograph books, and taking pictures!

Nugget was super excited. Hed had his short nap during the Country Bears, got to ride a train, and now was having dinner prepared by Mickey Mouse! For a 4 year old, life doesnt get much better!

First up at our table was Minnie! I love Nuggets face here. You can just tell how ornery he was!!

Of course, Minnie is one of my favorites, so I had to have my own picture with her!

Then Pluto came by.

Goofy was next, and Nugget had a lot of fun with him. This was probably the best character interaction that we had at any meal the entire trip! In this picture, he was pointing out that Goofy had ketchup on his shirt!

Donald came by next. Donald is Nuggets favorite. He actually managed to sneak up on Nugget while he was taking a drink. (Notice all of the cups? Nugget had ordered something - lemonade maybe? And told the CM to keep em coming. So she brought him two! He's kind of hard to resist!)

Donald really liked Nuggets hat and kept peeking under the brim. In the group picture you can see hes holding the brim up.

And last but not least...the Big Cheese himself!

Stanley had to have a picture with Mickey to take back to Cubbys teacher.

Finally, after all of the characters had been through, we ate. We thought this was a great meal, and it is on the list to do again next time. The buffet was pretty basic, which is fine - we werent there for exotic food! It was fun, we met the major must-see characters for us, and had a nice meal.

After dinner, we had a couple of choices to get back to AoA from CR. We decided to hop back on the monorail. We rode to the TTC...

And then rode over to...

We didnt plan to go to Epcot on this trip, but we wanted to at least see it. Once at Epcot, we caught a bus back to AoA. Time to turn in for a good nights sleep before heading to...

 

[mom2cgj]

Day 7 of our trip (January 30) we were up bright and early again! We had yet another pre-park opening ADR. These were a theme for us, and definitely worth it!

Here are our shirts for the day. The name fills were done by marneb (THANK YOU!!).

We hopped on the bus around 7:15 and headed off to...

This was the day Cubby had been waiting for! G-Bear had had her time with the princesses. Nugget got to play with Donald and see the animals. Now Cubby got to do Star Wars stuff and meet two of his favorite characters. Who would they be?

Because of our early ADR, we got to stroll down the empty Hollywood Boulevard. I have to say, the theming of this part of DHS was my favorite. It was absolutely beautiful! Next time, I’d love to spend more time just wandering through Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd.

But this time, we had a destination. We were headed to...

For Play and Dine! I was worried that Cubby, Mike, and I wouldn’t like this. We are way too old for the Disney Jr. characters, right? Well, who can’t like watching kids do the Hot Dog dance? Especially when they are joined by Agent Oso and Handy Manny! This CM was AWESOME! She had so much energy and was great with the little kids. I think this must be a tough job unless you have the personality and patience of a preschool teacher. Kudos to her!

During breakfast, we were visited by Handy Manny. (Photobomb by Oso!) The kids all know Handy Manny, but none of them have ever been huge fans.

Then came June. G-Bear has always loved Little Einsteins, and since she is a dancer, June is her favorite. (On a side note - you can tell G-Bear had a little sun while we were in Florida. I hadn’t realized she’d gotten so tan!)

Time for a break with more dancing! I thought Cubby might refuse to go back up - he is 8 after all! But he was just as enthusiastic as G-Bear. Notice that Nugget is missing. We’d been to the buffet, and he was busy stuffing his face!

Next to visit was Jake! We thought this would be the best for Nugget - he loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates. His shirt had Jake on it - here he’s showing Jake.

Turns out the real hit of the meal was Agent Oso! Both G-Bear and Nugget were in love with him! They’d only seen the show a couple of times before we went, but we’ve seen it over and over since we got back!

We loved this breakfast! The food was really good - especially some of the pastries. And it was so much fun!! Everyone wants to go back next time. I’m a little worried they won’t be as happy with it as they get older, but we’ll see!

After breakfast, I sent Mike over to grab fastpasses for TSMM while I took the kids to get in line for Jedi Training Sign up. Thank you so much to the DIS for the information on where/how to sign up! When we got there the line was pretty long - I think they had started letting people in early. I was a little concerned because we had a noon ADR and didn't know if we could work around that, but it turned out fine. I asked Nugget several times if he thought he could face Darth Vader, and he was very confident in his skills as a Jedi! So all three kids signed up. We got into the 1:30 show, with a return time around 1:15. Perfect! Mike met up with us back outside of the Sounds Dangerous stage, and we were off to explore DHS!

But first, Stanley and the boys had to stop and pose with Walt!

 

[mom2cgj]

We left the Sounds Dangerous stage around 9:10 with FP in hand for TSMM for 10:00-11:00, an ADR for lunch at 11:35, and JTA show at 1:20 (check in time at 1:00). So, we knew we were on a tightish schedule. The good part was, we didnt have a lot on our must do list for DHS except JTA and seeing characters. The kids were too small for RNR and ToT just didnt interest them (especially after G-Bears Dinosaur! experience). The Disney Jr. stage show was in refurb, otherwise that would have been on our list. We werent really interested in the Backlot Tour or the car stunt show. Star Tours we had to do, but figured wed do that around the time of JTA. So we felt kind of free to do whatever we came across.

We decided to wander over in the direction of TSMM and do that area while we waited for our FP return time. As we approached the theater for the Little Mermaid show, there were CMs out front telling people the show was about to begin and there was no wait. Little Mermaid is G-Bears favorite movie, so we decided to hop in and check it out. (Sorry for the bad pictures - I didnt figure out the right camera setting for dark lighting until the last day of the trip.)

It was a cute show. Not an OMG - we have to see it again reaction like FOTLK, but it was good.

After that, we kind of wandered around Pixar Place.

We saw this green army man and got a picture (not sure what the kids are doing here).

At that point, the stand by queue for TSMM was at 45 minutes. I was glad we had FPs. I know from reading the DIS that 45 minutes isnt bad for this ride, but the longest we had waited on anything at this point was 15 minutes and that was for IASM!

We decided to jump in line for Buzz and Woody. The posted wait for them was about 10 minutes. It really couldn't have been much longer than 15 minutes, but it seemed like forever! At least its a cute waiting area, with lots of photo opps. I particularly like the aliens.

At this point, Cubby was getting all 8-year-old attitude. Really, Mom? Another picture? Well, what else are you going to do as we stand in this line?

Buzz and Woody were great, and they interacted a lot with the kids. I can see why the line was moving so slow!

By the time we got out, it was about 9:45. Our TSMM FP werent good for 15 minutes, but we didnt want to go too far. So we wandered back towards the Magic of Animation. On the way, Stanley wanted to stop for a picture with the Jack Sparrow building. We didnt go in since none of the kids had seen the PoC movies.

I found the Magic of Animation building a little confusing. There seemed to be a lot going on, but we werent sure what was where? Maybe it was because we didn't have a lot of time. We opted not to wait to meet Sorcerer Mickey since wed met Mickey several times already and his line was longish. I really had one goal when we entered the building, but on the way there, we came across a line that had one person in it. So we decided to go for pictures with...

Mr. Incredible and Frozone! G-Bear wanted to know where Violet was and the handler said she was right there, you just cant see her because shes invisible. Which of course, made Cubby ask Well, what about Mrs. Incredible? She was home taking care of Jack Jack. He had a fever that morning and was just burning up.

After posing with the Incredibles, we got in the line that I was really excited for. Wreck-It Ralph and Vanelope!

We had just seen Wreck-It Ralph, and G-Bear was so happy to meet Vanelope!

We left the Animation building right about 10:30. Time for our FP! So we headed over to TSMM. I took this picture for my friends who said not to bother with FP, that it wasnt worth it. Obviously, they dont read the DIS!

I was too busy shooting to take any pictures. It was a fun ride, but Im not sure why it is so incredibly popular, other than the lack of other headliners at DHS? I mean, we had fun, but I just dont see us riding it over and over. To each his own, I guess!

There were 2 more sets of characters on our must see list. That, JTA, and Star Tours and we would have done our whole list! These 1 and 2 level crowds definitely played to our advantage! It was around 11, so I thought we had time for one of the meet and greets before we headed to our ADR. So we set off for the one Mike was really excited about. This was when we discovered how confusing the layout of DHS is. All the other parks are so well laid out, but this one just seemed kind of haphazard? So Im sure we missed a bunch of stuff, but well try and catch that next time. We never even saw the HISTK playground. Probably better anyway - Im guessing we would have had a hard time keeping track of Nugget! We circled around a bit before we found who we were looking for.

Mike and Sully! Mikes name fill on his shirt was Mike Wazowski. Sully noticed that right away and was pointing it out while Mike W. was just happy to find someone his size.

By this time it was time to check in for our ADR. This was the only lunch ADR we had all week, and Id only made it because none of the CS places in DHS looked very appealing. So, we were off to...

This turned out to be a great choice for us! It was dark and cool, which made it really relaxing. We were seated in a 3 seat car - G-Bear and Cubby in the front, me in the middle, and Mike with Nugget in the back. This arrangement worked well for me, since I got to eat my entire meal in peace! That hasnt happened since before we had kids!

The food was really good. For apps, the boys both had Sliced Apples and G-Bear had Carrot and Celery Sticks. The girl loves her carrots! Mike had the Crispy Onion Rings with Horseradish Dipping Sauce. He thought they were really good onion rings. I snagged one and thought it was good, but I like my onion rings really thin, and these were your typical big thick onion rings. I had the Fried Dill Pickles served with spicy Ranch Dipping Sauce. I actually shared these with Cubby because we are both huge fried pickle fans. I dont know who the genius was that came up with the idea to fry pickles, but Bless Them! These were awesome!!!

For entrees, Cubby had the kids cheeseburger, G-Bear had the kids mac & cheese, and Nugget had a hotdog - all standard Disney kids fare. Mike had The Famous All-American Picnic Burger (Flame-broiled Angus Burger Patty topped with Grilled Hot Dog, Sauerkraut, and Sauteed Onions, crowned with a Pickle Spear) minus the sauerkraut and served with French Fries. Heart Attack on a bun would be a better name, IMO. But he liked it. He had actually decided on this before we went. One of those I have to try it just to say I did things (like the beer battered cheeseburger he had in Wisconsin on a work trip). I had The Reuben (Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss, and Thousand Island Dressing on Marble Rye Bread served with a Pickle Spear) and French Fries. This was a really good reuben. I dont get reubens very often, but this was definitely one of the better ones Ive had. Even though it was good, I only ate about 1/2.

We were pretty full by then, but we had the DxDDP, so we still had dessert. The kids all went with ice cream sundaes. Mike and I had the Out-of-This-World Turtle Cheesecake (with Heath Bar, Pecans, Chocolate Chips, Caramel, Sauce, and Topped with Whipped Cream). I absolutely love cheesecake, and this one was good - not amazing, but good. Cubby shared it with me - the kid eats like an adult, so its probably a good thing hell be a Disney adult next time we go and wont have to order from the kids menu any more!

The movies were fun, and everyone was full. Im glad we went, but dont know that well do it again next time. Id kind of like to try Mama Melrose, and maybe just go to a CS. Well see.

After lunch, we had to get over to JTA to check in...

 

[kate_wdw]

Just wanted to say that I'm enjoying reading your updates!

 

[mom2cgj]

Just wanted to say that I'm enjoying reading your updates!

Thanks! I'm enjoying reliving the memories!

 

[mom2cgj]

After finishing lunch, we headed over to the Sounds Dangerous stage to check in for our Jedi Training Academy show. Our check in time was 1:10, and we were right on time. While we waited, they played some Sharky and Bones videos. G-Bear was having a good time dancing along. We love us some Sharky and Bones!

Once the kids were all checked in, they lined them up by size. Nugget was the smallest one and G-Bear was second. I asked them again if they were sure they could fight Vader. At this point, I was really more worried about G-Bear. Nugget seemed really excited about the idea. Once the kids were all lined up, they headed off towards the JTA stage. The parents all followed along and we were ready to begin. They got all the kids in their robes. (Nugget isn’t crying here - he was curling up his nostrils for some reason. Strange child.)

They led the kids on stage and had them each pick a circle to stand on. Nugget was right in front of us. Cubby ended up clear across the stage, so we didn’t get a lot of pictures of him.

Thankfully there was a PP guy taking lots of pictures, so Mike focused on video. I’m so glad he did, because it was hilarious!

The Jedi “teaching” the younglings was AWESOME! She did such a good job, especially with Nugget. He had a hard time figuring out how to work the light saber, and she was really good at showing him what to do while being witty enough to keep the crowd laughing at the same time. It was great.

All of the kids received their training light sabers...

...and she showed them how to do a few moves. Nugget wasn’t really getting all the moves, but he was smiling and having a good time.

And then HE arrived...

They gathered all of the younglings in the corner and Darth Vader came over and started trying to convert them to the Dark Side.

And that is when the tears started. Nugget just couldn’t take it. He was so scared! I really thought G-Bear would have been the one to lose it. The Jedi assistant helped Nugget get back to us, and he was fine. He enjoyed watching the rest of the show with us.

Then the younglings got to try their hands at fighting Vader. Cubby was a natural. All those years of practice with the pool noodle sabers finally paid off.

G-Bear was a very graceful Jedi. When the Jedi told her to duck, she curtsied, which the Jedi commented on and made the audience laugh. She was also told to “kill him with cuteness”.

At the end they brought out all of the younglings for a picture.

Then they were each awarded with their official Padawan certificates.

Even Nugget got one...and then another.

The kids absolutely loved JTA! Cubby and Nugget (yes, Nugget!) want to do it again. Nugget keeps saying how next time he won’t be scared. G-Bear liked it, but I’m not sure if she will do it again. She wants them to have a Princess Training Academy!

After we finished JTA, it was the perfect time to get on Star Tours - there was absolutely no wait.

We really enjoyed ST, even though I was a little motion sick at the end. Cubby wanted to ride a second time, but I wasn’t feeling great, so we decided we’d get a drink (and a snack for everyone else) and find a spot for the parade that would start in 15 minutes.

 

[mom2cgj]

It was almost time for the parade. We set up here...

Right across from Star Tours. I had a seat on the curb with the kids while Mike went over to the Oasis and got funnel cakes for them and a bottle of water for me. I knew I just needed to sit for a few minutes and the motion sickness from Star Tours would pass. (I also knew Cubby wanted to ride it again later!) While we were snacking and waiting for the parade to start, we had a nice conversation with the CM working the rope. He was a Star Wars geek, so he and Cubby really had a great time chatting. He told Cubby how everytime you ride Star Tours its different - that there are something like 53 different combinations of planets to visit, and we should definitely ride again right after the parade because the lines would be low. So, I guess we had our post-parade plan!

Then came the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade!

We all agreed this was a great parade. The boys all thought it was the best parade of the week. G-Bear and I preferred Celebrate a Dream Come True, but this was a close second. Unfortunately, I think I read that they arent doing a parade at DHS anymore? Thats very sad. We absolutely loved it!

Nugget was so excited to see Buzz Lightyear on the float!

After the parade, we hopped over to Star Tours to see what adventure we would be off to next. And here was our big disappointment. 53 different combinations? Really? We had EXACTLY the same ride! Im sure the CM must have been lying. (Not really - it was just weird luck. Our friends who were there the same day rode 6 times and had a different ride each time.)

There was still one last thing we wanted to do at DHS. Two last characters that Cubby HAD to meet. So we headed off towards Streets of America, and got in line...

to meet the beloved Phineas and Ferb!

Mike hates this show, but the kids all three love it, and I think its pretty cute. Nugget with Ferb...

G-Bear with Ducky Mo-Mo...

This might be my favorite picture of Cubby with a character. He was so happy to meet Phineas. Phineas and Ferb were on his namefill shirt. Hes really a lot like Phineas in real life, so it makes sense!

So we had done all of our must dos and still had a couple of hours before we needed to leave for our dinner ADR. Im a big Muppet fan, so we decided to stop and see Muppet Vision 3D while we were close.

I dont see why people like this show. I thought it was really bad. In fact, when we talk about going back to DHS and what do people want to do, everyone agrees that we will just skip this next time. But when it was over, we did get a nice PP picture by the fountain. The photographer here, was one of the best we had all trip. And we ran into him a couple of times. He had a really great attitude, and definitely knew how to work with kids. He took the pictures at Phineas & Ferb, then we saw him here, and then again at the hat area later.

We were close to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, so we decided to check it out. The show was about to start. When they asked for volunteers, I told Mike he should try because of his hat - it was kind of Indy-esque. And guess, what? He got picked!

He got to join the cast as a Marrakech market person.

And then he got singled out to act out a death scene. He had a knife and the director had a gun. He did eventually die, but it took like 8-9 bullets! If I could figure out how to post the video, I would. It was so funny! (There is a reason he is an engineer and not an actor!)

The stunt show was fun, but I think we sat a little too long for Nugget. By the time it ended, we had a cranky little guy on our hands. We decided to just get some PP pictures taken and maybe walk around a bit. So we headed over to the hat area.

Then we ran into our photographer again, who took this picture.

He tried to do something fun, but Nugget was pouting.

So he had us all cross our arms to be like Nugget. Of course, he wouldnt cooperate.

Then we took a stroll down Sunset Blvd. I would love to ride ToT, but no one else wanted to. Next time!

By now, Nuggets mood was improving, and he and G-Bear had a rare sibling love moment. This got a lot of awws as we were walking along.

It was time for us to leave for our ADR. A final view of DHS from the bus as we headed off to...

 

[mom2cgj]

Sorry I haven't been on much the last few weeks. The kids and I were in a bad car accident 2 weeks ago. Hit from behind and pushed into the car in front of us. Everyone is OK, but the car was totalled and I've been in the chiropractor's office almost every day. Ugh! I needed some cheering up today, so I'm back to my TR!

When we left off, we were leaving DHS. We hopped on a bus and headed to the Grand Floridian

for our ADR at

I had heard (read) over and over what a great character interaction this meal was. So, I was super excited for this meal.

We waited in a very long line to get our customary picture

And then we were seated. And ready for our meal.

Boy was I disappointed! Let’s start with the food. Blah! I don’t remember a single thing on this buffet that we really enjoyed. I remember that nobody went back more than once, and I didn’t eat much at all. Just not good.

The characters started on their rounds. First up was Prince Charming. I have to say, he was wonderful. G-Bear had put her Rapunzel dress on for this meal, and really enjoyed being called Princess and getting to dance with her prince.

Cinderella came around and we got another picture with her.

Next up was Lady Tremaine. She was good - not spectacular, but good. She did give G-Bear some dirty looks, and G-Bear was convinced she remembered her from the parade. She asked Cubby if he was married, and said he’d have to meet her daughters.

This is where it got really disappointing. All of you DISers who’ve talked about how fun the step-sisters are? We must have had a bad night. Anastasia came out first, and you could tell when she came out there was just a weird vibe. She and Lady T were exchanging odd looks, and she was not really interacting with any of the tables. Just walk up, sign the book, quick picture, and off. (Nugget was refusing to get in the pictures now.)

Drizella came last, and she was just as off as Anastasia. They kept whispering to each other and looked kind of confused. If this was part of their “act” it wasn’t working. It really looked like there was something going on between the “cast” and it carried over into their performance.

We got out of there as soon as Drizella came by. We were all disappointed with the meal, and not interested in sitting there any longer. We headed back to MK (I can’t remember if we took the bus or the monorail this time) and caught a bus back to AoA.

The next morning we were headed to see my favorite characters!

 

[Self_resqing_princz]

I'm SO SORRY to hear about the accident... that's terrible. Glad everyone is okay for the most part. The chiropractor does not sound good.

Also- I'm pretty sure that that is part of their act... they act like they're being carefully watched by Lady T... and then they giggle and act like "high school girls" and they're supposed to be like "I'm better... no, I"m better"... just like in the movie.

As far as signing the autograph book and then being off to the next table, just about every character meal I've had has been like that because they only have so long to get around to the whole room.

As far as the buffet, I've never eaten there so I can't say, but I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it.

 

[kate_wdw]

I'm sorry about your car accident, as well as your disappointing experience at 1900 Park Fare.