cascarlet
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2005
- Messages
- 296
The cast of this wonderful adventure:
DH- Leo (40)- Elementary School Principal Extraordinaire, Goofy reincarnated, My Disney Soulmate
ME - Marianne (30 something)- Scrapbook entrepreneur, Mickey FANATIC
DS (13) Brandon - All around great kid, mumbles a lot, video game addict, Disney makes him smile which warms Mom's heart
DD (6) Maggie Kate - Sweetheart, DIVA, Drama Princess (I'm a Drama Princess, not a Drama Queen MOMMY!) , STITCH LOVER (can recite word for word Lilo and Stitch movie) ,afraid of almost every ride in Disney
Most Magical Experience - FANTASMIC AND TOT
Not so Magical Experience - Stitch's Bodyguard
Favorite Dining Experience - Prime Time Cafe
Ok..I'm not gonna lie, it was HARD to get up this am. Stitch awoke us and my dd ran for the phone! GOOD MORNING!!! SLEEPY TIME OVER! "Sorry Folks" Mickey apologizes for Stitch. We have a quick breakfast in the room and head off to a better start at MGM. HEY there is no one in line for the bus, great start! We get there and there is no one in line to enter yet..whoo hoo, we are DEFINITELY on the right track. WOW! No lines at the entry. Lights, Camera, Action......Magic Finger scan and once again our plans were foiled. It's like the words came out of the CM's mouth really slow and really loud (close up to CM's mouth)..NOOOOOOO ENNNTRYYYY!
We took our tickets to the ticket booth and found out that they were only 1 day passes and we had used them up yesterday at the MK. I guess I was confused and it was too good to be true when I bought the tickets Disney.com . Why would I buy a package to DW and plan to stay for 7 days and only buy 1 day passes? I suppose in all my excitement I didn't read the fine print!! I consider myself pretty bright, I own a successful business, and I'm pretty web savvy, but I have to say I feel a little taken. NO wonder when we arrived at ASM Jose had a sign a form that said we understand that we have 1 day passes. And I said..."one day in each park each day with hoppers correct?" And he said "Jes, just please sign the form!" Luckily my dh was just laughing because now he was off the hook for loosing the camera. So of course we had to buy passes for the days that we would be there. The CM asked how many more days we would be there and where we would be going. He hooked us up and said we would be all set for the rest of our visit (remember this for later). Well that was $ I didn't plan on spending! Who needs souvenirs anyways right?
So we were slightly delayed, but we were on our way. MGM definitely has the California Adventure feel to it, parts of it anyways. We get our FP's for Rockin and TOT and then I send my dh and ds on the Great Movie ride. My ds came out laughing because my dh was petrified they were going to see flying monkeys. He won't watch Wizard of Oz because they freak him out. We head over to the Little Mermaid show which my dd LOVED and then to the animation show. They have the same show over in CA. Boy the CM that ran that show couldn't have looked or sounded more thrilled to be there. After the show we had the opportunity to visit the Incredibles. My dd was disappointed that Violet or Jack Jack was not there just the mom and dad and it wouldn't be so incredible to take a photo with them. We went to the animation lesson and I have to say that my Minnie Mouse was a masterpiece. Really, it look exactly like Minnie. Except for the tumor on the side of her head that was supposed to be her ear. I'll have to scan it to show you all what a talented artEEST I am. Of course after that you are funneled into the ART store. "If I were a rich girl, lalalalalalalala". My house would be a museum of Disney art. I settle for a couple of postcards that I can frame and put in my guest bath.
We are ready for lunch so we head over to the Prime Time and on our way we see Lilo and Stitch. The line doesn't look too terribly long so we go for it. Maggie is so excited that she gets to see them together. In CA they really were MUCH bigger. It was nice to see them a little more kid friendly. She was armed with her autograph book (of course not the wonderful one I made for her that was lost, the one we had to buy) and ready. About 20 minutes and we are about 4 families away and the CM announces that Lilo and Stitch are leaving when Chip and Dale arrive, probably about 5 min. Oh dear. Here it comes. We decide to wait, we still have 5 min. We get to the front of the line and here come Chip and Dale. My dd WAILS. Lilo and Stitch are escorted off. I stop the CM and I'm not sure why I told her this, probably because I was frustrated because I had been waiting 25 minutes in the hot sun FOR NOTHING! I suggested, because I am the expert on character greets ,that maybe you should tell the last person in line oh about 20 minutes ago that they would be the last one to see Lilo and Stitch. That way we wouldn't waste our time and our dd wouldn't be crushed. After all that's what they do in Disneyland. Well....I wasted my breath because she really didn't care. I asked when they would be back and she said sometime this afternoon, probably. Hmmp, I wonder why she didn't want to tell us? I told my dd not to worry we would find someone who could tell us where to find them and when. So we took my sulking dd and headed off to lunch to the Prime Time Cafe.
The decor was a flashback to every old Auntie that I had ever visited. Loved the waiting area, the kidney shaped coffee table, the old b & w tv, all that was missing was the plastic that my Aunties used to put on their couches. I guess that wouldn't work very well in the Florida heat and humidity....ouch! Our hostess kept coming in the waiting area calling Teresa party of 4, Teresa! She came in several times, each time a little louder. Now she was getting agitated...TERESA! My smart *** dh said maybe you mean Leo party of 4, and she said...oh yea Leo party of four I was reading out your servers name! Wow, she even acted like some of my old Aunties!!! She seats us at the Formica table and Teresa arrives and chastises my dh for having his cap and glasses on in the house. My dd eyes got really big, like omg, she just yelled at my dad. Then she told my ds to take his elbows off the table. Maggies mouth was now agape in shock. She wasn't so sure she liked this place. Then Teresa announces that the Princess was now in charge of Scooter, Dad & Mom and if anyone gets out of hand she is to tell her and she will put them in a corner. Oh yea, now she loves it! We had a lot more fun banter with Teresa and the food was delicious! Now it's time to see some shows!
Beauty and the Beast was first, boy if that place wasn't a sauna. Pretty much the same show they had in DL years ago, but my dd enjoyed it. Gaston is a hunk alight, but what a jerk. DH and I stopped and used our FP for TOT....whooo hooo...I LOVE this ride. The thing I love about riding rides is the unknown, and Disney really good at doing that. That's why I love Space Mountain and TOT because you never know what's going to happen next. We had ridden TOT before in CA and the ride is a little different. The elevator at MGM actually moves forward on a track and I don't remember that happening in CA and neither did my DH. Now my DH and I are Pooh Sized and there is nothing funnier then when our big butts actually rise off the seats as we are falling. So cool.
We stop in a shop right next to the Beauty and the Beast theatre and there is a kindly older woman CM "Midge" who I ask if she could tell me where and when Stitch would be out in the park and I told her about our experience earlier and how the CM couldn't tell us when they would be there. Tssk, Tssk she said, she couldn't believe the CM wouldn't tell us, she would find out for us. She made one phone call and said that they would be near the hat at 2:00! THANKS MIDGE, you're the bomb! My ds and I go to Star Tours while my dh and dd go see Stitch & Lilo and we were to meet up for the Indiana Jones show.
My ds was on a mission to do EVERYTHING. There was nothing he wanted to miss. Hey what about the Drew Carey show!!!?? What the heck, it was hot and I could use the break in a nice air conditioned building. And what a nice little break (nap) I had in there. Heck they even make it easy for you to sleep, they turn off all the lights. My ds said it was kind of fun, I couldn't tell you. Next stop, Star Tours! A Disneyland favorite of my son's and I as we are big Star Wars geeks. We take off and something is not right. WAIT somebody forgot to put the lights off. Or maybe this is how they do it in WDW? The lights are on really bright and it's really distracting. My ds and I just look at each other and everyone else and we seem to be the only ones who notice. Did you know at the end of the ride when you feel like you are going to crash into that booth and that guy ducks and then pops up again? It is really George Lucas. It is..check it out next time!
We meet dh and dd at the Indie show and SUCCESS!! Lilo and Stitch were there right when Midge said they would be (with the same lovely CM or bodyguard as my dd calls them). The show was fun and my ds REALLY dug it and now he wanted an Indie hat. It was EXACTLY the same as it was 15 years ago! Might be time to update that and put an Indie ride like they have in DL. That ride ROCKS!!!
Time for dinner already, we had the Fantasmic package at Mama Rosas which was yummy. So far I have to say the food overall is MUCH better then the food in DL. We got fast passes for the Car Stunt Show and went to see the Muppet 3D show, my dd laughed out loud throughout the whole thing. It's kind of old school and reminds me of the days when the Muppets were really big and we used to watch the show on Sunday night. You gotta love those old guys in the balcony. After the show we head off to the Stunt show to and we pass the crew from Toy Story. Maggie would only take a picture with Jessie. We get to the Stunt show with the droves of people arriving as well and we were still 45 min early. We take the FP line which does really nothing. Wow the place is almost full already except for the left hand side which we figure would be a good spot to sit. Nope..CM push us over to the HIGH right hand corner. My dh and I look at each other and we both know that we don't want to end up WAY up in nosebleed land only to hardly see the show and be the last one's out afterwords..we will save that for Fantasmic tonight. So we leave and my ds is disappointed, but we tell him we will try another day to see it.
Back to Star Tours for my dh to ride this time and then it's time to get ready for Fantasmic! Lights were off for them, so it looks like our CM just forgot to flip the switch I suppose! We tried to fit in Rockin Roller Coaster before Fantasmic, but the FP line was at least a 1/2 wait, not to mention the 1.5 hour wait for stand by. Now we definitely have to come back to MGM so I can ride it, because I'm thinking it's going to be my new favorite ride. Head around the front to our Priority Seating for Fantasmic and couldn't believe how far we had to actually walk to get there once we got into the super secret entrance. It had to be about 3/4 of a mile at least. So we get in and the priority area is roped off so we are feeling special. Kind of. I see that the entire right hand side (the opposite of where we were sitting) was empty. So I guess we could have made it here at the same time without a Priority Seating just sitting on the opposite side. Oh well, we are here and ready and loving the fact that the show is in a "stadium" and not like it is in Disneyland. You have to camp out for hours in front of Pirates to see the show and there is no seating, it's standing or the ground. Hopefully we'll be the first ones out though and we'll have the super secret exit first. My kids have not seen Fantasmic so I'm really excited. The announcer man kept mentioning because of iffy weather there is a chance it may have to cancel. Yikes, I would hate to be the CM to tell a stadium full of folks that the show wan't going to happen. Thankfully the weather cooperated. We weren't disappointed. I'm a Mickey fanatic. I always get choked up when he's groovin and movin to the Fantasmic music. He's THE main mouse, the one that started it all right?? The show was a little different then DL and it featured Pocahontas instead of Peter Pan, I kind of missed the pirate action, but other then that it was AWESOME! My kids wanted to know if we could come back and see it again before we leave and my ds is not easily impressed! Well our super secret exit, wasn't so super secret anymore as everyone was exiting with us and it dumped us out on the street where the non Priority Fantasmic entrance is, not where we entered, so we really didn't get a head start. But that was ok. We were happy with our day at MGM and I couldn't believe we had two days down already. Another early morning tomorrow! We have a royal appointment with Princess Cinderella in the castle for breakfast!
Coming up next: A Hurricane, Churros and a not so Magic Carpet Ride
Our WDW Adventure a Californian POV
Day 1 Magic Kingdom and Paradise Lost
SUCCESS!
ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE! BRANDON AND A ROOTBEER FLOAT AT PRIME TIME
DH- Leo (40)- Elementary School Principal Extraordinaire, Goofy reincarnated, My Disney Soulmate
ME - Marianne (30 something)- Scrapbook entrepreneur, Mickey FANATIC
DS (13) Brandon - All around great kid, mumbles a lot, video game addict, Disney makes him smile which warms Mom's heart
DD (6) Maggie Kate - Sweetheart, DIVA, Drama Princess (I'm a Drama Princess, not a Drama Queen MOMMY!) , STITCH LOVER (can recite word for word Lilo and Stitch movie) ,afraid of almost every ride in Disney
Most Magical Experience - FANTASMIC AND TOT
Not so Magical Experience - Stitch's Bodyguard
Favorite Dining Experience - Prime Time Cafe
Ok..I'm not gonna lie, it was HARD to get up this am. Stitch awoke us and my dd ran for the phone! GOOD MORNING!!! SLEEPY TIME OVER! "Sorry Folks" Mickey apologizes for Stitch. We have a quick breakfast in the room and head off to a better start at MGM. HEY there is no one in line for the bus, great start! We get there and there is no one in line to enter yet..whoo hoo, we are DEFINITELY on the right track. WOW! No lines at the entry. Lights, Camera, Action......Magic Finger scan and once again our plans were foiled. It's like the words came out of the CM's mouth really slow and really loud (close up to CM's mouth)..NOOOOOOO ENNNTRYYYY!
We took our tickets to the ticket booth and found out that they were only 1 day passes and we had used them up yesterday at the MK. I guess I was confused and it was too good to be true when I bought the tickets Disney.com . Why would I buy a package to DW and plan to stay for 7 days and only buy 1 day passes? I suppose in all my excitement I didn't read the fine print!! I consider myself pretty bright, I own a successful business, and I'm pretty web savvy, but I have to say I feel a little taken. NO wonder when we arrived at ASM Jose had a sign a form that said we understand that we have 1 day passes. And I said..."one day in each park each day with hoppers correct?" And he said "Jes, just please sign the form!" Luckily my dh was just laughing because now he was off the hook for loosing the camera. So of course we had to buy passes for the days that we would be there. The CM asked how many more days we would be there and where we would be going. He hooked us up and said we would be all set for the rest of our visit (remember this for later). Well that was $ I didn't plan on spending! Who needs souvenirs anyways right?
So we were slightly delayed, but we were on our way. MGM definitely has the California Adventure feel to it, parts of it anyways. We get our FP's for Rockin and TOT and then I send my dh and ds on the Great Movie ride. My ds came out laughing because my dh was petrified they were going to see flying monkeys. He won't watch Wizard of Oz because they freak him out. We head over to the Little Mermaid show which my dd LOVED and then to the animation show. They have the same show over in CA. Boy the CM that ran that show couldn't have looked or sounded more thrilled to be there. After the show we had the opportunity to visit the Incredibles. My dd was disappointed that Violet or Jack Jack was not there just the mom and dad and it wouldn't be so incredible to take a photo with them. We went to the animation lesson and I have to say that my Minnie Mouse was a masterpiece. Really, it look exactly like Minnie. Except for the tumor on the side of her head that was supposed to be her ear. I'll have to scan it to show you all what a talented artEEST I am. Of course after that you are funneled into the ART store. "If I were a rich girl, lalalalalalalala". My house would be a museum of Disney art. I settle for a couple of postcards that I can frame and put in my guest bath.
We are ready for lunch so we head over to the Prime Time and on our way we see Lilo and Stitch. The line doesn't look too terribly long so we go for it. Maggie is so excited that she gets to see them together. In CA they really were MUCH bigger. It was nice to see them a little more kid friendly. She was armed with her autograph book (of course not the wonderful one I made for her that was lost, the one we had to buy) and ready. About 20 minutes and we are about 4 families away and the CM announces that Lilo and Stitch are leaving when Chip and Dale arrive, probably about 5 min. Oh dear. Here it comes. We decide to wait, we still have 5 min. We get to the front of the line and here come Chip and Dale. My dd WAILS. Lilo and Stitch are escorted off. I stop the CM and I'm not sure why I told her this, probably because I was frustrated because I had been waiting 25 minutes in the hot sun FOR NOTHING! I suggested, because I am the expert on character greets ,that maybe you should tell the last person in line oh about 20 minutes ago that they would be the last one to see Lilo and Stitch. That way we wouldn't waste our time and our dd wouldn't be crushed. After all that's what they do in Disneyland. Well....I wasted my breath because she really didn't care. I asked when they would be back and she said sometime this afternoon, probably. Hmmp, I wonder why she didn't want to tell us? I told my dd not to worry we would find someone who could tell us where to find them and when. So we took my sulking dd and headed off to lunch to the Prime Time Cafe.
The decor was a flashback to every old Auntie that I had ever visited. Loved the waiting area, the kidney shaped coffee table, the old b & w tv, all that was missing was the plastic that my Aunties used to put on their couches. I guess that wouldn't work very well in the Florida heat and humidity....ouch! Our hostess kept coming in the waiting area calling Teresa party of 4, Teresa! She came in several times, each time a little louder. Now she was getting agitated...TERESA! My smart *** dh said maybe you mean Leo party of 4, and she said...oh yea Leo party of four I was reading out your servers name! Wow, she even acted like some of my old Aunties!!! She seats us at the Formica table and Teresa arrives and chastises my dh for having his cap and glasses on in the house. My dd eyes got really big, like omg, she just yelled at my dad. Then she told my ds to take his elbows off the table. Maggies mouth was now agape in shock. She wasn't so sure she liked this place. Then Teresa announces that the Princess was now in charge of Scooter, Dad & Mom and if anyone gets out of hand she is to tell her and she will put them in a corner. Oh yea, now she loves it! We had a lot more fun banter with Teresa and the food was delicious! Now it's time to see some shows!
Beauty and the Beast was first, boy if that place wasn't a sauna. Pretty much the same show they had in DL years ago, but my dd enjoyed it. Gaston is a hunk alight, but what a jerk. DH and I stopped and used our FP for TOT....whooo hooo...I LOVE this ride. The thing I love about riding rides is the unknown, and Disney really good at doing that. That's why I love Space Mountain and TOT because you never know what's going to happen next. We had ridden TOT before in CA and the ride is a little different. The elevator at MGM actually moves forward on a track and I don't remember that happening in CA and neither did my DH. Now my DH and I are Pooh Sized and there is nothing funnier then when our big butts actually rise off the seats as we are falling. So cool.
We stop in a shop right next to the Beauty and the Beast theatre and there is a kindly older woman CM "Midge" who I ask if she could tell me where and when Stitch would be out in the park and I told her about our experience earlier and how the CM couldn't tell us when they would be there. Tssk, Tssk she said, she couldn't believe the CM wouldn't tell us, she would find out for us. She made one phone call and said that they would be near the hat at 2:00! THANKS MIDGE, you're the bomb! My ds and I go to Star Tours while my dh and dd go see Stitch & Lilo and we were to meet up for the Indiana Jones show.
My ds was on a mission to do EVERYTHING. There was nothing he wanted to miss. Hey what about the Drew Carey show!!!?? What the heck, it was hot and I could use the break in a nice air conditioned building. And what a nice little break (nap) I had in there. Heck they even make it easy for you to sleep, they turn off all the lights. My ds said it was kind of fun, I couldn't tell you. Next stop, Star Tours! A Disneyland favorite of my son's and I as we are big Star Wars geeks. We take off and something is not right. WAIT somebody forgot to put the lights off. Or maybe this is how they do it in WDW? The lights are on really bright and it's really distracting. My ds and I just look at each other and everyone else and we seem to be the only ones who notice. Did you know at the end of the ride when you feel like you are going to crash into that booth and that guy ducks and then pops up again? It is really George Lucas. It is..check it out next time!
We meet dh and dd at the Indie show and SUCCESS!! Lilo and Stitch were there right when Midge said they would be (with the same lovely CM or bodyguard as my dd calls them). The show was fun and my ds REALLY dug it and now he wanted an Indie hat. It was EXACTLY the same as it was 15 years ago! Might be time to update that and put an Indie ride like they have in DL. That ride ROCKS!!!
Time for dinner already, we had the Fantasmic package at Mama Rosas which was yummy. So far I have to say the food overall is MUCH better then the food in DL. We got fast passes for the Car Stunt Show and went to see the Muppet 3D show, my dd laughed out loud throughout the whole thing. It's kind of old school and reminds me of the days when the Muppets were really big and we used to watch the show on Sunday night. You gotta love those old guys in the balcony. After the show we head off to the Stunt show to and we pass the crew from Toy Story. Maggie would only take a picture with Jessie. We get to the Stunt show with the droves of people arriving as well and we were still 45 min early. We take the FP line which does really nothing. Wow the place is almost full already except for the left hand side which we figure would be a good spot to sit. Nope..CM push us over to the HIGH right hand corner. My dh and I look at each other and we both know that we don't want to end up WAY up in nosebleed land only to hardly see the show and be the last one's out afterwords..we will save that for Fantasmic tonight. So we leave and my ds is disappointed, but we tell him we will try another day to see it.
Back to Star Tours for my dh to ride this time and then it's time to get ready for Fantasmic! Lights were off for them, so it looks like our CM just forgot to flip the switch I suppose! We tried to fit in Rockin Roller Coaster before Fantasmic, but the FP line was at least a 1/2 wait, not to mention the 1.5 hour wait for stand by. Now we definitely have to come back to MGM so I can ride it, because I'm thinking it's going to be my new favorite ride. Head around the front to our Priority Seating for Fantasmic and couldn't believe how far we had to actually walk to get there once we got into the super secret entrance. It had to be about 3/4 of a mile at least. So we get in and the priority area is roped off so we are feeling special. Kind of. I see that the entire right hand side (the opposite of where we were sitting) was empty. So I guess we could have made it here at the same time without a Priority Seating just sitting on the opposite side. Oh well, we are here and ready and loving the fact that the show is in a "stadium" and not like it is in Disneyland. You have to camp out for hours in front of Pirates to see the show and there is no seating, it's standing or the ground. Hopefully we'll be the first ones out though and we'll have the super secret exit first. My kids have not seen Fantasmic so I'm really excited. The announcer man kept mentioning because of iffy weather there is a chance it may have to cancel. Yikes, I would hate to be the CM to tell a stadium full of folks that the show wan't going to happen. Thankfully the weather cooperated. We weren't disappointed. I'm a Mickey fanatic. I always get choked up when he's groovin and movin to the Fantasmic music. He's THE main mouse, the one that started it all right?? The show was a little different then DL and it featured Pocahontas instead of Peter Pan, I kind of missed the pirate action, but other then that it was AWESOME! My kids wanted to know if we could come back and see it again before we leave and my ds is not easily impressed! Well our super secret exit, wasn't so super secret anymore as everyone was exiting with us and it dumped us out on the street where the non Priority Fantasmic entrance is, not where we entered, so we really didn't get a head start. But that was ok. We were happy with our day at MGM and I couldn't believe we had two days down already. Another early morning tomorrow! We have a royal appointment with Princess Cinderella in the castle for breakfast!
Coming up next: A Hurricane, Churros and a not so Magic Carpet Ride
Our WDW Adventure a Californian POV
Day 1 Magic Kingdom and Paradise Lost
SUCCESS!
ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE! BRANDON AND A ROOTBEER FLOAT AT PRIME TIME
