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 - Just being on Disney property
Not so Magical Experience - Losing our Backpack with our digital Camera, custom made autograph book for my dd that took me a whole day to make, umbrella, and .89 ponchos from Target.
Favorite Dining Experience - OHANA at the Polynesian
Wednesday -
We arrived Wednesday to Florida from California. Thank goodness for PSP and Gameboys! The kids were very good travelers. We had a hard time making up our mind before the trip if we should take Magical Express or just rent a car, but the reviews seemed to be getting better since they started ME so we went for it. It was GREAT! and we would highly recommend it. We arrived in Orlando and were greeted by the CM's with big Mickey hands and smiling faces. I hope this is a glimpse of what is to come! They directed us to check in - NO LINES - and we went right to our bus. I thought the buses had a clever retro design on them so I took lots of pictures before anyone even got on the bus. We arrived at All Star Movies and it started to dawn on me..WE ARE ON VACATION...whooo...hooo!! A whole week of Disney bliss. We had dinner in the food court area which is normal fare for a food court type setting. Checked in our room.....We are in the HERBIE building (pictures, more pictures)...how did they know? We just saw the movie before we left and my dd LOVED it especially since the character is Maggie. The room was pretty much what we expected for a value resort. Nothing fancy and YES there was the much heard about soap/shampoo dispenser in the shower that my dd thought was really cool. Of course it felt like it took 20 minutes to walk to our room at the very far nether regions of the Herbie building. All of our bags were in our room, so all was good with the world. Get to bed early kids our adventure starts EARLY!!!!
Thursday -
Now, anyone that knows me knows I am not a morning person. Really, it's not a good idea to speak to me before I've had my coffee, shower and I've been up for a while . Kids know it, dh knows it, don't think my mom's caught on yet. The only time EVER that I wake up ready to go is when I'm on Disney property. Why is that? I'm thinking it's the pixie dust.
I have never planned for a vacation like I have planned for this vacation. I had our itinerary down to each ride we were going to ride, what fast pass we were going to get and what characters we were going to see. I told my family, we are going in July during the HOTTEST and most CROWDED time. We will NOT wait in line for hours for any ride or to see any character. You may not whine and complain when I tell you, we are not scheduled to ride that ride till later. You are going to follow my itinerary and YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE FUN!!! You will thank me later when we walk by all the people waiting in line for hours as we wizz on by on our fast pass. You will say "mom is a genius" as we leave the park as the throves of people begin to arrive and we have already finished all of the best rides and shows.
Our first morning we are ready to leave and my dh can't find his glasses and cap. Tick, tick, tick. Let me look around the room...tick..tick..tick.. let me look in the food court ...TICK..TICK..TICK...let me wait in that long line for guest services and see if they were turned in TICK TICK TICK...OH...there goes the bus for MK and we are not on it as scheduled. If I were a cartoon, you would have seen steam coming out of my ears making that train whistle sound. Really, ask my kids, I think it may have really happened. OK..this is NOT how I invisioned us to starting our vacation. We get to MK, do the magical finger scan and make our way up to the rope drop. I'm not speaking to my dh because we are no were near the rope, he's upset because he has no shade and my children are already whining because it's so hot. Then in happens. Hey they don't do this in Disneyland! The train arrives in the station and Mickey himself welcomes us to his Magical Kingdom. (pictures, pictures and more pictures) I cry for being so stupid for being upset at my dh and I cry because I'm so happy to be there and we all have a group hug and start over. Rope drop and we are off!
Wow the castle is HUGE! DL's Sleeping Beauty's castle is pretty dinky in comparison. My dd and I head to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo and my dh and ds go to Tomorrow land to get fast passes and to ride a few rides. NO LINE and we ride Dumbo several times. Where to next Maggie? How about Winnie the Pooh! We are ready to board and it happens.......out of the blue, COMPLETE MELTDOWN. I can hear the warning horns! I DON'T WANT TO GO ON THIS RIDE. I can't believe what I do but I pick her up and tell her you are going on this ride and you are going to LIKE IT! Now before you shake your head with disbelief at me as I know you are doing right this moment let me explain. My dd has been on this ride NUMEROUS times in Disneyland. She loves this ride. The older woman CM running the ride just looked at me with a guiltful look and I shouted "I SWEAR, she loves this ride in Disneyland!" She shook her head. Well my dd continued to SCREAM the entire ride. I was perplexed. Of course at the end of the ride we were greeted with another near retirement looking CM looking at me and my screaming dd and telling me telepathically what a terrible mother I am for making my dd go on this ride. After we get off my dd declares that she will not ride any of the "dark rides" since they look different from the outside then Disneyland. But she will ride Soaring. Oh thanks for granting us this one favor my dd. No Small World, No Peter Pan, No Pirates, No Buzz. No kidding.
DISCLAIMER: I would never make my children go on a ride I know would be scary or frightful for them and please don't believe my ds when he tells you I made him go on Indiana Jones at DL when he was 7 by bribing him with a stuffed Dalmation.
We meet my dh & ds and I break the news to them that Maggie will not be riding any of the rides with us, so we will have to do "baby swap" for the rest of the trip. Wait a minute....declares miss thang. "I'm not a BABY". Hmmmhmmmm. We make the most of it and continue on our Magical Adventure.
My ds and I ride Buzz, which is a little different then the DL ride. It doesn't have that long weird starry tunnel thing and we saw the Stitch ride or show or whatever it is which I'm glad we only waited 10 minutes for because it's not worth waiting any longer. My ds was impressed with the animitronics which was entertaining, but I don't think the shoulder thingy was on me correctly so I didn't get the effect of Stitch bouncing around us. Now my dd LOVES Stitch and she really wanted to go see this, but I told her it was too scary for her and didn't think it was a good idea. SEE I am a great mom after all. Off to my favorite ride, SPACE MOUNTAIN! My dh and I walked on with a FP and in moments were wizzed off into the galaxy. I wonder if the referb in DL will end up looking like what is in MK now. I've been SM deprived for a few years so it was great to ride again.
How about Country Bears, they don't have that in Disneyland anymore your majesty, can we all go see that? SURE! It was a nice air conditioned break and then we had lunch at Pecos Bill's. After that the boys headed to Pirates, which they announced was disappointing, no comparison to Pirates in DL, but they really enjoyed the store, which is 5 times as big as the one in DL. Last time we were in DL my ds bought a leather pirates hat that he wore the rest of our trip. My dh teased that it looked like he had beef jerkey on his head, and ya know it really kind of did look like that. Us girls rode the Magic Carpet Ride over and over, my dd's new favorite ride.
We met at the Tiki Room for another air conditioned break. What a pretty waterfall in the queue, "hey honey get my camera out and let me take a picture of the kids in front of it. It's in your backpack. " "Uh oh" says my DH. "WHAT (knowing exactly what his Uh Oh meant)" "I don't remember where I left my backpack". I sigh. LOUDLY. He leaves the queue to go search Pirates to see if anything is turned in. He's not worried or upset (like he was this am!) because he knows someone will turn it in like our camcorder that he lost in DL that one time. He returns as we begin to enter with no backpack. Keep checking with City Hall thoughout the day. WOW way different then the old Tiki Room that I knew and loved. Now I people scoff at updating older rides, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Time changes things and I enjoyed the new Tiki Room and I will always have memories of the old Tiki Room. Shweew..my dd loved it with no FREAK OUT!
Sadly the Haunted Mansion is closed so we head to the Hall of Presidents. It's been years since I have seen that show and I don't think my ds had ever seen it so I thought it would be a good history lesson for him. I did WARN and REMIND my dh that we are not in California anymore, we are in a RED state. Remember who the governor of Florida is. Do not BOO ,even though I would have loved to as well, the President during the show. He laughed at me. I was scared, but we made it through. Even though everyone cheered when they announced Bush, he remained silent. Interesting piece of trivia for you. Clinton is the only President with a Mickey Mouse tie.
Cool. I miss Clinton.
Now my original plan on my itinerary was to leave the park after lunch and return later. My family was not going for it, so we decided to stay since we had dinner at the Polynesian instead of going all the way back to All Star Movies and turn around and come back to MK. While my ds & dh headed back to Tomorrowland, my dd and I decided to take in the Cinderellabration which takes place at the castle. The show started in a 1/2 and hour so we decided to claim our spot up front. During the day I thought I was doing really good considering the heat & humidity. I took shady spots while I could and drank lots of water. Nothing could prepare me for waiting for 1/2 hour in the hot sun with no shade and no seating. I was thinking the umbrella would REALLY come in handy right now. The show was princess filled and made my heart flutter and wish I could be 7 again. I do declare that Alladin is a hottie. My dd said it was the BEST SHOW SHE HAD EVER SEEN! Ok..I guess it was worth it then right?
It was time to head to the Polynesian for dinner at the Ohana. It was a boat ride past the Grand Floridian, which looks to me like the Coronado in San Diego, so why do they call that other hotel Coronado? I was confused. It is grand alright! We arrive at the Polynesian. Hey MOM, how come we don't have a beach at our hotel?? We love the look and feel of this hotel since we are big Hawaii fans and it reminds us of our last trip to Maui. Dinner at the Ohana turned out to be our favorite of our entire trip. The food was awesome. My ds couldn't believe they kept bringing him steak, as much as he wanted. I loved the shrimp won tons with the peanut sauce YUMMY! The had coconut broom race and a hula hoop contest which my dd really enjoyed. I enjoyed hearing the Hawaiian music we know and love while we dined. And for dessert pinapple with carmel sauce for dipping..MMMMMMMHMMMMMM. We did say Mahalo to our waitress and she looked at us like we were crazy though. I don't think she knew what it meant. For those of you who don't know it's THANK YOU in Hawaiian. And of course Ohana means FAMILY and FAMILY means nobody gets left behind. And what a perfect place for our Ohana.
We went back via the Monerail which "Stitch" rode with us and my dd thought was HILARIOUS. We checked at City Hall and no backpack. Looks like disposable cameras the rest of the trip.We hope that someone enjoyed our photos and the autograph book I so lovingly made for my dd...SIGH. We'll check again on Saturday.
We headed back to our room and the kids declared they were not tired, it's only 7 o clock at home mom! GOOD NIGHT! OH and guess what fell behind the TV in our room. My dh's sunglasses and cap.
Day Two MGM and the search for STITCH! Coming Soon.
Intro - Our WDW Adventure - A Californian POV
Maggie Kate waiting for Cinderellabration. Check out that Bling-Bling on the lady behind her!
My DH enjoying Ohana fare - ALOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!
DH- Leo (40)-
Elementary School Principal Extraordinaire, Goofy reincarnated, My Disney SoulmateME - Marianne (30 something)-
Scrapbook entrepreneur, Mickey FANATICDS (13) Brandon
- All around great kid, mumbles a lot, video game addict, Disney makes him smile which warms Mom's heartDD (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 DisneyMost Magical Experience - Just being on Disney property
Not so Magical Experience - Losing our Backpack with our digital Camera, custom made autograph book for my dd that took me a whole day to make, umbrella, and .89 ponchos from Target.
Favorite Dining Experience - OHANA at the Polynesian
Wednesday -
We arrived Wednesday to Florida from California. Thank goodness for PSP and Gameboys! The kids were very good travelers. We had a hard time making up our mind before the trip if we should take Magical Express or just rent a car, but the reviews seemed to be getting better since they started ME so we went for it. It was GREAT! and we would highly recommend it. We arrived in Orlando and were greeted by the CM's with big Mickey hands and smiling faces. I hope this is a glimpse of what is to come! They directed us to check in - NO LINES - and we went right to our bus. I thought the buses had a clever retro design on them so I took lots of pictures before anyone even got on the bus. We arrived at All Star Movies and it started to dawn on me..WE ARE ON VACATION...whooo...hooo!! A whole week of Disney bliss. We had dinner in the food court area which is normal fare for a food court type setting. Checked in our room.....We are in the HERBIE building (pictures, more pictures)...how did they know? We just saw the movie before we left and my dd LOVED it especially since the character is Maggie. The room was pretty much what we expected for a value resort. Nothing fancy and YES there was the much heard about soap/shampoo dispenser in the shower that my dd thought was really cool. Of course it felt like it took 20 minutes to walk to our room at the very far nether regions of the Herbie building. All of our bags were in our room, so all was good with the world. Get to bed early kids our adventure starts EARLY!!!!
Thursday -
Now, anyone that knows me knows I am not a morning person. Really, it's not a good idea to speak to me before I've had my coffee, shower and I've been up for a while . Kids know it, dh knows it, don't think my mom's caught on yet. The only time EVER that I wake up ready to go is when I'm on Disney property. Why is that? I'm thinking it's the pixie dust.
I have never planned for a vacation like I have planned for this vacation. I had our itinerary down to each ride we were going to ride, what fast pass we were going to get and what characters we were going to see. I told my family, we are going in July during the HOTTEST and most CROWDED time. We will NOT wait in line for hours for any ride or to see any character. You may not whine and complain when I tell you, we are not scheduled to ride that ride till later. You are going to follow my itinerary and YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE FUN!!! You will thank me later when we walk by all the people waiting in line for hours as we wizz on by on our fast pass. You will say "mom is a genius" as we leave the park as the throves of people begin to arrive and we have already finished all of the best rides and shows.
Our first morning we are ready to leave and my dh can't find his glasses and cap. Tick, tick, tick. Let me look around the room...tick..tick..tick.. let me look in the food court ...TICK..TICK..TICK...let me wait in that long line for guest services and see if they were turned in TICK TICK TICK...OH...there goes the bus for MK and we are not on it as scheduled. If I were a cartoon, you would have seen steam coming out of my ears making that train whistle sound. Really, ask my kids, I think it may have really happened. OK..this is NOT how I invisioned us to starting our vacation. We get to MK, do the magical finger scan and make our way up to the rope drop. I'm not speaking to my dh because we are no were near the rope, he's upset because he has no shade and my children are already whining because it's so hot. Then in happens. Hey they don't do this in Disneyland! The train arrives in the station and Mickey himself welcomes us to his Magical Kingdom. (pictures, pictures and more pictures) I cry for being so stupid for being upset at my dh and I cry because I'm so happy to be there and we all have a group hug and start over. Rope drop and we are off!
Wow the castle is HUGE! DL's Sleeping Beauty's castle is pretty dinky in comparison. My dd and I head to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo and my dh and ds go to Tomorrow land to get fast passes and to ride a few rides. NO LINE and we ride Dumbo several times. Where to next Maggie? How about Winnie the Pooh! We are ready to board and it happens.......out of the blue, COMPLETE MELTDOWN. I can hear the warning horns! I DON'T WANT TO GO ON THIS RIDE. I can't believe what I do but I pick her up and tell her you are going on this ride and you are going to LIKE IT! Now before you shake your head with disbelief at me as I know you are doing right this moment let me explain. My dd has been on this ride NUMEROUS times in Disneyland. She loves this ride. The older woman CM running the ride just looked at me with a guiltful look and I shouted "I SWEAR, she loves this ride in Disneyland!" She shook her head. Well my dd continued to SCREAM the entire ride. I was perplexed. Of course at the end of the ride we were greeted with another near retirement looking CM looking at me and my screaming dd and telling me telepathically what a terrible mother I am for making my dd go on this ride. After we get off my dd declares that she will not ride any of the "dark rides" since they look different from the outside then Disneyland. But she will ride Soaring. Oh thanks for granting us this one favor my dd. No Small World, No Peter Pan, No Pirates, No Buzz. No kidding.
DISCLAIMER: I would never make my children go on a ride I know would be scary or frightful for them and please don't believe my ds when he tells you I made him go on Indiana Jones at DL when he was 7 by bribing him with a stuffed Dalmation.
We meet my dh & ds and I break the news to them that Maggie will not be riding any of the rides with us, so we will have to do "baby swap" for the rest of the trip. Wait a minute....declares miss thang. "I'm not a BABY". Hmmmhmmmm. We make the most of it and continue on our Magical Adventure.
My ds and I ride Buzz, which is a little different then the DL ride. It doesn't have that long weird starry tunnel thing and we saw the Stitch ride or show or whatever it is which I'm glad we only waited 10 minutes for because it's not worth waiting any longer. My ds was impressed with the animitronics which was entertaining, but I don't think the shoulder thingy was on me correctly so I didn't get the effect of Stitch bouncing around us. Now my dd LOVES Stitch and she really wanted to go see this, but I told her it was too scary for her and didn't think it was a good idea. SEE I am a great mom after all. Off to my favorite ride, SPACE MOUNTAIN! My dh and I walked on with a FP and in moments were wizzed off into the galaxy. I wonder if the referb in DL will end up looking like what is in MK now. I've been SM deprived for a few years so it was great to ride again.
How about Country Bears, they don't have that in Disneyland anymore your majesty, can we all go see that? SURE! It was a nice air conditioned break and then we had lunch at Pecos Bill's. After that the boys headed to Pirates, which they announced was disappointing, no comparison to Pirates in DL, but they really enjoyed the store, which is 5 times as big as the one in DL. Last time we were in DL my ds bought a leather pirates hat that he wore the rest of our trip. My dh teased that it looked like he had beef jerkey on his head, and ya know it really kind of did look like that. Us girls rode the Magic Carpet Ride over and over, my dd's new favorite ride.
We met at the Tiki Room for another air conditioned break. What a pretty waterfall in the queue, "hey honey get my camera out and let me take a picture of the kids in front of it. It's in your backpack. " "Uh oh" says my DH. "WHAT (knowing exactly what his Uh Oh meant)" "I don't remember where I left my backpack". I sigh. LOUDLY. He leaves the queue to go search Pirates to see if anything is turned in. He's not worried or upset (like he was this am!) because he knows someone will turn it in like our camcorder that he lost in DL that one time. He returns as we begin to enter with no backpack. Keep checking with City Hall thoughout the day. WOW way different then the old Tiki Room that I knew and loved. Now I people scoff at updating older rides, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Time changes things and I enjoyed the new Tiki Room and I will always have memories of the old Tiki Room. Shweew..my dd loved it with no FREAK OUT!
Sadly the Haunted Mansion is closed so we head to the Hall of Presidents. It's been years since I have seen that show and I don't think my ds had ever seen it so I thought it would be a good history lesson for him. I did WARN and REMIND my dh that we are not in California anymore, we are in a RED state. Remember who the governor of Florida is. Do not BOO ,even though I would have loved to as well, the President during the show. He laughed at me. I was scared, but we made it through. Even though everyone cheered when they announced Bush, he remained silent. Interesting piece of trivia for you. Clinton is the only President with a Mickey Mouse tie.
Cool. I miss Clinton.
Now my original plan on my itinerary was to leave the park after lunch and return later. My family was not going for it, so we decided to stay since we had dinner at the Polynesian instead of going all the way back to All Star Movies and turn around and come back to MK. While my ds & dh headed back to Tomorrowland, my dd and I decided to take in the Cinderellabration which takes place at the castle. The show started in a 1/2 and hour so we decided to claim our spot up front. During the day I thought I was doing really good considering the heat & humidity. I took shady spots while I could and drank lots of water. Nothing could prepare me for waiting for 1/2 hour in the hot sun with no shade and no seating. I was thinking the umbrella would REALLY come in handy right now. The show was princess filled and made my heart flutter and wish I could be 7 again. I do declare that Alladin is a hottie. My dd said it was the BEST SHOW SHE HAD EVER SEEN! Ok..I guess it was worth it then right?
It was time to head to the Polynesian for dinner at the Ohana. It was a boat ride past the Grand Floridian, which looks to me like the Coronado in San Diego, so why do they call that other hotel Coronado? I was confused. It is grand alright! We arrive at the Polynesian. Hey MOM, how come we don't have a beach at our hotel?? We love the look and feel of this hotel since we are big Hawaii fans and it reminds us of our last trip to Maui. Dinner at the Ohana turned out to be our favorite of our entire trip. The food was awesome. My ds couldn't believe they kept bringing him steak, as much as he wanted. I loved the shrimp won tons with the peanut sauce YUMMY! The had coconut broom race and a hula hoop contest which my dd really enjoyed. I enjoyed hearing the Hawaiian music we know and love while we dined. And for dessert pinapple with carmel sauce for dipping..MMMMMMMHMMMMMM. We did say Mahalo to our waitress and she looked at us like we were crazy though. I don't think she knew what it meant. For those of you who don't know it's THANK YOU in Hawaiian. And of course Ohana means FAMILY and FAMILY means nobody gets left behind. And what a perfect place for our Ohana.
We went back via the Monerail which "Stitch" rode with us and my dd thought was HILARIOUS. We checked at City Hall and no backpack. Looks like disposable cameras the rest of the trip.We hope that someone enjoyed our photos and the autograph book I so lovingly made for my dd...SIGH. We'll check again on Saturday.
We headed back to our room and the kids declared they were not tired, it's only 7 o clock at home mom! GOOD NIGHT! OH and guess what fell behind the TV in our room. My dh's sunglasses and cap.
Day Two MGM and the search for STITCH! Coming Soon.
Intro - Our WDW Adventure - A Californian POV
Maggie Kate waiting for Cinderellabration. Check out that Bling-Bling on the lady behind her!
My DH enjoying Ohana fare - ALOOOOOOOOOOOOHA!
