9 Days of Princess Hair - a June 2010 trip report - update 9/24 the drive home

[lexmas]

Star Wars Weekends always looks like so much fun!

I love all the pictures with the characters, and that's amazing that you never had to wait very long!

How cute is R2-MK?

Okay, I had to ask DH who all the celebrities were in the parade. But I think that's really cool that they had celebrities, I had no idea.

Too bad your DH didn't like the spinning on TSM...I bet that does put a crimp on 3 times in one day! I love that ride, it's so much fun! I think it is easier overall than Buzz, but you're scored differently since they show you accuracy and stuff. I think Buzz is so hard because you can't always know which laser is yours. I definitely prefer TSM.

Sounds like so much fun so far!

 

[TinksThree]

Wow! What a successful morning!! The PP pics are great!! And that parade looks like so much fun!!

I definitely vote for TSM over Buzz! After doing TSM, my DH thought Buzz was lame....of course it has been around a lot longer, I remember going to Buzz in 1999!

 

[ksl5f123]

I love your SWW pictures. I wanted a picture with Darth Vader soooooooo bad but the line was insane. DD wanted a picture with Chewy but he was never out when we were there. It was always an Ewok or no one was out

Thanks! I am so glad we went to see Vader first. We went back by him after seeing Chewy on our way to TSMM and the line looked about 45 minutes long.

SWW was fantastic. DD was talking about it again last night and I told her we most likely won't be in Disney in May again so the SW characters won't be there. She was a little upset about that, but is excited about seeing either the xmas or halloween parties next time depending on when we go.

I am glad she had such a good time. One of the great things about Disney is that there is often something "extra" going on - Food & Wine, Flower & Garden, Halloween, Christmas, SWW, etc. It makes it a little extra special to have something "new" to see each time.

I still can't believe how much you were able to get done. It was packed the day we went to SWW and it seemed like we got nothing accomplished.

It was pretty crowded when we were there although I probably wouldn't say "packed". I had pretty low expectations for what we would accomplish - just the 4 things (Darth, Chewy, TSMM, & parade). We did all 4 in about 3 hours so I guess that is OK.

 

[ksl5f123]

Star Wars Weekends always looks like so much fun!

I love all the pictures with the characters, and that's amazing that you never had to wait very long!

It was great!! I love that they had photopass photographers at every character - I wish every "regular" character had one (example: Mulan in China, all the characters in Rafiki's planet watch, etc. did NOT have photopass photographers). I also like the different borders that they offer for the photopass pictures.

How cute is R2-MK?

Okay, I had to ask DH who all the celebrities were in the parade. But I think that's really cool that they had celebrities, I had no idea.

R2-MK was really cute! I would have liked to do meet & greets with Jedi Mickey, Leia Minnie, and R2-MK but there are only so many hours...

The celebrities are a big draw. The die hard fans start lining up at 3 AM to get autographs and do a meet & greet. I was perfectly satisified to take their pictures as they went by.

Too bad your DH didn't like the spinning on TSM...I bet that does put a crimp on 3 times in one day! I love that ride, it's so much fun! I think it is easier overall than Buzz, but you're scored differently since they show you accuracy and stuff. I think Buzz is so hard because you can't always know which laser is yours. I definitely prefer TSM.

Since this was our first time, we didn't really know what to expect as far as motion. Surprisingly, I didn't find it too bad, but it was a little fast and jerky.

I agree about figuring out which laser spot is yours in Buzz. It is even harder when you have little kids with you because DD4 needs help so that she doesn't pull down on the back and end up shooting the ceiling the whole time and DS1 wants to be "involved". I never score very high - maybe when my kids grow up.

 

[ksl5f123]

Wow! What a successful morning!! The PP pics are great!! And that parade looks like so much fun!!

I definitely vote for TSM over Buzz! After doing TSM, my DH thought Buzz was lame....of course it has been around a lot longer, I remember going to Buzz in 1999!

It was fun for DH and I to be the ones meeting the characters. Usually, we stay out of the way and let the kids do their thing. I think there were WAY more adults in the character lines at SWW than there were kids.

I really like both, but I find TSMM easier to control . We rode Buzz 4 times on this trip (you would think I would get better at it). I think that one appeals to us because the kids love the movie "Buzz Lightyear: Star Command" and so they really enjoy the theming in there.

 

[ksl5f123]

We left immediately after the parade and met up with our family. They didn't get up until about 9 AM and had been in the pool all morning. We went to have lunch at Riverside Mill. I had the pepperoni pizza, Diet Coke and an ice cream sundae for lunch (not interested AT ALL in healthy eating this day!). DH (again) had the create your own pasta, some juice and cake. DD6 (again) had the chicken nuggets, applesauce, cookie, and milk. DD4 had the kid's turkey pinwheels with grapes, a cookie, and apple juice. Everyone shared with DS1. I have heard a lot of bad things about Disney pizza, so I wasn't expecting much. I guess that is why I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't bad. The crust was a little thick, but the sauce had flavor and the pizza was fresh (it hadn't been sitting under a heat lamp for hours). I actually enjoyed it. We then said goodbye to DC and her kids as they were headed home this afternoon.

After lunch, DH and I went to visit the concierge. We needed to figure out our dining credits. He was able to quickly discover that we had “paid” for 3 adults and 1 child at 1900 Park Fare – I thought that bill had been a little ridiculous! He did some magical typing and the next thing you know, we had 2 adult and 2 child TS credits again. While we were visiting with the concierge, we also added a day to our tickets!!! If you remember all the way back to our first day, we had found out the DC and her kids were joining us while we were driving to WDW. Our plans changed in this manner:
Friday – was Seaworld – became Epcot
Saturday to Tuesday stayed the same
Wednesday – was MK – became Seaworld
This meant that our last Disney day was going to be DHS on Tuesday. After spending the morning at DHS, we just weren't sure we wanted that to be our last park day. So, we decided that we would go ahead and add the 10th day just in case we decided we wanted to go to another park on Thursday. The upgrade from a 9 to a 10 day ticket for all 4 of us was a total of $12.80 – money well spent!

When we got back to our room to rest, mousekeeping was just arriving to make up the room. We said, “just let us go over to MIL and FIL's room and you can do this one”. I forgot to post that when we returned to our room on Saturday, we got towel creations!!!! There were two in our room and the girls were thrilled that they each “got one”. They quickly choose which one they liked and named them.
The bunny (or is it a mouse?)

The butterfly

I mentioned that FIL had stayed in the room all afternoon on Saturday and he was in his room when mousekeeping came. I guess they had a great chat. FIL is originally from Cuba and our wonderful mousekeeper (Guadalupe) and her family came over just 6 years ago. When they came on Sunday, there was another chat in rapid-fire Spanish – I understand just fine when people speak slowly, but when they “go native”, I get lost. DH later explained to me that she had been telling him their story of leaving Cuba and had thanked him for the tips we had been leaving. In case you ever wonder if mousekeeping remembers which rooms tip, I can tell you at least one of them does! Anyway, when she finished our room, we walked in to see this!

I love that she put one of the hairbows I made on Daisy's beak!

The towels and plush creatures were ours, but they added yet another towel creation (I have no idea what this is supposed to be?!)

and the balloon!!! Those balloons are pricey and the kids knew better than to ask for one. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled!!!!

Up next, will I have any energy for date night?

 

[mermaid764]

That's awesome you guys decided to add on the 10th day and got some extra park time.

Also nice that she remembered your room had left her tips and showed her appreciation.

I love the towel butterfly...too cute

 

[lexmas]

Wow that is some amazing mousekeeping! I am impressed! I love when they do stuff like that, it just makes me happy. Every trip I intend on tipping, and every trip I forget. Maybe I will do better this time!

That's pretty cool that your FIL had a great talk with the mousekeeper. I'm sure that is rare that they get to talk to people, so I'm sure it made her day!

 

[sleepy01020]

I love that she put one of the hairbows I made on Daisy's beak!

The towels and plush creatures were ours, but they added yet another towel creation (I have no idea what this is supposed to be?!)

and the balloon!!! Those balloons are pricey and the kids knew better than to ask for one. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled!!!!

Up next, will I have any energy for date night?[/COLOR]

I just found your TR, I'm really enjoy it! Your kids are very cute! Mousekeeping is awesome! I think that last animal maybe a bird?

 

[howlongtildisney]

Just found your trip report recently. It's funny what you say about them speaking quickly. I speak Spanish fluently, but I can't for the life of me understand Cubans unless they slow down and enunciate. They are always speaking so quickly and cutting off letters!

 

[ksl5f123]

That's awesome you guys decided to add on the 10th day and got some extra park time.

Also nice that she remembered your room had left her tips and showed her appreciation.

I love the towel butterfly...too cute

I love that once you are past 4 days, it really doesn't cost much at all to add that extra day. Having such a large group of people with us was a challenge for me and I was REALLY happy to have that last day.

The butterfly is my favorite!

 

[ksl5f123]

I just found your TR, I'm really enjoy it! Your kids are very cute! Mousekeeping is awesome! I think that last animal maybe a bird?

I am so happy to have you reading along!!! Thank you for the compliment on the kiddos. I think they are cute too.

A bird - good guess! I think my girls decided it was a manatee (they are creative).

 

[ksl5f123]

Just found your trip report recently. It's funny what you say about them speaking quickly. I speak Spanish fluently, but I can't for the life of me understand Cubans unless they slow down and enunciate. They are always speaking so quickly and cutting off letters!

and !!

That is exactly right about the Cuban Spanish! They seem to have a particular aversion to any final "s". I get so lost!

 

[TinksThree]

That Mousekeeping surprise was awesome!!

Adding days can make it so magical....like an added bonus! We got to add on last year's trip, and I was so glad because we saw so many things we woudl have missed otherwise!

 

[ksl5f123]

That Mousekeeping surprise was awesome!!

Adding days can make it so magical....like an added bonus! We got to add on last year's trip, and I was so glad because we saw so many things we woudl have missed otherwise!

Our mousekeeper was the best!

There is ALWAYS more to see at Disneyworld - I could always add "one more day"!!

 

[ksl5f123]

DH and I now wanted to take a nap, but the kids were raring to go. DH fell asleep anyway and I left him with DD4 and DS1 climbing all over him while DD6 helped me do a couple of loads of laundry. I had brought a roll of quarters along, but had used a couple of them to pay tolls on the drive down. I found myself $0.50 short from starting our dryer and really didn't want to walk back to the van to get more money. I thought I would just get change from the change machines – bad idea. I must have put 20 different $1 bills in there before FIL just gave me $0.50.

At about 4 PM, I woke DH up so we could get ready for church. Mass at the Shrine was at 6 PM. We arrived at about 5:30 and wandered through their fantastic gift shop first. DH couldn't resist buying a couple of books. I enjoy going to the Shrine on all of our trips – although I miss the days when they used to have mass at the Poly!

After mass, DH and I headed out for our date night!!!!! We had 7:40 reservations at bluezoo in the Dolphin. All I can say is this place is incredibly confusing!!!!!!!! First, as we were driving there, the first entrance we came to was only for check in and valet. So we had to leave, go a little farther down the street and enter the “pay” lot. From the parking lot, we walked into the building. I remember reading on the DIS that someone said that bluezoo was on the floor where they entered. We walked all around the lobby and couldn't find it. Finally, we discovered that we were on the wrong floor (to avoid anyone else's confusion, if you enter from the parking lot you will need to go upstairs. If you enter from the lake side, you will be on the correct floor.) We made our way upstairs, but still couldn't find the restaurant. We went out a set of doors (thinking we were going into the restaurant) and found ourselves outside. We wandered around a little more and finally found a sign on the outside of the building! We went in and after going around a corner, finally found it! We made it by 7:40, but barely!

We were seated in less than 5 minutes and had a fantastic waiter! We were seated in the main dining area at a table with a little L shaped booth – I love those for date night! The atmosphere in here felt more formal than the other places we ate so I was uncomfortable taking food pictures, but all of the food was BEAUTIFUL! For appetizers, I had the classico flatbread and DH had ??? (We know he had something, but neither of us can remember anymore – I guess I better hurry up with this trip report before we forget everything!) I initially felt a little guilty about ordering an $11 “pizza” appetizer, but that flatbread is certainly NOT pizza. It is a lovely appetizer with very fresh ingredients. We also got a carafe of white wine. I don't remember the type exactly, but I usually order pinot grigio so some variety of that is most likely. For our main courses, I had the miso glazed black cod and DH had the Basque style tuna. We both LOVED our food!!!! Everything on my plate was fabulous! I have particularly fond memories of the pea tendril salad. I had never had pea tendrils before, but they were so fresh and well seasoned I could have eaten a whole plate of them! DH likes his tuna rare (which isn't my thing), but I tasted a bit of the edge where the sear was and it was really good (the waiter saw me do this and commented about me seeking out the cooked part.) I had put our anniversary on our ADR (it is actually on July 15, but we weren't in Disney then.) Our waiter asked us how many years we were celebrating. When we told him “10 years” he asked if we like chocolate. We said of couse and he brought back a complimentary chocolate cake! This was really great and served with an amazing peanut ice cream. YUMMY!!!!

Since the kids had chosen Blizzard Beach over DHS on Friday, we had planned after dinner to head into DHS for a 2nd Fantasmic! We have never seen the show. We also thought we might go for a walk on the Boardwalk. Or to head into EMH at MK. But, I hadn't gotten to rest that afternoon and we were both tired so we decided to just go back to POR. As we walked out to our car, we realized that we forgot to ask if the restaurant validated parking. We decided we were too tired to walk back in and find out, so we just went to the car. However, as we were exiting, the car in front of us was having a very long discussion with the gate attendant. When they finally did pull forward, the little gate came down on their car!!! The attendant looked at us and waved us through saying “Just go ahead, I have to deal with this car.” So, with a little pixie dust for us, we didn't have to pay for parking.

While we were at dinner, MIL and FIL took the kids to the Poly to eat at Kona (the girls both had Mickey macaroni which they loved). At this point in the trip, MIL was sick of Riverside Mill. So, I heard her ask DC before she left for a recommendation of another resort to go for supper. I assumed that she meant CS. I heard DC tell her that the Poly was good, so I assumed they were going to Captain Cook's and didn't question this when we got home. The kids were in bed when we got back at about 9:15. We immediately collapsed into bed. And so ends day 5 with princess hair.

3 snack credits used at Riverside Mill, 21 remaining – breakfast (chocolate croissant, cinnamon roll, and yogurt parfait)
price if paying oop - $10.19
2 TS credits used at Kona. 2 remaining
Price for this meal if paying oop - $16.17
4 QS credits used at Riverside Mill, 11 remaining
Price for this meal if paying oop = $40.49
Total paid for dining plan (8 days) = $975.68
Total cost of meals if paying oop = $1025.72!!!!
Money spent this day = $141.15 for supper at bluezoo, $7.50 for laundry, $12.80 to add a 10th day to our tickets, $5 tip for mousekeeping
Money available after 9 days = $491

 

[ksl5f123]

Monday June 14 was the first day for which I really didn't have a plan - OK, actually I had too many plans – none of which we followed. First, there was the original plan:
7 AM ADR at Chef Mickey
9 AM – 11 AM at MK
hop to Epcot
12:15 AAA Storytime experience
Epcot World Showcase until our 5:55 PM ADR at Coral Reef

The 2nd version was developed when we thought we were going to drop Epcot on Friday June 11 for Seaworld. Had we done that, Monday would have been our only day at Epcot so the plan was:
7 AM ADR at Chef Mickey
Epcot Futureworld
12:15 Storytime
Break 12:30 – 4 PM
Epcot World Showcase
5:55 PM Coral reef

Here is what really happened: DH, DD6, DD4, DS1 and I were up and ready for CM by 6:15 AM. However, MIL, FIL and the nephews were still sound asleep. We were not going to mis this ADR as I had but DS1's birthday on the reservation and we wanted to celebrate! So, we left without them. We were happy that the change from a party of 9 to a party of 5 was easily accommodated. Since this was the first seating of the day, we were seated immediately. I found the food to be pretty good (despite reading lots of negative reviews). DD6 and I loved that there were blueberries for our Mickey waffles (although this did make me a little paranoid that she was going to get blueberry on a character ) We also loved the cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, and fresh fruit. DS1 liked the french toast too.

DD4 at breakfast still sporting her princess hair. This is day 6 and you can see that some of her shorter hair is starting to frizz out at the edges. Personally, I think that gives it a little character and that she still looks really cute.

DS1 with a cinnamon roll

DS1's birthday cupcake

DS enjoying his cupcake (you know we are at Disneyworld when I let a one year old have a cupcake at 7:30 AM!!!)

Goofy

Mickey

Donald was silly!

This picture of DS1 makes me laugh

Minnie

DD6 was happy to have Minnie sign her Minnie's foot since Daisy had signed DD4's Daisy back at Tusker House on our first day

Pluto

Up next, a disorganized Epcot day!

 

[mermaid764]

Your date night sounded awesome, and bluezoo sounds like the perfect place to spend it.

Your pics from Chef Mickey's are too cute...I love the one of your son with his cupcake.

What a neat idea to have Minnie sign the stuffie...that's an awesome souvenier idea.

 

[TinksThree]

bluezoo sounds good! As I read your report, i started plotting if i could ever get DH backa nd have a date night!!

We ate at Chef Mickey's for breakfast too! Your pictures are so cute! A cupcake at Disney at 7:30am has to be one of the best ways to celebrate a birthday!!

 

[lexmas]

Mass at the Poly was nice, wasn't it? It's a shame that they don't do that anymore!

Your date night sounds great! I would have panicked being "lost" and not finding the restaurant, but I'm like that. It sounds like you had a great time! I wish you had just snuck pictures of your food though, it sounds amazing!

That's classic parenthood, that you just decided to go back to the hotel and go to sleep. Makes us all a little boring and a lot tired.

I am interested to see how the TS meals instead of the CS meals made a difference in your eating.

I love the pictures at Chef Mickeys! So cute that Minnie signed "her own" foot. I think that's really cute. Do the signatures turn out okay that way, or are they just all blurry?

Cute pictures, and I bet your DS enjoyed that cupcake bright and early in the morning!