A Mother-Daughter Trip! Now with BONUS BIRTHDAY Trip! (Final Thoughts Coming Soon!)

[RGirl]

14. Will DD’s Insistence on Riding Dinosaur Pay Off for Her?

Today was our AK day! (I planned our first several days to ensure that we would devote the majority of one day to each park, but I did not try to decide ahead of time whether we would re-visit any given park since I didn’t know for sure what would most appeal to us this year. Except MK - I knew we would go there more than once!)

I was up at 7 this morning and got DD up soon thereafter. I made her some bacon and eggs for breakfast.

And she got dressed in her Jasmine costume.

Isn't that a cute costume???? Unfortunately, that was the last time I would see it because she insisted on wearing a hoody over it all day.

Anyway, we left the villa by about 8:00, and an AK bus pulled up to the bus stop about 1 minute after we arrived. We were at AK before 8:30.

Still loving that stroller...

There weren’t too many people there at this hour!

We were first in line at one of the turnstiles.

And equally close to the rope once they let us in.

We enjoyed the cute opening show.

We stopped for a PP pic on the way in while everyone else rushed off somewhere. It was so peaceful and pretty at this time of the day. Sadly, DD would not get out of the stroller. Again. Oh well, still a nice pic, I think.

The PP photographer tried to get DD to roar and put her hands up like paws. DD was not exactly ready for this so early in the morning after being up so late. She was cracking me up though!

We began walking towards Africa and the Safari next!

A little aside: When I graduated from high school (approximately 1 billion years ago), my parents took me and my brother to Kenya on safari with a group from my father’s alma mater. Last year, when we visited AK and did the safari and later when we visited AKL, my mom and I could not stop commenting on how much it reminded us of our Kenya trip - obviously, a Disney-fied version of it, but still we really got that same feeling. So cool! Little did I know that our Safari experience this year would be even more “authentic” as far as reminding me of our trip to the real Africa.

We walked along the queue - I don’t think we had to stop once - and onto our ride vehicle.

We had a really great ride last year, but this was definitely a better experience. The animals were very active, and our driver stopped many times just so that we could get better pics. Sadly, despite her efforts, my pics were still terrible!

We had a very close call with a giraffe who was very interested in our vehicle.

(cont. next post)

 

[RGirl]

14. Will DD’s Insistence on Riding Dinosaur Pay Off for Her? (cont.)

Got some more less than stellar pics, including some of a baboon family with a little baby.

And then we reached the usually sleepy lions. Only they weren’t sleeping! Wait - what were they doing?? Oh dear, very amorous lions!!!! (When we visited Kenya back in the 1980s, we had this same experience only with wild lions out on the savannah!!!! I guess I have this effect on lions?) Anyway, this is a family-friendly web site, and I am a family-friendly person, so I didn’t take any overly risque pictures, but these two are clearly in love.

So after that very interesting safari, we decided to walk the Pangani Forest Trail.

I had these wonderful visions before the trip of really doing AK this year - we had only had a half day here last year. I thought we would walk the trails, go out to Rafiki’s Planet, see FotLK and Nemo. It would be great! As we started on the Pangani Forest Trail, I started to realize that my plans were going to be changed by the much smaller member of my party. She wanted to see the gorillas on this trail - but NOTHING else. And then she wanted to ride Dinosaur. I did manage to snap a pic of this weird rock:

And we did see the gorillas - very briefly.

After that, it was all about Dinosaur. Why did DD want to ride this one so much? I think because she could - she was tall enough for the “big rides,” so she was bound and determined to do them. (She was VERY disappointed when she saw EE and was told she was nowhere near tall enough.) I tried to tell her what Dinosaur was like, but she didn’t care. So we started the long walk over there - passing any number of things that I thought we would be enjoying this morning.

(cont. next post)

 

[RGirl]

14. Will DD’s Insistence on Riding Dinosaur Pay Off for Her? (cont.)

Until I spotted a sign touting a Pooh and Friends meet-and-greet. DD was willing to make a quick detour for that. We started down the (apparently abandoned - NO ONE was there) trail and suddenly saw Pooh making his way back up the other side. Apparently, it was break time. Eeyore soon followed.

Having never stood in character lines before, I had no idea how brief these breaks actually are. So we hopped under the bar and started heading back out the other side. And who should we see coming back towards us? That’s right, Pooh. So we turned around again. We got down to the very lovely meet-and-greet area, and there was only one family down there. Very soon, DD was meeting Pooh.

Then Eeyore.

And finally Tigger who obliged her by bouncing with her.

Well, that was lovely, but DD was more than ready for Dinosaur now.

We rode it. She informed me that she did NOT want to ride that again. I had no problem with that as I am not a huge fan of this ride either - it is just jerky and loud and nothing else to me.

Next up: 15. The Characterpalooza Started with Pooh and Continued On and On and On

 

[shan23877]

LOVE LOVE LOVE that Jasmine costume. Too cute! Great photos with Pooh and friends too!

I love the Boardwalk, but never noticed the lack of CS. That's disappointing.

Sorry your morning didn't go as planned, but at least you don't have to ride Dinosaur again for a while!

 

[mousetravel]

Such cute pics of DD with Pooh and friends!
Great pics at AK!

I am so jealous of your Kenya trip. That is my dream destination!! I would love to go there and spend 1/2 the time doing mission work, then 1/2 time doing safari tours. I love safari animals. The closest thing I have ever had to that is with our Peru trip last year. I loved going there to help the people, and I love visiting other countries! Didn't encounter any "safari" animals there, but did meet (up close) some monkeys and sloths!

 

[DisneyDaze928]

I am fairly new to DIS but I am loving reading TR's. They get me so excited for my trips. Our next one if Dec 18-23, 2011...w DS6 and DD1.5...

Your daughter is adorable and you too loo like you are having so much fun...I think I might seek off th my son early a few mornings to try to experience a less crowded park....we shall se..MK was gorgeous in the early morning light and so was AK.

As for food around the boardwalk...the options could definitely be better. We stayed at The BC on our last trip and finding late night food was problematic...

 

[hstrickland]

Good Morning! I'm off for a few days, so I thought I would catch up

Believe it or not, I'm really starting to like the look of the BWV!! The view is what's selling it! I'm a big 'people watcher' so that balcony would be perfect! The only thing I'm not crazy about it the pool area...even though the waterslide looks fun, the clown is weird. Being that close to EP would certainly be nice and a huge benefit.

When you made the comment about waiting in lines, I laughed. We're the same way. More than 30 minutes....forget it. Since we're frequent flyers, you kinda learn what to ride first and what to ride last. Getting to the parks at rope drop is the key for us.

AK looked fairly empty! Nice!! That park can feel really crowded. And we don't like Dinosaurs either My oldest son rode it years ago and that was enough for him. Like you said....way too jerky.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Heather

 

[RGirl]

LOVE LOVE LOVE that Jasmine costume. Too cute! Great photos with Pooh and friends too!

I love the Boardwalk, but never noticed the lack of CS. That's disappointing.

Sorry your morning didn't go as planned, but at least you don't have to ride Dinosaur again for a while!

Yes, getting to skip Dinosaur is a huge plus! Really, we had a lot of fun - it's just so funny how you picture things compared to how they actually turn out.

Such cute pics of DD with Pooh and friends!
Great pics at AK!

I am so jealous of your Kenya trip. That is my dream destination!! I would love to go there and spend 1/2 the time doing mission work, then 1/2 time doing safari tours. I love safari animals. The closest thing I have ever had to that is with our Peru trip last year. I loved going there to help the people, and I love visiting other countries! Didn't encounter any "safari" animals there, but did meet (up close) some monkeys and sloths!

Thanks!

The trip to Kenya was amazing - definitely one of the best experiences I have had. Would love to visit Peru - that sounds incredible.

I am fairly new to DIS but I am loving reading TR's. They get me so excited for my trips. Our next one if Dec 18-23, 2011...w DS6 and DD1.5...

Your daughter is adorable and you too loo like you are having so much fun...I think I might seek off th my son early a few mornings to try to experience a less crowded park....we shall se..MK was gorgeous in the early morning light and so was AK.

As for food around the boardwalk...the options could definitely be better. We stayed at The BC on our last trip and finding late night food was problematic...

Welcome!!! Your trip is coming up fast! How exciting to be there for all the Christmas decorations.

We love getting to the parks early and missing the big crowds. But it does take a toll (especially with the time change) after the first 4 or 5 days. As you will see, we slowed it down a little about half way through.

 

[RGirl]

Good Morning! I'm off for a few days, so I thought I would catch up

Believe it or not, I'm really starting to like the look of the BWV!! The view is what's selling it! I'm a big 'people watcher' so that balcony would be perfect! The only thing I'm not crazy about it the pool area...even though the waterslide looks fun, the clown is weird. Being that close to EP would certainly be nice and a huge benefit.

Hello! Ha! Now you will have yet another resort to conquer. I thought the pool area looked creepy in photos, but I actually kind of liked it in person. I'm sure you all have checked it out in person before though. As you will see, we actually ended up swimming at the quiet pool anyway.

When you made the comment about waiting in lines, I laughed. We're the same way. More than 30 minutes....forget it. Since we're frequent flyers, you kinda learn what to ride first and what to ride last. Getting to the parks at rope drop is the key for us.

I probably would not have even enjoyed WDW had I not spent so much time on the DIS learning about it before our first trip. I'm so glad that I knew to get there early - it makes a huge difference for us. I am NOT a patient person!

AK looked fairly empty! Nice!! That park can feel really crowded. And we don't like Dinosaurs either My oldest son rode it years ago and that was enough for him. Like you said....way too jerky.

I don't think it did get too terribly crowded - the parks always feel kind of crowded to me at midday. Since we spent the vast majority of our time in character lines, I guess I wouldn't know for sure!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Heather

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Are you hosting or traveling? We will be going over to my parents' house for a very small Thanksgiving. I miss the years of big Thanksgivings, but our family is just so small now. Oh well - we're going to start decorating for Christmas the next day!

 

[hstrickland]

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Hope everyone has a blessed day!

Heather

 

[RGirl]

Hello! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have been having a lovely 4-day weekend. We had a good T-Day dinner with my parents, and today we went to see Puss In Boots. I wanted to see The Muppets, but I left it to DD to decide.

And I even made homemade laundry detergent! It is sooo cheap and works so much better than regular detergent. Can't believe I've been wasting my money all these years.

Okay, I'm going to try to get this TR rolling again!

 

[RGirl]

15. The Characterpalooza Started with Pooh and Continued On and On and On

Next, for some reason, we decided to see It’s Tough to Be a Bug.

We hadn’t seen this before and liked it pretty well. I did have a great time watching DD experiencing the 3D effect and trying to reach out and touch the butterfly.

When we exited the show, we saw Flik out for a meet-and-greet. So, of course, we got in line.

I could see where this day was going, so we headed for Camp Mickey-Minnie (is that what it’s called???).

First up were Pocahontas and Meeko.

Then Chip and Dale - I love these guys!

Minnie in safari gear.

And Thumper and Miss Bunny.

(I had to crop out Thumper's tail on this one because the little girl from the family who went before us kept running back and getting in all of our pictures. Her dad got mad at me when I finally asked him if maybe he could get her out of our pictures. I did feel bad having to ask that, but they had had their turn and gotten their pictures; I just wanted to get a few pictures of my kid with the rabbits without some kid I didn't know. )

After all that, even DD was ready to take a break from characters for a bit. What did she want to do? She wanted to ride the water ride - KRR. So we talked about what we were going to do before heading out of the park - it was getting really hot, and we were both getting a tiny bit cranky. We decided that we would walk all the way back to KRR and do that (WITH ponchos), get some lunch, treat ourselves to Mickey bars and then head out. There just wasn’t anything else that DD really wanted to do, and I could not stomach the thought of forcing her to wait around for FotLK or Nemo when she wasn’t really in the mood.

So we (meaning I since DD was riding) trekked back over to KRR and got ready to ride.

This was fun - we hadn’t done it before. It is over really quickly though. I was very glad we had ponchos!!!

I was hoping to do something a little more interesting for lunch, but DD had turned into the Chicken Nugget Monster. She does not eat chicken nuggets at home except on the rare occasion when we might eat out at a chain restaurant or something. So I guess she thinks vacations are for chicken nuggets. I couldn’t see the point in paying for an adult and child CS meal since we would never eat it all. So we went over to Restaurantasaurus and ordered one order of chicken nuggets. This was a HUGE serving - there were 8 nuggets and a ridiculous amount of fries. (One of the nuggets was disgusting, so it was really 7, but that was still plenty.) It wasn’t bad - it is what it is. We couldn’t finish it all.

We were, of course, saving room for something much better!

And then we headed out of the park.

We had a little wait for a bus - not bad. Of course, then it had to stop at BB, the Swan, the Dolphin, YC, and BC before reaching the BW. I had been thinking that we would head back to the villa and rest for a bit, but we talked about it on the bus and ended up deciding that we would get cleaned up, head over to Epcot for a couple of hours, and then hop a bus to make our dinner ADR.

Up next: 16. Every Day Should Include a Little Epcot

 

[shan23877]

Great character pics! Love the ones with DD's sunglasses on. Too cute.

I can't believe that a parent wouldn't tell their own child to get out of someone's photos. People kill me.

 

[cocofifi]

Love the trip installment. Your daughter is beautiful and I love the fact that she seems like a girl that knows what she wants! Love the pics with Pocahontas.

 

[RGirl]

Great character pics! Love the ones with DD's sunglasses on. Too cute.

I can't believe that a parent wouldn't tell their own child to get out of someone's photos. People kill me.

Thanks for continuing to read along! Yeah, the situation with the family at the Thumper meet was so awkward! I mean, I totally get that little kids want to keep going back for hugs. I really do. But the characters were totally ignoring the kid because she just kept coming back, and they had moved on to the next family (us). And the parents were just standing there thinking that it was soooo cute. I guess it was from their perspective, but having a stranger's kid in all of our pictures was not my idea of a great character meet-and-greet! Hmm - I don't sound very nice, do I???

Love the trip installment. Your daughter is beautiful and I love the fact that she seems like a girl that knows what she wants! Love the pics with Pocahontas.

Thanks!!! You have DD nailed - she definitely knows what she wants. All the time! Pocahontas was so sweet - she left one of those big princess kiss marks on DD's cheek.

 

[RGirl]

16. Every Day Should Include a Little Epcot

When I last left off, DD and I were heading back to our resort from AK.

We spent some time cooling off and getting cleaned up. DD decided to wear her Snow White dress after her bath in hopes of meeting SW in Epcot. I took a peek at the times guide and warned DD that it was not that likely that we would be able to get to Germany in time to see Snow White, but DD was quite certain we would.

We headed out to walk over to Epcot. (How much did I love that we could do that????) Remember, it’s a Saturday, late afternoon, and the F&W Festival is going on. Yeah, it was crowded. REALLY crowded. Crowded with a lot of people who had already had quite a lot to drink and also crowded with a lot of people wandering around smoking. Not ideal, but we were on a mission.

We did take a quick detour from our mission when we spotted Marie in France.

I had hoped that I just might be able to score one of those delicious Cosmo slushies at the France F&W kiosk, but it was just so crowded. No way was I going to attempt it. Instead, we plowed ahead through the countries until we reached Germany. And there was Snow White!!! And there was a HUGE line! Did we wait? Of course we waited! DD was on a mission, remember? Did it matter that we had met Snow White yesterday? Of course not! Did it matter that we would meet Snow White at another character meal in a couple of days? Of course not! Did it matter that we would almost certainly meet Snow White at MNSSHP later in the week? Of course not! This was a mission!!!

(Continued in next post - too many pictures)

 

[RGirl]

(Continued from previous post)

So we waited in the long, long line. We waited while several groups of quite drunk 20-somethings met Snow White and insisted on getting a photo of each of them separately with Snow White, all of them together with Snow White, and different groupings of them with Snow White. But it didn’t matter - DD was going to meet SW while wearing a SW dress! And the folks in line with us made it very bearable - I love how happy almost everyone is at WDW. One CM who was wheeling something from behind a fence over to a F&W kiosk stopped and asked DD, “Wait a minute. Am I supposed to get your autograph or hers [pointing at SW]?” It was very cute.

Finally, it was DD’s turn.

It was worth the wait. DD had a blast; I had a blast; the crowd that had gathered to watch SW meet SW seemed to have a blast too.

As soon as DD was done with SW, she blurted out what soon became her non-character-based mantra of the trip, “Can we ride another ride now?” So we headed toward FW since we still had a little time before we needed to catch a bus. On the way, I noticed that the wait time for Gran Fiesta Tour was quite reasonable, and thinking that this may be the only attraction with a reasonable wait at this point, I suggested we ride. I had not been in the Mexico pavilion before. It is beautiful, not that you can really tell from my picture.

We rode and enjoyed.

“Can we ride another ride now?” Hmm, I figured we could probably fit in SE before we had to leave, so we headed over there.

We had never done this one before, and we both had a lot of fun - especially during the end part. I let DD answer all the questions, and we enjoyed a very nice future.

After that, we needed to catch a bus to AKL. We had an ADR at Boma! I am not a big fan of buffets, but I LOVE this one. So many yummy choices. Plus, I love an excuse to look around AKL.

We checked into Boma about 20 minutes early. We grabbed our buzzer and headed outside in hopes of seeing some animals or enjoying some views. But the buzzer went off as soon as we stepped outside. So back in we went to eat! I am not a huge fan of buffet food pics, but I took some anyway. haha The soups here are amazing; I like to have a few bites of two or three different ones. One of these is obviously seafood, and the other was a chicken gumbo-type dish.

DD, as usual, ate almost nothing. She liked the mealie bread muffins and maybe the fruit. Apparently, vacation = Carb City.

My plate. From 12:00: two different green salads, which were really good; a couscous salad, which was disappointingly flavorless, the salmon - my favorite; and peanut rice, which was yummy.

I also tried the paneer cheese and some of the crisp breads, which were very good. Our service here, however, was disappointing. Dirty plates sat on our table for far too long. It took so long to get the wine menu that I ended up not getting my glass of wine until dessert. My water glass sat empty so long that I finally had to flag down our server and ask for some. She said that she would “get someone to do it.” Nope. Finally, I flagged down another worker who quickly brought me some water. Kind of disappointing, but everyone has a bad night now and then.

DD thought the desserts were fabulous. I’m not a huge dessert fan, and for some reason, almost all restaurant desserts taste the same to me - they taste like sweet.

Stuffed, we hopped a bus back to Epcot and began the dreaded walk through the crowds to the International Gateway. We made it back to the Boardwalk, however,

and DD was asleep within 5 minutes of entering the villa.


Up next: Will We Brave the DHS Rope Drop???

 

[JLCJMC]

Great pictures! So awesome to see her having such a lovely time with Snow White! Space Ship Earth is one of my favorites and I absolutely love Boma So much fun to see my favorites!

 

[DisneyDaze928]

I loved Boma. I didn't see any Zebra Dome on that dessert plate...they are awesome. Sorry that the service wasn't magical....at least the food was good...

And the Snw White pics are adorable.

 

[RGirl]

Great pictures! So awesome to see her having such a lovely time with Snow White! Space Ship Earth is one of my favorites and I absolutely love Boma So much fun to see my favorites!

Thanks!!! We were surprised how much fun we had on SSE. Boma is a favorite from last year - everything is just so yummy!!!

I loved Boma. I didn't see any Zebra Dome on that dessert plate...they are awesome. Sorry that the service wasn't magical....at least the food was good...

And the Snw White pics are adorable.

Thanks!

Actually, there is a zebra dome in the lower left! It was the first time I tried one - I liked it okay, I don't know what my problem with restaurant desserts is.

I will get a new update (or several) up at some point before the end of the weekend!