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

[RGirl]

17. Will We Brave the DHS Rope Drop???
We will!!! Now, last year, DHS was our least favorite park. There were a couple of reasons - (1) The only day available to do it was the day after MNSSHP, so we got a very late start (this was intentional - I had figured that this would be the park with the least for us to do, so it got relegated to this position), and (2) There really isn’t a lot to do there for a child under 40 inches.

So this year I figured there would be more to do, and I wanted to give it a fair second chance. However, I still felt that this park does not have a lot for families with small children, so I expected that we would be leaving the park about half-way through the day for a break.

The other bit of background info that you need for today is that I had a plan to try Tower of Terror for my first time on this trip. I had skipped it last year, and I thought DD would be tall enough. I did not think she would really like it, but I wanted us to try it once. So I had told DD about it several times before the trip - that it is pretend scary, that you go up up up and then down really fast, etc. At some point on our journey from Washington State to Orlando, DD had informed me that ToT was going to be her favorite ride. I figured this was far-fetched, but I was glad that she was going to give it a try!

Now on with the day! We were up at 7:30 and somehow out the door at about 8:00. (How in the world did we do that? I’m not sure, but that’s what my notes say!) Well, part of that was that both of us pretty much skipped breakfast - I think the time change really got to us with meals; DD is usually a big breakfast eater (well, compared to other meals anyway), but neither one of us was ever hungry for breakfast on this trip. Anyway, we set out on what turned out to be an absolutely beautiful and peaceful walk to DHS. (I loved this walk - no matter how much my feet hurt, I loved making this walk; it seems like almost no one else uses this path, and it is just beautiful.)

At least we knew we were on the right path!

Soon we were seeing DHS in the distance.

And we did get there for rope drop, but we were too far back in the crazy crowd to see the show.

Our "view":

We did have a good view of several dads leaving their families and slowly sneaking their way through the crowd, edging past this group and then the next, etc. I guess they thought that it would make some kind of life-or-death difference if they arrived at TSMM two or three minutes earlier.

(Too Many Pics - cont. in next post)

 

[RGirl]

(cont. from previous post)


Anyway, the rope eventually dropped (or so I gathered by the fact that the crowd surged forward), and we started heading towards TSMM. (We did not get to do this last trip because, although we got to the park in time to get FPs, our return time was later than we ended up staying at DHS.) I really wanted DD to get a chance to ride, which is why we did the whole rope drop thing this day. However, I was 100% not willing to mow down people in our way and fight to be the first people on the ride. Nonetheless, before long, we had made it to Pixar Place. We parked the stroller and took note of the INSANE lines for FPs. We passed right on by that craziness and got in the TSMM line. It was long, but it never slowed down except to let the many people who had grabbed FPs join their parties in line , so I don’t think we “waited” more than 10 minutes.

I just love these guys:

With 3D glasses:

And without:

And we had a lot of fun on the ride. We are not high-scorers, obviously!

Now, this ride is fun. But it is not THAT fun. I can’t believe people wait over two hours in line for this thing. That is crazy! We can play the same game on the Wii at home. Anyway, after we finished our ride, the FP lines had disappeared and we easily grabbed a set of FPs for later.

After that, DD was bound and determined to get our butts over to ToT. I was starting to get a little worried that she was going to be too scared - I mean, she had really disliked Dinosaur the day before. So I asked her several times if she was sure, told her it might be scary, etc. Nope - she was convinced that this would be her favorite ride. So we headed off towards ToT.

Up next: 18. Tower of Fun or Tower of Doom????

 

[heaven2dc]

Love your TR! and your daughter is sooo cute! and love that you stayed at BWV (only resort we've ever stayed at ). On our Dec 2008 visit, we were in a 1-bedroom villa in the room above yours - loved that view

Your daughter cracks me up (in a cute way)! She is SO brave for 4 years old hitting all the big rides -I can't wait to take my DGS next year when he is 5 (he was 14 mos old on that Dec 2008 trip).

 

[RGirl]

Love your TR! and your daughter is sooo cute! and love that you stayed at BWV (only resort we've ever stayed at ). On our Dec 2008 visit, we were in a 1-bedroom villa in the room above yours - loved that view

Your daughter cracks me up (in a cute way)! She is SO brave for 4 years old hitting all the big rides -I can't wait to take my DGS next year when he is 5 (he was 14 mos old on that Dec 2008 trip).

Thanks!! So glad that you are joining in!

And another BWV lover! That view was just amazing, wasn't it? I could LIVE there!

DD is a crazy speed demon. I can see her wanting to do huge thrill rides when she is older. And I don't think I will be up to that!

How fun it will be for you to take your DGS! He is at such a great age to enjoy so much of what WDW has to offer!

 

[ZehnJahren]

Aw, I can't wait for the next update!!! I want to know how the ToT ride went!

Your little girl is so adorable - those TSMM pictures where she has the 3d glasses and then no 3d glasses are very cute.

 

[RGirl]

Aw, I can't wait for the next update!!! I want to know how the ToT ride went!

Your little girl is so adorable - those TSMM pictures where she has the 3d glasses and then no 3d glasses are very cute.

Thanks for continuing to read along! I am going to post about ToT in a minute!

 

[RGirl]

18. Tower of Fun or Tower of Doom????

When I last left off, we were headed to ToT, which DD was sure would be her favorite ride. I was getting nervous that she would be really scared after her reaction to Dinosaur. But we got in line - DD was clearly excited.

And the verdict? She LOVED it! When the ride ended, she turned to me and said, “Can we do it again????” We couldn’t get another FP yet, so what better way to kill the time than to ride again? The line was still very short (why is the line here so often so short? It is a fun ride!), so we got back in it. And this is when Willow started getting measured for the day - that child was measured at every ride thereafter, over and over and over - at the start of the queue and at the end of it. Luckily, she was clearly tall enough - she never got turned away. My advice? Put a bun on your kids head. With that BBB bun, she was only measured once over the course of two days!

After our second ToT experience, we decided to head over to the last potentially-too-long-of-a-wait attraction before it got any later in the morning. Star Tours! DD has not seen the Star Wars movies yet (although I am going to get her the old ones (from my childhood) for Christmas this year), but she loved this. It was so cute to see her holding her hands up in the air like she was on a roller coaster.

One of my hopes for this trip was that we would see some of the shows. As you know, we had failed pretty hugely at AK, so I was going to push it at DHS - or so I thought. Anyway, I was still feeling pretty spunky at this early time of day, so I did push it and “forced” DD to see MuppetVision 3D. We both enjoyed it - once again, DD was totally taken in by the 3D effects and was reaching out to grab things.

Up next: 19. A Fancy Lunch and Some Thrilling Rides

 

[mousetravel]

Love this pic! That is just too cute!!!!!

 

[shan23877]

She is too darn cute! I'm glad she liked ToT!

 

[hstrickland]

Almost caught up...but not quite. Had to stop with RD...time to get ready for work

I didn't know that Thumper was at AK....we have never seen them anywhere!!! And by the way, you shouldn't have felt bad for asking that kid to move. Honestly...you shouldn't have had to ask at all! I mean, really?!!

The Snow White pics are really very cute!!! Where did you find Willow's dress? It looks a little different than the dress we got at BBB....I like it better because her collar was standing up. Bet Snow White loved having her picture made with a bunch of drunks, too Good grief!

We ate breakfast at Boma years ago...really liked it. In all the WDW books, Boma is listed as one of the top buffets. We're kinda like you...not big buffet people, but apparently it's one of the better ones. Too bad your service was less than good...sounds like our service at Ohana So are you thinking AKL is a place you might visit?? Definitely on our list!

 

[pas130]

Checking in at Heather's advice. Very nice to see pics of Princess Willow I remember when she was sick before your trip....I LOVE the photoshoot, the transformation from frown to "glow" Now to check out you BW pics

 

[hstrickland]

Checking in at Heather's advice. Very nice to see pics of Princess Willow I remember when she was sick before your trip....I LOVE the photoshoot, the transformation from frown to "glow" Now to check out you BW pics

Pas....now your ticker says GF and Poly??!!! What happened to BWI??? Not that I don't love both of those resorts....just wondering why the change? Although I'm not shocked


Hi Roni!...nice pictures! Not surprised that Willow liked ToT Aren't you glad she did?! It is a pretty cool ride.

Now...about Toy Story....we're gonna have to agree to disagree We LOVE it! Yes, as you know (since you read my TR) I'm the crazy parent who runs through the crowd to get FPs

Question...how long did it take y'all to walk from BWV to DHS?? It looked like a long way....maybe not. However....looks super convenient!

 

[CandleontheWater]

Gosh- I got terribly behind!

So awesome that Willow loved ToT! How much fun to have a little thrill seeker companion for your trips! I also loved the new Star Tours, glad you guys had fun on it too!

 

[RGirl]

Love this pic! That is just too cute!!!!!

Thanks!

She is too darn cute! I'm glad she liked ToT!

Thanks! I was glad she enjoyed it so much - it was really fun!

Almost caught up...but not quite. Had to stop with RD...time to get ready for work

I didn't know that Thumper was at AK....we have never seen them anywhere!!! And by the way, you shouldn't have felt bad for asking that kid to move. Honestly...you shouldn't have had to ask at all! I mean, really?!!

The Snow White pics are really very cute!!! Where did you find Willow's dress? It looks a little different than the dress we got at BBB....I like it better because her collar was standing up. Bet Snow White loved having her picture made with a bunch of drunks, too Good grief!

We ate breakfast at Boma years ago...really liked it. In all the WDW books, Boma is listed as one of the top buffets. We're kinda like you...not big buffet people, but apparently it's one of the better ones. Too bad your service was less than good...sounds like our service at Ohana So are you thinking AKL is a place you might visit?? Definitely on our list!

We loved that Camp Mickey-Minnie place - so easy to meet so many great characters. And you're right - it was ridiculous that I had to say something to those parents.

You know, I can't remember where I got the Snow White costume. I got it last year on-line somewhere. I was just glad that it still fit reasonably well.

I have always (since long before I ever made it to WDW) thought I would love to stay at AKL. I have been a little put off by the amount of busing that is required, but I have been reading lately that it is not really that bad. We certainly had no trouble at all getting a bus to and from Epcot.

Checking in at Heather's advice. Very nice to see pics of Princess Willow I remember when she was sick before your trip....I LOVE the photoshoot, the transformation from frown to "glow" Now to check out you BW pics

Welcome! So glad that you popped in!

Pas
Hi Roni!...nice pictures! Not surprised that Willow liked ToT Aren't you glad she did?! It is a pretty cool ride.

Now...about Toy Story....we're gonna have to agree to disagree We LOVE it! Yes, as you know (since you read my TR) I'm the crazy parent who runs through the crowd to get FPs

Question...how long did it take y'all to walk from BWV to DHS?? It looked like a long way....maybe not. However....looks super convenient!

You will not believe how many times we ended up riding ToT.

Don't get me wrong on TSMM - we both think it is super-fun, and if we had someone in our party who would go ahead and get FPs, we would be thrilled to use them. But navigating a stroller through that crazy crowd with people pushing and shoving is just not fun - it worked a lot better for us to just walk at a regular pace; at least at that time of year, it worked out very well since we were able to ride with a reasonable wait and then the FP line was literally GONE when we got off, so we were able to get FPs with no wait for them. It was worth doing, but I don't think I'd do that whole scene more than once in a trip.

Hmm, the walk from our villa to DHS was probably 10 minutes or so - I can't say for sure because I completely lose all sense of time at WDW. It was a fantastic walk - quiet, peaceful, flat. I actually preferred it to the shorter Epcot walk with that darn hill! Honestly, the walks between DHS and BWV were some of my favorite moments at WDW!

Gosh- I got terribly behind!

So awesome that Willow loved ToT! How much fun to have a little thrill seeker companion for your trips! I also loved the new Star Tours, glad you guys had fun on it too!

Hi! I'm glad you made it back. I wish your trip had been better.



Everyone - I am really hoping to get an update done soon. We had a very bad week with some terrible stuff at DD's daycare/preschool. I pulled her out and have been scrambling for child care. But all worked out well as the director of the best preschool in town felt so sorry for me that she rearranged schedules and went out of her way to find a spot for Willow. I can't tell you how thankful and relieved I am. It was truly one of the worst weeks of my life. But I think it is all going to be okay now.

 

[pas130]

Everyone - I am really hoping to get an update done soon. We had a very bad week with some terrible stuff at DD's daycare/preschool. I pulled her out and have been scrambling for child care. But all worked out well as the director of the best preschool in town felt so sorry for me that she rearranged schedules and went out of her way to find a spot for Willow. I can't tell you how thankful and relieved I am. It was truly one of the worst weeks of my life. But I think it is all going to be okay now.

[/COLOR]

SO sorry. Here's to a better week, and a better preschool for Willow

 

[amandaw]

Hi! I'm hopping on over from Heather's TR to join in on your fun!

Your DD is too cute!!! I love all of her princess outfits, but I think my favorite is her as Jasmine. Precious! And I love what a little dare-devil she is. My DH & I love thrill rides but I'm afraid our DS (3) will be a bit of a chicken. It'll be interesting on our Dec. 2012 trip (he's just now 40") to see if he will ride any thrill rides & if he'll like them. I'm already trying to pump him up for them.

It seems like you really enjoyed staying at BWV. BW is one of my dream resorts. I'm hoping that for our next trip we'll be able to trade into DVC. My 1st choice is BWV or BLT. But, I'll try any of them.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of y'alls trip!

 

[RGirl]

SO sorry. Here's to a better week, and a better preschool for Willow

Thanks! I am pretty sure that DD is okay - I guess I may never know everything for sure, but I think she is okay. And the new preschool is amazing! She had her first day there today, and she had so many fun things to tell me. It helps, of course, that her best friend goes there too.

Hi! I'm hopping on over from Heather's TR to join in on your fun!

Your DD is too cute!!! I love all of her princess outfits, but I think my favorite is her as Jasmine. Precious! And I love what a little dare-devil she is. My DH & I love thrill rides but I'm afraid our DS (3) will be a bit of a chicken. It'll be interesting on our Dec. 2012 trip (he's just now 40") to see if he will ride any thrill rides & if he'll like them. I'm already trying to pump him up for them.

It seems like you really enjoyed staying at BWV. BW is one of my dream resorts. I'm hoping that for our next trip we'll be able to trade into DVC. My 1st choice is BWV or BLT. But, I'll try any of them.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of y'alls trip!

Thanks for joining in, Amanda! I promise to update soon - life has gotten crazy, but I hope to see it calming down again over the next few days.

Maybe your DS will surprise you! I have to say that I am actually really glad that DD is such a thrill-ride junky, because I would really miss doing some of those rides.

I can't even tell you how much we loved the BWV! A lot of it was that we lucked out with the Boardwalk view - not sure it would be quite the same without that, but it would still be great. The location was just insanely convenient - I loved, loved, loved being able to walk to two parks. And if we wanted to get to another resort, we could just walk through Epcot and catch a bus. So nice!

 

[pas130]

Thanks! I am pretty sure that DD is okay - I guess I may never know everything for sure, but I think she is okay. And the new preschool is amazing! She had her first day there today, and she had so many fun things to tell me. It helps, of course, that her best friend goes there too.

All good news!!! Glad things are better at the new preschool

 

[RGirl]

All good news!!! Glad things are better at the new preschool

Thanks pas! Another good day today. Phew!

And now to get an update done finally!!!

 

[RGirl]

19. A Fancy Lunch and Some Thrilling Rides
The one thing about DHS that we did really love last year was the Hollywood Brown Derby. No way were we going to miss that this year!!! I love that it feels like this quiet, clean, sophisticated oasis in the middle of what is a pretty gritty, city-feel park. It is just perfect!

So after the Muppet show, we had just a little time to kill before our HBD ADR. We did a little shopping so that DD could pick out presents for her three closest friends - she chose necklaces for everyone. After that, we had just enough time to speed-walk (ride in DD’s case) over to ToT for a set of FPs before lunch!

Finally, it was time for what I had been looking forward to for a year. HBD!

Before I talk about this lunch, you should know that DD eats very little. She is tiny, so it makes sense. Anyway, buying meals for her is absolutely a huge waste of money most of the time. And Disney meals are HUGE. So I had planned that we would share this meal.

This is the BROWN DERBY. How do you now order the Cobb Salad??? Of course, that is what I had been dreaming about for a year, and that is what we were going to have for lunch. DD generally really likes salad, so I figured this would be fine. Also, I do not like hard-boiled eggs, but DD does, so I ordered the salad with the eggs on the side for her to have separately. And I ordered the amazing Champagne flight. Yum!

And DD ordered her favorite thing - chocolate milk.

The salad was delicious - just like last year.

DD disagreed. GAH!!! But she did eat some of the egg. And then went with her now-well-established vacation eating plan - CARBS! Yep, bread. Oh well. Last year, she really liked the kid’s appetizer salad with blue cheese dressing, so I asked our waiter to bring one of those. When another person finally brought it, I had already finished eating and DD had filled up on bread. I told him to just take it back, we were done. It was ridiculous. Really, it was kind of sad because, last year, we had our best service of the trip at this restaurant. Today’s waiter was not terrible, but he certainly wasn’t great either. Anyway, we had been waiting so long that we decided to skip dessert despite the fact that we had been planning to split the grapefruit cake for months. No matter - there are all kinds of treats to be had at DHS!

During our lunch, I had been texting back and forth with a woman I had known on-line for years through our adoption agency’s message board. We had had almost identical timelines for our adoptions, and now she and her family had recently moved to Orlando, so we were going to meet up! We had enough time before they got into the park to run over to Star Tours for another set of FPs and then hit up ToT for one more ride! So we did.

This was probably one of the only ride photos where DD does not have her arms up, so of course it’s the one I actually took a picture of to post. haha

After that, it was time to meet up with our friends at Starring Rolls.

When we went to get our treats, the CM at the cash register made fast friends with DD by giving her a high five with a Mickey glove and then adding a bonus giant Mickey-head sugar cookie dipped in chocolate to our tray. Love those unexpected Disney special moments. Willow had chosen a chocolate-peanut butter cupcake to share with me. I was disappointed because I really wanted the red velvet, but I knew she was going to be eating a lot more of it than I would. It was WAY too chocolate-y.

We had a great meet with our friends. It was incredible to meet in person after all these years.

After the treats, our friends were heading over to Epcot, and we were heading back to, you guessed it, ToT for ANOTHER set of FPs. And then it was on to Pixar Place with a set of FPs from early that morning burning a hole in our pockets. I parked the stroller, and eagle-eyed Character Seeker spotted the Green Army Man. Of course, her autograph book would not be complete without his signature.

We took a spin on TSMM.

I think our scores improved a little. A little.

When we exited, I somehow got suckered into buying a big Lotso Huggin’ Bear. DD had been asking for a Lotso for months; as of the time of the trip, it was the only thing on her Christmas list, and I had not been able to find one anywhere. So I couldn’t say no! I have no idea why she wanted one so badly - I mean, he is sooooo evil.

From there, we headed back to Star Tours AGAIN and enjoyed another great (and different) adventure.

If you can’t guess where we went next, you haven’t been reading along.

Hmm, I guess I got another ride pic without hands in air - strange.

Up next: 20. A Quiet Evening at Home