A MouseEars View of the World: *Updated: Pt. 7 Grumpy, Dopey and Alberto Do EPCOT*

[disneyyes]

Sounds like this trip is everything we both knew all along it would be!!! Great job raising two Disney fanatics! (And this is your mentor speaking, by the way!)

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Loved the Mickey/Stitch wake up call that got us out of bed. So did Kai. Dunno about Scott. But I can tell you, that in all 6 days of hitting speaker, Nicky never once heard the wake-up call. It blared out right next to his ear, but did not wake him up.

The first day I didn't really notice that it was Stitch. It was pretty cute once I realized what it was. As for Nick, he can sleep through thermonuclear war. He gets it from me.

We chatted a bit, and he mentioned "Did the storm change your plans?" I was thinking... er... do they really call rain a "storm" in Florida? But we laughed and said we just hoped everyone else stayed snuggled in their hotel beds so we'd have short lines.

It was actually at this point that I heard someone else in another line talking about how they would close the park if it was category 3. Um, ut oh.

Then we waited for the turnstiles to open. Then we waited for the rope drop under the train station (with Scott getting more upset everytime someone slipped ahead of us on the rope - he was stressing far more than I over our "plan" at this point).

Well, I didn't get up at "ugh, what time is it?" thirty only to have other people squeeze ahead of us. I didn't appreciate other people who got to the line later than us finding their way in front of us at the rope. It was very irritating.

Dumbo. What were you expecting? We have two small children, lol. We got on the first ride of the day, and Kairi even got the purple hatted Dumbo she craved.

Trouble wanted purple as well, but Princess called it first. It wasn't a big deal, though.

Nicky looked at me incredulously and said, "That was IT???" which for some reason struck me as really funny.

I wonder how many more years we are going to be going to Dumbo first. It's a great kid ride, but I think these two will get tired of it soon.

Next, we headed for Winnie the Pooh. While some call this ride corny, our whole family loves it.

I never got to go on Mr. Toad, so I can't compare it with the old ride at that building. I do like Pooh, though. Especially the scene where they are all getting washed away by the rain.

Because it's right across the street, and because my mother had made the kids promise (on the car phone during the trip down) to ride it for her, we went on Small World.

His was updated since the last time we went on it, I think. the white and silver paint at the entrance is new to me. It doesn't seem quite as cheesy as it used to be. It's still pretty cheesy, though.

We headed to Haunted Mansion next. I had been at great pains during the trip to convince the kids that HM was FUNNY, not scary. FUNNY.

You can understand why a kid wouldn't believe you. Creepy CM. Stretching room. Spooking looking house. The complete lack of Mike Wazoski...

Then, a REALLY obnoxious teenager was videotaping the attraction, and said every single line along with the narrator. LOUDLY.

I so wanted to reach over and slap that kid upside the head. He was really irritating. Also, this ride one of the CMs up front gave me a little red plastic card thingie which I was supposed to then give to the lapbar CM. I guess they use it to get an accurate wait time. Princess got to the do the same thing with another ride on our last day at the park.

The long and short of it was that she was unhappy, and any plans to repeat the ride were ditched, much to my chagrin.

Trouble didn't like it, either, but I don't think he was as freaked out about it as Princess was.

We went straight back to Philharmagic. I cannot even begin to explain how much we loved this show. It was just so freakin' cool.

I head it being described as a 3D thing like Muppets, which was great. In the end, I like it better than Muppets. Donald getting sucked into different movies was funny. What a bad duck he was for trying to get a kiss from Arial. This ride is also where I got my screename from. Why would Donald need pixie dust to fly. I mean...he is a duck, right?

Certainly not a huge customer service issue, but I was a bit surprised after all the sweetness we had encountered so far.

I was surprised by the CM's attitude as well. It turns out this isn't the last time MEJ's card has problems with being read for the dining plan. We ended up using my card for each lunch, dinner, and snack.

The funnel cake, which we ate in a dry corner of the open air seating was good, but not great.

It's hard to explain what was wrong with it. It could be best described as overcooked. Too much crispy outside, not enough warm, soft inside.

The show, as always, was both lame and cute. The funniest part was how into it the audience got, clapping their hands and stomping feet. Once the show actually started, Nick was content enough to sit on my lap and watch. Kai, who had insisted we go, actually seemed underwhelmed.

I didn't like Country Bears any other time I saw it, and it still holds true now. Maybe it's because I am not into Country music, I dunno.

We decided to split up at Cosmic Rays because Kai and Scott wanted sandwiches and Nicky and I wanted burgers.

I had the pulled pork sandwich, which both Trouble and I enjoyed very much (the little guy lucked and and got some BBQ pork AND a burger!). Also, the band was really great. It had a brass section with trumpets, trombones, a tuba, and I think maybe a french horn. Princess plays french horn in the elementary school band. We mentioend that during college she could come here for a year to work. This ended up being an idea that sprang up a few times later this week.

We left Ray's, still in the pouring rain, and picked up fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear. Then we headed for one of our favorite attractions, the Carousel of Progress. At least, it had been one of our favorite attractions. I hate to think that we're getting jaded, but it does really need an update.

This ride is great, and shows the brilliance of Walt Disney. Six theatres, each with a 4 minute presentation, and then the audience roates to the next theatre. The timing had to be perfect for this too work (including getting people on and off the ride). Sheer genius! Still, it hasn't been updated since the "New Tomorrowland" incident in 1994. And it skips from the 40s to present day. Maybe it should be updated to 1890s - 1930s - 1970s - present day. Or they need to made it bigger and add more stages. I dunno.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience, but the Carousel of Progress will be closing due to its status as a rain shelter. Please remain in your seats, and a cast member will be around to assist you shortly."

And then a CM apologized and said that even Disney can't stop a hurricane. "I'm sorry, a what?" No one told me there was a hurricane! Later we discovered it was Tropical Storm Alberto. Not that big of a deal, in the end. But not knowing what was going on was freaky.

The TTA was fun, but it convinced Nicky that he was NOT going on Space Mountain. Which is too bad.

Says the lady who decided later in the week that she had no desire to go on the ride. I'm usually the chicken in the family, and I love Space Mountain.

I think my final score was in the 40,000 range, and Scott was (barely) better. Kai got about 12000, as I recall.

Princess got 1200, not 12000. I was in the low 50s. I think it was the last time I beat you at that ride.

This peeved Scott mightily. Which peeved me, because until then it was all "Oh Jenny's so cool, getting us on the lines with no wait." I asked him to trust me that we could get a better line (for a bad attraction) later

Well, Trouble really wanted to go on it, and I didn't think he would. So the fact that he showed interest was enough for me to stop and think we should go on it now while he's interested.

We spent the bus ride back listening to Nicky sing "It's a Small World". Since he didn't know the words, though, it ended up sounding like this:

This ended up being a recurring song the rest of that week. It was pretty funny.

 

[monymony3471]

A fine example of how you the person, makes the most out of their vacation.

Can't wait to hear more! more! more!

 

[missummer]

I am loving your trip report! I can't wait to experience it in August!

 

[jenjen212]

I think that it is GREAT how you and your family didn't jump to getting upset at the rude cm's to the point of others who allow their stupidity to sour their day. Plus, it sets a great example for your children. It sounds like you really had a good time.

Your reports are great, and enjoyable to read. Makes me eager for our trip in September.

P.S. Welcome to FLORIDA!! (we live in miami, we hate the darn hurricanes!)
But, yes, sadly , we have had hurricanes and tropical storms
in june. The season actually started June 1.

Keep them coming!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Thank you so much to everyone nice enough to respond! I'm really glad you're enjoying the report, and am sorry it took me so long to get to this next part!

Part 6: Wishes = Walk-on

When we got back to our hotel, we discovered this CUTE towel critter in our window, much to our delight.

We told the kids that if they wanted to go swimming, they needed to lie down for an hour silently first. We figured they'd nap that way. We flicked on the weather channel on low, which was the first time we heard the words "Tropical Storm Alberto". Oh. Oops. The tornado watch scrolling across the bottom of the screen was also festive! So I used the hotel phone to call my mom (because she worries). Oddly, the call never registered with the front desk and we weren't charged for it! (I called a couple days later to find out what our room charges were and we were at $0. They looked for the call when I mentioned it, but couldn't find it.) Then I tried to lie down and sleep. But the thing is, the night before I had actually gotten quite a bit more sleep than I usually do. So Scott and I basically waited until the kids woke up. And watched Stacey, the evil tourist from Hades.

Let me tell you, briefly, how much we hate Stacey. She may be the nicest person in real life. But by the end of the week, we wanted to pound her perfect face. Every time we waited for an MK bus, every time we turned on the TV (can I mention how insidious it is that the channel automatically reverts to Vacation Tips whenever you turn off the TV) there she was. Under perfect blue skies, looking perky and cute in 85 outfit changes, tripping on all the rides with no lines, dancing with characters down Main Street, never having sore feet.... I dunno. She's just a little TOO perky. KWIM?

*ahem* Where was I? Oh, yeah. Nap. The kids woke up from their nap (Nicky with a bit of encouragement - he's a deep sleeper once he gets going.) It was still raining, but the pool was open and we hadn't heard any thunder or lightning. So we went down to the pool, figuring we were gonna get wet anyway, so what's the difference? I had decided to skip the swim today and take some pictures. Kai and Scott are like fish, so they played happily.

Nicky had decided the day before that the only "safe" place in the pool was on the steps. Anywhere else, he had to be carried, and preferably with his arms locked around Mommy or Daddy's throat.

But, he had fun throwing the beach balls to Kai and Daddy to fetch.

He especially loved when Daddy would try to grab a ball, and miss and end up underwater. So Scott missed quite often. He also cheerfully allowed Nick to dunk him all week long.

Eventually, I convinced everyone to head back to the room and we dressed for dinner, donning fresh ponchos. Which also happened to be our last ponchos. But since I had lost half of them that morning, there wasn't much of a choice. Next time, I'm taking two ponchos per person, per day.

We boarded the bus to Magic Kingdom. It was still raining, but you wouldn't know it from the smiles on the kids faces.

Our reservation that night was for Liberty Tree Tavern, so we headed straight there. We were called almost immediately and taken to the Thomas Jefferson room. The place was packed and the service was a bit slow as a result. The characters were really fabulous, though, and came by our table more than once. We hadn't seen Pluto yet, so the kids were most eager for him to stop by. The food was sadly not as good as we remembered from our last trip, but by no means bad - just sort of ordinary. Nicky loves salad, so we omitted telling him it was a strawberry viniagrette dressing, since he despises strawberries. Unfortunately, he has a better palate than we thought and figured it out immediately. Kai was too interested in the characters to care much about what she was eating. We had a very good time, we just all decided we liked Chef Mickey's better. Same price though, $102.

After dinner, the kids had to use the facilities. Just a side note. The bathrooms in LTT have to be the SMALLEST I have EVER seen in a restaurant. As I mentioned, the place was hopping, and the line to get into the two tiny stalls was unreal. And since one was occupied the entire time we were jammed into the bathroom with a mother screaming at her four year old to stop sassing her (over and over and over), that made the line really long! So if you can avoid those bathrooms, I'd suggest it!

It had stopped raining when we left. We had no real plan for the rest of the evening, so we wandered over to Fantasyland to check the lines. The 120 minute wait for Peter Pan made Scott rather grateful for my touring plans, lol. The kids saw the Carousel, and while I had not intended to waste time on something so mundane while at Disney, there was no line, so we jumped in the holding area for the next ride. While there, I pointed out Cinderella's horse to Kairi, so she decided she HAD to ride it. We hustled through the turnstiles and started searching, but had lost track of where it was and went around twice when Scott yelled, "Jenn!" That's when we noticed that Nick was already up on the horse next to Cinderella's and Scott had his hand on Cindy's horse. Kai was THRILLED. I couldn't get a good picture with the gold ribbon on the tail because we had wasted so much time, but this one shows the important part - how happy Kai was.

After the carousel, we headed toward Pooh, intending to get a fastpass. While Scott hit the machines, the kids were pulled in by the retail vortex again, and Kairi ran up with a Tigger backpack. I tried to convince her that it wasn't a really good idea as it wasn't big enough for her schoolbooks and was too fuzzy and cute for a play pack that would get dirty. She was disappointed, but put it back. Then I saw it. A Tigger towel poncho, with hood. I showed it to her. It was love at first sight.

I expected her to use it as a pool cover up, a towel, a robe at home. You see, just lately, my little girl has become very very concerned with what other people think. She stopped wearing princess t-shirts to school because "None of the other girls like princesses". Hello Kitty was acceptable - Tinkerbell, no. So Winnie the Pooh was SO preschool, Mom. Which is why I was surprised when as she bouncingly handed her money to the clerk, her answer to "Do you want a bag, or do you want to wear it?" was "I'll wear it!"

She bounced out of the store. She said "Whoohooohoohoo!" She sang along with "The wonderful thing about Tiggers..." I was in awe. Somewhere, somehow, I had found my baby girl again. *sniffle* Sorry. Having a moment here. *blows nose* Okay. Ahem.

Nicky decided he wanted to ride Dumbo. I was ascared. Very ascared. But if he was willing to wait. And wait... We walked over and found to our surprise that there was a 10 minute wait posted and a rather short line. We wended our way through the line. The kids were happy as clams, playing with the toys stationed throughout the queue. Nicky kept telling Kai to bounce. Then he started singing the shark song. Loudly. What's this? You don't know the shark song??

Let's just say it has _10_ verses. And they're all a variation on "Baby shark doo doo doo doo ta doo, Baby Shark doo doo doo doo ta doo..." With hand motions. As you go through the WHOLE shark family. And then "Surfer dude doo doo..." and "Shark Attack" and "Lost a leg" and "CPR"... oh, you get the idea. Anyway, by the time he gets to "Happy Shark" I have a feeling the other folks in line around us may be, oh, just a SMIDGE tired of the shark song. So I point out the sign that we've managed over the course of the morning to convince them means "No Bad Dancing on this Ride". So Nicky immediately starts bad dancing. To get it out of his system.

We reach the front of the line, and are given those little tags. Kai's happens to be orange, so she puts it on her chest and says it's her button. So Nicky pushes it. And she bounces and does the "Whoohoohoohoohoo!" thing. A few repetitions later, we're up on Dumbo. And off. And now Kai doesn't have a button. So Nick figures, okay, I'll just yank on her poncho to make her jump. Which drives her nuts in about twelve seconds. We think of going over to the Pooh play area, just for some cute photos. But the sign says 5 and under, so we skip it. A few minutes later, our Winnie the Pooh fastpass comes up. So we ride again, Kai getting lots of extra attention for being Tigger.

Then we head for Tommorowland. When we reach Stitch, sure enough, there's no line. I'm prepared to be in the minority here. Very, very much in the minority. But... I kinda liked this ride. The pre-show bit was funny, the animatronic Stitch was fairly awesome, and while the part in the dark was just sort of.. well, blah.. the jokes were cute. And Nicky spent the rest of the week saying "Cinderelllly! Your prince is heeere!" The kids were a bit nervous about the whole dark, noises thing, but being as it was Stitch, they were pretty okay. Not a ride we'd repeat a lot, but not as bad as I expected from the review either.

We then decided to split up since Kai was SET on Space Mountain, and Nicky completely refused to ride it. At this point, Spectro was going on in another part of the park, so Tomorrowland was pretty deserted. Scott took Kai, and I took Nicky. At first, he was only interested in the toy kiosk across from Carousel of Progress. He found an Anakin Skywalker that converted to Darth Vader. It was $50. He didn't have enough money left. Just as predicted, he was sad and wished he hadn't bought the robe. But he was also interested in Buzz and Zurg and I showed him things he COULD buy and he took it pretty well - no whining. Still, he'd rather stand there and STARE at the toy than go do something fun. Finally, I put my foot down and took him off to the rides. We rode the TTA first, cause it was right there, and I hoped we'd catch a glimpse of Scott and Kai on Space Mountain. No luck, but I did notice that there were a couple great views of the lit-up castle and that Tomorrowland is GORGEOUS after dark.

Next, we hopped on Buzz Lightyear. I wasn't going to pass up a walk-on on that ride, regardless of his opinion! We got right on, no waiting, and I actually hit the back of the orange robot's hand! My score was up to 179000 and I was thrilled (did I mention I suck at this ride?) but then the ride stopped! Right by a 5,000 pointer! Needless to say, my score climbed a bit more! I took a picture because, well, I knew Scott would NEVER believe me.

I know that's probably pathetic to some of you, but it was a big deal to me, lol! We came out of the ride and saw Scott and Kai heading toward us. I ran up, gloating over my score. Nicky showed Daddy his "precious" Darth Vader (said in a Gollum voice - he hasn't seen the movie, but it's a family joke). Since Spectro and Wishes were still stealing the crowds, we went right over and rode again, but this time both Scott and my scores were in the 130,000-ish range. (Which is still a pretty big improvement over the morning!) The kids paused in the inevitable gift shop, and posed with Zurg.

As we left, I thought of the great castle views and decided to drag everyone on the TTA one more time. Because I thought the timing might be JUST right. And it was. Through somewhat misty eyes, my smiling and happy family saw the fireworks of Wishes exploding around and behind the castle. Nicky's grumpiness at riding the TTA AGAIN disappeared. His eyes lit up. Kai just grinned like a maniac. We followed Nick as he leapt off the ride, down the conveyor belt and ran for the castle. Daddy scooped him up and put him on his shoulders, and we caught the end of Wishes at the entrance to Tomorrowland. I don't think I could have been happier. That first Magic Kingdom day was even better than I had imagined for so many months.

Then we headed back to the kiosk of toys so that Nicky could buy a Buzz and Zurg. Though he still wanted his "precious". But the kiosk had closed. He was disappointed, but we told him we'd be back. We started slowly toward the gate. It was still crowded, so we sat in front of the castle for awhile, watching the lights change. Scott was a bit impatient, thinking we should be getting back to the hotel. Which I understood. After all, we had to get up early for EPCOT, and hadn't really intended to stay this late. But the lure of line-less rides had overcome our best intentions. Still, I tried to explain that if we left, we'd just be waiting in a long bus line, so we might as well meander out. We ended up heading over to Exposition Hall to watch Mickey cartoons. Only they weren't running. :-( So we took some pictures with the scenes back there (none of which came out well, being as we were all tired and the kids were getting grumpy). We decided that line or no line, we were all ready to at least TRY and get on a bus. When we got to the bus station, Scott headed right for #18, as we had been told. Along with nearly everyone else. But I noticed that oddly, station #17 was also labelled Pop. And that a few people were in that line. When two buses pulled up a few minutes later and stopped at both stations, those of us in #17 all got on a bus, leaving about 3 busloads of people over in #18. So check those signs. ;-)

The rest of our evening consisted of collapsing into our beds, setting the wake-up call for EPCOT, and dropping into well-deserved sleep.

Stay tuned for Part 7: Grumpy, Dopey and Alberto do EPCOT

 

[MagicMe]

I just love this trip report! Two for the price of one (oh forgot, I'm not paying anything to read this ).

Seriously though, I love the detail and the perspective from both sides.

Can't wait for rebuttal and the next installment!

 

[missummer]

I used to work in a daycare, and oh, do I know the shark song!

 

[MagicMe]

I know it's only been two days since your last post but you've already slipped to second page so I thought I'd post to take you back to the top and let more people discover/enjoy your report!!!!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

When we got back to our hotel, we discovered this CUTE towel critter in our window, much to our delight.

A lot of the other windows on our floor only had one or two towel animals, so I wasn't sure we'd get anymore. I was happy to see Minnie, too

So Scott and I basically waited until the kids woke up. And watched Stacey, the evil tourist from Hades.

I wonder if she will ever get a job anywhere else on TV. Or if she knows that she is maligned by Disney vacationers. She was so cheery, it was irritating. Part of the problem is that the tour program wasn't very long and repeated CONSTANTLY on TV. Plus ever time you turned on the TV it would be back on the tour channel.

Nicky had decided the day before that the only "safe" place in the pool was on the steps. Anywhere else, he had to be carried, and preferably with his arms locked around Mommy or Daddy's throat.

He gets in these moods. Sometimes he'll be perfectly fine in a pool, and othertimes he will think that a certain pool is too big or deep, and decide he can't possibly survive. His sister was also like that at his age. We should get him lessons.

He also cheerfully allowed Nick to dunk him all week long.

Or "push me over". I found that much more entertaining. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like there was enough room to stand or my hands or do back or front flips (too may people), so he only got to see those at the hotel pools.

Our reservation that night was for Liberty Tree Tavern... The food was sadly not as good as we remembered from our last trip, but by no means bad - just sort of ordinary.

I agree. I really liked the flank steak, but beyond that, it was just "so-so". I'm glad we gone, but now having gone twice, I don't see us going back. Unlike Chef Mickey's, which I would have no problem going back to next trip. I also REALLY like the strawberry viniagrette dressing on the salad.

After dinner, the kids had to use the facilities. Just a side note. The bathrooms in LTT have to be the SMALLEST I have EVER seen in a restaurant.

And we don't mean "a disney restaurant", we mean "a restaurant" period. I've seen gas stantion bathrooms bigger than these. Not fun.

The 120 minute wait for Peter Pan made Scott rather grateful for my touring plans, lol.

Yes, you are the queen.

The kids saw the Carousel, and while I had not intended to waste time on something so mundane while at Disney, there was no line, so we jumped in the holding area for the next ride. While there, I pointed out Cinderella's horse to Kairi, so she decided she HAD to ride it. We hustled through the turnstiles and started searching, but had lost track of where it was and went around twice when Scott yelled, "Jenn!" That's when we noticed that Nick was already up on the horse next to Cinderella's and Scott had his hand on Cindy's horse.

MEJ had pointed it out to me, and as Trouble was looking for his horse, we stopped right in front of it. Meanwhile, she and Princess had walked the other way, so I assumed "oh, there must be two of them". Guess not.

I expected her to use it as a pool cover up, a towel, a robe at home. ... Which is why I was surprised when as she bouncingly handed her money to the clerk, her answer to "Do you want a bag, or do you want to wear it?" was "I'll wear it!"

I was surprised to see her so happy and unconcerned. She loves that Tigger poncho and has found many many reasons to wear it since we got back home.

What's this? You don't know the shark song??

Happy shark, do do, do do do do do...

So I point out the sign that we've managed over the course of the morning to convince them means "No Bad Dancing on this Ride". So Nicky immediately starts bad dancing. To get it out of his system.

You can't really tell from the picture, but he does a modified version of the "point your arm up in the air ala John Travolta" 70s dance. It probably has a name to it, but I have no clue what it is.

So Nick figures, okay, I'll just yank on her poncho to make her jump. Which drives her nuts in about twelve seconds.

Actually, he was pulling her tail, which I found hilarious.

I'm prepared to be in the minority here. Very, very much in the minority. But... I kinda liked this ride.

Me, too. I really like Stitch, so it's probably one of the reasons I like the ride. Not my favorite in the park (by a long shot), but I still like it. Note that I was never on it when it was the Alien Encounter.

We then decided to split up since Kai was SET on Space Mountain, and Nicky completely refused to ride it.

the wait time said 20 minutes, but I think it was more like 10. The end of the line was about halfway through the building. One of the things I don't like about this ride is how narrow the corral is and how dark the line area is. I was extra careful not to trip over myself.

As for the ride itself: We got on a car on Concourse 2. Princess sat in the front of the second car and I sat right behind her (which my right hand on her shoulder the whole time). I was more freaked out by the ride than she was because I was afraid she was going to fall out (dumb, I know). Also, I get very nervious in general the first time i got on any particular rollercoaster, and this one was no exception.

I really like the ride, but I never really get to see any of the pretty stars or the cookie asteroid or anything because I'm also so concerned about dying.

Also, call me crazy, but I think the track starting at Concourse 2 is different (and better) than the track from Concourse 1. More on this later in the report...

I took a picture because, well, I knew Scott would NEVER believe me.

That's a doctored picture! Doctored, I tell ya!

As we left, I thought of the great castle views and decided to drag everyone on the TTA one more time. Because I thought the timing might be JUST right.

You don't get to see all of the fireworks because of the amount of time you are in buildings, and you don't get to hear any of the music. But it is an interesting perspective to see them.

Scott was a bit impatient, thinking we should be getting back to the hotel.

We had no intention to stay that late to begin with, and both kids were getting tired.

We ended up heading over to Exposition Hall to watch Mickey cartoons. Only they weren't running.

We didn't think to ask when they stop them. Probably 7 or 9. Ah, well.

 

[KathyRN137]

Enjoying...etc, etc.

Luv the pics!

 

[andysgirl360]

I didn't realize the Shark Song was that famous.....my DD5 sang it in daycare last year....in French!!!

Great report....looking forward to the next installment!

 

[jenjen212]

just wanted to let you know that reading your thread, gave my husband tons of ideas on how he would surprise our children with disney trips... and we don't have any kids yet!!

he started randomly describing different methods of surprising them.

glad to hear that you guys had such a good time!

 

[OhMari]

Okay, 6 days have gone by, I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt, that you were celebrating the 4th of July somewhere, but I hope you come back and finish your report. I wish I knew how to quote that many times in one thread. I only know how to do it once. I am a mod and have no clue.

 

[tkd lisa]

Enjoying your report! And looking for more.

And yes, I do know the baby shark song. My version came from Cub Scouts (along with many many more songs that stick in your head!)

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Just a quick apology - we had a holiday weekend bash that led into a family emergency and is now leading into my birthday weekend at the St. Lawrence to drop my kids off for two weeks with Grandma. When we get back, I should have an empty echoing house and lots of free time to trip report! Right now, I'm swamped. But our EPCOT day _is_ coming soon, promise! Thanks for sticking with us!!

 

[jenjen212]

Okay, 6 days have gone by, I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt, that you were celebrating the 4th of July somewhere, but I hope you come back and finish your report. I wish I knew how to quote that many times in one thread. I only know how to do it once. I am a mod and have no clue.

OhMari, all you have to do is copy what the wrote (which most of the comments are listed below the reply window), paste them in and be sure to put:

QUOTE=DisUsernameThatYouAreQuoting

Between brackets [ ] with no spaces, then at the end of the quote, write:

/Quote

also between brackets

sorry... i am also an IT person, just wanted to help

Jen

 

[UtahMama]

You guys are adorable! Love hearing from the Duck too. I'm not going to copy your techniqe when and if I do my Trippie in Sept...It would probably end in a debate over every single teeny detail. Maybe even a fight or at least a pissy wife around every turn. Glad to see it's working so famously for you.
Hey, this is weird but there was another TR from someone else with the very same light-saber kids action...It's a Small World after all!
P.s. My kids were reading over my shoulder and are all amazed you skipped STITCH! They L.O.V.E it!!!!! (ok, they're gone now and thus far my darling 3 boys are the ONLY fans of the ride. I kinds liked it when it was Alien Encounter because it FREAKED me out and it's been a long time since I had been scared outa my mind! Kind of like your (beautiful, by the way!) daughter felt on HM?

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Your patience is MUCH appreciated! Here at last is the next installment:

Part 7: Grumpy, Dopey and Alberto do EPCOT

So far, you may notice that our family had been gliding through vacation with very little *******. I'm sad to say that this morning was easily the WORST time we had on the whole trip, and a certain cranky family had a lot to do with it. Read at your own risk!!

After our late evening at the Magic Kingdom, no one seemed overly thrilled to be jumping out of bed to get to EPCOT early. Due to the fact that I wildly overestimated the time we needed to get ready, we were headed for the bus with plenty of time to spare. In an effort to get everyone (particularly Nicky) to get into vacation mode, I detoured us through the Pop food court, where I picked up a big breakfast platter for us to share. The food was yummy, and since it wasn't raining, we were fairly cheerful as we got on the bus to EPCOT. We apparently could have slept later, because we were first in line at the bag check. We chatted with the very nice security guard Chip until he rotated to another station. He gave us tips, including telling us to hurry right to Soarin'. We already knew that, of course, but we noticed that nearly every CM we saw advised us to go straight there. Maybe it's just me, but if they kept that info to themselves, maybe the ride would be less crowded!

Once the turnstiles opened, we headed for the rope drop at Innoventions. We took up a spot on the right of the Innoventions rope. Kai got a little attention from the CMs for being dressed as Tigger. The wind was REALLY kicking up at this point. This isn't a great photo, but the palm trees were whipping around.

As we stood crowded by the rope, the rain started again. Everyone pulled on ponchos, and now we were wet, hot, and waiting. Finally, the rope came down and the CMs started to move. Right ahead of us was a Soarin' CM, so we followed him closely. The crowd was basically orderly, but the CMs had to keep telling people who ran up not to pass them. Long story short, a huge marching mob followed the rope to Soarin'. And without pushing or running, we ended up first in line. That was GREAT.

Now, we had prepped Nicky ahead of time. We TOLD him the seats would go up. We TOLD him he'd just be watching a screen as the seats moved along, just like Star Tours. But even we weren't prepared for the sensation of vertigo that comes along with the ride. You may KNOW you're just watching a screen, but it doesn't feel that way. Which is lovely, if you're into a nice hang-glide over California. Kai, Scott and I loved the ride and were VERY impressed. Nick was TERRIFIED. Completely hated it. He sat, clutching anything he could reach, staring. No matter what we had told him, he was convinced we were really flying, and he's afraid of heights. At that point, we pretty much lost Nicky's cooperation for the rest of the morning.

After Soarin', we grabbed fastpasses to ride again. We were pretty sure Nicky wouldn't ride again, but we went ahead and got 4 in case Kai wanted to ride with each of us. At this point, we had planned to ride Living with the Land, but I had heard that Turtle Talk was getting long lines, so we decided to head over to the Living Seas. It had stopped raining temporarily at that point.

The CMs told us that the first show wasn't until 10AM and there was no one in the queue, so we started looking around in the Nemo and Friends exhibit. Nicky liked the jellyfish, but was frightened by the ray pool. Kairi loved everything. She got to watch a CM feed the seahorses and asked some questions about why the seahorses were separated and what they ate. The CM was really great, and took the time to answer all her questions.

It was then that we looked out at the queue for Turtle Talk and saw the HUGE line that had formed while we looked at the exhibit. We got in line, and this quickly became our first real WAITING experience of the trip. The 20+ minutes dragged by. Finally, we entered the theater. While the technology was impressive, the kids were underwhelmed by the show. We still had some time before our fastpasses when we exited, so I tried to get the kids interested in the Kidcot station. They colored for a few minutes, but Nicky kept whining that he wanted to go.

On our way out, we stopped at the shark interactive area. For a few minutes, it seemed like our happy family was going to reappear. We liked the computer quizzes, and the information about sharks at the interactive stations was interesting. We posed for a few funny pictures, and tried all the games.

Then we left for our Fastpass time. We talked about letting Nicky get a snack with Daddy while Kai and I rode, and then switching off. But when we got into the pavillion, the entire place was a total mob scene. I have never seen so many people packed into one space. A quick glance showed that the line for Living with the Land was now a 30 minute wait. I asked Scott and Kairi if they REALLY wanted to ride Soarin' again. I wasn't concerned with our wait, since we had fastpasses, but rather what Nicky would do, stuck in a crowded pavillion waiting through two rides. They said they didn't care, which later turned out to be not entirely true. So I headed toward the standby line, with the intention of giving away our passes. The problem is, my Dopey side started to come out at this point. And I didn't really explain to Scott what I was doing. I should probably mention at this point that Scott HATES crowds. Won't even shop at the mall because of how much he hates weaving through big groups of people. So he's following me, asking where to take Nicky for a snack, I'm half-explaining as we get separated over and over by the masses of people, Nicky is whining he's hungry, and Kairi still thinks we're trying to get on Soarin' because she didn't realize answering "I don't care" meant that I wasn't going to take her on the ride.

The good news is that a father with a little girl who had just turned away from the standby line saying, "We can't wait 120 minutes!" got to go directly on the ride with our fastpasses. So did a couple who were resignedly headed into the standby line. The bad news is that now we were stuck in a mob and no one in our family was very happy.

We headed over to the food court, figuring we'd fix the problems one at a time. Nicky decides he doesn't want ANYTHING at the food court. Kai wants to ride something. Fine. I decide to get back on track with our touring plan and get over to Journey into Imagination. I pull everyone out of the pavillion, only to be greeted by torrential sheets of rain, now with the added benefit of 40 odd mile per hour wind. We start walking toward the Imagination pavillion anyway, since no one wanted to go back into the mess inside the Land. Halfway there, we see a stand and Nicky wants a pretzel. So we stop, and swipe our snack credits for two pretzels and a slushie. But no one is enjoying the snack, because it's raining so hard that water is running down our faces and getting the pretzels wet. So I hustle everyone to the pavillion.

This is where I make my biggest mistake. I remember there being an interactive area in the pavillion. I figure we can sit there and eat, and then ride the ride. Scott says "We can't take food in here!" but I say "Yes we can!" This seems to be correct, as the CM at the entrance says nothing about the food, just warning us to watch our step on the slippery floor. We head along the hall and I quickly realize, oops, we ARE in the ride queue. So I pull us off to the side and let people pass us. Which is fine for a little while. We eat, drink, and start to get dry. But because of the horrible rain, the queue starts to fill up. And soon the line is past the point where we're standing. We let more people pass, and Scott's Grumpy side surfaces. He doesn't want to get back in line where we are, despite the fact that we've already waited in line longer than anyone behind us. He wants to walk back to the end of the line, so no one will think we're cutting. I tell him no one will think we're cutting, we're right there inside the queue rope, it's clear we've waited. Long story short, I eventually ask a passing group to hop in line, Scott thinks we've committed a felony, and we end up glaring at each other. Kairi hates the ride, particularly the skunk smell. Nicky hates the ride, except the skunk smell. (He still swears it smells like coffee. He has a thing for coffee.) We get off, and in a FOUL temper, I basically march everyone back to the bus, and back to the hotel. The kids aren't complaining - they're wet and having no fun. We get to Pop and have lunch in the food court. We wait 15 minutes for Kairi's soup on the word of a CM who says it will be up in a minute before another CM tells us that it'll be at least another half an hour. I have the chicken alfredo pasta, which is just okay. I also have the twinkie tiramisu, which is fabulous, but I don't really appreciate it the way I should, given my mood. Sad to say, it's a very cold, unhappy lunch. We head back to the room through weather conditions that make me look around to make sure Anderson Cooper isn't reporting live. The kids lie right down for a much needed nap, and Scott and I discuss our mutual stupidity. Sure, I was Dopey. Yup, he was Grumpy. But we decide to hang the majority of the blame on Alberto and lack of sleep. Cause hey, we're at Disney. And this has NOT been fun.

Don't worry, the next part will find us back to the Disney magic. Stay tuned for Part 8: O, Canada!

 

[Princess Aurora45]

The shark song! We sang that at camp, then I went back to the UK and sang it to ALL my friends and family - obviously they thought I was totally NUTS.

Thanks for the report it is really interesting.