A Private Dance with Cinderella... Our Surprise Trip Jan 2011 (completed 7/18!)

[BigTex71]

Wow how much does he charge to keep people out of the park?

Sorry about your April trip, but it looks like you had a pretty great time on this particular day.

Seems like "Go when the park is empty" > "be there at rope drop and deal with crowds all day" maybe there's a man law that needs an amendment?

It only works in the off season, though - because in the peak seasons ALL parks are busy...it is then just a matter of picking the lesser of 4 evils.

 

[francis6306]

How fun is your trip... I just read through. My daughter is totally jealous of your DD's dance with Cinderella. And we saw that SAME Belle- but she was at 1900 for Breakfast in Dec. Just posted pictures of her in my TR! It was my husband's first trip... but he has been bitten and is slowly turning into an addict... I've already had confirmation that we can start thinking about our next trip... He thinks I'm a bit nuts with the disboards... but I can see him being a disdad if he ever got on here...

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Empty EPCOT = awesome day. You guys packed quite a bit into the day! Have to agree on Voices of Liberty and Illuminations--great stuff! (although I wish Illuminations was a little more pyro, a little less globe)

 

[trennr]

Nice Shirts.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

My whole family (including mom) loves German food, so this was a big hit. We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the music and fun of the show.

It's hard not to love sausage-laden buffets!

When we finished lunch, we decided to finish up the kids’ Epcot passports – so we went to all the countries we didn’t get to the first day. One of those countries was France – and DD got to interact with Beast for a while:

Love the picture of your DD with Beast!

Another first for us: IllumiNations. This is an awesome display. The great thing about seeing this on this night – the park was not crowded at all, so we walked up to a great viewing spot a couple minutes before the show started. We watched from in front of the Germany area. I was blown away – this is my favorite fireworks show in The World now.

Looks like it won't be your last!

Empty Park =

 

[BigTex71]

How fun is your trip... I just read through. My daughter is totally jealous of your DD's dance with Cinderella. And we saw that SAME Belle- but she was at 1900 for Breakfast in Dec. Just posted pictures of her in my TR! It was my husband's first trip... but he has been bitten and is slowly turning into an addict... I've already had confirmation that we can start thinking about our next trip... He thinks I'm a bit nuts with the disboards... but I can see him being a disdad if he ever got on here...

Heck yeah, have him register on the board and visit our DISdads thread! Or he can go to disdads<dot>com to see what we are about. Maybe he can check out our podcasts.

Empty EPCOT = awesome day. You guys packed quite a bit into the day! Have to agree on Voices of Liberty and Illuminations--great stuff! (although I wish Illuminations was a little more pyro, a little less globe)

I will be spoiled by this trip. The next trip in July/Aug is going to be very crowded, but we will have our touring plan ready!

Nice Shirts.

Thanks! Made them from the instructions on the DISign thread here at the DISboards.

Love the picture of your DD with Beast!

Thanks.

 

[BigTex71]

I want to apologize in advance for the last few chapters and the next few to wrap up. I have been a little rushed trying to make time to write these, so the quality level may not be up to my PTR level. But I hope you can still enjoy them anyway.

 

[BigTex71]

February 4, 2011 – Day 8 (DHS Day)

After the late night at Epcot and arriving back at the condo around 11pm the night before, we decided to sleep in a little and do yet another relaxed day. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, this is the optimal time to go to The World because the crowds are so low and the weather is so great. So showing up late (by which I mean any time after rope drop) at a park has not posed any problems crowd-wise. These parks were like a Kansas City Royals game crowd – sparse.

We arrived at DHS around 9:45am and I went to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania while the rest of the crew went to Starring Rolls Café for breakfast. On my way back from getting the fast Passes, I was stopped by a member of the TourGuideMike forums – username Chocted - who recognized me (WOW, I got recognized at a Disney park from an online forum member – how cool is that?) She was raving about the crowd levels and how they had already rode TSMM, and RnRC, and were heading back to TSMM to use their Fast Passes for the second ride – they hit rope drop and were going crazy hitting the big rides (this is another example of how a good Touring Plan and making Rope Drop can really help make your days in the park special.) Was I a little jealous? Of course I was! If I had my way, we would be at each park 30 minutes prior to opening. But, as I said before, these crowds didn’t demand rope drop to still get a lot done in the park.

After breakfast we saw Chip and Dale and let DD get her autograph book signed.

Next, it was off to Tower of Terror for my first-ever ride on it. I had the opportunity several times before, but I have this thing about drops and negative G-forces – I am allergic to them just like I am allergic to pain and bad luck. Luckily, nearly every thrill ride in the World does not have any big drops. Well, Splash Mountain has a few – but I can deal with that. But I was a nervous about ToT because these are not just drops per se- the ‘drops’ actually go faster than gravity pulling on you, so I wasn’t sure how my ‘allergies’ would react to that. It turns out that I kind of liked it. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that I knew the drops were controlled and ‘forced’ to be faster than gravity or what, but I will definitely be riding that one again on our next visit – although I wasn’t ready to ride it again immediately after we finished it.

After I conquered my fear of ToT, we went over to ride one of my favorites – Rock’n Roller Coaster. I LOVE that ride! We tried to talk DS into riding it and he actually stood in line with us up until he got inside and saw the coaster do its 0-60 launch. I could see skid marks on the ground from his shoes burning rubber to get the heck outta there. At least he thought about it. Maybe I can get him to try it next time.

We then split up and DM, DS, and I went to ride the Backlot Tour while DW took DD to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Here is the canyon scene from the backlot:

We then met up over at the playground to let DD play some more. She really loved that playground! I think that may have been her favorite thing at The World this trip.

It was nearing lunch time, so we walked over to Sci-Fi Dine-In to see if we might be able to get a walk-up reservation. The kids had fun outside the diner while waiting for a table:

We were seated within a few minutes and the kids liked watching the old B-movie clips during lunch. I had the ribs – not too bad, but not worth the money. Overall, it was nice – but I prefer the 50s Prime Time Café because the food and service are much better over there. But I would do lunch at Sci-Fi again if I split an entrée and dessert with DW. Otherwise, I don’t find it worth the money.

By the time we finished lunch, it was after our minimum time to use our Fast Passes for TSMM. So we walked over to Pixar Place and rode one of the greatest rides in Walt Disney World. I could ride that ride 20 times straight and not get tired of it. Well, who are we kidding – NOBODY could actually ride that 20 times straight because of the crowds waiting to ride it. Even with the park crowd levels really low, TSMM standby times were still over 60 minutes by the afternoon.

We decided to go watch the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular next. DD was getting tired, so DW took her to a shaded area outside the stunt show for her to rest in her stroller. After the show was over we went back to ride Rock’n Roller Coaster one last time for this trip.

Since DD was so tired, we felt it was a good time to leave the park. Since it actually got up into the 80s on this day we thought we would check out the pool at the condo. Wait, we didn’t bring any bathing suits with us because we thought it wouldn’t be warm enough to swim on this trip. Luckily for us we had a rental vehicle. A quick trip to Target solved that problem. Now that we had our swimsuits we went back to the condo and changed into them so we could relax at the pool area. The pool there was really nice and we had a great time unwinding down there.

The sun was starting to set and I took a few pictures before heading back to the condo to change into some clothes for dinner.

We changed clothes and went to eat at a local non-Disney place (gasp!) We went to Giordano’s for some pizza. It was really good – I recommend that place for those of you with a vehicle. The pizza has a really good crust and is more of a Brooklyn style pizza, but with a thicker crust. Mmmm.

After dinner we went back to the condo to watch TV, unwind, and prepare for our last full park day at Magic Kingdom the next day.

 

[afwdwfan]

These parks were like a Kansas City Royals game crowd – sparse.

Wow, that's like walk on for everything.

It turns out that I kind of liked it. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that I knew the drops were controlled and ‘forced’ to be faster than gravity or what, but I will definitely be riding that one again on our next visit – although I wasn’t ready to ride it again immediately after we finished it.

Glad you enjoyed it. ToT is always a fun ride.

After I conquered my fear of ToT, we went over to ride one of my favorites – Rock’n Roller Coaster. I LOVE that ride!

Me too, that's probably my favorite ride in any of the parks.

I could see skid marks on the ground from his shoes burning rubber to get the heck outta there.

I'm just glad you didn't say it left skid marks in his pants.


Looks like a fun, relaxed day at DHS. I'm glad it was a warm enough day that you were able to enjoy the pool at the condo. Note to self.. always pack swimwear just in case.

 

[BigTex71]

I'm just glad you didn't say it left skid marks in his pants.

When I first wrote it I just had the skid marks part, but then I figured I should explain a little better about the skid marks being from his shoes.

Looks like a fun, relaxed day at DHS. I'm glad it was a warm enough day that you were able to enjoy the pool at the condo. Note to self.. always pack swimwear just in case.

Yes, we will be packing swimwear no matter what time of year we go from now on.

 

[DisDr.]

Trying to get caught up... nice job!

 

[francis6306]

Awe... we took our suits in Dec just in case. My daughter LOVES the water. We worked hard to keep her from seeing the pool! Good thing you were able to go to Target!

 

[Singledad]

subbing!

I love how your princess knows how to pose with the one bent leg in most of her photos! too cute! Now to teach that to my DD....

 

[Cinderpamela]

Just discovered your trip report, am all caught up now and awaiting the next chapter!

 

[BigTex71]

Just discovered your trip report, am all caught up now and awaiting the next chapter!

Ok, I will get that posted today... but only because I was waiting for you to be ready.

 

[BigTex71]

February 5, 2011 – Day 9 (MK Day)

This was our last full day in Orlando, so we had to visit MK one last time. I am starting to like Epcot the most, but if you have young children – there is no place on Earth like the Magic Kingdom when it comes to making kids smile. And this is all about the kiddos, so MK it is! We got up and got ready (we slept in a little again, since the crowds were not bad this time of year.) We arrived at the TTC parking lot around 9:30am and took the tram to the central TTC hub. Just before we got off the tram, DD’s stomach decided it wanted to send breakfast back where it came from. Unfortunately, DD’s stomach must not have realized that her shirt and shorts was not where breakfast originated. DW took her to the restrooms to try to clean her up a little. Not a good start so far.

Once we arrived at MK, we went straight to the Emporium to find DD some new threads.

DD and DW went to meet the fairies

while DS, DM, and I went to ride the TTA People Mover and then the Carousel of Progress.

I know that is an old attraction, but I still like it a lot. And once you ride it, you will have that song stuck in your head until your next visit to The World. “There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow…”.

We then met up with the girls at ToonTown. We rode Goofy’s Barnstormer several times to pay our respects – it is being converted to a slightly different ride for the new FantasyLand expansion – and it is one of DDs favorite rides. And since ToonTown will be gone with the new expansion, we were sure to walk around and enjoy this area for our final time. It was a little sad in a way.

Afterwards it was getting to be lunch time, so we headed over to Liberty Square for our early lunch ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. We had dinner there the last trip and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to the lunch options (the dinner is a family-style fixed menu.) Lunch did not disappoint. I had the New England Pot Roast – yum! The wine and mushroom sauce was so rich and flavorful. DW had the Pilgrim’s Feast (pretty much the same thing we had for dinner here last time – I knew she liked it, but I guess she REALLY liked it.) We split the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake for dessert. WOW – that was Good Eats. By the time I remembered to pull out my camera for a picture, this is what was left:

After lunch we rode Splash Mountain and then went to one of my favorite attractions:

Then we decided to see the Country Bear Jamboree – since we had never seen it before.

Pretty good entertainment for the kids, but I have to be honest here… I didn’t see all of it because I was nodding off. I think the 9 days of non-stop fun was starting to catch up with me. I just hope I didn’t scare any kids sitting around me with loud snorting and snoring. We then did another thing we never seemed to make time for before: the Liberty Belle riverboat. This is a nice, relaxing ride around the area and allows for some good photo ops you can’t get from the regular walking areas:

We then ventured over to TomorrowLand to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I recently found out how to max out your points on that ride, but it was after we returned from our trip. So I can’t wait until our next visit so I can whip up on DW like Ben Kenobi did to Darth Maul.

We then went to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. Even though I was not ‘That Guy’again, DD and I were a ‘two-headed monster’ and they actually spent quite a bit of time featuring us on the video screen and asking us questions. The family LOVED this. More Disney Magic – even if it was something as little as this. It was great memory making.

We rode the TTAPM one last time and then went through some shops before getting on the boat to Wilderness Lodge for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café.

I did not have an ADR for WCC, but I was hoping we could do a walk-up since the crowds are not bad this time of year. (Have I mentioned that the crowds are not bad this time of year yet?) I walked up to the hostess and asked if we could get a table for 5. She gave the standard reply, “Sure, but it may take about 45 minutes.” I told her that would be fine and we would wait for a table. Our beeper/flasher device went off within 5 minutes for our table. Dinner was great (as usual) and we went back to finally see the MSEP and the new Memories show on the castle before Wishes.

The new Memories show on the castle was GREAT! It is amazing how they get the castle to ‘transform’ with the projected images. We watched from a spot over by the Crystal Palace and here was one of the few decent pictures I got of Cinderella’s Castle during the show (I didn’t have a tripod.)

DD fell asleep in her stroller just before Wishes and we met a family from New Jersey standing next to us whose son was complaining about the possibility of the fireworks being too loud. We offered them some silicon ear ‘putty’ that we had not opened yet for DS (he has sensitive hearing), since we had two packages. They were very grateful and their son was able to enjoy the show without having to endure the loud noises. They had just arrived that day, so we gave them the rest of that package of unused silicon ear plugs for them to use the rest of the week. I love being able to help out a little like that spreading some of the Disney Magic.

We left after Wishes to get back to the TTC and then the condo. It made for a long day and late night, but it was our last full day and we were able to enjoy it fully. Too bad (looking back now) it is going to be a long time until we can return.



Up next: Goodbye Walt Disney World, hello Tampa (and goodbye Tampa.)

 

[afwdwfan]

Just before we got off the tram, DD’s stomach decided it wanted to send breakfast back where it came from. Unfortunately, DD’s stomach must not have realized that her shirt and shorts was not where breakfast originated.

Poor thing. That's no way to start the day.

“There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow…”.

I'd rather have that song stuck in my head than a certain other song from the Magic Kingdom.

We left after Wishes to get back to the TTC and then the condo. It made for a long day and late night, but it was our last full day and we were able to enjoy it fully. Too bad (looking back now) it is going to be a long time until we can return.

That's a bummer. Sorry your other plans didn't work out. It looks like it was an enjoyable last full day even if it did get off to a rough start for your DD.

 

[scott2997]

Just before we got off the tram, DD’s stomach decided it wanted to send breakfast back where it came from. Unfortunately, DD’s stomach must not have realized that her shirt and shorts was not where breakfast originated.

Now I don't feel so bad about my daughter having an "accident" on my lap in the monorail at the end of our MK day last trip.

At least we were on our way out and not just getting started!

 

[chocted]

Quote "We arrived at DHS around 9:45am and I went to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania while the rest of the crew went to Starring Rolls Café for breakfast. On my way back from getting the fast Passes, I was stopped by a member of the TourGuideMike forums – username Chocted - who recognized me (WOW, I got recognized at a Disney park from an online forum member – how cool is that?)"


Hi BigTex - Really enjoyed reading your trip report I feel honoured to be mentioned in it. Thanks Sounds like you had a good time just like we did )

 

[jason4024]

I found your trip report update on the DisDads sub-board. Defintely sounds like you had a great trip. I think I am going to be working on some shirts for our next trip. Thanks for the ideas!