A private tea party with Tink, meeting the love of my DD's life-update 10/17

[HuskerFaninIL]

I read so many trip reports and various threads here on disboards.com, they were all so very helpful during my months of planning, so now I'm returning the favor. Also, writing this will hopefully help me get over my post-disney depression This is my first trip, along with my DDs' first trips, DH and his parents went once when he was 12 and there were only 2 parks, MK and Epcot. I was the prime (read: only) planner and I ran this crew.

The characters-Me, Michelle

Age: 33
Favorite Ride-Kilamanjaro Safari
Favorite Park- Magic Kingdom
Favorite Snack- Cupcakes at Starring Rolls or anything from Karamel Kuche
Favorite Table Service- Liberty Tree Tavern
Favorite Counter Service- Columbia Harbor House or Earl of Sandwich
Favorite Character- Mary Poppins

Dh, Eric

Age:33
Favorite Ride: Any Mountain
Favorite Park: Epcot World Showcase
Favorite Snack: Beers from Germany
Favorite Table Service: Ohana
Favorite Counter Service: WPE Pizza
Favorite Character:

DD1- Lindsay

Age:7
Favorite Ride: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Snack: MIckey Bar
Favorite Table Service: Ohana or Boma
Favorite Counter Service: Earl of Sandwich
Favorite Character: Duffy,Rapunzel or Jasmine


DD2- Lydia

Age: 4
Favorite Ride: Gran Fiesta Tour or It's a Small World
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Snack: Mickey Shaped Pretzel
Favorite Table Service: Ohana
Favorite Counter Service: American Pavilion
Favorite Character: Handy Manny

DMIL- Janet

Age:Grandmother
Favorite Ride: Anything that doesn't spin
Favorite Park: Epcot
Favorite Snack: Dole Whip
Favorite Table Service: All of them
Favorite Counter Service: All of them
Favorite Character


DFIL- Al

Age:64
Favorite Ride: Anything but It's a small world
Favorite Park: Epcot World Showcase
Favorite Snack: Beer (like father like son)
Favorite Table Service: Ohana
Favorite Counter Service: Japan
Favorite Character ​

Here is a quick run down of our schedule as it was planned before it happened!

Day 0-9/21- Flying out of Ohare
Day1- 9/22- Animal Kingdom morning, Chef Mickey dinner
Day 2-9/23- Hollywood Studios, Breakfast H&V and dinner at Boma
Day 3- 9/24-Magic Kingdom, dinner at CRT
Day 4- 9/25- Epcot, lunch at Le Cellier
Day 5- 9/26 - Animal Kingdom, dinner Whispering Canyon Cafe
Day 6- 9/27- Magic Kingdom and MNSSHP, Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
Day 7- 9/28- Hollywood Studios, Dinner at Ohana
Day 8- 9/29- Universal Studios
Day 9- 9/30- Epcot , dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
Day 10- 10/1- Magic Kingdom, breakfast at Crystal Palace
Day 11- fly home

So folks that's how our plan started, I hope you stick around to find out if it played out that way and you have to wait to the last day to see where the first half of the title came from!


Pre-Trip
This is not like the commercials and Orlando here we come
Will We Ever leave Ohare?
Welcome Home

 

[luvmy2babies]

I'm in. I have a daughter who was 7 on her first trip last November. She'll be 9 on her next one next summer. My son adores Handy Manny. It was always on while I was getting dressed in the morning. It helped him sit still and not crawl off the bed. He loves him to the point that even though he was only 10 months old, I stood in line for him to meet him after we had to cancel our Hollywood and Vine reservation.

I see we did some of the same restaurants only for different meals. We had breakfast at Chef Mickey's, lunch at Akershus and dinner at Crystal Palace. I'm hoping to get breakfast at Akershus and Crystal Palace next time as well as dinner at Ohana. I'll be interested to read what your family thought of your meals at Ohana, Liberty Tree Tavern and WCC as we have not tried those, but they are on my list of hopefuls for our next trip. Going to try to get Hollywood and Vine in for breakfast too. My son will be 2 on our next trip and still loves Manny, he enjoys Agent Oso and he loves the Einsteins with a passion.

 

[kokotg]

I'm in! We were there the week before you and ate at a lot of the same places.

 

[Mombits]

I'm in! Looking forward to hearing about it.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

I'm in.

I'll be interested to read what your family thought of your meals at Ohana, Liberty Tree Tavern and WCC as we have not tried those, but they are on my list of hopefuls for our next trip.

Without giving too much away, I will say that after 10 days of eating at WDW there was no meal that was bad. Some we liked more than others, but no disappointment at all

and to Kokotg and mombits! And mombits WTG on beating cancer, that surely deserves a trip!!!

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

A quick pre-trip run down for you and an explanation of how the trip came to be.

DH got a new job a year ago and it caused us to move 3.5 hours from our home. My DDs and I left friends that are like family so that was very hard. For a long time Dh and I had batted around the idea of a Disney trip, but had never really set on anything. As a distraction from missing my friends, DH decided that this year would be the perfect time to plan a trip.

I started planning in January for our trip. Originally we were thinking early October, but by moving it to late September we saved quite a bit of money.

We then decided to include Dh's parents, since they hadn't been since the 1980's and we thought it would be fun for them to experience it with our girls.

I researched in all the books and especially on disboards. I had such fun setting the reservations and planning our days. My MIL and I made themed dresses for the girls to wear to each park, I stoked up on Mickey T's at various stores and garage sales and then we waited! And we waited some more!

After 8 months our trip was finally here!

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

After months of waiting, weeks of packing and countless hours spent researching the day was finally here!

Wednesday, September 21st:

I got up at my normal 5:40 AM and got the girls ready for school. Lindsay is in 2nd grade and catches the bus at 6:40. I got her out the door and came home to get Lydia (preschool) all ready to go. Once they were out of my hair I came home to pack a few last minute items and DH was doing some last minute yard work.

Soon enough 11:30 rolled around and it was time to pick Lydia up from Preschool. We ran quickly by Subway for a quick lunch. After lunch it was time to load the car . Time was ticking slowly by, so I folded one last load of laundry (boy I know how to party) and watched the clock. Whoo hooo finally is was 1:45 and we could head out the door to pick Lindsay up from school (only a little early).

Then this happened!

Yes, folks I tell Lydia that it was time to go and she bursts into tears. the photo shows her trying very hard to smile through the tears. One thing about Lydia is she always goes into the "ugly cry" her face gets all red and splotchy and her eyes get all red, I pray she doesnt cry on her wedding day.

She is not good at change and she freaked out when it was time to go. She didn't want to leave the cat. She cried and cried and cried. She wanted to stay home, she was not going. I said to myself, these are not the reactions they show on TV. My kid cries and other kids jump up and down and cheer.

She was not going, she was staying home, after some mom talk the only solution that Lydia could come up with was for me to find the cat and take a picture to have with us. So then I had to quickly find the darn cat. After some searching we discovered her under our bed. The funny part is she is 100% my cat, I had her before I had the girls and generally the girls ignore her and she ignores them.

And here is the picture that allowed us to leave the house and actually go to Disney. I have no desire to see what would have happened if the cat had hidden better.

By now we are about 10 minutes beyond where I wanted to be and we quickly head toward school. Lydia is still sobbing in the back seat. Poor kid, she cries when I leave her to go to the grocery store.

We scoop Lindsay up, her whole class is so excited for her and oddly enough out of the 20 kids in her class there is another little girl going 7 of our 10 days. We say goodbye to her friends, get her Petey the Panda class mascot (think Flat Stanley in stuffed Panda form) and we hop in the van.

We live about 100 miles West of Chicago and DH and I do not like Chicago traffic or paying to park at O'hare. We opted to take the local coach bus that drops you right at your airline.

We get to the bus station and still have 30 minutes before the bus arrives, luckily the hunt for the cat didn't delay us! We sat outside the bus station, DH procurred our tickets and I was stunned by this old lady.

If you looked up chain smoking in the dictionary it'd have her picture. During the 20 minutes before we could board the bus she smoked at least a pack of cigarettes. She must have been stocking up on nicotine for the hour trip to the airport. She was up and down every minute lighting a new one. I felt bad for her lungs, but we were far enough away to not be effected.

Anyway, we waited for the bus with our massive amount of luggage, the girls were excited at this point and no more about the cat.

Finally the bus arrived and we loaded up. Lindsay read her school book and listened to music. Lydia decided that it was time to nap and luckily for us there were only about 4 other people on the bus so seats were plentiful

Dh stole my ipad and tried to prove that he could beat me at Tetris. He was so very wrong, I rule at Tetris. It's my fav video game EVER! Plus it gave me stellar packing the car skills.

I busied myself reading People and trying to master taking a pic of myself with my arm outstretched! This is also, I think, the only time I wore my hair down. The humidity in Orlando was not good for my 'do.

Next up: Will the plane ever land in Chicago??

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Joining in! I also have two girls, so I am excited to follow along.

 

[kokotg]

Aw, poor Lydia! I have a couple of bad with change kids, too, so I understand. Glad you found a solution that worked for her! Your cats looks really unthrilled about the situation, though

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

So when I last left you we had taken the bus to Ohare.

THe bus dropped us off at the United counter and then we had to deal with all of our luggage. Two big suitcases, 4 pull behind suitcases, 1 purse, 3 backpacks and 1 computer case.

We get all checked in, drop off our big luggage (whoo hooo) and headed toward security. That wasnt terrible, but trying to explain to a curious 4 yr old why you need to take your shoes off is tricky. I didn't want to scare her so I told her that some people have bad dirt on their shoes and they don't want in in the plane. Then she starts looking around at people's shoes and loudly saying "Do they have the bad dirt?" "Hey daddy, do you have bad dirt on your shoes" and on and on for the whole 35 minutes of security. And clearly Ohare hadn't yet gotten the memo that kids under 12 didn't need to remove their shoes....

Well after the fun that is security we headed toward gate C27. We get there and the flight from before is still not there so the people going to Denver are taking all the seats. Dh heads down to get McD's for him and the girls and I get an overpriced salad from some vendor (It was less than stellar).


We waited and waited some more and the girls entertained themselves by looking for our flight info on the big blue board and eating Mickey Mouse shaped cookies that I made and brought from home.

Finally the Denver flight headed out and it was time for us to board, about 35 minutes later than we'd planned. We boarded in the small children group and got the kids all settled. I was sitting next to them and DH was across the aisle but still in our same row.

We settled in and watched a very old Simpsons and some Nat Geo show. I ended up watching Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 1 on my Ipad, the rest of the family did this...

It ended up being a fairly bumpy flight and the seatbelt sign was only off for a few minutes. Finally we were landing in MCO. It was about 40 minutes past our scheduled landing, it was 78* according to our captain, when we left home it was 68* fyi.

We gathered our assorted bags and headed off to get our luggage! THat means a dark trip on the mini-monorail. The pics stink because of the darkness. But there is something you need to know about my kids, they are cute in any light!

We get to our luggage and head to find Hertz. We had to go outside for the extra special Hertz rental peeps and the MCO doors slid open and I nearly had heat stroke right then and there. This was no 78* this mid-western girl has ever experienced (so clearly our captian was a big fat liar). It was the huimidity, it stood up and punched us all in the face and it was TKO, I had nothing in me to fight back.

Anyhow, after I got over my shock of walking into a sauna we headed to Hertz. If you are a gold elite (Or something like that) member you go right outside and hop into your car. So to get across this road we did our best interpetation of Frogger and finally arrived at the Hertz area of the parking garage.

Dh works for Kraft and they are a big Hertz client and so when we get to Hertz there is a HUGE flashing arrow pointing at the mini-van with DH's name flashing! I should have took a pic, it was hilarious (or maybe it's just because I was half asleep).

It is just after 11 PM and I pull the GPS out of the luggage and program it, now of course stupid GPS (she and I have a love hate relationship, we call her Cruella, because she's evil) can't find a signal. I tell DH just to follow the signs toward Disney.

We are driving along and still no signal. Now our plan was to stay at a Hampton Inn in Lake Buena Vista for $50 just for our first night. Well finally we get a signal on ol' Cruella and head to Hampton Inn.

We pull up at the Hampton and I send DH in to check in just in case we need to move the car to a closer door, plus both girls are sleeping.

He comes back out and is all flustered because this Hampton has no record of us.... umm we pre-paid what are we going to do. I pull out the non-3G ipad in hopes of checking DH's email for confirmation. I end up finding a hotel that let's me get on (thanks Calypso Cay) and we realize it is a different Hampton, whew! We won't be sleeping in our car!

We finally get to the hotel at about 12. We are all exhausted and fall quickly to sleep. It was a nice room, I have no pics of it, but it was nice and 100% worth the $50 or so dollars it cost.

Next up, actually getting on Disney Property!

 

[Mombits]

: to Kokotg and mombits! And mombits WTG on beating cancer, that surely deserves a trip!!!

Aww thanks.

I had to LOL about the pic of the cat. He looks TOTALLY po'd about being dragged out from under the bed. It's be awesome if a little thought bubble popped up and we could see what he is REALLY thinking.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

After a good, but short nights sleep I was ready to go! I was way more excited then the family! I will give this Hampton Inn a great rating. They have Mickey Waffle makers, so once everyone joined me in being awake we all had a quick free breakfast. It was great. Then it was finally time to go to Disney! Whoo hoo.


We plugged the address for Old Key West into our old Cruella and headed on on way. This morning the old bat decided to cooperate! Soon enough we were seeing this for the first time!

We quickly made our way to OKW and I was nearly jumping out of my skin.

We were impressed with the gate and the security, it is now about 8:15 AM and we park and go into the Hospitality House. They weren't very busy and they were very helpful. The girls sat and watched some old Disney cartoons and the DVC guy loaded them up with stickers, they loved that!

Here they are in the lobby letting out some of their pent up energy!

We were so impressed that our room was ready at 8:30 in the morning! Thrilled. We were in building 37 which is in the Turtle Pond area (or at least that was our bus stop).

We had rented a 2 bedroom villa, these rooms are all newly renovated and very nice. We were on the third floor, which was actually a request, I liked being able to look out and not hear people above us.

The living room has a flat screen tv (hidden in the island, DH couldnt find it ), a couch and chair that fold out, access to the deck and table and chairs for eating.

Sorry the pic is so very dark, I guess the flash didnt go off. My only complaint was that the couch and chair almost sounded and felt plasticy when you sat down. I'm sure it is to prevent too much wear and tear, but comfy they weren't.

The living room attaches to the kitchen making a great room. We really loved the regular sized fridge!

Here is our room- 2 queen beds, flat screen tv, full bath room, 2 closets and a small table, 2 sets of windows

The nice thing about the bathroom was that inside it had a sink and mirror, but also directly outside the bathroom there was another sink and mirror, that really came in handy when the mirror would get steamy from showering.

We gave the IL's the king bedroom, it was very spacious and had access to the back deck area as well. It had a flat screen tv inside a nice armoire. The tv would be at the foot of the bed in this pic.

They had a cute little chair and ottoman.

They had the best bathtub in this room, the girls thought it was so cool. The ended up having one bath in it (without jets) and they swam forever in that tub.

THey also had a seperate bathroom with a shower stall, toilet and sink. This area had a door that led to the laundry room.

You could also access the laundry from the hall. I loved having laundry right there in the room, that was awesome!!!!

Here is our view of trees, actually if you looked to the left between the trees you could see all the golfers, I think building 39 must look right at the greens.
I like the trees, it was peaceful and you didn't feel at all like you were in a hotel.

Now I realize that wasn't the most exciting of updates, however when I was planning I loved seeing pics of the different rooms so we could pick where we wanted to stay. I hope someone sees my pics and decides to give OKW a chance, because we all loved it !

Next up An actual Disney Park update!

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

After our check-in process and lugging the our massive luggage up the stairs at OKW we hopped into the rented van, picked up our rented Stroller from baggage services and headed off to our first park, Animal Kingdom.

Now this was an extra day for us (SWEET), because when booking flights months ago we opted to fly in the night before. This opened up a whole Thursday for us, instead of arriving in mid-afternoon. We only had 1 full day planned at DAK so we knew this would be the park we'd add.

Driving to DAK was a piece of cake. We had our OKW parking pass and breezed right through the guard gate. We parked and lucky for us a tram was right there loading up! We had a stroller from Magic Strollers, it was a double and easy enough to fold up, but it was a bit tight on the trams.

The tram ride was short, becuase even though it was about 45 mins after opening we were quite close to the front of the lot. We got our first (of 413) photopass pics taken, however I haven't gotten my CD yet, so you'll have to imagine us standing by the entrance)

We were a bit overwhelmed and grabbed some maps and began walking toward the Safari for FPs.

Along the way we stopped to take these photos.

Can you see what I was taking a pic of?

Here's a close up.

I find Devine so intriguing, she moves so vine like and then I think to myself about conversations she has when not at work "Oh what do you do for a living?" "Me, I walk on stilts and play a vine/tree lady all painted green."

Anyway, after snapping some pics of her we headed on and snagged those FPs for Safari.

We had some time to kill before our Safari and there was a CM standing outside the train begging people to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch, so we went ahead and did it.

We waited a bit for the train, and then boarded. For some reason I got the impression they were just opening the train, because they were doing safety checks and ran it by us a few time empty. But I don't know if they just opened it or not, it seems like they should have had it opened by 9:45-10AM when we were there.

Finally we boarded the train (with only a handful of others).

We quickly arrived at Rafiki's planet watch and headed toward the buildings and affection section.

This is where I have a mini panic attack. We walk into the main building and I realize that I left the girl's autograph books back at the room in OKW. Inside I want to cry, just a little, but I brush it off and we go ahead and explore.

My oldest has wanted to be a vet since she was 3. She stood in front of the vet window FOREVER. There was a little cotton topped tamarin getting some dental work and she was amazed.

I think she could have stood there forever. If you've never seen it, they have TV's right outside the window with zoomed in images of the surgery.

Finally we dragged her away and we got in line to meet our VERY FIRST DISNEY CHARACTER. Who would it be???

Jiminy Cricket! Isn't that just who everyone goes to Disney to see?

Well we are waiting in line and then he has to have a quick break to check on Pinnochio. Then he comes back out and my little one refuses to meet him. She puts her sassy hands on hips and says "I'm not meeting him, he's a bug, bugs are DISGUSTING."

Well I ended up getting to meet Jiminy with my oldest. This is the only autograph giving character that we met that we didn't get a signature from.

After Jiminy we headed outside to the affection section (or whatever it's called) and we met a friendly goat.

First the girls gave him a brushing.

Then they decided that daddy had to get in on the action.

After that we said goodbye to our new friend, Mr. Goat and headed off back to the train.

With that I will leave you, but just know that soon it will be time for our safari ride, a baby elephant was in danger, he needed our assistance ASAP!

 

[KatMark]

I hope you don't mind me joining in. We live in Illinois, and we were at Disney the same time as you (we stayed at AKL Kidani for two nights before moving over to OKW). I'll be back later to catch up (although I did scroll through the first part and that was too funny about the cat).

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

I hope you don't mind me joining in. We live in Illinois, and we were at Disney the same time as you (we stayed at AKL Kidani for two nights before moving over to OKW). I'll be back later to catch up (although I did scroll through the first part and that was too funny about the cat).

I'd love to have you reading along! I hope you had a great time on your trip!

 

[Mombits]

Awww, I love Jiminy. I'd have been sad not to get his autograph but at least you got a picture with one of your girls.

 

[KatMark]

Okay, I FINALLY caught up. Where in Illinois do you live? We are about 30 minutes from O'Hare.

Good you were able to find the cat; I'm sorry I probably shouldn't have laughed, but that was rather funny.

Glad you didn't have to sleep in the car (we too went to the wrong hotel our arrival night...I had switched to a different LaQuinta this time and we got all confused).

Love your one bedroom at OKW; we had a Studio which was very nice too (I think we are in a one bedroom our first night in January and then we move to a Studio for the last four nights).

Sounds like a great day at the AKL; we've yet to see Jiminey Cricket.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

We live in the Rockford area. We actually had a 2 bedroom, my IL's went with us.

The whole cat saga was insane, silly girl.

I thought DH might murder me about the whole hotel thing, however I was so glad for my ipad and finding the right place. I was a little taken aback that the guy at the first one didnt say "Oh there is another one 3.2 miles away, let me call them"

Clearly there is a reason he works the late shift at a Hampton and not at Disney!