Okay, I am never like this....but I may have to go to this so I can meet Flynn!! Oops...I used the same color! I hope that didn't confuse you on what I said!!
Mama bear took this photo as we left Rapunzel the lack of crowds were just unbelievable to her.
At this point, grandma bear was hungry. She went into the restaurant in the above picture (is it Cosmic Rays?) but they didn't serve breakfast, so we grabbed some muffins from a cart in Fantasyland.
Papa bear, grandma bear, and the oldest cub then headed off for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which they said was a complete walk-on at 9:45! The cub was very excited that they got to sit in the back she loves that it is faster in the back.
The rest of us headed for Aladdin. Here is a picture of Adventureland at 9:40 AM:
As we walked up to Aladdin, the youngest cub began to complain - I don't like that ride! I don't like that ride! Mama bear sadly decided not to force the issue. This had been his favorite ride in June. Things change so quickly with little cubs. Grandpa bear sat out with him while mama bear and the princess cub rode.
The princess cub loved that she had complete control of the carpet. She had a great time.
After Aladdin, we were to all meet up at Pirates. The Aladdin riders got there first. The princess cub waiting:
The cubs were a little restless, so mama bear decided to just go ahead and ride with them while grandpa bear waited for the BTMRR riders. Now, mama bear will admit that she didn't remember how this ride starts. Let's just say that neither cub really liked the present day part. Mama bear also forgot when the slide was going to happen and the fact that it is in complete darkness took her a little by surprise. The ride got better for the cubs after the slide. There were plenty of funny things in the end to make them giggle and get over their nervousness.
When we got off the ride, the others had just arrived, so we headed back into the line, but the youngest cub balked at riding again, so grandma bear sat out with him.
We now had an hour until our ADR at Crystal Palace. We decided to use our Peter Pan fastpasses, so we walked back to Fantasyland the long way.
Another crowd shot passing through Frontierland at 10:37 AM:
Papa bear rode with the youngest cub this time and said that he was concerned, but OK. Mama bear got to ride with the princess cub while the oldest cub rode with grandma bear. Poor grandpa bear rode alone.
After Peter Pan, Mama bear asked who wanted to ride Splash Mountain and the oldest cub decided she wanted to sit it out this year. This had been a huge accomplishment for her last June. Only papa bear and grandma bear went to ride with 2 of our 6 fastpasses. The rest of us went off to the carousel which we loaded at 10:58.
Grandpa bear holding the youngest cub on his horse:
After the carousel, grandpa bear and the youngest cub went to get the stroller and head for Crystal Palace while mama bear and the girl cubs used our bonus Pooh fastpasses at 11:09.
We then made a dash for Crystal Palace (skirting around the Celebrate It! Dance party thing) and arriving at 11:23. After Splash Mountain, papa bear and grandma bear grabbed Jungle Cruise fastpasses on their way back and made it to us quite wet at 11:28 AM.
Mama bear here: Sorry for the delay in updating. I have been very busy getting ready for this:
Doesn't she look sweet?
OK, returning to your regularly scheduled TR...
We only had a couple of minute wait before being seated for our 11:30 ADR at Crystal Palace. I love having the first seating!!! We got our seats, made our drink orders, and headed for the buffet. Unfortunately, since so few people were seated, the characters did the tables in a different order than our server said they would (actually 20 minutes later when the tables were filled, they did what he said they would). This meant that mama bear and the princess cub missed Eeyore. She was so disappointed. The oldest cub with Eeyore:
Luckily, grandma bear saved the day by flagging down a server who talked to Eeyore's handler and he came back just for the princess cub!
Can you even find her in this hug?
After Eeyore, Tigger bounced up to the oldest cub. She was taken by surprise, but quickly decided to play along.
Next came Winnie the Pooh. The princess cub was the only one getting autographs this day and she was very excited about it. On the autograph card, Pooh signed and then drew a crown on his head. He made sure that the cubs all understood that he was the king! The princess cub, in particular, thought this was hilarious!
The youngest cub enjoyed showing Pooh bear his new Roo. He may be nervous on rides, but he loves characters!
Piglet was the last friend to visit our table. He got hugs all around.
Finally, it was time for the parade! First the characters:
Grandma bear and the princess cub:
Papa bear and the youngest cub:
So, what did we eat? The cubs mostly had the rotisserie chicken, sliced turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh fruit, macaroni and cheese, broccoli, and ice cream. Mama bear also enjoyed the chicken and mashed potatoes as well as the salmon, salads, and chocolate pecan squares. Papa bear loves the Asian flavored dishes particularly the stir fried curry noodles. In general, We love this restaurant. All of the food is good, it is beautiful inside, it is a great place to sit down after a busy morning, and we get characters. How could it be better?
After lunch, mama bear scurried over to Tomorrowland to get fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear. Here is a picture of Tomorrow land at 12:38 PM. The crowds are picking up!
That is funny how youngest cub is apprehensive about rides he liked before, but no fear of the characters!!! You guys really accomplished a lot in one morning!! I those crowd (or lack of) pictures!!
I will be eating at Crystal Palace in 2 days!! Those pictures really got me excited!!!
And I know you must be one proud Mama Bear! Oldest Cub is an angel in those pictures!!
That is funny how youngest cub is apprehensive about rides he liked before, but no fear of the characters!!! You guys really accomplished a lot in one morning!! I those crowd (or lack of) pictures!!
You just can't predict 2 year olds. I had assumed he would like the same rides and specifically put them in the plan for him - nope. At least he REALLY enjoyed the characters. I wasn't so sure about that because both of my girls had loved characters at 1 and HATED them at 2 years old. My kids constantly keep me guessing!
I will be eating at Crystal Palace in 2 days!! Those pictures really got me excited!!!
Flynn was great! I thought he looked very "authentic". Awww...I would be sad about missing them too, but I have heard that the lines have grown so it may have been a real pain.
We tried CP for dinner and it was very good. I still like breakfast better but that is only when you can get in the park early.
After lunch, we headed for the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge. Mama bear met up with everyone just as the boat arrived and we were back here by 1:10 PM:
Everyone rested for about 45 minutes and then mama bear took the girl cubs to some of the kids activities. First, we went to Roaring Forks where they had some sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. They got to spread on the icing and add the sprinkles and then, of course, eat the cookie. Next we wanted to go for the craft activity in the Cub's Den, but it was still 10 minutes before it would start. So, we walked around the store. Mama bear was originally a little nervous about going in here because the princess cub was carrying me (Duffy). Mama bear made sure that the CM working the cash register realized that she carried me in. It probably wouldn't have been a problem, but better safe than sorry. Mama bear bought her one souvenir of the trip a Mickey shaped cookie cutter. She can't wait to use it.
Finally it was time to go to the Cub's Den. They had Koda masks and markers for the kids to color them. The oldest cub made hers look like a jaguar.
While we were gone, Papa bear took a nap and the youngest cub played with grandma bear. After craft time, we got back to the room at about 3:15 PM and the princess cub fell asleep until we got her up to leave at 4:45 PM.
The boat from WL to MK goes so quickly that we were back in the park earlier than planned. We stopped for some pictures on Main Street.
Then, we used our Jungle Cruise fastpasses. Mama bear note: I know this is a classic ride and I have always enjoyed it, but I think I need a break from it. The kids are too young to get the jokes. If they did, it might be more fun for all of us. As it is, the kids stare blankly and wonder why I drug them on this boring boat ride. As we exited, I commented that the standby wait was 30 minutes and MIL said she would never wait that long for THAT ride. Me either.
Next, we went to Columbia Harbour House for supper arriving at about 5:45 PM. The youngest cub fell asleep in the stroller on the walk from the Jungle Cruise to supper, so he spent supper like this.
For 2 days in a row, he has fallen asleep right after we get somewhere after taking a long break. He just can't seem to get with the schedule!
The princess cub was still unhappy with us for waking her up to go back to the park so she was a little whiny through the first part of supper. The combination of her bad attitude from being awakened and the youngest cub's bad timing really made mama bear question the value of the break for us. This will certainly need more thought.
Finally, the princess cub broke herself out of her funk by amusing herself by drinking her applesauce through a coffee stirrer.
At this meal, papa bear had the Lighthouse sandwich and liked it very much. Mama bear had the fried fish basket which was good, but wasn't really what she was in the mood to eat. It was just too much fried. The girl cubs had the mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. The youngest cub, of course, did not eat.
After supper, mama bear realized that it was almost time for the meet and greet with Woody and Jessie to end for the day. Since the youngest cub was wearing his Woody shirt, this was a priority. So, mama bear, grandma bear and the cubs got in line while papa bear and grandpa bear went to ride Splash with 2 of our 4 remaining fastpasses. The youngest cub remained asleep until papa bear and grandpa bear returned, again quite wet, from Splash. At this point we were near the front of the line so we decided to wake him so he would have a couple of minutes before our turn. He woke up well and really enjoyed meeting Woody and Jessie.
Mama bear stories: Jessie was greeting alone when we got in line. After a few minutes of waiting, Jessie left. The line attendant came through and said that she would be back in 5 minutes, but the people in front of us didn't hear him. They walked up and asked the photopass photographer when she would be back. For some reason, they were told 45 minutes. Now, the meet and greet was scheduled to end in 20 minutes, so this made no sense. I said, No, that can't be right. Jessie will be right back. The man in front of us called me a name, told me I didn't know what I was talking about, and pulled his family out of line. They were probably gone a minute when both Jessie and Woody came back.
Now, I almost hate to relate this story given how worked up some people get on the boards about line cutting, but this was just over the top! After Woody and Jessie came back out, we were about the 3rd family in line, there was a Spanish speaking family behind us, about 4 more families behind them, and the line had been closed. A mother and her young daughter (about 4 or 5 years old) came up to the CM at the back of the line and were told that the line was closed for the day and they would have to see them tomorrow. The mother then came up to us and asked if her daughter could join our family. I was so shocked, I couldn't say anything, but MIL responded, There are people behind us. The woman then asked another family farther back in the line and was turned away again. Soon, it was our turn to meet Woody and Jessie. We got our autographs, took our pictures, and were starting to walk away when the character attendant asked if we had forgotten a child. We said, no and turned to see that little girl standing alone at the front of the line. The Spanish speaking family was just looking confused. An older woman, who I now assume to be the girl's grandmother, says, She is alone. I look back and see the mother HIDING some distance off. Apparently, she sent a young child alone to cut the line.
Wow, that is a very strange story. Is meeting a character really that important that you send them off on their own and leave them alone.
Can she join your family It is so wrong but so funny at the same time.
Glad you got to do some activites at the resort. Add all those to the list of things we did not do
DD looks very amused drinking the applesauce out of a straw At Epcot they were passing out applesauce sample that came in sort of a juice box container that you could drink out off. I was thinking "Who would want to drink applesauce?" I guess kids do.
I know! Like I want some strange kid in my pictures. What would I have told the CM? Please take a picture of these 3 of my kids but leave that one out?
Glad you got to do some activites at the resort. Add all those to the list of things we did not do
DD5 really wanted to do the craft time. She would do crafts all day long if I let her, so she strongly encouraged me to make that time.
DD looks very amused drinking the applesauce out of a straw At Epcot they were passing out applesauce sample that came in sort of a juice box container that you could drink out off. I was thinking "Who would want to drink applesauce?" I guess kids do.
about the applesauce at Epcot. DD5 just needed something to pull her out of her bad mood. If "drinking" applesauce was all it took, I could completely support that!
After our meeting with Woody and Jessie, we stopped at a cart and bought the youngest cub some chicken nuggets and apple slices for supper that he ate as we walked to Tomorrowland. The girl cubs chose to do the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor first. They love it! We walked right into a show at 7:17 PM.
The theming in the waiting area is so cute!
Then we rode Buzz Lightyear with our fastpasses and grabbed another set for later. This was it! We had finally found a ride that the youngest cub still liked! He had a great time on here and is still talking about it 2 months later.
Finally, we rode the Peoplemover just as the sun was going down at 7:44 PM.
Notice that the princess cub is now bringing me everywhere!
A picture of the castle taken from the Peoplemover:
We got off of the Peoplemover and went straight for the spot we had chosen to watch MSEP, the Memories show, and Wishes. During supper, mama and papa bear looked at the map and decided that we wanted to pick one spot and stay for all 3 shows. Let me try to describe the spot we chose. If you are walking across the bridge from Tomorrowland toward the hub, we walked up to the hub (not crossing to the center) and sat on the sidewalk just to the left of the Tomorrowland bridge.
When we arrived, there was a family with 2 kids on the curb, another family with 2 boys right behind them, and then our family in the back. We managed to get inside the tape. We sat down and spread ourselves out a little bit so grandma bear could go get everyone some ice cream. We broke out the glow bracelets which the girls shared with the 2 boys in front of us. They in turn shared their chocolate chip cookies.
A little fun with glow bracelets:
When the parade started, the adults from the family in the front stood up and told the 2 boys and the girl cubs to go to the curb while they joined us standing behind the kids. Disney is a wonderful place when you get to experience it with people as nice as we found that night!
This picture gives a good idea of where we were sitting.
We all stayed in the same positions for the Memories show. Mama bears pictures of this didn't come out, but it was a really awesome show! Mama bear and papa bear could not help but admire the technology used. Even if you aren't a big fan of the parade, made sure to get a spot in time to see this show!
Then the other two families moved down into the street for Wishes leaving us right on the curb. None of the cubs had ever seen Wishes before. On our last trip, they were doing the Summer Nightastic fireworks. They loved that Tinkerbell flew right over us and spent several minutes trying to figure out how that happened!
After Wishes, we turned around and went straight into Tomorrowland and used our 2nd set of Buzz fastpasses.
I love how Tomorrowland looks lit up at night!
The youngest cub LOVES Buzz Lightyear. We had to pull him away to go get on the ride.
Despite having a 2 year old controlling the ride vehicle, mama bear maxed out the score for the first time ever!
Papa bear and the princess cub Don't they look serious!
We then went over to the carousel of progress and nearly had a theater to ourselves. One other family slipped in just before the show started. This was another new attraction for the cubs and it is now the princess cub's favorite (even over Soarin' and Spaceship Earth which were her previous favorites!) She loved the music in here and will often be heard singing, There's a great, big beautiful tomorrow....
It was now about 10:45 and we decided it was the perfect time to head for the exit. We walked down to the boat dock and only had about a 3 minute wait before boarding the boat back to the WL. The princess cub fell asleep in the boat and was carried in and put directly to bed.
When we had returned for our break, mousekeeping had not yet been to our room. Since papa bear was asleep within 10 minutes of returning, mama bear had put up the do not disturb sign. Then, as we were returning to the park in the afternoon, mama bear had called asking for clean towels and for the trash to be taken out. The youngest cub was doing great during the day, but there was an overnight diaper in the trash can that NEEDED to be taken out! We were pleased that these things (and nothing else) was done when we returned to the room.
On this night, all of the cubs fell asleep quickly. In total, we did 19 attractions, 2 meet & greets, a character meal, MSEP, Memories, and Wishes and had a 3.5 hour break! I don't think the day could have been much better.
I really think that you managed to do more in that one day than we did in our entire trip
Great shots of the parade
Congrats on the perfect score on Buzz. I haven't been on that ride since 2002 for some reason. I went on COP by myself last year instead and no one wanted to ride it this year.
Monsters Inc. laugh floor looks so adorable. I love the movie but as I am sure you can guess we never made it there.
Thanks! I have been practicing getting some nighttime photos and those came out pretty well.
Congrats on the perfect score on Buzz. I haven't been on that ride since 2002 for some reason. I went on COP by myself last year instead and no one wanted to ride it this year.
We love Buzz. I can't imagine a trip with out it. I have no idea how I maxed out the score. It must have been one of those mystery bonus targets. for going on CoP alone. We have skipped it for years, but I thought the kids were finally old enough to appreciate it. I didn't realize it would become a favorite.
Monsters Inc. laugh floor looks so adorable. I love the movie but as I am sure you can guess we never made it there.
It is really cute. The kids like it more than I do. Part of the show involves randomly selected people in the audience being shown on the screen. I have an irrational fear about that. I try to be as invisible as possible.
Thursday, March 24 was our day planned for Epcot. Epcot is the girl cubs favorite park. They love everything there. We had been in MK until 10:45 PM the previous night. When we saw the Summer Nightastic! Fireworks in June 2010, the girls didn't get up the next morning until 9:30. So, we planned a 10 AM arrival at Epcot. Wouldn't you know that meant everyone was up, dressed, had breakfast and was looking at mama bear like Can't we go now? at 8:45 AM? Grandma bear had some work to do that morning and grandpa bear wasn't ready yet, so they told us to just go ahead.
Since we were ahead of schedule, DH and I thought it would be fun to take the boat to MK and then use the monorail to get to Epcot. Easy, right? WRONG! The boat arrived right on time and we again enjoyed the short ride. However, when we arrived at the MK we noticed that the Express monorail ramp was closed. We looked up at the resort monorail and noticed that one had just pulled in. We hurried up the ramp only to be told that this monorail was only going to the Contemporary and we would have to wait on the next one. OK, no big deal we were early.
Soon, that monorail departed and the gray (or is it silver?) monorail arrived. We got on and sat down. After a few minutes, the driver came over the intercom and announced that we would be there for a few minutes while the previous monorail was being removed from the tracks. A few minutes after that, we heard an announcement out on the platform that they had no idea how long it would be before the monorail moved and that people coming up the ramp might just want to take the ferry to the TTC.
DH and I discussed it for a few minutes and finally decided to go to the ferry. We left the monorail and headed against the traffic (which was INCREDIBLE!) to get to the ferry. Remember, that it was now about 9:15 AM, the express monorail was not running, and MK had EMH that morning. The crowds coming into MK were insane! Anyway, we got down to the ferry, walked right on and then sat there as we watched the gray monorail finally leave the station. Ugh!
Finally, the ferry left, and we had a peaceful ride to the TTC. However, as we approached the Epcot monorail we could see that they were boarding so we RAN up the ramp (not very easy first thing in the morning those ramps are steep!!!) and just made it onto the monorail. Whew! We arrived at Epcot at 9:55 to a ridiculous line at the ONE and only open bag check station! So, in the end, despite our early departure, we got into Epcot just after our planned arrival time at 10:07 AM. Yep. It took us 82 minutes to get to Epcot.
Immediately after we walked through the turnstyles, the princess cub said she needed to go to the bathroom. So, mama bear told papa bear to go and get fastpasses for Soarin' while she took all 3 kids to the bathroom and then to meet at Imagination. We made our pit stop and then walked over to Imagination where there was literally nobody around . . . . . . . including papa bear.
After waiting several minutes for papa bear, (I thought that maybe there was a problem with the fastpass machines at Soarin' or maybe he had to go to the bathroom) we decided to just go ahead and ride Imagination. It was a complete walk-on and the girls loved it. The youngest cub did not. He didn't like the skunk part or the part where the blast occurs. Poor little guy. Usually, we play for quite a while after the ride, but mama bear wanted to go find papa bear so we only stayed for about 5 minutes.
When we left the pavilion, we still couldn't find papa bear. Mama bear had assumed he would be by our stroller since it was the only one around and was pretty obvious. At this point, mama bear figured we were on our own and he would find us eventually (unfortunately, mama bear's cell phone was in grandpa bear's car ). We headed off to Nemo which was next in our plan. As we walked by the Land, we heard grandma bear calling our names. Apparently, papa bear thought he was supposed to get the fastpasses and then stay there. Now you know why grandma bear usually gets our fastpasses.
Now that we were reunited with everyone, we made our way to Nemo and walked right on. We seem to have some bad luck on this ride because it always seems to stop at least once while we are on it. This means that we get to see some scene at least a dozen times in a row. This time, it happened twice. First at the scene where they are heading off to explore on the stingray and then again at the part with the scary fish with the light on its head. That second one didn't really help the youngest cub enjoy the ride. After the ride we explored the Seas pavilion upstairs and down. Mama bear thought there were dolphins in there somewhere, but we couldn't find any anywhere. We did watch the manatee for a few minutes and the oldest cub enjoyed playing some of the little trivia games. She did really well. The youngest cub had his 2nd potty stop of the day.
By the time we left the Seas, it was 11:30 AM. While we were walking, the cubs saw these and enjoyed watching them for a few minute:
We made our way to the Butterfly house and enjoyed looking the butterflies and flowers. The flowers were very pretty, but there seemed to be only one kind of butterfly. Mama bear had assumed that there would be a bunch of different kinds of butterflies. It was also pretty crowded in there and not as enjoyable as mama bear had hoped.
Little butterflies-to-be:
We walked by the Pooh and friends topiary.
The vegetables in Rabbit's garden look yummy!
Next, the youngest cub saw this guy.
While the youngest cub enjoyed his leafy hero, grandma bear bought us all some drinks and mama bear got a fastpass for Kim Possible.
Then we made our way into the World Showcase. First we rode the Rio Del Tiempo at 11:55 AM. Mama bear told the youngest cub that Donald Duck was in it and that he was funny. He spent the whole ride asking, Where is funny Donald? When we got off he said, Mommy, that ride is not funny. At least he wasn't scared.
Before leaving Mexico, we stopped by the kidcot station. The kids did their passports, but there was no room at the table for them to color what mama bear calls Duffy on a stick, so we just moved on to Norway.
Papa bear, grandma bear, grandpa bear, and the oldest cub rode Maelstrom at 12:28 with about a 5 minute wait (the posted wait was 15 minutes). While they were riding, mama bear took the princess cub and the youngest cub to the kidcot station and they worked on their Duffys.
At 12:45 we grabbed some snacks from the Krigla bakery. Mama bear had the waffle with strawberries, papa bear had the potato, goat cheese and vegetable torte, and grandma bear had the fruit tart. Papa bear enjoyed his very much. Mama bear thought the waffle was fine although the strawberry topping was a little too sweet. The princess cub and the youngest cub ended up eating most of it.
Hello! Boy the things you miss after a 10 day vacation!!! I can't remember all I thought of as I read but the link!!!!
I think I could travel well with your DDs!! Loving Carousel of Progress and Epcot!! And the pictures of Woody and Jessie were awesome (I love Woody!!) but the story of the little girl was very strange! Parents do the strangest things sometimes!
I really enjoyed the Memories show but I was like you and no real good pictures! All in all I think your MK day was great! You accomplished so much!!
I really liked seeing the topiary pictures and the butterflies. I really like the Flower and Garden Festival. I need to plan another spring trip!
My crankies would vanish too!!
Oops...I used the same color! I hope that didn't confuse you on what I said!!
I have a 5yo you can borrow so you fit in with all of the little girls - as long as you bring a purple crayon. 
Grandpa bear sat out with him while mama bear and the princess cub rode.
Mama bear also forgot when the slide was going to happen and the fact that it is in complete darkness took her a little by surprise. 
Those pictures really got me excited!!!
I wonder if we even went on 8 rides on our whole trip
I was so shocked, I couldn't say anything, but MIL responded, There are people behind us. The woman then asked another family farther back in the line and was turned away again. Soon, it was our turn to meet Woody and Jessie. We got our autographs, took our pictures, and were starting to walk away when the character attendant asked if we had forgotten a child. We said, no and turned to see that little girl standing alone at the front of the line. 
Usually, we play for quite a while after the ride, but mama bear wanted to go find papa bear so we only stayed for about 5 minutes.
