A Tale of 3 Duffys - a March 2011 TR - update 8/11: Finished!

[TinksThree]

Such sweet pictures with Simba!! You had soem really good Photopass pics!!

I have one that spends money the second it is in his pocket! Love the Duffy love!!

 

[ksl5f123]

Such sweet pictures with Simba!! You had soem really good Photopass pics!!

I have one that spends money the second it is in his pocket! Love the Duffy love!!

The girls did much better with the magic shots this trip. They seemed to "get it" a little better.

I can't handle how DD7 goes through money. It causes me pain to buy anything that costs more than $1 so I just can't understand how it doesn't affect her.

 

[ksl5f123]

When we last left off, we were deep in Duffy love. After this, the eldest cub decided to head to the pool. The younger cubs chose to stay in the room and play with their new things. So, papa bear went swimming while mama bear organized the room.

Mama bear asked the youngest cub for a picture of him with his new Woody.

Once you take a picture of a 2 year old, there is often a series of others required. In this case, he said, “Take a picture of my hand.”

“Take a picture of my teeth”

“Take a picture of my toes”

Silly little cub!

While papa bear and the eldest cub were swimming, mama bear and the younger cubs enjoyed sitting on the balcony watching everyone at the pool. Mama bear tried to get the cubs to rest, but they were not going for it.

Soon it was time to head to Downtown Disney. Our family made their way out the door at 5 PM for a 6 PM ADR and somehow managed to arrive at DTD by 5:20! When they arrived, they discovered that the youngest cub had fallen asleep in the car. Papa bear moved him into the stroller and he waited for our ADR like this;

With extra time to kill, time was spent watching this:

While the sky is beautiful and clear, there was about a 25 or 30 mph wind this day and that balloon was rocking! Scary! and

Soon, it was 5:50 and the family checked in for their 6 PM ADR at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. They were seated immediately at a table with a view of the lake. Their meal started with some awesome bread and grandma bear ordered the crab cake and the calamari appetizer while papa bear ordered some sushi. Papa bear enjoyed his sushi, grandma bear loved her crab cake which she described as having very little filler, and the eldest cub ate most of the calamari. (This is also the child who at our local Japanese restaurant insists that everyone at the table give her their zucchini. She does NOT eat like most 7 year olds.)

For the main course, mama bear ordered the macadamia nut encrusted chicken. Oh my!! This was incredible! Mama bear blushingly admits that she ate BOTH chicken breasts that were served. Papa bear ordered the pumpkin ravioli which he also loved. The eldest cub had the children's salmon with a side of applesauce. After all of the bread and calamari she had eaten, she couldn't finish it. The princess cub had the mini burgers with smiley fries. She ate most of the fries and one of the burgers. It was too much food for her too. The youngest cub had the cheese pizza. Once again, too much food. He ate about half. He might have eaten more, but he had a slow start since he wakes up grumpy from naps.

Although the desserts looked awesome here, there was another plan.

 

[GaRain]

Hmmm, Ghiredelli (I can never spell that right!) or Goofy's???
Either is GREAT!

 

[TinksThree]

I hope to fit in Wolfgang Puck's express this trip. I hope it is of equal quality!

I think it is so cute when littel ones want every little thing documented!!

I feel a trip to Ghiradelli's perhaps!?!?!

 

[ksl5f123]

Hmmm, Ghiredelli (I can never spell that right!) or Goofy's???
Either is GREAT!

I feel a trip to Ghiradelli's perhaps!?!?!

Hmmmm...I wonder.

 

[ksl5f123]

After leaving Wolfgang Puck Cafe, the family decided to walk down to the Marketplace from the West side. As they walked along, grandma bear mentioned that she forgot to pack socks. Mama bear noticed that there were socks for sale in Little Mis-matched. Grandma bear and the eldest cub went in and came out like this:

Grandma bear then realized that if she bought one more pair, she would have 3 matching pairs of socks. She went back in and came out with another pair that ended up here:

The princess cub, who has a very strong fashion sense, wanted nothing to do with this silliness. As they walked along, mama bear couldn't resist taking this photo of the Lego store:

This has always been a favorite stop, so everyone was sad to see it closed. The little tent just wasn't the same.

Finally, the family arrived at their first destination: World of Disney! This store is completely overwhelming (but we love it anyway). Now, you may recall that grandma bear was giving each cub $50 and the girl cubs each had $35 they had earned. The eldest cub has already spent $20 of grandma money on the jaguar.

We started out just by looking around the store. The princess cub saw a FGIT outside of the BBB who was offering pixie dust to all of the girls. Mama bear had tried her best with the glitter, but this was “real pixie dust” and the princess cub was now VERY happy!

Despite multiple attempts by mama bear to distract the cubs with other interesting things, it was quite clear that our mission was …. DUFFY! There was a whole wall of me! The eldest cub was insistent that she was buying hers with her own money. Mama bear obliged. She then chose the Mexican outfit that grandma bear bought for her ($15). The princess cub chose the Chinese outfit that grandma bought for her. The youngest cub got out of his stroller and grabbed the Buzz and Woody outfits for Duffy. Right now, he is obsessed with Toy Story and especially with Buzz Lightyear. Grandma bear took this as a cue to buy him both outfits and his own Duffy! (total = $60, oops, over the budget). Mama bear would have distracted him with a Buzz action figure and escaped without a 3rd Duffy – but she was out voted.

Now, the cubs were happy – except for the eldest cub who had seen a smaller size jaguar at AK and wanted both the big one she already had and the smaller one. Now, you might think that as large as World of Disney is it would have this jaguar....and you would be wrong. So, the family headed off to Once upon a Toy where the sought after small jaguar was found. ($15 for a total of $50 spent by grandma bear on the eldest cub).

Finally, mama bear insisted on a long awaited treat. It had been missed on prior trips and this time, mama bear would not be deterred! Ghirardelli was reached at 8 PM. Unfortunately, it seems that all of WDW had the same idea as the line was by far the longest of the day!
Eventually, mama bear got this:

The Gold Rush! It was fabulous, but mama bear only finished about half of it.

The cubs enjoyed their ice cream too:

From here, the family took the boat back to the West Side and then drove back to WL. By 9 PM, we were back in our den. The girl cubs fell asleep quickly, but due to his nap, the youngest cub was awake until about 11 PM (much to mama and papa bear's chagrin!).

Up next, a race to the MK.

 

[pinkxray]

Great update! I love WOD but it is so overwhelming so I end up getting nothing or everything.

Caitlin is the same way with her big cat stuffed animals. She has every size Cheetah, jaguar and tiger there is. Yet I am sure another one will find its way into her collection this trip.

The gold rush is on my list of things to try. It looks so yummy.

I love the mismatched socks. Caitlin would not want to be part of that silliness either.

 

[TinksThree]

Those socks had me !!! They were too cute!!

The Gold Rush..... I knew it!!! The ice cream serving sizes are so large there!

Sounds like a very lovely evening at DTD!!!

 

[ksl5f123]

Great update! I love WOD but it is so overwhelming so I end up getting nothing or everything.

There is so much stuff in there. I feel like I could spend a week (and a small fortune).

Caitlin is the same way with her big cat stuffed animals. She has every size Cheetah, jaguar and tiger there is. Yet I am sure another one will find its way into her collection this trip.

We just have a jaguar obsession.

The gold rush is on my list of things to try. It looks so yummy.

It was fabulous. I any ice cream with peanut butter (actually almost never eat it without), so this was right up my alley.

I love the mismatched socks. Caitlin would not want to be part of that silliness either.

It was certainly complicated. DD5 wanted to be part of the fun, but at the same time just couldn't get over the "silly factor".

 

[ksl5f123]

Those socks had me !!! They were too cute!!

They were hysterical. If we had been anywhere other than Disney, I might have felt a little embarrassed walking around with them all looking so silly. At WDW, somehow it fit.

The Gold Rush..... I knew it!!! The ice cream serving sizes are so large there!

Yes! Yes! YES! You know I have been drooling over that sundae for over a year now. It HAD to be mine!!!!!

 

[ksl5f123]

Mama bear note: One of the primary reasons we chose to stay at WL was so that DH wouldn't have to ride the Disney bus at all. However, the first boat of the day leaves only ½ hour before the park opens. I have big Disney dreams of being the first family at the turnstyle and maybe someday of even being the Family of the Day. Since this was Spring Break, MK was opening at 8 AM. By 6:50 AM, the girls were raring to go, so we decided that I would take the girls down to catch the first bus of the day at 7 AM and DH, DS2, MIL, and & FIL would take the 7:30 boat and meet us there.

Sounds like mama bear had a great plan, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!! When we arrived at the bus stop, it was just us and a CM. He was looking through some paperwork. We sat down and the girls quickly realized that they needed to get their sweatshirts out and put them on. It was only about 50 degrees and they were cold! Mama bear was really glad that she packed those despite papa bear's eye-rolling.

After about 5 minutes, some more people started arriving. They were going to AK for EMH. After about another 5 minutes, their bus came and went. Then an Epcot bus, then a DHS bus, then a Ft. Wilderness bus, then another AK bus, then another Ft. Wilderness bus – you get the idea. By about 7:20 the CM came over and explained that they were having problems getting the buses out of MK that morning but that he had been told one was on its way. By 7:30, the bus had still not arrived and our poor CM appeared to be a little irritated. He apologized and promised there was a bus coming – and there was. It arrived at WL at 7:42 AM! So much for being 1st at the turnstyle.

The ride to MK was uneventful and mama bear admits that it was almost worth it to hear that wonderful trumpet intro that plays as the bus pulls into MK. (It makes mama bear a little teary-eyed ). By the time we got through bag check it was 7:54 AM and the opening show was starting!!

Luckily, the rest of our party had made that 7:30 boat. As we came through bag check, grandma bear met us and led us over to where they were standing – right in front of a turnstyle, right? Wrong again. They were smack in the center and front row for the opening show. Oh well. It is a good show.

As the confetti launched, mama bear took the girl cubs by the paw and we headed left under the train station and on toward Dumbo. Since the youngest cub didn't care for Triceratop Spin, we decided to let him sit out Dumbo. So, Grandma bear took him in the stroller to get Splash fastpasses which she got with a 8:50 return time. Grandpa bear and papa bear “took one for the team” and headed straight for the Rapunzel line. They were 3rd in line.

As mama bear and the cubs entered the queue for Dumbo, they began loading the first ride of the day. We were the 2nd family in line for the 2nd run. Not too bad given all we had already been through that morning. (The princess cub was in a fine mood, she just didn't want her picture taken.)

The requisite “over the wall” pictures:

An empty Fantasyland:

This picture is taken from Dumbo at 8:11 AM.

Up next, No purple?!?

 

[lexmas]

I will catch up soon, but I was thinking of you when I was on vacation...we came home with TWO duffy's! Not the big ones though, the little ones with the clip and strap on top and the zipper on the back so you can hide little things inside since the pocket is teeny tiny. I'd say he's a purse, but my 4 year old DS wouldn't care for that description. LOL.

I can't wait to get caught up...hopefully soon!

 

[ksl5f123]

There was a little bit of a non-traditional touring plan for that morning, because mama bear wanted to do the Fantasyland attractions that papa bear didn't care about. So, the plan was: Dumbo, it's a small world, Snow White, Pooh, get fastpasses for Peter Pan, then head to Rapunzel. After Dumbo, we met up with grandma bear and the youngest cub and went straight to it's a small world which, of course, was a total walk on at 8:16 AM. Nobody rides it's a small world in the first hour of the day.

The youngest cub saw the boats and remembered riding Kali the day before. He started saying, “I don't want get water on me!!” Everyone reassured him that he wouldn't get wet, but he didn't seem to believe them.

On the other hand, the princess cub (like many in the 5 year old set) loves this ride.

Given the emptiness of this ride, mama bear took the opportunity to practice taking ride pictures (with the flash off).

As we came off, mama bear told the girl cubs that we were headed to Snow White and they simultaneously decided they didn't want to ride it after all. Only papa bear has ever been on this ride – and it seems that it is going to stay that way. We went to Peter Pan instead which was still a walk on.

It was now about 8:35 AM and we headed to the Winnie the Pooh ride which had a posted wait time of 10 minutes. Mama bear was starting to get worried about making it to Rapunzel as the rumor was that they were starting the 1st show at 9 AM instead of 9:15. We got in the Pooh line and the kids LOVED the new interactive queue. There were cute little drums shaped like the veggies in Rabbit's garden, flowers that spun, and walls that looked like they had honey running down. As you moved your hands across you could see that there were images of Winnie the Pooh characters behind them. The cubs actually would have liked to stay longer.

We got to the point in the line where the fastpass line joins the regular line and suddenly the line just stopped and didn't move for the next 5 minutes. Mama bear told grandma bear that she was taking the girl cubs out of the line so we wouldn't be late for Rapunzel, but grandma bear decided to stay with the youngest cub and ride. Mama bear asked the CM working the fastpass line if we could leave. He said, “Yes, and why don't you come back later” as he handed us 3 fastpasses! We thanked him and hurried off to Rapunzel arriving at 8:52 AM.

While DH was waiting in the line that morning, he had been chatting with the other families. He learned that they had all tried to do the play & greet earlier in the week, but that the lines were always well over an hour long. By the time we arrived, we had a very short wait before the CM's started letting everyone in to the fairytale garden. After riding Pooh, the youngest cub had found a plush Roo that “he wouldn't put down” so grandma bear bought it for him (so much for her budget limit). They then got our Peter Pan fastpasses and met up with us just as they were opening the rope.
While grandma bear and papa bear held our place in line, mama bear got the girls situated at the table. There were already coloring pages and crayons set out around the table. The princess cub had a minor meltdown. Why?

There was no purple!!!!!!!!!!!! The box of crayons they are given only contains a red, a blue, and a yellow and she wanted to make Rapunzel's dress purple. She tried to use the red and blue together, but they were the cheap waxy crayons that don't really let you do that. It was very frustrating for my little artist. Mama bear was on the edge of her own meltdown. THIS was THE main event for this trip. All of the planning had been centered around the princess cub meeting Rapunzel and here she was having a fit! She wouldn't even stay around the table and kept coming over to the line where the adults were. This was not looking good. Eventually, this very observant CM came over and said something that settled her down.

I love it when an awesome CM saves the day!

Meanwhile, this other VERY awesome CM was entertaining the youngest cub. The two of them had about a 10 minute conversation. She was INCREDIBLE!

Up next, will meeting Rapunzel please the princess cub?

 

[ksl5f123]

I will catch up soon, but I was thinking of you when I was on vacation...we came home with TWO duffy's! Not the big ones though, the little ones with the clip and strap on top and the zipper on the back so you can hide little things inside since the pocket is teeny tiny. I'd say he's a purse, but my 4 year old DS wouldn't care for that description. LOL.

I can't wait to get caught up...hopefully soon!

Welcome back! I hope you had a great trip. about coming home with 2 Duffys. You have to watch out for him. He has some strange magnetic attraction to the 5 and under set.

 

[TinksThree]

I love hitting Fantasyland early and getting those rides under our belt with little waiting! Wow that crowd level was awesome considering it was Spring Break!

The bus delay would have driven me insane!! The one Rope Drop I want to be at early is MK!

I love how good CMs can take issues and turn them around!

 

[pinkxray]

You guys got a lot accomplished in a short time that morning

Don't they know you need a purple crayon at a Rapuzel meet and greet?

I can't to see how the actual meet goes. Caitlin show the whole thing on youtube and now does not want to meet Rapuzel. She is bummed that it isn't a regular line where you just take a picture and move on. She likes meeting the characters but doesn't really want interaction.

 

[ksl5f123]

I love hitting Fantasyland early and getting those rides under our belt with little waiting! Wow that crowd level was awesome considering it was Spring Break!

I was probably starting to sound like a broken record because I must of said 1000 times how surprised I was by the low crowds.

The bus delay would have driven me insane!! The one Rope Drop I want to be at early is MK!

I was trying to be calm for the sake of the girls, but in reality I felt like this:

I love how good CMs can take issues and turn them around!

They were both AWESOME!

 

[ksl5f123]

You guys got a lot accomplished in a short time that morning

That is definitely one of the advantages of having a big group. If we had to all stay in that Rapunzel line we would have missed so much.

Don't they know you need a purple crayon at a Rapuzel meet and greet?

I know. Isn't that absurd? It certainly messed with my little artist.

[/QUOTE]I can't wait to see how the actual meet goes. Caitlin show the whole thing on youtube and now does not want to meet Rapuzel. She is bummed that it isn't a regular line where you just take a picture and move on. She likes meeting the characters but doesn't really want interaction.
[/QUOTE]

Coming right up....

 

[ksl5f123]

After coloring for a few minutes, the CM that had been chatting with the youngest cub led the children in a little guessing game and then Rapunzel came out.

Then Flynn joined her.

Lots of little girls look on with excitement!

Notice how many had jackets on! It was still probably not more than 60 degrees.

Then the girls join hands while Rapunzel and Flynn come down.

Each break into the circle taking two little girls hands......

….and suddenly the princess cub's crankies vanished!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, mama bear could only take pictures of everyone's back. Thank goodness for the Photopass photographer!

You can see all of the parents lined up in this one. You stay in the same order that you entered the dancing area.

After dancing for a few minutes, the cubs come up to join the parents in line for the meet & greet. Since we were 3rd in line, it wasn't long before we had our chance for the meet & greet.

Rapunzel and Flynn were fabulous. They really chatted with the cubs – even the youngest cub.

The princess cub got a wonderful hug from Rapunzel.

Just as we were about to walk away, the princess cub told Rapunzel that she is her favorite princess. I love Rapunzel's reaction:

As fast as the princess cub said, “You are my favorite princess.”, Flynn quipped right back, “Mine too!”