A Very Jolly Holiday: Sept 2016 TR MNSSHP Poly CL

[Kari0180]

Very excited to read the rest of your report, we leave in 12 days and are am looking forward to your reviews! I've always wanted to do the afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian, it looks like so much fun! The Lego castle looks amazing, you'll have to keep us updated with your progress!

 

[GoonieBride]

your costumes are super cute!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Okay I am ready for our Monday, Labor Day update... but FIRST... I bring you... the LEGO DISNEY CASTLE.

This thing was so much fun to build. And my fingers are a bit sore!

The little details are amazing so I took some close ups of some of the rooms too.



Note the caricatures from a previous trip (sept 2015) on the wall!






Oh the cuteness!

My next project will be to build a plexiglass box to protect it from my kids

 

[kcpinwdw]

Okay, down to business... Monday, Sept 5th (Labor day!) we head to Hollywood Studios for Early Morning Magic, the ticketed breakfast event with exclusive characters and rides! I was so excited for this day! And reality lived up to expectations...

Early morning everyone! We were down to the bus stop by 645 or so and our bus literally pulled right up so that was great!

Our family had the bus to ourselves.



Someone was full of beans though!



We all had on our best star wars gear as we waiting in front of the empty park.



We went through bag check and waited at check in. My kids were mildly cranky and a CM entertained them with stickers until they let us in right at 745am. They made two lines, one for the early morning magic and one for regular prepark breakfasts. We chatted the man in line behind us who said he was a CM. Soon he was joined by another CM friend. Later in line for a character someone asked if we were CMs too.. apparentlly this morning they gave out a bunch of free tickets to CMs. It was completely empty, we hardly even saw anyone else! Kind of eerie actually!

Since my kids werent interested in jedi training yet we went right to toy story midway mania when the doors opened. We were led right and and told we were the first family of the day, and if we wanted to stay on the ride just tell the CM at the end. So we did! We rode it twice and I was getting a sore shooting arm and the kids had enough. So we popped off and crossed the street to see Buzz and Woody. We waited just a few minutes as the family in front of us had their meeting, which was extended... they really took their time with us too!

My husband was wearing his buzz lightyear cap and the characters made such a big deal out of it, it was so cute. Such a fun interaction!



Then we headed towards Star Tours. Star Tours we had our own ride, so my son was the rebel spy. My kids were really into the ride, which was great, but didnt want to go again. So we went to meet more some characters.

First up was Olaf, since we had never met him before.



Then we went to see Mickey and Minnie. I had never done this meet and greet either.




We were getting hungry and it was nearing 9am so time to head to breakfast. There were more working CMs at ABC commissary then there were people eating breakfast! They had a little buffet set up in front. Nothing fabulous but it was fine... except for the coffee, which in fine Hollywood Studios tradition was simply god-awful. Kids ate up, we had a potty break, and headed out to meet up with the rope drop crowd. Not bad for before 9:30am!

Oh here are some empty park pics as we walked around




THe last one shows the CMs outside of breakfast waiting for us!

So far a great morning! More to come.

 

[lauralynn0612]

That Lego castle! Impressive! Don't know that I could justify it just yet, though. Love the empty park pictures! We almost always stay off site so not much chance of that happening. Unless we had a prepark breakfast at some point.

 

[kcpinwdw]

Exciting news! My mom has been talking about taking me and the twins away for a weekend lately. Anyway, last week we found a flight to MCO for under $100 round trip! So, with a little pixie dust it looks like we are taking a very quick trip to FL to catch the Christmas Party and then visit some relatives in West Palm Beach!

My Dad is going to tag along too though he wont be doing any Disney things due to problems walking distances. So he will hang at the resort. There is very little availability for resorts that fit 5 in early December! But I found a reasonable passholder rate on a 1- bedroom standard view villa at AKL Jambo House. We get in very late at night on the 7th and will stay two nights before moving to the coast. Plan is for breakfast at BOMA on Thursday the 8th, then hang out at the pool, afternoon nap for the kids, then my mom and I and the twins will go to the Christmas Party! Whoo hoo! I can't believe we are doing both parties in the same year!

Things that are done: flights, tickets, hotel booked, car rented
Things that need to be done: figure out stroller situation, xmas outfits

I will post more about our DHS day soon!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Continuing our Hollywood studios day (Monday, Sept 5th).

So breakfast is over and it's around 930 or so! Starting to get a bit humid outside. We don't have any real plans for the day but my kids really want to see the Disney Junior characters and Chewbacca so we head in that direction. We decide to do the Launch Bay first.

Chewy First. The line said 20 min posted but looked a lot shorter then when I met him with Ben in May, and sure enough was under 10 min. My daughter was a little shy around Chewy at first but warmed up.



Chewy loved my husband and I's shirts and did a lot of talking about them. It was pretty funny. Then we went to meet Kylo.

There was no wait for Kylo, walked right in. He was scary. Kids were obviously nervous, ha ha.



After launch bay we decided to lighten things up with the Disney Junior Characters. My kids LOVE Doc Mcstuffins so we met her first.



Then we split up, and I took Ben to meet Jake while Daddy and Sylvie went to see Sophia.




The timing was perfect for the start of Voyage of the Little Mermaid so we headed right in there next. Small amount of "guests behaving badly" witnessed when a dad got all huffy about the holding room and that "they were first." Hard to keep a line when they pack people in. We ended up kind of close to the stage and my daughter got a bit nervous, because she doesn't like the fog machine, and kind of freaked out about the fog in Frozen Sing Along (one year ago!--- what a memory!). She started talking about the fog again but was able to enjoy the show luckily.

When we got out it was kind of hot and getting crowded we decided to just go pack it in and go back to the resort for swimming!

My kids were really becoming brave little fish this trip!



We didn't have any evening plans so decided to go to Disney Springs. Popped on MDE and made reservations for Portobello. Disney Springs was so different than even in May! So many new stores.

We had a great dinner at Portobello.



Kids were a bit wacky tired. Sylvie had a couple of tears because I thought she needed to go potty and she kept refusing... a classic Sylvie maneuver. Anyway, we finished eating and left. I popped out to the restroom while the kids and DH hung out, and when I got back, lo and behold, Sylvie had an "accident" number 2 style. Ah, toddlers. Luckily we were fully prepared with back up outfit. Despite the problem we decided to stay and shop a little. I wanted to try the new bakery so while DH went to Uniqlo and shopped, I took the kids to Amorette's to pick out a few things to bring back to the resort. Wow they have some gorgeous choices!

This one was my favorite:



Yum. This was a peanut butter chocolate something. We also got a key lime tart and a cheesecake. I didn't try those, the kids and Jer got to them first!

The bus back to the resort was terrible. We loaded up and then the bus broke, so we unloaded. Then we had to wait for a replacement bus. Then my son had to pee. Jer took him and thankfully they returned right when the new bus was loading, but the whole thing took forever! But we made it safe and sound!

Everyone was tucked in by 8pm! What a fun day!

Tomorrow's plan: Tuesday the 6th. MK morning! Victoria & Albert's!

 

[KnK]

Love the Lego castle. We've been debating getting.....seeing the up close pictures sealed the deal.

 

[jsgrant5]

Have not heard of the early morning breakfast offering at HS. How much was it and how did you reserve it?

 

[kcpinwdw]

Love the Lego castle. We've been debating getting.....seeing the up close pictures sealed the deal.

You won't regret it!!!

Have not heard of the early morning breakfast offering at HS. How much was it and how did you reserve it?

It is reserved under dining, listed as "Disney Early Morning Magic- Disney's Hollywood studio." There is also one for Fantasyland. It is $69 per adult and $59 per child.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

Great trip report!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Great trip report!

Thanks! Welcome along

 

[GoonieBride]

Any advice on going with a potty training 2.5yo DD??

 

[kcpinwdw]

Any advice on going with a potty training 2.5yo DD??

Good luck Always bring extra outfits! I kept full outfits including socks in zip locks under the stroller. We definitely have made use of pull ups when they were younger too, and didn't find it derailed anything. When we went at 2.5 my son was pretty much trained and I used pullups for him with no regression. My daughter is much tougher so I never did the pull up route this trip and we definitely had a few more accidents than at home... Oh, a lot of toilets auto-flush. My kids love auto flush but if yours don't warn them, and you can block it will a post-it.

 

[smiley519]

Following along! I was there the same dates as you (9/5-9/10) and was also in MK on 9/6 so I'm excited for your next post!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Following along! I was there the same dates as you (9/5-9/10) and was also in MK on 9/6 so I'm excited for your next post!

Awesome!!! Welcome!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Good Morning! Day 4!

Tuesday, Sept 6th. Magic Kingdom! Napping! Big grown-up night's out at Victoria and Alberts's!

It was an early morning in our room! We had a PPO breakfast planned for BOG. I was pretty sure the Monorail wasnt open for this one so we headed to the bus area. I did not do my normal super early arrival head of the pack thing. I am relaxing in my disney planning! We left the room around 700 and the bus came super quick, so we made it to the gate around 7:30. Decent crowd because it was early morning magic fantasyland land breakfast as well, which probably add a 100-200 people to the normal PPO crowd.

We headed to BOG with a brief stop at the sword in the stone because my son loves to give it a try. No luck for my prince though!



BOG already had a decent line, the preorder line covered the whole bridge. But once the doors opened people were ushered inside and quickly we were in the suit of armor room waiting to confirm our orders. And WAIT we did. Something was clearly wrong this morning. By 820 everyone was pretty antsy. I dont understand why no one from the restaurant communicated what the problem was. A few minutes later a CM came through the line asking who had the dining plan and who didnt. Once we told them no plan then got to through to the register. And my magic band wouldnt let us charge so clearly they were having some serious computer issues. Paid with credit card instead and we were seated around 830, 30 minutes after our reservation time.

Food came immediately. While we were sitting there a CM came over with her magic notepad and apologized for the delay and gave us a FP good for anything anytime. That was a nice acknowledgement that most of the reason people book this expensive PPO is for the jump on the lines! Anyway we were still done well before 9 and had no plans to try to ride any e-tickets or anything, but we appreciated it for sure!

No food pictures because i was slacking with all the issues

When we left BOG we headed towards new fantasyland, to pop on Under the Sea since the line was unusually long over labor day weekend. My son started getting pretty cranky, refusing to go on the ride stating he was scared of Ursula! So to avoid inticing a tantrum I took Sylvie while Ben and Dad hung out. I can't remember what they did and neither can my husband, ha ha. Anyway after we got off we went and rode Dumbo, no line again. Then we headed toward the tea cups. Both kids went on with Daddy as I waited, because I dont do spinny. I saw a local all decked out in her Alice gear by the wall, and it was nearing 930 so I went and joined her to wait for the Meet and Greet while the kids were on the ride.

Alice and Mad Hatter came out and were a hoot. They took so much time with the kids. At first Bennett wouldnt get out of the stroller, he was certainly being a little pill today!



Then Mad Hatter told a knock knock joke and Bennett decided these were his people. So he brightened up and we got a nice shot!



Since we were right there and had never managed to ever ride Astro Orbiter, we walked down in that direction. 5 min wait and we were upstairs!

Astro orbiter was a bit faster than I expected. Too spinny for me but luckily I didnt get sick!





After back on solid ground again we split up, and Daddy took Ben on BUzz lightyear while I took SYlvie on peoplemover. We were getting really close to our Cinderella FP time when we got off peoplemover so I booked it over there with Sylvie while Dad and Ben finished waiting for Buzz.



Ben says "Buzz was just a little bit scary."

Sylvie and I basically ran to Princess Fairytale hall and made it just within our grace period for our CIndy FP.



See, you can see my sweatiness

Boys were done pretty much when we were so we met right there at Storybook Sweets and decided they didn't have much left for the morning, and used our fancy extra FP to go meet Tiana and Rapunzel.




It's close to 11am now and we are getting kind of tired so we decide to start heading back to the resort to rest up before our big evening.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

i just recently found out about the tea at the Grand Floridian. How did your daughter like it? I have two girls, 8 & 6. I think they would like it but not sure...

Can't wait to hear more of the trip!

 

[kcpinwdw]

i just recently found out about the tea at the Grand Floridian. How did your daughter like it?

She enjoyed it! It was special doing a little something just us. If you check out my trip report from our mother/daugther trip (linked in my signature) you can see my review of the Princess Tea at the Grand Floridian, which was much more elaborate. Afternoon tea was fun though and we will do it again!

 

[kcpinwdw]

Off topic updates! The back to your regularly scheduled trip report (well, probably tomorrow).

Yesterday and today were kind of whirlwind days of vacation planning. One of the other things my husband and I like to do, besides Disney, is the theater. We used to go to New York to see shows regularly, and have done a couple kid free weekends since the twins were born. So, like all broadway devotees, we have been singing along to Hamilton and dreaming about getting our tickets. Yesterday a new batch was released and I quickly got tickets for a matinee on my birthday next summer. But something was wrong with the ticketmaster site, and as I was checking out they disappeared, and in that time frame the whole stinking summer of 2017 sold out. Blasted! Anyway, next month my husband and I are going to NYC for a conference, so I thought I would just pop over and see how ridiculous the resale market was for that week (it is not unheard of for people to pay thousands of dollars a seat for this show--- seriously!). So, I click on a random matinee day after we arrive, and lo and behold, there are a big bunch of VENUE seats in the rear mezzanine! I totally flipped. I checked every other day that week--- no tickets. So I bought them, at the incredibly cheap price of $139 each. They must have been holding some back for that show and that show only... and the scalpers hadnt discovered it yet! It felt like, and honestly still feels like, a miracle So excited to see Hamilton next month!

Then, when I got home from work, I popped on the disney website to check on reservations for december. And for the first time there were a couple of passholder discount rooms available! At that point i was booked in a 1-bedroom standard villa at AKL as that was all that was available at a reasonable price that fit 5 of us. But I was able to change to Yacht Club, CLub level room for about the same price! I think my Dad will like hanging out at Stormalong bay and the CL lounge more that AKL. The room will be tighter but the pool will make up for it. So Im excited about that change too!

Today I was talking to my brother's wife, they live in CA and recently had a new baby that I have not met yet. Well, they decided to travel to New York city for New YEar's eve, and we've decided to come down and join them. So I booked another 4 night stay in New York over new years! Between Disney and NYC it will be a busy december!

Im exhausted just relaying all our travel plans, ha ha.

One more thing to be excited about, today is the ONE YEAR mark from our first disney Cruise! We leave Sept 27th from NYC up the canadian coast. I am really excited about that trip as well, but a year is SO FAR AWAY!

I think Victoria & Albert's is next... lots of food pictures to share