A week with inlaws - will there still be Magic??? 5/14 Reply more photos added!

[karajeboo]

Of course we all know that a bad day at Disney is still better than being, well, just about anywhere else, right? So even a trip with DH's family to the Happiest Place on Earth is still a wonderful trip.... almost!

We were invaded in our Jacksonville, FL home on May 3rd - DH's sister (the only person I know who can suck the pixie dust right out of WDW) and her husband and two boys, ages 4 and 8 months from NC, and FIL and MIL from SC. We got up early on Sunday, May 4th and drove (all separate cars thankfully!) 2 1/2 hrs to check into Pop Century. We were on the road by 7am and checking in around 10am. We had passes in hand and walked through the gates at Epcot a little after 11am.

The park appeared a bit crowded but not unmanageable at all. We grabbed fast passes for Soarin' and then waited about 10 minutes to ride The Land. Then we checked in for our surprise ADR at Garden Grill. I thought it would be fun for everyone to have one character meal together. Food was good and everyone enjoyed the character interaction.

FIL showing Mickey that he's wearing him on his shirt:

After lunch we headed over to Soarin and went in shifts (since we have an 8 month old in our party). Even with FP we still each waited about 20 minutes to ride. We were excited for FIL to ride this since there's not much he can ride after a neck injury about 10 years ago, but he couldn't get his equilibrium and ended up riding with his eyes closed the whole time!

After Soarin', we all headed to the Seas and walked right on the new Nemo attraction which was kind of neat to see, but not as detailed as I was expecting. MIL fell hard while walking through the very dark queue lines and we all panicked but she just had a nasty scrape and was fine. Then we walked right into Turtle Talk and it was just as much fun as always!

DH and I love May at Epcot because of the Flower and Garden Festival, and it lived up to all expectations again! DH is fascinated by all the topiaries, and I just love the color!

Afterwards we headed back to check into our rooms in the 80s section of POP, the Roger Rabbit building, about as far from Classic Hall as you can get. This was our second stay at POP, and we've never complained about the size of the resort, but this was about a 5-7 minute walk to dining and buses. We were given three rooms together so this made it convenient for all of us in the mornings, that is, for all of us who decided to wake up and join the family! SIL's family was always dragging and complaining that they wanted to sleep in, so that got a little dicey at times, but my family and FIL and MIL were up no later than 6am each morning. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but I can't sleep in Disney!!!!!

After checking in, we hopped a bus to MK to catch Spectro and Wishes as Spectro was only offered twice while we were here so why not kick off the trip with the best Disney has to offer? So we headed right up Main Street (now THIS is Disney!) and through Fantasyland. BIL wanted to ride the teacups.....

.... and then on to the Tomorrowland Speedway so our nephew could ride for the first of eight rides on this. That got a bit annoying as there is so much more to do!!!! So we grabbed a quick bite at Cosmic Rays and then went to stake out our spot for Spectro. Found a spot right in front of the castle. Great backdrop for any parade, but because we were on a curve, it was hard to get pics of the parade.

Afterwards, we all took our time leaving the park, but still managed to get on the first bus that came for POP. Let me just say now that we had NO problems with bus transportation to/from the resort! This is why we love POP. Now on Tuesday, we did have a mechanical issue that I'll tell y'all about later! In bed late tonight, probably around 11:00. It was a long day and we're up the next morning for..... Animal Kingdom! Stay tuned....

 

[karajeboo]

We were all up early to be at Animal Kingdom at 9am opening. Nothing really eventful here, except that we discovered that BIL and SIL were going to do their own thing no matter what. However, they wouldn't go off on their own to do it, so it did create a few control issues. We would all begin to head in a direction to do something, and next thing you know, they would be behind us and just veer off to do something else, without telling anyone. So then we had to spend 10 minutes backtracking to find them. And because of this, we completely missed all of Dinoland, including the new Nemo musical that we all really wanted to see. Also, we had to ride Kali, and EE in two shifts because of the baby. AK seemed busy this day, but I really believe that it is because of the way the park is laid out, the paths seem much more narrow, and it's a small park as far as walking paths go. So we used FP on KS, EE, and Kali. We also saw Lion King which always gets me pumped up! But that was it for AK - like I said, a lot of backtracking to find SIL and BIL, or a lot of stopping to figure out what to do. Seems we'd all agree to head in one direction, and then someone would want to sit for 15 minutes for some reason. It got a bit frustrating this day. And we're only on Day 2!!!

Pics from KS:

DD in front of EE:

and her first time on EE:

We tried to leave AK around 4pm to miss the parade and get to Wilderness Lodge for our 5:10 ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe, but BIL and SIL chose this time to hunt for autographs!!! I was a nervous wreck waiting for them to make the bus and we arrived at WCC at 5:09! I hate to be late for anything, and this just really irritated me. But once we got there all was fun. This was my first time to this restaurant and we really enjoyed it.

And the "pony express" ride around the restaurant!

Trying to get back to POP from Wilderness Lodge was an adventure in itself. BIL was convinced we needed to go to MGM (okay, okay, I know it's DHS now!), but FIL said he was going by way of MK. So DH said he'd go to the first park bus that arrived. It just so happened that the DTD/DHS bus arrived first so all except MIL and FIL got on that bus. Then we caught the POP bus right away at DTD but then had to make other stops in DTD before we headed back. Let's just say that FIL was gloating the next morning. They made it back about 30 minutes before we did!!!!!! Not compalining about the transportation, I think we just took a gamble and lost.

Coming up..... Tuesday at MK for Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique, then on to Epcot for Princess Lunch!!!!

 

[VanniGirl]

Great Pictures - thanks for sharing your trip!

Sorry about your SIL!

 

[VacationKicks]

We are thinking of BBB for our next trip, can't wait to hear how it was!

 

[MAJ RN]

Loving your trip report so far. Can't wait to read more!! Sorry to hear about your uncooperative inlaws, I don't think I could travel with mine at all.


Melissa

 

[mla1977]

I completely understand the inlaw issues. I will be dealing with them again very soon!

 

[dreamer17555]

In Laws Mine are talking about a Disney Trip together. I am trying to change that into a Disney Cruise so everyone can do their own thing and I woun't be responsible for ADR's and people not showing and all that junk.

Anyway I gave up WCC for the Luau on our last trip and I think I made a mistake. Those pictures are too cute. And you DD is adorable!

Subcribing. Can't wait to read more!

-Becca-

 

[karajeboo]

Day 3 and time for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique! I've been looking foward to this since I booked last December. DD? Not so much. I even had an "official" invitation sent to her (the wonderful designers on the Creative DISigns board made it) and she actually got upset when she received it! Then she got a fairy godmailer to send her a postcard signed by Belle, and she mentioned BBB again and now DD was starting to maybe get a little excited.

I invited MIL to join us since DD is the only granddaughter. We were waiting for the bus from POP by 7am and our appt was for 8:05 in the castle. Bus arrived around 7:05, estimate 15 minute ride, so should be there in plenty of time, right? WRONG!!! For some reason we stopped at the Poly to let out a party with a wheelchair (maybe for the O'hana breakfast?) and the busdriver could not figure out how the hydraulics worked and spent 10-15 minutes trying to figure it out. At that point, I'm a wreck! So we hopped off the bus and raced into the Poly to catch the monorail. I called BBB and explained the situation and they said, "well, just get here and we'll TRY to get her worked in." Try???? I'm in tears at this point, and DD just said, "don't worry Mommy, maybe we can do it some other time."

We got off the monorail at about 10 minutes to 8 and I grabbed her hairbrush and we raced off through the no bag security check while DH and MIL carried the bags in. We got to BBB with 5 minutes to spare - in fact, they were just unlocking the doors when we got there. And let me just say it was all worth it!!!!!

DD opted for the fake nails instead of polish and watching her try to use her hands was hilarious!!!

Ta Da!!!!!

I wish I had my photopass cd back already because the photog must have taken at least 30 photos while DD was in the chair, plus all those in front of the castle before the park opened. They are all wonderful!!!!

The nails lasted about 20 minutes before DD pulled them all off. The hair didn't last that long either, because of Splash Mtn, BTMRR, and Aladdin's carpets... We met up with the rest of the family shortly after park opening (we got to see rope drop from up on the platform to the train station INSIDE the park). That's when the hair went kaput!

Around 11:30 we headed for the front entrance but on the way I made plays to meet up with another DIS buddy right in front of the castle. Her DD had just come out of BBB also and was also dressed at Belle! So we got pics of the girls and had our 5 minute DIS meet -way cool!

Then off to hop the monorail to Epcot for our 1pm ADR at Akershus for the Princess Storybook lunch. Made it there 15 minutes early and were seated quickly. In we walk and who is the princess that is up front for photos???

DD thanked Belle for sending her the postcard and figured out that she did it because she knew that she would be posing for pics and that DD would be dressed the same. So precious! And Belle was so sweet and "shocked" that they were dressed the same (along with about 12,000 other girls in the park! ). I'm constantly amazed at the sweetness of the princesses with the children!

Making their way around the tables were Ariel, Jasmine, Alice and Cinderella herself!

Alice was wonderful - totally spunky chatterbox just like she should be. Cinderella was a shock - I thought she only appeared at CRT so that made me happy. Ariel and Jasmine were okay, nothing exciting. Last time there in 2006, Jasmine was wonderful!!!! Of course, DH always finds a new "favorite" princess each trip!

We were out of Akershus in 45 minutes - great service and nice character interaction.

We wandered around WS for a few hours, and sampled some of the adult libations. Then we began making our way back into Future World for our 5:40 ADR at Coral Reef. I won't go into detail here like I did in my dining reviews, but let's just suffice it to say that I've been twice and it was two times too many! Horrible service, downright RUDE, and very average food.

I panicked a bit too as SIL and her family waited until the last minute to make their way over from MK where they spent the day. Yeah, we paid for that later too, as they complained that MIL and FIL spent too much time with my family. Everyone finally arrived for dinner and for some reason we were all just beat that night! No alcohol at all at our table, just lots of water. I think the sun was beginning to take its toll on all of us.

Dinner was a 2 hr fiasco, and afterwards we began to make our way back to WS for Illuminations. SIL decided she would choose our spot.... right behind a bunch of big trees right at the entrance to WS. Yeah. Great idea! I hated that MIL and FIL didn't get to enjoy it, but DH and I decided that it wasn't a battle worth fighting. After Illuminations we all drug ourselves back to our bus and were in our room shortly after 10pm.

With the exception of the BBB bus experience, ALL of our buses have been on time, and we've usually gotten on the first bus, or another one has arrived right behind the one we miss. No problems!

Wednesday we head to DHS/MGM while the rest of our group does Chef Mickey's - we're just excited for some quiet family time without the chaos of the whole group. But once we meet up, we create some of our own fireworks!!!

 

[RachelNinja]

Sour in-laws should just stay at home! Boo for causing you any frustration!

Love the pics from Epcot! I've never been there during the Flower and Garden Festival. Looks gorgeous!

The pic of your DD and Belle is adorable!

 

[ClaraBug]

I feel your pain with the "extended" In-laws. We were suppose to go the beach this summer with BIL, his wife, 2 yo nephew and 2 month old nephew and MIL & FIL. I told my husband that I was NOT planning my vacation around everyone else's schedule (nap times). So we are going somewhere else.

MIL won't fly so I highly doubt that she will ever go to Disney with us, which I am not too upset about. She doesn't want to "pay that kind of money" anyway. Oh well, her lose, my gain!

 

[karajeboo]

Day 4 - DHS (or MGM, or whatever you want to call it!). Actually, the goofy little guy that led our Backlot Tour said that the name was changed in January because "Hollywood is always changing, so Disney decided to change the name because they are always changing, too." What?????

Anyway, we slept in today..... until 6:30! Yes, we are early risers at Disney! We made our way to the busses and arrived right as the park was opening at 9am. First stop - Tower of Terror! Our little adrenaline junkie begged us to hit it first. She first rode it in 2006 when she had just turned 5 and was just tall enough. People looked at us like we were terrible parents for taking her on it, but she loves it!

After TOT, a bite of breakfast, and then maybe a phone call from the rest of the group - they had Chef Mickey's for breakfast and are then heading to DHS to join us. DH sees that the first HSM2 pep rally is at 10am so we make our way over there and run into "Olga the Terrible." She's not afraid to put a little fear into the guests if they dare to step over the line or run once the rope gets moved when the float gets into place. She scared me! Sure enough, right at 10:00 we hear "what time is it......" coming up the street and the float gets into place, the rope is moved, Olga is yelling, and people are still running and pushing their kids to the front. I hate that adults behave this way, and in fact jump in front of the kids, too. So sad. So DH boosts up DD on his shoulders and she's mesmerized for the next 20 minutes. Cute, upbeat show - I was singing along through most of it. After all, I think I've seen both movies a total of 54 times!!!!

After the show, we hopped on the Great Movie Ride - no waiting at all! Today was supposed to be a busy day because DHS has EMH in the evening, but so far it's very slow - yea for us!

Still no phone call from the group, so DH calls his sister. They have taken MIL and FIL over to MK so they can use them as nannies while they ride Space Mountain, and then they take DNephew on the Tomorrowland Speedway two more times (now up to a total of 7 times!). Now FIL has COPD and broke his neck 9 years ago so he has a lot of nerve damage and has trouble walking. He's exhausted from the past three days, and they make him go to MK for two rides????

They get to DHS at 12:15, meet up back by the Magic of Disney Animation (first time seeing this and it was AWESOME!!!). FIL is beat and decides to head back to the resort for a nap. Why in the world didn't he leave straight from Chef Mickeys??? Oh, yeah, cause SIL needed him to babysit!!!

Anyway, they take their kids and MIL to see Playhouse Disney - I'd rather pull out my fingernails than sit through this again, did it in 2006 and once is enough! We were able to get some great time with the Incredibles and Sorcerer Mickey after the Disney animation show - did I mention I loved it???

Everyone was in line for Sorcerer Mickey and the Incredibles gang played with DD a lot since we were the only ones there. How fun!

OK, so FIL is back napping, SIL is finished with the Disney Channel characters, so we decide to head back to TOT so SIL and BIL can ride with us. We leave MIL with two napping children (ages 4 and 8 months) and hop in line - standby is only 15 minutes and it's 1pm! More fun, but when we come out, MIL is looking pretty tired. It's gotten really hot, and the baby is awake.

SIL wants to ride RnRC. DH and I say we should wait cause I'm not gonna make MIL sit out two rides in a row with now 3 children, since my DD is only 47 inches tall. They look at us like we have two heads and head into the queue line!!!! I swear!

DH and I sit with MIL to watch the kids (what are our options???). Once they get off RnRC, we suggest we head over to see Beauty and the Beast. DH has mapped out all the shows so he has a great plan. They don't want to see BatB of course since they have boys, so DH basically tells them to do what they want, but we're taking MIL to see it cause it's a beautiful production. They end up going back to Playhouse Disney then meeting FIL in front of the Great Movie Ride. We all meet up and DH suggests we all go on Star Tours. Everyone agrees and as we're walking up to it, BIL says to his son, "hey, wanna go see some muppets?" And off they go..... So now MIL can't go on Star Tours cause they've left the baby with her!!!!!! DH is about to explode about now, as you can imagine. We ended up missing the Muppets, Indiana Jones and the afternoon parade, cause we couldn't get anyone to understand that at this park, you need some sort of a game plan to be able to get it all in!

FIL came back around 3pm, very refreshed and proud of himself for working the Disney transportation! We had a nice dinner at Mama Melrose, and got out of the park just before Fantasmic ended.... well, almost. As we're leaving, and commenting that we're getting out before the masses let loose, SIL decides to go SHOPPING at a store up front!!!!! Hasn't she had all day to do this????

Every time I come to DHS I love it a little more than the last time. The street performers are hilarious - you never know what you might see!

DD "singin in the rain"

Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable

What should have been a nice day, turned into a lot of backtracking and sitting and waiting. No problem, right? Cause as my girl Scarlett once said, "Tomorrow is another day" at Epcot!

 

[OhMari]

You are a saint. And I just have 2 words for you, "Do Over".

 

[VanniGirl]

You are a saint. And I just have 2 words for you, "Do Over".

I agree - wow.

 

[ClaraBug]

Do you SIL and BIL do this at home too?

 

[karajeboo]

We knew that travelling with SIL would be an "adventure" to say the least, but we didn't realize that BIL was the same way. Yes, she is this way at home, too. For my final installment, I may post her pic with her usual pleasant look on her face!!!! I captured her at just the right time this trip!

 

[ClaraBug]

Kara, my heart goes out to you!!!

SIL with pleasant face, was it cold in Hades that day?

 

[karajeboo]

Thursday, May 8th and I"m soooo looking forward to Le Cellier for dinner tonight!!!!

The SIL and her family wanted to sleep in today so we all decided to split up this morning - yippee!!!! MIL and FIL are heading to MK to see some shows this morning and planning to hook up with SIL around lunchtime. DH, DD and I are off to our favorite park again - Epcot!

While on the bus this morning, DH and I are talking to a wonderful couple from Tampa who gave us lots of good info on FL resident passes. We just moved to FL about 6 months ago so this is great information! First thing we do upon entering Epcot is head straight for guest relations to inquire about "upgrading" our current Magic Your Way passes to the FL season pass.

The first guy who helps us tells us that we have 2 days remaining on our pass so we can apply that credit to the price of a FL resident pass. Great! Just wish we would have done this when we had 7 days remaining!!! However, much to our surprise, another CM comes over and says that we WILL get 7 days RACK RATE credit applied to our season pass purchase. What???? Let's just say that we walked out of guest relations with 2 adult and 1 child FL resident season passes for FREE!!!! And..... this is where it gets really good..... a $257 Disney gift card because we had a credit balance!!! DH was so excited that he told his parents right away and of course the first words out of FIL's mouth were, "that's my money." They paid for the entire trip for us! Of course we used the gift card on the whole group, for tips, drinks, etc, since technically it wasn't our money. But we are now official season passholders with no money out of pocket!

We spent 45 minutes in guest relations (the computers broke down and DH swears it's cause we crashed them with our great deal!) but it was totally worth it. Afterwards we headed out to Test Track with DD - standby was only 10 minutes so off we go! When we come off the ride, we see BIL and the baby waiting by the exit. What are they doing here??? We thought they were meeting MIL and FIL in MK today. Well, they "changed their mind," and didn't bother to call anyone to let them know. So MIL and FIL went to MK for no reason. So DH and I are thinking, here we go again!!! BIL thinks we are going to wait with them cause they want to ride Mission Space and I won't set foot on that. So I guess I could be the babysitter, right? Nope! DH just says, "see ya later...." and off we go so he and DD can ride Mission Space, which I might add is her new favorite attraction!!!! She's a crazy 7 year old!

And YES, this really is a true depiction of the crowd levels!!!

Afterwards we head off to WS to start getting DD's passport stamped in each country. We stop for an earlylunch at the cantina in Mexico - this is a ton of food and very yummy, too! Dinner ADR is at 4pm so we're eating an early lunch - just after 11am. We always try to stop here for a CS meal while we're in Epcot. We are halfway through the countries when DH's phone rings. It's MIL calling to tell us they are on their way over from MK to meet up with all of us. No problem. We linger in Japan, grab a beer in Germany, chitchat in Norway. It's a beautiful day and it's just our family enjoying the World Showcase which is our favorite part of Disney World! Phones rings again around 1pm to tell us that MIL and FIL have met up with SIL in Mexico and they're grabbing a bite to eat there. No problem, we'll hurry over there to meet up - we get there to find out that SIL and BIL went to San Angel Inn and haven't even ordered yet!!!!!! They claim it was a "mistake" but then slip up and say they've always wanted to eat there. No phone call to let anyone know that they'd be another HOUR eating!!! So they leave the baby with MIL cause he's fussy, and off they go! WTH????? DH's head began spinning around by now (imagine the Exorcist!!!). But wait... there's more!

Since we're stranded in Mexico, might as well meet Donald....

Still in Mexico.....

We piddle around and finally head into the Mexico pavillion and meet up with them after lunch. SIL chews me out because I didn't think to get any bottled water for the baby out of the fridge that I arranged for my room through the fridge swap on these boards. They slept in, the water is in our fridge, they knew the night before that they have a baby - at least I don't THINK he just showed up in the middle of the night! - and it's my fault for not getting water out for them???? Heaven forbid they had to use snack credits to take care of the baby. Wait, actually they didn't - she made FIL go buy water for "your grandson." I swear folks, I couldn't make this stuff up!!!!

We all ride the Rio del Tiempo boat ride and as we're getting off, DH tells everyone else that we're going back to Innoventions to take advantage of our Disney Visa meet n greet. SIL literally storms off - just walks away from everyone and heads down the WS - because she is not a cardholder. And this was AFTER we'd spent an hour waiting for them to eat!!!!

So we do our meet in Innoventions, and I have to say, it was nice that it was private with 3 characters, but it was Mickey, Goofy and Minnie, and since none of them speak, it was really kinda boring. Not sure I'd waste the time again - this was literally our longest wait of the entire trip!!! Nearly 40 minutes in line. Oh, well, live and learn, right?

So when we finish we head back to WS but start out in the UK and make our way around. As we enter WS we see a roped off area that says, "Filming in Progress - HSM3 - Get in the Picture." Hmmmm..... who is that young man everyone is hovering around, powdering his nose, taking his picture... Could it be sweet little Zac Efron? DD will go nuts!!! But no, it's actually Nick Lachey filming a promo for the new film!

We call SIL and MIL (they have since split up again because FIL didn't want to walk the WS since they did it with us on Tuesday), and arrange to meet in France. DH buys everyone a nice Grey Goose Citron Slush and everyone is happy.

See? Nothing will dampen our mood in the World Showcase (except the fact that I didn't color coordinate our clothes today - I'm so anal about that!)!!!!

Before we meet everyone though, DD wants to look for Sleeping Beauty since she's the only princess she hasn't seen yet. I see pink in the gardens around France (where I've seen her before) and we start running up the walk just to see her from the back as she's walking away to take a break. She must have heard our footsteps though because suddenly she turns around and RUNS to meet DD. She crouches down to hug her and I hear DD say, "I've been WAITING to meet you!" To which Princess Aurora replies, "Oh honey, I was waiting for you too!" That just brings tears to my eyes!!!!

Soon everyone is back together enjoying their icy slushes when we realize it's time to head to Le Cellier for our 4:00 ADR. Dinner was everything wonderful that all the posters say about Le Cellier. Great service, great food, and it was the first time all week that we were in and out in just over an hour. All other TS meals took at least an hour and a half!!!!

We had originally planned to head back to the resort after dinner for a nice early night, maybe let the kids swim awhile, etc. So FIL had a good time with 3 or 4 drinks, thinking he would just be going to bed when he got back. But we all kinda decided to head over to Test Track so MIL could ride it with the two kids, and then maybe Mission Space again for those who wanted to try it. The look in FIL's eyes was hilarious!!! He wanted no part of it so he headed back on his own. The rest of us decided to head to DTD since we hadn't been there this trip, and what started out as an early night ended up with us rolling into POP right at 10pm!!!

 

[ClaraBug]

I swear folks, I couldn't make this stuff up!!!!

Trust me, we believe you!!

I hope that your next trip your attend sans in-laws!

 

[TamTab]

Great trip report so far!

Your report makes me dread our trip just a little bit in October. My future SIL sounds just like yours. Yikes!

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

Great TR, I can't wait for more!!!

It sucks that your SIL and BIL are a bit narcosisstic (SP?) but at least you have a nice trip, all expenses paid..by someone else!!

Just do your thing and don't worry about meeting up with them.. if SIL thinks she can just make random decisions for the group when you seem like you have a good planning process, I would just let her do her own thing.

My SIL uses my MIL as a babysitter ALL THE TIME too..we went on vacation with them last year.. it wasn't much fun at all. Hope you can enjoy the rest of your trip!