A Winter Escape to the Enchanted Forest-Jan'13 TR:**5/21 Parting Thoughts/New PTR!

[emmysmommy]

Beautiful photos of the zoo..... that sea lion had such soulful eyes! Those lemurs are fascinating. That orangutan didn't want to spit out that stick.

Looks like a gorgeous weekend to spend in DC - no wonder the crowds. Again, such lovely photos!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Beautiful photos of the zoo..... that sea lion had such soulful eyes! Those lemurs are fascinating. That orangutan didn't want to spit out that stick.

Looks like a gorgeous weekend to spend in DC - no wonder the crowds. Again, such lovely photos!

I had so much fun with the sea lion. He was behaving like a puppy!
Hoping to take the family to the Tidal Basin on Sunday to see the Cherry Blossoms and hoping the weather is equally nice.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Monday, January 28th - 11:00am

It was almost 11am and time to take a lunch break mostly for the kids who didn’t eat much at all at Chef Mickey’s. The lines at Be Our Guest were still very long and I didn't think the kids would hold up well waiting that long to get something to eat. So we headed over to my favorite quick service at MK, Columbia Harbor House.


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On our way over, I picked up some FPs for Peter Pan. While DW and DFIL ordered the food, I took the kids upstairs to find a table. Boy, was the restaurant empty and such a contrast to the crowds at BoG! Not a single soul on the second floor. So I picked out a nice table by the window with a great view of the Haunted Mansion, of course. It’s always so peaceful and removed from the hustle and bustle up on the 2nd floor at CHH. And I love the food options which are a bit of a departure from the usual burger and fries fare. I had the lobster roll which was good. A little heavy on the mayo but for a quick lunch bite it served its purposes. I can’t remember what DW and DFIL had but didn't hear any complaints.

Once we finished lunch, we went on It’s a Small World. The kids as usual were mesmerized by the colorful display. DFIL pointed out a lot of the fun dolls to the kids. I think DS mostly enjoyed being on a boat. I also think he was expecting some pirate dolls to show up because when the ride was over he started complaining that there were no pirates! Which brings up a good question. Why are there no pirates representing the Caribbean on this ride? What I like most about this attraction is that each time I go on it, I find something new that I hadn’t noticed before. This time, it was the clownish looking dolls hanging from hot air balloons in the last section where all the dolls are dressed in white.


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To help appease DS’ desire to see some pirates, we next went on Peter Pan using our FPs. There’s one scene on this ride that I always manage to forget to see. It’s where Pan and Hook are dueling it out with their swords on the mast of the ship. I just don’t know why, but every time we go by this part, I’m always looking at the other kids below on the ship and by the time I look up, the scene is pretty much on its way out. The reactions of the kids were more subdued this time around compared to last year when we had to go on this one about 6 times and I was surprised that I didnt' hear any "Let's go again!" chants.

It was about 12:40pm and time to head back to the resort to give the kids their payback pool time. I was a bit disappointed since I would have liked to have spent more time in New Fantasyland and in Magic Kingdom in general. DW suggested maybe I can stay in the park while she and DFIL take the kids back to the resort on the bus. She didn’t have to ask twice and I took up on that offer. I walked back with them to the MK gates and saw them off. I suddenly had 3 hours of me-time. In Magic Kingdom! I made my way back to the hub where Move it! Shake it! Celebrate It! was happening. I watched for a few minutes as the Disney characters formed a conga line. DD and DS never seemed interested in this mostly due to their shyness although they have no problems dancing like crazy in the privacy of their own home!

I walked over to the Haunted Mansion and went through the interactive queue. I was pretty sure DD and DS would not have much interest in riding this so I thought I should squeeze this one in when I had a chance. As a sidenote, DD now appears ready for this one as she's been asking a lot about this ride lately and showing a lot more curiosity and a lot less fear. This was my first time through this queue which was entertaining. I also loved reading the tombstones.


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Maybe I should ask my brother to use this one for me when I’m departed?


The attraction itself is always good although I couldn’t avoid making comparisons to Disneyland’s version from my last trip. Probably not fair to compare to the Nightmare Before Christmas theming which was so well done.


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It also reminded me how I would really like to read more about the backstory behind the Bride who beheaded her husbands – there has to be more to the creepy story. I tried looking online after coming home. There doesn't appear to be an official backdrop story from Disney on this. And the Eddie Murphy movie does not count!! There does appear to be a lot of stories patched together from interviews of imagineers who were responsible for putting this attraction together. It's also so interesting to read about the subtle differences of this attraction among the parks.

 

[afwdwfan]

You make a good point about IASW. No matter how many times you ride it there's always something that I notice that I don't think I'd noticed in the past. There are just too many of those dolls to keep track of.

I'm glad that it worked out that you could stay in the MK for a few solo hours. I absolutely love being able to do that.

I agree with you about HM. It seems that there are a few different backstories going on there, but there's never really anything to tie it all together and explain it. The way Disney goes over the top to explain a backstory on pretty much everything else, it kind of surprises me... then again, maybe that's supposed to be part of the creepiness of it. We just don't understand all of it.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I'm glad that it worked out that you could stay in the MK for a few solo hours. I absolutely love being able to do that.

I agree with you about HM. It seems that there are a few different backstories going on there, but there's never really anything to tie it all together and explain it. The way Disney goes over the top to explain a backstory on pretty much everything else, it kind of surprises me... then again, maybe that's supposed to be part of the creepiness of it. We just don't understand all of it.

I had an absolute blast touring MK solo even it was just for a couple of hours. As you'll see in future posts, I was also able to watch the afternoon parade and the Dapper Dans during my solo time.

As for the Haunted Mansion goes, if it were built today I'm pretty sure Disney would have gone to great detail creating and streamlining the background story. But since it was one of the early attractions, it didn't go under such scrutiny. In any case, I'm just happy that they didn't add an Eddie Murphy animatronic after the movie came out. That would have been disastrous!

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

All caught up again! We didn't do Under the Sea. . .a little story where I caused confusion for DH (it'll be in the TR!), but I am so excited to ride it next time! Great trip report updates as always!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

All caught up again! We didn't do Under the Sea. . .a little story where I caused confusion for DH (it'll be in the TR!), but I am so excited to ride it next time! Great trip report updates as always!!

So good to have you back although I'm sure you would much prefer to still be at Disney!

Now I'm very curious of what the confusion was that led to not going on Under the Sea. Hmmm, maybe mixing up Ariel's Grotto with Under the Sea? Or the location of the FP machines for Under the Sea being outside of New FL? Looking forward to finding out on your TR!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

When I walked into our clinic this week, I noticed they had added a little extra decorations on the wall. Brightened my day!


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[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Great pics!

Thank you!

 

[emmysmommy]

Although I could take a little less of the soundtrack for IASW, I still love the nostalgic feel. I don't recall if they have the same in WDW as D-land but for the West Coast Dis they have Disney characters relative to their country of origin scattered throughout the ride. For example: Woody/Jessie = USA, Alice=UK, Cinderella= France and my favorite - Lilo for the Hawaiian islands. I need to pay more attention at WDW next time.

I really want to try CHH at MK sometime as it sounds so nice to dine upstairs on something other than a burger.

HM queue is awesome and entertaining now. The tombstones are so witty and clever. I don't think I've ever seen photos during the ride (too dark) so that's awesome that you are able to pull this off with some great pics. Sounds like your DD will be a fan soon.

Enjoy your Friday!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Although I could take a little less of the soundtrack for IASW, I still love the nostalgic feel. I don't recall if they have the same in WDW as D-land but for the West Coast Dis they have Disney characters relative to their country of origin scattered throughout the ride. For example: Woody/Jessie = USA, Alice=UK, Cinderella= France and my favorite - Lilo for the Hawaiian islands. I need to pay more attention at WDW next time.

I loved how they did that at Disneyland! I saw them during my solo trip last year and thought they were very cute. I caught a couple of them on camera here. Ariel was in the mix too! I don't think WDW does the same thing.

I really want to try CHH at MK sometime as it sounds so nice to dine upstairs on something other than a burger.

Lovvve CHH for mostly being uncrowded. I usually like to get there around 11:30am. People easily miss the stairs heading up which is why I think the upstairs area remains relatively quiet.

HM queue is awesome and entertaining now. The tombstones are so witty and clever. I don't think I've ever seen photos during the ride (too dark) so that's awesome that you are able to pull this off with some great pics. Sounds like your DD will be a fan soon

Ohhh, you should have seen all of the pictures that were left on the cutting room floor for this ride! Those three pictures were what was salvageable out of the 50 or so pictures I took. It's such a difficult ride to photograph because as you said, it's sooooo dark and my manual focusing skills are still pretty crude. When I visited DL last October, they had the Nightmare Before Christmas themes and decorations up for HM. Absolutely loved it!

 

[khertz]

Sounds like you found our favorite spot to eat at CHH! Love it up there, it's so peaceful and I love looking out the windows and people watching while we eat. Now if a restaurant has an upstairs seating area, we will almost always head up there to eat instead of staying on the ground floor. So many people don't even know its there! It's just so nice to have a peaceful and quiet lunch in the middle of a busy MK.

Add me to the group always finding new things on Small World! Especially now with Paxton, he finds and points out the most random things sometimes and I wonder how I never noticed them before. Now more than ever I would prefer DL's version since Paxton is so familiar with the characters names now and I think he would have fun pointing them out.

Yay for solo time in MK! DH is hoping for a little solo park time on our next trip for exactly the same reason, to photograph the parks! He's taking a photography class at the local university this summer, and checking out all kinds of photography podcasts, etc. to get better, so he wants to be able to take the tripod and take his time getting the photos he wants.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Yay for solo time in MK! DH is hoping for a little solo park time on our next trip for exactly the same reason, to photograph the parks! He's taking a photography class at the local university this summer, and checking out all kinds of photography podcasts, etc. to get better, so he wants to be able to take the tripod and take his time getting the photos he wants.

For our next trip, I'm hoping or a couple of hours of solo time at night either in Animal Kingdom or Epcot to take some pictures.

I've been wanting to take some photography classes but between work and the kids, haven't found much time yet. I've been mostly learning by reading photography magazines and websites but would love to hone my photography with some direct human feedback. Just got my first real tripod for a little one night mini vacation we're doing as a family here in DC today and tomorrow for the Cherry Blossom Festival. I'll post detailed updates on that tomorrow.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Mini TR Cherry Blossoms

This past weekend we had an impromptu one night mini-vacation. It was more like a semi-staycation. With the Cherry Blossoms peak bloom predicted to be this weekend, I was planning on taking the family to the Tidal Basin on Sunday morning. Then I found out that the Cherry Blossom 10 mile Run was also happening that morning beginning at 7:30am which would make getting into downtown DC extra difficult with the road closures. Briefly floated the idea to DW of getting to the Tidal Basin before the race began and I could tell she wasn’t too thrilled since it would require us getting up and out of the house by 6:15am and taking the Metro in. On Friday night, as I was trying to figure out how to pull this off I discovered that the Cherry Blossom Festival Fireworks were scheduled for Saturday night at 8:30pm at the Southwest Waterfront area and there was also a festival planned throughout the day as a prelude to the fireworks! Thinking that the kids would absolutely love this, the gears in my head started spinning. Finally I came up with a plan to book a hotel room for Saturday night at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which is located 5 minutes to the Tidal Basin and 10 minutes to the Southwest Waterfront by foot! The hotel was almost fully booked but they had a few availability on their club floor (Tai Pan Club) so I booked one room. The rate was pricey but I decided it was worth it since we didn’t get to spend time together as a family over the kids’ spring break. Also I justified it as a birthday trip for myself and DW – both of our b-days are coming up within the next couple of weeks. Best of all, I don’t have to worry about finding parking!!

On Saturday afternoon after DD finished her ballet practice, we all hopped in my car and drove to the hotel. Handed over my car to the valet parking attendant – ahhhh, that was so much easier! It was 5pm when I checked in at the front desk. Except our room wasn’t ready. It wasn’t that big of a deal. We were directed to the club level lounge where they just began serving evening hors d’oeuvres and drinks. The kids were given each a panda plush toy. The kids already have three of them at home. If you’ve lived or visited DC (especially the zoo) enough times, the panda plush toys become standard issue. It was so awesome being pampered like that the minute we walked into the hotel. They had steamed dumplings and pot stickers as part of the spread. We decided to eat these as our dinner before heading out to the waterfront festival. The concierge in the lounge came up to us to let us know that our room was ready. Once we finished eating, we went to our room. The bathroom was unbelievable! DW took one look and declared she was going to take a bath before bed. The room was fairly standard. The view was “city view” which meant we were staring into the office building next door. And then, there was a…..crib? Now I didn’t request a crib when making the ressie. I have no idea how this ended up in there. DS who hasn’t slept in a crib in about a year and a half decided it would be fun to use it. So he spent the next 10 minutes climbing in and out while we packed up the stroller.


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The walkway from the hotel to the waterfront was very convenient. The Southwest Waterfront is in the opposite direction from the Tidal Basin and we had never been to this area before. It was mostly marina along this area.


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There was also a fish market with lots of Chesapeake Bay crabs being sold or at least that’s what the signs said. The whole waterfront block was PACKED with people! They had several stages set up for music and bands. The biggest stage was set up in the tennis stadium.


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Next to it in the parking lot were a dozen or so food trucks selling all kinds of food, each one with a line of 30-40 people deep. The kids were asking for cotton candy so we got each of them one and some popcorn as well. By the time we finished snacking it was almost 7pm. Next we found an area with several arts and craft stations, one of them being decorating and coloring your own Koi Wind Socks.


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DD wanted to do this so we all got in line. The only problem was the line was moving very very slowly. Fortunately, the Koi station was located right next to a mini-stage where a band was playing. That kept everyone entertained and many of the children were dancing out front. We waited, waited, and waited. It was 7:45pm and there were still 10 people in front of us. With the fireworks scheduled for 8:30pm and since we needed a to stake out a spot, DW and I decided that this wasn’t going to work. We walked up to one of the organizers in the Koi station to see if we could get a kit to take home so we could work on them later and were able to score a couple.


We walked further down the waterfront. I had done some online research and figured out where the fireworks barge was going to be located in the middle of the Potomac River. Based on that, we were able to find a decent spot where no one else had staked out a spot yet. Sort of like the equivalent of Frontierland for the MSEP. I set up my tripod for my camera and kept the kids entertained. Soon enough, the fireworks began.


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[DaveinFallsChurch]

***Continued from Previous Post ***

The kids loved the fireworks. DS wanted more and didnt want to leave. As we started walking back to the hotel, about 9-10 more fireworks went off. I wondered if they had a few left over after the show and decided to fire them off. It was 9:15pm when we arrived back in our room. The kids got a quick bath and were being dressed for bed. I was starting to feel very hungry. Room service time! I put an order in for a cheeseburger (with fries of course) and a passion fruit cheesecake. While I was on the phone with room service, I heard what sounded like a doorbell ring. I thought I must have heard wrong so I continued on the phone. Then I heard it again. Huh? Do these hotel rooms have a doorbell?? So I walked up to the door and looked out and sure enough, a hotel employee was standing there! I opened the door as I quickly finished the order and noticed that there was a doorbell button to the side of our door! The hotel employee introduced herself as from Guest Relations. She said that she heard that our room had not been ready at the time of check in and wanted to apologize for the inconvenience and as a gesture to make it up for us, brought us a bottle of champagne. I thanked her. Heres the thing. We didnt make a single complaint about the room not being ready to anyone at the hotel. We didnt think it was that big of a deal. It happens fairly commonly at hotels especially during the busy seasons. Thought it was great customer service for sure!


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After the kids turned in, my food arrived. I sat in the dark in the corner of the room with just the glow from my iPad and thoroughly enjoyed my late night meal. Late night room service has to be one of my guilty pleasures. Its overpriced for sure. Its never good for my health or my weight to be eating that much at that time of the night. And Im pretty sure if the same food was served to me at a different setting, it would just taste average. But, when its room service after 10pm it tastes sooooo good! I stayed up a little longer browsing on the internet before turning in as well.

This morning, I woke up at 6:20am and started getting ready. Everyone else was up by 6:45am. We headed downstairs around 7:15am to the breakfast buffet. Nothing special but the standard fare. Had to order a separate plate of pancakes for DS who finished all of them by himself. Both kids must had been starving as they ate and ate. We left the hotel around 8:20am and walked our way towards to the Tidal Basin. For those of you who have been keeping track of the time during this update, you can guess what may have happened next. Yes, the 10 mile run had started a while ago and the runners were now making their way through the last street that separated us and the Tidal Basin! We watched the runners for awhile.

Here's a couple of pictures I took while playing around with the shutter time on the camera.


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There were a lot of family and friends standing next to us cheering their runner. One older lady was ringing a small bell and cheering everyone on by saying Goooo runners! One of the runners cheerfully replied back as he ran by Goooo spectators!


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After about 20 minutes of waiting, we could see that the runner-crowds were beginning ever so slightly to thin. More gaps between throngs of runners were showing up. Some of the spectators began crossing the street while dodging the runners. DW said we should do it as well. I wasnt so confident we could do this. We had a six year old and a 3 year old and a stroller! Another 5 minutes later the gaps become slightly wider and the runners were slower. We finally identified a gap approaching with some of the runners starting to walk and we hit that gap and ran across. It felt like Frogger!! Fortunately, none of us came remotely close to bothering any runners since the gap was pretty big.

Once we entered the Tidal Basin walking path, we worked our way from Jefferson Memorial to FDR Memorial and back. Today was clearly not the peak bloom. It looked like it would be another 2-3 days before that would happen, but nonetheless the weather was gorgeous and the spring scenery was beautiful.


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We walked around for about 2 hours before we headed back to the hotel room to check out and head home. We all had a great time! I may try to head out near sunrise middle of this week to the Tidal Basin on my way to work to try to get some pictures of the peak bloom!

 

[khertz]

Saw a lot of these photos on FB, but WOW, those fireworks photos are stunning!! The cherry blossoms look so beautiful. I would love to take that second visit to D.C. when they are blooming.

That bottle of champagne was such a nice gesture! The hotel room looks really nice as well. Great little overnight trip.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Saw a lot of these photos on FB, but WOW, those fireworks photos are stunning!! The cherry blossoms look so beautiful. I would love to take that second visit to D.C. when they are blooming.

I think seeing the Cherry Blossoms at peak bloom is absolutely worth it! Now that I think of it, I don't think we've actually been to the Tidal Basin during peak bloom yet. A couple of times we were close. I'm hoping I can see it this year. The tricky part is trying to figure out when that may be and the forecasters are frequently off as is the case this year when the National Park Services initially predicted the peak to be two weeks ago.

 

[emmysmommy]

What a lovely little family get-away/stay-close-to-home trip. I've never seen a cherry blossom, in or out of bloom, so I wouldn't know that the photos you took were not at the peak give that they were still so lovely.

Funny how perspective allows an over-priced burger to be enjoyed and even savored because of the special/unique circumstances. Been there!

You and your DW can join my club of fellow April birthday celebrants! I also have one of my kids celebrating in April. Happy early b-day!

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow, what a great weekend. It looks like it was definitely worthwhile to book a hotel room to enjoy the fireworks and cherry blossoms. Very good customer service from them too!

I love your fireworks pictures!