Art of Animation 6/7-15/13 LONG!!

[Mom24Princesses]

Basics:
DH and I with (1st time we had to leave one behind – oldest DD 22 has a job in Williamsburg at the Virginia Shakespeare Festival for the summer) 3 DDs 19, 15, 13.

8-nights at Disney’s Art of Animation - Little Mermaid - We had 8 day park hoppers w/out dining. We did pre-buy the Photopass+.
This was our 8th similar trip to WDW. See signature for where we’ve stayed over the years. DH brings a school group every year, but I hadn’t been down in 6 years!

AofA lived up to all we had seen and read online. It was more beautiful in person than in pictures. The views from the 4th floors of building 7 were great since we could look out in all directions. In the other building themes you are limited to what you see out own windows I guess. I knew Pop was close but did not realize how close.

The walk to LM was a haul. I did not expect it to be a problem since we had no little or elderly ones, but after a long day in a park and very often standing on up bus ride back, it was a long haul! We only made it down to Cars once in 8 days and never considered walking to Pop!

I made our ressie on about 12/22/12. I asked for connecting rooms and was told there were none?!? They also put two oldest DDs (as we were including #1 until we knew for sure her summer plans) in one room and younger DDs in with DH and I. I questioned this and was told that since they were over 18 it needed to be that way. I stressed that all girls would sleep in that room but they did not put all the girls together. When we dropped oldest, that left one 19 year old in her own room. I called back several times making sure that it was written as connecting rooms #1 request and that this was one reservation – but it was really two! Long story short – we did online check-in which I worried about with all I mentioned above. ALSO – it required me to authorize charging to the cards and we never do this. I can see how it could be covenant to use --- BUT I had $953 on a Disney Reward's Card!! I requested a check-in time of 11:00 a.m. We were driving down from the Atlanta area . We arrived about noon and our CONNECTING rooms were ready! They had DD#2 in one and the rest of us in the other. I had them take off the charging and they printed new Keys to the World cards.

We grabbed a quick bite in the food court and drove over to unpack. We did not know we had front facing rooms and they were the 2nd and 3rd doors down from the center (elevator and ice!!). Well DD#2 had a King and the other 4 of us had doubles. We swapped rooms but our keys opened the wrong doors - which was only a problem because DD#2 (almost 20) had friends down there and stayed out later than the rest of us. Lesson learned. Next time I will put all the girls in one room from the start. DH and I LOVED our King – very comfortable!

Little Mermaid rooms are beautiful. Even DH loved!

After a quick unpacking we dressed and headed out for our first night.

That will come soon!

 

[Mom24Princesses]

First night – and why we dined where we dined.
Not doing Disney Dinning this time, we planned to cut back on table meals for three reasons – 1st is the time they take up. 2nd is that they tie-up your flexibility and 3rd is the cost. We decided that five table meals in 9 days would be enough. Then we had to decide on where. We try to find new places to make it interesting/surprising. I take advice from friends and what I read online. I knew we wanted to try T-REX as we had never been there before. We were going to DS for Star Wars Saturday and I LOVE SciFi and it is a great place to get out of the heat. DD#2 requested Tony’s in MK (never been there), DD#3 wanted Chef Mickey’s and I picked Chefs of France in Epcot(never been there). I also planned a “counter meal” at Yak and Yeti and at Be Our Guest - which are better than average counter meals (IMHO). We did every breakfast in the room (I brought a full-size coffee pot). We did various counter meals for the rest.

ANYWAY - On our first afternoon we headed to MK to pick-up the Photo Pass+ and then to Chef Mickey’s. The meal was good and we got great pictures. We’ve been there about 6 times and I think we’ll skip it next time. It is a great way to see Mickey and the gang – BUT it is a lot of money for food that is just good. – IN OTHER WORDS – for the money for 5 “adults” at CM’s we could have had much better food somewhere else.

Then we headed back to MK. We took a lot of PP+ pix (we were dressed spiffy) and walked around Fantasy Land. (DH, DD#2 and#4 saw it all opening day in Dec. but DD#3 and I had not seen it.) We rode Pirates (it is a tradition – we were at WDW in ‘03 when the 1st Pirates movie opened and we have been crazy about it ever since). Then we picked an okay spot to see the fireworks. We were near the Crystal Palace. We could not see the parade but it was a good spot to see the castle. The sky was beautiful that night. Fluffy clouds. Great pix. DD#2 had a friend in the park who met us just before the fireworks. Afterwards, they stayed as MK was open until 1:00 a.m. and we headed out. Her friend is a “friend of Goofy and Woody” and they had a great time walking around while he told her little inside secrets. We’d been up since 4:00 so we were pooped.

I know this is a weirdly cropped shot BUT the sky was so beautiful!!


Star Wars weekend Saturday 6/8/13!!

 

[Mom24Princesses]

Star Wars Weekend Saturday 6/8/13!!
We tried to get to DS before it opened but with 3 teenaged girls that did not happen. DH RAN to Toy Story Mania to get fast passes. We wondered around and headed to Star Tours. We rode it twice b2b. When the time allowed, we got FPs for Tower of Terror (my personal favorite). We did not stand in line to get Star Wars autographs but did take pictures. DH and DD#3 watched the morning presentation. We did most attractions before our 1:30 lunch time at Sci-fi. As usual the wait was long after checking in. You’d think they could get this fixed. It is a great place to get out of the sun on a hot summer day (IMHO) and the food and our server were great. When we came out it was drizzling. We got a 2nd set of FPs for Toy Story but they were for 7:30-8:30 p.m. We wondered over to Beauty and the Beast and it began to pour/storm! After B&theB we decided to leave. It was chilly and the rain was not letting up. There were not enough attractions to keep us busy. If it had not rained we’d have stayed for the Star Wars events. (And our FPs) Sadly, we called it a day. We “swam" back to AofA and took short naps. We “swam” to the food court and got supper and “swam” back and turned in early.




Sunday 6/9/13 Morning – Epcot
After turning in early you’d have thought we’d get the girls out earlier BUT again we were later than we’d hoped getting to Epcot. We did a few PP+ shots. DH RAN to get FPs for Soaring (his favorite). We met friends who live in Orlando and we all stood - regretfully - in line for Test Track for 60 mins (the sign had changed from 30 to 40 as we entered – but it lied!). Then, Finding Nemo, Soaring, and Captain EO. We'd grabbed FPs for Mission Space. We stopped by the mini “World of Coke”.


We did more photos before heading to France for our lunch at Chefs de France. We had never been here before. (I always felt the girls were too young.) We all got the lunch special (soup, entree choice, and dessert). We loved it. HOWEVER – everything we got (almost) is available in the new bakery. Next time I’d just go there. We headed out after that as we were going to MK for the evening.

Sunday Evening – MK
We got to MK and got a few more PP+ shots and tried to ride as many things as possible in Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land. We grabbed a bite at Pinocchio’s. We stayed until about mid-night (it was an Extra Magical Hours night).

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!