princess aurora
Been There. Done That. GOING BACK!
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2005
- Messages
- 848
Hello!!!!!!
We're back from our fabulous Disney trip. Our best trip EVAH! It was so amazing I can't even tell you all the "pixie dust" and wonderful things that went on. It was just so great! Well, on with the show...
The Cast: Myself, DH, DD8, DD4, DGranny, DGrandpa (Hubby's parents), Dgirlfriend, her DH, DD6, DS4
Date: May 8th - May 16th, 2006
We'd been keeping this trip a surprise so my DH came home from work early last week (Monday, May 8th) in time to pick up my oldest DD from school. We went home and talked about things we wanted to do that night. DH said he would like a Mickey ice cream bar. Then DD4 said she would like to go on a water slide. What a perfect cue for me to say "where are the best water parks?". She of course said Disney. Then my oldest DD8 said what she wanted to do if she were at Disney. My DH said it sounded like everything we wanted to do that night was at Disney World...so let's go! At first the girls were so excited then my DD8 said "is this a trick?" DH rushes by them and says "No! I'm going to pack my bags for Disney!" The girls were so surprised. They ran after him ready to go pack their bags only to see all the bags laying on our bed already packed.
Then Granny and Grandpa showed up and they asked if they could go too! It was so great. Amazingly, when we arrived at the hotel in Buffalo the friends we were also travelling with showed up RIGHT behind us! Their kids at that point had no idea we were all going to Disney, so it was a flawlessly laid plan that we actually pulled off. We flew out EARLY Tuesday morning but we were so excited it didn't matter.
Day 1: Check-in at Pop Century and off to one of the 80's buildings. We over looked the computer pool on the 3rd floor. Our rooms were ready even though we arrived before 11:00am. Just our first little bit of pixie dust then off to the Magic Kingdom. Feels like we were just here. Ahh, "home"!
There were no crowds as we head straight for Casey's for some lunch. I can't believe our luck when we bump into the Mayor and also the two lovely ladies of Main Street whose names escape me at the moment but I'm sure all the Disney veterans know who I mean. I was thrilled as this was a rare siting for me.
Off we head to Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear rides. Wow the lack of crowds is thrilling my DH and I as our friends suggest Stitch since they had not done it before. On we go and yes, it was a stinker but hey it's all in the adventure. That 1st night we had dinner at 'Ohana. It was wonderful. We LOVED the food. Everyone at our table was raving about it and eating too much and laughing and having a great time. The kids were thrilled when invited to take hula lessons, get invloved in the parade and do the coconut races. We had a late reservation and it never occurred to me that we could see "Wishes" from the restaurant. More pixie dust as the music was pipped into the restaurant and we could view the show.
Day 2: This day was dedicated to MGM so we were able to sleep in and go at a leisurely pace. The ToT was still the favourite and DD4 decided her quota for the trip would be 5x on this ride. We hit 5x by the end of the day so she bumped it to 7! We saw the stunt show, amazing as usual and I got DH to pull the rope outside Indiana Jones while everyone listened. We can never hear exactly all he's saying but everyone thought it was funny that that there was some guy in the well. Later that night we walked through Narnia and both DH and I were amazed by the resemblance of the White Witch to the actress from the movie. Good casting Disney
.
Day 3: This was our Animal Kingdom day and it couldn't have been better. Expedition Everest was of course our first stop. Earlier while getting on the buses my girlfriend and I were discussing EE. A older boy and his father over heard us and told us it wasn't that great??! I knew they had just lost some of their pixie dust and we decided (thankfully) not to pay attention. I was worried about all the hype but boy oh boy does that ride kick some serious butt. It was so funny that at the beginning of the ride my DD8 said "this is boring". You know, a leisurly train ride through the mountain side until we saw the mangled tracks. It was awesome. We screamed, we laughed, we rode it again and again and again!
We were a Grand Gathering group of 10 so we were able to do the special Safari Celebration Dinner. We had a private tour of the Safari ride stopping to take great pictures and learn more about the animals and the kids could ask questions. Out of the blue my Dg's DS4 randomly told the guide that he was a "big boy and used the toilet now"?! We laughed so hard. Then we had a fabulous meal at Tusker House Grill. It was so yummy. Chip and Dale were our special guests that night, which we found a little strange because we were hoping for Timon and Pumba but I guess they had a prior engagement
. Our kids got up to dance to the African music and they initiated the dancing for all the other kids to join in. It was a blast. They also got to see a tarantula and touch a snake. The most memorable moment for me though came when my DD8 traded a pin with our guide Kent for his Stitch pin but then she gave it to her friend who had been eyeing it all night. Kent was touched too and secretly gave me back her pin that she had traded. I was so proud of her for spreading the pixie dust, "sniff, sniff".
Day 4: Blizzard Beach oops scratch that...just as we arrived at the buses to go to the BB water park we saw the BB/AK line was already packed and then the Typhoon Lagoon bus pulled up. We changed plans on the fly and went to TL instead. The wave pool was a big hit and my girlfriend and I did the Crush 'n Gusher and laughed our way silly to the bottom.
Later that afternoon we headed over to Epcot. It was an EMH night so we saw the first crowds of our trip. We were able to see Crush, Honey, I Shrunk The Audience and the Figment Ride all before dinner. We had such a great time and great food at the Garden Grill. We saw all the characters 3 times (Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale), got some great pictures and just had a ball. Dale pretended to sneak up on my DH and DH played along and got "scared" each time much to the "delight" of the Dale and of course then the kids. It was great to see my DD8 try and figure out if we were moving or the backdrop was moving.
We then went to get our EMH wrist bands and headed straight to Soarin' while the fireworks were on. Good plan since the line up afterwards was HUGE!
Day 5: We slept in, (ah nice) and then went to Downtown Disney to check out Disney Quest. We had all gotten a little fried at the waterpark the day before but really needed to keep Dg's kids out of the sun for the day. Absolutely loved the Pirates of the Carribean game and thought the Jungle Cruise was good too. We hung out there for the late morning, early afternoon and then went to do a little bit of shopping, while the DH's took the kids to play at the LEGO store. We checked out the BBBoutique while we were there thought it was so cute. Because my Dg is a hairstylist we decided to pass and do our own version for going to the castle the next day.
Later that night we checked out Magic Kingdom again. It was a big thrill for us as the kids all went on the Mad Tea Cups WITHOUT us. It was a first for all of us (and thankfully so) that we let the kids go on a ride by themselves. They were so impressed with themselves and got a huge kick out of it. I think they did it about 4x in a row. How they do that without puking (lol!) is beyond me but I am happy to report we have now officially passed the torch and do NOT have to ride the Tea Cups with them anymore. We also got to ride Goofy's Barn Stormer about 5x, with 3 of those being literally in a row b/c of no lines. We even got to see the fireworks from the coaster which was very cool. Lastly we tried to ride Space Mountain one more time but it was closed due to technical problems, drats!
Day 6: Mother's Day at Disney World. It doesn't get much better than this. This time we did make it to Blizzard Beach but our friends decided to stay back at the hotel. We did the family tube ride with Granny and Grandpa as well as the tobaggan racers. Granny was a really great sport and we had so much fun. The girls and I all got tattoos. My DD4 had Flounder on her arm, while my DD8 got an armband and I got the Evil Queen on my ankle. I loved it and it's still on.
After a rest we went back to Epcot in the afternoon. I let the girls "pick a pearl" in Japan and that was very cool. They opened up the oyster right there in front of us and then we got them mounted on small butterfly pendants. DD8 picked a 7 3/4mm sized pearl and got the bang-a-drum attention while DD4's pearl was 7 1/4mm. Very decent sized pearls. I wanted to get one too but wasn't happy with the selection of settings as I wanted a ring! I was a little disappointed b/c there was a huge selection at Blizzard Beach, which also had the "pick a pearl", but I thought for sure the selection would be bigger at Japan. The display and presntation is definately bigger at Japan but unfortunately for me, not the ring settings
.
We had decided earlier that day that we would monorail over to the Magic Kingdom after Epcot so we brought outfits for the kids and my Dg did their hair while moving on the monorail. It was hilarious and everyone else enjoyed watching this display as well. We had braided the girl's hair so it came out all kinky and looked cool after it was all pulled up. After a quick change once at Magic Kingdom we had transformed my DD8 to Belle, my DD4 to Tinkerbell, my Dg's DD6 to Cinderella and her DS4 to Buzz! We then went to dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. We got our pictures taken with Cinderella who was her usual lovely, royal self. To be honest this meal was my least favouite of our trip. I do understand the ambience and setting but found the food only okay. Nevertheless the castle dinner did not disappoint. We sang along with Fairy Godmother and danced with the mice. It was a surprise dinner for my MIL too. She did not know we were eating there and had never eaten in the castle before. More pixie dust as we were able to catch a bit of the fireworks right from inside the castle.
Day 7: Our last full day at Disney and we wasted no time in getting in every last ounce of fun. We got up early to make it to Animal Kingdom early for EMH. We headed straight to EE again and got a fast pass. We then waited in the stand by line which was moving quickly. We loved it as much this time as the first time and immediately got back in line to ride again. I was able to claim my EE online game voucher and get a FREE 5x7 of us on the ride. For some reason there were still things we had never done before at AK. So this time we did the Maharaja Trek and saw the Flights of Wonder. Our group got separated and the other's did Rafiki's Planet Watch as well. These are already on the list for next time!
Our family alone decided to hit the Magic Kingdom just one more time to see if we could ride Space Mountain. This time we got on the ride. We were literally sitting in the ride and they stopped it and made EVERYONE exit the building. What a bummer. We took the train over to Splash Mountain and waited in the longest line of our trip. It said a 30 minute wait and that's almost exactly what it was. After virtually no lines or such short waits all week long, that 30 minutes seemed to take forever. We took one last plunge down the mountain and took the train back over to ToonTown to see if we could get on Space Mountain again. I guess it was 3 times a charm b/c finally we were able to ride it! One last thrill at MK before we said goodbye until next time. We then monorailed and bused it over to MGM for our dinner at Prime Time Cafe. "Aunt Sue" was good to us and we had another fun and yummy dinner. It was hard to believe after a few more trips on ToT and RRC that our trip was done.
We were sad to see it come to an end although it had been a wonderful, fabulous vacation. A week hardly seems long enough. The DHs were already scouting out the next resort location they'd prefer to stay at before we even left. Who knows exactly when we will be going back but it is definately "when" rather than an "if" we go back. Glad to share our adventures with you. Thanks for reading and I hope to post some pictures soon.
We're back from our fabulous Disney trip. Our best trip EVAH! It was so amazing I can't even tell you all the "pixie dust" and wonderful things that went on. It was just so great! Well, on with the show...
The Cast: Myself, DH, DD8, DD4, DGranny, DGrandpa (Hubby's parents), Dgirlfriend, her DH, DD6, DS4
Date: May 8th - May 16th, 2006
We'd been keeping this trip a surprise so my DH came home from work early last week (Monday, May 8th) in time to pick up my oldest DD from school. We went home and talked about things we wanted to do that night. DH said he would like a Mickey ice cream bar. Then DD4 said she would like to go on a water slide. What a perfect cue for me to say "where are the best water parks?". She of course said Disney. Then my oldest DD8 said what she wanted to do if she were at Disney. My DH said it sounded like everything we wanted to do that night was at Disney World...so let's go! At first the girls were so excited then my DD8 said "is this a trick?" DH rushes by them and says "No! I'm going to pack my bags for Disney!" The girls were so surprised. They ran after him ready to go pack their bags only to see all the bags laying on our bed already packed.
Then Granny and Grandpa showed up and they asked if they could go too! It was so great. Amazingly, when we arrived at the hotel in Buffalo the friends we were also travelling with showed up RIGHT behind us! Their kids at that point had no idea we were all going to Disney, so it was a flawlessly laid plan that we actually pulled off. We flew out EARLY Tuesday morning but we were so excited it didn't matter.
Day 1: Check-in at Pop Century and off to one of the 80's buildings. We over looked the computer pool on the 3rd floor. Our rooms were ready even though we arrived before 11:00am. Just our first little bit of pixie dust then off to the Magic Kingdom. Feels like we were just here. Ahh, "home"!
There were no crowds as we head straight for Casey's for some lunch. I can't believe our luck when we bump into the Mayor and also the two lovely ladies of Main Street whose names escape me at the moment but I'm sure all the Disney veterans know who I mean. I was thrilled as this was a rare siting for me.
Off we head to Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear rides. Wow the lack of crowds is thrilling my DH and I as our friends suggest Stitch since they had not done it before. On we go and yes, it was a stinker but hey it's all in the adventure. That 1st night we had dinner at 'Ohana. It was wonderful. We LOVED the food. Everyone at our table was raving about it and eating too much and laughing and having a great time. The kids were thrilled when invited to take hula lessons, get invloved in the parade and do the coconut races. We had a late reservation and it never occurred to me that we could see "Wishes" from the restaurant. More pixie dust as the music was pipped into the restaurant and we could view the show.
Day 2: This day was dedicated to MGM so we were able to sleep in and go at a leisurely pace. The ToT was still the favourite and DD4 decided her quota for the trip would be 5x on this ride. We hit 5x by the end of the day so she bumped it to 7! We saw the stunt show, amazing as usual and I got DH to pull the rope outside Indiana Jones while everyone listened. We can never hear exactly all he's saying but everyone thought it was funny that that there was some guy in the well. Later that night we walked through Narnia and both DH and I were amazed by the resemblance of the White Witch to the actress from the movie. Good casting Disney
.Day 3: This was our Animal Kingdom day and it couldn't have been better. Expedition Everest was of course our first stop. Earlier while getting on the buses my girlfriend and I were discussing EE. A older boy and his father over heard us and told us it wasn't that great??! I knew they had just lost some of their pixie dust and we decided (thankfully) not to pay attention. I was worried about all the hype but boy oh boy does that ride kick some serious butt. It was so funny that at the beginning of the ride my DD8 said "this is boring". You know, a leisurly train ride through the mountain side until we saw the mangled tracks. It was awesome. We screamed, we laughed, we rode it again and again and again!
We were a Grand Gathering group of 10 so we were able to do the special Safari Celebration Dinner. We had a private tour of the Safari ride stopping to take great pictures and learn more about the animals and the kids could ask questions. Out of the blue my Dg's DS4 randomly told the guide that he was a "big boy and used the toilet now"?! We laughed so hard. Then we had a fabulous meal at Tusker House Grill. It was so yummy. Chip and Dale were our special guests that night, which we found a little strange because we were hoping for Timon and Pumba but I guess they had a prior engagement
. Our kids got up to dance to the African music and they initiated the dancing for all the other kids to join in. It was a blast. They also got to see a tarantula and touch a snake. The most memorable moment for me though came when my DD8 traded a pin with our guide Kent for his Stitch pin but then she gave it to her friend who had been eyeing it all night. Kent was touched too and secretly gave me back her pin that she had traded. I was so proud of her for spreading the pixie dust, "sniff, sniff".Day 4: Blizzard Beach oops scratch that...just as we arrived at the buses to go to the BB water park we saw the BB/AK line was already packed and then the Typhoon Lagoon bus pulled up. We changed plans on the fly and went to TL instead. The wave pool was a big hit and my girlfriend and I did the Crush 'n Gusher and laughed our way silly to the bottom.
Later that afternoon we headed over to Epcot. It was an EMH night so we saw the first crowds of our trip. We were able to see Crush, Honey, I Shrunk The Audience and the Figment Ride all before dinner. We had such a great time and great food at the Garden Grill. We saw all the characters 3 times (Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale), got some great pictures and just had a ball. Dale pretended to sneak up on my DH and DH played along and got "scared" each time much to the "delight" of the Dale and of course then the kids. It was great to see my DD8 try and figure out if we were moving or the backdrop was moving.
We then went to get our EMH wrist bands and headed straight to Soarin' while the fireworks were on. Good plan since the line up afterwards was HUGE!
Day 5: We slept in, (ah nice) and then went to Downtown Disney to check out Disney Quest. We had all gotten a little fried at the waterpark the day before but really needed to keep Dg's kids out of the sun for the day. Absolutely loved the Pirates of the Carribean game and thought the Jungle Cruise was good too. We hung out there for the late morning, early afternoon and then went to do a little bit of shopping, while the DH's took the kids to play at the LEGO store. We checked out the BBBoutique while we were there thought it was so cute. Because my Dg is a hairstylist we decided to pass and do our own version for going to the castle the next day.
Later that night we checked out Magic Kingdom again. It was a big thrill for us as the kids all went on the Mad Tea Cups WITHOUT us. It was a first for all of us (and thankfully so) that we let the kids go on a ride by themselves. They were so impressed with themselves and got a huge kick out of it. I think they did it about 4x in a row. How they do that without puking (lol!) is beyond me but I am happy to report we have now officially passed the torch and do NOT have to ride the Tea Cups with them anymore. We also got to ride Goofy's Barn Stormer about 5x, with 3 of those being literally in a row b/c of no lines. We even got to see the fireworks from the coaster which was very cool. Lastly we tried to ride Space Mountain one more time but it was closed due to technical problems, drats!
Day 6: Mother's Day at Disney World. It doesn't get much better than this. This time we did make it to Blizzard Beach but our friends decided to stay back at the hotel. We did the family tube ride with Granny and Grandpa as well as the tobaggan racers. Granny was a really great sport and we had so much fun. The girls and I all got tattoos. My DD4 had Flounder on her arm, while my DD8 got an armband and I got the Evil Queen on my ankle. I loved it and it's still on.
After a rest we went back to Epcot in the afternoon. I let the girls "pick a pearl" in Japan and that was very cool. They opened up the oyster right there in front of us and then we got them mounted on small butterfly pendants. DD8 picked a 7 3/4mm sized pearl and got the bang-a-drum attention while DD4's pearl was 7 1/4mm. Very decent sized pearls. I wanted to get one too but wasn't happy with the selection of settings as I wanted a ring! I was a little disappointed b/c there was a huge selection at Blizzard Beach, which also had the "pick a pearl", but I thought for sure the selection would be bigger at Japan. The display and presntation is definately bigger at Japan but unfortunately for me, not the ring settings
. We had decided earlier that day that we would monorail over to the Magic Kingdom after Epcot so we brought outfits for the kids and my Dg did their hair while moving on the monorail. It was hilarious and everyone else enjoyed watching this display as well. We had braided the girl's hair so it came out all kinky and looked cool after it was all pulled up. After a quick change once at Magic Kingdom we had transformed my DD8 to Belle, my DD4 to Tinkerbell, my Dg's DD6 to Cinderella and her DS4 to Buzz! We then went to dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. We got our pictures taken with Cinderella who was her usual lovely, royal self. To be honest this meal was my least favouite of our trip. I do understand the ambience and setting but found the food only okay. Nevertheless the castle dinner did not disappoint. We sang along with Fairy Godmother and danced with the mice. It was a surprise dinner for my MIL too. She did not know we were eating there and had never eaten in the castle before. More pixie dust as we were able to catch a bit of the fireworks right from inside the castle.
Day 7: Our last full day at Disney and we wasted no time in getting in every last ounce of fun. We got up early to make it to Animal Kingdom early for EMH. We headed straight to EE again and got a fast pass. We then waited in the stand by line which was moving quickly. We loved it as much this time as the first time and immediately got back in line to ride again. I was able to claim my EE online game voucher and get a FREE 5x7 of us on the ride. For some reason there were still things we had never done before at AK. So this time we did the Maharaja Trek and saw the Flights of Wonder. Our group got separated and the other's did Rafiki's Planet Watch as well. These are already on the list for next time!
Our family alone decided to hit the Magic Kingdom just one more time to see if we could ride Space Mountain. This time we got on the ride. We were literally sitting in the ride and they stopped it and made EVERYONE exit the building. What a bummer. We took the train over to Splash Mountain and waited in the longest line of our trip. It said a 30 minute wait and that's almost exactly what it was. After virtually no lines or such short waits all week long, that 30 minutes seemed to take forever. We took one last plunge down the mountain and took the train back over to ToonTown to see if we could get on Space Mountain again. I guess it was 3 times a charm b/c finally we were able to ride it! One last thrill at MK before we said goodbye until next time. We then monorailed and bused it over to MGM for our dinner at Prime Time Cafe. "Aunt Sue" was good to us and we had another fun and yummy dinner. It was hard to believe after a few more trips on ToT and RRC that our trip was done.
We were sad to see it come to an end although it had been a wonderful, fabulous vacation. A week hardly seems long enough. The DHs were already scouting out the next resort location they'd prefer to stay at before we even left. Who knows exactly when we will be going back but it is definately "when" rather than an "if" we go back. Glad to share our adventures with you. Thanks for reading and I hope to post some pictures soon.
You guys really packed in alot of attractions and the time seemed to zip by - great report! 
How did you like Pop Century? We're going for only 5 days in September (our last was 10 days and it didn't seem enough time & Animal Kingdom was finished, nor was there Disney Quest then so I can't imagine how I'm going to plan our days! 
)
