Bippity Boppity Brr! My Very Meticulously Crafted Plans don't quite pan out.

[Tinkermom76]

I also heard from a few people while in WDW that the pizza at Via Napoli was amazing. I will need to try it next trip

 

[eecteacher82]

Wow is Disney Photopass' standard delivery slow!

12/23 6:45 PM - Arrived at FedEx SmartPost Atlanta Georgia
12/24 2:50 AM - Departs FedEx SmartPost Atlanta Georgia
12/27 5:15 PM - Arrived FedExx SmartPost Martinsburg WV. (Seriously, 3 days to get from Georgia to WV? I could have driven down and gotten it myself in 1 day.)
12/28 1:13 AM Departs FedEx SmartPost Martinsburg WV
12/28 6:43 PM Arrived at FedEx SmartPost Allentown PA
12/29 2:45 AM Departed FedEx SmartPost Allentown PA. (Allentown is only an hour from where I live.)

6 days and it still isn't listed as out for local delivery? I could have driven a package to California and come back by now.

This isn't even the CD which didn't ship until the 27th, so I should be getting that by July 4th I think.

The shipping is NUTS!!! I quickly did all the editing on our pics and ordered the CD w/ express shipping (1-2 days) on a Monday. It finally shipped on Wednesday and finally got it on Saturday!!! How is Wednesday-Saturday 1-2 days?? I was not a happy camper at all! The sad thing is that it was mailed from Georgia and we live in Florida!!! I should have just driven up and picked it up myself! Hopefully you will get your CD in the next few days..

 

[jenseib]

The shipping is NUTS!!! I quickly did all the editing on our pics and ordered the CD w/ express shipping (1-2 days) on a Monday. It finally shipped on Wednesday and finally got it on Saturday!!! How is Wednesday-Saturday 1-2 days?? I was not a happy camper at all! The sad thing is that it was mailed from Georgia and we live in Florida!!! I should have just driven up and picked it up myself! Hopefully you will get your CD in the next few days..

I would write them and complain. Maybe the ywill refund that shipping. That is not exceptable at all.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I just remembered to order the CD. I already had the credit, but for some reason, I thought I edited and ordered it already. I had to buy a photo download to use for our Christmas cards so that's probably where I thought I already ordered the CD.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I just remembered to order the CD. I already had the credit, but for some reason, I thought I edited and ordered it already. I had to buy a photo download to use for our Christmas cards so that's probably where I thought I already ordered the CD.

Christmas cards. Ugh, wait until I get to the Christmas cards story.

Just checked the status of the order, it left Allentown 12/29 at 2:45 AM, arrived at the Phoenixville Post Office 12/30 3:14 AM. There is a little note that says "Arrived at local Post Office - Allow one to two additional days for delivery"

ANOTHER ONE OR TWO DAYS!!!! If you had sent it through the US Mail to begin with I probably would have it by now. This isn't even the CD which didn't ship until the 27th.

 

[jenseib]

I agree. My CD took forever last time too. I don't get why they send it through UPS or Fed Ex and then it travels slowly though them and then when it's close to your home they drop it off in a mail box. Make no sense at all. Save the money from the carriers and just drop it in a mailbox to start with.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I can't see where the CD is, the link they provided for tracking doesn't work. Since it was sent from Georgia on the 27th, I am guessing it is in South Carolina by now.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Christmas cards. Ugh, wait until I get to the Christmas cards story.

Just checked the status of the order, it left Allentown 12/29 at 2:45 AM, arrived at the Phoenixville Post Office 12/30 3:14 AM. There is a little note that says "Arrived at local Post Office - Allow one to two additional days for delivery"

ANOTHER ONE OR TWO DAYS!!!! If you had sent it through the US Mail to begin with I probably would have it by now. This isn't even the CD which didn't ship until the 27th.

I did the photo download and then used it to make Rite Aid Christmas Cards so I could pick them up at the pharmacy. It cost me $15 for the download from Disney and $13 for 20 cards from Rite Aid. Have I sent them all out yet?? Um, nope. Family will get it when they get it.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I was going to wait until I got the cd from Disney so I can post those pics, but since they sent it via turtle express, I will just use images I snip from the PhotoPass site.
Here is a picture of the planning book I made from a small photo album. I sorta worked, but you know how those Vacation God’s like to mess with us stupid tourists. It still let me know what I had to complete on days I didn’t get to follow the plan perfectly.

Back

Front

Where to find Characters. It's a shame the Character Hunt website got shut down

Daily Plans

Special Poses locations.

Sunday, December 12th
Resort – Animal Kingdom Lodge
Park(s) – Animal Kingdom – DownTown Disney
Weather: high of 74 degrees, low of 47 degrees


So plans for Day 2 were relatively simple.
• Get new room keys
• Take bus to Animal Kingdom
• Breakfast at Tusker House 8:10 AM
• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Pangani Forest Exploration trail
• Walk the Discover Island Trails
• See Rafiki’s Planet watch
• Head to Camp Minniey Mickey for Christmas Card picture
• Watch Festival of the Lion King
• Get Autographs on Greeting Trails
• Head to Expedition Everest to get Fast Pass
• See Flights of Wonder
• Walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek
• EMH Hours at Hollywood Studios, head there when AK closes
• If HS is done head to DTD for some shopping.

Simple enough plans. Woke up around 5 AM. Why! I’m on vacation, why am I getting up at 5 AM without an alarm!!! OK, take shower and head out to find the Mara so I can get our refillable mugs. 20 minutes later I’m cursing under my breath, where the !#%$ is the Mara. I look at a map, still can’t find it. Head outside. Kinda chilly. Finally find the Mara, but it isn’t open yet. Opens at 6, which is 5 minutes. One small gripe here, why can’t you get to the Mara without going outside? Oh well, 6 am, get two coffee mugs, get coffee, head back to room to wake everyone up.

While Diane showers I head down to the lobby to get new room keys.
OK, everyone is up and dressed, head out to bus area to take bus to Animal Kingdom. After a couple of minutes the bus arrives. beats the wait from yesterday, maybe the Vacation Gods are making up for waking me at 5 AM. Short ride to the park. Disney should create some sort of path that resort guests can take to walk to the park. Maybe a back entrance into Animal Kingdom from the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

So now we are in a line to get into AK. They come by and check our name and reservation times for early entry. 8AM, they start letting everyone in. Quick potty break for the wife and kids, not sure why it can’t wait till we get to Tusker House but OK we got time until our reservations anyway. Get to Tusker House and wow, there are like 15 families in front of us to check in. Get checked in, and they send us up the stairs around back. Now at this point it is 8:15 which is when our reservations are for, but wow, look at the line. There are 10 families waiting for their picture with Donald Duck, and about 10 families ahead of us. The people right in front of me have reservations for 8:45, so why are we behind them? If I have one gripe about Tusker House before the park opens, apparently it doesn’t matter what time your reservations are for since it is apparently first come first serve.

So we finally get our pictures with Donald at around 8:35, so only 20 minutes behind schedule. Got a nice shot with Donald, sorry for the blurry pic. Guess it wasn't a good snip.

Get to our seats, and it isn’t long before the characters start arriving.

Mickey

Daisy

Goofy

The kids have fun dancing with Mickey in a little parade. They would have been right behind him, but Ally didn’t want to go up at first. Of course this little lesson helps out later since she is one of the first kids to get in line for future character meal parades.

Outside of Tusker House they have some pretty cool looking advertising. It's not real, but I thought it was a pretty cool touch.

No Poachers

Balloon Ride anyone?

Kilimanjaro Safari

OK with pictures this entry is probably getting kind of long, so I guess I will break day 2 into multiple entries as well. Next time, let’s go on a Safari.

 

[annmarieda]

I love your planning book. I always struggle with how I want to make mine. I like the use of the small photo album. I might have to copy that!

I had to laugh about getting up without the alarm..on vacation. I am always the first one up too...and early. Sleeping in on vacation to me seems so strange. Dh wants to do a beach (laid back) trip. I am not sure what I would do with myself if I didn't have to be somewhere RIGHT when it opened.

Tusker for breakfast is cool. We did that in September. It was nice to be "first" in the park. The pictures you got with the girls and the characters are cute!

Love the update!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I love your planning book. I always struggle with how I want to make mine. I like the use of the small photo album. I might have to copy that!

I had to laugh about getting up without the alarm..on vacation. I am always the first one up too...and early. Sleeping in on vacation to me seems so strange. Dh wants to do a beach (laid back) trip. I am not sure what I would do with myself if I didn't have to be somewhere RIGHT when it opened.

Tusker for breakfast is cool. We did that in September. It was nice to be "first" in the park. The pictures you got with the girls and the characters are cute!

Love the update!

Feel free to steal the photo album idea, that's how I got it. I forget who posted it, but I thought it was a good idea.

Funny, my wife wants a laid back trip too. Before we had kids we went to Sandals. She would sit and relax on the beach while I was off playing all kinds of games. It got to the point where the playmakers would see me and ask if I wanted to join in a game like Pool Basketball. My wife just rolled her eyes.

My wife complained a bit about getting up early, but the onde day we go to EPCOT a little late and had to wait in lines she said that getting in early is great because there aren't many lines.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

OK, so breakfast is done. Time to head up to the Kilimanjaro Safari. Along the way the kids see the face painters, and want to do it. OK, no big deal, sure go ahead.

Ally picks Pocohontas, Olivia picks Tinkerbell.

Dad is shocked to find out these two cost $27. While they get their faces painted, I get a FP’s for Kilimanjaro Safari. Once they have their faces painted, we take a stroll through the Pangani Forest Exploration trail. This is is a nice little walk, luckily we can take the stroller through the whole thing.

He's a cutie isn't he.

After the Jungle Trek, it’s time for the FastPasses. Luckily the return time was less than an hour. Roughly the same amount of time as the stand by line, so probably didn’t really need it but we knocked the Pangani Forest off of the to do list.

Mama and baby giraffe.

Found a PhotoPass guy at the Warden's cabin outside of the safari.

At this point the plan was to head down to Camp Minnie Mickey and watch the Festival of the Lion King and get the picture for the Christmas cards, but since we didn’t have the shirts this can wait until tomorrow, hopefully we can find everybody matching shirts. For now we can move along the plan and head over to Asia. Along the way there are some drums that the kids can play with, and it doesn't cost a dime. Are we still at Disney?

I notice Flik standing by himself just waiting for people to come down and see him.

After that we hit Terk, then continue onto King Louie and Baloo. I forgot these guys were along here.

There is a PhotoPass guy, and it looks like he is doing the Tinkerbell thing, so we head over. We pose for some standard shots in front of the Tree of Life, then he has us all growl and make our hands into claws. Then the kids get the Tinkerbell thing.

Ok, little sidetrack complete, but now it looks like it wants to rain. OK, I let Diane have a break and sit while I run over to EE to get Fast Passes. OK, need to return in 3 hours for EE. We head towards Camp Minnie Mickey to see the festival of the Lion King. Along the way we pass by It’s Tough to Be a Bug which has a 5 minute wait time. Can’t pass that up, lets go see it.

Show is over and it looks like it rained. Get to the stroller, and it’s soaked. Good thing I packed Ponchos for us. Too bad they are in the suit case back at the resort. OK, once again the Vacation Gods decide to mess with me. The double stroller can only be used by one kid and they have to stand. The front seat is soaked. So we head down to the Lion King Show. The next one isn’t for another 45 minutes, but there is no line so we get in line.

We get fantastic seats. Front row. Wow, that was worth the 45 minute wait. During the show the entertainers come up to the girls and they love it. At the end of the show they are picked to parade around the stage with all the characters. Phenomenol. They love it, I get good video of it, but not so great pictures. Man my camera sucks in low-light without a flash.

Show is over, and we still have a long wait before we can use the Everest FP’s, but the stroller is soaked, and I doubt the kids are gonna want to walk. OK, let’s change our plans a bit. We can go back to the Resort for a bit to rest then head over to DTD to do some shopping and hopefully get matching shirts for our picture tomorrow morning. Along the way we stop at the PhotoPass guy to get some pics, and the kids get to hold Simba. Of course when I got home the pictures didn't have Simba in them, but a call to the PhotoPass people and a couple of hours and the images are fixed.

Lots of pictures, so DISBoards is forcing me to split this entry. Next up, Around the Resort.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

OK, onto part 3.
After a short wait we are off to the resort. While Diane is relaxing and enjoying the lobby, I go around with the kids and get some pictures of the resort.

Ally continues to spot Mickey Heads everywhere. Especially in the carpets.

As I said, Ally has an Eagle Eye for the Mickey Heads. At the resort there are 6 chandeliers with 8 panels on each made to look like shields. Ally somehow spots the one panel that has a Mickey Head in the design out of the 48. I know because I took the time to look at each panel after that.

I see the PhotoPass desk. We planned on getting our picture with Mickey and having the Cards done while at Disney so we could mail them from there. Who wouldn’t want to get a card from Lake Buena Vista? Slight problem, you can only order cards online. Of course I didn’t bring the laptop along so I have no way of accessing the Internet. I guess if I had researched a bit I would have known these were only available online so I guess I can’t blame the Vacation Gods for this one, but I do curse them anyway. Guess I know what I will be doing as soon as I get home.

When we head out to DTD we have to wait about 15 minutes for a bus, not too bad I guess. Took some pics with the statues.

Outside of Design a Tee, we may hit this store to make shirts if we don't find any.

After getting those shots we head into DTD and the first thing the kids see is the Carousel and Olivia really wants to go on it. Ok, no big deal. Surprise, it isn’t free. $2 per child to ride a stinkin Carousel, what a ripoff, but I already said they could. I suggest we eat at the Earl of Sandwich, but get overridden. The kids don’t like their choices. So instead we go to the Rainforest Café. We are eating breakfast there tomorrow, but that’s ok. This of course takes longer than Earl of Sandwich would have, and costs way more.

Kids riding the Carousel.

After dinner we head down to the Lego store to see the stuff they built.

Then we go into World of Disney.

Inside the store.

Can I buy this?

The kids of course want everything they see as soon as they see it. We wonder around for a while then need a Potty break. So Diane sets off with the girls to go to the bathroom. After 20 minutes she comes back and tells me Santa is out there. OK, let’s go see Santa. 15 minutes later, Santa is done.

Back in the store I am not impressed with the selection of Christmas merchandise. The Mickey Ear Santa hats don’t fit me, but Diane gets one. We finally find a retro looking Mickey T-shirt with him wearing a Santa hat, and find similar sweatshirts for the kids. OK, so the kids and Mom will wear red, while Dad will wear a green shirt. They had a really cool looking shirt with a hood for the girls that say “I love Mickey” and it has Christmassy stuff on the arms, but they only have XS.

By this time it is after 9:00. Did we step into some kind of time warp or something, how is it so late all we did was eat and hit one store. We quickly go through the Mickey Kitchen store, and go into the Christmas store. Get a couple of ornaments, Diane and the kids head off to the potty again. While I am waiting I see the “I love Mickey” shirts, and they have them in bigger sizes. Sweet. Add them to the stuff, and head to the register.

Ok, shopping is done. Let’s head out to the bus. Everybody is pretty tired at this point. 15 minutes later the bus arrives and we pile in. Of course it must be at the end of a shift and the bus drivers switch out so that delays us a bit. Very funny Vacation Gods you got me again. All we want to do is get back to the resort and go to sleep, but you figure out a way to delay us.

Finally back at the resort, take the walk up the hill to the entrance. Why are the busses so far away? Then we have to walk through the lobby. Wow, did they make this place bigger while we were gone? Trek up to the room, ahh, good night.

Tomorrow morning, back to Animal Kingdom.

 

[jenseib]

That is how Disney is..Before you know the day is gone and you think "what did I even do"? LOL But it is still fun.
I can't remember, were you on the dining plan?

And how much was the Donald picture at Tusker House?

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

That is how Disney is..Before you know the day is gone and you think "what did I even do"? LOL But it is still fun.
I can't remember, were you on the dining plan?

And how much was the Donald picture at Tusker House?

We weren't on the Dining Plan. The split stay kinda killed any package deals since you need to include park tickets. Since the first few days of a multi-day ticket cost the most, having two sets of tickets would have eliminated the savings I got from the 40% off PIN code.

I think the pictures were like $30. You get an 8x10 and 4 4x6's, so by Disney standards, that's a bargain price. By my standards it should be part of the price of breakfast.

Speaking of which, why do they include the amount for an 18 and 20% tip at a buffet meal? Do the servers expect me to tip close to $20 for getting shown to my seat and getting drinks? I go get my own food, so you really aren't doing too much. I did tip $10 since they probably don't make much, but a 20% tip seemed like an awful lot for the service.

 

[annmarieda]

Feel free to steal the photo album idea, that's how I got it. I forget who posted it, but I thought it was a good idea.

Thanks! I think I will.

My wife complained a bit about getting up early, but the onde day we go to EPCOT a little late and had to wait in lines she said that getting in early is great because there aren't many lines.

yes! my family may complain about my driving us to get up and staying on schedule, but the minute we are off schedule or miss getting the the parks on time, they are quick to agree that it is better my way. (was there ever a question that I am always right? )

 

[annmarieda]

Love all the pictures in the new update!

The girls face paintings were excellent. My youngest had hers done on the last trip...I was surprised at how quickly they rubbed off. Course, maybe that just is an indication of how much she touches her face. Hopefully, your girls were more successful in keeping the paint on their faces.

Very cool how the girls got to parade around at FOTLK. We have yet to get good seats for that. See, again it pays to press to be early.

On the tipping at buffets issue... I agree. I thought that the % to tip at a buffet was less. That fact they list the 18 and 20% amounts makes me feel like I should tip that. We ate at Tusker twice on our last trip and the first time we didn't even get our drinks until we had already finished one plate and gone back for more. I didn't tip as much then (with no guilt).

 

[jenseib]

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Love all the pictures in the new update!

The girls face paintings were excellent. My youngest had hers done on the last trip...I was surprised at how quickly they rubbed off. Course, maybe that just is an indication of how much she touches her face. Hopefully, your girls were more successful in keeping the paint on their faces.

Very cool how the girls got to parade around at FOTLK. We have yet to get good seats for that. See, again it pays to press to be early.

On the tipping at buffets issue... I agree. I thought that the % to tip at a buffet was less. That fact they list the 18 and 20% amounts makes me feel like I should tip that. We ate at Tusker twice on our last trip and the first time we didn't even get our drinks until we had already finished one plate and gone back for more. I didn't tip as much then (with no guilt).

The paint lasted all day, but wore off mostly by morning, so I had to wipe it off so the remnants wouldn't be in the pics for the Christmas cards.

Well, we were early for the 1:00 showing of FOTLK. Definitely worth the wait if you can get front row seats, good chance of the kids getting picked.

Good to know I'm not the only one to think the 20% was a bit high. I did tip the lady at Crystal Palace more because she was very attentive and stopped by our table many times. Letting us know approx how long before the characters would get to our table.

Thanks, I hope you and yours have a Happy New Year. I was going to use that image myself, now I gotta go find a new one.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Happy New Years.