Boo to Two, Kelley and Missy's Joint TR! Update! 3/28

[Missyrose]

After the grand finale, Franklin headed up Main Street to put the tripod back in his locker. I met him at Town Square where we got in the FP line for Princesses. There weren’t very many groups ahead of us, maybe 10 give or take. But it took forever to get through the line! For almost 25 minutes we just sat in the same spot. Almost an hour after we got in line, it was our turn to meet the Princesses.

First up was Belle. Man, I love her dress.

She got pretty flirty with Franklin. Hey lady, back off my man -- you’ve got your own prince!

Next came Aurora, who was by far the best meet and greet of the bunch. She was very chatty, had an awesome personality, told great stories, and was lots of fun!

Lastly was Cinderella, who wasn’t quite as effervescent as Aurora, but WHOA! she looked like the Cinderella cartoon!

We hadn’t expected to devote that much time to the Princesses. So when we got out we had a decision to make: Use our Mickey FPs or head for some rides. How can you come to Disney World and NOT visit Mickey?!?!! So we headed back into Town Square.
The wait was about four minutes long! Soon we were ushered into Mickey and Minnie’s dressing room.

Minnie is seriously my favorite, I was loving this big hug from her.

That might be my favorite photo from the entire trip (hence my new avatar).

I usually hate how I look in photos and it’s a complete miracle that I ended up loving ALL these photos from the Mickey and Minnie M&G.

Having our fill of characters, we headed to Space Mountain to use our FPs from earlier in the day. The FP line was twice as long as regular line -- and it took 35 minutes to get onto ride. We ran into Mike in line, he told us Kelley was with Ryan and Jack outside. We found Kelley and the boys as we left SM and we sat down to share our character photos with them. Once Mike emerged, we all decided to head back to Frontierland for a spin on Big Thunder Mountain. As we left Tomorrowland, we stopped at the Photopass photographer to get some shots with the castle all lit up.

When we arrived at BTM, Franklin and I volunteered to stay with Ryan and Jack while Kelley and Mike went on the ride (they hadn’t gotten to ride many things together on the trip). Ryan was out cold in the stroller, Jack had whipped out his iPod was dancing to Party Rock Anthem.

When it was our turn, we used our FPs and the CM handed us two anytime FPs, but they were only good for that day and it was 11:52 (the park was closing at midnight). The thought was nice though!

I love BTM at night, everything on the ride looks so cool all lit up, as does the rest of the park. Sigh, I can’t believe BTM will be closed during our March trip. I’ve never gone to WDW and NOT ridden BTM. But I’m sure the refurb will be worth it in the end.

It was time to bring yet another wonderful Disney day to an end, so we started making our way to the front of the park.

We stopped in the Emporium for me to buy a Rock-n-Roller Coaster pin to commemorate me conquering yet another thrill-ride fear.
As we were exiting the park we both complained about how much our feet were killing us, so we took the monorail back to CR, where we immediately crashed into bed!

 

[teekathepony]

Great fireworks pictures! I love the princess and Mickey pictures too, they're so much fun to meet. I love BTM at night too!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Congratulations on your first DVC contract! That's super exciting.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, they are building DVC at the Grand Floridian set to open in 2013. I'm super excited!

 

[Missyrose]

Great fireworks pictures! I love the princess and Mickey pictures too, they're so much fun to meet. I love BTM at night too!

Franklin says "Thanks" for the compliments on his photos! He kept tweaking things after each fireworks show that he shot, and he felt like the photos got better as the trip wore on. He also can't wait to try a few new things when we go back in March.

We really had fun with the character M&G. That's the key, if you want to have fun with it, they can be a lot of fun.

Congratulations on your first DVC contract! That's super exciting.

Oh, and in case you didn't know, they are building DVC at the Grand Floridian set to open in 2013. I'm super excited!

Thanks! We're pretty excited, lots of trips on the horizon. I had heard about GFV, and I hope I get to stay there at some point (if the point costs aren't super ridiculous.) Either way, I can't wait to see how those villas turn out!

 

[natebenma]

The castle looks really cool during the Magic, Memories and You show. Great viewing spot!!!

When I heard about it, I was skeptical too. Franklin's pictures really bring out the beauty of the show. Love the one with all of the vines. I am also amused by all of the lightup video displays you can see in the picture. Makes sense.

We don't do much for Meet and Greets. With teen/preteen boys, I don't see myself rubbing elbows with princesses any time soon. We have enjoyed the character meals we have done, but it has been a few years since then, too.

 

[Missyrose]

The castle looks really cool during the Magic, Memories and You show. Great viewing spot!!!

When I heard about it, I was skeptical too. Franklin's pictures really bring out the beauty of the show. Love the one with all of the vines. I am also amused by all of the lightup video displays you can see in the picture. Makes sense.

We don't do much for Meet and Greets. With teen/preteen boys, I don't see myself rubbing elbows with princesses any time soon. We have enjoyed the character meals we have done, but it has been a few years since then, too.

I'm toying with the idea of moving closer for Magic, Memories and You in March, just so I can see the photos and the videos a bit better. Franklin will probably stick with his spot because he likes how his photos turned out last time.

I wasn't sure how Franklin would do with the Princess M&Gs, especially after the wait ended up being soooooo much longer than either of us intended, but he had fun with it! And he's even given me the okay to add breakfast at the castle to my list of ADRs for next October!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Amazing upddates! Ok...I'm with you....the Magic, Memories and You show brought tears to my eyes, I loved it! Your pictures of Wishes are incredible! Made me feel like I was right there!

Belle is gorgeous, but I'm with ya sista...back off girl, you got your own prince Aurora is adorable and that Cinderella we met at the Castle once!

I love the picture of you hugging Minnie, it's too cute!

 

[Missyrose]

Amazing upddates! Ok...I'm with you....the Magic, Memories and You show brought tears to my eyes, I loved it! Your pictures of Wishes are incredible! Made me feel like I was right there!

Thanks. I love flipping through all the pictures to put these updates together, it does take you right back to those moments. Plus it gets me excited to go back again in just 40 days!

Belle is gorgeous, but I'm with ya sista...back off girl, you got your own prince Aurora is adorable and that Cinderella we met at the Castle once!

My favorite part of standing in line for the princesses was getting to watch all the little girls in front of us getting to meet them. Those moments are sooooo precious! I still can't get over how perfect that Cinderella looked, that's so cool that you met her too!

I love the picture of you hugging Minnie, it's too cute!

Thanks I love me some Minnie, and I may have just bought a new Minnie T-shirt from Old Navy

 

[Nermel9]

Wow love your pictures of the MM&Y show and Wishes!

And I love all of your pics with the princesses and Mickey and Minnie! I really need to get a picture with Minnie in her red dress, whenever I meet Minnie it's for a special event, and I want to get a picture with just regular, everyday Minnie!

 

[Missyrose]

Wow love your pictures of the MM&Y show and Wishes!

And I love all of your pics with the princesses and Mickey and Minnie! I really need to get a picture with Minnie in her red dress, whenever I meet Minnie it's for a special event, and I want to get a picture with just regular, everyday Minnie!

Thanks! It's funny, when I did the M&G with Minnie at DHS she had a pink dress on and I was a little bummed because I love her red polka dot dress so much! Luckily I managed to squeeze in a M&G in that dress too!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Playing catch up again!

I'm SO glad the Bay Lake View room turned out to be a good thing! It really does provide an amazing view - we enjoyed a similar one from BLT back in March. Those sunsets are beautiful.

And speaking of beautiful---more awesome fireworks pictures! The protractor + tripod were well worth the hassle. Absolutely stunning.

LOVE LOVE LOVE your new avatar!!! Minnie is my favorite as well!

The boys favorite part of that was the play area after the ride – they spent 20 minutes running around and jumping on the different instrument squares.

So very cute! That aftershow area is a lot of fun for the littles, we usually have to peel Henry out of there. The burping story was HILARIOUS!

 

[Missyrose]

Playing catch up again!

I'm SO glad the Bay Lake View room turned out to be a good thing! It really does provide an amazing view - we enjoyed a similar one from BLT back in March. Those sunsets are beautiful.

And speaking of beautiful---more awesome fireworks pictures! The protractor + tripod were well worth the hassle. Absolutely stunning.

LOVE LOVE LOVE your new avatar!!! Minnie is my favorite as well!

The Bay Lake View was gorgeous! Very tranquil. Thanks for the compliments on the pictures. The silly thing is there's about a million things Franklin wants to tweak about taking fireworks photos, so luckily he has another shot at it in a mere 38 days!

 

[Missyrose]

Before I start this chapter, I wanted to wish a happy birthday to my partner in crime and the photographer whose photos make my TRs possible, Franklin! He turns the big 3-0 today! And now, back to your regularly scheduled TR programming.

It’s Day 4, our last full day of our trip. But no sadness yet, we’ve still got lots of fun ahead! That morning we were moving rooms again, so we called to get our luggage moved to our new Theme Park View room, which was not ready yet.

After another day in which we closed the park after midnight and were up again for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast ADR, we were dragging a bit that morning. But we were up and moving, down to the monorail and on our way to the Poly.

We arrived at Kona Cafe at 7:20 and were seated immediately.

Franklin ordered the Tonga Toast and an orange juice. Before the strawberry sauce...

… And after.

I ordered the Big Kahuna platter, but with plain pancakes instead of macadamia pancakes.

Franklin loooooooved the Tonga Toast, it totally lived up to everything I’d told him from other people’s reports. Mine was a good breakfast, nothing all that spectacular. As we left the restaurant, I realized I’d put my pin lanyard in one of the bags we’d put in the luggage hold. So we hopped off the monorail at CR to pick it up. Then it was back onto monorail to TTC, then Epcot.

Our detour meant we were a smidge late in getting to Epcot, getting there at 9:10 instead of 9, but no worries -- there were no crowds! Franklin went to get Soarin’ FPs, I went to pin store. There, I bought a lanyard medal and a Finding Nemo pin set. Franklin found me, and we went to Test Track where we rode single rider with no wait.

We pretended to be terrified in our ride photo.

We then moseyed next door to Mission Space, which was also a walk on.

At that point, Franklin said he was really tired, so we grabbed a frozen Coke and plopped ourselves down on a bench. I put together my new pins on the lanyard. Franklin wanted to watch Captain EO so he could take a nap.

And you can’t see Captain EO and then skip Journey into the Imagination.

Franklin was BEAT, it was 11:30 and he was dead on his feet. So we made the decision to take the boat to the Boardwalk to go to ESPN and watch the Redskins game.

 

[Missyrose]

So we made our way back into the World Showcase.

I was so excited to see this display because I’d watched the Yard Crashers episode where they’d built it!

We hopped on the boat outside the International Gateway.

I took the opportunity to introduce Franklin to the Epcot resorts.

Soon we arrived at the Boardwalk and made our way to ESPN.

For those of you who haven’t been there, ESPN doesn’t take ADRs. So we got in line and waited an hour for a table. We were seated directly in front of a TV showing the game we wanted to see. But like so many Redskins games, it was already a lost cause.

You know Franklin was tired, because there are NO PICTURES of what we ate at lunch. But here’s the rundown of what we got:

Drinks: Beer (Franklin) and iced tea (me).
Appetizer: Chicken wings
Entree: We each got a hot dog and fries

After we finished eating, Franklin felt way better, but I now felt like he had a couple of hours before. But we had wasted enough time watching football, it was time to hop back on the boat and cruise into the Food and Wine Festival!

It was later than we had hoped to start our F&W fun, so the WS was pretty busy.

We started at Canada, where Franklin got Salmon with barley salad and Moosehead Beer.

We then moved West to Hawaii, where Franklin got a Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Lotus Root Chips.

At Australia, I got Grilled Lamb Chop with Potato-Goat Cheese Salad and Shiraz Reduction. And, oh my God, it was sooooo good! Probably one of the best things I ate at the Festival.

At Brazil, Franklin got Seared Mahi Mahi with steamed rice, Hearts of Palm and Coconut-Lime Sauce. He also grabbed a Frozen Rock Coconut Mojito from the Caribbean kiosk (this ended up being his favorite drink of the trip!)

We saw Duffy doing meet and greets. Now it is a cute stuffed animal and the outfits are just adorable. But is this really an exciting character to meet? Am I missing something?

We moved onward to China, where I got potstickers. Loved them last year and I loved them again this year.

Next was Germany, where Franklin got Bier Flight #1 (Radeberger Pilsner; Schöfferhofer Weizen; and BraufactuM Roog), and we split a Nuernberger Sausage in a Pretzel Roll. The sausage roll was another repeat from last year, but well worth eating again. While Franklin was in line at Germany, I snuck into Karamel Kuche to get us a couple of sweet treats a chocolate and caramel covered strawberry and a bag of caramel corn.

As we were pretty full and we knew we had a big dinner at California Grill awaiting us that evening, we turned around and worked our way out of the WS. We stopped at the margarita stand to get a mango margarita to split. But we got sprinkled with a little pixie dust and they gave us two margaritas for the price of one!

We stopped for a few photopass pictures in front of the fountain.

We then stopped in the F&W center to buy my annual passholder Festival pin.

We planned to make a hasty retreat to the monorail and back to the hotel, but I got so caught up in my pin trading and talking to the CMs with whom I was trading, it ended up taking almost an hour to get out of the park. So here’s what things looked like as the sun began to set on yet another fun day at Disney.

Still to come, watching Hallowishes at CR with Mike, Kelley and the boys and a truly delicious dinner at California Grill!

 

[teekathepony]

A great day indeed, you guys did well at the F&WF! Moosehead Beer is from Nova Scotia, like me
I need to try me some tonga toast some day.

 

[Missyrose]

A great day indeed, you guys did well at the F&WF! Moosehead Beer is from Nova Scotia, like me
I need to try me some tonga toast some day.

It was a really fun afternoon at F&W, even if I was exhausted! Franklin gave the Moosehead beer and Tonga Toast both !

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

Saturday 10/15

Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s!

My alarm went off at 5:30am. Ew, yucky. But it was for a good reason! We were having breakfast with Mickey and the gang! I quickly showered and dressed, then woke up Mike, and then lastly, the boys. Everyone was dressed, ready, and miraculously in the lobby in time for our 6:35am Taxi Cab! We hopped in the cab, gave the driver our awesome voucher, and he took us directly to the Contemporary Resort! We were second in line to check in at Chef Mickey’s, so we were seated promptly at 7:10.

Now: One small complaint – they have a picture area where they take your souvenir picture as a family. It’s a Disney photographer, but it isn’t a PhotoPass picture. I mistakenly thought you would just get that picture… Haha. Silly me. I could have bought that one mediocre family photo for the low price of $29.99. And when I’m eating a $30 breakfast already, it’s not a good time to try to sell me something! Anyhow – back to the meal…

We were seated near the kitchen, which was great because that’s where the characters come out, so we didn’t have to wait long before we were greeted by Goofy, Donald, Minnie, Pluto, and the mouse himself, Mickey!!

In between character visits, Mike and I took turns grabbing food from the buffet. The boys loved the Mickey face waffles, and they gorged themselves on fresh fruit.

I asked Jack and Mike to smile for the camera, and this is what I got:

Mike was trying to encourage Jack to say hi to Donald. Jack wasn't having any of that!

I think I drank about a gallon of coffee, and I also enjoyed fruit and Mickey waffles. Mike had some yogurt, fruit, pastries, cereal, and waffles! He was determined to get our money’s worth I guess

My favorite guys and Pluto (note Jack's slightly terrified face)

Then the meal ended with cupcakes from Mickey! Because what early morning breakfast would be complete without cake?!

Then after breakfast, the boys really wanted to see and ride on the monorail! (Even though it would have been WAYYYY faster to just walk) So we hopped on the monorail, and made our way over to rope drop at the Magic Kingdom!

 

[natebenma]

Franklin!!!

I'm glad Franklin enjoyed the Tonga Toast.

Thank you for posting the picture of the sign. I am finally working on my photo albums from my summer trip, and I was looking for a picture of a sign for Kona. I didn't take one and I didn't see one on the menu sticky. Could you ask Franklin if he would mind if I printed this picture to use in my photo album? For my own purposes only. Although if he would prefer I don't use it, that fine, too.

(I am also looking for one of the astronauts from Space Mountain or the People Mover. Do I remember one from this report or another of yours...)

Too bad you were a little worn out, but totally understandable. The items you got from food and wine looked great.

I'm with him- the Frozen Rock Coconut Mojito sounds awesome!

So here’s what things looked like as the sun began to set on yet another fun day at Disney.

AMAZING picture!!!

 

[natebenma]

What a nice breakfast experience. Looks like you got some mixed reactions to the characters. Never quite know at that age how they will react.

ITA about that photo. We have been to CM breakfast twice and we refused to even have our photo taken. They didn't like that!

Sounds like you managed to have a fairly healthy breakfast (cupcake excluded). My boys gravitated to the sugar cereal, rice krispie treats and candy!!! At breakfast.

The monorail is TOO a ride!!!

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

What a nice breakfast experience. Looks like you got some mixed reactions to the characters. Never quite know at that age how they will react.

ITA about that photo. We have been to CM breakfast twice and we refused to even have our photo taken. They didn't like that!

Sounds like you managed to have a fairly healthy breakfast (cupcake excluded). My boys gravitated to the sugar cereal, rice krispie treats and candy!!! At breakfast.

The monorail is TOO a ride!!!

Thanks! Yes, we knew that Jack was less than fond of the characters, so I purposely waited until Saturday before doing a character meal. He still didn't want to have much to do with them!

Yeah, that photo should at least be photo pass. The lady was getting a bit intense... she was like "Once you reject it, it's gone. We don't save these photos." Well, I wanted to say, "Why did you print it out as an 8x10? If you're just gonna throw it out, why can't I just have it??"

Thankfully, the boys LOVE waffles, so its no contest with the sugar cereals. But don't worry, the cupcakes gave them a big dose of sugar to start off our magic kingdom day!