Bringin' the HAPPY back! A (do-over) Spring Break TR!

[tinkgurl]

Aw man, we were sad on that day too. It was our last full day, so of course we spent it at the MK.

 

[MHTeacher]

Love getting two sets of fast passes for TSM! I always want to ride it twice during the day, but somehow, we never manage to get a second FP.

 

[MeMom]

I was so excited to see Luxo! Around this time, I was texting with wigd, and I shared my excitement about Luxo with her.

It was getting close to 11 at this point, and DH & I were getting hungry. We decided to go see if we could get into Mama Melrose without an ADR (as a sidenote, we've never had a problem getting in to Mama Melrose at any time of day, any time of year) but discovered that they don't open for lunch until 12!

Trying to peek in and catch up on reports this morning while my kids are at Music.

Texting with Wigd?
Imagine that!

We have put Mama Melrose on our list and taken it off several times. It's good to know that we might be able to do a walk-up of we find we have some extra time this summer. I was really thinking we might try that one day, so your comment makes me feel better about our chances. Of course, we're going to be there during Fourth of July week, so we might not be so lucky.

 

[michellem1118]

Aw man, we were sad on that day too. It was our last full day, so of course we spent it at the MK.

There's nothing like the last full Disney day! But I never start getting sad until the day we're actually leaving, the last full day is always still happy!

Love getting two sets of fast passes for TSM! I always want to ride it twice during the day, but somehow, we never manage to get a second FP.

We almost always grab a set of FPs, and then hop in the stand-by line. This is where being at the front for rope drop comes in handy.

Trying to peek in and catch up on reports this morning while my kids are at Music.

Texting with Wigd?
Imagine that!

We have put Mama Melrose on our list and taken it off several times. It's good to know that we might be able to do a walk-up of we find we have some extra time this summer. I was really thinking we might try that one day, so your comment makes me feel better about our chances. Of course, we're going to be there during Fourth of July week, so we might not be so lucky.

Mama Melrose told us during the week between Christmas & New Years that they would be able to seat our party of 6 walk-up if we were there right at opening for either lunch or dinner, so there's always a chance. We really like Mama Melrose, its one of our favorite restaurants, especially at DHS.

 

[michellem1118]

Thursday, May 18 (con't)

We finished up our Pizza Planet lunch around 11:30, and headed off to explore in the Streets of America area to let our lunch settle. We came across some things that were painted by Muppets:

and then stumbled onto a magical umbrella:

After a few minutes, we decided to go grab magic FPs for Rock n' Rollercoaster - our very last set of magic FPs. When we approached RnRC, the CM at the FP machine was just handing them out (with a 4:45pm return time) because the FP line was so long. I had to wait for him to finish in order to use my magic FP, but it was a short wait, and soon we headed on to one of our absolute favorite rides.

After arriving backstage at the Aerosmith concert (oh, how I wish!), we did some browsing in the gift shop, looked at our picture, and then headed back towards Pixar Place to use our 2nd TSM FP.

It appears that I won this round:

DH & I unlocked a "secret" round, too - on the screen where you have to toss the rings around the little alien guys, if you can get all the aliens out of the center at the same time, it opens up a slightly different ring-toss game where you can get tons of points really quickly.

Around this time, or maybe right before our ride on TSM, I got a text from wigd that she & shocker had arrived at DHS. She asked if we wanted to join them for lunch at Brown Derby, but I replied that we'd already eaten, and asked her to text me again when they were done. So, after TSM, we decided to head over to Star Tours. We hadn't ridden it in several trips, and thought it would be a good way to pass the time while we waited for our new friends to eat lunch.

The line moved quickly, until we were right next to these guys:

We were stuck there for probably at least 10 minutes.

After Star Tours, I thought it would be a good idea to head back towards Brown Derby to see if we could find wigd and shocker. As we approached Brown Derby, I could see them outside... at about that time, I had a text from wigd asking where we were.... I replied with "walking towards you." I think it might have confused them a bit!

We spent the last part of our DHS morning/early afternoon walking around and talking with wigd and shocker. We took some PhotoPass pictures:

and wigd and I both took some scenery pictures as well (I only have my pictures though, hers I'm sure will appear in her TR when she gets to this day!)

We stopped by the Guest Relations on the way out, so that I could pick up my souvies from that morning (a little Eeyore, and a coffee cup to take to work - I'll try to remember to take a picture), and then headed out of DHS. DH & I were headed back to BCV to wait on our ME pick-up, and our new friends were headed to .... well, I'll let them tell you in their report!

Up next: Our last few hours at BCV, and our trip home...

 

[wigdoutdismom]

You all make the best use of your time!
Sometime we do and sometimes we don't....
I have to say at this point I have no clue what we were going to do as you were heading out to catch ME.....

 

[michellem1118]

You all make the best use of your time!
Sometime we do and sometimes we don't....
I have to say at this point I have no clue what we were going to do as you were heading out to catch ME.....

 

[MHTeacher]

Awesome TSM scores !!

 

[vamassey1]

I love the pictures you got outside Star Tours! I'll have to remember to take some next time. Sounds like you hit most of the highlights in a short amount of time.

 

[michellem1118]

Awesome TSM scores !!

Thanks! I credit the secret game we unlocked. These were definitely the best scores we've ever had on TSM!

I love the pictures you got outside Star Tours! I'll have to remember to take some next time. Sounds like you hit most of the highlights in a short amount of time.

Thanks! I think this was the first trip that I've ever waited in the Star Tours standby line, and it was definitely the first time I took pictures. I was pretty happy with how well we managed to use our time that morning!

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I plan on finishing up the last day of our trip sometime tonight...

... and I have an announcement to make about the summer trips as well...

 

[Disneymoon09]

I know I have said it before, but I looove your TR! So fun, and like the others say, you did manage time really well! We need some pointers oh that!

TSM Score was awesome! I am going to PM you to get a slushie lushie tag, because, those are sluhies are amazing.

 

[michellem1118]

I know I have said it before, but I looove your TR! So fun, and like the others say, you did manage time really well! We need some pointers oh that!

TSM Score was awesome! I am going to PM you to get a slushie lushie tag, because, those are sluhies are amazing.

Time management pointer: be early to rope drop so you're at the front of the crowd, and have a plan for what you want to accomplish for the day. It works for us!

I'll just need your email addy for the slushie lushie tag, so I can email you the finished product.

 

[MeMom]

Time management pointer: be early to rope drop so you're at the front of the crowd, and have a plan for what you want to accomplish for the day. It works for us!

Excellent advice.
Works for us every time.

Star Tours is one of my favorite rides, so I am excited about the updates to come.

 

[michellem1118]

Almost time to go home

We made our way to the boat dock to ride back to Beach Club.

We got back around 2 or so, and our ME pickup was scheduled for 4:30. First, we headed to find some food - we ended up with a turkey sandwich that we shared, and a bag of chips? Then we took some time to explore Beach Club and take pictures (I apologize if any of these are duplicated from other places in my TR, I can't remember what I posted already)

The pool area:

The beach:

Inside the resort:

The Villa area:

Cool artwork on display in the Villa area:

The quiet pool:

By this time, it was nearly 3:30. We decided to go reclaim our bags from bell services, and head over to the ME pick-up area. ME was running behind, so the bus that showed up at 4 was really the 3:15 or 3:30 pick-up. Luckily, the driver had extra seats, so he allowed us to go ahead and get on the bus, rather than making us wait for our scheduled pick-up.

We made it to MCO without issues, only to find the most ridiculous security lines I've ever seen, anywhere. They weren't even that bad at Christmas! It took us around 30 minutes to clear security, and then we went in search of more food. I think we ended up at Burger King.

Then it was on to our gate, very early as always. We noticed that there was a non-stop AirTran flight from MCO to Dallas, so I stopped by the desk to see if there was any chance we could get on that flight - I was terrified that we'd have a repeat of our experience getting to Orlando when we got to Atlanta. The AirTran employee told me that the flight was already full, but that I could ask to be moved to the stand-by list... but our flight to Atlanta actually left earlier than the non-stop to Dallas, so we decided to just cross our fingers with our original flight.

We made the quick flight to Atlanta, and got incredibly lucky - our connecting flight was leaving from just a gate or two down from the one we landed at. I double-checked with the AirTran employee at the gate that we were still on the flight (we were), and soon we were back in Dallas. We arrived home after midnight, sad that our Disney trip was over (without another one planned for the foreseeable future), but happy to be back in our own bed.

Up next: Final thoughts & reflections, and perhaps some pre-trip planning for the trip in TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

All I can say is that those pictures have me ready to go back!
Glad you made it home without any issues.
So unlike us....

 

[vamassey1]

Beautiful pictures! I've never been there during the daytime. We ate at Cape May's one night. We were so tired I only took one picture.

Glad your trip home was uneventful. Takes a lot of the stress and sadness of leaving when it's uneventful.

 

[Happydog]

Hi! Well I figured since you were gracious enough to let me into the Slushie club, I better get myself over to your TR! I don't know why I didn't notice it before! So I am on page 8, and have QUITE a few more to go, but I thought I'd stop and say HI!!!! Can't wait to read more!!!!

 

[michellem1118]

All I can say is that those pictures have me ready to go back!
Glad you made it home without any issues.
So unlike us....

Yes, getting home was much less eventful than getting there had been. I'm ready to go back too... but I have 2 more weeks instead of just one!

Beautiful pictures! I've never been there during the daytime. We ate at Cape May's one night. We were so tired I only took one picture.

Glad your trip home was uneventful. Takes a lot of the stress and sadness of leaving when it's uneventful.

I almost never think to take pictures of the resorts where we stay, but we had a lot of extra time that day. I'm glad I remembered! In all our stays at SSR, I don't think I've ever gotten pictures inside the main building.

Hi! Well I figured since you were gracious enough to let me into the Slushie club, I better get myself over to your TR! I don't know why I didn't notice it before! So I am on page 8, and have QUITE a few more to go, but I thought I'd stop and say HI!!!! Can't wait to read more!!!!

Welcome! I'm glad to see you over here, even if I am almost done! You'll be just in time to join the next one, though, coming up in about 3 weeks... or possibly earlier... if I take the laptop, I may attempt a live-ish report.

 

[michellem1118]

Final Thoughts

1. This trip did exactly what we'd hoped it would do - it put the happy back into our happy place! We had a great time, we met new friends, and we got to enjoy the World the way we wanted to.

2. I'm still not sure that renewing our APs was a good idea (but don't tell that to all those tickers in my siggy, ). We weren't quite expecting to spend that much on the trip, and looking towards the future, that money could have gone for other things. We definitely won't renew again next summer... we'll just have to make sure that next June's trip ends before the APs expire.

3. Beach Club is our new favorite resort (of the ones we've stayed in, of course). I can't wait to be able to go in the summer & stay there, so we can get the full advantage of SAB.

4. This was the first trip in a long time where we would've come close to breaking even if we'd done the DDP. We must have picked more expensive TS places this time around. I still don't think the DDP is usually a good value for us, but I do enjoy the convenience. I'm debating adding the QSDDP to our June ressie (our only TS reservation is Crystal Palace for breakfast)...

I guess that's about it. Another trip report comes to an end. The next one will start in about 3 weeks. We leave on the next trip 2 weeks from today... VWL, here we come! I need to raid my closet and evaluate the clothing situation, plus wrap up the end of the school year. It'll be a busy two weeks preparing for the trip. We have six full days and two 1/2 days left of school - I'll miss two of the full days to interview candidates for our principal position. My students (all 95 of them) are working on research projects that are due the same day I'm supposed to have grades turned in! Yes, bad planning on my part. Then, the Saturday between school ending & leaving for WDW, I have to proctor the SAT. I'm really looking forward to going to WDW to relax!

 

[vamassey1]

Thanks for sharing your report and final thoughts.

Sounds like you end of school is extremely busy and that next trip will be more than needed. Our kids got out of school Thursday.