Celebrating my big 4-0 with the Big Cheese - Update 11/13, page 19

[Megablocks]

I love your rope drop pictures! I'm really hoping to make a rope drop at MK when we go in January.

So glad you guys enjoyed Chef Mickey's. It's a family tradition for us to eat there, we've gone on every trip since our first trip and can't imagine not going. I'm definitely more of a fan of the breakfast than the dinner. I'm not sure I remember those cheesy hashbrowns, though. They look AMAZING!

 

[MEK]

Katie -

Your Pop pictures are so great! I love the bridge picture and I love the one with flowers in the foreground of the pool. I am just way to lazy to cut and past them. I am so glad you got the perfect room location.

Score on the chef Mickey ADR and convenient birthday surprise!

 

[Native NYer]

Love your Pop photos!
Chef Mickey's is so much fun.
What a great morning!

 

[kschafer]

What an awesome update, Katie. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad you guys went on Dumbo first! That is always our first destination our first morning at the MK!

And I am thrilled you ended up being able to go to Chef Mickey's. Those cheesey bacon hash browns look so good; I may have to get back there soon just for those hash browns!

Daniel looks like he did pretty darn good with the characters!

I was happy to get there first thing, even if the wait was already 15 minutes by the time we got there! I have happy pictures of me riding with my grandparents and now happy pics with my own kids

I looked up the recipe for the hashbrowns but it calls for "cheese sauce" and of course there are many variations which can potentially change the flavor (and it also gave me a clue about nutrition which...well...let's just say it may have to be a vacation only food!)

Sounds like a great start to your day! Loved the pictures from Dumbo, what a neat feature on your camera! Chef Mickey's looked yummy! We had dinner there and enjoyed it too. Can't wait to hear more!

I love the burst mode setting. It can actually take 10 pics in a second but really, there is such little change in a scene in that time, I set it for a longer delay. My only complaint is that the processing of the pictures is several additional seconds so it is a bit of a wait before you can take more.

I'm so glad you were able to ride Dumbo first thing! I adore Dumbo, it just makes me feel like a kid again.

The constructions pictures make me sooooo excited for when the Fantasyland expansion will be done!

I am seriously considering an OOP meal at Narcoosseeses.....

DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!! Yum yum

I am anxious to the the expansion but I know it will be a couple years so I will have to practice patience on this one!

Thanks for sharing pictures of rope drop as that is not an event I am ever likely to catch at Disney. very cool camera feature and great shots capturing the Fantasyland construction.

I'm so glad Chef Mickey's worked out and was a hit. Cheesy hashbrowns sound great.

You really should get to it once, it's one of my favorite events...if only every morning could begin with song, dance and streamers!

I was thrilled the ADR worked out because I was seriously bummed I couldn't get one myself

Those cheesy hashbrowns sound yummy! I'm not a big fan of Chef Mickey's myself, it always feels so chaotic. Not to mention we've eaten there twice and never met Mickey! I know it's a big favorite with a lot of people though, maybe we need to give it another chance....

I thought it was less chaotic than Crystal Palace but maybe that was because we were sitting kind of in a separate room instead of in 1 big open one. No Mickey though I would be upset about that too!!

Your oldest is about to get as tall as you, Mom.

We enjoy Chef Mickey's, too. It is loud and crazy at times, but it is a classic, especially if someone is only going to WDW once in a kid's life. You get the Fab Five for pictures with no lines.

Looking forward to seeing Magic Kingdom fun Part 2 for the day.

Such a sad thought Given Greg is a good 10 inches taller than me, I'm destined to be the shortest eventually

I was thrilled to get to CM while the kids were this age, I have a feeling Patrick may be a bit more jaded by the time we get to again (at least on the outside, I think he'll always be a big softy on the inside like his mom!)

Love the pictures - so glad you did Dumbo, Chef Mickey's, it's so worth it not to miss the short line on Dumbo! So cute that Goofy sat down with you! Looking forward to more!

Even Greg enjoyed CM so it was totally worth it!

I love the shots of the construction from Dumbo! That is a pretty cool setting on your camera! I'll have to look for something like that (I want a new one before the next trip). That's nice that you guys got to meet Pinochhio with no line!

I am so glad you guys got to check out Chef Mickey's!! Oh I love it there! I've never been for breakfast (I can't pass up the parmesan mashed potatoes they have at dinner!) I love Greg's face while he's twirling his napkin! That is priceless! Looks like the boys had a blast too! And mum of course too!

I love my new camera, lots of great features and the price is pretty decent, let me know if you want more info

I am not a huge buffet fan but breakfast is always a bit safer IMO since lunch/dinner is always heavy on prepared salads which I am not a fan of.

 

[sunny_stace]

I love my new camera, lots of great features and the price is pretty decent, let me know if you want more info

I would love more info if you don't mind! Send me a PM! Thanks Katie! Hope the weather has gotten better in your neck of the woods!

 

[kschafer]

We had a terrible storm hit here in Holland MI too yesterday, tons of big old trees down~ we only lost power for an hour, but the rest of town was out most of the day. A father of 6 was killed when his garage collapsed. I hope you and your community are ok.

My aunt lives just north of Muskegon and it sounds like they got hit hard too! How sad about the death As far as I know, there were no serious injuries although a nearby town had to be evacuated because of gas leaks and they lost so may power lines, they had to bring in a generator capable of powering the whole town

I loved Chef Mickeys when I went in '09!

It was a hit with our family too

Oh dear! I'm glad you are all ok and have your power back!
Those storms were headed toward us too, but being in the middle of the great lakes helped us and they blew right over us and into Quebec!

glad you were spared, this was the worst summer storm I have seen in a few years!

Oh no! We are in your neck of the woods right now - got here yesterday. We had a little rain as we were coming in but no bad storms. And let me just tell you we were loving the cooler temps last night! It's been over 100 degrees everyday for what seems like forever at home and last night we were all sitting outside enjoying temps in the 60s, it was awesome!

I need to send you a text - how far away are you from Des Moines? We are pretty booked up today, but should be done with games by about 4:00 both tomorrow and Friday, I'd love to see you again!

It was a beautiful day wasn't it!! We spent a lot of time at the park this afternoon! Enjoy it now because it sounds like it will start to get hot and humid again by the weekend

We are only 1 hour from DM and I would love to come meet up! Friday would be better since we have TKD tomorrow. Give me a buzz

I love your rope drop pictures! I'm really hoping to make a rope drop at MK when we go in January.

So glad you guys enjoyed Chef Mickey's. It's a family tradition for us to eat there, we've gone on every trip since our first trip and can't imagine not going. I'm definitely more of a fan of the breakfast than the dinner. I'm not sure I remember those cheesy hashbrowns, though. They look AMAZING!

Have you done RD before? I love it, it's a must do every trip for me!

definitely look for the hashbrowns on the next visit!!

Katie -

Your Pop pictures are so great! I love the bridge picture and I love the one with flowers in the foreground of the pool. I am just way to lazy to cut and past them. I am so glad you got the perfect room location.

Score on the chef Mickey ADR and convenient birthday surprise!

Thanks MEK, you inspire me to be a bit more creative in my photography! I even have one later that was directly inspired by you!

Love your Pop photos!
Chef Mickey's is so much fun.
What a great morning!

It was a great start to our vacation for sure!!

****************************

As you might guess, we got our internet back! Given there are still a couple thousand people in our area still without power, we are pretty lucky to have everything restored to normal. I do need to call the insurance company tomorrow and ask about getting an inspector out to our house. Our chimney cap blew off and landed in the street and I want to make sure there was no damage to the chimney itself or the roof somewhere on it's way down.

Given how many people have damage from falling trees and blown shingles, I suspect we will be low priority!

I did get the next update done, should have it up tomorrow after I get pics uploaded to photobucket

 

[kschafer]

It’s funny how memories can be deceiving. My memory of this first magic kingdom day was that we enjoyed a relaxed day yet got a lot done. However, when I went through my pictures, I realized we didn’t really get a lot done. Still, a fun day was had by all!

After our breakfast with the gang, we headed out of the contemporary

And hopped the monorail back to the park. Patrick just adores little kids and makes new friends wherever we go

The castle stage show was going on but we had other destinations in mind so we kept going

The boys had to see if they were destined to be King

But alas, they are not! Part of our goal for the day was to collect fastpasses since we had an afternoon break planned and figured we would use them up when we returned in the evening. We grabbed FP’s for Pooh and got the “bonus” passes for Philharmagic. Of course, these really don’t mean a lot except you don’t have to go through the maze of the main line. But we used them anyway!

The boys remember liking this attraction 3 years ago but of course don’t really remember any details about it so instead of focusing on the movie this time, I watched my boys. It was so enjoyable to see their reactions to the special effects. Not long ago, there was a thread where someone commented on how much they dislike people who talk on attractions. Now, I agree you should put your cell phone away and keep your voices to a minimum when you do talk but listening to the low buzz of children and parents interacting with each other was a great reminder to me of why Walt built this special place for us. So we could enjoy the fun together!

My kids are silly in love with the carrousel so on we went!

At this point I must have put the camera away because this is the only picture I have to show what we did next

I’m wondering if we had grabbed FP’s before breakfast. I also want to say we did Laugh Floor at this point but I could be totally getting my days mixed up too!

Part of our plan for a more laid back vacation meant afternoon breaks so we made our way down main street but stopped to enjoy these guys

And it looks like we had to grab some popcorn too!

Then returned to

We went to the pool for a bit then decided it was nap time. Greg fell asleep first and I dozed off with the boys watching TV. I woke up first and found Daniel had also fallen asleep. Sometime around 4:00, I figured it was time to return and shook the still sleeping boys. Greg complied reasonably quickly but Daniel was going to have nothing to do with it! We shook him, we poked him, we talked to him and even probably tickled him but he was NOT ready to get up! I was seriously disappointed but there was no way I wanted to drag him out the door and set ourselves up for a miserable night!

I had wanted to get back to MK for dinner but in desperation to preserve ride time, Patrick and I walked to the POP food court and ate. When we returned, we managed to bribe Daniel with the talk of food and we trekked again to get dinner for Greg and Daniel. By the time we got on the bus again, it was nearly 7:00!! Greg and I decided at that point that any afternoon breaks can’t include a visit to the pool because certainly that contributed to Daniels exhaustion!

We once again made our way to Fantasyland and headed straight to

Pooh! Since we used our FP’s, we didn’t get a chance to play

 

[kschafer]

But knew we would be returning so on we went! Next, I somehow convinced the boys to ride snow white with me since I knew it would be gone by the time we return to Disney.

OK, they hated it! Not for the reason they thought they would (princesses) but because it was too scary. Daniel declared he was glad it is going away because he was NEVER going on that again!

Next up…one I knew everyone but Greg would love

I had promised Greg he wouldn’t have to ride with us but at the last minute, he decided it would be important to suck it up and go with the family but I had to promise him we would not to go again on this trip.

We stopped in the last room and I had the chance to play with the panoramic setting again

The boys were dying to do the speedway because Patrick knew he would be big enough to drive his own car this time. I figured there would still be a bit of a wait but now would be the time to do it since it was dark. Anyone who has waited in that line in the sun knows what I mean…that is a blazing hot queue!

As much as Patrick wanted a car to himself, I had no desire to do this solo since Daniel wanted to ride with Greg

So he agreed to let me ride along

Let’s just say, it’s a good thing they don’t give licenses to 10 year olds!! That was quite the adventure. Actually, I must admit he got the hang of it eventually but it was a bumpy ride!

It was going on 10:00 at this point (seriously...where was the time going!) So we decided to see what we could of wishes from

Peoplemover! It was right after this picture was taken that Daniel just melted my heart by declaring “this really is a dream come true!!” (and yes, typing that makes me teary all over again). We got some decent views of the fireworks

And better yet, the boys loved peoplemover…YAY! We thought we would try astrorbiter before Wishes was over

But before we boarded the elevator, Daniel decided he didn’t want to ride. We thought maybe he was thinking it was something else and tried reminding him that he liked it on our last trip but he was NOT going to budge. We had space mountain FP’s so we decided I would do astrorbiter with Patrick then Greg would take him on SM since he has never ridden and Daniel wasn’t going on that one either.

After our ride, Patrick decided he didn’t want to do SM after all so I gave Greg the FP’s and told him to give the others away (it was EMH’s night). The boys and I headed to the gift shops to look around and wait and after that we called it a night.

So you see what I mean about memories…although my mind believes we did a lot on this day…the pictures tell me we actually accomplished very little I think (except for walking Main Street 6 times LOL!) BUT what’s most important is not the number of rides but the number of good times and that we did well on our first full day!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

but listening to the low buzz of children and parents interacting with each other was a great reminder to me of why Walt built this special place for us. So we could enjoy the fun together!

And THAT is what it's all about my friend!!!

 

[Happy Elf]

Great update! To me, it seems like you did a lot! What wonderful memories! I can't wait to make a few next week!

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

After two Disney trips commando style and one trip relaxed style, I finally admitted to DH that relaxed is the way to go...

 

[Poolrat]

I think you did get a lot done. Wishes by way of Peoplemover gave me chills. Can't see that anywhere else.


The family time alone makes up for any feeling of not hitting enough rides.

 

[rndmr2]

It was going on 10:00 at this point (seriously...where was the time going!) So we decided to see what we could of wishes from

Peoplemover! It was right after this picture was taken that Daniel just melted my heart by declaring “this really is a dream come true!!” (and yes, typing that makes me teary all over again). We got some decent views of the fireworks

So you see what I mean about memories…although my mind believes we did a lot on this day…the pictures tell me we actually accomplished very little I think (except for walking Main Street 6 times LOL!) BUT what’s most important is not the number of rides but the number of good times and that we did well on our first full day!

AWWW that was so sweet what your son said.

You did get some decent Fireworks shots.

It seems like you did an OK amount of stuff for having that long break during the day.

 

[Lady Lallie]

What a lovely day!! I think the success of a Disney day is the memories you make and how few meltdowns occur and I think that was a very successful Disney day for you and your family!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I think you got a ton of stuff done! . A dream come true.

I never thought about watching Wishes from the Peoplemover. I will keep that in mind.

 

[Native NYer]

What a great day at the MK!
Your boys are adorable.
Actually, you did a lot in one day. MK attractions, pool, and a nap! Sounds like the perfect start to a vacation.

 

[MeMom]

Tomorrowland at night is so cool.
I'm not a very good Speedway driver myself, so I wouldn't be able to talk about anyone else's driving.

Taking it easy and getting a few things in here and there is the way we go these days. What we don't do this time, we'll do next time or the next

So sweet that Pops took one for the team and rode Small World.

 

[DWGal210]

That pic of your boys melted my heart! How sweet!!

I'm excited we're getting to meet for dinner tonight - yea! have a fun morning @ the Art Festival & I'll see ya tonight!

 

[KatMark]

Katie, reading your update, I'd say you got a lot done. And what a wonderful time you had that day.

 

[goofy's_gurl]

I agree. It doesn't matter how much you do anywhere. All that matters is all the loving memories you make with your family or friends. But overall it looks like a nice relaxing day.