donaldbuzz&minnie
Happy to be here!
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2004
- Messages
- 1,728
My husband and I slept soundly, but could not make ourselves sleep past 5 am. We were too excited! Today was the day of the big surprise, which we were going to spring on everyone at the Cinderella's Table late lunch-early dinner we had arranged. So we got up before the sun did, and went for a quiet walk along the boardwalk.
The beat-the-Easter-crowds plan for the morning was for all of us to go to the Magic Kingdom as close to opening as possible (7 am for resort guests!), and then head back for naps around 10:30 am. But when my husband and I got back upstairs, the parents were in the living room, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, with a couple of crying babies clinging to them. Apparently it had not been a good night! All they wanted to do was to get back into bed and make the world go away for the next few hours.
The aunt bounced in around 6:15. She was up and raring to go, but her husband had also decided that sleep that morning sounded like more fun than anything Walt Disney ever conjured up. So the aunt, my husband and I decided to go ahead and go to the MK and gather as many fastpasses as we could for the rest of the group for the afternoon and evening.
As much fun as it had been to be with our grandchildren, I have to say that this morning at the MK was in a class by itself. We had so much fun! (I'm glad, though, that we didn't find out until later that as soon as the door closed behind us, DGS threw himself on the floor, inconsolable at being left behind. His dad finally had to bundle him up and take him in his stroller for a long, calming walk around the boardwalk and canal.)
The bus come to the hotel bus stop almost at 6:30 on the dot. We made it to the MK in time to count down for the opening....10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...we declared the MK open. Gathering fastpasses as we went, we rode Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear (my husband rode 4 times - his favorite!), the Time Keeper, and then made it to the 8 am rope drop at Adventureland, where we joined the throng headed to Splash Mountain. We got right on Splash Mountain, then a quick spin on Big Thunder, and back on Splash Mountain. We took a muffin and beverage break near the Aladdin ride while my husband got on a conference call for work he had to take. Then we were off to the Haunted Mansion, where we got stuck for a few more minutes than I would have liked when the ride broke down. (That ride is not my favorite - kind of creeps me out - and extra minutes of howling aren't a plus for me.)
We finished up with Philharmagic around 10:30, and then rode the train to the entrance. We were tired by now and wanting to rest, plus the crowds were beginning to build, so we took the bus back to the hotel and snacked from leftovers in the refrigerator. We knew we had a big meal coming around 3 pm, so we didn't want to fill up, but we needed a little something to eat and drink and then a quick nap to fortify us for the afternoon and evening. I had originally hoped that we could show the babies the Spectro-Magic parade, but now I was just hoping that everyone would make it to our lunch-dinner at the Castle.
Fortunately, when we got up from our nap, everyone was dressed and anxious to go. A quick bus ride over to the MK, and then into Fantasyland.
On our last day of park-time we finally got the Easter crowds. Wow. If this was my only experience of Disneyworld, I'd never come back. We thought we might be able to get the babies on the carousel before our 2:50 priority seating, but there was no hope. The ribbons I had brought to tie around our strollers were worth any amount, when we parked the strollers near the carousel and came back to find them moved with the rest of the herd to "stroller parking." We'd still be searching for ours without those bright red ribbons.
As we checked in for our meal, I heard the receptionist tell a walk-up hopeful that they had no priority seatings at Cinderella's Table available until the following Wednesday (This was Thursday!) We entered the peace and quiet of the castle waiting room and, within about 10 minutes, we were called to come upstairs.
Even though there were 8 of us, and we'd been warned that they would probably have to break us up into 2 tables, a table for 8 was set up and waiting for us, 2 highchairs at the ready. The server we had was as nice as she could be - just went out of her way to be really accommodating. Wish I had thought to take her name.
When everyone was seated, had ordered, and had their drinks, we sprung our surprise. (We had told everyone that the surprise was eating at the castle - the first lie. We'd kept our secret for months.) "Remember when we said we rented points from a DVC member to get the rooms at the Boardwalk?", we said. "That wasn't true. The real surprise is that we've bought enough DVC points for all of us to come back every couple of years or so."
One daughter got tears in her eyes and the rest of them looked kind of stunned. (This was reported to me later by my husband, who was taking in their reactions much more than I was. I was so excited to be telling them I wasn't taking in much of anything.)
Needless to say, it was a great late lunch! They told us later that they had all been talking about the stuff they wanted to do if they ever got back to Disneyworld, but were sad about leaving the next day, since who knew when and if they would ever get back. Disneyland is much closer for them, and much more realistic, but even that is far enough away to be a bit of a stretch.
In a very good mood, we waded into the late afternoon crowds. Just moving through Fantasyland to Frontierland was a challenge. We kept checking the line for "It's a Small World", but it never dipped below 55 minutes, so we skipped it entirely and concentrated on getting the afternoon riders on their fastpassed attractions. Out of self-defense the aunt and my husband and I took the kids into the Hall of Presidents just to get out of the insanity. (First time I've ever been, and we love history. There's just always so much we'd rather do.) DGD slept, DGS (remarkably) sat in his own chair and watched the show, and unfortunately we think that's where our daughter lost her camera.
We left the Hall of Presidents when the show was over and found a bench at Liberty Sq to sit and wait for the Splash Mountain team. It took forever for them to get back, so I can't even imagine how long they would have had to wait without the fastpasses. We slowly made our way past "It's a Small World" to check the line again, but decided it was way too long and headed to fastpass Philharmagic. Even that was a zoo, but we made it in with a minimal wait. Everyone enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to taking DGS some day when he wants to wear the glasses!
One more check of "It's a Small World" (nope), and although DGD was hanging in, we realized DGS had had it. We were all afraid that if we pushed it, he would get sick again. So, reluctantly for first time, my husband and I offered to take him back to the hotel while the rest of the group pressed on. We been really looking forward to being with everyone that night for the parade and fireworks, but we'd seen it plenty of time and didn't want our kids to miss the show. There was no way that DGS could make it, and there was going to be a next time. So we headed back down Main Street, stopping for a big silver balloon along the way. (Do you know that they charge $6 for those things??? Neither did we until we'd already promised one.)
DGS fell asleep on the bus going "home". He snuggled against my neck, after waiting in line with a wonderful family whose kids kept him entertained until the bus came. We got him home, gave him a snack, then a quick bath with all the plastic Pooh characters he now owned, and then put him to bed. I covered him up, patted his back and with a few squeaky protests, he was out like a light.
By now my husband and I were kind of glad we'd come back. We were tired and happy to be home, knowing that we'd be back again when the kids were older, and would probably enjoy the next trip even more than this one.
The beat-the-Easter-crowds plan for the morning was for all of us to go to the Magic Kingdom as close to opening as possible (7 am for resort guests!), and then head back for naps around 10:30 am. But when my husband and I got back upstairs, the parents were in the living room, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, with a couple of crying babies clinging to them. Apparently it had not been a good night! All they wanted to do was to get back into bed and make the world go away for the next few hours.
The aunt bounced in around 6:15. She was up and raring to go, but her husband had also decided that sleep that morning sounded like more fun than anything Walt Disney ever conjured up. So the aunt, my husband and I decided to go ahead and go to the MK and gather as many fastpasses as we could for the rest of the group for the afternoon and evening.
As much fun as it had been to be with our grandchildren, I have to say that this morning at the MK was in a class by itself. We had so much fun! (I'm glad, though, that we didn't find out until later that as soon as the door closed behind us, DGS threw himself on the floor, inconsolable at being left behind. His dad finally had to bundle him up and take him in his stroller for a long, calming walk around the boardwalk and canal.)
The bus come to the hotel bus stop almost at 6:30 on the dot. We made it to the MK in time to count down for the opening....10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...we declared the MK open. Gathering fastpasses as we went, we rode Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear (my husband rode 4 times - his favorite!), the Time Keeper, and then made it to the 8 am rope drop at Adventureland, where we joined the throng headed to Splash Mountain. We got right on Splash Mountain, then a quick spin on Big Thunder, and back on Splash Mountain. We took a muffin and beverage break near the Aladdin ride while my husband got on a conference call for work he had to take. Then we were off to the Haunted Mansion, where we got stuck for a few more minutes than I would have liked when the ride broke down. (That ride is not my favorite - kind of creeps me out - and extra minutes of howling aren't a plus for me.)
We finished up with Philharmagic around 10:30, and then rode the train to the entrance. We were tired by now and wanting to rest, plus the crowds were beginning to build, so we took the bus back to the hotel and snacked from leftovers in the refrigerator. We knew we had a big meal coming around 3 pm, so we didn't want to fill up, but we needed a little something to eat and drink and then a quick nap to fortify us for the afternoon and evening. I had originally hoped that we could show the babies the Spectro-Magic parade, but now I was just hoping that everyone would make it to our lunch-dinner at the Castle.
Fortunately, when we got up from our nap, everyone was dressed and anxious to go. A quick bus ride over to the MK, and then into Fantasyland.
On our last day of park-time we finally got the Easter crowds. Wow. If this was my only experience of Disneyworld, I'd never come back. We thought we might be able to get the babies on the carousel before our 2:50 priority seating, but there was no hope. The ribbons I had brought to tie around our strollers were worth any amount, when we parked the strollers near the carousel and came back to find them moved with the rest of the herd to "stroller parking." We'd still be searching for ours without those bright red ribbons.
As we checked in for our meal, I heard the receptionist tell a walk-up hopeful that they had no priority seatings at Cinderella's Table available until the following Wednesday (This was Thursday!) We entered the peace and quiet of the castle waiting room and, within about 10 minutes, we were called to come upstairs.
Even though there were 8 of us, and we'd been warned that they would probably have to break us up into 2 tables, a table for 8 was set up and waiting for us, 2 highchairs at the ready. The server we had was as nice as she could be - just went out of her way to be really accommodating. Wish I had thought to take her name.
When everyone was seated, had ordered, and had their drinks, we sprung our surprise. (We had told everyone that the surprise was eating at the castle - the first lie. We'd kept our secret for months.) "Remember when we said we rented points from a DVC member to get the rooms at the Boardwalk?", we said. "That wasn't true. The real surprise is that we've bought enough DVC points for all of us to come back every couple of years or so."
One daughter got tears in her eyes and the rest of them looked kind of stunned. (This was reported to me later by my husband, who was taking in their reactions much more than I was. I was so excited to be telling them I wasn't taking in much of anything.)
Needless to say, it was a great late lunch! They told us later that they had all been talking about the stuff they wanted to do if they ever got back to Disneyworld, but were sad about leaving the next day, since who knew when and if they would ever get back. Disneyland is much closer for them, and much more realistic, but even that is far enough away to be a bit of a stretch.
In a very good mood, we waded into the late afternoon crowds. Just moving through Fantasyland to Frontierland was a challenge. We kept checking the line for "It's a Small World", but it never dipped below 55 minutes, so we skipped it entirely and concentrated on getting the afternoon riders on their fastpassed attractions. Out of self-defense the aunt and my husband and I took the kids into the Hall of Presidents just to get out of the insanity. (First time I've ever been, and we love history. There's just always so much we'd rather do.) DGD slept, DGS (remarkably) sat in his own chair and watched the show, and unfortunately we think that's where our daughter lost her camera.
We left the Hall of Presidents when the show was over and found a bench at Liberty Sq to sit and wait for the Splash Mountain team. It took forever for them to get back, so I can't even imagine how long they would have had to wait without the fastpasses. We slowly made our way past "It's a Small World" to check the line again, but decided it was way too long and headed to fastpass Philharmagic. Even that was a zoo, but we made it in with a minimal wait. Everyone enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to taking DGS some day when he wants to wear the glasses!
One more check of "It's a Small World" (nope), and although DGD was hanging in, we realized DGS had had it. We were all afraid that if we pushed it, he would get sick again. So, reluctantly for first time, my husband and I offered to take him back to the hotel while the rest of the group pressed on. We been really looking forward to being with everyone that night for the parade and fireworks, but we'd seen it plenty of time and didn't want our kids to miss the show. There was no way that DGS could make it, and there was going to be a next time. So we headed back down Main Street, stopping for a big silver balloon along the way. (Do you know that they charge $6 for those things??? Neither did we until we'd already promised one.)
DGS fell asleep on the bus going "home". He snuggled against my neck, after waiting in line with a wonderful family whose kids kept him entertained until the bus came. We got him home, gave him a snack, then a quick bath with all the plastic Pooh characters he now owned, and then put him to bed. I covered him up, patted his back and with a few squeaky protests, he was out like a light.
By now my husband and I were kind of glad we'd come back. We were tired and happy to be home, knowing that we'd be back again when the kids were older, and would probably enjoy the next trip even more than this one.
