delete

[jc040404]

bye bye!!

Old habits are tough to break, so we followed our instinct to move on to Fantasyland. Along the way, we would be passing by Tiana’s M&G area. John was still keeping up the game of picking on me for my Naveen love, and planned to see if he was there. We never stop if he is, but today would be different. The line that never ends was empty!

Even though it wasn’t my favorite Naveen, we stopped to visit. How could anyone resist no wait for these two?? Autographs five and six coming right up!

We made our way through the empty path and did meet someone else in line. Even so, only one family in line? Wow! We had really never noticed this place without a crazy long line before!

We waited our turn and the boys ran up for hugs. They took care of books and started chatting about Phineas & Ferb. Tiana just couldn’t believe that no one realizes Agent P and Perry are the same. Andrew shared his theories. We're all huge fans now. You can tell he reeeeeally loved that shirt, too. He’d have worn it everyday of the week if I’d let him!

Next, Andy-Roo had a joke just for Naveen.

“What did the frog order at McDonald’s?”

Hmmm..They pretended to really put some thought into it for a second before asking him to continue.

“A HOPPY meal!”

He loves kids’ jokes. Tiana claimed this was just Naveen’s kind of thing and that they would definitely be stealing that one for later. I love how they made such a huge deal over his silly joke.

Every visit with the princess and the frog was so much fun. It breaks my heart to read that Naveen is now a “special event only” kind of character. He really made it worth stopping here. Disney is crazy for ignoring the male characters so much. They're such huge parts of the stories. I suppose it will help keep the lines down. We'd have never stopped to see them so many times if it was just Tiana. (Nothing against Tiana in that. I think she has the best dress of all the park princesses. She just didn't rate high enough as a single character for the boys in repeat visits.)

photopass playing with Blakers

We moved into Fantasyland to catch a couple of our favorites and some FPs along the way. First up, the happiest cruise that ever sailed!

Because this TR is lacking in “my” IASW girl pics! (left)

Hmmm.. What do all those signs mean?? Anyone?

And finally, the worst part of the changes they made..

Does sailing under that line of people make anyone else nervous? We always seem to get stopped for a moment or two, and I spend every second of it holding my breath. Someday, somebody is going to drop something... or sneeze. Can you just imagine? Seeing a line of little kids up there makes me even more nervous..

A quick “Hooray!” later, we finally decided to get to the point of this day.

On the walk to Toontown, my little mermaid lover was drawn to a picture. He and Andrew decided to try to recreate this scene!

Silly kids.. Time for the Barnstormer!

 

[AprilRenee]

Tiana and Naveen really do seem like a fun meet! I've read good things in other TRs too. Now I'm sad that we never made it over there to meet them.

on another note, wow those photopass photographers really do just love Blake! You're getting some good photos!

Love the Ariel and Erik re-enactment!

 

[CAStevens218]

I'm glad your next frog encounter was an enjoyable one! I love the picture of Naveen laughing at Andrew's joke!! Andrew must have been so proud of himself!!!!

That picture of Blake from the photopass photographer is adorable!!

I literally said "Awwwww" out loud at the Little Mermaid recreation picture!! Your boys are just too cute!!

 

[GaRain]

I once had a conversation with Aladdin on the idea of having a Prince breakfast. He said no one would want to go to that. I got a bunch of the girls and MOMs in line to raise their hands to the idea - he thought that was funny! I think it is a grand idea. Why are they taking them away?

 

[jc040404]

Tiana and Naveen really do seem like a fun meet! I've read good things in other TRs too. Now I'm sad that we never made it over there to meet them.

on another note, wow those photopass photographers really do just love Blake! You're getting some good photos!

Love the Ariel and Erik re-enactment!

You may still have a chance someday. I'm not sure if what I read is exactly correct.

Some of the photopass stuff wasn't bad. I thought that one was sweet.

I'm glad your next frog encounter was an enjoyable one! I love the picture of Naveen laughing at Andrew's joke!! Andrew must have been so proud of himself!!!!

That picture of Blake from the photopass photographer is adorable!!

I literally said "Awwwww" out loud at the Little Mermaid recreation picture!! Your boys are just too cute!!

They acted like his joke was soooo funny. He loved it!

I loved the Little Mermaid pic pose. They're adorable sometimes. Andrew tried picked Blake up, but it didn't end very well. Luckily, no one got hurt anyway!

I once had a conversation with Aladdin on the idea of having a Prince breakfast. He said no one would want to go to that. I got a bunch of the girls and MOMs in line to raise their hands to the idea - he thought that was funny! I think it is a grand idea. Why are they taking them away?

That was funny! Disney should listen to that idea! I've read some conflicting things about Naveen. Maybe he's only there in the afternoon? I have no idea. THere are enough character stalkers on the DIS that someone will have it all figured out soon, if not already.

 

[jc040404]

Blake won the “Who goes first?” issue, with no objections from brother. The little guy had talked endlessly about riding the big kid ride again on the day before. I’m not sure he would have survived waiting to be second! It was sad knowing that this would be the last day for it. It made him feel so special and grown up like big brother.

As we entered the line, Blake was first asked to stand for measuring. Passing, he was given two special somethings. First, Blakers would be red card keeper. I loved his reactions to this. Why on earth did this Disney person want him to wear a red card? None of the other kids had to wear red cards!

He treated it as a form of odd WDW punishment. I hadn’t realized that he’d probably never noticed these before. Andrew’s been given this duty countless times and always takes it with pride, as if Mickey is trusting him with important business. Blake was just confused, and not pleased. He made me read the card to him! It took a bit of explaining before he would relax about it. He’s a silly boy.

The other special gift was something we’d never seen before. Blakers was given a Barnstormer frequent flyer card! How nifty! I didn’t even know they had these. It was perfect for his last day on the ride.

The wait time wasn’t short, but with such a quick ride you never really waited that much. He was a big kid and waited like an angel until we made it to the top. He was so excited!

No nervous laughing this time! He rode it like only a big kid could and had a great time. He was more than ready for another trip, but it was brother’s turn!

Andrew and I walked in, but there was no happy card giving CM this time. I felt sad that brother would be left out and decided to just ask for one. There was a huge stack of them on a ledge just inside. Thankfully, new CM wasn’t annoyed by my request at all. I was so worried I'd get some "pushy snowflake parent" look, but this was the last day for us. I just went for it! Andrew got a special card and then the CM started handing them out to all the children behind us. I have a feeling he’d probably just forgotten (or didn’t want to!) hand them out. I’m glad I brought them up. They were all thrilled about it.

I love that!

With the line only getting longer, we decided to take a Toontown break and headed towards Tomorrowland. Along the way, we checked out the work being done on the race track..

Disney IS building a bowling alley, right??

We all took a turn at battling Zurg, pressing some pennies, and a ride on the Peoplemover, before heading back across the park to find food.

Our late lunch/early dinner destination was the usual, with some chocolate pixie dust sprinkled on top. When the boys split an adult meal, I’ll sometimes order a big chocolate milk for them to split. This day, they had both picked the kids’ mixed greens. A kids’ meal meant a kids’ size drink and Andrew wasn’t thrilled about it. When he and I were waiting for our order to be ready, he simply asked me if they could split a big one next time. No problem at all. The discussion was over.

Just then, a perky CM bounced over to the counter and put two big milks on our tray with a smile. She’d been listening to his silly little conversation and gifted a bigger milk to each boy. It was silly and totally not needed, but Andrew suddenly had a new CHH girlfriend! He loved her!

After our meal, we ran into Andrew’s new friend again outside. She invited him to help ring the bell. I don’t recall the CM’s name, but she was so sweet and full of energy. CHH always has the most upbeat people working there.

Into Fantasyland again, we took a spin on the carousel and turns at the sword in the stone. It didn’t budge!

In the middle of those two activites, we came across this CM drawing on the ground. The boys love watching this, so we paused to see how it went. As soon as he was finished, one of the other children (not in that pic, of course!) started trying to pull the broom away. She wanted a turn and was going to have it. The parents had encouraged it, and soon others were joining in. It was a little nuts really. I felt bad for the CM because it seemed there was no way out. Bet she destroyed that awesome Mickey, too!

We escaped the madness by hiding out in Mickey’s Philharmagic for a bit.

The day was starting to feel close to the end already, so it was time to officially say goodbye. I took Blake’s hand and we joined the Barnstormer line for the last time together.

They can’t resist picking this stuff up! The bottom of my Disney bag is full of it!

Blake was excited that we were directed to number three. He was going to be three this year!

^Blake’s last ride^

Next up, it was time for Andy-Roo’s last turn. The line was long, up to twenty minutes now. We had a fun time talking about the ride and how much we loved it. Along the way, Andy-Roo kept spotting odd things he’d never noticed before.

It was the colors! We didn’t notice any others that didn’t match and this was a HUGE discovery to Andrew. He still talks about it!

...pic limit...

 

[jc040404]

Just as Blake had been excited over getting row three, Andrew was treated with a special number as well. My soon-to-be five year old was taking his last ride in number five! What are the odds of this happening? I doubt I ever forget what year Toontown finally shut down now!

This was supposed to be his “biggest smile ever!” for my pic.. Haha

That was it. We didn’t bother with the long waits for the houses. We didn’t squeeze in any other character meets here. The boys wanted their last Barnstormer rides and now they’d had them. We’d never really spent much time in Toontown until we knew it was going away, but it was still a special part of WDW for us. I was happy that Blake had grown tall enough to have his first big kid ride here, as brother had. Even if the Barnstormer is sticking around in a sense, it wouldn’t be the same again. We took a break to let the boys play in the little kids’ area for a bit before moving on.

Bye Mickey’s house!

As we made our way through the park, we noticed Dream Along With Mickey was going on in front of the castle. In an empty, out of the way spot, we all stopped to watch.

The boys love that show!

As we walked up Main Street, something didn’t feel quite right. I’m sure it shows in how I remember the day. I wasn’t sad about Toontown closing, just a little worn out. When we weren’t at WDW, or planning to go to WDW, I was writing about WDW. In this moment, I was leaving the park, already knowing that we’d be back in just a few days. We were going to be staying at a resort I just couldn’t get excited about. Beyond that, our “vacation” to WDW was waiting just around the corner! Maybe it was a ticking bomb all along.. My mind was heavy with Mickey overload.

While I thought about all of this, CMs began to rush guests away from the street. This day wasn’t quite over yet.

We paused to watch the street party pass!

The End!

Next Up!! I need a break from Disney.. so let's go back to Disney!

 

[AprilRenee]

I really can sense your mood in this post...in fact, I was about to comment that this was a sad post before I read the part about you just feeling blah about everything. I can understand why you took your "disboard break" now. I'm glad that you got excited about Disney again though.

 

[jane2073]

Me too!! I remember your Disboard break and it made me a little sad-yet, I totally understood!

I think it is so funny that Blake thought the red tag was Disney punishment! Makes sense though-at my daughter's school, when you are really bad you wound up on the red apple. Red was usually the "bad" color.

 

[jc040404]

I really can sense your mood in this post...in fact, I was about to comment that this was a sad post before I read the part about you just feeling blah about everything. I can understand why you took your "disboard break" now. I'm glad that you got excited about Disney again though.

I didn't really take many notes about the day either. It's mostly from memory. When we got home, I didn't really care to bother with it. It helped to stop reading on here and find what I liked about the place again.

 

[CAStevens218]

I can definitely feel your mood in the post!! I'm glad you were able to step back and find your love for Disney again!

I LOVE Blake's face when he had to carry the card in line. He looks so disgusted!!!

 

[jc040404]

Me too!! I remember your Disboard break and it made me a little sad-yet, I totally understood!

I think it is so funny that Blake thought the red tag was Disney punishment! Makes sense though-at my daughter's school, when you are really bad you wound up on the red apple. Red was usually the "bad" color.

A break helped, but we were still going too much. Doing this TR at the same time was a little nuts. I like reading them, but I'm amazed at how the live report people are able to do it without taking away from the trip.

It is a little funny to me that these cards are red. I remember having a teacher once that gave out red cards during class for just that reason. The boys have no experience with anything like that, but I could totally see why Blake took it that way.

I can definitely feel your mood in the post!! I'm glad you were able to step back and find your love for Disney again!

I LOVE Blake's face when he had to carry the card in line. He looks so disgusted!!!

He was! His face was too much. I had to pull my camera out to catch it. Blake's adorable that way. You never have to wonder what he thinks about something. It's always written all over that face!

 

[jc040404]

Our adventures are almost over!!

They were supposed to have ended last month, but we'll be headed back to visit Mickey one last time on this set. Details are still being worked out there. I don't even know where we're staying yet. The boys are making all kinds of odd requests. Blake wants ASMo. Andrew picked CSR?? John is trying to talk me into AKL! Soo tempting.. but it's only going to be one or two nights. I have a feeling it won't be any of those.

We haven't been to WDW in over a month!

Will we renew?

 

[orangecats2]

Our adventures are almost over!!

They were supposed to have ended last month, but we'll be headed back to visit Mickey one last time on this set. Details are still being worked out there. I don't even know where we're staying yet. The boys are making all kinds of odd requests. Blake wants ASMo. Andrew picked CSR?? John is trying to talk me into AKL! Soo tempting.. but it's only going to be one or two nights. I have a feeling it won't be any of those.

We haven't been to WDW in over a month!

Will we renew?

I vote for Beach or Yacht Club so you can go to SAB. I bet the boys would love that!

 

[jane2073]

Do it! Do it!! Hee hee!!

After months of saying we were not going to renew, we wound up doing it at the final hour.
And I don't regret it. I am making sure that I don't let it over take our schedule, but there are just so many things I love about the place.

But really you need to decided what is best for you. It is not going anywhere so if you take a brake, you can always go back later.

 

[CAStevens218]

Our adventures are almost over!!

They were supposed to have ended last month, but we'll be headed back to visit Mickey one last time on this set. Details are still being worked out there. I don't even know where we're staying yet. The boys are making all kinds of odd requests. Blake wants ASMo. Andrew picked CSR?? John is trying to talk me into AKL! Soo tempting.. but it's only going to be one or two nights. I have a feeling it won't be any of those.

We haven't been to WDW in over a month!

Will we renew?

Ohhhh, Animal Kindom Lodge!!!! I can't wait to stay there some day! Hopefully next year....

Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter where you end up staying!!!

 

[jc040404]

I vote for Beach or Yacht Club so you can go to SAB. I bet the boys would love that!

I know they'd love that one! So it wasn't ever allowed as a possibility. Since we're at the end of our APs, I thought I'd keep something like that as a park free trip idea. We probably won't spend a ton of time at the resort, especially if we can only get away for a couple of days.

Do it! Do it!! Hee hee!!

After months of saying we were not going to renew, we wound up doing it at the final hour.
And I don't regret it. I am making sure that I don't let it over take our schedule, but there are just so many things I love about the place.

But really you need to decided what is best for you. It is not going anywhere so if you take a brake, you can always go back later.

We really should let it go, I guess. I bounce back and forth so much. After making up a list of possibilities last week, the family vote was all for NOT getting a new set. Even I thought it was a good idea since I'm starting to plan a trip to CT for next summer. The boys do want passes to Sea World, so I could get my Disney fix now and then by staying at a resort anyway. It's such a tough decision to make. You don't really save all that much by renewing, so I bet this question will be around for long time!

Ohhhh, Animal Kindom Lodge!!!! I can't wait to stay there some day! Hopefully next year....

Anyway, I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter where you end up staying!!!

AKL looks awesome! I wasn't really considering it, but it kept showing up on the side when I did resort searches. They were all into it at first, but I'm still undecided on how much resort time we'll have. I don't want to pay a lot for something we won't be using, ya know? Staying somewhere too nifty is going to make me want to give up park time, too. We don't have much of that left now. I'm thinking way too much about this!

 

[PirateKate]

I'm glad you all got to go on the Barnstormer one last time. Those frequent flyer cards are really cool. I can't wait until the coaster re-opens, although probably by the time it does, my boys will both be 40 inches.

 

[Dugette]

Just catching way up again...I guess I just can't keep up!

So cool that you had a giraffe cross your path on safari! In all of our rides, I don't believe we ever really had to stop for an animal in the way! And, yeah, a decent view of a cheetah seems to be pretty rare.

So, that elephant on your cupcake was edible? Kinda cool. Too bad the cupcake wasn't that good.

Awww, that's cute that Blake got to get a picture with Eeyore!

On the frog fear: We were just at the Mall of America yesterday and walked past the Rainforest Cafe...where a giant frog was posing for pictures with people!

Bummer about the Nemo seats!

Sorry you had to get new APs printed! Although, I have to say I'm surprised yours lasted as long as they did! I think we had to have ours reprinted at least a couple times, due to them not working at the gates! I'm glad you were able to get your Photopass pics, though. Although we never did it, I remember reading a tip that you should take a picture of your PP card, so if you lose it, you have the number handy. I'm glad they were able to figure yours out anyway!

Cute pictures of the boys with the Pooh characters.

Funny about looking for hidden Mickeys in the 4th of July fireworks. We actually sat out on our patio and watched all the random fireworks displays we can see from there (pretty good view) and we listened to the Wishes soundtrack over and over on Dug's iPhone! It was a fun Disney touch!

That's cute about the "pixie dust plates". Too bad it took so long for the CP characters to come around, but glad that Tigger helped to make up for that! And the Eeyore visit sounds sweet too. So nice of Andrew to send him to Blake first! Guess he was spreading some pixie dust of his own...

Very cool that you got to meet Tiana and Naveen without a wait! Cute PP pic of Blake after that too. Love Andrew's joke!

Huh, I hadn't noticed that in the IASW line change...I'd be nervous about getting something dropped on me too!

Funny that Blake thought the red card was WDW punishment!

I can't believe parents would encourage their children to take the broom from the CM! Yikes!

How cool that the boys' last Barnstormer rides had their ages for their rows! Neat memory!

I'm glad you got over your Disney overload...I remember that break too!

That's a good idea to save some of the resort experiences for times where you (gasp!) don't have APs! We LOVED AKL and a stay there in a savanna view room would be a great getaway! So fun to sit on the balcony and watch the animals while munching on Zebra Domes from the Mara! Same with BC/YC...spend a day at Stormalong Bay and enjoy a meal at Beaches and Cream, plus enjoy a nice walk along the Boardwalk! Gosh, I wish we could do that...Disney withdrawal going strong here still 6 months after AP expiration...

 

[jc040404]

I'm glad you all got to go on the Barnstormer one last time. Those frequent flyer cards are really cool. I can't wait until the coaster re-opens, although probably by the time it does, my boys will both be 40 inches.

The cards were nifty. I loved that we'd never gotten one until the very last day. It was a perfect way to make this visit special.

Even if they're forty inches, this new ride sounds pretty cool. Mine can't wait to ride it!

Just catching way up again...I guess I just can't keep up!

So cool that you had a giraffe cross your path on safari! In all of our rides, I don't believe we ever really had to stop for an animal in the way! And, yeah, a decent view of a cheetah seems to be pretty rare.

So, that elephant on your cupcake was edible? Kinda cool. Too bad the cupcake wasn't that good.

Awww, that's cute that Blake got to get a picture with Eeyore!

On the frog fear: We were just at the Mall of America yesterday and walked past the Rainforest Cafe...where a giant frog was posing for pictures with people!

Bummer about the Nemo seats!

Sorry you had to get new APs printed! Although, I have to say I'm surprised yours lasted as long as they did! I think we had to have ours reprinted at least a couple times, due to them not working at the gates! I'm glad you were able to get your Photopass pics, though. Although we never did it, I remember reading a tip that you should take a picture of your PP card, so if you lose it, you have the number handy. I'm glad they were able to figure yours out anyway!

Cute pictures of the boys with the Pooh characters.

Funny about looking for hidden Mickeys in the 4th of July fireworks. We actually sat out on our patio and watched all the random fireworks displays we can see from there (pretty good view) and we listened to the Wishes soundtrack over and over on Dug's iPhone! It was a fun Disney touch!

That's cute about the "pixie dust plates". Too bad it took so long for the CP characters to come around, but glad that Tigger helped to make up for that! And the Eeyore visit sounds sweet too. So nice of Andrew to send him to Blake first! Guess he was spreading some pixie dust of his own...

Very cool that you got to meet Tiana and Naveen without a wait! Cute PP pic of Blake after that too. Love Andrew's joke!

Huh, I hadn't noticed that in the IASW line change...I'd be nervous about getting something dropped on me too!

Funny that Blake thought the red card was WDW punishment!

I can't believe parents would encourage their children to take the broom from the CM! Yikes!

How cool that the boys' last Barnstormer rides had their ages for their rows! Neat memory!

I'm glad you got over your Disney overload...I remember that break too!

That's a good idea to save some of the resort experiences for times where you (gasp!) don't have APs! We LOVED AKL and a stay there in a savanna view room would be a great getaway! So fun to sit on the balcony and watch the animals while munching on Zebra Domes from the Mara! Same with BC/YC...spend a day at Stormalong Bay and enjoy a meal at Beaches and Cream, plus enjoy a nice walk along the Boardwalk! Gosh, I wish we could do that...Disney withdrawal going strong here still 6 months after AP expiration...

Wow! I don't think I can keep up with your comment. We're definitely keeping AKL for a non-park visit now. We have never made it to Beaches and Cream either. I keep forgetting about that one. You could definitely make a fun WDW escape without ever setting foot in those parks. We'll plan something in time.

Oh, I was shocked that our APs lasted that long, too! Our last set was replaced three times, I think. One was on the second day, if I'm remembering correctly.

I can't believe it's been six months for you already!!