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[CAStevens218]

First of all, HOORAY for Andrew being chosen by Crush!! Finally! The little guy deserved it!!

Andrew looks sooo big in your Thanksgiving picture!! I'm glad you had a nice day!


Looks like you will be on those roller coasters before long! Andrew is getting there.....

We haven't seen the Nemo show but it looks very cute...we may need to check it out in January! 38 days!

 

[jc040404]

First of all, HOORAY for Andrew being chosen by Crush!! Finally! The little guy deserved it!!

Andrew looks sooo big in your Thanksgiving picture!! I'm glad you had a nice day!


Looks like you will be on those roller coasters before long! Andrew is getting there.....

We haven't seen the Nemo show but it looks very cute...we may need to check it out in January! 38 days!

We were all so excited when Andrew finally got picked by Crush! It was definitely a huge day, and soo perfect to happen on the day the boys decided would be Nemo's. Loved it!

Andrew is breaking my heart with all the growing! I don't know where my baby has gone. He's definitely coaster height now.

& you should really see that show! I love that one so much more than Festival of the Lion King. Yay for only 38 days to go!! Crazy excited yet?? I can't believe how short our countdown chain is right now!

 

[jane2073]

Great update!

I am really looking forward to the next one!

 

[jc040404]

Great update!

I am really looking forward to the next one!

The next one is kinda scary. There's a DIS'er in it.

 

[jc040404]

May 15th, 2011 * Day 33 * Pixar Weekend

We weren’t supposed to be at Disney this week. We were supposed to have done a fun overnight getaway the week before. When Disney announced Pixar Weekend, all those plans flew out the window. Lucky for us, we have a great history with plans not going as.. well, planned! We adjusted and rescheduled and soon it was time to get moving for what should have been an awesome day of Pixar celebrating!

We started out slow again, knowing that the fun parts of the day wouldn’t be until a little later on. It was a good thing. On the way to Epcot, John made a wrong turn and pointed us to DHS instead!

“Aren’t we going to DHS today?” he asked the boys.

“NOOO!!” the both shouted back at him.

Too silly. The boys were not interested in missing our Pixar plans! You’d really think John would know which way to go by now!

Finally where we needed to be, routine took control of the time we had to kill before going to WS.

Andrew and I grabbed Soarin’ FPs, and we all found Nemo. Next, we decided to visit Figment and let the boys play for a while.

It was a fun and lazy morning. Everywhere we went was mostly empty, which was pretty nice, too!

Deciding we should probably move towards WS and find out where to wait, we passed into the butterfly house again. That first butterfly-free attempt behind us, we all guessed they might be flying around now. Blakers led the way..

Inside, the butterflies had finally arrived! Everywhere we turned, another was just landing on a flower. The boys went to work calling each out for a picture.

We very slowly made our way around one side and stopped at the opposite entrance/exit. I asked if they wanted to check out the other side, but got a great big “no, thank you” from my three boys. I think they were butterflied out and ready to move to WS pretty fast. Sadness.

On the way out, they were given another round of seeds. This time, Andrew told the CM that we’d already gotten some, but she insisted.

“Now you have more! Be sure to plant them!”

A cruise by Rabbit’s garden later, we were finally walking into WS just before 10:00am! I had read a bit about how this was to work, but still wasn’t really sure. Some had said it worked kinda like the TSM madness. The gates would open and people rushed forward. We weren’t interested in being first for anything, but did plan to be early. Luckily for us, we ran right into these two along the way. They must know what to do, right?

We were given directions and told to just hang out in the area. They’d open the big gates and let everyone in later. We’d have lots of fun! Before moving on, the boys got some nifty F&G Festival stickers, Pixar Weekend maps, and another set of “Race Around World Showcase” books. Those two are definitely full of energy and fun. The boys loved their talk!

Couldn’t help it.. I was soooo hungry! (Totally kidding.. I didn’t do it!)

Andrew followed the map and pointed the way. Soon enough, we were where the flower people told us to “hang out” for a bit. I saw a few people waiting by a door and thought it was a little silly. I couldn’t imagine us being directed through that tiny door when the whole thing would open up. We opted for a bench and had a morning snack.

As time went on, more and more guests followed the few waiting by the door. I grew worried.

“They’re lining up!”

“Flower lady didn’t say anything about a line.”

“Because CMs never get anything wrong…”

I suggested that we join the line, but John wasn’t interested in it. We’d been waiting so much longer than all of these people and he planned to just walk up when it opened. I did not see that ending well! Insisting we were fine, he won and we waited at the bench. The boys were starting to be difficult, so I guessed staying away from it was easier anyway.

Nifty.. We got to see a mini-parade go by! From our area even!

The longer we sat, the longer that line grew! I wished so much that we’d just waited near that silly door. After reading some live updates on the TR board, I recognized a DIS’er in the mess of it. Yay. I guessed there would be some with this only being a three day event, but now worried we’d make the boards as evil line cutters, too! John told me to relax, but you can bet I stalked any mention of Pixar Weekend when we got home!

Exactly forty-eight minutes after claiming our bench, a CM finally opened things up and the crowd began to move. We walked into it, merging into the mess a little farther back in the line than when we’d arrived. I didn’t comment, but guessed John did this intentionally. Anyone we might be slipping in before had to walk by us earlier. It was a little funny. The woman by us just smiled, so I relaxed. Yay. This wouldn’t end so badly after all. I still feel rotten about not just getting in that line to begin with.

“Hi. My name is Jessica and I’m a line cutter..”

Admitting it is the first step to recovery, right? We don't really cut in line.

Nearing the door, a couple that hadn’t been waiting in this area of WS tried to cut the lady ahead of us. She went nuts! She shouted at them and pointed, going on about “those that have been waiting for this!” again and again. She went on and on, and I felt my face turn red. I caught her eye twice, but nothing was directed at me. Risking her hysterical fury, I did motion for that couple to get in front of me. These situations never end well. Just let ‘em ahead. I bet that’s what the woman who smiled at us thought..

Inside the building, the line instantly fell apart with guests rushing in different directions to find a character line instead. We joined the line for Mister Potato Head first, as he was at the top of the boys’ wish list. The angry woman from before was ahead of us.

The wait inside wasn’t too bad, but gave me some time to check everything out. On first glance, this was crazy and completely disappointing to me. The lighting was poor and it was so loud. I don’t know what exactly I had expected, but this was a big let down. I know I did come into it all with second thoughts after I read Wall-E wouldn’t be here. (We won’t be doing any of the non-character stuff inside here, btw. I wasn’t sure how the boys would handle sitting and listening to people talk all day.)

Each group moved up to snap a fast picture and we grew closer and closer to goal one. Along the way, the yelling woman loudly talked to anyone who would listen. I didn’t join in, but quickly learned she was a CM. By the time her turn came, I could tell you exactly where at AK she works. I don’t think I’d brag about working for the company in such detail if I’d just gone crazy on guests like that, cutters or not! I was happy to see her pose and move on.

Our turn!

It was quick, but it was such a big deal for them! We’re big Potato Head fans and love playing with the toy at home. Meeting him was on Andrew’s dream list and now we could check it off. Hooray!

 

[jc040404]

Next Up.. Up! I had a rough idea of what we reeeeally wanted to accomplish, knowing that everything just wouldn’t be possible. I’d read that Carl’s house would be part of this M&G, so it was easily decided to be goal two. We joined another line.

Then it started.

I’ve always been proud of how well the boys handle line waits. You’ve read my bragging. This day, everything went out the window and they were absolute terrors! John and I spent the line reminding them not to touch the chains. Please don’t bug your brother. Over and over. Ugh! Luckily, I don’t think that anyone else even paid attention, but I was going nuts. What a place to start acting like a kid, right?

To top it off, that AK CM was in front of us again! She found a couple of guests to amaze with her Disney knowledge and guest complaints. Pixar Weekend attracted everyone, and I could see why. I’d come if I worked here, but this was a sad theme of the day. I heard soo many complaints about guests and WDW from CMs who weren’t shy about telling exactly where they worked. It seems many aren’t big fans of their supervisors or positions. I’m sure just about everyone has some sort of gripe about their job, but this wasn’t the place to be venting it! I’ll try to only share a couple stories though.

A dozen “Please don’t touch the rope” warnings later, it was finally our turn with our Up friends!

The house was so neat! I wished for a few minutes to explore it all to myself, but that wasn’t really going to happen. Everyone was being pushed through the meets as quickly as possible. I was fine with that. There were soo many people in these lines! It was sorta sad that you were so close to the house. It was tough to get it all in the picture. John managed a few that I like, but they’re kinda inaccessible at the moment.

Just as we turned to leave Russell and Carl, I heard someone trying to get my attention. My biggest fear! It was a DIS’er, ! No really. It wasn’t scary and it was really nice to meet someone else from here. It was so great to see that you’d renewed your APs after all. (I knew you would!) The wheels in my head immediately started turning with my own plot to talk John into keeping ours’ going, too!

While we briefly talked, the boys were distracted by a green army man from Toy Story! One was just at the other side of the line and having fun with Blake and Andrew. It seemed that Andrew was ordered to do some jumping jacks. I love him to pieces, but my poor son just isn’t all that coordinated. Jumping jacks are just now starting to look correct. The army man laughed and said it looked more like modern dance! He was so right!

Our next mission was the Monsters Inc line. While the boys had never seen the movie, Andrew was set on getting a picture with Boo. He said she was adorable and this was important. (We’ve finally watched the dvd and they both LOVE this movie! I’ve seen it at least four times since.) Sadly, this line was the worst of the whole room! The Incredibles didn’t really have a wait, but we’d already met them at DHS. One spot was empty, so that’s where we journeyed first. Mater hadn’t been in our plans, but why pass it up like this?

He was neat, I suppose. The boys tried to pose exactly like the couple before us. It was too silly. Didn’t we see him at DHS before, too? He’s with the other car? It’s been a while.. and I’m clearly not a Cars fan. I forgot.

Giving in to the Monsters mess, we joined that line next. It was crazy long, with a break in the middle to allow people to leave Mister Potato Head’s line! That caused a bit of confusion as guest after guest tried to enter the Monsters line there. Those waiting weren’t very kind about it, but a CM did a great job at directing them away.

Passing the break in the line, Andrew grew more excited.. and more difficult to handle! I was already holding Blake to keep him occupied and happy, causing big brother some jealousy. John tried to entertain him. We played the camera game. Nothing was working on this crabby attitude. Being in view of the characters, a change was coming up and Boo had to go away. That didn’t help! He was devastated that we’d miss his goal until a CM assured him that we’d probably be in line long enough that they’d switch again. I couldn’t decide if this was good or bad! I think my Andy-Roo had gotten spoiled by all the short waits of this AP year. He had no patience that day at all. It was quite the wait!

Lucky for us, the CM was indeed correct about our wait time. When our turn came, so did the character switch! What luck, right? Andrew raced up to hug Boo!

Her head bounced around sooo much in there!

“Let’s get out of here!”

A part of me now wanted to get pictures with the rest of the monsters, but we needed out of this building.. and fast! I hoped a lunch break might improve the boys' moods or this day was going to be ending much earlier than I’d expected.

On the way out of the building, a CM stopped us and motioned to her table. They had even more Pixar Weekend goodies for the children so both boys were given Cars 2 posters. They were thrilled! We walked back into the sun with two little smiles again.

Coming sooooon.. The rest of this day.. I have it written, just addin some pics later..

 

[Dormeur]

Hello!

I send you a message asking you something.
I read your and I wondered if it was possible that I translated, for three girls who want to travel with me in a few years can understand?
I would write just on Facebook, and we would be only 4 to read it.

I'm sorry if I made ​​mistakes, I am Swiss!

Good day!

 

[GaRain]

Oh I want a picture with Boo now!!!

 

[jane2073]

Hee hee!

I was watching the to UP! Characters because I love them so much when I realized that I recognized the two boys having their picture made. I immediately looked for you to say 'hi!"

Well, I did have an internal debate first: I do not like approaching people I don't know very well. I just feel so silly and weird. And I knew you weren't a huge fan of having stange people coming up to you. But since we had we had been going back and forth a lot about the passes I thought I would take a chance!
I still felt silly!

We didn't go anywhere near the Monster's Inc. line. My daughter loves all characters-except the green monster with the braces. For some reason the braces freak her out! She is so funny! In a few years time she will be wearing braces!!

 

[CAStevens218]

Oh my goodness, your Pixar Weekend pictures are great!!! I love the one of Andrew hugging Boo, he look so happy!!

That crowd looks extremely overwhelming! People tend to forget how to behave in situations like that! I can understand why the boys might have been overwhelmed! It sounds like they still behaved pretty well to me though!

 

[jc040404]

Hello!

I send you a message asking you something.
I read your and I wondered if it was possible that I translated, for three girls who want to travel with me in a few years can understand?
I would write just on Facebook, and we would be only 4 to read it.

I'm sorry if I made ​​mistakes, I am Swiss!

Good day!

Welcome! I do not mind if you translate, but not copy the pictures. Have fun planning your trip to Florida!

Oh I want a picture with Boo now!!!

I couldn't get over how much that little head bounced around. She was cute!

Hee hee!

I was watching the to UP! Characters because I love them so much when I realized that I recognized the two boys having their picture made. I immediately looked for you to say 'hi!"

Well, I did have an internal debate first: I do not like approaching people I don't know very well. I just feel so silly and weird. And I knew you weren't a huge fan of having stange people coming up to you. But since we had we had been going back and forth a lot about the passes I thought I would take a chance!
I still felt silly!

We didn't go anywhere near the Monster's Inc. line. My daughter loves all characters-except the green monster with the braces. For some reason the braces freak her out! She is so funny! In a few years time she will be wearing braces!!

Carl was acting kinda silly, wasn't he? He seemed like the grumpy old man back when we saw him at DHS, but this one was a little nuts!

It is kinda crazy to meet someone from here, but I'm glad you said hi! I see DIS'ers, but have never spoken up myself. It was so great to see you renewed! I really thought it would influence me to keep ours', but you can see we didn't.

So funny that your daughter is afraid of that one. It was the monster I wanted to see most! That might be due to the scary look of it though. That line was pretty wild anyway.

Oh my goodness, your Pixar Weekend pictures are great!!! I love the one of Andrew hugging Boo, he look so happy!!

That crowd looks extremely overwhelming! People tend to forget how to behave in situations like that! I can understand why the boys might have been overwhelmed! It sounds like they still behaved pretty well to me though!

I'm sure the crowds and being in one building the entire time played into it, but they were tough. I rate this as the roughest kid behavior day we're had at WDW, but it did really improve once we were out of that crowded building. It probably wasn't that bad at all.

Andrew was sooo happy to get to see Boo! He reminded us each time we saw the movie after.

 

[jc040404]

Another goal for our Pixar Day was all the way over in America. We took advantage of this and picked Liberty Inn for our lunch break. Despite eating breakfast fine and having snacks during the bench wait before, it became obvious that food might've been Andy-Roo’s real issue. He gobbled up his wrap and fruit and asked for another. I didn’t expect that, but he is a growing boy! Lunch was easy and the boys were mostly back to normal afterward. Yay for that!

Our America goal was to meet Bullseye! The Toy Story characters had a crazy wait, but that’s how this day worked. The boys and I joined the line while John stayed inside Liberty Inn to get more drinks. This day was a little hot so cool drinks were super important!

This one moved very, very slowly. He took the boys up to the kidcot spot to color new Duffy bears while I held our spot. Lots of families were taking advantage of the close kid activity, so this wait was really the easiest of the day. Maybe Disney had things partly right with the coloring before Rapunzel idea..? In total, this one took around thirty minutes.

The visit was a little confusing for them. Everyone was calling for picture attention in different directions!

Another mission accomplished!

Potato Head, the Up guys, Boo, and Bullseye were all we reeeeeally hoped to get to this day, so things were going great! Andrew and I looked over the map and tried to make a plan. The Bug’s Life characters weren’t too far away, so they became our next goal.

This will be where we run into another mess. CMs were so clueless this day. As it was day three of the event, I really hoped some of the bugs (hahaha) might’ve been straightened out by now. Sadly, no one was sure when or where you could see the characters outside of that big building. It took some work, but we found a CM who was “100% certain” that Flick and Atta would be meeting inside a play area very soon. There was even a bit of a line set up, so I was hopeful that he was correct. We joined and the boys had a blast playing with the other children while the adults held their spots. Another perfect set up!

“They’re coming!!”

A little boy on top was keeping lookout for the rest of the children and alerted them that the bugs were on the way! All of the kids slid down and hurried back in place. Loved it! A few minutes later, it was time for more Pixar friends!

Piece of cake! Andrew was thrilled to get this one and raced back to us. Blake didn’t find it to be such a big success.

“I do NOT like the blue bug.”

I got the super serious with lowered Blaker eyebrows face. He’s been doing that face since birth and it never fails to make me smile. (I need some pics of it!) Guess the little guy doesn’t like bug hugs. I can't blame him. That didn't look very comfortable at all!

We found another CM outside of the area to inquire about Slim. That had to be one of the more awesome looking characters in the park and I now wanted a pic for our collection. He’s so tall! The first CM was clueless and asked another. That one tried to make something up, but was called out by the first. They finally decided that Slim and Gypsy Moth (Or was just Slim OR Gypsy Moth?? They didn’t know!) would be out soon. A few of us started a line.

“They’ll be out in an hour.”

Uhhh. No, thanks. This line had no shade and the sun was brutal. We weren’t interested in an hour wait in it to possibly see our preferred character. Had we been given some definite info, maybe. I checked out the map and we moved on.

Remy and Emile from Ratatouille would be out at 2:20. Not in our plans, but now another mission. We raced to France and were in the line at exactly 2:22! This was the most high stress line of the day. Remy was where we usually saw Marie the cat and the line circled all around that fence. The CM in charge never cut the line, but told everyone who joined that they would probably not get to see the characters. He was doing his best to rush everyone in and out though. John and I decided we were most likely going to end up in the group that didn’t get to see them, but it would be worth a shot. We slowly moved around the circle.

Many guests still ahead of us, the CM started yelling out that he’d soon be closing the line and the characters were leaving. Everyone waiting had this crazy energy to them. We all wanted to see these rare characters and no one was giving up hope. It was kinda fun, but the stress level was so high!

Every now and then, a guest would start the multiple pose game. You know the one.. “Characters & me! Character & you! Character & Uncle Bob.. Okay, now a group pic!” It never ended well. The rest of the line would start yelling at them to hurry up already. “We’re all trying to get a picture!” Sometimes it would work, sometimes not. At times, I worried things were going to become violent. It was so crazy! The CM just let the line yell. I worried for the man when this line was really closed down.

We started growing closer and closer! I crossed my fingers and hoped we’d make it. Andrew was going just about crazy. This had become a wild game to him and he wanted to win!

Then the CM gave the last warning. And we would’ve been next in line! What luck, right? Although he’d said the line was closing now, Remy opened his arms to the boys and the CM pushed us through anyway. Hooray! We hurried forward and the characters put the boys in picture position.

A super fast hug and we were out of there. Craziest character line yet! I have to admit that this one was actually soo much fun. Andrew and I still laugh about the “Will we or won’t we?” game and the wild rush of it all. I’m so glad we made it! Glancing behind as we left, Remy and the CM let the people behind us in, too. He managed a lot of guests in a short time!

After that wildness, a bit of a break sounded great. We went back to where the Bug’s Life character, whichever one it would be, should be coming out. Only one family had decided to stick it out in the sun during that time, so we were still able to grab an excellent spot in line. They had pushed the line back a bit into some shade, so we parked the stroller behind and relaxed. John and Andrew ran off for some cool drinks.

Despite the bit of shade, this spot was still sticky hot and mostly miserable to wait in. The line grew as we waited and a couple off duty DHS CMs were behind us. Without saying too much, they fit the CM theme of the day! I suppose I should be thankful that the topic was just job complaints. If they started sharing some of the stories another DIS’er had to listen to, in front of my two year old, we would’ve had quite a problem! I still don’t understand why you would talk about this stuff in such detail where you’re employed…?

John and Andrew eventually returned with our drinks and our wait soon ended. The guests in front announced that “here he comes!” and I got excited. Were we going to get our preferred character??

Nope. It was Gypsy Moth! Too bad. She was really pretty anyway and the boys posed for a quick pic.

“What do you wanna do now?”

That old game had started again. None of really wanted to wait around to see if Slim might ever come back again and the CM still didn’t really know the schedule. We decided to move on. John wanted to check out the big boards outside of the main Pixar building, hoping it wouldn’t be so packed now. It worked for me! Andrew put in a request to check for more Monsters Inc characters, so a new plan was born. We moved around WS to where we’d started our Pixar adventure.

We spent a bit of time here checking them out. Each had some fun Pixar movie facts that I didn’t know about. I read them to Blake while John took pictures. Andrew expressed his sadness over Wall-E not being here today and asked for a picture with a picture. He’s a silly guy.

Silly or not, Andrew’s idea inspired others. I saw another mom watching us and then rush her child over to do the same. Andy-Roo waved at the other boy and ran to pose by Lightning McQueen’s picture. They copied again and my little man burst into giggles. Too cute.

John took pictures of all of them, but I hadn’t planned to include them all in the TR. Since this day feels kinda short on pics to me, I’m going for it anyway. Hope the quality is okay. I had to “steal” them from myself on facebook for now. Enjoy.

Fun stuff. I’m sure they’re out of order and one might be missing…

Done with John’s project, it was on to Andrew’s monster request. Unfortunately, the building was at capacity and closed. Sadness. John parked the stroller and we joined the group waiting.

 

[jc040404]

We waited about ten minutes before the doors would open again. Inside, we saw that only one monster remained. Google just taught me his name is George Sanderson. Despite the multiple viewings, I must not have been paying attention to that part of the movie. Andy-Roo was a little disappointed, but that nasty mood from earlier was long gone. He handled it just fine and directed us to the line. He had hoped to see this particular monster because of that sock on his back. Not having seen the movie, he didn’t understand it at all and needed answers.

“There’s a sock on your back!”

The monster turned and ran!

Now I remembered that part of the movie. When we finally watched Monsters Inc, Andrew cracked up at the idea. On this day, he was more confused than before!

“Next?”

“No idea.”

We walked back towards Future World. Along the way, we stopped to smell the roses.. And look at the sand. Had it changed?

Blake was so proud of himself when he spotted the Mickey on the giraffe.

We took a quiet break out of the heat to make some decisions about the rest of this day. The boys loved the huge flowers in here and stayed entertained while we talked.

Going over our Pixar Weekend info, we decided to skip Buzz completely but the living coral might be worth a look. Our timing wasn’t bad for it so I cut our break short.

The living coral was outside of Nemo’s ride without a line at all. The CMs here weren’t running things like the other character meets. A crowd gathered, but whoever walked up first got a picture. It was different and uncomfortable for me. I’ve heard a few complain that they miss how characters just wandered around in years before and wish they’d return to it. That would definitely not work for me! I think I like the order of a nice, neat line.

We might as well ride Nemo if we’re here, right? There was no wait, so in we went. All of us except John, that is. He ran off for more water and met us at the exit. Andrew and I used our Soarin’ FPs and we all checked out LWTL again. That was about it for our day. It was dinnertime now, but we didn’t have plans. Sunshine Seasons would’ve made sense, but we’d just been here the last visit. I decided to try my luck and make another suggestion..

“How about CHH?”

“To the monorail!”

Yay. That was too easy. On the way home after the last visit, I had expressed my sadness over the year coming to end so soon and the fact that we no longer did late day trips. (Remember the days when we could open and close MK without staying overnight? Fun times!) We walked straight to the monorail with plans for a fun MK evening. We still hadn’t see the new Magic, Memories, and You castle show and began to talk about checking it out if we weren't too late.

But, the monorail was closed. I watched my happy MK evening float away with a lost butterfly. We could’ve just driven, but this was enough to toss that plan. Blake said he was sleepy so we had a nice off property dinner and went home.

It wasn’t until our next EPCOT day that I’d actually read that “closed” sign and realize the monorail hadn’t been closed at all! Silly me. I cheated us out of an MK ending! The day was still just fine like this. When I first started the TR update, I remembered this as the one that we should’ve skipped. I think this might be a huge benefit to TR writing. When I actually went through what did, moment by moment, and focused on all the fun.. Well, Pixar Weekend could’ve been so much more, but it was a pretty fun character finding experience after all.

The End!

Next!! Pop, the dxdp, and one crazy big mess!

 

[CAStevens218]

You met so many great characters on this day! Standing on so many long lines does make for a long day though. And I totally agree about the lines for characters being better than having them just wander around. It seems far too stressful!!

The pictures of the boys with the giant flowers are adorable!

Too bad you didn't make it to Magic Kingdom...can't wait to read about next time though!

 

[jc040404]

You met so many great characters on this day! Standing on so many long lines does make for a long day though. And I totally agree about the lines for characters being better than having them just wander around. It seems far too stressful!!

The pictures of the boys with the giant flowers are adorable!

Too bad you didn't make it to Magic Kingdom...can't wait to read about next time though!

It was definitely a long day of lines! I'm impressed with us though. We managed to see more characters than I thought we could.

I love those pics with the flowers. They were being really silly about them that day.

 

[jc040404]

May 24th, 2011 * Pop & the dxdp * day 34

Getaway time! It was time for our rescheduled overnight getaway to soak up more WDW fun while we had the chance. This visit would be slightly different. I decided to be wild and add the dxdp. While calculating up our meals, it seemed to make sense. After I had everything booked and paid for, the math wasn’t so good anymore. The plan would save us money in a sense, but we wouldn’t have gotten most of this stuff without it! If nothing else, having a meal plan did push me to finally try some new restaurants.

We got to Pop at 8:00am to check-in and get our keys. The most important thing to me when having a Disney dining plan was that our keys absolutely do NOT allow charging. I know most wouldn’t agree with this plan. It does make it easier to charge purchases and tips. However, past experiences with the plan and charging privileges didn’t turn out very well for us. I’d rather erase the risk of a CM running it incorrectly and pay in cash.

Check-in complete, I was assured that charging wouldn’t be allowed. Perfect. The cards even said “Not Valid For Charging” on them. This would be one stress free dining plan experience for us! Our room wasn’t ready this early, but we didn’t have any need for it yet anyway. Taking our folder, everyone hopped back in the car to go to the TTC.

Our goal here wasn’t the usual race across to MK. On this visit, we were having breakfast with Stitch! We took the resort monorail to the Poly. They couldn’t locate our name at first, but we were soon waiting for our table. The boys couldn’t wait for this one!

Andrew thought these were great!

The wait for our table was sooo long and probably the longest we’d ever experienced at Disney. When we were finally called back, there was still loads of confusion over seating us. I’m not sure what was going on, but we switched CMs on the walk inside. At the end of the mess was a table, so all was okay.

Well, mostly okay. We were seated at the teeniest table! I don’t know a whole lot about ‘Ohana, but I didn’t recall reading about being squished at tiny tables. Glancing around, the same size table was being used for parties of two with ours’ the only trying to fit four. I gave John an odd look and he agreed. When our server made it around for drink orders, he commented.

She told us that they always use those tables for larger families and flashed a huge smile. It was cramped, but we didn’t say another word about it. Maybe they did and we’d make it work. She began to ask if we’d like the juice they offer. This didn’t go well.

“I would like white milk,” Blake said.

“Oooohhhh.. Chocolate milk!” the CM called back to him.

He shot me the Blaker face.

“The juice is great,” Andrew announced.

“Another chocolate milk!” came the reply.

What was this woman on? I understand they’re kids, but these two speak just as I type. She assumed they’d want chocolate milk and didn’t listen to a word. Oh well. Little people get no respect sometimes. I corrected the drink problem, going with juice for myself. That stuff was too yummy. She gave us a super fast rundown on the character flow and ran off to take care of drinks.

Quite a bit later, she returned with my coffee.

Let’s move on, huh?

Stitch would be our first character of the meal. He was his usual self, but Andrew wasn’t interested. That bread was “deeeelish” and way more important. He couldn’t be bothered with characters when we had yummy food in front of us.

Lilo followed soon after Stitch..

I believe the rest of the food came out after Lilo was gone. With the tiny table and four plates, it was a bit of project to make space for them all, and the boys’ autograph books for characters, but we managed. The food was pretty good, but I don’t remember what we had now.

Mickey interrupted for a a quick chat..

and then it was time to play! The boys were given things to shake while marching around. Andrew was super excited to do this, but Blake stayed hesitant. He’s mommy’s baby and is so much more cautious about things than big brother. After a bit of talking, he hopped off the chair and joined in. I began to follow my baby, but John talked me into letting him follow the big kids all by himself. Andrew was with him and they were only circling the restaurant. I couldn’t believe I listened to him. I fully admit to being a lot more protective of my Blakers. He was only two!

I stayed in my seat and my boys ran off to play. It looked fine. They both were so happy marching around!

Andrew rushed up to the table, alone, when the fun was over.

“Where’s Blaker??”

I was worried. John told me not to be silly and that he’d be around in a second. I still began to panic. This was my baby after all! Andrew said he’d get little brother and jumped down. No way to that one. I wasn’t going to have two missing kids! John left the table with Andy-Roo to find Blakers. They headed in the opposite direction of the game before.

Sure enough, as soon as they were out of sight, my baby Blake was back! I knew I should’ve marched around with him! He wasn’t worried at all and kept smiling about his fun and moment of “getting lost like brother did.” Yikes.

Our last character took a while to make it to us. Pluto showed up just as our server took the bill away with my KTTW. I was sure to remind her that we were on the dxdp but she smiled and claimed to already know. Glancing over the cost of the meal, I did think we’d made a bit of mistake using a dining plan on this one. It didn’t cost much at all and would’ve been a nice OOP meal instead!

Pluto turned out to be the favorite of this meal, so we left with smiles. I stuffed the receipt and card into my bag and we were off to the monorail again. Now it was time for some MK fun!

 

[CAStevens218]

There is nothing worse than going out to eat and getting squished at a table that is too small for your group! I'm glad the food and characters were good though!

Do I sense some dining plan/credit card issues in your future?

 

[Dugette]

I was a few updates behind again and just caught up.

I'm sorry that your long migraine hiatus had to end that morning. I'm glad you were able to deal with it pretty well and not let it ruin the day, though.

From the angle of that pic, Andrew sure looks tall enough for Everest. Glad you didn't have to ride it on your migraine day, though.

Glad you got good seats and enjoyed the Nemo show. Too bad Restaurantasauras was no good, though. We never went there, except to look around at the theming inside.

Awesome that Andrew was finally picked by Crush! I'm glad his sunglasses plan worked!

That's a funny and ironic story about the slow-walking woman with the cane and the line cutters. I love that she got to cut back ahead of them at the end!

Very interesting to see Pixar Weekend, as I knew nothing about it. Looks crazy, but fun and unique. Great character opportunities! The boards with the little tidbits about the movies look interesting too.You got some nice pics! Too bad you didn't get to end at MK and CHH, though.

Ahhh, the Poly. Strange waitress, though. Glad you had a decent time.

 

[AprilRenee]

Oh dear! That waitress was too nutty and you have made too many comments about no charging privileges and about not looking at your final receipt. I feel a problem coming up.

On the subject of the nutty waitress, I hate when people treat kids like that. Kids are people too. Especially when they're so clear about what they want, treat them like little adults and do what they ask!! Kids have opinions too. They're not stupid!

 

[jc040404]

There is nothing worse than going out to eat and getting squished at a table that is too small for your group! I'm glad the food and characters were good though!

Do I sense some dining plan/credit card issues in your future?

I meant to look into the table issue when we got home. The big tables at Ohana are HUGE, but the smaller ones just don't really cut it for a group of four. Blake was still listened as an infant (or whatever it says for someone under three) so I wondered if that was why? Who knows. We made it work, but it was squished!

Our visit in 2005 was inspired by the DDP. I got a pretty nice pin so we tried it for the first time. It was a mess! SO many CMs charged our meals to the room, after knowing it was DDP. The Main Street Bakery was the absolute worst about it and we'd always end up with the CM that barely spoke a word of English. I just let one go to get out of there. I worried so much about it happening again with this one.

I was a few updates behind again and just caught up.

I'm sorry that your long migraine hiatus had to end that morning. I'm glad you were able to deal with it pretty well and not let it ruin the day, though.

From the angle of that pic, Andrew sure looks tall enough for Everest. Glad you didn't have to ride it on your migraine day, though.

Glad you got good seats and enjoyed the Nemo show. Too bad Restaurantasauras was no good, though. We never went there, except to look around at the theming inside.

Awesome that Andrew was finally picked by Crush! I'm glad his sunglasses plan worked!

That's a funny and ironic story about the slow-walking woman with the cane and the line cutters. I love that she got to cut back ahead of them at the end!

Very interesting to see Pixar Weekend, as I knew nothing about it. Looks crazy, but fun and unique. Great character opportunities! The boards with the little tidbits about the movies look interesting too.You got some nice pics! Too bad you didn't get to end at MK and CHH, though.

Ahhh, the Poly. Strange waitress, though. Glad you had a decent time.

Andrew did look tall enough, right? I could see why John thought so, but there was still lots of room for his head to move around under the mark. He was okay with it at the time.

The cane lady at Soarin was the BEST line cutting experience ever. I loved when she got to go ahead of the cutters after all. It was perfect!

I think my family might be weird waitress magnets sometimes..

Oh dear! That waitress was too nutty and you have made too many comments about no charging privileges and about not looking at your final receipt. I feel a problem coming up.

On the subject of the nutty waitress, I hate when people treat kids like that. Kids are people too. Especially when they're so clear about what they want, treat them like little adults and do what they ask!! Kids have opinions too. They're not stupid!

Am I so obvious? We had some crazy problems with the DDP and room charges in 2005. I wasn't up for repeating it, but it was kinda silly not to check the receipt when we left Ohana!

It drives me nuts when people just don't listen to what little kids are saying! "A person's a person, no matter how small." I think my boys are easy to understand, and this one was really out there. She didn't manage to get my drink right either, so I'm doubting it was anything against the boys now.