Dis-ers, dis-ers, everywhere?? Hey, where's Waldo?? The End & Final Thoughts

[Disneyland_Mama]

I'm a little nervous about writing this TR, considering the excellent and witty writing skills of my predecessors; UtahMama, PrincessV, Sorul82?, GMax and other limeys.


Let me start with a little pre-trip info....

I have been planning this trip in my head for the last 5 years. Then during a trip to Las Vegas, the miracle child was conceived after a long bout of infertility. WDW trip gladly on hold until miracle was old enough. Miracle turns 2 and we head to Las Vegas for a family wedding and BOOM, miracle #2 occurs. Whoever said "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" is full of it. I've no plans to return. I don't know what they put in the water there.

Anyway, last year my BIL sends my DD a postcard from their annual WDW pilgrimage and the seed was planted.

January 2006: We decided in plan a trip for this year. We plan for September, not know anything about the Free Dining to be offered later in the year (I cancel current ressie once I find out about it on the boards) DH and talk about inviting my parents to join us. Parents decide to join us. We all then decide to invite DNeph who will be graduating in the coming June. Thinking this will be a great Graduation gift. DNeph doesn't turn 18 until Oct, so we gets the Jr. price... whoo hoo! We are a Disney Family and everyone is ready to rock! We book our trip for 5 nights at the Poly with MYW park hopper tix and free dining... God bless our TA, I made sooo many changes and she just rolled with the punches!

The count down begins: I am a total obsessive compulsive trip planner... hey I'm right at home on these boards! I buy everything in site... I have UPS packages coming everyday. I buy so much "what if" stuff that it has it's own suitcase. I clean out the Dollar Tree of anything remotely needed at WDW. I am banned from Target and Walmart.
We have several milestones through out the year to help the time go by: DS 2nd birthday, Knotts Berry Farm, etc. We continue our weekly/bi-weekly trip to Disneyland to keep the magic going. I make all our ADR's based on the menus from allears and then I change all our ADR's thanks to the recommendations from fellow dis-ers. I make touring plans and download maps and yes, I laminated them. Ok, I said it.... I feel better now. I lurk on these boards and then I find the "focker thread". Sweet mother of God.... I find my people. I started collecting my LGMHPC's from HD... I buy lime green foam board, markers, ribbon... I make "Disness" cards to pass out. Stop the madness??? Never!
September finally arrives.....

 

[MomPlanner22]

OK, I'm in. Let's see, that means I am waiting on TR's from Gmax, UMama, ET, PrincessV, TMama (who hasn't even started her report, S'late, Sneezie, Zzub, Mel and now you! Is it any wonder we keep eating take out and my house is a mess but I am up on my Dispeeps?

Great start and looking forward to more!!!!

 

[cjhinch]

Oh my, another "Focker Watcher" trip report!! I can't wait! I am going to have to make a spreadsheet to keep track of them all!

 

[PrincessV]

What a Fockeriffic intro This is so much fun, reading all the TR's form the same time period and hearing about everyone's different experiences. Can't wait for more!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Let me begin the introductions.....


Me: 34 yo Disneyland Mama. Trip planner extraordinaire, Tour guide Barbie, pure limey at hear, Focker to the core. You get the picture. I make everyone take a vow at the airport. Raise your right hand and repeat after me... "I will not whine, cry or complain about 1) the crowds 2) the heat 3) the walking; I will have fun, fun, fun. I will not have a public meltdown and embarrass my family. I will STAY WITH THE GROUP and not WANDER ABOUT."

DH: 36 yo Disneyland Daddy. Not quite the Disneyaholic as I am. Goes with the flow, but does alot of eye rolling. Loves the Disney villians. Figures... We shall call him....Joe. That's simple enough.

DD: 4 yo going on 30. Tinkaholic. Little Miss Attitude. Reminds us that she is an expert of everything. She remember everything I say, and it comes back to haunt me more often than not. We shall call her.... Minnie.

DS: 2 yo. A total terror. He is birth control for any woman. Think you want kids? Come spend some time with this kid. He'll cure you for sure. His badness level is very high. He makes Stitch look like an angel. This kid looks for trouble and usually finds it. But he is very cute and gets away with more than he should. But he's only 2 and still a baby. Can you see the problem?? We shall call him... EhEh... or EE for short. That's what he calls himself, since he can't quite pronounce his name.

DNeph: 17 yo. A total know-it-all. Loves to challenge me on Disney Trivia. I beat him every time. Those days are numbered, though. He's now a CM for Disneyland. God help us. We shall call him... Walt.

My mom: 70 yo. Your typical mother. She's a super duper grandma... sometimes to a fault. She loves Disney, she doesn't understand alot of it, but she loves it. I bought her an annual pass for DLR a few years ago and she got hooked. We shall call her...Nini.

My dad: 71 yo. Oh brother... where do I begin? Dad is a pain in the $%@. God knows I love him, but ....!!! I was warned by my older brother that traveling with dad would be like playing Where's Waldo? constantly. Dad is a wanderer. He goes off by himself or ducks into a store and gets "lost". His hearing is shot, so yelling out his name is useless. I will keep a Where's Waldo count so you can see what I mean. I advise him at the beginning of the trip that we would not spend time looking for him. I told him remember we are at the Poly and if you get separated, then just go back to the hotel. For obvious reasons, we shall call him Waldo.

Now you have the met the characters... I will begin our story...
After I take DD to school...
Thanks to those reading! I really appreciate it!!!

 

[OhMari]

Love the "Where's Waldo" reference, I haven't seen those books in years.

What is a Jr. rate, I didn't think those existed anymore.

 

[NewOrleansLady]

More please

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Love the "Where's Waldo" reference, I haven't seen those books in years.

What is a Jr. rate, I didn't think those existed anymore.

I'm refering the hotel room portion. We didn't have to pay full adult room rate for him, since he was under 18 and staying with his grandparents.

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Tuesday 9/12: This is packing day. We have so much to do. Let me rephrase that... I have so much to do. Joe isn't a helper. I'm so OCD, that I will do whatever he attempts to do, over again. Minnie has Back to School night, so it's really crunch time. I have laundry going, I'm packing, I'm getting ready for back to school night, I'm getting the kids ready for bed. I'm tired. Back to school night lasts much longer than expected. We get home close to 9 pm and have to finish everything up. Walt lives about 25 miles away, so he drives in around 8 pm. Ok... kids are asleep and I set the alarm for 3:30 am. Joe and I get in bed around 11 pm. 4 1/2 hours of sleep? Oh man! As soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out. I wake up around 2:45, and lay in bed for 15 minutes or so. I drag myself out of bed and get ready. Joe gets up and gets ready.

Wednesday 9/13: We have to leave for LAX by 5:30am. Our limo is to be here at 5am. I try to wake the kidlets up at 4:30 am and Minnie refuses to get up, because I told her we were leaving in the morning and since it is still dark, it must still be night time. Fine, I say. Stay here and Uncle will come and stay with you while we go to WDW. Ok, she's up. Now EE, I go into his room and tell him, "EE, it's to go to WDW" He's up and nods his head. I dress him and take him downstairs. I look out the window and see out limo has arrived 45 mins early. Cool, I think, let's get outta here. Why am I in a rush to get to LAX? You'll see.

We're out the door at 5 am and on our way.... whoo hoo!! We arrive at LAX to a mass amount of people. I must say, LAX has the most friendly employees. I ask a woman where to obtain our boarding passes. She barks at me "Follow the yellow line!" I'm heading the wrong way, I attempt to turn around and am almost bowled over by a nice man and his luggage cart. I say to him, "Excuse me" and he tells me, you almost killed your baby. What??? I think fast and smile at him and say, "Well slow down you jack-bleep." You know... rhymes with gas.
I proceed to obtain all our boarding passes and head over to TSA to check in our luggage. We wait in line and I ask Walt, do you have your boarding pass? He goes pale and says no. He runs back to the desk and the lady says your aunt has it. Duh! I forgot that I had printed his boarding pass online line last night. (We booked his flight separately since TA couldn't get the same price.) We give our bags to TSA and the nice lady tells me to proceed to security. Well Waldo hears part of someone elses conversation and tells me we must wait for our luggage. I tell Waldo, no we don't see our luggage again until we reach our resort. No Waldo tells me, we MUST wait for it. I make Walt go over to the nice lady and ask her. No she says, we leave our luggage here and it is boarded on to the plane. Thank you, Waldo. Score: Me - 1 Waldo - 0
We start heading toward security. Now security is sooo much fun to begin with, but with toddlers it is a blast! Getting through there took over and hour. Oh, then we have to get rescreened because I packed some prescrption cough syrup in DS backpack. Yeah, you'll thank me for that later, people on flight 244.
Ok, through security and heading to our gate. We're all starved and caffiene deprived. Joe heads for Burger King. No, thanks.... I don't want stomach issues on the plane. I think Burger Kings egg product is questionable. I head to Starbucks for a tea and bagel. Waldo heads... uhhhh somewhere. Ok, where's Waldo? Did he go with you, Joe? Nope. Did he go with you, mama? Nope. We all sit to enjoy our pseudo-breakfast and here comes Waldo with a coffee and danish. After breakie I give the kiddies cough syrup. Yeah, flame me all you want, it worked. A little bit won't hurt 'em. Where's Waldo count = 1

We board our plane and EE is out before take off. Let me just comment on the plane. When we boarded, there were pillow and blankets on all the seats, the plane was impeccable, well, for a commerical jet. 3 hours into our flight, EE wakes up. Oh no... it's alive!!

Notice all the snack and kiddie provisions.
We arrive in MCO at 3:30pm and proceed to Magical Express. Now, I've heard some nightmares about this. So, let's see just how Magical and how express it really is. I read UtahMama's TR and I think we had the same driver. He sounded just like Ricky Ricardo. I couldn't stop giggling. I was waiting for him to say, "Lucy, you got some splaining to do." He drops us off at the Polynesian at 4:40. Record time, I'd say. From landing to check-in 1 hour ten minutes. Now that's pretty magical and express.

We head into the lobby where we are leid. No, no people.. I don't want to get leid, I want to be focked!

Now let's see if they got my requests right......

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

First, I have to mention the heat. Good Lord, it's hot. It's that sticky, nasty, don't touch me hot. If you stand still, you sweat. If you move you sweat. It's the I'm feeling like I'm wilting, hot. Now since everyone took their oath at the airport, no one has mentioned the heat. I have never experience heat like this. I've been to Las Vegas in the heat of July when it's 116, but it doesn't feel like this. Ok, enough about the heat. You all were there, you know what I'm talking about.

It's 4:40 and we have 6:30 ADR's at Le Cellier. There's no one in line at check-in so Waldo, Joe and I are helped right away. We are given our Key to the World cards and given the run down of the dining plan.... yeah, yeah, yeah... I know lady, I've been on the boards for months now. I ask if we have connecting rooms. I am told yes and all my requests have been fulfilled. We got the Samoa longhouse with adjoining rooms with a pool view. Whoo hoo!! Let the pixie dust fly!!

We jet up to our rooms to drop of our stuff. Wait a minute, our rooms are NOT connecting. They are right next to eachother, but don't connect. Oh, well. I am happy otherwise.

Walt and Minnie
We head out and walk over to the TTC, jump on the Epcot monorail. I am floored at the size of this place. Being from California, I had no idea exactly how large the WDW property is. We walk through the turnstyles and *WOW*. We're here. We're actually here. After all the planning and drama, we are here.

We enter WS and I'm in love. It's so beautiful. It's only 6pm, but we're sooo hungry, we decide to head over to see if we can get in early. The place is mobbed. We are standing in long line to check in and Waldo tells me, "We have a reservation, we don't have to wait in this line." I tell Waldo, "Yes, we do." He says "No, we don't". Now Waldo has no idea about ADR's or even WDW for that matter. He is talking out of the side of his neck and driving me crazy. I tell him "What would you like me to do? Push everyone out of the way? Go sit down with the other please." Now I witness something for the 1st time that seems to be quite common in WDW. The man infront of me is getting very irate with the seating hostess. He is telling her that he is late because of the monorail. She says, "We'll seat you when we can, sir" He keeps on persisting and blaming the monorail.. blah, blah, blah. He goes back to his wife and starts yelling at her ... in public. I am completely embarrassed for her. I turn away as soon as we make eye contact. I can't believe how often people blow up at eachother. I understand it's hot, I understand you're hungry, I don't understand how you can belittle your significant other in public.
Ok, on to happier moments.... while we wait Minnie discovers.. Kidcot This helps pass the 30 minutes or so that we wait.

Minnie & Nini at Kidcot

We are seated and our server, Shayne, was great and very helpful. Our meal was incredible. I had the Shrimp cocktail, Mushroom Filet and the Maple & Vanilla cream brulee. The shrimp was different than any other shrimp I had. I believe it was Gulf Shrimp. Being from Cali, we're used to farm raised shrimp. They are very different. Different texture, but very good. The shrimp cocktail was served with a wasabi slaw. Oh, me, oh my... it was kickin'!!! Waldo and Walt had the same appy and theirs was not as hot as mine. They were teasing me until I made them taste mine. They agreed mine was the hottest. Joe had the House Filet, Waldo had the Ribeye, Nini had the prime rib and Minnie had the kids steak and shared with EE. Total cost of meal for all of us = 276.01. Yes, we got the free dining. We rolled out of there around 7:45.

We headed over to get wrist bands for the EMH around 8pm. I notice no one was around for Illuminations. We headed to Test Track for a quick spin. Nini, Waldo and Walt rode first, as Minnie chickened out and EE is too short. I made a conscience decision that I would not force her to do anything she did not want to ride. Side note: When she was almost 3 we took her on the POTC in DLR and she would ride it with no problem until one day, we were getting on and the parents behind us forced their DD on the ride screaming and crying. Minnie was tramatized watching that whole episode and refused to ride POTC anymore. Thanks alot idiot parents. We just got her back on for the first time this past June. We got a baby swap and waited for the others in the gift shop so Minnie could do another Kidcot. When Waldo and Nini came out, Joe, Walt and I took our turn. There was no one in line. When we return to the loading area, we were asked if we wanted to ride again. Sure, we all yelled and went around again. What a great ride! Back to the loading area. Do you want to ride again. No!! I'm too old for this! We met up with Nini and Waldo and headed over to Spaceship Earth. Poor Nini... her feet were really hurting her. We got on SE and loved it. It's very cool. Nini's feet couldn't handle anymore, so we jumped back on the Monorail and headed to our hotel. Once in our room, my kids had sensory overload. They were jumping on the beds, running around like monkeys. I put them in the bath and that calmed them down. To bed by 11pm. Tomorrow.... we hit AK and E.E.

I think.....I love Epcot. I think public meltdowns are bad. I think the steaks at Le Cellier are worth a 5 hour flight. I think I love the Disney dining plan.

Where's Waldo: 0
Me: 1 Waldo: 0 (re: waiting in line)
Public meltdowns: 1

 

[c4alymom]

Enjoying your TR. Keep it coming!

 

[DebIreland]

Great report! I love it!

LMAO @ Waldo!!

Can't wait for more!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Thursday 9/14: Today is our Animal Kingdom day. We decided last night, it would be best to order room service and have the kids eat while we get ready for the day. I order 2 breakfasts and the 4 of us share. There's plenty of food for everyone. We eat and head out the door for the bus stop. When we get to the bus stop, around 8:10, sitting there is a very annoyed CM. We ask her if an AK bus has come recently. She barks, "Every bus except the bus I need has been here. I've been waiting for the DTD bus since 7:00." Allllrighty then. I turn and look at Joe, who for no reason, starts laughing. Then I start laughing at Joe laughing. Joe and I do that often. That poor CM, she probably thought we were laughing at her. The DTD bus shows up for the CM and she asks the driver when a AK bus is coming for us. He shrugs, she shrugs and they're off. Yeah, thanks for nothin'!
Next bus is ..... yeah!!! AK bus. We arrive at AK at 8:55am. We're though the turnstyles and just catch the end of the opening show thingy.
Waldo: "What are you waiting for?? Let's get around this parade."
Me: "This isn't a parade, it's the opening show thingy"
Waldo: "No, it isn't I'm, going around."
CM: "Sir, please stay behind the ropes."
Me:
Waldo: 0
Me: 1

As soon as the rope drops we hoof it to EE. There's no one here.... hahaha, we beat the crowd. Wait a second.... Where's Waldo? Oh, no Waldo's pushing the stroller... Where's Waldo and little EE? We wait at the entrance of EE and hoping Waldo will head over the EE. We wait, and wait... ok, here comes Waldo. I give Waldo the evil eye and we get a baby swap cause little EE is to small to ride EE and Minnie is afraid of the Yeti. Then we grab 6 FP for later. Joe, Walt and I ride first. There's no one in line, so we slowly walk through the queue to check out the artifacts and such. Really cool! We get on the ride and Walt(17) has to ride with this hot mama. It was funny watching him trying to be cool. The ride starts and whoo hoo!!! That ride was the best!!! I loved it! We all loved it! Next is Nini & Waldo's turn. They take Walt, cause the baby swap says 3 people may return. While the others ride, I decide to shop! Whoo hoo. One of my nephews has requested a Yeti shirt as a souvineer. I'm brousing the Everest gift and find the perfect shirt for him. While I am purchasing the shirt, the CM ringing me up asks if we would like to donate to the Disney Wildlife Reserve. Sure, I say... how about $5.00? Great she says and plops down 5 DWR buttons. They are cute, but what am I going to do with 5? Minnie says we can give them to other kids. Great idea Minnie! We head over to to see Waldo, Nini and Walt on Everest. Minnie points out a little boy with his mama and asks if she can give him a button. I tell her to ask his mama first. Minnie gets the mamas approval and gives the boy the button. Way to go Minnie... spread the pixie dust! 3 more to go!

Next we head over to Dinoland, cause the kids want to do some stuff, too. Dinoland is empty, so Joe and I take Minnie and EE on Dino-Dumbo. They loved it. When we got off, Chip and Dale were posing for photos. EE hates all the characters. He won't even look at them. Notice in the pic, he's looking at Dale's teeth.

Joe, Walt, and I ride Primeval Hurl. Oh my goodness, the handle/safety bars smelled soooooo rank! It was nasty. They smelled like sewer armpit. It was gross! I couldn't wait to get off. Do you want to ride again, the CM's ask? No, I'd rather wash my face with a dirty diaper!
Waldo, Joe and Walt headed over to Dinosaur. Nini and I have Minnie's face painted and walk around Dinoland.

It starts to sprinkle, but it stops just as fast as it starts. We meet back with the guys and we head back to EE for our FP return. Nini decides she wants to ride Dinosaur, so her and Waldo head there, while the rest of us go back to find the Yeti. Joe decides he doesn't really want to ride, so Walt and I go to the fast pass entrance. We get in line and start talking to this guy who's wearing a Yeti cap and Yeti hands. We come to find out he's the Yeti-man. I guess he holds the record for the number of EE rides. He tells us his story and says after his 604th ride with us, he wants to take a picture with us to put on his website. I'm thinking, yeah ok... sounds like Yeti-man has had one too many. So we ride with Yeti-man, and after we exit, he starts looking for us. We take a picture with him and he gives me his card with the website. Ok, buh-bye Yeti-man. Sidenote: When we get home, I check out the website and there we are... 3rd to the last in his album.

We are now waiting for Waldo and Minnie to meet up with us. We wait, and wait, and wait... no Waldo. Ok, where's Waldo? We go back to Dinoland, no Waldo. We go back to EE, no Waldo. We go back to Dinoland again. There's Waldo and Minnie AND they are eating Ice Cream. Ok, thanks alot guys. We've just been going all around in this swampy heat and here you are enjoying your Mickey Bar.

We to head over to the Safaris 'cause it's getting hot and we want to get out of there. We were going to FP and then grab some lunch, but there was no wait, so we jumped on the Safari truck and headed out to save Little Red. The ride was neat-o. But the driver wouldn't stop so I could take a decent picture. We got out of there and walked into Tusker house for some lunch. Joe and I had the Rotisierre (sp?) Chicken w/ smashed taters and green beans and Cheesecake. Minnie had Mac-n-Cheese and a huge piece of chocolate cake. Little EE fell asleep while we waited in line for the food. No lunch for you. Lunch was excellent! Cheesecake was kind of dry, which was good. I had no business eating it anyway. I did sample Minnie's cake, it was to die for! Minnie sees a family of 4 sitting near us. It's a father and his 3 little girls. Minnie has always wanted a baby sister, and is infatuated with seeing sisters together. She always points them out. Minnie asks if we can give the girls the other 3 DWR buttons. I tell her to ask the father first. The father says yes so Minnie passes them out to the girls with a big smile. More pixie dust from Minnie. I'm so proud of her. It's my dream to adopt a little girl from another country. I know Minnie would make a great big sister! Joe on the other hand.... well, let's just say I need to work on him. I think it scares him a little bit... the 3rd child thing, that is. I just keep telling him that 3 is the new 2.
After we lunched, we headed back to the hotel for a swim and rest before we head to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations.
Up next, drama at Illuminations......and how many times can we lose Waldo in one day....

 

[tammyandtommy]

I feel like Im gasping for air, i need more trip report! LOL

 

[daisy_77]

Great TR!! I am really enjoying it!

You have a beautiful family BTW!!

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

Great report!!

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

Hey great trip report and I can't wait to hear more about your trip. But I will say no one has the right to look that put together on a trip. You look like you just stepped out of a beauty parlour. Wow! I look like someone stuck my finger in a light socket when I hit that humidity.

Keep it coming!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Thanks for the encouraging words! And thanks for reading. I'm actually have alot of fun writing this TR and remember all the crazy moments that happened. I even got misty writing about our first view of Epcot. I am totally hooked on WDW, even though we visit DLR all the time. DLR doesn't even compare. I am faithful to my DLR, but WDW is incredible!

Ok, time for shout outs.....

Momplanner22, Cjhinch, PrincessV, NewOrleansLady, 3Disneybugs: Thanks for reading. I hope you are enjoying it!

OhMari: I checked on the Junior rate and when you book through AAA they do have a Jr rate for kids 10-17.

C4alymom: I'm OCD, so this report will be done lickety-split.

DebIreland: Thanks! I have to give props to my older brother who started the Waldo reference. He traveled with Waldo to Yosemite earlier this year and warned me about Waldo's wandering ways. Try saying that 20 times...

Tammyandtommy: Looks like your about to head out for the world soon. Have a great trip! I'm so jealous!! Here's some pixie dust for a great vacation.

Daisy77: Thanks so much!

E.T: You know I get teased about that all the time. I'm a former artistist director for a major salon chain, so when I was in training, my director told me to never leave the house without being completely done. It's a hard habit to break. My hair seemed to love the humidity. It's curly, but I flat iron it. It behaved very well. Now, I've seen your photo, and you're beautiful! Who are you kidding???

I'll try to get another "episode" up today. Minnie is home sick from school today. Post Disney cold.

Thanks again, all! Hugs and Kisses!

 

[Sabrina90744]

Disneyland Mama, I am loving your trip report!! Cant wait to read the rest! Did your kids have a hard time with the time change?

 

[kathymc]

enjoying your report and photos - too funny about the yeti man. cant see a clear picture of your sons face but your daughter is stunning!

thanks for sharing - looking forward to more