Dream Big, Live Grand - 4th of July at the Grand Floridian!

After Festival of the Lion King, we headed to Pizzafari for lunch. It was a little early for lunch, but it wasn't crowded at all. Pizzafari is one of our favorite counter services, and it's something my mom says she misses when we only eat at table service restaurants. So, we decided to skip Rainforest Cafe (we've eaten there a lot!) and eat there.

We then went over to Dinosaur to use our FPs. We got the front row (often do). My mom thinks the front row is less nauseating than the back. Apparently, this was the first time Rachel ever rode Dinosaur with her eyes open the entire time. She's usually ducking with her hands over her head in the pictures. She sat on the outside for the first time, too (once we were seated, she goes, "Oh no - why am I on the outside???"). Throughout the ride, she kept saying, "Has that dinosaur always been there? That's a scary dinosaur! I've never seen that dinosaur before!" (To the one that is headed to you before you make it back in time! :rotfl:)

The Dinosaur ride photos are my favorites because everyone's expression is so funny. You'll see teenage boys hugging eachother and ducking under the seat. And then there's always that person that's just looking at the dinosaur, not scared at all. :rotfl2:

Okay, after Dinosaur, it was back to Expedition Everest to use our Fastpasses from this morning. We were about three hours past the return time. And the CM says, "Okay, you're sliding." It was the first time we'd ever been scolded for coming back late to retun FPs! But whatever, we got through.

After EE, the crowd had started to pick up. Dad kept saying, "You want to FastPass Kali Kali Rapids?" :sad2: He is terrible with names, but that one gets me the most - there is only one Kali, Dad!!!

We said no, we didn't want to FP. We wanted to go back to the resort. So, we left the park. There was a bus waiting for us at the stop. We were afraid it was about to leave, so Rachel and I goofily ran while waving our arms at the bus driver saying, "No! Wait!" Then once we got on the bus, he waited for five more minutes. Yeah... we ran in the heat for nothing! :lmao:

We arrived back at the GF for a much-needed break. Dad asked us what pool we were going to, but Rachel wouldn't tell him. :rotfl: Poor Dad...

Rach and I walked to the Poly for Dole Whip! While we were chilling in Captain Cook's, enjoying our Dole Whips, we realized that there was a large foreign tour group staying at the Poly (at least I'm assuming they were staying there), all trying to swim! I had always assumed that the large tour groups stayed at the value resorts or off-property. I would have never guessed the Poly! And, boy, if I were staying at the Poly, trying to swim on a hot Fourth of July, I'd be a little irritated!

We walked back to the Beach Pool at the GF. They were setting up for a wedding at the pavilion, and a man who looked like a wedding planner said hello to us and asked us how we were doing. If we weren't wearing our swimsuits and they weren't setting up for a wedding, I would've asked if we could peek in the pavilion. But I felt very underdressed. It will have to wait until next time!

We were able to get chairs by the pool, this time. Once again, I noticed many children wearing orange wristbands. However, we were never carded. Rach and I went down the slide four or five times. It's slow, but pretty fun. There's a bar that goes over the top part of the slide, and Rachel and I both said, if they didn't mind people swinging off of it, there wouldn't be a bar. So we used the bar to propel ourselves down the slide. Once there was this Dad at the base of the slide trying to catch his kid. Well..... instead, he caught Rachel! :lmao::rotfl2::lmao::rotfl2: Too funny!!! Boy, I bet that Dad was embarassed!!!

When we got back to the room, Dad goes, "I bet I know which pool you two went to!" (He had been swimming, too.) Rachel - "Really, Dad, which one?" "The Polynesian pool." "Yup... you caught us!" "I knew it!" "I'm just kidding, Dad - we were at the Beach Pool. Where were you?" "The Courtyard Pool."
 
We arrived to dinner late, as usual. We noticed that there were a lot of people waiting in the lobby of Chef Mickey's, and we thought, dang, should have gotten here earlier. However, after we had our picture taken, we were immediately escorted to our table.

I was really nervous about this because my dad was super vocal about how he did not like Park Fare, and threatened to cancel Chef Mickey's. However, Rachel and Mom backed me up, so we went.

We were very impressed. The food selection was huge, and everything I had was delicious! I am a tryer/nibbler. I'll get anything that looks like it could be good - if it tastes good, I'll eat it. If it's yuck, I move on. I ate almost everything!

Minnie Mouse immediately noticed our bags... it was so cute!

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She insisted on a photo!

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Now, the dessert was so cute, I thought - there is no way this could possibly taste good!

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However, I was wrong. It was definitely the best dessert up there! But they were all soooo good! There was quite a contrast between the yucky mini desserts from Park Fare and the delicious mini desserts at Chef Mickey's. The Key Lime pie was in a normal crust, and the carrot cake actually tasted like carrot cake!!!

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So cute...

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Minnie Mouse made it back around.

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We had a photo with our waiter, Dan, because we couldn't ignore the similarities between him and my boyfriend, Max.

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Dan wanted to see a picture of Max, and I figured he'd say, "Nah, we don't look a thing alike." But he thought they did look alike - said it was really weird. What do you guys think?

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Pluto came back, and Rachel noticed that his apron was really crooked...

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She asked, "Can I fix it? Can I touch you? Can I reach down and straighten it?" She didn't want to get in trouble! :laughing: Well, Pluto was very thankful...

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I got a hug, too!

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Dinner here was great! We will definitely come back, and we'd definitely like to try breakfast here!
 
Love the story about your sister and Pluto's apron, the picture of them hugging after is too cute:cutie: The little girl in the background pointing looks like she liked it too!
 
I know this was a couple of posts back, but I had to say - we had the same Lady Tremaine when we were there in May and we LOVED her! We had a stroller fan sitting on our table (entertaining the baby) and she snatched it up and went and stuck it down Drizella's dressing, while shouting "Fan your bosom, darling! FAN YOUR BOSOM!" :lmao:
 

Wow, I just found your TR and loving it! It's always fun to read TR's of DIS'er's close to your age. Even though you and your sister are a few years younger than me and my sister, you two absolutely remind me of us. You girls seem to have that close bond that my sister and I have as well.

I know exactly where your room is. It is such a nice, quiet view of the monorail from there. Could you see the Mary Poppins topiary well?

Another thing I love about this TR, seeing your outfits/hair for each day! You girls always dress so cute! And those bags!! How awesome you can change the bows based on which park/restaurant/whatever you're going to.

I can't wait for more! popcorn:: Off I go to read your previous TR's!
 
I love your TR...the bags your mom made are so adorable. I wish I was more crafty. If she ever does sell them I would definatly buy them for my daughter and myself. I love the Mickey crocs,I'm going to be looking for them when we go in October..I wanted to take my 5 year old to 1900 park fair when we take our March trip but after reading your TR I'm not so sure.
 
I didn't make a sturdy plan on what we should do the evening of July 4th. I thought we might head over to Epcot, since it's usually the least crowded. However, Rachel wasn't interested in going back to Epcot. She also didn't care to go back to Hollywood Studios. She wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom to ride... Tomorrowland Transportation Authority. :laughing:

Now, being the crowd-haters we are, we knew better than to try and squeeze into MK right before the Fourth of July fireworks. So, we decided to head back to the Grand Floridian and watch them from the Marina, where we were told that they would pipe in music.

Well... I could faintly here music in the background. Barely. What I heard was the children screaming, "Oooh, ahhh! Mommy, look at that one!" I'm sure they do that in the parks, too, but you can't hear because the music is so loud. I was rather disappointed about the lack of music. And, they also shot them over the Seven Seas Lagoon, which they tend to do with the special holiday fireworks. So, we would have been just as good watching them from the GF beach, or maybe even the pool. The Narcoosee's dock probably would have been our best bet - I just assumed it would be crowded. We had thirty minutes, though... should have checked!

To my surprise, everyone stayed seated during the fireworks. I expected everyone to stand as soon as they started.

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We knew better than to try to head to MK right after the fireworks. We decided it would also be best to wait until after the first Main Street Electrical Parade (both parade times were after the 4th of July Fireworks). So, we headed back to the room and watched Disney Channel, Rachel's demand.

She started watching this movie, Lemonade Mouth, and we had to drag her away from it to go to MK.

The Extra Magic Hours were at Hollywood Studios, but MK was open until 1:00 am. I figured that most people would be leaving about now. We took the monorail from the GF. That's when we had our only bad CM encounter of the week. (I was asked to complete a survey about our stay at the GF, and I mentioned it on there.)

So, we were boarding the monorail when a female Cast Member (from the monorail, not a Grand Floridian CM) jumped in front of us suddenly and put her arms out as to say, "don't go this way." We had confused faces, but didn't say anything - just turned around and walked the other way, wondering why she did that. She then yelled back at my father (I can picture the disgusted face he must have given her) in a very sarcastic, demeaning tone, "I'm not doing this to be rude, SIR!" I was shocked, but I was already boarding the monorail, so I couldn't get her name. She then proceeded to complain loudly to other CMs (at the GF station) saying, "I'm just so SICK OF THIS! Everyone looks at me like I'M A BULLY because I won't let them on this car - like it's MY FAULT! This has happened like FOUR TIMES!" If she had just said, "Please board at the back of the train," or something kindly explaining the situation, we would have gladly accepted it and wouldn't have been upset. I just couldn't believe that she yelled at a man likely twice her age in that tone of voice. I really regret not getting her name and reporting her at the time of the incident. She made me so mad.
 
The crowds at MK were already thinning. We went straight to Tomorrowland to ride the Transportation Authority. Since Buzz Lightyear didn't have a wait, we went on that, too. I actually did really well. I have no idea how because I was just randomly pressing the button and moving the gun, saying, "I don't know where I'm aiming! I don't know which red dot is mine!"

We then headed to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. I feel like the course for Splash Mountain has changed a few times over the past 10 years - when I first rode back in 2000, I don't remember more than one drop. Now they're all over the place. Am I just insane???

The park was nearing closing time, so we trekked it back over to Tomorrowland to see if the wait for Space Mountain had gone down. It had been a 90 minute wait. It was now a 70 minute wait. However, I seriously had my doubts. We decided, what the heck, if it's a 70 minute wait, we have nothing better to do, anyway.

Well, we kept walking... and walking... and walking.... all the way to the front of the line! 70 minute wait? My booty!
 
Hey Victoria!! I wanted to let you know I am still reading - just not checking in as often - life tends to get in the way sometimes! Loving all the pictures. We are going to have to plan a trip together sometime and pair up Jennifer and Rachel as they sould SOOO much alike!!
BTW - I too love The Lion King show and hope it doesn't change!
Going back to look at the photos again. ;)
Ellen
 
We took our time leaving Magic Kingdom... we admired the castle for awhile. Rachel wanted a picture of the castle in every color for her cell phone background.... she set it so it changes colors like the castle does - pretty cool! That would also be a cool screensaver for a computer. Feel free to steal her idea!

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So sad to gooooo!!!! :sad1:
 
It's so sad leaving WDW!!!! That morning, we packed up our bags and checked out of the GF before our breakfast at 'Ohana.
We drove to the Polynesian. We were early, so we shopped for a little bit before checking in. Rachel found the ring she wanted - it says "love" on it, and the o is a rhinestone Mickey. Rachel is a big jewelry person, and she loved all of the cute Disney jewelry, but was disappointed that they didn't do anything in white gold - only sterling silver, which tarnishes. I don't really know jewelry, so I'm just relaying this information. They have a good selection of 14-carat gold, but no white gold. :confused3

We checked in and were "leid." Those leis were shedding all over the place! The floor where the guy was handing them out was covered in yellow and orange.

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We didn't have to wait for too long.

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Pluto hit me in the head with his nose!

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And messed up my hair!

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We're gonna sue! :lmao:

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Stitch was creepy... he kept trying to tickle me. I thought they did that to little kids... it can be twisted the wrong way with ladies! Once again, I'm going to sue! :rotfl2:

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Lilo is freaky-looking. I kinda wanted her to go away ASAP.

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Pluto came back... this time, he was taller! :laughing:

We were disappointed in 'Ohana. I was expecting something really good, because I've heard people rave about it. But come to think of it, I think most people seem to love it for dinner. That might be something worth trying - and I could do without creepy Stitch and freaky Lilo!
 
We didn't linger much after breakfast. Just got our ducks together, then hit the road!

That's all for now, folks! The adventure will continue the next time I make it to the World! :happy:
 
I really enjoyed reading your report and hearing and seeing the Grand Floridian. Great job!
 
I too am sad to see this trip and TR come to an end! We were just discussing last night if we are going to go again next June. Of course the idea of the Alaskian cruise has been tossed around too! SO I'm not sure what our plans will be. If you guys are planning anything next summer - message me on FB and let me know! Perhaps we can do something together.
Thanks for taking me down memory lane with your TR and photos!!

Ellen

PS - tell mom to let me know what I owe her for a bag. I know she can't sell me a disney product so let me know how much she needs for supplies. ;)
 












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