BrerMama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2000
- Messages
- 2,205
Sorry it's been so long, just not in the writing mood. To read Day 4, click here
Today was going to be a long day, so we started it by having a real breakfast. OK, so the kids still ended up eating granola bars in the room, but Brady and I did walk over to the food court and buy muffins and rice krispie treats for the group. Dan and I ate the rice krispie treats as snacks later; can you believe our kids wouldn't eat them?
We were at the bus stop early to head to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hour. Chesney still hadn't ridden Dumbo, so that was at the top of our list. I hate waiting in that little holding pen for MK to open. I liked how they used to let you onto Main Street. I understand the whole having to pay cast members and security thing, but I just hate getting through the turn stiles and then not being able to go somewhere. Finally they drop the ropes and we go under the bridge, only to see Mr. Smee standing alone in front of the Emporium. The girls run up for a picture (no time for autographs) and then we turn the corner and see the castle up ahead. Even having taken time for a picture, we're still in the front 1/3 of the group. We get on the second Dumbo spin of the day and then head for Snow White. As we're walking up, Brady asks if there's any drops on Snow White. Being sarcastic, I say, "Yeah, 7." Which freaks Chesney out, as she now understands about drops. It takes a few seconds but we convince everyone that Snow White, while somewhat scary, does not actually have any drops or loops or anything other than a track on the ground. After this traumatic experience, it seems like a good idea to ride the Carousel, which we walk right on.
Next up is Peter Pan, which had a 15 minute line already. I hate how slow this line goes. Since Philharmagic is right there, that seemed a logical choice as EMH was ending and the park was about to get busy. After Philharmagic, we walked towards Tomorrowland to decide if we wanted to get in the standby line for Buzz or grab a fastpass. Standby was a half hour and we wanted to be at Toontown for opening, so we got fastpasses and then went to get a snack. It was about 9:30 by this time and I was hungry, but not for breakfast. Unfortunately, you can't get anything but breakfast food at the fast food places until 11 am. So no jalapeno pretzel for me. We drank fuzzy Pepsi's to waste time and then went back to the Toontown rope to wait for opening.
We had yet to see Mickey Mouse, so that was our goal for the morning. Pretty soon, a parade of characters came out for the rope drop. Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Mickey, Goofy, Max, Cinderella, Suzy and Perla, Minnie, Chip and Dale were the ones that I can remember. Goofy was looking for someone to ride Barnstormer with him, but I wasn't doing that again. We followed Mickey down to his tent, along with a girl who kept annoying me by butting in line. She'd stop for something, we'd keep going, then she'd run up ahead and jump in front of our kids. OK, if you want to be first, fine. But stay there. Don't keep stopping and expect to get your place back. As we were turning into the tent, we were first in line, but this girl was coming up from behind. I actually pulled my kids to the side and said, "Just let her go. She's going to butt in line anyways." Her father just walked right past as I was saying this.
When it was our turn with Mickey, our pen didn't work. Mickey got all ticked and stomped his foot and everything. My kids never quit talking about how mad Mickey was. I'm thinking Mickey could have conveyed the fact that the pen didn't work some other way. There wasn't any line behind us, so it wasn't a huge hurry or anything. We ended up exchanging the pen later that day, no problem as we had just bought it on Friday. After Mickey, we went to see the Pooh characters (we were the only people in line). I had problems taking individual pics of all 3 of my kids with all 3 characters, and I missed Chesney. Dan yelled at me for this and I felt so guilty, I bought the Disney picture of her with Pooh. She doesn't even like Pooh, but Dan was making me feel like the world's worst mom. Then he yelled at me for spending money on a picture. Sometimes you just can't win, but it does look more balanced in my album to have pictures of all 3 kids individually with all 3 characters.
Next it was back to Tomorrowland, where we still had time to kill before our Buzz fastpasses. We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, then used our fastpass to ride Buzz again. It was only about 11 am and we were done with our agenda for the day at MK. On our way out, we spotted some characters in the circle area in front of the castle, so we stopped and got some pictures. We were back at the resort by noon.
I originally hadn't planned a formal lunch for this day because we had PS for Hollywood and Vine at 4 pm, but everyone was hungry. Dan suggested ordering a pizza, so I ordered it while Dan took the kids to the room to grab our mugs. Total for the pizza was $19.16. By the time they got to the food court, the pizza was coming out of the oven. We made pretty quick work of it, then back to the room to change for swimming. We tried the quiet pool, which was fun. Chesney invented "Jump Off Below" here, which pretty much consists of her jumping off the side of the pool into my arms billons of times while yelling "Jump Off Below."
This tired her out nicely for a nap. I think we all got one in this day and then it was up and to the bus stop again. Tonight we'd planned to see Fantasmic, so I had made a PS for the dinner package at the Studios. We were still early for our PS, so Dan expressed a need to ride Star Tours. The posted wait for standby was 15 minutes, but it ended up being longer because it was Star Wars weekend and a show let out and a bunch of fastpass holders arrived. After he got off, he told Brady how much he loved it and got Brady thinking about it. On our way to the restaurant we got a Fastpass for Indiana Jones stunt show, which I now don't see the point. The theater is so huge, everyone was going to get in.
When we got to Hollywood and Vine, it was just opening for the day. Our PS was actually for 4:20 but we went at 4 because I was hoping to get in and out before the parade at 5:30. I loved this meal and the kids thought it was decent, but Dan really didn't like it. Too much wierd food for him. I loved the garlic green beans and roasted potatoes. The kids liked the hot dogs and chicken nuggets. I should add that everybody loved the desserts, especially Dan who went up 3 times. Our total for this meal was $78.76, plus tip. Dan left me to figure the tip and I figured badly, then felt horrible because Bill had been such a great server. I should have gone back and given him some more money.
We were done by 5 (although I forgot my bag and had to run back). We found a spot for the parade. By this time, it was getting dark and the sky was rumbling. It did this every afternoon. At 5:30 they postponed the parade. By 5:45, it was cancelled. I was ticked. It hadn't rained a bit, but I guess the lightning is enough to cancel the parade. It was cancelled the two times we were at the Studios in the evening. I had really wanted to see this one because I love Hercules, but some times things just don't happen.
I forgot this part, so had to come back and add it: Brady did the Build A Pin thing while we were waiting for the parade. He chose a Sorceror Mickey base pin, then added small pins of the castle, Tree of Life and Spaceship Earth. Very cool and it only took them a few minutes to permanently attach the smaller pins to the base. The girl helping us said they were taking Build A Pins out of the parks, so it was a good thing we got one. Brady was happy.
Since there wasn't a parade, we used our Fastpasses to get in to see Indy. Chesney did not want to see it and was pretty vocal about it. I just think she'd seen and done so much in 4 days that she was done. She ended up staying and watching, but she hated all the talking parts and only liked the action.
So it's not even 7 pm and we have nothing planned. Dan's must-do list included Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster, but he thought we'd have to come on an EMH morning to do those without a wait. I decided we should walk over and see. Tower of Terror was posting a 15 minute wait, so I told him to get in line. I walked over and grabbed a fastpass for him for RNRC, then walked back over to TOT and sat down at the exit with the kids to wait for their dad. He was out pretty quickly and we looked over the shirts a bit and bought his picture. He really, really loved this ride.
We still had time to kill before his fastpass, so we walked over and got some snacks in the courtyard of the ride. By this time, it was definitely sprinkling. Before Dan went to ride, he decided he wanted one of those TOT shirts, so the kids and I hiked back over and bought one for him, then back to RNRC to wait. Not as impressed with RNRC as he was with TOT, Dan came off the ride ready to take a break. Brady had been wanting to see One Man's Dream, so we headed that way. I didn't mind the displays and Brady really found them interesting. We didn't stay to see the movie, but Brady did trade his first pin here. I had been wanting him to trade off the free pins we received with the package for something he'd find more meaningful. In the end, I walked up to the older CM at the entrance to One Man's Dream, explained that Brady had never traded before, and the CM took it from there. Not a problem and he was very sweet given that Brady is so shy.
When we walked out of the display, it was now officially raining. We put the ponchos on and decided to just go to Oscars and get our seats for Fantasmic. It was about 8:00, and we needed to make a bathroom pit-stop anyway. We probably went through the gate about 8:15 and I was surprised to find the dinner package area well on its way to filling up, while the general seating was pretty empty. Duh, because only people who have spent a ton of money for a seat are going to stay when it is now pouring buckets. At 8:30 we get a "due to inclement weather, this show may be cancelled." Same message again at 8:35 and 8:40. I was hopeful, given that it was just raining and not lightening or thundering any longer. At 8:45, we get a "the show will go on" announcement and the rain suddenly stops. I couldn't believe it. At 9, we could see Illuminations begin, but it was probably 9:05 before Fantasmic started.
I'm going to sound really jaded here, but it just didn't do much for me. It was OK, but not awe-inspiring. My kids loved the character boat at the end, but other than that, I doubt they could remember the plot. The people in front of us were watching it for the 3rd time, so when they got up to leave, we followed. I had no desire to stand in line for a bus. Of course, this is the time when Chesney announces she has to use the bathroom. I'm a bad mom because I made her wait. I knew our choices were to get our butts out there on the first bus after Fantasmic, or to go to the bathroom and then have to wait for a bus (and then maybe not even get on that bus).
She was a trooper and we made that first bus, which was filled to the maximum with dripping wet, stinky people. But we got home early and had excess energy before bedtime. I'm pretty sure we were back well before 10 pm and then Dan and the kids wrestled for awhile before bed.
Another long day done.
To read day 6, click here
Today was going to be a long day, so we started it by having a real breakfast. OK, so the kids still ended up eating granola bars in the room, but Brady and I did walk over to the food court and buy muffins and rice krispie treats for the group. Dan and I ate the rice krispie treats as snacks later; can you believe our kids wouldn't eat them?
We were at the bus stop early to head to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hour. Chesney still hadn't ridden Dumbo, so that was at the top of our list. I hate waiting in that little holding pen for MK to open. I liked how they used to let you onto Main Street. I understand the whole having to pay cast members and security thing, but I just hate getting through the turn stiles and then not being able to go somewhere. Finally they drop the ropes and we go under the bridge, only to see Mr. Smee standing alone in front of the Emporium. The girls run up for a picture (no time for autographs) and then we turn the corner and see the castle up ahead. Even having taken time for a picture, we're still in the front 1/3 of the group. We get on the second Dumbo spin of the day and then head for Snow White. As we're walking up, Brady asks if there's any drops on Snow White. Being sarcastic, I say, "Yeah, 7." Which freaks Chesney out, as she now understands about drops. It takes a few seconds but we convince everyone that Snow White, while somewhat scary, does not actually have any drops or loops or anything other than a track on the ground. After this traumatic experience, it seems like a good idea to ride the Carousel, which we walk right on.
Next up is Peter Pan, which had a 15 minute line already. I hate how slow this line goes. Since Philharmagic is right there, that seemed a logical choice as EMH was ending and the park was about to get busy. After Philharmagic, we walked towards Tomorrowland to decide if we wanted to get in the standby line for Buzz or grab a fastpass. Standby was a half hour and we wanted to be at Toontown for opening, so we got fastpasses and then went to get a snack. It was about 9:30 by this time and I was hungry, but not for breakfast. Unfortunately, you can't get anything but breakfast food at the fast food places until 11 am. So no jalapeno pretzel for me. We drank fuzzy Pepsi's to waste time and then went back to the Toontown rope to wait for opening.
We had yet to see Mickey Mouse, so that was our goal for the morning. Pretty soon, a parade of characters came out for the rope drop. Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Mickey, Goofy, Max, Cinderella, Suzy and Perla, Minnie, Chip and Dale were the ones that I can remember. Goofy was looking for someone to ride Barnstormer with him, but I wasn't doing that again. We followed Mickey down to his tent, along with a girl who kept annoying me by butting in line. She'd stop for something, we'd keep going, then she'd run up ahead and jump in front of our kids. OK, if you want to be first, fine. But stay there. Don't keep stopping and expect to get your place back. As we were turning into the tent, we were first in line, but this girl was coming up from behind. I actually pulled my kids to the side and said, "Just let her go. She's going to butt in line anyways." Her father just walked right past as I was saying this.
When it was our turn with Mickey, our pen didn't work. Mickey got all ticked and stomped his foot and everything. My kids never quit talking about how mad Mickey was. I'm thinking Mickey could have conveyed the fact that the pen didn't work some other way. There wasn't any line behind us, so it wasn't a huge hurry or anything. We ended up exchanging the pen later that day, no problem as we had just bought it on Friday. After Mickey, we went to see the Pooh characters (we were the only people in line). I had problems taking individual pics of all 3 of my kids with all 3 characters, and I missed Chesney. Dan yelled at me for this and I felt so guilty, I bought the Disney picture of her with Pooh. She doesn't even like Pooh, but Dan was making me feel like the world's worst mom. Then he yelled at me for spending money on a picture. Sometimes you just can't win, but it does look more balanced in my album to have pictures of all 3 kids individually with all 3 characters.
Next it was back to Tomorrowland, where we still had time to kill before our Buzz fastpasses. We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, then used our fastpass to ride Buzz again. It was only about 11 am and we were done with our agenda for the day at MK. On our way out, we spotted some characters in the circle area in front of the castle, so we stopped and got some pictures. We were back at the resort by noon.
I originally hadn't planned a formal lunch for this day because we had PS for Hollywood and Vine at 4 pm, but everyone was hungry. Dan suggested ordering a pizza, so I ordered it while Dan took the kids to the room to grab our mugs. Total for the pizza was $19.16. By the time they got to the food court, the pizza was coming out of the oven. We made pretty quick work of it, then back to the room to change for swimming. We tried the quiet pool, which was fun. Chesney invented "Jump Off Below" here, which pretty much consists of her jumping off the side of the pool into my arms billons of times while yelling "Jump Off Below."
This tired her out nicely for a nap. I think we all got one in this day and then it was up and to the bus stop again. Tonight we'd planned to see Fantasmic, so I had made a PS for the dinner package at the Studios. We were still early for our PS, so Dan expressed a need to ride Star Tours. The posted wait for standby was 15 minutes, but it ended up being longer because it was Star Wars weekend and a show let out and a bunch of fastpass holders arrived. After he got off, he told Brady how much he loved it and got Brady thinking about it. On our way to the restaurant we got a Fastpass for Indiana Jones stunt show, which I now don't see the point. The theater is so huge, everyone was going to get in.
When we got to Hollywood and Vine, it was just opening for the day. Our PS was actually for 4:20 but we went at 4 because I was hoping to get in and out before the parade at 5:30. I loved this meal and the kids thought it was decent, but Dan really didn't like it. Too much wierd food for him. I loved the garlic green beans and roasted potatoes. The kids liked the hot dogs and chicken nuggets. I should add that everybody loved the desserts, especially Dan who went up 3 times. Our total for this meal was $78.76, plus tip. Dan left me to figure the tip and I figured badly, then felt horrible because Bill had been such a great server. I should have gone back and given him some more money.
We were done by 5 (although I forgot my bag and had to run back). We found a spot for the parade. By this time, it was getting dark and the sky was rumbling. It did this every afternoon. At 5:30 they postponed the parade. By 5:45, it was cancelled. I was ticked. It hadn't rained a bit, but I guess the lightning is enough to cancel the parade. It was cancelled the two times we were at the Studios in the evening. I had really wanted to see this one because I love Hercules, but some times things just don't happen.
I forgot this part, so had to come back and add it: Brady did the Build A Pin thing while we were waiting for the parade. He chose a Sorceror Mickey base pin, then added small pins of the castle, Tree of Life and Spaceship Earth. Very cool and it only took them a few minutes to permanently attach the smaller pins to the base. The girl helping us said they were taking Build A Pins out of the parks, so it was a good thing we got one. Brady was happy.
Since there wasn't a parade, we used our Fastpasses to get in to see Indy. Chesney did not want to see it and was pretty vocal about it. I just think she'd seen and done so much in 4 days that she was done. She ended up staying and watching, but she hated all the talking parts and only liked the action.
So it's not even 7 pm and we have nothing planned. Dan's must-do list included Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster, but he thought we'd have to come on an EMH morning to do those without a wait. I decided we should walk over and see. Tower of Terror was posting a 15 minute wait, so I told him to get in line. I walked over and grabbed a fastpass for him for RNRC, then walked back over to TOT and sat down at the exit with the kids to wait for their dad. He was out pretty quickly and we looked over the shirts a bit and bought his picture. He really, really loved this ride.
We still had time to kill before his fastpass, so we walked over and got some snacks in the courtyard of the ride. By this time, it was definitely sprinkling. Before Dan went to ride, he decided he wanted one of those TOT shirts, so the kids and I hiked back over and bought one for him, then back to RNRC to wait. Not as impressed with RNRC as he was with TOT, Dan came off the ride ready to take a break. Brady had been wanting to see One Man's Dream, so we headed that way. I didn't mind the displays and Brady really found them interesting. We didn't stay to see the movie, but Brady did trade his first pin here. I had been wanting him to trade off the free pins we received with the package for something he'd find more meaningful. In the end, I walked up to the older CM at the entrance to One Man's Dream, explained that Brady had never traded before, and the CM took it from there. Not a problem and he was very sweet given that Brady is so shy.
When we walked out of the display, it was now officially raining. We put the ponchos on and decided to just go to Oscars and get our seats for Fantasmic. It was about 8:00, and we needed to make a bathroom pit-stop anyway. We probably went through the gate about 8:15 and I was surprised to find the dinner package area well on its way to filling up, while the general seating was pretty empty. Duh, because only people who have spent a ton of money for a seat are going to stay when it is now pouring buckets. At 8:30 we get a "due to inclement weather, this show may be cancelled." Same message again at 8:35 and 8:40. I was hopeful, given that it was just raining and not lightening or thundering any longer. At 8:45, we get a "the show will go on" announcement and the rain suddenly stops. I couldn't believe it. At 9, we could see Illuminations begin, but it was probably 9:05 before Fantasmic started.
I'm going to sound really jaded here, but it just didn't do much for me. It was OK, but not awe-inspiring. My kids loved the character boat at the end, but other than that, I doubt they could remember the plot. The people in front of us were watching it for the 3rd time, so when they got up to leave, we followed. I had no desire to stand in line for a bus. Of course, this is the time when Chesney announces she has to use the bathroom. I'm a bad mom because I made her wait. I knew our choices were to get our butts out there on the first bus after Fantasmic, or to go to the bathroom and then have to wait for a bus (and then maybe not even get on that bus).
She was a trooper and we made that first bus, which was filled to the maximum with dripping wet, stinky people. But we got home early and had excess energy before bedtime. I'm pretty sure we were back well before 10 pm and then Dan and the kids wrestled for awhile before bed.
Another long day done.
To read day 6, click here
