BrerMama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2000
- Messages
- 2,205
To read day 5, click here
Since we'd had a late night the night before, I didn't set a wake-up call. Mykiah woke up first, at 6:38 am. The rest of us took our time getting up and around and eating granola bars in the room. Since Typhoon Lagoon was on the agenda, it didn't make much sense to shower and get ready for the day. Instead, we pulled on our swimsuits and headed for the bus stop.
We arrived at Typhoon just as it was opening and headed to find a spot to put our stuff. Since we're not big lay-on-a-lounge chair-and-relax type of people, I wasn't too worried about where we were, I just wanted to be close to the wave pool. We picked a spot tucked into a little cove of the wave pool and then it was off to find something to do. Dan wanted to hit the family raft ride, but Chesney wasn't having it. We decided I'd take Chesney to the kids area, while the other 3 did the family raft ride. We weren't at Ketchakidee Creek long when Ches discovered the small tube ride and she must have done that a dozen times. After that, I was a tad bored, so I dragged her into the lazy river for a spin around the park. By this time, I had no clue where the rest of my family was, but I figured if the river ringed the park, we might eventually see them.
I love, love, love the lazy river at Typhoon Lagoon. First, they had great tubes for small children with a closed bottom. I didn't have to worry about Chesney slipping out the bottom of hers. And then there's the scenery. I'm used to cheap little water parks where your view during a lazy river ride is usually concrete, some sunbathers, and more concrete. There's just nothing like floating through a jungle of greenery. Loved the periodical misters to keep us cool. And yes, we did run into the rest of the family while floating. They were walking across a bridge as we floated under. So they joined us in floating for awhile, then it was back to the base.
I'm really hazy about the order of events for the rest of our time at Typhoon. Around 11, we decided to have a snack and grabbed mini-donuts (which were loved by all) from the little shack up the hill. We also wanted some slushes, but they were nasty and not frozen. So we got Diet Coke. At one point, Dan was going to take Chesney to the kids area while I did something with the big kids, but I think we all ended up back in the lazy river. By 11:30, there was a long line just to get into the lazy river and we just decided to leave. I don't do well with lots of sun and everyone was getting cranky.
Speaking of cranky, it really hit Chesney today with a vengeance. She voted to leave TL, then promptly threw a fit all the way out. She cried for the 20 minutes we waited for a bus. I can't remember what changed her mind and calmed her, but she was calm but the time we got back to the room. We may have sat around and rested at the resort for awhile, but by 2 pm we were back on our way to the Magic Kingdom. We sure didn't need to have a swimming break!
At the MK, our first ride was the Spit Camels (aka Magic Carpets). The line said 15 minutes, but the waiting area is all in the sun and I just didn't find this fun. It was 2:20 ish when we got off, so we decided to grab a spot for the parade. We found a spot with shade across from Liberty Tree Tavern and I sent Dan for some water. I told him, "You could get some popcorn, too. Go to that popcorn stand across the street." No, that's too easy. He'd have to cross the street. So he went on down our side of the street to a Mickey bar place. Unfortunately, the person working that cart had apparently never done it before and it was taking forever. Dan was gone almost 20 minutes! The stupid popcorn cart had no line! Oh well, we had cold water for the parade.
Share a Dream Come True was a great parade to serve as our only parade of the trip. The kids loved seeing the characters. It was soon over and we needed to find something to do for a few minutes until our 4 pm Liberty Tree Tavern PS. Why not see the Tiki Birds again? It's air conditioned! After the Tikis, we thought we might want to ride the Haunted Mansion after dinner, so we stopped to get FastPasses.
I wanted to add this in, although I'm not sure at what point I did this. On Friday I had purchased a straw bowler hat with a Mickey icon on the front to wear around the parks. By Saturday, it had lost any semblance of a brim and just hung in my face. So today when we went to the MK, I took it with me, with the original receipt. I was refunded no problem. I chose not to exchange it because by now, I had been wearing my $4 straw hat from Wal-mart and it was working well at keeping the sun off my eyes and our vacation was half over. The cast member didn't have any problem refunded my purchase to my room charge.
After this, we just went ahead and checked in for our dinner, but the waiting area was already fairly full of people. The characters and one family came out on the balcony and rang the bell to open the Tavern for dinner and we were the 3rd group called to be seated. We had a nice waiter, but he had quite an accent and I think that may have caused some confusion. He took our drink order and brought out salad and rolls. Of course, my ultra-picky family wouldn't eat the salad (which was definitely good), so the waiter asked if he could just bring out our meal. Yes, sir, you sure can. We just dug into that stuff. Brady was the only one to eat the macaroni and cheese but the mashed potatoes and meats went quickly. Chesney loved the thick ham slices and Mykiah, Dan and I loved the turkey. We hadnt eaten a real meal all day -- just snacks, so we were starved. Not sure if that affected how much we loved the food. This was by far Dan's favorite meal during our vacation. He still talks about it. During our meal, Pluto, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Meeko all came around to say hi. Chesney was so excited about the characters that she could barely eat! I loved watching her watch them. Total for dinner was $79, the exact same price as Hollywood and Vine the night before.
After dinner, we walked over to use our fastpasses, but not before stopping at the merchandise cart to add a Haunted Mansion pin and Mickey and Minnie HM cast member beanies to our load. We walk into the FP line and I think, "this can't be right?" I back up and ask, and yes, this is the FP line, which is almost as long as the regular line. We weren't going anywhere. By this time it's after 5 pm, and I'm thinking "Can't it rain or something and clear some people out of here?" But no. It's crowded, the line is moving at a crawl and the kids are half scared of the ride anyway. It isn't worth it. So we leave the line and go back to the resort.
But it's only early evening and who wants to just sit? We didn't feel like swimming after having done so much earlier that day, but we still had souvenir money. Let's visit Downtown Disney again. We had our longest wait for a bus here; 25 minutes before one arrived. As we head to DTD, it starts to sprinkle. Our first stop was World of Memories, where I bought a package of stickers, some eyelets and some postcards. Chesney got her Disney coloring book here, which would keep her occupied for the rest of the trip. Then it was on to Once Upon a Time, where we chose some Bear in the Big Blue House toys for my niece and Brady bought Sorcerer Mickey, Pegasus and Wheezie beanies. Mykiah bought a Princess Minnie to add to her collection (I counted this morning and she has 32 total) and also bought some pirate parts for Mr. Potato Head. Do we have the best dressed potato in town or what?
Although it's not in my notes, this has to be the night that I became addicted to the Disney bear. I've never just had a teddy bear in my life and dang, it's cute. So I decided to get one with my last $25. I got the dark brown and then Ches decided to go with a pink one. Mykiah got in on the action with the tan bear. Man, I love those things.
By this time, it was definitely getting ready to pour, so we have jogged to the bus stop. We even cut through some stores to get there. Of course it took forever to get a bus there and by the time it arrived, it was standing room only. We didn't stop at any of the other DTD stops, just headed back to the resort. We got back, ran through the rain to our room and changed into pajamas. Dan took some fun photos of the girls and I with our Disney bears reading the Disney bear story. I'll do a scrapbook page about it.
Really, a pretty great way to end a fun day.
To read part 7, click here
Since we'd had a late night the night before, I didn't set a wake-up call. Mykiah woke up first, at 6:38 am. The rest of us took our time getting up and around and eating granola bars in the room. Since Typhoon Lagoon was on the agenda, it didn't make much sense to shower and get ready for the day. Instead, we pulled on our swimsuits and headed for the bus stop.
We arrived at Typhoon just as it was opening and headed to find a spot to put our stuff. Since we're not big lay-on-a-lounge chair-and-relax type of people, I wasn't too worried about where we were, I just wanted to be close to the wave pool. We picked a spot tucked into a little cove of the wave pool and then it was off to find something to do. Dan wanted to hit the family raft ride, but Chesney wasn't having it. We decided I'd take Chesney to the kids area, while the other 3 did the family raft ride. We weren't at Ketchakidee Creek long when Ches discovered the small tube ride and she must have done that a dozen times. After that, I was a tad bored, so I dragged her into the lazy river for a spin around the park. By this time, I had no clue where the rest of my family was, but I figured if the river ringed the park, we might eventually see them.
I love, love, love the lazy river at Typhoon Lagoon. First, they had great tubes for small children with a closed bottom. I didn't have to worry about Chesney slipping out the bottom of hers. And then there's the scenery. I'm used to cheap little water parks where your view during a lazy river ride is usually concrete, some sunbathers, and more concrete. There's just nothing like floating through a jungle of greenery. Loved the periodical misters to keep us cool. And yes, we did run into the rest of the family while floating. They were walking across a bridge as we floated under. So they joined us in floating for awhile, then it was back to the base.
I'm really hazy about the order of events for the rest of our time at Typhoon. Around 11, we decided to have a snack and grabbed mini-donuts (which were loved by all) from the little shack up the hill. We also wanted some slushes, but they were nasty and not frozen. So we got Diet Coke. At one point, Dan was going to take Chesney to the kids area while I did something with the big kids, but I think we all ended up back in the lazy river. By 11:30, there was a long line just to get into the lazy river and we just decided to leave. I don't do well with lots of sun and everyone was getting cranky.
Speaking of cranky, it really hit Chesney today with a vengeance. She voted to leave TL, then promptly threw a fit all the way out. She cried for the 20 minutes we waited for a bus. I can't remember what changed her mind and calmed her, but she was calm but the time we got back to the room. We may have sat around and rested at the resort for awhile, but by 2 pm we were back on our way to the Magic Kingdom. We sure didn't need to have a swimming break!
At the MK, our first ride was the Spit Camels (aka Magic Carpets). The line said 15 minutes, but the waiting area is all in the sun and I just didn't find this fun. It was 2:20 ish when we got off, so we decided to grab a spot for the parade. We found a spot with shade across from Liberty Tree Tavern and I sent Dan for some water. I told him, "You could get some popcorn, too. Go to that popcorn stand across the street." No, that's too easy. He'd have to cross the street. So he went on down our side of the street to a Mickey bar place. Unfortunately, the person working that cart had apparently never done it before and it was taking forever. Dan was gone almost 20 minutes! The stupid popcorn cart had no line! Oh well, we had cold water for the parade.
Share a Dream Come True was a great parade to serve as our only parade of the trip. The kids loved seeing the characters. It was soon over and we needed to find something to do for a few minutes until our 4 pm Liberty Tree Tavern PS. Why not see the Tiki Birds again? It's air conditioned! After the Tikis, we thought we might want to ride the Haunted Mansion after dinner, so we stopped to get FastPasses.
I wanted to add this in, although I'm not sure at what point I did this. On Friday I had purchased a straw bowler hat with a Mickey icon on the front to wear around the parks. By Saturday, it had lost any semblance of a brim and just hung in my face. So today when we went to the MK, I took it with me, with the original receipt. I was refunded no problem. I chose not to exchange it because by now, I had been wearing my $4 straw hat from Wal-mart and it was working well at keeping the sun off my eyes and our vacation was half over. The cast member didn't have any problem refunded my purchase to my room charge.
After this, we just went ahead and checked in for our dinner, but the waiting area was already fairly full of people. The characters and one family came out on the balcony and rang the bell to open the Tavern for dinner and we were the 3rd group called to be seated. We had a nice waiter, but he had quite an accent and I think that may have caused some confusion. He took our drink order and brought out salad and rolls. Of course, my ultra-picky family wouldn't eat the salad (which was definitely good), so the waiter asked if he could just bring out our meal. Yes, sir, you sure can. We just dug into that stuff. Brady was the only one to eat the macaroni and cheese but the mashed potatoes and meats went quickly. Chesney loved the thick ham slices and Mykiah, Dan and I loved the turkey. We hadnt eaten a real meal all day -- just snacks, so we were starved. Not sure if that affected how much we loved the food. This was by far Dan's favorite meal during our vacation. He still talks about it. During our meal, Pluto, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Meeko all came around to say hi. Chesney was so excited about the characters that she could barely eat! I loved watching her watch them. Total for dinner was $79, the exact same price as Hollywood and Vine the night before.
After dinner, we walked over to use our fastpasses, but not before stopping at the merchandise cart to add a Haunted Mansion pin and Mickey and Minnie HM cast member beanies to our load. We walk into the FP line and I think, "this can't be right?" I back up and ask, and yes, this is the FP line, which is almost as long as the regular line. We weren't going anywhere. By this time it's after 5 pm, and I'm thinking "Can't it rain or something and clear some people out of here?" But no. It's crowded, the line is moving at a crawl and the kids are half scared of the ride anyway. It isn't worth it. So we leave the line and go back to the resort.
But it's only early evening and who wants to just sit? We didn't feel like swimming after having done so much earlier that day, but we still had souvenir money. Let's visit Downtown Disney again. We had our longest wait for a bus here; 25 minutes before one arrived. As we head to DTD, it starts to sprinkle. Our first stop was World of Memories, where I bought a package of stickers, some eyelets and some postcards. Chesney got her Disney coloring book here, which would keep her occupied for the rest of the trip. Then it was on to Once Upon a Time, where we chose some Bear in the Big Blue House toys for my niece and Brady bought Sorcerer Mickey, Pegasus and Wheezie beanies. Mykiah bought a Princess Minnie to add to her collection (I counted this morning and she has 32 total) and also bought some pirate parts for Mr. Potato Head. Do we have the best dressed potato in town or what?
Although it's not in my notes, this has to be the night that I became addicted to the Disney bear. I've never just had a teddy bear in my life and dang, it's cute. So I decided to get one with my last $25. I got the dark brown and then Ches decided to go with a pink one. Mykiah got in on the action with the tan bear. Man, I love those things.
By this time, it was definitely getting ready to pour, so we have jogged to the bus stop. We even cut through some stores to get there. Of course it took forever to get a bus there and by the time it arrived, it was standing room only. We didn't stop at any of the other DTD stops, just headed back to the resort. We got back, ran through the rain to our room and changed into pajamas. Dan took some fun photos of the girls and I with our Disney bears reading the Disney bear story. I'll do a scrapbook page about it.
Really, a pretty great way to end a fun day.
To read part 7, click here
