First Ever Trip Report - Family Disney Celebration!

[FairyGodmotherJen]

The Stonecipher Disney Celebration Trip Report

Let me start by saying that this is my first trip report – please bear with me! I’ve been reading reports on this discussion board since last January, and have spent quite a bit (probably too much!) of enjoyable time reading about other families’ Disney adventures. So, I decided to go ahead and try my hand at it. Here we go!
The characters in this story include my own family – DH Bryan, DD (six in a month) Haley, DSJack (3) and myself, Jen. My in-laws were pretty envious after we returned from our trip in 2005, and we were quickly making plans for them to come along on this trip. They’re DMIL, Sue, and DFIL, Stoney. My husband’s aunt (DA) Jayne from Oregon also accompanied us – she’s DMIL’s best buddy, and we rarely get to see her due to the distance, so it was a great excuse to visit. As we planned, DH’s brother and his wife made the decision to come along as well – which was great, since she’s as much of a Disney nut as I am, and a fellow teacher. They’re Tim (DBIL) and Shelley (DSIL). So we were officially a Grand Gathering group of nine by about March. The dates had been set as June 3-8 of this year. Most of us decided to stay at ASMo, where my family had stayed in 2005. DBIL and DSIL stayed at POR, as this is where they’d stayed for their honeymoon.
We ended up with Magic Your Way plus Dining with the Parkhopper option. Of course, this is after multiple changes to our reservations – bless our AAA travel agent for her patience! I think we rearranged/added/etc. to our plans at least five times, including adding some Grand Gathering activities the week before we left. It was now time to plan! As my in-laws hadn’t been since the early 80’s, and DA had never been there, it was up to DSIL and I. I had visited the DIS before our last trip for information, but had never been to the discussion boards. After reading the Unofficial Guide, I decided to try it. WOW! What a wealth of information! It didn’t take me long to join up (my dh, who is in IT, was very impressed with me as I’m not incredibly technologically savvy) and start asking questions. I started pouring over the tips threads, drooling over the menu lists and just spending way too much time in front of the computer in general. She and I had a ball mapping things out carefully – ADR’s, days at each park, etc. I also subscribed to TGM. Though I was pretty unsure at first, he really turned out to be a big help. I would definitely subscribe to him again. For a while, SIL and I were communicating by email/phone more than my husband and his brother!
So, we spent the time till our vacation planning and dreaming, as everyone does! DSIL and I finished the year out at school four days before we left, which left us a little dedicated packing time, thank goodness! The kids were nutty – the countdown calendar was getting full, and they knew what was coming. By the Friday before (we left on Sunday), they were loudly telling anyone they met about Disney World. They couldn’t wait to go back! We all gathered here the night before our flights (except for DA, who was actually arriving in Orlando on Saturday so that she could be there when we got there on Sunday and still feel like doing things) and had a grand time helping each other get ready. No one was really ready to fall asleep, but we all tried really hard. We knew we needed our rest for the big day!

Next – our first day: airports, ASMo, and MGM for Star Wars Weekends! Thanks for reading!

 

[KathyRN137]

Welcome, first-time trippie writer!

Kathy

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

As you can imagine, with eight people in the house it was a little nutty that first morning around here! My DBIL and DSIL left on an earlier flight, which helped a little. But once the kids were up, the little bit of calm was gone. We actually had a good laugh from DD that morning. She and I go round and round about doing her hair. She hates it (and I’m not brave enough to get it chopped off yet). But of course, if Grammy is around than it’s a different story. So she actually went up to my MIL and asked her to put her hair in braids for her. MIL, of course, says “Sure! What kind of braids?” That’s when DD gets all thoughtful, like she’s trying to remember what the word is. After a minute, she says in a questioning voice (like she’s knows what she wants to say but isn’t sure she’s expressing it right), “Mexican braids?” Yes, she meant French braids, but it struck me as being pretty darn funny and I had to walk away to hide the fact that I was laughing. She had her hair done like that several times during the trip (I actually had them once, too), and now they will forever be known to our family as “Mexican braids”.

Now, I have to tell you that I don’t think a large group of Stoneciphers has ever been on time for anything! We only live about 30 minutes from Indianapolis International Airport, but my husband is convinced we can make it in 20 without traffic (it was a Sunday morning). But, of course, we were ten minutes late leaving, and then it took ten minutes longer than he thought to get there…by the time he’d gone and parked the car with his dad, we had enough time to get through security (only one person working it – crazy!) and wait at the gate for about 15 minutes before we boarded the plane. Once we were on the plane, I couldn’t believe we were on our way! We’d been delayed over two hours the last time due to transponder issues, and it really ruined our plans for that day. But I hadn’t even had time to worry about a delay this time! Maybe, every once in a while, it’s ok to be late.

I have to stop now and tell you that this trip ended up being a big one for my husband. In order to wait for my SIL and I to be out of school, we had to wait until the first of June. Then we realized that we’d be there for Star Wars Weekends. Now, let me just say that my DH and his brother are two of the biggest Star Wars fans I know. They’ve seen the movies and collected the merchandise since they were very small. They can name all of the people, the ships – no one I know has ever beaten my husband in a Star Wars trivia game! Now that they’re grown, they’ve even been to several Star Wars conventions that were held in Indianapolis (at least they don’t dress up!). Since we were only going to be there for Sunday (airline reservations were already made at this point, unfortunately), we knew we had to get there fast. His brother’s plane got in to Orlando at 9:00, but ours didn’t leave Indy till 9:15. The plan was for him to check in with us and get his key, then hop a bus to MGM and meet up with DBIL and DSIL. So far, the plan was on-schedule, even though we hadn’t been!

We got to MCO without a hitch and met up with Aunt Jayne, which was really exciting. We had to wait for a little while for the Magical Express, but once we were on we couldn’t stop grinning! I tried to keep DS occupied (he’s a VERY energetic little boy) by looking for specific types of cars out the window so he’d stop kicking the poor family in front of us. I was afraid that the ride would go on forever, but suddenly, we were there! As we were staying at ASMo, we were the last ones to be dropped off. We began what became a habit for us all week – we counted hotels. Both kids knew we were at the “third hotel – the movie one,” by the time we’d been there a day or so. I have to admit, my MIL and I moved to the front of the bus after ASMu so we’d be one of the first in line to check in. Later, my DH told me I honked off a bunch of people behind me. I’m sorry that happened – all I could think of was getting my DH to MGM! So we left the others to get the luggage we’d brought with us and went to get checked in. I’ve read here (and experienced at the hotel) about the long waits that can greet you at the check-in desk, but we had no problems this time. We got checked in, and were even able to go to our rooms at that time – about 12:30 or so. We were in the Fantasia building, and were right next door to each other thanks to the Grand Gatherings program. We had a quick lunch at the food court (after explaining the dining plan to everyone). My kids were so excited to get their chicken nuggets in the Mickey plates again! This was something they’d talked about from the last trip – it’s funny what they remember, isn’t it? Then we split up – DMIL, DFIL and DA to Epcot for the last day of the Flower and Garden show, and DH, the kids and I to MGM. We all agreed to meet up at Mama Melrose’s for our ADR’s at 5:30.

Wouldn’t you know it, the thing that excited my kids the most on the bus ride was the monstrous McDonald’s that we pass every time we leave our hotel? Go figure. But we quickly got to MGM. After getting through the bag check, the first thing we had to do was take DH’s picture in front of the big sign for Star Wars Weekends. Then we proceeded in to the main drag there at MGM and got great spots for the Stars and Motorcars Parade that was starting in fifteen minutes. While we waited, we covered the kids with sunscreen and shopped a bit in the stores behind us – DH and I each got a Star Wars pin (I got hooked on the pins on our last trip). We really enjoyed the parade! It didn’t hurt that the first float was from Toy Story (my DS’s second-favorite movie) and not too long after that were several characters from Star Wars. Alice shook DS’s hand, Gepetto shook DD’s hand, and Bo from Toy Story swapped blown kisses with my son. The only hard part was holding DS so that he could see – he got all excited every time he saw a new float and almost wiggled out of my hands more than once.

Unfortunately, after that, about all we heard from the kids for a while was, “I want to go back to the hotel!” They were hot and tired. Plus, it’s hard to explain to a 3 and 6 year old that there are more people on this vacation than just them! But the goal was to hit the Star Wars stuff for Daddy. We knew from reading here on the DIS that we would not be able to get into many of the special events because the tickets/fastpasses would be gone even before DBIL got there (he and his wife actually left the park at about the same time we got there – they were just worn out from being up at 4:30 that morning!). But we got to look around at the different merchandise, stood in line to see Jedi Mickey, and had a ball watching people walk around the park dressed up. It was pretty warm, but very windy (the tropical storm had blown through the day before – what luck!). This didn’t really improve the kids’ moods, however. It also didn’t help that we spent about 20 minutes wandering around a certain area. We hadn’t told them for fear we were wrong, but we were pretty sure that Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars (DS’s absolute most favorite movie) would be making an appearance somewhere around there at some point. Just when we thought we might be in the wrong spot, we found some cones with lines forming around them. Sure enough, pretty soon there were cast members there getting us all organized. Then we heard engines and loud music. I thought DS was going to come out of his skin! He jumped up in my arms, and when he saw what it was he began waving frantically! While we waited in line, he kept up a steady stream of, “Hi Lightning! Hi Mater! Mommy! It’s Lightning and Mater! Mommy, can we go talk to them? Mommy, it’s Lightning and Mater! Hi Lightning! Hi Mater!...” There was a group of very friendly teenagers in front of us who got such a kick out of him! They were also nice enough to take our family pictures in front of the cars. Even DD perked up a little once we got up there and got in the photos, too. I have to admit; those Cars are cute (though loud). After that, we managed to find an air conditioned spot to wait for a character and met another family with a small child in the process. That’s all it took for DD – give her someone remotely close to her age and she becomes Miss Social Butterfly! This little girl was about two and a half – closer to her brother’s age, but Haley is quite the mother hen and enjoys “shepherding” smaller children. It was fun to watch, since her parents turned out to be pleasant people, too.

Then DH’s cell phone rang – we ended up being the last people to check in at the restaurant! They got a kick out of that, since I’m the one that made them all little index cards with all our confirmation numbers and ADR’s for each day. We got several nice surprises at Mama Melrose’s, the first being that we were seated all at one table. When I called and made (and remade and rearranged) the ADR’s, they told me we’d only be able to sit together twice out of the five reservations and this was not one of them. Thanks to adding the Grand Gathering number later on, apparently, we were actually seated all together for every TS meal! Since we really did enjoy each other’s company, this turned out to be a great bonus.

The next pleasant surprise turned out to be our server, Holly. She was awesome!! She gave DH a hard time, especially when she noticed his birthday pin (his birthday had been the day before, but how many times would we be in Disney for this?!?). She struck up conversations with us, tolerated my extremely tired and hot children, and just made our meal more enjoyable in general. A friend of hers (named Lisa, I think) that worked there was also from Indiana, and we got to talk to her as well. My DMIL even took down her address to send her some Seyfert’s potato chips, since apparently they’re not sold in central Florida. The meal turned out wonderful, even for my in-laws who are really fairly picky eaters. I had the penne pasta with vodka sauce, and since we were on the DDP and it didn’t cost extra, added the shrimp. YUM!!! Soooo good! Three of us had that meal and loved it. My in-laws had steaks, which they enjoyed, my BIL had chicken parmesan and DA had the salmon – all happy eaters. Holly didn’t even bat an eye when they asked to hold things off or put things on the side. She brought out gelato with a candle in it for DH’s birthday (which the kids loved) and didn’t mind that my DS changed his mind after she’d taken the dessert orders and asked for the ice cream after all. (My kids didn’t mind having limited dessert options at all – give them ice cream with sprinkles, and they’re happy kids.)

Then the biggest surprise of all came out – Holly told us she’d had a cancellation for a big party that had been coming for the Fantasmic package (we had not). She offered the priority seating tickets to us! Now, I know there are a lot of people that disagree with me, but when I sat for an hour and half in 2000 (pre-kids) to see that show, I enjoyed it but didn’t think it was worth the wait. It wasn’t even on our radar screens for this trip. And now we could see it without sitting for so long to save a seat! We jumped at the chance and thanked her profusely. I ended up heading back to the hotel with the kids instead, though. I knew we had a late night coming up on Monday (Grand Gatherings Fireworks Cruise), and I wanted the kids to be ready for it. I also thought they'd be pretty freaked out by the show. So I headed to the buses (my in-laws helped me get the kids to the stop – we all were running for a bus!) while everyone else went to check out more Star Wars stuff before the show. It ended up being one of my favorite memories from the trip. We sang “The Wheels on the Bus” the whole way back to ASMo. Thank goodness the bus was all but empty! Then we went to the room, saw that our luggage had arrived and changed, and headed out. After getting my souvenir mug filled with Diet Coke (thank you – I needed that!) I watched them play in the kiddy pool area before taking them back to bed at a decent time. I spent the rest of the evening unpacking before DH came back with lots of things to tell me about what they’d done. It really was a great first day. Now, we all needed our rest – we had two table service reservations, a tour at Epcot, and a Grand Gatherings Fireworks cruise scheduled for the next day! I have to admit, I was wondering if we would make it. The only way to find out was to try it…
Thanks for reading!

PS – I’m going to try and figure out how to add pictures really soon!! My DH and I are taking apart our kitchen tonight because we’re getting new flooring, but as soon as that’s done he’s going to help me figure it out.

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

Happy belated birthday to your dh! I love that you got the Fantasmic package, that was a little magic for your trip. Hope you got the floors in alright and get to post those pictures soon! I can't wait to hear more and I loved the Mexican braids. Hey you know what they say, if youve seen one country youve seen them all! Its easy to get confused!

 

[Lan]

Loving your trip report so far.

 

[goofy_kid]

lovin yur T/R

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Ok, I think I have this figured out now.

The flooring is in, the house is put back together, and my wonderful techie husband has been patient enough to help me through this. I'm going to try and post a few pics of us/what I've already written about first. Here goes:

First, this is me and DD on the bus, and DH and DS getting ready for Star Wars Weekends (note the shirts).

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/uploads/142795/haljen.JPG

Here's the whole group - back row is DH, DSIL, DBIL, DFIL; second row is DA, DMIL, me; DD and DS in the strollers.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/uploads/142795/allmk.JPG

Finally, here's a pic of us with Mater when the cars came out on our first day there.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/uploads/142795/mater.JPG

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Ok, you can see the pictures. What do I have to do to get them to pop right up instead of just being links?

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

My techie husband rescued me again, I think.... . I also added the pic of my husband/son - I'd forgotten it the first time!

The flooring is in, the house is put back together, and my wonderful techie husband has been patient enough to help me through this. I'm going to try and post a few pics of us/what I've already written about first. Here goes:

First, this is me and DD on the bus, and DH and DS getting ready for Star Wars Weekends (note the shirts).

Here's the whole group - back row is DH, DSIL, DBIL, DFIL; second row is DA, DMIL, me; DD and DS in the strollers.

Finally, here's a pic of us with Mater when the cars came out on our first day there.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

And the next time I upload photos, I'll make them larger!

Me and DD:

DH and DS (pic is too small - DS's shirt says "Jedi in training pants"

All of us:

Me, DH, DD and DS with Mater:

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

We woke bright and early on Monday morning. Well, maybe not bright. DS tends to have nightmares/night terrors when he’s overtired, and last night was no exception. We were up with him several times during the night – DH actually ended up putting him in bed with me (yes, he’s a bit of a Mommy’s boy) and he sacked out with DD. DS tossed and turned, but I don’t have a problem sleeping in between spells, so this worked out a little better. We were tired (well, DD wasn’t – slept through the whole ordeal – but she was the only one) but ready to go. Hey, we’re at Disney World!!!

We’d packed breakfast stuff, so we had a light meal of cereal and pop tarts in the room (we had a late breakfast ADR that morning). We met up with my in-laws and aunt and headed to the buses to be at Epcot when it opened at 9. We met up with DBIL and DSIL next to the giant topiary of Peter Pan that was left over from the Flower and Garden show. I know they had already taken some things down, but we really enjoyed walking around and looking at the displays that were left. That is, AFTER we raced to Soarin’ for a Fastpass. You see, on our last trip it was just the four of us, so we decided ahead of time that DH and I were there for the kids. We only picked out a few rides each that we really wanted to ride – DH wanted Mission Space and Test Track. I wanted Soarin’. Unfortunately, we had it scheduled for the last day of the trip, and it was the only day we really encountered huge lines and late Fasstpass times. Long story short, I didn't get to ride it. This time, DH was determined that I’d get to ride it. By the time we got there, the stand-by line was already 45 minutes! So, we got Fastpasses for about two hours later (and were assured that we could come after the window since we had “brunch” reservations) and headed to the Living Seas with Nemo.

I just love getting to the parks early. We walked on to the ride! It was great. You definitely need to get there right at 9! Now, my kids have their favorite Disney movies, and Nemo just hasn’t caught their attention yet. However, after this trip my DS is a big Nemo fan. We enjoyed the ride. DH and I rode alone, since we were abandoned by our kids for other, more important relatives – a theme that would extend through the week. But about a minute into it, we could hear DS yelling “NEEEEMMMOOOO! WHERE ARE YOU, NEMO?” from two clams down. He definitely has a set of lungs on him! We were glad there was no one else on the ride, since we were able to just let him enjoy himself. After the clamshell ride, we tried to get into Turtle Talk with Crush, but the first show wasn’t until 10 and we had a 10:20 ADR in Norway. So we ended up just wandering through the galleries. DS spent 5 minutes searching every tank and calling for Nemo. When he finally found the clownfish, he had to drag every person in our group over to the tank to show them. It really was funny. The kids made a stop at the Kidcot desk and colored a shark (the only one we ended up doing) and we made our way out and over to World Showcase.

DD was excited about breakfast with the princesses. We did Cinderella’s Royal Table with her last time, since Cinderella was her favorite. But I didn’t feel like working so hard at making the reservations (and it’s a two-credit meal now on the DDP), so we went to Akershus instead. We checked in, and waited probably 15-20 minutes for our table (it was the longest wait we had for a TS restaurant). But once we were seated, we enjoyed the meal. The fresh fruit and pastries were the kids’ (and some of the adults’) favorites. I really enjoyed the cheesy potatoes that came with the sausage, eggs and bacon on the hot platters they brought to our tables. But of course, the highlight of the meal was the character interaction.

I almost flipped out when the first princess made her way to our table because my DD wasn’t there! DH had taken DD to the fruit/pastry buffet, and all of a sudden Jasmine was at our table! So she went to DS first. He ended up getting all of their signatures as well. He kind of reluctantly stood on the chair to get his picture taken with her. Then DD came back, with her eyes as round as saucers. She grabbed her pink Sharpie (yes, a pink one) and got the signature and picture. That’s pretty much how it continued with the rest of the princesses and DD. She just can’t even begin to speak to them, because she’s so amazed that they’re there.

DS, however, was a different story. He’d been pretty shy with Jasmine. He was still a little shy with Aurora, but she got a good picture out of him. Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek. He now had a bright pink lip mark on his cheek. We all laughed and went back to breakfast. But then, Snow White came over. He was up and standing on his chair while Snow White was still trying to get DD to talk to her! Snow White is definitely his favorite (he likes the dwarves, hates the queen), and we had to laugh at how different his reaction to the princesses had become since the beginning of the meal. Snow White added to his collection of lipstick prints, too. Then Mulan, the final princess we saw that day, also added one. So here’s a pic of DS with his personal collection of princess lipstick marks. He thought he was pretty hot stuff, as you can see!

After brunch, we headed back to Soarin’. This ended up being one of the few rides all nine of us rode together. The kids were a little freaked out at first, but they both ended up enjoying it. I loved it! I really am glad we went. After we got off, we split up. The women took the kids, and the men ran off to Test Track and Mission Space. We had a reservation for the 1:30 Behind the Seeds tour, though, so they had to hurry. They ended up getting on the single-rider line for Test Track, but didn’t get to Mission Space. We took the kids to play in the fountain areas in Future World. Anytime water in involved, my kids will be happy.

Then it was time to meet up again and do the kid swap. The men took them back to ASMo to swim (not that they weren’t completely soaked already from the fountains), and we went to the land to start our tour. IMHO, this is one of the best buys we had. It was $14 per person for an hour-long tour. We all are gardeners, so we had been looking forward to this. Plus, it was some all-girl time! The tour started out talking about pest control (not what I had pictured, but it actually turned out pretty interesting) and then we went to an area where we saw some seedlings being started. Then, we got to the part we’d really been waiting for. We got to go into the actual gardens in the Land (the ones you float through on the ride) and see what it was like close-up. We got to touch and smell some of the plants, eat some cucumbers that had been grown there, see how the different hydroponics set-ups work and see some really neat specimens. I couldn’t believe the size and shape some of those plants had grown to! We also got to see some of the fish species (and gators!) that they’re raising. But the highlight for us was definitely the plants. Here’s DSIL and I with a Mickey-shaped pumpkin!

Once we got done, it was just the four of us – no kids, no husbands (as my DMIL kept proclaiming to anyone who asked), and three hours until our dinner ADR’s at Chef Mickey’s. So, we decided to resort hop. We jumped on the monorail in search of a cold drink (preferably of the adult variety for some of us). We stopped at the Grand Floridian first. This is a beautiful resort, but I don’t think I’d like to stay there. I’d be too worried about what my kids would break! I was the only one that had ever walked through it, so we decided to look around. We ended up asking for directions for their food court area and grabbed some sodas and beers and sat on the porch outside. It was warm, but we were under an umbrella and ended up feeding potato chips to the ducks.

We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom next and hop a boat for Wilderness Lodge. This was one I’d never been to and really wanted to see, especially after reading about it here on the DIS. I really was impressed – I’d love to stay there some day. We wandered a bit, but didn’t get to see the geyser go off because our ADR’s were getting close.

We thought it’d be faster to go back on the bus, so we waited for the MK bus. And waited. And waited. It was getting to be 20 minutes till our reservation, and I was starting to panic. I knew in my head it’d be ok, but I didn’t want to be late. I think it goes back to being “in charge” of making the reservations, etc. and then not showing up for them on time. Someone suggested we take a cab, but I worried that it would take too long for one to get there. Then, believe it or not, a cab drove by. We all figured it was already getting someone, but it circled around and made to take off again. So my DMIL whistled. She swears she doesn’t usually whistle that loud, but he heard it! We ended up paying him to take us to the Contemporary (which turned out to be right down the road). We laughed the whole way there, which I think really kind of scared our poor driver, and decided not to tell the guys. They would probably balk at the $10 we gave him. We didn’t really care – we ended up being early!

As if we hadn’t done enough yet, we still had the ADR at Chef Mickey’s and a Grand Gatherings Fireworks Voyage scheduled for that evening. More on that in the next post – this one is too long already! Thanks for reading!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I called DH to find out where he was (on the monorail with the others, including a sleeping DS). They caught up to us right after the pager we’d been given had gone off, so we were pretty much seated right away. They brought out an infant chair (the reclining kind) to put DS in so that he could sleep. He looked huge in it, but it worked, and I could still eat! DH and I looked at each other – the last time we were here, the people at the next table had a child sleep through the entire meal, and we’d thought it was a bit of a shame that she hadn’t gotten to see the characters. Now ours was doing the same thing! But just as we were all settling down at our table, Donald came up. DD jumped right up and hugged him. But he was focused in on DS. He stuck a finger in his ear, waved his hand in front of his face, poked him – whatever he could do to wake him up. Nothing worked! I was laughing, but also a little worried about how DS would react to waking up and seeing this big costumed character in front of him. When he did wake up a minute later, he definitely jumped. But Donald is one of his favorites, so it didn’t take him long to sit on my lap and (sleepily) smile at the camera.

This was really one of our favorite meals of the trip. Everyone could find more than enough food that they liked (even the choosy folks!), we had a great, patient server in Tim and the character interaction was great. Minnie loved our pink Sharpie, and wrote all over DH’s birthday placemat with it (yes, he was still wearing the button – he got a cupcake and confetti out of it here). Mickey, Pluto and Goofy were also fun. Because of when we got there, and how long we stayed, we saw everyone twice. The second time they came around, the four of us got a family picture taken with them. This one is our favorite. For the first try at this picture, Pluto’s ear was in front of DD’s face, so this was his solution.

After our dinner at Chef Mickey’s, we had about an hour and a half before we had to be back at the Contemporary for our fireworks cruise. So, we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom for the first time in our trip. The kids were excited to be at the place that really is Disney World for them (and, to tell you the truth, so was I!). We walked down Main Street, through the castle, and had time to ride DD’s favorite ride of all time: It’s a Small World. Now, according to my parents, this was my favorite ride of all time as a child, too. Since people jokingly call DD my “Mini-me,” I get a kick out of that. Apparently, on one of our trips when I was a child it rained for about an hour. And we spent almost all of that time just circling around and around on this ride. My dad still cringes when he hears the music! But I love riding it just to watch my kids’ faces. DD doesn’t know where to look first, and DS points at things so enthusiastically that we make sure someone keeps a hand on his shirt so that he doesn’t fall overboard. I could honestly ride it at least once a day just to watch that.

We did some shopping at the store in Fantasyland that had the Giant from Mickey and the Beanstalk peeking in the roof. This was a tip I got from the DIS! The kids are big Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fans and he’s been on there a few times. It’s cute, and since we really were just there to see him and not as much of the merchandise, it worked. Then it was back to the monorail to head back to the Contemporary.

I had wanted to do this cruise from day one. However, I wasn’t sure how many of the others would want to spend the money. It’s $39 per adult (I can’t remember the kid’s rate). But after reading the description, I was sure we’d love it. I tried as soon as we got our Grand Gathering number, but they told me that it was booked. They also said that there are usually two boats running, and at this point one of them was being refurbished, so I was fighting for limited seats as it was. The CM I talked to on the phone did recommend that I keep checking for cancellations, though. I didn’t really think we had a chance. However, about four days before we left I called to sign us up for the Behind the Seeds tour, and on a whim I asked the CM to transfer me to Grand Gatherings. Would you believe there’d been a cancellation???? The catch – there were only eight seats available. Two problems – one, we had nine people. Who would want to sit out? The second problem was that, since we’d booked the trip through AAA, our agent had to make the reservation, and it was 5:28 (our office closes at 5:30). I hung up, called AAA and asked for our agent. She was on vacation. The lady that I talked to informed me that she’d be happy to call for me – tomorrow morning, when they reopened. So, after an evening of grumbling to my husband, the kids and I were at AAA when they opened the next morning. She ended up being very nice in person (and patient – it took forever!). She even tried to get the ninth person on the boat several times. I ended up booking the trip for eight people (they wouldn’t take a reservation for seven – it has to be eight for anything to do with Grand Gatherings) even though my in-laws had both said they’d stay behind. It made more sense than someone staying behind by themselves! So, we actually had the reservation, and I was ecstatic.

Back to the fireworks voyage: this is definitely an event I would recommend. We all got souvenir pins to wear as our “ticket” inside the reception area. Once we entered, there were lots of pre-packaged snacks available, as well as soft drinks, bottled water and coffee. We were still stuffed from Chef Mickey’s, so we didn’t have much, but we did take a few things to have later on the boat. Then Captain Hook and Mr. Smee came in. Let me tell you, this was the best character interaction we had for the whole trip! Of course, it helped that there were maybe forty of us in the room. But after posing for obligatory photos and giving autographs, the two stayed in the room. They pretended to snatch the chocolate coins that filled the toy treasure boxes around the room (DS loved these!). They snatched hats and swords from older kids. My two kept trying to either snatch or give coins to them. The two of them really couldn’t leave the characters alone, so we pulled them aside and tried to calm them down before the boat ride. Captain Hook had other ideas, though. He ended up coming over to our corner and “borrowed” the light-up toys we’d brought with us. He even let DS chase him around the room after his Buzz toy. The kids are still talking about Captain Hook. They’re going to remember this for a while.

We then met our guide, “Patch” (I think they’re all named that). He led us out, with the characters, to our boat singing “Yo, Ho! A Pirate’s Life for Me!” the whole way. The only complaint I have about the whole thing is that we were right under the speakers. It was so loud! Both my kids are pretty sensitive about noise, so they were pretty unsure at first. But Patch made things really enjoyable. He did a fantastic job. We sang songs and watched the Electric Water Parade, which I hadn’t seen since the last time we stayed at the Poly (I was 10 or 12 at the time).

Then we circled around to the perfect spot to see Wishes. This was another thing I’d never seen – really entertaining! And we were far enough away that we couldn’t hear the ear-splitting booms, which was good for my kiddos’ ears again. They piped the music from the park into the boat, so we got the full effect. We even saw Tinker Bell, though I thought it was just a light until someone told me a day or two later that it’s actually a person. That I’d like to see up close. After Wishes, we headed back to the dock. We did Disney trivia for prizes, and my DBIL and I both won, so the kids had two prizes and didn’t have to fight. Somewhere in there, Patch also posed for pictures with all the kids. When we actually got back to the dock, we found Peter Pan waiting for us! I was so glad – this is what had been described, but I hadn’t told the kids in case something happened. They’ve just discovered the movie, so this entire thing was so exciting for them. We posed for pictures and got autographs, and it was a great way to end the evening.

Of course, by now it was at least 10:45 and my 3 and almost 6 year-old-were still up. And we still had to get back to the resort, which called for getting the monorail to the MK and then a bus back to our resort. Needless to say, they were both asleep by the time we got there! At this point, we decided to re-think the next day’s plans and just hang around the room and the pool, and then re-group at Downtown Disney for lunch. Daddy and I fell into bed ourselves. We’d done it – I didn’t know if we would, but we managed it. Now we had to figure out if the kids would be worth anything the next morning!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

We had decided to scrap our plans for the Animal Kingdom this morning, since that was the one park that the kids didn’t really have a favorite in. Something had to go, since we’d been up so late the night before. Flexibility, right? My DFIL had laughed as DSIL and I had planned where we’d go each day, where we’d use our table service credits, and even had some ideas about which counter service places had things the kids (and the rest of us) would eat. He’d jokingly asked us to make sure he knew when his scheduled restroom breaks were so he didn’t miss them. But everyone ended up being glad we’d planned things out the way we did, and we proved this morning that we were flexible enough to change the plan!

I hadn’t done this yet on a trip with the kids – wake up whenever, have a leisurely breakfast, not rush to a bus to be there as the park opened. Let me tell you – it was great! It was so refreshing! The only downside of a Disney trip is that you almost need a vacation afterwards to recover from it! I can honestly say I didn’t feel that way this time, and I think this was one of the reasons. We ate breakfast in chairs outside the room (yes, we were some of those people clogging up the walkway). My kids just loved it. DH and his brother had been on the phone all morning to each other to figure out what they wanted to do. They were the ones that had been most interested in going to AK because of Expedition Everest. I enjoy roller coasters, but because of the pain in the neck we have due to the kid swap, I usually just volunteer to miss them. We went to King’s Island in May over in Ohio, and rode all the coasters we could fit into a day, so it didn’t bother me to miss them. DH ended up leaving to meet his brother in AK to ride, and DSIL agreed to meet us for lunch in Downtown Disney (and took the camera with him, though he got a few shots before he left). In the meantime, my in-laws and I took the kids to the pool. The kids got to splash around and make friends. DD, in particular, doesn’t know a stranger in a group of children, and will walk up to them, introduce herself and ask them if they want to play. Here's the pool at ASMo - we think it's great, though it'd be nice to have a slide like at the moderates/deluxes:

DS loves any kind of water, so he spent a half hour jumping off the wall of the pool in to either my or DFIL’s arms.

We got out of the pool with what we figured was more than enough time before we were due to meet DSIL. Unfortunately, mousekeeping was in our rooms. We decided to head over to the Andy’s Room wing and let the kids see the big movie icons. My DS wasn’t even two the last time we came, but remembers the “Big Buzz.” It seemed like a great way to pass the time, especially since we didn’t have much other time set aside to relax or wander. Unfortunately, this is also when we realized that my DS is not meant to wear flip-flops. This was his first pair, and he’d managed to trip at least twice on the way to the pool. This time, no one was holding his hand and he fell and managed to skin up his knee - and his nose, since his head seemed to have bounced off the concrete - right outside of the doors to Andy’s room. Now, my son is one of the klutziest kids I’ve ever seen in my life – he’s three, and we’ve had three trips to the hospital, if that tells you anything. He’s also a bit…ummm…dramatic when he gets hurt (he screams bloody murder over just about anything). But we got him calmed down and enjoyed the larger-than-life icons. My kids have recently also discovered 101 Dalmations, so we went over to that wing of the hotel next. I held DS’s hand this time, which is good because he tripped three more times. We got to the little area with the TV and I let him go – big mistake. He fell again (after only three more steps, mind you) on the same knee, but this time managed to get his forehead on the concrete. By now, he’s screaming and crying, not to mention bleeding pretty bad (and he’s a major “owie kid” – you know, those kids that are obsessed with every cut, scrape and mark on their body or anyone else’s and that cry even more when they see they’re bleeding?) so I picked him up and walked back to the room to get the first aid kit out of my back pack. I got some interesting looks from people, since by this point he was howling as though he’d broken his knee instead of just scraping it. My DFIL, thankfully, saw/heard us coming back and came to our rescue. He ran into the room while it was being cleaned to grab the first aid kit out of my bag. I had a hard time holding DS down to get him cleaned up, and since I was doing it out on the concrete of the walkway outside the rooms while the mousekeeping things were out there and other people were trying to leave for the parks, it got pretty awkward. But we finally got him cleaned up, calmed down, and into the room (which was nicely cleaned, I have to admit). After calling DSIL to warn her we’d be late, the rest of us cleaned up while DS watched the classic cartoons on TV and had a snack and a CARS band-aid.

We actually managed to only be about twenty minutes later than we’d originally planned to meet DSIL, which isn’t bad. While we were on the bus, DH called to say they were in line for the ride after a long wait to get into the park itself. Off to Downtown Disney! You have to understand that my husband’s family actually has a shopping gene in their DNA. They’re all much better shoppers than I am, and I think DD has it as well. But we also love Downtown Disney because it saved our first day last trip. Because of the delay we had at the airport, we got there too late to do what we had originally planned, and were really bummed. Then we walked into Downtown Disney, all hot, tired and frustrated and found that cool fountain in the entryway. Some of my favorite video from that trip is of the kids running around in that fountain getting soaked. The rest of the evening continued to get better from there, and we managed to begin our trip with some great memories. So I was really looking forward to going back.

Once we met up with DSIL (after having to pull my kids past that fountain!), we decided to have lunch. We peeked into the Earl of Sandwich, and thought we had a winner. They had both grilled cheese and PB&J – we were set! We really enjoyed this place, by the way. The adults all liked the variety of choices, and were happy with what they got. I personally had a meatball sub that I really thought was tasty. I also liked the dessert options for a counter service restaurant. My DD had a cupcake-top with sprinkles and icing – big hit, and a nice change of pace from other places. The sandwiches for the kids were problematic, however. Now I have to preface this by saying that anything but plain pasta and McDonald’s-like chicken nuggets are usually problematic for my kids. It’s a major issue, since DH and I aren’t picky at all and really like to try new things. But the bread didn’t look “normal” (it looked like real bread instead of the kind wrapped up in the plastic bag at the grocery store) and DS’s PB&J was warm, which didn’t help at all. They ended up eating DMIL’s potato chips and their desserts, and DS managed to spill his chocolate milk everywhere. But we found a large table to accommodate all of us in a corner, and the kids at least sat still long enough for the rest of us to eat. DH and DBIL met up with us here, fresh (kind of) from Everest.

It’s not easy to get to Downtown Disney from the parks themselves, as many of you probably know, so they’d had to take multiple buses and were ready to eat themselves. So once everyone was fed, we hit the stores.

We had several “mandatory stops” planned, but other than that we were happy to window shop. I got several pins, which I’d been putting my souvenier money away for. The most important stop, though, was Once Upon a Toy. For DH’s b-day, I’d given him a card telling him he would be making his own lightsaber as his gift once we got to Disney. The kids were excited to help him with it – that is, until they walked in and realized that they had Disney Dollars to spend. After a lot of wandering around, DD filled up a My Pretty Pony box (really neat thing, by the way - you get a lot of stuff and this was something she played with for the rest of the trip and then some) and DS bought a toy monorail. This is a picture of him playing with it back in the room – he would actually say “Please step away from the doors as the monorail stops.” Too cute!

And DD with her pony:

Then we were ready to make lightsabers, which both Daddy and the kids loved. DS actually got caught up watching the film clips on the display and barely helped at all, but he still enjoyed himself. I am not kidding when I tell you that we spent at least an hour in this store!
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/142795makelight-med.JPG
Here's them posing with the finished product.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/142795finsaber-med.JPG

Continued on next post...

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Sorry about the two botched photos up there - I'm trying to do this in too much of a hurry. Here they are:

Working on the lightsaber:

And the completed product:

At this point the kids were toasted all over again. There were several more places we wanted to go, but they were both a little cranky, and as we had dinner reservations at ‘Ohana later I was getting worried. But my in-laws and aunt saved the day when they decided to take the kids with them. They thought they’d head over to the Magic Kingdom and let the kids ride the train – something low-key – and chill out for a little while. This left myself, DH and my brother and sister-in-law to wander, and we had a lot of fun. We spent a bunch of time in the huge Disney store, visited the Lego shop so that DH and his brother could reminisce about their childhood, and walked through the Christmas and scrapbook stores. Our favorite store, though, was Goofy’s candy shop.

I’d been eager to go back there ever since I’d found out that you could use snack credits – WOW! We’d used only two snack credits total up to this point, so we were ready. I got three pretzel sticks covered in milk chocolate and pecans, then drizzled in chocolate. YUM!! DSIL and DBIL got rice krispy treats covered in all types of sweet stuff.

We got them boxed up to go, since we were all still pretty full, and then decided to start making our way towards dinner. This took some doing. There are definitely arguments for renting a car, and this is one of them. Getting anyplace except to the parks from your resort (or vice versa) is nutty! We had a little over an hour, so our plan was to catch a boat over to Port Orleans Riverside (DBIL and DSIL’s resort) so that we could catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom to then get the monorail to the Poly (whew!). The boat to POR was nice, and was waiting there for us. It was a little slower than we’d anticipated, though. We walked quickly straight to the bus stop without getting to explore POR, which I would have liked to do since it’s so pretty! Then, to our dismay, we waited for a while for the bus to come to our stop, and then had to wait for it to make the three other stops at the resort before we were actually on the road. At this point, I called my DMIL to let her know we were going to be late. They were already at the Poly – with my sleeping son, at this point – and told me she’d let the person at the hostess stand know what was going on. I was a little stressed – again, I’m the person who made the plans, so I should be on time, right??? Then we had to wait for a monorail. Then our monorail had to wait for another one that was having problems, so we were stuck on the tracks for a while. With all the delays, we were twenty minutes late for our reservation. The hostess had to pull our names out of some sort of limbo where reservations that are more than fifteen minutes late go to, and then was able to seat us.

I’d been really looking forward to this restaurant. My family had stayed at the Poly twice in the 80’s, so it has a special place in my heart. Someday, I’ll stay there again…after I’ve won the lottery, lol! And I’d heard really good things about ‘Ohana, starting with the CM that suggested it when my original choice for this night was full, and continuing on the DIS. Of course, I’ve read not-so-great things about it on the DIS, as well. But I have to say that we fall on the favorable side in our review of this place.

We were seated almost immediately, even after being so late. As we were being led to our table, the gentleman with the ukulele was asking for kids to come up to participate in a parade with maracas – DD ran straight over without even stopping at the table. We settled in, including DS in the stroller, as we simply weren’t able to wake him up. He slept through the maraca parade, believe it or not. Here is DD in the parade, having a ball:

And DS, sound asleep in the stroller:

Our drink orders were taken immediately, and we all settled in. I’d read complaints about the food all being piled on at once, but had warned the group, so this didn’t bother us at all. And believe me, they DO pile it on. But it’s all really good! We just didn’t think of the wonton chips, wings and shrimp as appetizers, but part of the meal. We thought everything was really tasty. The turkey and pork were big hits – as was the shrimp. In fact, DFIL didn’t have any of the meat – he only ate shrimp. Take a look at the pile of shell on his plate!

We also enjoyed the atmosphere. We had an amazing view of the castle over the lush landscaping of the hotel.

DH and I got up and danced at one point, as our 10th anniversary was later in the month. DH and DD both got up to dance the hula – a definite out-of-the-box move for my DH, but he got singled out for his Bday button (yes, he was still wearing it) and DD wanted a pink lei. DBIL and DSIL also learned the hula. Here are a few pictures.
DH and I getting ready for our anniversary dance:

DH and DD learning the hula:

And the dessert was fantastic – bread pudding ala mode with bananas foster sauce! I’d never had either bananas foster sauce or bread pudding before, so it was a very pleasant surprise for me. The kids’ meals were great, since we were able to order off the menu at Kona Café (I believe that’s where it was from) and my kids will always eat a hot dog, French fries and ice cream with sprinkles. All of us were pleased with this meal – and we have very varied tastes. The last thing we did before leaving was let DD participate in a coconut race. Loud and crazy, but hysterical.

At this point, I was actually holding DS to try and get him to wake up and eat (unsuccessfully, though). I stopped to watch DD, and suddenly heard, “Mommy! They’re pushing coconuts!” Yes, five minutes before we left DS finally woke up. He managed to eat half his hot dog and his fries and a few bites of half-melted ice cream while DD took a restroom break. Then my in-laws took them back to the room for us (again! Thank you!!) and the four “big kids” were able to hit the Magic Kingdom.

DSIL and I had read on the DIS about the Haunted Mansion closing the next day for refurbishment, so we headed there first. I am not a creepy movie person at all, but I remember enjoying my rides on this as a kid and assumed it was more hokey than scary, since I’ve always been a bit of a chicken. So when the eight year old next to me lost it during the pre-show, I tried to reassure her that it wasn’t a scary ride. Well, either I don’t remember it correctly or it’s been redone, because it was a bit creepy. It’s not like I got nightmares or anything, but I can’t see myself as being able to make it through something like that as a child. I felt horrible for telling this kid it wasn’t a scary ride! We also rode Pirates, which was a lot more fun since we’ve become fans of the movie. We knew the kids wouldn’t make it through either of these rides, so it was nice to still be able to see them. Finally, after winding our way around SpectroMagic (since we would be seeing it with the kids the last night of our stay) we ended up hitting Buzz Lightyear, since it had almost no wait and we wanted to see if DS would like it or not – he’s a huge fan of Buzz, but not dark rides. We realized that it was sure to be his favorite!


At this point, my DIS-info overloaded brain noticed it was at least a half hour after I thought Spectro would have ended, and so I thought it would be a good time to catch the bus before Wishes started and the major exodus began. Boy was I wrong!! The line for ASMo had already filled up the entire waiting area assigned to us, so we settled in for what we thought would be an extremely long wait. However, several buses came up at once, and one of them appeared to be a large tour bus (like we’d ridden to the resort from the airport), so I don’t think we waited more than 15 minutes – not bad considering the line.

We headed to our room, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake the kids. Imagine my surprise when DS’s head popped up and he grinned at us as we opened the door. DFIL just rolled his eyes. Apparently that two hour nap over dinner really re-energized him! I ended up having to lay there with him for a half hour, singing to him and rubbing his back, before I could get him to drift off. By this point, about all I could do was drop into bed myself. I really enjoyed the more relaxed pace of this day, though. I keep saying that I want to stay at least six days so that we have a day to do just this, but without having to skip a park. Maybe next time!

Next up: a morning at MK and wet weather!