first trip do-over, the TR: or.....sorry, i got stuck in a tour group! UPDATED 3-14

[STLMickeyMom]

day 2, part 2

our fast pass was for 9-10 and it was a little after 9 when we got to the safari. i was excited to use our first fastpass of the trip! however, the safari was a walk on and we didn't need them. i thought that maybe we'd ride, then go again with our fastpass. we had the best safari we've ever had! we saw lots of animals, but the best part was when we saw the cheetah. hannah started pointing and yelling "a cheeto! a cheeto!" anyway, i won't bore you with a lot of pictures, but here are a few of my favorites...

​

if you look closely, you can see the baby giraffe!

​

did you know that the flamingo island is a hidden mickey? i love that!

​

after the safari, we looked for the fastpass entrance to go again. the line was crazy long....for fastpasses! that could have been a tour group, come to think of it. the girls didn't want to stand in line, and neither did i. i checked in with rich again. he had gotten some cold medicine and was feeling a little better. he was going to eat and then hop a bus.

the girls and i decided to take a train ride.....

​

we rode around and back to the station. hannah loves trains! she had a little bit of a meltdown when we didn't get off to pet the animals, but i reminded her of what we were going to do when we got off the train.....

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 2, part 3

what were we doing after the train? facepainting! the girls ADORE getting their faces painted! i think it must feel like getting a facial feels to me. while the girls were deciding what they wanted to be, rich found us. he was feeling ok, well enough to want to join us. yay!! it's not a family vacation when daddy isn't with us!

madison was a princess kitty...

​

hannah was a...cheetah (cheeto)?....leopard?....some sort of cat

​

after we were appropriately facepainted for animal kingdom, we created some beautiful music for a few minutes. i'm sure everyone enjoyed it.... i know i took a picture of hannah too, but it's another one i can't find on photobucket.

​

we were close to where pocahontas was supposed to be meeting and thought we'd try to find her. this was the first day that camp minnie mickey and festival of the lion king was closed. the characters were supposed to be meeting in new spots. i thought i knew where pocahontas was supposed to be, but she wasn't there (this tiny trail right past the drums). we wandered down the path a ways and found one of only two photopass photographers of the day. we had her take some pictures (i'll post when i get the disc) and asked if she knew where/when we could find pocahontas. she said she should be out at about 11. it was almost 10:30, so we decided to catch flights of wonder and come back.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Just started following along! So happy you guys made it out of STL that day! We ended up with no power from 6pm Sunday til almost 4pm Monday...we couldn't leave our house and woke up to it being 44 degrees INSIDE! We finally made it out around noon Monday and went to my mom's to warm up.

We did DTD the first day of our big family trip and it was a nice way to ease into the trip. We all went for a boat ride from OKW to Ghiraradelli's for ice cream after dinner!

I'm so glad you're here! i'm excited to meet someone else from STL!! i'm glad you found a warm place to stay during the storm!

I loved that boat ride! and ghiradelli's for dessert is always awesome, isn't it?!?

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Thats too bad Rich was feeling bad! I hate being sick on vacation!

Tusker House looks like lots of fun. That juice is so good there. We asked for to-go cups of it! Charlotte take at least 45 min- an hour to become herself in the morning. I have learned that I really have to ease her into the morning. I worry what getting her up for school is going to be like.

I think the safari ride is so awesome! I always really enjoy it, every time its like a new ride.

Both girls looked so cute with their faces painted! I am always impressed with the quality of face painting in WDW. It really is amazing they can do that on a face.

 

[anniebabymu]

What a bummer your DH was feeling so crummy! I'm glad he started feeling well enough to come and meet you guys and you guys had a great time at breakfast without him! I'm glad you guys liked Tusker House... everybody raves about it, but we had such a bad experience there that I'm not sure we'll ever make an attempt to go back Food was great, but everything else was not. We waited an hour and a half past our ADR time, the hostess were the rudest people we've ever encountered (and really, we're easy people to please!), when we were finally seated our waitress took our drink order and we never saw her again until it was time to get our check, we never got our drinks until AFTER we were done with a plate of food and we had to seek out another server to finally bring them to us, the characters really rushed through us and since we were seated 1 1/2 hours late they turned all the breakfast stuff over to lunch and we couldn't go back and get things we wanted seconds or or didn't get the first time knowing we'd go back!! It really was one thing after another after another!

But enough of my downer post! I'm glad you guys have seemed to have a great morning so far!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining! Sounds, er, reads like you had a great first day.

We stayed at Port Orleans a few times when I was growing up but they didn't have the Royal rooms at that time - they looks super cute, love all the details.

DTD is a great choice for the first day because you can do a lot or a little depending on how everyone is doing and you don't have to risk "wasting" a park day if people are struggling from the travel day.

Sorry Rich wasn't feeling well but glad he seemed to recover fairly quickly. We did Tusker House breakfast for the first time our last trip and loved it! Couldn't get enough of that juice!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 2, part 4

we got into flights of wonder just as it was starting.....

​

rich and the girls really liked the show. i enjoyed it too, but have to admit, i am NO fan of birds. they freak me out and i'm sure they'll go berserk at at any second and peck someone's eye out! regardless, the show was great and the "tour guide", with his cheesy jokes, always makes me laugh.

after the show, we went back to see pocahontas. but again, she wasn't there. we hung out for a few minutes, but she never showed. she wasn't listed on any apps i had on my phone and i was wondering if she'd really be out. we decided to head out. we were going to find some lunch, but no one was really hungry quite yet. i saw that dug and russell were out meeting, so we jumped in line to meet them. we skipped them last time because the line was always so long. the line was sort of long this time, but it went pretty fast. they were a fun meet! dug licked our photo mat and when he saw that maddie was being shy and sort of hiding, went over and licked her head. it was too cute! they loved hannah's facepaint and in one of the pictures they all made claws together.

​

since we were having such a quick morning, we were earlier than my plan and it seemed like a good time to do it's tough to be a bug since we were right there. i love this show. the girls liked it on our last trip, until the end. i laughed when the bugs ran under us and said "isn't that funny? the bugs ran under your tushie!" to madison and she burst into tears. as soon as we got into the tree, she started saying that she didn't want to do it, but we talked her into going. we had a short wait, but were one of the first families in. madison wasn't too excited about it, but she didn't cry this time. the rest of us liked it a lot!

​

after ITTBB, we were offically hungry. we decided to go to yak and yeti quick service for some lunch. i forgot that i wanted to try the fried rice there, and was bummed out when i remembered later. oh well....next time. i got the sweet and sour chicken. it was just ok, a little spicy for me. rich got honey chicken, which looked really good. the girls got chicken fingers and cheeseburger kids meals. again, those were just ok. here's a food pic i actually tried to take, but it's not great...

​

i liked this sign by our table

​

this guy decided to join us for lunch....maybe because rich kept tossing food down there. that bird may or may not have pooped on the table at some point. (i made rich clean it up since he was the one who insisted on feeding him!)

​

after we were done with lunch (surprise--the girls didn't really want their food, but had plenty of room to try mom and dad's desserts and eat the cookies that came with their lunches....i guess i should say after we were done sampling desserts....), we headed out. we had another fastpass coming up.....

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 2, part 5

we had a fastpass we had to get to! but since we were doing so well on time, we first stopped to dance to some music.....then look at toys at a kiosk.....then play in this fountain.....

​

it's possible someone needed a bathroom break too.....i took a picture of this tree--i was loving all the flags tied around!

​

next, we decided to do the jungle trek. i love this one because the bats are there! they are my favorite! i could look at them all day. they weren't doing much, but even the girls were amazed by them when they would stretch and open up their wings.

​

more flags....these are just so neat and peaceful and something about them just grabs my attention.

​

hidden mickeys

​

we were getting ready to go into the aviary (more birds?!?!?) when the girls ran in front of a couple trying to take pictures. i apologized and made the girls say sorry. the couple didn't speak english, but understood us well enough. the wife thought that hannah and madison were cute with their face paint and asked if she could take a picture with them. it was so sweet to see her making tiger faces and claws with the girls and the girls thinking they were pretty awesome since total strangers wanted to take their picture.

i guess now is a good time to explain the title of this TR. we've never been to disney in january, but from reading on the DIS, i knew it was a very popular time for brazilian tour groups to be there. it was no lie--they were everywhere! we actually didn't have any problems getting stuck behind them in ride lines, but a few times we did get behind some at meet and greets. they would take forever getting a group picture, then individual pictures too. the biggest problem would be when we were just walking around the parks, though. more than once, we got separated because a tour group would come through and you seriously could NOT get through them. they were like a wall of people. we'd have to wait for them to pass or squeeze through. when we'd finally get past them and find each other we always seemed to say "sorry....stuck in a tour group!" it wasn't as bad as i was picturing, but it was a new experience for us.

pretty!

​

anyway.....where were we? oh yes, finishing up the jungle trek. when we came out, the girls decided they HAD to do some shopping. we let them each pick a stuffed animal. they got baby tigers that will be in future pictures. finally we were heading over for our fastpass. i was excited because it was a ride i'd never done---Expedition Everest!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Thats too bad Rich was feeling bad! I hate being sick on vacation!

Tusker House looks like lots of fun. That juice is so good there. We asked for to-go cups of it! Charlotte take at least 45 min- an hour to become herself in the morning. I have learned that I really have to ease her into the morning. I worry what getting her up for school is going to be like.

I think the safari ride is so awesome! I always really enjoy it, every time its like a new ride.

Both girls looked so cute with their faces painted! I am always impressed with the quality of face painting in WDW. It really is amazing they can do that on a face.

thankfully it was just a sinus/cold thing and he did pretty good with cold medicine all week. he was a little sleepy from it, but at least didn't feel like he needed to stay in bed.

to go cups?!? why didn't I think of that? that juice is reason enough to go back!

we really never do facepainting anywhere but Disney. it's expensive, but so worth it! and they love it, so what are ya gonna do?

What a bummer your DH was feeling so crummy! I'm glad he started feeling well enough to come and meet you guys and you guys had a great time at breakfast without him! I'm glad you guys liked Tusker House... everybody raves about it, but we had such a bad experience there that I'm not sure we'll ever make an attempt to go back Food was great, but everything else was not. We waited an hour and a half past our ADR time, the hostess were the rudest people we've ever encountered (and really, we're easy people to please!), when we were finally seated our waitress took our drink order and we never saw her again until it was time to get our check, we never got our drinks until AFTER we were done with a plate of food and we had to seek out another server to finally bring them to us, the characters really rushed through us and since we were seated 1 1/2 hours late they turned all the breakfast stuff over to lunch and we couldn't go back and get things we wanted seconds or or didn't get the first time knowing we'd go back!! It really was one thing after another after another!

But enough of my downer post! I'm glad you guys have seemed to have a great morning so far!

I am so bummed out that your tusker house experience was so horrible! that's awful! we really did love it and would so do it again. you should give it another try.

Joining! Sounds, er, reads like you had a great first day.

We stayed at Port Orleans a few times when I was growing up but they didn't have the Royal rooms at that time - they looks super cute, love all the details.

DTD is a great choice for the first day because you can do a lot or a little depending on how everyone is doing and you don't have to risk "wasting" a park day if people are struggling from the travel day.

Sorry Rich wasn't feeling well but glad he seemed to recover fairly quickly. We did Tusker House breakfast for the first time our last trip and loved it! Couldn't get enough of that juice!

hi! thanks for joining in! yep, this trip started out great, and that's saying something since animal kingdom isn't one of my favorite parks. I really had a great time there this trip.

I really loved staying at POR. our room was close to everything and the whole resort was so pretty. we'd stay again if we can get a great rate like we did this time!

that juice! the girls were addicted to it! our server sat a pitcher of it on a window sill so it would be there for other tables and I would see the girls look at it when their glasses were empty. it is too good!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I hate birds, I totally agree with you they are always one second from pecking everyone's eyes out! My DH says its an irrational fear, but they are just so creepy! I refuse to do bird shows or anything like that. When I was little I would not go out the bus stop until my mom chased all the birds away by banging on our loud metal front door. It was ridiculous.

We really liked Y&Y TS last time and I was thinking about maybe trying the QS but I hate the QS in AK all those crazy birds flying around everywhere. I can't take it!

Those tour groups can get crazy! It would be so easy to get lost inside one one.

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[anniebabymu]

Love the update! Your girls and their painted faces are so cute And they look like they were having a fantastic time!

Those birds at Animal Kingdom are ridiculous! I remember eating at Flame Tree BBQ our first trip and pretty much getting attacked by them!

 

[Imbri]

Haven't commented yet! Must fix this!

So we went to POR for our Honeymoon, back in 2010 (It was beautiful, loved it). They started the renovations for the Royal Rooms the next year, I think? I'm so sad! I would have loved to stay in one! Your pictures of the rooms are gorgeous. Maybe for an anniversary, mwahaha! I'm trying to remember if I mentioned, but I'm dressing up as Tiana for the run, she's definitely my top princess (as well as Ariel and Belle), I love her so much. <3

Didn't you just love using the boats?? Baloo and I used them at the end of the nights leaving the parks, when the lines for buses to POR were insanely long, and POFQ were dead. We hopped the FQ bus, then walked through the lobby to the boat launch and rode the boat up to Riverside! I'm not sure if it took less time, but it sure beat standing in line.


We totally do DTD when we fly in too, it's such a nice way to unwind from traveling, and get excited for the parks. This time we'll be heading straight to the expo, crossing my fingers for some DTD time (if not, there's enough time before we have to fly out the last day). I love the pictures of Madison and the princess outside World of Disney, it's adorable that she reached up to hold their hands. And love the Tink hair ribbon!

We did a buffet breakfast at 1900 and it didn't seem that exciting (Loved the characters, but I guess I've never been a breakfast person. It's all just eggs and sweet and carbs to me, lol!), but that jamba juice looks FANTASTIC. Do the serve it besides breakfast?? Also, I totally have pics of Stormy drinking lingonberry juice at IKEA, and thought I was weird for it, then I giggled when I saw your pics of them. Apparently, kids are just adorable drinking juice. Safari Daisy is one of my favorites! That outfit is so cute. I'm totally geeked to look for hidden mickey flamingo island now too, I had no idea.

Your pictures of AK are so pretty. I'm so bad at the small detail thing, I try to get everything into a picture, so they're kind of boring. I'm loving looking at your close up shots!

 

[RGirl]

I was so excited to see you were doing breakfast at TH! As you know, that place scored BIG with us! I am SO glad that you and the girls enjoyed it like we did. Yummy food, awesome characters, just a fabulous WDW experience!

Awww - the face-painting is so cute. How awesome that your girls love it. Willow always wants to wash it off 2 seconds after getting it done. GAH!!!

Ugh - I am so sad about Camp Minnie-Mickey. We really loved that place so much.

Everyone says Flights of Wonder is so great - I keep intending to do it. But, well, you know, it’s BIRDS…..

Blerg - I hope that wasn’t Crazy-Eye McGee Bird from our snack moment at AK stalking y’all at the Y&Y CS!

 

[missangelalexis]

Love the matching shirts. Such cute character pics! Hannah looks so cute and excited waiting for Goofy

I'm so glad you had an awesome safari!

Glad DH was able to join you guys, it's definitely no fun being sick on vacation

 

[STLMickeyMom]

We really liked Y&Y TS last time and I was thinking about maybe trying the QS but I hate the QS in AK all those crazy birds flying around everywhere. I can't take it!

I'd like to try the TS there sometime. I wasn't so into my rice but I did try the girls stuff and it was pretty good. and to give the crazy, creepy birds a tiny bit of credit, they didn't really bother us until rich started feeding them....but that's as far as I'm going saying something nice about the birds!

Great update!

thanks!!

Love the update! Your girls and their painted faces are so cute And they look like they were having a fantastic time!

Those birds at Animal Kingdom are ridiculous! I remember eating at Flame Tree BBQ our first trip and pretty much getting attacked by them!

thanks--they really do love facepainting! maybe I should remember that for their next birthday parties!

I'm dressing up as Tiana for the run, she's definitely my top princess (as well as Ariel and Belle), I love her so much. <3

Didn't you just love using the boats?? Baloo and I used them at the end of the nights leaving the parks, when the lines for buses to POR were insanely long, and POFQ were dead. We hopped the FQ bus, then walked through the lobby to the boat launch and rode the boat up to Riverside! I'm not sure if it took less time, but it sure beat standing in line.

I love the pictures of Madison and the princess outside World of Disney, it's adorable that she reached up to hold their hands. And love the Tink hair ribbon!

We did a buffet breakfast at 1900 and it didn't seem that exciting (Loved the characters, but I guess I've never been a breakfast person. It's all just eggs and sweet and carbs to me, lol!), but that jamba juice looks FANTASTIC. Do the serve it besides breakfast?? Also, I totally have pics of Stormy drinking lingonberry juice at IKEA, and thought I was weird for it, then I giggled when I saw your pics of them. Apparently, kids are just adorable drinking juice. Safari Daisy is one of my favorites! That outfit is so cute. I'm totally geeked to look for hidden mickey flamingo island now too, I had no idea.

Your pictures of AK are so pretty. I'm so bad at the small detail thing, I try to get everything into a picture, so they're kind of boring. I'm loving looking at your close up shots!

you definitely need to stay at POR sometime. it was so princess and awesome! and there's a huge tiana picture right by the bed!

I never thought to get the bus to POFQ! dang! we could have saved ourselves some waiting! smart girl!

maddie is our girlie girl all right. she wouldn't let me take the picture until she was holding their hands.

thanks--I liked making those clippies. I wonder if I could figure out a tiana one?!?

I take weird pictures sometimes....but they were so in love with that juice, I had to take the picture! I don't know if they serve it all day or not, but they could sell it all around the park and make a fortune! it's so good! someone else told me they asked for it in to go cups when they were leaving. I wish I would have thought of that!

I'm glad you like the pictures. I love all the cool shots I see on peoples TRs so I was trying to remember to look for different things or try different angles. I'm no photographer, but I was pretty happy taking pics with my phone.

I was so excited to see you were doing breakfast at TH! As you know, that place scored BIG with us! I am SO glad that you and the girls enjoyed it like we did. Yummy food, awesome characters, just a fabulous WDW experience!

Awww - the face-painting is so cute. How awesome that your girls love it. Willow always wants to wash it off 2 seconds after getting it done. GAH!!!

Ugh - I am so sad about Camp Minnie-Mickey. We really loved that place so much.

Everyone says Flights of Wonder is so great - I keep intending to do it. But, well, you know, it’s BIRDS…..

Blerg - I hope that wasn’t Crazy-Eye McGee Bird from our snack moment at AK stalking y’all at the Y&Y CS!

at least willow lets you wash off the facepaint. maddie wouldn't let us touch it and therefore in the pictures the next day looks like we let her out with food all over her face!

we really did love TH. definitely will go back!!

im sad about camp Minnie-mickey too. we had never been over there. I was bummed when I realized we were missing it and FOTLK by 1 day!

I totally thought of you when I posted that picture, because I kept thinking crazy-eye McGee strikes again!!

Love the matching shirts. Such cute character pics! Hannah looks so cute and excited waiting for Goofy

I'm so glad you had an awesome safari!

Glad DH was able to join you guys, it's definitely no fun being sick on vacation

thanks--I was excited about our shirts....I got them on clearance at Disneystore.com. I love a bargain!

I love how excited the girls still get for the characters. it's just the best!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

hello! our photopass disc came! I thought I'd add our pictures from animal kingdom before I finish up this day.....

​

​

​

 

[STLMickeyMom]

just wanted to throw in some real life info.....


first, just a fun thing.....I went with my girls, a friend and her 3 kiddos to see frozen the other day. yes, I've already seen it, but i LOVE it. LOVE IT! so when she asked if we wanted to go, i was all over that! when we got to the theater, there was a dad sitting with his two daughters in the row behind us. i noticed because they were very little and cute and girly in skirts and tights and dad was very tattooed and tough looking. i liked him already for bringing his girls to a Disney movie. however, after elsa sings her let it go song, which i adore and was silently singing along to, dad, not loudly but not quietly either, says "you go girl!" oh yeah--he's my new best friend! i won't go on and on about how awesome frozen is, but i just love that even a tough dad can get into it with his girls!!!

now, for the really exciting news.....my DH and i have our 10 year anniversary this September. yes, that's exciting, but that's not my news....i was thinking that i would like to do something big for 10 years and was thinking about things we could do. yes, i know we just got back from our trip not even 2 weeks ago, but i started thinking, it'd be really fun to go to Disney for our anniversary since that's where rich proposed! so i started thinking about just doing a quick longish weekend trip. i asked rich thinking he'd say....uh, we just got back from Disney....but instead he said that sounds like a great idea! that's right, people, we're going back to Disney!

well, i think we're going. i haven't actually looked at calendars or priced anything out, but if we can afford like a 4 day trip, we'll go. in my head, all i hear is, we'll go! i am super excited to go then because crowds should be lower, prices are lower and.....most importantly.....Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! i have been looking at pictures and reading about it and really want to go to that party! so, does anyone have any September tips to share? is there usually free dining then? if we're just going to be able to do two parks, what's everyone think are best? thanks! i'll probably talk about it on here some more, but if we do go ahead with the trip, i'll of course start a new PTR when this TR is finished!!

 

[AprilRenee]

I will never ride ITTBAB again!!! I started crying too!! It was horrible!! I have a bug phobia and being stuck in that dark room with "bugs" running under my butt was torture!! Horrible!! And the spiders that drop from the ceiling?? And the "stinger" in your back? No...just no! After the stinger happened, I curled up in the fetal position with my back away from the chair back and my eyes closed and my hands over my ears. We will never go back in that room of torture ever again! Lol
And I love the flags too!! I always end up with like 30 photos of them. In fact, I think the flags are the main reason I want to go back to AK on our next trip. Flags and festival of the lion king (cause I know Caden will love that!)

 

[kayemgi]

Wow, so many updates! It looks like you had an awesome AK day. Your report definitely makes me want to go to Tusker House next time! It looks so yummy. That last pic in front of the Tree of Life is great! Definitely frame worthy! And YAY for getting to go back so soon!