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

[pigninnie]

hope the tooth fairy was really good to Hannah

 

[Denovagirl]

I know...I am an awful parent! they haven't seen dumbo (I haven't seen it for years....probably because it makes me cry) or lady and the tramp or 101 dalmations. we are horrible, neglectful parents! maybe we'll have to find them at the library before the next trip!

Nah... My kids have never seen dumbo either and I can't recall ever having sat through it myself, so I know I must've been super young when I saw it! My kids only know dumbo from the Disney commercials, lol!!! But at least they know him and associate him with Disney fun! They have seen 101 & L&tT though... But they weren't that interested really..

 

[STLMickeyMom]

just wanted to let you all know that i couldn't take all the plans floating around in my head for our next trip and i had to start a new PTR. here's the link if you'd like to check it out...

don't know if i'm elated or gassy, but i'm somewhere in that zone...fall 2014 PTR​

come follow along and help me plan our anniversary trip! thanks!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Yay! I am sooooo glad you started this! I can't wait to hear all about your plans!

I have never really paid much attention to how many nights you need to stay to get a discount, I guess I will have to see when discounts come out. I really don't think two days will be that big of a deal. Many kids miss that much when they are sick. As long as your DD doesn't miss days at a time often she will be fine.

I love having this forum to discuss all the ideas swirling around in my head! This is so exciting!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

just realized I posted the last post in the wrong place OOPS! I am losing my mind! It was meant to be on your PTR! Sorry!

 

[Imbri]

Dangit, got behind again!

I love the Animal Kingdom PP pics! My favorites are of the girls holding simba. SO CUTE!

Congrats on your anniversary! We did our Honeymoon in Sept (although we got married in July) cuz the prices were WAAAAY better then, and we got the free dining! (Which is how we were able to stay in POR, hehe). We also did MNSSHP, and it's soooo much fun. =D My favorite part was all the villians, cuz I'm totally a villians girl. <3 (My next DisRun, i'm planning on doing the Tower of Terror 10 miler in 2015, with a friend. Mwahaha!) We got through a bunch of rides we'd missed during the daytime hours of the park, and the crowds thinned out a bunch.

We did breakfast at 1900 Park Fare and I didn't like the food much. We had an awesome Mad Hatter. I love all the Cinderella characters at the one you went to. I need to get some Lady Tremaine pics one trip!

I totally want to try Poohs Stuffed toast now, yummy! And you pictures make me all excited to go see the new Fantasy land expansion. Can't waait!

Poor Hannah! So it's kinda funny, but I was hit in the mouth with a softball and it was the exact same 2 teeth that got hit. Mine weren't baby teeth though. Dentist was able to push 'em back into place, and I got a root canal. Blech.

It's too bad the dessert party thingy didn't work out, it sounds fantastic. Gonna have to add that to my future list of "to dos"

Now I'm all caught up, gonna go bookmark the new PTR!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Yay! I am sooooo glad you started this! I can't wait to hear all about your plans!

I have never really paid much attention to how many nights you need to stay to get a discount, I guess I will have to see when discounts come out. I really don't think two days will be that big of a deal. Many kids miss that much when they are sick. As long as your DD doesn't miss days at a time often she will be fine.

I love having this forum to discuss all the ideas swirling around in my head! This is so exciting!

just realized I posted the last post in the wrong place OOPS! I am losing my mind! It was meant to be on your PTR! Sorry!

you're in good company--I'm pretty sure I'm losing my mind everyday!

I feel better already just getting some of the info out of my head! I love it here too!

Dangit, got behind again!

I love the Animal Kingdom PP pics! My favorites are of the girls holding simba. SO CUTE!

Congrats on your anniversary! We did our Honeymoon in Sept (although we got married in July) cuz the prices were WAAAAY better then, and we got the free dining! (Which is how we were able to stay in POR, hehe). We also did MNSSHP, and it's soooo much fun. =D My favorite part was all the villians, cuz I'm totally a villians girl. <3 (My next DisRun, i'm planning on doing the Tower of Terror 10 miler in 2015, with a friend. Mwahaha!) We got through a bunch of rides we'd missed during the daytime hours of the park, and the crowds thinned out a bunch.

We did breakfast at 1900 Park Fare and I didn't like the food much. We had an awesome Mad Hatter. I love all the Cinderella characters at the one you went to. I need to get some Lady Tremaine pics one trip!

I totally want to try Poohs Stuffed toast now, yummy! And you pictures make me all excited to go see the new Fantasy land expansion. Can't waait!

Poor Hannah! So it's kinda funny, but I was hit in the mouth with a softball and it was the exact same 2 teeth that got hit. Mine weren't baby teeth though. Dentist was able to push 'em back into place, and I got a root canal. Blech.

It's too bad the dessert party thingy didn't work out, it sounds fantastic. Gonna have to add that to my future list of "to dos"

Now I'm all caught up, gonna go bookmark the new PTR!

i liked those baby simba pictures too. If you're doing the photo pass make sure you ask for magic shots for stormy. We didn't have any photographer just offer to do one, I always had to ask for them.

I'm excited to see the villains too! Madison really likes them now for some reason but I'm sure she'll be shy when she actually sees them. I'm also looking forward to hopefully being able to just get on rides with short lines!

I thought about doing breakfast at 1900 but we're not big Alice in wonderland fans. I remember being creeped out by tweedle dum and tweedle dee and that smoking caterpillar for some reason. I feel the same way about that movie as i do about charlie and the chocolate factory--someone was seriously taking some weird stuff when they made that!! (strangely i love the willy wonka version with johnny depp though) I think it might even be the only johnny depp movie i wasnt interested in seeing. I've heard the mad hatter is usually pretty fun though.

That stuffed French toast is SO good! It's in with the kids stuff. You'll love it!

Can't wait to see you on the new PTR!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 4--it's my birthday!!

i was very excited for this day, because it was my actual birthday and we had some fun plans! up first, was a special breakfast ADR. we got a bus pretty easily to MK, jumped on the monorail and soon were at the polynesian for breakfast at ohana with lilo and stitch! ooooo, we were excited! we've never been to the polynesian before. it was so pretty in there! we didn't have time to look around, so we decided to look a little before we left. we got in line and were soon checked in and getting our picture taken. i love this picture, but i'm not sure why hannah is standing so goofy. she said she thinks it looks cute.....whatever....

​

as we were led to our table, there was a parade just starting. of course the girls were all over that! someone gave them maracas and they were following lilo around and having a great time!

this was our table. it looked so pretty and reminded me of our honeymoon in hawaii.

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we sat down, had some of their delicious juice, and were starting to make plates for the girls, when stitch arrived. the girls love stitch!

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maddie was, of course, slow to warm up, so stitch snuck a kiss on her head!

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right after stitch, lilo came by. the girls were excited for her, but she seemed a little rushed.

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i got a picture of madison with a mickey waffle. it's become our tradition to get a picture of the girls with a mickey waffle on each trip

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then....mickey in his adorable hawaiian shirt! we all got pictures with mickey. i'm not sure why we didn't just ask someone to take a family picture....probably because we hadn't had coffee yet.

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then pluto stopped by. again maddie wasn't having anything to do with pluto. i don't think she really knows who he is, but hannah is always willing to jump up and hug the characters.

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here's a food picture i remembered to take. how delicious is that bread they give you?

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some random pictures we took. we were really enjoying our morning at ohana!

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this is somewhere we'd probably come again, but i would love to try the dinner there. our server was great....i was only bummed that i didn't get anything for my actual birthday there. two days at disney and i was already spoiled! anyway, we finally decided we'd better hit the road. we used our magicbands/dining plan and left a tip, then found a bathroom and went to look around for a bit. we found this crazy guy...

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and a hidden mickey on the floor

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and i didn't get a picture of it, but i loved that the gift shop there is called the bou-TIKI! it looked like such an awesome place to stay. how cool is it to just get off the monorail and be at your hotel?!?

when we were done looking, we tried another new thing for us.....we took the monorail to epcot! it was a little crowded but still fun to go around epcot and see the park from up there.

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so i had a plan for epcot and fastpasses arranged, but when we got there, our plans changed. my original thought had been to do spaceship earth and play in there for awhile, then go to club cool, and make our way back to world showcase by 11. however, I think everybody else had this plan too. when we got there, there was a MAJOR line for SSE. i was NOT standing in that so i checked wait times on my phone. turtle talk and the seas were basically walk ons so we headed over there. rich left to go find some cold medicine, i think, and the girls and i parked the stroller and went in to see nemo.

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can you hear those birds? "mine, mine, mine" i had a hard time getting maddie to look at me. you can sort of see the bows I made for the girls hair this day on maddie. she wanted to wear her ears and bow so the bow was in the back. Hannah vetoed the bow all together, so hers stayed at the resort. oh well....

i love peach....."take me with you!"

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after nemo, i called rich to see where he was. he was just getting on nemo, so the girls and i decided to walk over to wait for turtle talk. we didn't end up waiting at all. as soon as we got there, they opened the doors to let everyone in! awesome! i sat on the floor with the girls and we really enjoyed the show! last time we went, hannah was picked as one of the kids to ask crush a question, but she couldn't think of anything when it was her turn. finally crush asked her where she was from and she couldn't remember. i called out "st louis!" and crush said "uuhhh....that lady back there wants you to say st louis...." it was funny! however, last time, when the show was over, hannah sort of got swept up in the crowd and we lost her for a few minutes, which felt like a few hours and seriously almost sent me to the hospital. this time, i sat on the floor with the girls and i got a text from rich saying he was waiting at the exit and would grab any escaping children when they came out! teamwork!

when we came out, we went over and watched the manatees for awhile. they were so cool. they had just been fed and were spinning and flipping around getting their lettuce. it was so neat! when the girls were ready, we went over to play by bruce.

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while we were in there, i decided to really give the my disney experience app a test. i had fastpassed nemo and turtle talk for later in the day, at 5 and 6. since we had just done them, i wanted to change our fastpasses if i could. i found a place to sit down and got right online. i have seen some other places where people have said that they had trouble in the parks getting onto the app, but i didn't have any problems using my phone at all. i was sitting in the corner in the back of the area where bruce is and didn't have any problems getting online. i ended up having to cancel all our fastpasses (our other one was for test track from 7-8) and getting new ones. i ended up getting spaceship earth at 4-5, mission space from 5:25-6:25, and test track from 6:30-7:30. i was so excited that i had been able to change everything, still get a fastpass for test track in the middle of the day and not have a single problem! yay my disney experience! definitely more pixie dust!

after the girls were done, we went out to find our stroller, which had been moved so that took a minute. i tried to get a picture with the fish, but it was sunny and no one could look at me!

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when i finally found our stroller we wandered out into world showcase.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 4/part 2

our first stop was mexico. we've never been in the pavilion before. in fact, until a few years ago, i didn't even know you could go inside! what is wrong with me?!? it was so pretty in there. i'd like to try eating at that restuarant sometime.

we did some looking around and tried on a few hats.

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for some reason i was getting grumpy and antsy about getting onto gran fiesta tour, so i hurried everyone over to the ride. we didn't wait at all. i really liked this ride. it was super cute and hannah liked seeing so much of donald, another of her favorites.

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when we were done, we went out and the girls stopped to color a perry the platypus picture at the kidcot (?) station. i didn't get a picture of them, but when we were waiting in lines for things later, they provided some great entertainment. the girls would hide behind the stroller so we couldn't see them, and put on puppet shows for rich and i with their perrys.

after we pried them away from coloring (seriously, they would have been there all day!), we went over to find mulan. of course, as soon as we got there, she was leaving, so we got in line to wait for her next session. rich went to look around in china and the girls played around. we were the second group in line for the next session. while we were waiting, i started talking to the family behind us because i noticed they had first visit buttons on. i asked how they were liking it and she was telling me all the things they had been doing since they got here. i asked what they had done today and she said "mostly stand in line." she said that as soon as they had gotten there, they were in line to meet anna and elsa from frozen and had waited for almost TWO HOURS!!! i couldn't believe it. i could NOT stand in line that long to meet characters. even if i tried, i'm pretty sure rich would go stir crazy and run screaming from the line after about 30 minutes. she said when they left, the people at the end of the line were being told their wait time was a little over 3 HOURS. that is crazy business! so i said "well, it is a great movie. you must have really liked it." and she said "well, we haven't seen it yet. we really didn't even know who we were meeting." i just thought that was so funny. first, like i said, i would not wait in line for 2 hours to meet a character, but i really wouldn't wait in line for characters from a movie i hadn't even seen yet. that made me laugh.....

anyway, by this time, mulan was back out. the group in front of us was pretty quick and then the girls were meeting mulan. it was a pretty cute meet. she asked them how they were getting around on their travels and looked at the stroller. hannah told her that they ride in the stroller and dad pushes it. mulan said "oh yes, i ride my horse when i go on adventures. so your dad must be your horse, right?" the girls thought that was hilarious (and so did i!). i thought i got a good picture, but no one is looking at the camera in one and hannah has her eyes closed in this one.

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so i guess i will add here something about my disappointment with photopass at epcot, but really the whole trip. when we got to the park that morning, there was only 1 photopass photographer to take pictures. at least i only saw one, and trust me, i looked. we didn't see any photographers at any of the character meets in the park (not actually sure if they are at all of them usually, but they weren't at any that day). the only other one we saw was at the end of the day when we were heading back from future world to world showcase to watch the fireworks. what is up with that? i thought that they were supposed to be all over the place? they sure weren't on this trip......sort of bummed.....

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 4/part 3

thankfully mulan had come out on time, because we had a lunch ADR at 1:10 at biergarten. the girls hopped in their stroller and their horse....i mean dad....pushed them over to germany and found a place to park the stroller. we had a little bit of a wait at biergarten, which was bugging me because i was getting hungry (ok, ok, and a little grumpy)! we've never eaten at biergarten before, and i get the seating thing, but waiting for the other group that was at our table was driving me bonkers because they won't seat you until all the groups are there. also, it was the four of us and two couples. when we got to the table, the first couple took the two seats on the end, the next couple took the next two seats and the family with two small children had to sit at the far end against the rail. i know we were annoying them when we kept having to get up and down to make plates for the kids, then make plates for ourselves, then rich had to go to the bathroom, then i had to take the girls to the bathroom.....i guess i could have asked them to switch with us, but come on people....little kids are going to need a quick escape route!

anyway, the food here was pretty good. i had a reservation for my birthday lunch at chefs des france, but had canceled it because remy doesn't meet there anymore. i let rich pick a different place since he hadn't had much say in the planning. i thought biergarten would be fine. i know i checked the menu and thought they had some choices the kids would like....well, here's maddie when rich brought her plate...

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yeah......she was not happy about her choices. the rest of us found enough to eat to fill us up. rich tried a beer and really liked it. i tried it, but i have to say, i am not really a beer drinker and it all sort of tastes the same to me. (I know, a total sin for someone from st louis! don't tell budweiser!)

what we all did like though was the entertainment!

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i couldn't really get any good pictures on my phone due to the lighting, but this was our favorite.

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they are shaking cow bells and playing a song. they keep moving each others stuff and knocking bells over and messing with each other. it was funny and majorly impressive to watch! we were there long enough that we saw it twice and couldn't take our eyes off it either time!

when we were finally done, the girls got some chocolate coins

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they thought that was the best dessert ever! even though maddie hadn't eaten much, we let her have her coin. hey....when you're at disney, chocolate for lunch is fine, right?

we made our way out and decided to try to meet belle. nope, not happening. she wasn't coming out for several minutes yet and her line was already too long for me. we kept right on walking and headed over to sleeping beauty. she had a MUCH shorter line and the CM let us in and then closed the line behind us. pixie dust again!! she was a great meet too. madison really loves the movie and was sort of starstruck when we saw aurora. she had been telling me for months that she was going to sing aurora's song to her (once upon a dream--she's known all the words for forever!) but she just kept staring at her and couldn't really talk.

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when we were done, she walked out a little way with us. rich was waiting there with the stroller and aurora asked the girls "is this your royal carriage that takes you on your travels?" the girls thought that was funny and said yes and aurora looked at rich and said "oh, well i guess that must be your royal horse then. make sure you feed him lots of hay and oats!" i cracked up because he'd just been called a horse by mulan too! he complained later that he was going to get a complex from all these princesses!

 

[AprilRenee]

lol the horse comments were cracking me up!

and who the heck waits for 2 hrs for a character when they don't even know the character?!?!?!! I mean the 2 hour wait is crazy anyway!! Weird. LOL

 

[Imbri]

We barely ever do character meets, because I can't stand waiting in line for that, lol!

When we went on our honeymoon, we met Jasmine and Aladdin, cuz we caught them just as they were coming out and hopped in a short line. Anytime we passed a meet and greet and there was more than like, 5 people, we'd just keep walking. The most characters we met was during MNSSHP, where we got a bunch of villians in and Tiana/Naveen.

I'd never wait for 2 hours, that's insane.

 

[Denovagirl]

Mmmmm! Ohana looks so yummy! We're doing breakfast tree too so I was excited to see your photos!!

I can't believe that family of first timers waited so long! Hope it's not that crazy when we go bc we HAVE to meet Anna and Elsa, it's Olivia's new favorite!

All your epcot pics are great!

I love all the horse jokes about Rich! I bet your girls loved that so much!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I can't think of a better way to spend a birthday! Looks like a pretty fun day! We really enjoyed the 'Ohana breakfast last time. The food was so good and meeting Stitch was a highlight for my DD of course!

We have never done the Mexico ride, can you believe it? I didn't even know it was in there until this past trip and we didn't go inside the Mexico pavilion this time.

That is so crazy that family waited so long for Anna and Elsa. I would never wait that long for characters I didn't know. But some people just want to do things because everyone else is doing them I guess.

Its good to hear you had a good experience changing your FP+ in the park. I keep hearing kind of mixed reviews about that so I am happy you have a good one!

Someone must have sent out a memo to tease Rich, he seems to be getting a lot of that this trip!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Oh my gosh I love the shirts! The Ohana breakfast looks great! We aren't doing their breakfast this year, but I had to promise my husband we would do it the next time we go. It looks so yummy!

What a great birthday!

 

[Tinker326]

LOOVE the shirts!!! So cute!

Let's see- Ohana Breakfast. My absolute, hands down FAVORITE breakfast on property. I love that breakfast! I love Stitch. I love the food there. I love the Poly (my favorite Disney hotel). We've always had a great experience. We didn't make it there last time & I'm still sad about it!

My observations as well with the photopass is that there were many less than there used to be. Especially at character meets. Not that long ago it seems there was ALWAYS one at almost every Character meet. Now- only the ones that have dedicated space (like the Princesses, Faires & Circus ones at MK). Least that's what we found to be true! I thought it was kinda a bummer... especially since they push photopass so much.

I have NEVER been to Biergarden. I've always wanted to try but I have a family of unadventureous eaters & I know that it would be a waste of money. Someday...maybe..........

Great Update!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

lol the horse comments were cracking me up!

and who the heck waits for 2 hrs for a character when they don't even know the character?!?!?!! I mean the 2 hour wait is crazy anyway!! Weird. LOL

I know! I thought it was so funny! and to hear it twice in the space of a couple hours just struck me as too funny!

and, I thought that was crazy too! I would have been having serious anxiety wasting park time like that!

We barely ever do character meets, because I can't stand waiting in line for that, lol!

When we went on our honeymoon, we met Jasmine and Aladdin, cuz we caught them just as they were coming out and hopped in a short line. Anytime we passed a meet and greet and there was more than like, 5 people, we'd just keep walking. The most characters we met was during MNSSHP, where we got a bunch of villians in and Tiana/Naveen.

I'd never wait for 2 hours, that's insane.

I couldn't do it either--what a waste of time! we never met characters before the girls, but we did a TON on this trip. luckily we didn't wait in too long of lines usually. I like kennythepirate.com website for figuring out when and where to meet them. it saved us some time for sure!

Mmmmm! Ohana looks so yummy! We're doing breakfast tree too so I was excited to see your photos!!

I can't believe that family of first timers waited so long! Hope it's not that crazy when we go bc we HAVE to meet Anna and Elsa, it's Olivia's new favorite!

All your epcot pics are great!

I love all the horse jokes about Rich! I bet your girls loved that so much!

I loved that breakfast! go hungry--they serve it all family style and will bring out as much as you want for seconds or thirds. we just weren't that hungry and I think our waitress was disappointed that we didn't eat more.

I hope anna and elsa aren't so busy when we go again too. I know the girls would really like to meet them, but i'm not waiting more then 20 minutes or so.

the girls thought calling rich their horse was hilarious! I did too! it must be rough being the only guy in the family!!

I can't think of a better way to spend a birthday! Looks like a pretty fun day! We really enjoyed the 'Ohana breakfast last time. The food was so good and meeting Stitch was a highlight for my DD of course!

We have never done the Mexico ride, can you believe it? I didn't even know it was in there until this past trip and we didn't go inside the Mexico pavilion this time.

That is so crazy that family waited so long for Anna and Elsa. I would never wait that long for characters I didn't know. But some people just want to do things because everyone else is doing them I guess.

Its good to hear you had a good experience changing your FP+ in the park. I keep hearing kind of mixed reviews about that so I am happy you have a good one!

Someone must have sent out a memo to tease Rich, he seems to be getting a lot of that this trip!

I loved everything about ohana and the poly--I wish we could stay there!

this was our first time going in the mexico pavilion and riding the ride, too. isn't it so crazy that you can ALWAYS find something you never knew existed in Disney?!?

we had great luck with our fastpass stuff and the app. I've heard some not so great stuff too, so I was worried, but it all worked out great. our experience was that Disney is doing a great job making it very user friendly and getting rid of all the bugs.

I know--rich got to participate in all kinds of magic this trip! it was great!

Oh my gosh I love the shirts! The Ohana breakfast looks great! We aren't doing their breakfast this year, but I had to promise my husband we would do it the next time we go. It looks so yummy!

What a great birthday!

thanks! I really liked these ones! except I picked a sort of see through t shirt for mine and had to wear something underneath, but, it was sort of cold that day, so it ended up being no big deal.

we loved the breakfast and the hotel. sometime we might have to just splurge and stay there for a couple nights!

LOOVE the shirts!!! So cute!

Let's see- Ohana Breakfast. My absolute, hands down FAVORITE breakfast on property. I love that breakfast! I love Stitch. I love the food there. I love the Poly (my favorite Disney hotel). We've always had a great experience. We didn't make it there last time & I'm still sad about it!

My observations as well with the photopass is that there were many less than there used to be. Especially at character meets. Not that long ago it seems there was ALWAYS one at almost every Character meet. Now- only the ones that have dedicated space (like the Princesses, Faires & Circus ones at MK). Least that's what we found to be true! I thought it was kinda a bummer... especially since they push photopass so much.

I have NEVER been to Biergarden. I've always wanted to try but I have a family of unadventureous eaters & I know that it would be a waste of money. Someday...maybe..........

Great Update!

thanks! I think these were my favorite shirts! I really liked all the iron ons I got. www.missmorgandesigns.com if anyone is interested!

that breakfast was sooooo good! and the atmosphere was just so laid back and relaxing. that plus being so stuffed....it's no wonder we didn't want to leave! it was a great way to start the morning for sure!

I was thinking the same thing! why push the photopass/memory maker and then not have photographers around to make it worth the money? and why do you have to ask for magic shots...shouldn't they just offer that? if you're not interested, just say no, but it shouldn't be my job to remember to ask for that. i'm a mom on vacation--I've already got plenty to remember!

we liked biergarten well enough, but I don't know that it's for us. we'll try some other things before we go back again. the entertainment is great though!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 4/part 4

after aurora, we continued around world showcase. we were headed back out into future world since it was getting close to time to use our fastpasses. we stopped to take some pictures of the girls in the phone booths.

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it was so funny trying to explain what it was to them. they didn't understand why you wouldn't just use your own phone, or, this was their big question, why was the phone in a box?

after we'd tried to explain the communication mysteries of the past, we headed out to use our fast pass at spaceship earth. when we got over there, there was absolutely no line to get in. hannah started to pout because she wanted to use her magicband and fasspass her way in, so they let her scan her band anyway. that made her happy and we were soon on our way up into the golf ball. i've never done this ride before. it was pretty neat, but i'm sure the girls didn't get it. hannah did like answering all the questions on the screen though.

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rich didn't take pictures of him and maddie didn't show up on the screen because she was too short. when we got off, we went in to try some of the "games". madison liked the one where you try to make electricity for a city (?). she had a big stick and was "pushing" things around on the floor to light stuff up. whatever it was, she liked it. hannah and i tried out some virtual surgery. we did great and were master surgeons! so, if you ever need some virtual medical attention, you know who to call! honestly, nothing in there really kept my attention and i was ready to move on to our next thing. i gathered up rich and madison (since a line was forming for their game anyway) and we went out.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 4/part 5

we were heading over to do mission space and test track, but we had to stop for some popcorn and mickey ice cream bars first. we also watched the fountains dance to some music!

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that is the last picture that i have because after that my phone died and i had forgotten my back up charger in the room. i will tell you that rich went on mission space twice in a row without fastpasses. he tried to get hannah to go with him. i tried to get her to go with me. she just did not want to try it and i didn't really care if i went on, so hannah and i skipped it (maddie was still too short). i probably could have tried to change that fastpass, but i didn't think about it at the time.

when rich was doing mission space, the girls and i went into mousegears and looked around. believe it or not, i couldn't find anything in there that really grabbed me. i just was not having good shopping luck on this trip.

after that, we made a bathroom stop (i think i can find every bathroom in disney....seriously....somebody test me!), and headed over to test track. i was excited to try this since we haven't been on since it's been renovated. since we had fastpasses, we didn't really get to see the line before the area where you make a car. i'm not sure if it's very different or not, i just didn't pay attention. we waited a few minutes, but then were in to design our car. some people seemed to be taking it very seriously, but i just let hannah play with stuff. we ended up with some nitrogen powered red with flames truck thing with huge wheels. rich and maddie made something that ended up being very similar to ours but was purple. great minds, i tell ya!

i guess i still liked the ride. it's obviously updated with cool new graphics and i thought it was fun to see whose car was doing better on each of the tests, but it really felt like the same ride to me. and, i thought it felt slower when we went out the door. maybe that's just a memory seeming to be better than the real thing. still fun, but i sure wouldn't wait in line for 45 minutes or longer to do it.

so since this is so text heavy, i'll wrap it up quick....this is the only picture we had taken by a photopass photographer that day

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i really liked the fountain behind us!

we went to find a place to sit until the fireworks started. i stayed with the girls and broke out some glowsticks to play with while rich went to tangeriene cafe to use some counter service credits for dinner. i really liked what i had, but i can't remember what it was now. rich ended up going to the snack place across from where we were sitting and getting coffee and a croissant doughnut. it was DELICIOUS! i went over and got hot chocolate for me and the girls. when i got back, madison was asleep and hannah wasn't too far behind.

rich fed some ducks the last of our crumbs from dinner (him and those birds!) and we finally decided to just head out and get on a bus before the crowds left from the fireworks. so.....the girls still haven't seen illuminations! but we did get right onto a bus and back to POR really quickly!

this day was a lot of fun. i don't usually like epcot, but i really enjoyed our day here. some things we missed.....kringla bakery, club cool, karamell kuche, meeting anna and elsa, and pick a pearl. i had also wanted to ride a boat from future world to the back of world showcase, but they weren't running that day. oh well, just things to add on to next time...i can live with that!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 5--so help me....put that sword away!

this morning we were up early and getting the girls into their "uniforms" for the day.....we were headed to magic kingdom again.....

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and had reservations at the pirates league! the girls were so excited for this! we used some snack credits to grab some breakfasty food in the gift shop and had pretty much just sat down when a bus pulled up. we inhaled our food and jumped on.

i have to say here that i really love my husband! everytime we got on or off the buses or monorails, he took charge of that huge double stroller....and he did it last trip too. he'd fold it up and manhandle it onto the bus, stand with it, then get it off and unfold it. sometimes he'd even take our park bag with him too. that man....he's a stroller master and i love him for not making me deal with it!

so we got through bag check, scanned our magic bands, and headed over to adventureland. we had a 9:10 appointment and they had said to be there about 15 minutes early. there were morning extra magic hours that day, but when we got to adventureland, there was a huge crowd waiting because it was still roped off. i wasn't sure what was going on, but there was a CM with a pirate flag standing by the rope so i went up to ask where we were supposed to go for our appointment. when i got to the front of the crowd, i encountered the only other rudeness we had at disney. i got the CMs attention and said "we have a 9 o'clock reservation at pirates league. are we in the right place?" before he could even answer me, this lady RUDELY says "we ALL have appointments. that's why we're here!" the CM sort of looked at her and looked at me like "sorry" and said yes and explained we were all waiting for rope drop and then he'd take us back. i told him thanks and ignored miss rude-y attitude-y, but good grief lady! i didn't know, i was just asking a question! it's not like i was trying to cut the line or something. 8:45 in the morning at disney is too early to get your panties in a twist! (can i say that on the DIS? sorry if that's offensive)

anyway, soon enough, they dropped the rope and we all followed the pirate flag back to pirates league.

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i know BBB is very popular with everyone, and we have never tried it, but i have to say, we would SSSSOOOOOO do pirates league again and again over trying BBB! i love the little princesses and the crowns and glitter, but pirates league is toooooo fun!!!

hannah was being turned into a pirate and madison a mermaid. when we were called back, hannah had to spin this chest. the CM picked out the dice she had rolled, looked in a book and asked hannah what month her birthday was and finally came up with hannah's new pirate name......charlotte bloodshot! (let me just tell you--hannah was very serious about this pirate business and she made us call her charlotte bloodshot for the rest of the day....every time....all day....seriously.....)

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mermaids don't get a new name, but they do have to take a pledge not to bite any pirates while in the pirates league, as it's a well known fact that mermaids hate pirates (because pirates steal mermaid treasure) and will bite them if given a chance. once madison agreed, we went in and waited for them to be called.

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honestly--it looks just like you'd imagine a pirates hideout to look! at one point, the CM who had given hannah her name brought another family in and sat them by us. she pointed at rich and told the little boys to keep an eye on him because she was fairly certain that he was a sneaky pirate who would try to steal their booty!

hannah was called back first. she loved getting her pirate makeover!

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the pirate pledge she had to take

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i believe this is hannah's motto now....

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madison was getting made into a mermaid on the other side of the room. she was loving all the makeup and nail painting.

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the CM that worked with madison and the guy working at the station next to her were very funny!

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he was making fun of her and saying something about her having a beard, and she said that she has a beautiful beard that he is jealous of, but she just happened to have shaved that day. they also kept reminding madison not to bite the girl next to her who was being made into a pirate. she too was very serious about this pirate business!

when they were done, we went over and got the girls' sashes, and hannah got a sword. they both also got a treasure box with their makeup, polish, lip gloss, and extra tattoos in it. then we were led through a secret door to a room where they took some super cute pictures! of course, they don't let you take pictures in there and we didn't buy them, but here's the girls afterwards.

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after we were done, we hopped right on pirates of the carribean (what else, right?). i love walking right onto rides!! the girls didn't really remember it and really liked it. i'm always surprised about what they like and what scares them. when we got off, we had to buy a pirate flag for our play structure and a sword for madison. i'm pretty sure she was the only mermaid brandishing a sword in the magic kingdom that day!

even though they made pirate charlotte bloodshot swear not to hit or poke anyone with her sword, and we gave mermaid maddie the same lecture, after saying to them SEVERAL times to put their swords down, they ended up in the stroller for the rest of the day.....(really, i wasn't going to be responsible for them blinding a whole tour group! )