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

[kayemgi]

Aw what a sweet M&G with Woody and Jessie! That's really nice.

How fun you got to see some classic characters! I've never seen any of them or been around during a random character training or anything.

We did the Tiki Room for the first time on our trip too, and I really enjoyed it as well! I thought it was pretty neat how everything came to life, not just the birds.

The bride's ring is just to the left side of the Captain's tomb I think. I can beeline right to it when I'm there but now I'm questioning myself trying to think of where it actually is. If you ask a CM they will be happy to show you where it is, that's how I found it again in the new queue. It used to be at the exit of the ride.

 

[Tinker326]

Great update & adorable pics!

I love the shoe story. So funny & so cute!

I always find Tortuga closed as well & we eat at Peco's everytime we go. Seems that's always where we are at lunchtime!

Haunted Mansion- in Disneyworld- it's just an illusion- in DisneyLAND it's actaully an elevator. The reason being that in Disneyland they need to take guests below the railroad to access the ride.

Other trivia bits of HM- the voice of Madame Leona (the head in the seance room) is Maleficiant in Sleeping Beauty, Lady Tremaine in Cinderella & the Evil Witch in Snow White (all done by the same lady). The picture of Madame Leona was actaully a famous imagineer that helped build the parks. And her actual voice is the voice of the bride doll at the very end that says "Don't forget your Death Certificate". The singing voice of the grave busts (the deep one) is in fact, same voice as Tony the Tiger. And the gatekeeper to the cemetary is the same mold/figure as the traveling sales man (with shrunken heads) in Jungle Cruise.

Hahaha, ok..is that enough HM trivia from this Disneygeek?

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Fun times! The girls were quite popular in their outfits! I just love how all the CMs and even other guests treat your kids when try get made over! So worth the money and effort!

they got all sorts of compliments all day. they thought they were pretty awesome! it does add to the magic, doesn't it?

I was about to be jealous that you got to eat at tortuga tavern cause it's always closed when we're there. Lol

And I actually wonder that about the stretching room every time too! Lol

yeah...nothing to be jealous about over here. still hoping for a day when we get to eat at Tortuga tavern.

i'm going to have to find out how that stretching room works. I never really thought about it until this trip and now it's driving me crazy not knowing!

Too bad you missed Tiana! I never seem to track her down either!
I thought it was so funny when Hannah said Pirates don't give compliments. She took that make over pretty seriously!
Sounds like you all got a lot accomplished.
I have tried Tortunga Tavern several times, and I have never really been that impressed! It is always so crowded and hard to find a place to sit down. Just didn't love it. DH loved it though, which is why we keep going back.

I always forget to buy ponchos too, you can't remember everything.

Hannah was so serious about her makeover! as soon as we walked in there, she was all pirate-y and serious about it. it was so cute!

that bums me out that you weren't so excited about Tortuga tavern. at least pecos bills was delicious!

those ponchos--so dang expensive! I even looked at ones at the dollar store before we left and didn't get any. I think maybe I was being hopeful that we wouldn't get any rain this trip either since that's usually our luck, but not this time. at least now we have them and can take them with next trip, I guess.

I am so sorry - I totally fell behind. I am having a really hard time juggling everything right now. On top of being an only parent and working full time, I am trying to get enough things sewn to start an etsy shop. So I totally fell behind here last week as I was sewing every night after Willow went to bed. But I am catching up now!!!

First, poor Hannah! I hope she is healing well.

What an AWESOME Peter and Wendy meet! And I love their “cold” weather costumes too.

Good call on the train! I never think to do that at WDW (I don’t think we’ve ever been on the train there!), but we ride the train at DLR all the time. I wonder why we don’t use it at WDW… Need to fix that!

I’m glad you got to try the Peoplemover. Willow and I LOVE it - I seriously have no idea why!

I am so glad that someone else just can’t do well at the Buzz ride. I mean, I have NO idea how I’m supposed to distinguish my red dot on a target from everyone else’s. I am so terrible at that game!

How fun to do the dessert party! I’m sad that it was so cold though and you had to leave. I totally understand how that happens - I mean, you know our history with the fireworks. : Seriously, though, I know it must have been so disappointing, but good for you for making the right call for your kiddos.

that is so exciting that you're starting a shop on etsy! you'll have to let me know the name of it when it's up. i'd love to check out what you made! and I might have to pick your brain about how it's going and what you think....I've thought about starting one too but never have.

rich and Hannah LOVE trains. if there is a train wherever we are, we have to ride it. in fact, rich was going to do a behind the scenes tour about the trains at MK but since kids have to be at least 10, he decided to wait until Hannah could go with him.

oh, i'm horrible at buzz, but I still love going on. i'm always surprised that I get any points! but really, how do people know where they are aiming? I've seen other TRs where people get the max score and am just always confused how they possibly do that?!?

oh that dessert party....maybe another trip we'll try again.

Such cute pics with Woody and Jessie!

Bummer about Tortuga Tavern being closed But at least Peco's Bills did the trick!

"Pirates don't give compliments!" LOL TOO FUNNY!

Tiana certainly is a popular princess!

tiana must really be popular! she's on our must do list for next time. I just hope Madison is still so crazy about her then!

I love those Jessie and woody pics--it was a great meet!

Hannah was so into her makeover--it was so cute!

That's awesome! Our first trip, right after Addie got done at the BBB we were heading over to Dumbo and The Barnstormer when a group of 3 girls stopped us. It appeared they were doing a Disney Scavenger Hunt and they stopped Addie and said, "Rapunzel! Oh my gosh... can we get your autograph?!?" So they gave Addie their autograph book and spelled out Rapunzel so she could write it in their book. Then they of course had to have a picture with her After we were done, Addie turned to me and said, "Mommy... they really thought I was Rapunzel!" It was adorable. I love when other people around get a kick out of our kiddos too!

that is so adorable!!! how fun for her too! it is fun when others comment on the kids.

The bride's ring is just to the left side of the Captain's tomb I think. I can beeline right to it when I'm there but now I'm questioning myself trying to think of where it actually is. If you ask a CM they will be happy to show you where it is, that's how I found it again in the new queue. It used to be at the exit of the ride.

no wonder I didn't see the ring....we had to skip right by there because the line started moving. really, we could have just played a little more and then gotten back in line, but when it starts moving, I get all anxious and feel like we have to get moving too! thanks for the hint--i'll be sure we look for it next time!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Great update!

thanks!

Great update & adorable pics!

I love the shoe story. So funny & so cute!

I always find Tortuga closed as well & we eat at Peco's everytime we go. Seems that's always where we are at lunchtime!

Haunted Mansion- in Disneyworld- it's just an illusion- in DisneyLAND it's actaully an elevator. The reason being that in Disneyland they need to take guests below the railroad to access the ride.

Other trivia bits of HM- the voice of Madame Leona (the head in the seance room) is Maleficiant in Sleeping Beauty, Lady Tremaine in Cinderella & the Evil Witch in Snow White (all done by the same lady). The picture of Madame Leona was actaully a famous imagineer that helped build the parks. And her actual voice is the voice of the bride doll at the very end that says "Don't forget your Death Certificate". The singing voice of the grave busts (the deep one) is in fact, same voice as Tony the Tiger. And the gatekeeper to the cemetary is the same mold/figure as the traveling sales man (with shrunken heads) in Jungle Cruise.

Hahaha, ok..is that enough HM trivia from this Disneygeek?

we're almost always over that way at lunchtime too--funny. when is Tortuga tavern ever open? I had done some reading that said it's open from 11-3 but it didn't say what dates. I was hoping it'd be open, but wasn't surprised that it wasn't.

thanks for the HM info! it was really bugging me this time to know if we were really going down or not. I can't wait until we get to go to DL and can try all the things out there!

I love all that HM trivia---I could listen to that stuff all day! I love all those little things you can find out!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 5/part 5

i went in the christmas store after rich was done and when i came out the girls had perked up a bit, which was good because i realized jasmine and aladdin should be out soon. we went over and got in line. we had a bit of a wait, which was sort of boring in this line for some reason. since it was raining they were meeting in a covered area over by the entrance to the Tinkerbelle m&g. when they came out though, they did take their time with everyone. the girls loved it. madison loves all the princesses, but for awhile now, hannah has said that jasmine is her favorite princess (and sometimes jasmine is the only princess she likes). they really liked meeting jasmine, aladdin they didn't care too much about. sorry, aladdin....

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[STLMickeyMom]

day 5/part 6

we had a dinner ADR coming up and some time to kill, not really enough time to do another ride though. we decided to walk over and see gaston's tavern, and maybe try some lefou's brew.

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unfortunately, everybody else was trying to find shelter from the rain too and the place was packed! i couldn't really even get through the doorway to look around. we decided to just sit outside and peoplewatch for awhile. gaston was actually meeting in a covered area off to one side. the line was longish, but not covered and we didn't really feel like standing in the rain to meet gaston. he did sound pretty funny though!

i think this is my favorite picture of the whole trip--wet, a little cold, but having a great time!

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when it was close to our dinner time, we walked over to be our guest!

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there was a short line to check in, but soon enough we were waiting on the bridge. hannah was liking the gargoyles. i think she named this one speedy snaggletoes.

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and yes--we actually did talk her into this for the funny picture. did i mention we're a little immature at disney sometimes? i hope someone else has taken this same picture...no? just us? ok.....

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it seemed like we waited a bit, but it probably wasn't as long as it felt. we were a little cold and wet and just wanted to get inside. i didn't get a picture, but i thought the candle they give you to carry to your table was cute! and i loved the rose folded napkin! rich tried to figure out how it was folded, but i don't think he ever got it quite right.

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i honestly don't remember what we ate here, but i do remember it was pretty good. oh...i do remember hannah tried the turkey meatloaf, which was new to her. she loved it and ate it all, plus her broccoli and my fries. i guess dining in a beast's castle makes you super hungry! we really only came here for dinner so that we could meet the beast. i actually think the lunch menu looks better, but i can't really complain about the food.

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i sort of wish we had been seated in this room. it was much quieter and very pretty. also, at our table, we were just inside the doorway and the whole reason to sit in the ballroom is to see the snow in the windows which we were too far away from to really enjoy.

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when we were finished, our waitress brought me a birthday card signed by belle and the beast and she had added a sweet note inside. she also brought out THE GREY STUFF! i was so excited! it really is delicious!

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then we choose our desserts. maddie picked the mango creme puff. she didn't like it, but rich did. i think rich picked the lemon meringe. hannah picked a chocolate cupcake and i had more of the grey stuff. everything was great! when we were done eating and had looked around, we went in to meet the beast.

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so on our photopass disc, our beast pictures were missing. i didn't even notice until i started writing this up and realized i didn't have any beast pictures. i emailed them and they called me the same day and told me they had found them. they gave me time to edit them and sent out a new disc, even though i had already gotten our first one. as annoying as it was that they missed pictures, i have to say they handled it all very well!

anyway, hannah, of course, loved meeting him, but maddie was a little intimidated. he is pretty huge! we also liked the hall you exit through with the talking suits of armor. too cute! we heard one sneeze a couple times. hannah thought that was hilarious. not sure why i didn't take a picture in there.

we headed out after that.....

 

[STLMickeyMom]

day 5/part 7

it was probably about 6:30 at this time.

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we were trying to decide what to do next. the girls were in the stroller and nodding off. it was rainy and we were sort of worn out too. we had a fastpass to meet mickey from 7:10-8:10 and i wanted to watch the main street electrical parade. i also wanted to try to meet tiana and naveen.

did we do any of that? well, not really....we were just too worn out and ready to call it a day. the streets were already getting blocked off for the parade, so we cut through fantasyland to make our way over to mickey on our way out. however, as we passed winnie the pooh, we saw it was a walk on and hannah poked her head out of the stroller and asked if we could ride. sure, why not! we rolled the stroller over to park it and ran up the line and onto the ride. when we got off, i could see that the parade was starting and was sort of bummed that we were missing it, but we can always see it another time. after that, we cut through tomorrowland and over to main street.

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main street was PACKED with tour groups. at one point we tried to cross over to the other side of the street which looked less crowded and got stuck in one place for about 5 minutes without moving once. are those tour groups stuck together with glue or what? we seriously could not move! finally a CM made a path and rich, who had lost his patience, just started hustling through with the stroller. when we got past the crowd, it was easy going to the theater.

we were the only ones in line to meet mickey! we did not need a fast pass for that obviously! we went to get maddie out of the stroller and she had fallen asleep. rich and i sort of had a melt down here when i was trying to wake her up and rich was telling me we should skip it. i said i wasn't leaving again without a family picture with mickey and he said is this vacation about you or about the girls? (really? what kind of question is that?!? ) kids aren't the only ones who meltdown at disney, obviously!! after we took a second to calm down, we woke her up and took a few pictures. i loved meeting mickey--he's my absolute favorite!--but i think we would have gotten better pictures if we would have gone earlier in the day.

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mickey was excited he was on hannah's jacket

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when we were done, we beelined it out of the park, skipping the fireworks and saying goodbye to the castle, and headed straight out to a bus. thank goodness this was the one night that a bus was waiting there and wasn't crowded. we were obviously exhausted and needed to get to our beds!

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even though we ended on a sort of grumpy note and got rained on a lot this day, i really loved it! pirates league was awesome, we had great character meets and fun meals (ooooo, taco salad!). really, even a grumpy day in the magic kingdom is a good day! still on our to do list--main street electrical parade, meet tiana, meet gaston, try lefou's brew, see the fireworks! we also never made it over to see ariel or ride her ride. we did it last time though, so that's ok.

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

awwwww, they are OUT!!! So cute! sounds like a great day, even with the little grumpiness....it happens

 

[Denovagirl]

Looks like a great day overall! Grumpiness happens, but its all good still! I think your dinner looked so fun, I can't wait to go back to BOG!

You guys had a great Jasmine! She looked fantastic!

The girls are cute as ever!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I am happy despite the rain and grumpiness you had a good end to your day. I really wish BOG had the Beast meeting at lunch too! Charlotte keeps talking about seeing him again, but I would rather try lunch.

I am so glad you got your family Mickey picture! That was what the do-over was all about! And for what its worth, Disney trips are supposed to be about the whole family, Walt himself designed it that way. So of course the trip is about what you want too!

Yay for a bus waiting! I love it when we luck out like that! Especially at the end of the day.

Too bad you missed some of the other things you wanted to do, but at least you know you are going back!

 

[bugsmama11]

Whew! All caught back up...the Pirates League looks awesome, but alas since Miranda will only be 2, we can't do it bc they have to be 3. We are going to eat at CRT, but I'm saving the money that we would spend at BBB and I'm just gonna reuse her Sophia costume from Halloween and fix her up in our room (praying for no significant growth spurt however).

Getting excited for her to meet as many characters as she can, but not overwhelming her at the same time. If she isn't up for it, then I'm not forcing the issue...but mommy will gladly have her pic taken if she doesn't want to!

We haven't been since the new Fantasyland opened, so we are excited to see all the new stuff, and I might be hearing correctly that there's a slight chance that the new ride may be open by our trip too?

 

[STLMickeyMom]

awwwww, they are OUT!!! So cute! sounds like a great day, even with the little grumpiness....it happens

the girls were exhausted! so were the parents! we didn't even wash makeup off faces before bed.....

Looks like a great day overall! Grumpiness happens, but its all good still! I think your dinner looked so fun, I can't wait to go back to BOG!

You guys had a great Jasmine! She looked fantastic!

The girls are cute as ever!!

aww, thanks! it was a good day! I sort of wish we would have stayed for fireworks since it was our last MK day, but......next time, I guess!

I am happy despite the rain and grumpiness you had a good end to your day. I really wish BOG had the Beast meeting at lunch too! Charlotte keeps talking about seeing him again, but I would rather try lunch.

I am so glad you got your family Mickey picture! That was what the do-over was all about! And for what its worth, Disney trips are supposed to be about the whole family, Walt himself designed it that way. So of course the trip is about what you want too!

Yay for a bus waiting! I love it when we luck out like that! Especially at the end of the day.

Too bad you missed some of the other things you wanted to do, but at least you know you are going back!

I wish you could see beast all the time too. I would like to try lunch there also, I think the menu looks yummy!

i'm going to remember that next time rich wants to know who the trip is all about! thanks!

i'm so excited to go back! i'm not going to try to get so much done since we were just there and really try to get to the things we missed and the things we really want to do again. I guess that's a good thing about a short trip!

Whew! All caught back up...the Pirates League looks awesome, but alas since Miranda will only be 2, we can't do it bc they have to be 3. We are going to eat at CRT, but I'm saving the money that we would spend at BBB and I'm just gonna reuse her Sophia costume from Halloween and fix her up in our room (praying for no significant growth spurt however).

Getting excited for her to meet as many characters as she can, but not overwhelming her at the same time. If she isn't up for it, then I'm not forcing the issue...but mommy will gladly have her pic taken if she doesn't want to!

We haven't been since the new Fantasyland opened, so we are excited to see all the new stuff, and I might be hearing correctly that there's a slight chance that the new ride may be open by our trip too?

fingers crossed for no major growing! I liked pirates league also because it's cheaper then BBB and since we have two it saved us some money. I think Miranda will have fun just being at CRT in her Sophia dress anyway!

I had a lot of fun meeting characters with the girls! we probably won't do as many next time, but it was fun this time. I don't mind getting in the picture either!

we really like new fantasyland--you'll love it! I keep looking for news that the mine train ride is open, but haven't seen anything yet either. hopefully it'll be running when you get there! i'm excited to hear about it and, of course, try it out!

 

[kayemgi]

You guys had a really wonderful day at MK! I'm glad you were able to get the photo with Mickey without getting into a huge fight! I know exactly how you felt at the end of a long day. My DH and I came close to a few big disagreements ourselves. It doesn't seem so bad looking back on it though, does it?!

I'm glad they made your birthday special at BOG! WDW really took themed dining up a notch with that restaurant, it's so amazing.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

You guys had a really wonderful day at MK! I'm glad you were able to get the photo with Mickey without getting into a huge fight! I know exactly how you felt at the end of a long day. My DH and I came close to a few big disagreements ourselves. It doesn't seem so bad looking back on it though, does it?!

I'm glad they made your birthday special at BOG! WDW really took themed dining up a notch with that restaurant, it's so amazing.

I know...as soon as we'd get back to the room, i'd think "what were we arguing about? why didn't we stay in the park for a little longer?" we used to always get there at about 9ish and stay until after the fireworks at least. i'm hoping as the girls get older we'll do that more and more. besides the girls being tired themselves, I think they wear us out too!

BOG was a lot of fun, and our waitress was great! I want to try lunch there sometime now.

 

[missangelalexis]

Great updates! I love that picture of the 4 of you in your ponchos, you all look so happy!

The picture with Mickey came out really cute! I'm sorry you had a not so great moment at the end of the night, but it really sounds like you guys always make the best of it!

 

[RGirl]

Funny that the girls weren’t too impressed with Aladdin. DD always loooooooves the princes.

I love your poncho family picture! So cute!!!

I’m so glad you had a nice time at BoG. It’s so fun to meet The Beast!

Your pics with Mickey actually turned out really well - I would never know there had been any Disney melt-downs (and as you well know, I am VERY familiar with those!).

LOVE the zonked-out kids photo!

 

[Tinker326]

I totally missed this update!

Sorry about the rain & cold. I'm so happy to see it didn't let you stop you from having a GREAT day!

I loved Be Our Guest for lunch- I thought the food was good & the atmopshere was so awesome . I would totally do it again! Loved it!

Funny about the Mickey Meet- I think we all reach that point in a vacation where we have pictures in our mind of how things should be and the reality is that it's not happening......... glad you got your picture though!

Lots of stuff to revisit on your next trip, right?

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I'm so glad I finally made it over to your TR! Sorry it took me so long! Sounds like you guys were having a great trip so far!

Ugh tour groups!

You'll be happy to hear there are far fewer in September (I don't really remember seeing any!)

Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

wow - they were conked out!

glad you got to meet Mickey even if there was a bit of a tiff over it ... probably not an official Disney trip without a little bit of an argument at one point I think your picture came out pretty well considering you weren't super happy with it.

Hope you get to meet Tiana and Naveen at some point - that was by far our best meet & greet last trip