Grandma Jan's Awesome Trip Report updated

[grandma jan]

Gramma Jan’s
Awesome Trip Report
June 9th to June 17th 2006

Cast of Characters:

GJ..Grandma Jan..me...Planner of DW trips...Awesome Grandmother age almost 60

John...Oldest son. No 1 Starwars Fan...Daddy to two Grandaughters..Little Boy at Heart. age 36

Marci...Daughter in law. Mother of two Grandaughters. Keeper of santity for this trip. age 35

Cassie...Lover of all things Cinderella..My little princess....age 7

Tori....Lover of all things Tinkerbell and Peter Pan...my little sweetheart age 4...attitude to change at will.

For this report I will refer to each of the above by their names and to myself as GJ.

June 9th

This is our travel day. We are up at 4am to catch our flight from DFW (Dallas Airport) at 7am. Marci and the girls waiting at the airport

Flight is wonderfull…no turbulence and the girls are great on the plane. We arrive on time and start searching for the magical express desk. Check in was easy and we are off.

The girls love the movie on the bus and are really excited!!

Next we get the bad out of the way on the first day so don’t think that our whole trip was unmagical, we will get to the magic later.

This is my first time at the Polynesian and we have really been looking forward to this. Check in is a breeze but our room is not ready yet, this was expected because we arrived at 11 am. We are told to check our carry ons with the bell desk, this was expected also. We take out what we need and go to the desk in the lobby Marci keeps the girls in the stroller while John and I take the bags only to be told that we have to take them outside to check them. This is a pretty good walk if you are carrying 5 bags and a breathing machine. John has the 3 heaviest bags and I have 3 also. Not once were we asked if we needed any help. Not one bell person was available in the Lobby. For the price of this resort I really expected more service than this! So out the door and over the bridge to the front of the resort, I have this little voice in my head that I will refer to as lv from now on. Lv says “don’t get upset” but I do not listen. There is no one out front. Lv is now screaming at me “don’t get upset” but I do anyway. I tell John to wait I will go back in and see if we have gone to the wrong place. Here I am almost 60 yrs old and not one soul asked if they can help me!!!!! The girl at the bell desk says they are out there somewhere and gets on the phone. I drag my 3 bags outside again and we finally get them checked.

This is not the way I had our first day planned at all!!!! Lv tells me “we will find the magic just do not get upset” I try to listen this time.
We are all hungry, we ate breakfast at the airport at 5am and the kids are revolting!!!! Off to Captain Cooks for lunch. Oh my gosh, this place is small!! Lv says “please Tinkerbell we need pixie dust.” No place to sit except outside in the heat. Not much for choices on food either. This is really a disappointment for me because last yr at ASM the food court was so big and had much more to choose from. We all get burgers and fries and forget that we have the dining plan so we paid out of pocket then remembered after we ate. Oh well we will use that one for a breakfast. Burgers are good but this will be the only meal we eat here. We did find a table inside too!

I promise there will be magic in this report it just happens later!!!! Don’t leave yet, Tinkerbell does come to the rescue, just not quite yet!!!!!

Next to the busstop for Downtown Disney. We wait 30 mins and no bus for downtown. So we decide to take the Monorail to the transportation center to catch the bus.

John demostrates the force of the monorail

Ok this one thing I did not know prior to our trip….you can only catch a bus for Downtown Disney at your resort. So no choice but to walk back to the bus stop at the Poly. We wait about another 15 mins and finally a bus does show up. And we are off to DTD.

The girls are not having a good time up until this point!!! It is time to shop!!! Boy do they both cheer up. Into the big Disney store,and several hundred dollars later, we go over to Lego Land. John and the girls fill up one of the biggest buckets with parts and we just love the figures outside. Ok this is getting better!!!
Cassie and Tori with their new mouse ears and princess bags of goodies!! Tori's hat is on backwards by her choice!!!!

Lv “please Tinkerbell just a litte more pixie dust”.

Our fist dinner is at Chef Mickey’s at 6pm so we decide to just keep looking around and take the bus to the Contempary in time for our dinner.

I was disappointed in the Memories shop because I am a scrapbooker and I can get more papers and stickers at Jo Ann’s than I find here. Oh well at least I looked. We walk through Goofy’s Candy Shop and only buy some sour sticks for later. It is too hot to carry chocolate around. It all looks yummy though!!

Back to the bus stop. Marci calls to see if our room is ready and it is so we go on over to Chef Mikey’s for dinner. Let the Magic Begin!!!!!! For today at least!!

The girls are really excited, we get to meet Mickey Mouse!!!!

The food here is really good, in my opinion, and we all enjoy this meal!!!

Donald was out front and the girls start collecting autographs!!! This is their first trip and this will be one of their favorite things to do at all the parks and meals with characters.


Magical moments are taking place at Chef Mickey’s!!!!!! We get to meet Minnie, Goofy and Chip and Dale and then comes the Big Cheese Himself!!!! The girls meet Mickey Mouse for the first time!!!!!!

We have a great time at Chef Mickey’s and I highly recommend it to everyone!!!!

We take the monorail back to the Poly and hope for a good room! I did request the Tokelau Longhouse because we wanted a balcony. We walk to our room with mixed feelings at how the day began. We are on the third floor and I am worried about all of us fitting in one room. We open the door…….Oh My!!!! This is beautiful!!!! Large room with 2 queen size beds and a daybed for Cassie. Then out to the balcony to see what our view is like….we have a garden view room and no idea what awaits us. To our amazement…we have a beautiful view of the grounds and part of the beach!!!! Then we turn to our left and What do we see…..THE CASTLE….WOW!!!! Major Pixie dust here!!!!!
This picture is not very good the view was much better than this!!!!

We unpack a little and find our bathing suits and off to the pool. The time is about 8 pm so we are tired but the girls want to check out the pool before we go to bed. The water slide is closed so we don’t get to do that tonight but we have 7 more days to go. We swim until about 9 when the Water parade begins and it was wonderful to be able to watch it right at the beach. A great way to end our first day!!!!

Shall I continue with day 2 or are you all bored to tears?...this is my first trip report.

 

[snoopy two]

Please continue Grandma Jan!

 

[grandma jan]

I don't know why but I cannot post pictures!!! If anyone knows how to do it let me know. Maybe not enough posts yet. Day 2 to follow shortly on this same post.

 

[Beana9802]

I don't know why but I cannot post pictures!!! If anyone knows how to do it let me know. Maybe not enough posts yet. Day 2 to follow shortly on this same post.

Oh, you sure have enough posts. Upload your pics to photobucket.com and once you do, each picture will have a web address. Once you find out the web address, just copy and paste the address (IMG) into your post. You can even center it by clicking the center button on top of your post box.... (this is a picture from Greg K, as I don't have any good dis pics....)

BTW....WRITE MORE!

 

[PoohGal05]

I'd like to read more of your trip report!

 

[grandma jan]

Ok I have downloaded to photobucket and have been trying to post pictures in my report. The first one was huge so I went back in to Photobucket and reduced it by 25% and I think I did it more than once so it came out tiny. I went in and deleted the picture and started over now it won't reduce the size at all. What am I doing wrong? I really appreciate your help!!!!

 

[grandma jan]

I finally figured it out and have posted pictures with my report. More to follow tomarrow...thanks

 

[grandma jan]

June 10th Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and how to Traumatize 2 little girls.

Ok the plan is to be at the gates at opening. We get up and have cereal in the room for breakfast. Out the door and head for the Monorail to Epcot. Here we have to get off at the transportation center and change Monorails to Epcot. We arrive a little past opening. John goes ahead of us to get fast passes for Soarin.

The rest of us wait out front for John. With fast passes in hand we set off for Figment. On the way we stop for photos at the character connection. Note the smiles on the girls faces…..this will not last long.

This is my first time riding Figment so I am not sure what to expect. I have read everything I can to prepare the girls for this ride and am confident they will enjoy it!!! Lv should have warned me about this . All is well and good the kids are enjoying the ride, I have warned them about the dark and the train whistle so that goes smoothly. Everyone is happy until we get to the last room…..it goes dark and there is a rather large poof of air right in our faces!!!!! It scares the girls to pieces especially Tori!!!! I did not read about this happening so I was not prepared either! OK we have tramatized the youngest!!!

We are next to Honey I Shrunk the Audience so we decide that Cassie, Marci and I will see this 3d movie while John gets Tori Calmed down. Biggggggg Mistake!!!!!!! Where in the world is that lv. OK in we go and Cassie is looking forward to it. We watch the preshow and then go in and sit down. Cassie is fine until the Lion or Tiger or whatever it was comes out. Oh my, her head is buried into Marci’s side. Ok Cassie it is gone you can look now. Out POPS A SNAKE and with a scream she will not watch the rest of it. Child no 2 Traumatized!!!!!! We are doing good today. Both Children are scarred for life now!!!!!! We go to the Living Seas and the line for Crush is about 4 shows deep by this time so we will save that for our second day at Epcot.
The rocks are hot and the girls hold their legs up to keep from getting burned!!!!

We decide to go find Minnie’s Butterfly house because they both love butterflies.

Cassie and Tori get to touch a butterfly!!!

This helps their attitudes quite a bit!!! Outside of the Butterfly house is a rope climbing thingamabob, I cannot think of the name of it but the kids loved it!!! Cassie climbs to the top and of course Tori must follow her big sister. She makes it to the top but cannot get down

Daddy to the rescue!!!!

From here we look at some of the topiaries and take the kids to the fountain in front of Test Track. They get their feet wet and it is time for Soarin so off to The Land. Tori is ½ inch too short. She is very upset that she cannot ride. We do a child swap and me, John and Cassie ride first. Cassie loves this ride and wants to go again!!!

It is time for lunch so we eat at the Sunshine Terrace and we all enjoy it. Marci, Cassie and I go back to Soarin and ride with the child swap. Tori is asleep when we get off the ride. We have fastpasses for Living With the Land and give Tori time to wakeup before we ride it. We all enjoy this ride. The girls help me in my garden at home so they really enjoy this one and want to grow pumpkins like these.

We walk over to The Living Seas and look at the fish and big turtles. Cassie was impressed with the manatees and especially the one that was in the boating accident.

Since Tori had a nap we decide not to take a break today. Lv keeps saying “you should really take that break” but I do not listen. It is our first park day and we haven’t even seen the World Showcase yet.

We do some shopping at Mouse Gears and slowly make our way over to the World Showcase, taking pictures along the way.

Our dinner tonight is at Marakesh in Morocco at 5:45. It is now only 4:30. We are at Canada and out walks Kenai!!! The girls are excited and want his autograph so we have plenty of time and we get in line.

We arrive at Morocco early for dinner and I check in at Marakesh to see if we can get seated early. Yeah!!! We get in early and are seated immediately, lv is saying “why is this place so empty?” John and Marci had dinner here on their honeymoon 10 years ago and are really looking forward to this dinner. We order our meals and they bring out the appetizer, no dates, no almonds and no raisins in anything. The main course comes out and nothing is like they remember so we asked our waiter and he tells us the menu has changed since they were here. This meal was a disappointment to us all. I do not recommend this one to anyone!!!

Everyone is tired and hot so we start making our way back to the front of the park, this is a long walk!!!!! Back on the monorail to the Poly and we promise the girls we will go swimming!!! The room is all cleaned up, no towel animals but this was just the first day and the Pixie Dust will flow later!!!!

We have brought a lot of glow sticks for the girls to share with other kids at the parks and at the resort so we take some of them with us to the pool to give out when it gets dark. The girls really enjoy doing this!!! We watch the Water Parade again and give out glow sticks to everyone we see on our walk back to our room. A lot of people want to pay us and I tell them it will only cost a smile!!! We meet a lot of nice people doing this!!

We are exhausted when we get to the room but the fireworks have started at the Magic Kingdom and we all go watch them from our balcony!!! The girls are asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

Tomorrow is Star Wars!!!!!!!

 

[siestakeys04]

I really love your report and your pictures you are doing such a great job it is getting me excited about my trip to come. Keep up the good work!!!!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Your granddaughters are adorable!
Can't wait to read the rest! Hurry up & post!

 

[Beana9802]

Great job! Those girlies are SOOO cute! :0)

 

[grandma jan]

June 11th
Last day of Star Wars Weekends

This trip was planned so we could include one day of Star Wars Weekend for John. He has been a Star Wars fan since age 7 so this is his day.

We get our wakeup call from Stitch and slowly start moving. The plan is to get to the gate before it opens. We all dress in our Jedi finest….Jedi Causal costumes that I made….get our light sabers and head out the door. To the bus stop with many stares and questions from the other guest we pass on our way. It is quite obvious that we are going to MGM today!!!!

We arrive at the gate about 30 mins. before opening and get in line. We are not at the front but we are able to see the Storm Troopers on top of the entryway and they can see us too. The line gets quite long behind us as we wait for the opening.

John’s goal today is to get Warwick Davis’ autograph so we head for the fastpass for autographs. I am worried that we won’t get there in time but we do get 5 of them. I advise John that this just gets us a place in line.

I love this picture of John….cameras, light saber, and Jedi Causal.

Marci goes to Star Tours and gets fastpasses for all of us. Tori is too short so we will do child swap for this. The first Jedi Training is getting ready to start and there is a big crowd and we do not get up front so John and Marci hold the kids on their shoulders to try and get picked for it. Alas it is not to be, even through they yelled and waived their light sabers. This is ok because they knew it might not happen!!!

Several people stop us and ask if they can take our picture and of course we oblige!!!! It is a lot of fun!!!

Princess Leia and an Ewok are by the Speeder Bike and the girls spot them. They are so excited so we get in line for autographs and a picture. We are 4 groups back when they tell us the Princess will be going in and Luke Skywalker will take her place in a few mins. The girls are upset so LV (little voice) is saying “we need Tinkerbell and pixie dust right now”. 3 groups get pictures with the Princess and then Luke walks out….only one group in front of us now….and the Pixie dust flows!!!! They tell us to go in front of them…..yeah!!! We get autographs from all three and pictures too!!!!!!

The girls are thrilled with the interaction with Leia and Luke and the Ewok!!!!!

By this time it is getting close to parade time….so off to secure us a good spot. Right in front of the Statues is a wall and today it is overcast so no sun….this is perfect and just enough room for us!!!! Major Pixie Dust here!!!! Marci takes off to get a snack and water, it is really getting hot. John sets up his camera and the parade begins!!!! I will try not to bore you with too many pictures but it was awesome…..a lot of the villains notice our costumes and point right at John it is really fun!!!!

Jedi Mickey starts off the parade!!!
Followed by the Jedi Master!!!

A storm trooper points out John!!!

And so does the Emperor!!!!

We get a thumbs up from Wicket!!!!

This Tuskin Raider gives John the Evil Eye!!!The parade is great!!!! I have many more pictures so I will just share a few of them with you.

After the parade we go to lunch at Pizza Planet. What can I say, we are hungry and thirsty and we want a break from the heat. This does all of those things and the pizza is OK.

We are sitting upstairs and across from us is this little boy sitting at a table by himself, I can tell by the way is his watching the stairs he is holding this table for his family. I see another couple, man and woman approach him and see him point out two chairs and they sit down. Ok if this was your son I can assure you I was watching out for him. What really bothered me was the couple proceed to open up a small ice chest and out comes cans of coke and sandwiches. There are people looking for tables and these people are taking up seats that they did not buy food for!!! Shortly the boy’s mother shows up with their food and sits to eat giving the couple a dirty look.



We go in search of Jedi Mickey and have a short wait for our pictures and autographs.

Cassie and Torie with Jedi Mickey!

John and Jedi Mickey in the standard Jedi pose. It is really hard for Mickey to make a
Serious face!!!

We decide it is time to do something for the girls and we go to Muppets 3D. The girls do not like things jumping out at them but at least this one does not scare them!!! We exit out in the back of the theater and the stroller is around front. The girls spot Buzz Lightyear and we get in line for pictures and autographs with Buzz and Woody. It has started to sprinkle a little bit so I leave to get the stroller. I am half way there and the deluge begins…it is pouring rain. I grab the stroller and push it half way under the covered stroller parking area along with about a million other people and I get soaked.

I don’t know where the rest of the gang is so I call them on my cell. They have taken shelter in the exit area of the Muppets Theatre and are total out of the rain. Hmmmm….I look over and the entrance is just a couple of feet away but it is blocked by a rope. I make a mad dash, stroller in front of me and slip under the rope and get out of the rain and walk to the end and find the family just waiting for the rain to end. There is only one other person in here with us. It finally stops and we emerge to see if Buzz and Woody will come out again. We get in line and are first to get autographs and pictures.

The girls are wet and we take off their Jedi costumes so they can be more comfortable.

From here we go to get Warwick Davis autograph!!!! We get in line and the pixie dust is with us, Thank you Tinkerbell!!!

John is happy and The Force is With Us!!!

We do some shopping in Wickets Warehouse. Everything we want is gone by now, but we do buy a few tshirts and things.

From here we just walk around and run into Robin Hood and Friar Tuck. The girls think Robin is really cool and we get their picture.

Happy smiles warm a Grandmas heart!!!!

Oh my I just remember we have a fastpass for Star Tours and it was up at 10:30 this morning!!! Back we go to see if it will be honored. No problem at all. I really like the way they do the child swap on this ride. John, Cassie and Marcie will ride first, we all go thru the que and I wait outside the door with Tori, once their ride is over I am first in and hand Tori to Marci and they go to wait in the gift shop. John, Cassie and I take the trip and Cassie loves this ride!!!!

We are all tired of being wet and in our costumes so we go buy everyone a new T-shirt and we change before dinner.

Dinner tonight is at 50’s Primetime Diner. We check in and are told that they are running late seating so we wait outside in the shade. I had bought everyone a pin lanyard with extra pins before the trip and Cassie wants to wear hers. She spots a cast member and wants to try and trade pins. Yeah she does the trade and is now hooked on pin trading!!!!

Our waiter is Uncle Tom. He is not into the eat all your greenbeans thing but is very attentive and we really enjoy talking with him. I get the pot roast and it is delicious!!! Everyone enjoys this meal. We all get glowing icecubes in our drinks and the girls get make you own sundae’s for dessert. This is all included in the dining plan. I highly recommend this place to everyone!!!

We are all full, hot, and tired!!! This has been a long day with no break, again, so we leave the park bidding farewell to our first Star Wars Weekend!! Back to the room on with the swimsuits and down to the pool. This will be a short swim because we are all so tired. No on wants to watch the fireworks tonight so we go to sleep with the sounds of the Magic Kingdom in the background.

Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom, Princesses, Rain, More Rain and lots of Pixie Dust!!!

 

[PoohGal05]

I am loving your trip report! Your pictures are great!

 

[mousebit]

From one indulging grammy to another--I'm really enjoying your TR so far!

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

GJ -
I wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying your report. I love grandparent trips, probably b/c I cajoled my mom into joining us for our trip this year, when my kids get to meet the main mouse! (BTW, she's a GJ, too! Grammy Joan).

I especially like LV - LV has some sense. I have a feeling I should cajole LV to come along with me, too.

Keep up the writing, and I am really enjoying the pictures as well.

 

[grandma jan]

June 12th
Magic Kingdom
Princesses, Rain, More Rain, and Pixie Dust

We get up early today because we have breakfast at the Castle at 8:00am. It is raining so we all put on our ponchos and head out for the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

The girls are worried that we won’t be able to do anything and I assure them that we will ride everything we can, even in the rain!!!!

Marci and the girls walking to the Castle in the Rain!!!

We get to the castle and it starts to pour down but we are safely inside!!!! They have changed this since I was here last yr with my youngest son and his family. Now we get in line to meet Cinderella and Cassie is anxious to meet her favorite Princess.

Cassie and Tori are delighted!!!! (Sorry about the red eyes in this picture, it is on Johns camera and I can’t make corrections to it)

They announce us for Breakfast and we are seated at our table!!! Our waiter calls the girls princess and is very attentive!!! They are given a magic wand and a wishing star to use in a ceremony later with the Fairy Godmother!!! This is new and I notice that the boys are given a magic sword. The wishing stars light up and flash and the girls are excited about the ceremony.

We are served our meal and it is delicious!!! I love the stuffed French toast and everyone enjoys this meal!!!! It is hard to get the girls to eat because they see the princesses moving towards our table!!!!

First up is Snow White.

Next is Belle!

And then the Fairy Godmother.

And then Sleeping Beauty!!

Now we can get the girls to eat!!!!

At the end of our meal the Fairy Godmother starts the wishing ceremony. She has everyone hold their magic wands in one hand and the wishing star in the other. Everyone is to close their eyes and make a wish. Here is a cute picture of Tori as she makes her wish!!!

She is really concentrating!!!!

We also get 2 pictures with Cinderella with pictures of the castle and these are brought to our table. This is included in the breakfast too so no other charges.

We are done with our meal just before 9am so we go down for the rope drop at the castle exit and it has stopped raining!!!!! John heads for Space Mountain for fastpasses and the rest of us head to Dumbo.

John has been worrying about Tori and wants to see that look of sheer delight in her face today, so we decide to do what ever they want to.

On to Dumbo….Marci rides with Cassie and I ride with Tori!!!!

That look is starting to appear!!!

John returns just after we get off and he looks at Tori and says “That is exactly what I wanted to see!!” From here it starts to rain off and on so we put the cameras away until this evening.

We go from Dumbo to Peter Pan or as Tori calls it the flying boats. Tori is in love with this ride. Cassie enjoys all the rides too. We do Snow White and the witch scares both girls but not to the point of crying. On to Pooh and the girls love it. They want to do all these rides again and I promise that we will ride them, all but Snow White, again before the day is over.

Next is the tea cups. The girls and Marci really enjoy this ride. John and I cannot take the spinning. While John is watching them spin he see a film crew and recognizes Ross the Intern from the Tonight show. Ross is in a tea cup next to Marci and the Girls. When the ride finishes he shakes Ross’ hand and tell him how much he enjoys his segments and we find out that is what they are filming for. As of today it has not aired yet, so if you watch the Tonight show you may see Marci and the girls on the tea cups. We do not have our cameras out so no pictures of Ross!!!!

The time is now 5 till 10 and we go to the rope drop at Toontown and straight to Goofy’s Barnstormer. We all ride, even GJ. Ok, I am not a coaster person and this one is just a little too fast for me but the girls love it!!!! They will ride this several more times but I do not!!!

Now we go to retrieve the stroller that we left at the Pooh ride and get a fastpass for Mickey’s Philharmagic and then ride It’s a Small World. It is starting to rain even more now and it is a gully washer!!!!

We are all hungry so we head for Columbia Harbor House for lunch. We all enjoy this one too!!! The vote is unanimous, we will take a break today!!!! In the downpour we head for the monorail and back to our room.

There is nothing like a good 2 hr nap on a rainy day!!!!! John and Cassie do not nap but do some exploring of our resort, inside of course. Everyone feels much better after this break!!!

Dinner tonight is at Ohana’s so we do not have to rush to get there since it is located at our resort.

I have never seen so much food in all of my life. They just keep bringing it to our table and we are all stuffed beyond belief. Here is a picture of my plate after I am done!!!

The girls really enjoy the activities. They have a parade around the restaurant and both join in!!

Then the coconut races!!!

And the limbo, this is Cassie.

There is nothing in the world more wonderful than happy grandchildren!!!!

We finish our meal and head to the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom!

The rain has ended for awhile and we get to ride Buzz. Everyone enjoys the competition of this ride and we will ride this again.

We did go see Philharmagic earlier and have a fastpass for Peter Pan also. Tonight is a little blurry to me for some reason but I do know that we got to ride a lot of things again.

We were in Adventureland when the Spectromagic Parade started so we got our spot and watched. The girls really enjoyed this!!!!

As soon as the parade was over we went back to toontown and went thru Mickey and Minnie’s houses and they rode the barnstormer again. The fireworks started and we were going to leave but the girls wanted to watch.

We made our way out of the park and back to the Poly and to bed.

Pixie dust was wonderful today, even in the rain we had a ball!!!!

Next up…More Rain, Major Magic, and Peter Pan!!!

 

[Disney owl]

Great start looking forward to reading more

 

[nutz2notz]

Loving your report and especially enjoy seeing the photos. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Love the reports.

 

[gopack]

Love your report! I could never get my parents to go with us to Disney and now their health would make it difficult for them to do so. I am sure your grandchildren were thrilled to have you there. I like your lv.