Heat, Humidity, and Our Favorite Disney Dog Was a Thug! LINK TO NEW PTR!!

[RGirl]

Holy princess dresses! Well, looks like Willow is set pretty much for life!

I know! It's embarrassing! I really hadn't intended for her to have quite THAT many of them!

The DxDDP? You can never go wrong with too many character meals! And it is very nice to not have to think about the tab at the end.

Yes, I was a little hesitant about it, but we really enjoyed it for the most part. Loved the ability to do so many character meals and treat ourselves to some signature dining.

How disappointing that you did not have a great server at Yachtsman! I have only eaten there once and while the food was good, I found the server to be OK, not good, not bad. Good thing Willow had the camera to occupy her, love all her selfies.

The service was definitely disappointing, but the food was good, and we were just so excited to be there!

LOL at the royal closet!

Utterly ridiculous.

I am enjoying your report! That picture of all the dresses is THE BEST!!

Thanks so much for reading along! I will have to check out your TR too.

Willow is my kind of girl! I love all her dresses. That is so cute!

She definitely LOVES clothes - whether they be princess dresses or non-princess dresses. The child would change clothes 100 times a day if I would allow it.

 

[amandaw]

Catching up....as always.

Glad to hear that travel day went well. And that at least most of your hair survived the trip.

I really want to stay at BWI at least once. Everything looks so nice! And what a great view y'all got!

Sorry to hear that dinner (especially the service) was not the best. I've heard so many good reviews Yachtsman that it surprised me. But, it sounds like overall y'all had a good start to the trip.

 

[podsnel]

Hi Roni! I'm late, but I am here! Going to catch up.....

 

[podsnel]

Willow is so cute!! And I LOVE all her dresses in the closet- just like at my house! (That was sarcastic humor) 4:23am is early to go to Florida? Geez- we went just last week to Florida- we were up before 2:30 am for our 5:30 am flight- left the house at 3:40. We did get to our destination 12 hours later though, so that was ....ummm....exhausting. There are no direct flights to the part of Fla my inlaws live in (the panhandle), so we go to Pensacola via Houston, Texas. From NEW JERSEY.

Nice once we get there, but makes me CRAZY every time.

Sorry you had a bad experience at YS- I know everyone raves about it, but I have not yet had a TDF meal there. It is nice though. And there is a REALLY good drink there made with Gran Marnier.

Ok- off to catch up on fifty other TRs I have missed while I was out galavanting this summer...

 

[RGirl]

Catching up....as always.

No worries, Amanda! Just glad you're here.

Glad to hear that travel day went well. And that at least most of your hair survived the trip.

Right??? People are amazing!

I really want to stay at BWI at least once. Everything looks so nice! And what a great view y'all got!

We were VERY impressed with the BWI side of the BW, and we were very grateful for our amazing room.

Sorry to hear that dinner (especially the service) was not the best. I've heard so many good reviews Yachtsman that it surprised me. But, it sounds like overall y'all had a good start to the trip.

Oh, I really hope I haven't made it sound like a totally negative experience. The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was so nice, and other CMs were great. Our server was not good. But we would ABSOLUTELY go back - I would just request one of the servers whom people have recommended.

Hi Roni! I'm late, but I am here! Going to catch up.....

Hi Ellen!!!! Thanks so much for joining in! I was actually just thinking the other day, "I wonder if Ellen has started her new TR and where the heck I can find it?" And now I can just follow your signature link.

Willow is so cute!! And I LOVE all her dresses in the closet- just like at my house! (That was sarcastic humor) 4:23am is early to go to Florida? Geez- we went just last week to Florida- we were up before 2:30 am for our 5:30 am flight- left the house at 3:40. We did get to our destination 12 hours later though, so that was ....ummm....exhausting. There are no direct flights to the part of Fla my inlaws live in (the panhandle), so we go to Pensacola via Houston, Texas. From NEW JERSEY.

Nice once we get there, but makes me CRAZY every time.

Oh, I KNOW you have a coset full of princess dresses! I have no doubt!

Okay, how the heck is it even possible to spend 12 hours traveling from NJ to FL?????? We live in a tiny town in Washington State, so it can take us pretty much all day to get to California from here, which is ridiculous. But what you just described is beyond ridiculous and right into INSANITY!

Sorry you had a bad experience at YS- I know everyone raves about it, but I have not yet had a TDF meal there. It is nice though. And there is a REALLY good drink there made with Gran Marnier.

You know, I wouldn't call it a bad experience over all - I mean our food was very good, we liked the atmosphere, and we were so excited to be at WDW. Our service, however, was pretty pathetic. But now I am really unhappy to know that there is actually a non-standard cocktail that I could have ordered??? WHAT?!?! I clearly need to pass my ADRs by your cocktail sensor before leaving for my trips!

Ok- off to catch up on fifty other TRs I have missed while I was out galavanting this summer...

Good luck! It's like a full-time job, isn't it?

 

[RGirl]

Yikes - apologies for the delay! I have been awaiting our PP CD. It finally came this week, and I have been madly organizing photos and now trying to upload. I hope to get some updates rolling here really soon. For any of you who are still hanging in with me, thank you! I will have things moving along here really soon!

 

[RGirl]

Princess Willow Is Revealed​

Despite our late night and the time change, I was up at 6AM (that would be 3AM my time….). I showered and got ready before waking DD up.

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Yeah, poor kid totally had sunscreen in her eye in that pic.

We managed to leave the room at 6:42 and headed to the bus stop.

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You can tell how early (and hazy) it was:

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You can also see how hot it already was when you look at DD. This turned out to be the least hot day we had at WDW.

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Seven minutes after we left our room, we were on a bus. Actually, we were the only people on the bus, and the driver took us directly to the MK.

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We arrived at the MK a few minutes after 7:00.

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Never did I expect us to get to the MK so quickly. Everyone always talks about how long bus transportation takes and how much time you need to set aside just in case. But here we were at the MK an hour early. As we went through bag check, I realized that I had forgotten DD’s KTTW! The nice gentleman who had checked our bags said that we should go over to Guest Services - they wouldn’t be open yet, but he said that we should go over now anyway because someone might be there. Otherwise, they would at least open by 8:00 (which was exactly our reservation time ).

We went over in that direction, stressing a little about being able to get into the park early enough to not be late for our appointment. There was a CM on the other side of the turnstile right near Guest Services, so I asked her when they opened, but she didn’t seem to have much interest in helping us and thought they probably didn’t open until 9:00. Well, THAT wasn’t going to be good!

Not really knowing what else to do, we just went over to the closed-up Guest Services to wait.

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We thought we would just stand around there until it opened. Very soon after we arrived, a CM peaked out from between the blinds and saw us. He came around the side and out to where we were to see what we needed. He was just so amazingly helpful and kind - just what a Disney CM should be. He took my KTTW, went in back and then came out with a new KTTW for Willow. I thanked him and told him that he is just the kind of person who makes Disney so magical. He said that was why he worked there.

Up Next: Princess Willow Is Revealed Cont.

 

[RGirl]

Princess Willow Is Revealed Cont.​

Having secured a new KTTW for Miss Willow, we made our way over to the “event” turnstiles to wait. As you can see, it was not exactly crowded at this time of day. Oh, if only that had remained the case…..

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DD was a little grumpy while waiting, but she got over it pretty quickly when they let us into the MK at 7:40!

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Ugh - I do love an empty main street.

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We, of course, stopped for some PP pics. (There are going to be quite a few things about this trip that struck me as painfully different from our usual Fall trip. PP was one of them. The heat and humidity really reduced our desire to stop for pics - I mean, it was hot so we didn’t want to wait, and more importantly, we were sweaty and disgusting and didn’t need pics of THAT! Also, it just didn’t seem like we ran into as many PP photographers as we had on prior trips. In the past, we have made great use of PP, so this was definitely disappointing.)

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We continued on our journey:

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Up Next: Princess Willow Is Revealed Cont.

 

[RGirl]

Princess Willow Is Revealed Cont.​

When we got up to the castle, we saw that the CMs from BBB and CRT were standing out front waving - you can actually see them in that last castle pic. We had arrived at the castle about 10 minutes before Miss Willow’s 8:00AM appointment. One of the Fairy Godmothers in Training who was waiting out front of the castle - Aryn - asked whether we were going to BBB or CRT. When we told her that we were headed to the BBB, she said that she would be Miss Willow’s FGiT and escorted us straight back to the BBB. While she was checking us in, Willow was checking out the gowns. (As much as I don’t want to admit this, the whole perusal of the gowns was totally perfunctory - Willow already had almost every princess gown available - maybe not the exact model featured at the BBB but some version of almost every princess.) Because of her bevy of gowns, I knew exactly the ones between which Willow would be agonizing - Merida and Ariel. She had been going back and forth on these two for months, she just couldn’t decide. I mean, look at all this - it is NOT an easy decision!

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And a couple of shots of the BBB:

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Our FGiT assisted Willow as she picked out her gown and shoes (along with tiara and wand), set us up in a dressing room, and then escorted Miss Willow to her chair. You can see here which gown she chose.

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I just have to interject here and say that the PP photographer that we had at the BBB just really did not do a very good job. I hate to say something like that, but I have never seen such pathetic BBB photos. He basically missed every regular BBB moment, and he had an incredible ability to catch DD with her eyes closed or unsmiling or totally out of focus! I mention it only because this was totally different from my other experiences with PP at BBB. I do NOT think this the norm, but it will explain why I don’t have many amazing melt-your-heart BBB pics below.

Anyway, on with the BBB experience. Miss Willow began the transformation to Princess Willow.

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Up Next: Princess Willow Is Revealed Cont.

 

[RGirl]

Princess Willow Is Revealed Cont.​

And soon the Big Reveal. Doesn’t she look impressed here?

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How about eyes closed?

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Finally - this one’s kind of decent.

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This one would have been adorable if it had been in focus.

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Um… Clearly, I can’t blame the photographer for this one!

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Last one!

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When we had finished at the BBB, we still had about 20 minutes or so before the park was going to open, so we went over to Castle Couture to get Princess Willow’s photos done (with the Castle Package at BBB, you get a really nice PP photo shoot). However, when we got there, there were a couple of women and three kids in there. It was odd that no one was getting a picture taken or anything, but then I realized that the boy with the women had apparently just peed all over the floor - not your typical wet-your-pants situation but rather a huge couple-of-feed-wide puddle. And instead of taking this child somewhere to clean him up, the women were arguing with the CMs about waiting to do their pictures because they were first in line. The CMs were trying to explain to them that they were going to have to shut the whole place down in order to clean up. Finally, the women left with the kids, but they still didn’t go somewhere to clean up the boy! Instead, they proceeded to hang around the store and keep going back to see if the PP place was ready to do their photos. Later, I finally saw them leaving the shop headed to the FL rope - STILL NOT HAVING CLEANED UP THAT POOR KID!

Given all that, Princess Willow and I decided that we would just skip the photos this year. Instead, Princess Willow engaged in her first pin trade! (I had purchased her some pins prior to this trip to see if she would enjoy it. She really did like it, but then, she didn’t want to wear the lanyard, and every time she got psyched to trade with someone, she didn’t have her lanyard with her. So, yeah, FAIL on that one!)

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Next Up: Some Royal Meetings

 

[Pixiedust530]

I love all your pictures of an empty Main Street! It's just beautiful! We are doing a KTTK Tour on our upcoming trip. The tour begins at 8:30 but we are suppose to arrive at 8:15. The park doesn't open until 9:00 that day. I am hoping to get a few shots like yours...although we won't get to wander up main Street to the castle as we will be waiting near City Hall for the tour to begin.

I'm sorry to hear that your PP experience at BBB wasn't very good! Willow makes a beautiful princess...even if the photographer was lacking! It's too bad you weren't able to get the other pictures made. The mother of the the boy who had the accident sounds just dreadful! That poor little guy...the least she could have done was cleaned him up!

I have never done pin trading myself, but I have always wanted to try it. It sounds like fun!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

what a beautiful sight first thing in the morning! love all those main street pictures! the cm that helped you with Willow's card was awesome! and even without decent pictures, anyone can see that Willow was gorgeous in her princess attire!

why do people like that mom even go to Disney? that poor little boy! I hope the rest of their trip was better!

i'm going to have to make sure our girls don't see the pictures of BBB. our youngest might pass out at all the dresses and shoes and princessy wonderfulness!

 

[MrsB1228]

The CM that helped you at Guest Services was everything a Disney CM should be! I'm so glad it all worked out for you, in the same situation I would have been feeling a bit sick when I realized I forgot a KTTW card. Disney pixie dust to the rescue!

Love the pictures of a near-empty Main Street!

Princess Willow is certainly a beauty! Too bad the PP photographer wasn't the best but it looks like you managed to capture some wonderful memories none the less.

OMG, that poor little boy!! Some people amaze me with their total lack of parenting skills and disregard for others. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that little guy was.

 

[shan23877]

I'm so glad that you ran into such an amazing CM at guest services! What a relief that must have been!

Love, love, love empty Main Street. I still can't get over the fact that they clean the streets every night. I love being there when they're still wet.

Great PP shot on Main street! Pretty girls.

I love that the FGiT were waiting at the top of the tunnel this year. I've never seen them do that before, and I thought it was a great touch.

Pretty Ariel dress! Love it!

What a complete bummer about the PP guy. We had a bad one our first year at the DTD location, and I'm still not over it.

OMG What is wrong with people? How could they do that to that poor little boy????

 

[RGirl]

I love all your pictures of an empty Main Street! It's just beautiful! We are doing a KTTK Tour on our upcoming trip. The tour begins at 8:30 but we are suppose to arrive at 8:15. The park doesn't open until 9:00 that day. I am hoping to get a few shots like yours...although we won't get to wander up main Street to the castle as we will be waiting near City Hall for the tour to begin.

Oh, I would love to do that tour! I'm so jealous!!!

I do love walking down Main Street before the park opens - it's a very special feeling.

I'm sorry to hear that your PP experience at BBB wasn't very good! Willow makes a beautiful princess...even if the photographer was lacking! It's too bad you weren't able to get the other pictures made. The mother of the the boy who had the accident sounds just dreadful! That poor little guy...the least she could have done was cleaned him up!

It was definitely a disappointing PP experience. I am glad that it was not our first time at BBB - I would have been so sad not to get some great PP pictures if that were the case.

The situation with the little boy was disturbing. I try very hard not to be judge-y with regard to parenting. You never know what is really going on. I mean, I had some major parenting fails on this trip and definitely looked bad a few times when I really wasn't. But THIS was just something that I couldn't explain with any scenario I could envision. I mean, how is it ever okay not to clean up a kid in that situation? I don't know.

I have never done pin trading myself, but I have always wanted to try it. It sounds like fun!

You know, I was really wishing that I had bought some pins for myself. It is a really fun thing to do. I can see getting really into it in future trips.

what a beautiful sight first thing in the morning! love all those main street pictures! the cm that helped you with Willow's card was awesome! and even without decent pictures, anyone can see that Willow was gorgeous in her princess attire!

Love that empty Main Street. And the Guest Services CM was just magical - we were so grateful to him.

why do people like that mom even go to Disney? that poor little boy! I hope the rest of their trip was better!

Yes - I hope it was just a bad moment in an otherwise great trip. As I mentioned above, I think most of us have some parenting fails on trips like this - I sure did. And I try not to assume the worst - usually you have no idea what is really going on. But I can't figure out what possible reasonable scenario led up to that scene!

i'm going to have to make sure our girls don't see the pictures of BBB. our youngest might pass out at all the dresses and shoes and princessy wonderfulness!

Oh, the BBB is quite an experience!

The CM that helped you at Guest Services was everything a Disney CM should be! I'm so glad it all worked out for you, in the same situation I would have been feeling a bit sick when I realized I forgot a KTTW card. Disney pixie dust to the rescue!

I was definitely feeling pretty frantic about it. I seriously considered trying to go back to the resort and make our way to the MK again, but that just seemed crazy. I was so thankful for a wonderful CM who didn't hesitate to help us out. He was great!

Love the pictures of a near-empty Main Street!

An empty Main Street is a wonderful way to start a WDW trip. Especially one during the crowded summer - there wasn't a whole lot of "empty" anything the rest of the trip.

Princess Willow is certainly a beauty! Too bad the PP photographer wasn't the best but it looks like you managed to capture some wonderful memories none the less.

Oh, we had a wonderful time. I was a little concerned about the quality of the pictures while we were there - something just didn't seem right about the PP guy. So at least I wasn't completely shocked when I pulled up my pictures after I got home. Still, it was pretty disappointing.

OMG, that poor little boy!! Some people amaze me with their total lack of parenting skills and disregard for others. I can only imagine how uncomfortable that little guy was.

Yeah, it was VERY weird. As I mentioned above, I totally understand parenting fails - I am in no way immune to them, and I know there were times when I was receiving the stink-eye from people who had no idea what had come before whatever scene they were witnessing between me and DD. But I just couldn't find a nice way to explain this scenario - I mean, it was just WEIRD. Really, really weird.

I'm so glad that you ran into such an amazing CM at guest services! What a relief that must have been!

He was so great! It was a huge relief - not bringing the KTTW had me a little panicky and not very happy with myself.

Love, love, love empty Main Street. I still can't get over the fact that they clean the streets every night. I love being there when they're still wet.

I love that too! It even smells good - kind of like the first rain after a long dry spell? Hmm - maybe it's just me.

Great PP shot on Main street! Pretty girls.

Aww - thanks. It was smart to get one done then - before we were totally sweaty and disgusting!

I love that the FGiT were waiting at the top of the tunnel this year. I've never seen them do that before, and I thought it was a great touch.

I had never seen that before either! I guess maybe I have never had the first appointment of the day before though - I think we have always gone a tiny bit laster maybe? I know we have done pre-park opening but not right at 8. Who knows! It was very cool.

Pretty Ariel dress! Love it!

All those months of agonizing, and of course, she went with the mermaid!

What a complete bummer about the PP guy. We had a bad one our first year at the DTD location, and I'm still not over it.

I would have been much more upset if it had been our first or only BBB experience. Nonetheless, I am still pretty unhappy about it!

OMG What is wrong with people? How could they do that to that poor little boy????

It was so bizarre! As you well know, I had my own terrible parent-child moments on this trip - I think it's pretty normal for that to happen. But this was just flat out BIZARRE.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Always " magical " when you can experience near empty Main St So sorry about the PP photographers, alot of people have commented lately there doesn't seem to be many of them around and quality of pictures are hit and miss Sad when doing something special like BBB, Willow is a beauty though so really no BAD pictures Really liked the picture of the 2 of you on Main St...Pluto nut that I am I focused on your shirt if you ever get tired of it will gladly send you my address and $$ seems this one is not in my every growing collection

Poor little boy feel so badly for him, but like you said we have all been there with not a parent of the year award moment Hopefully this parent isn't normally such a silly person

Perfect to start the day with a MK CM that loves his role & helped you out

 

[amandaw]

How nice of that CM @ Guest Services to come out & help y'all before they opened!

Love all the Main St. pics. Sorry the PP pics @ BBB weren't the best though. Her princess makeover does look precious though!

And that is just sad about the boy with those women. I mean, really, who does that to a kid?

 

[RGirl]

Always " magical " when you can experience near empty Main St So sorry about the PP photographers, alot of people have commented lately there doesn't seem to be many of them around and quality of pictures are hit and miss Sad when doing something special like BBB, Willow is a beauty though so really no BAD pictures Really liked the picture of the 2 of you on Main St...Pluto nut that I am I focused on your shirt if you ever get tired of it will gladly send you my address and $$ seems this one is not in my every growing collection

Yeah, PP was definitely a little "less" than in years past. Given that I had paid for the PP+, it was a little irritating!

You know, I think that was one of the Disney shirts that Old Navy put out this summer. I love it.

Poor little boy feel so badly for him, but like you said we have all been there with not a parent of the year award moment Hopefully this parent isn't normally such a silly person

Yes, I really hope that I just missed something in this situation. I mean, I know that there are times (some of which will be featured in this TR ) when, if you saw us for a brief flash, you would think I was the worst parent in the world. But you didn't see what happened 5 minutes before or what happens 5 minutes later. I like to think there was some reasonable explanation for this bizarre scene that we witnessed.

Perfect to start the day with a MK CM that loves his role & helped you out

He was a dream - just the kind of CM who makes WDW what it is.

How nice of that CM @ Guest Services to come out & help y'all before they opened!

He was just wonderful. Above and beyond - he definitely made our morning.

Love all the Main St. pics. Sorry the PP pics @ BBB weren't the best though. Her princess makeover does look precious though!

PP aside, we had a great BBB experience this trip. I kept wondering if this would be the last time she will want to do it. I suppose that's very possible.

And that is just sad about the boy with those women. I mean, really, who does that to a kid?

It was truly bizarre. I really hope that I just missed something and maybe there was some kind of reasonable explanation.

 

[librarygeek]

What a wonderful CM to help you out with the KTTW card! That is why Disney is truly a magical place

And Princess Willow looks just beautiful! Love the Ariel gown. I guess she'll be getting Merida next time? Or there is a new Princess movie coming out this fall isn't there? So maybe there will be new dress options. Disney will make sure to keep your closet stocked!

 

[Pixiedust530]

Oh, I would love to do that tour! I'm so jealous!!!

I do love walking down Main Street before the park opens - it's a very special feeling.


You know, I was really wishing that I had bought some pins for myself. It is a really fun thing to do. I can see getting really into it in future trips.

I will be on the tour on Oct. 9 and I plan to write a TR when we return. Be sure to keep your eye out for my review.

Well...as soon as I typed my response to you about wanting to possibly try pin trading....I bit the bullet and went online and bought some pins. So...THANK YOU...I wil be pin trading this trip!