How Disney turned Grumpy's Frown Upside Down! August 2010 TR!

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Continued in next post...

 

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Up Next, Rafiki's Planet Watch and Kali River Rapids...

 

[flamestarrdust]

We are officially booked for the December trip for Dec. 11-18 with QS dining and 6 day water park & more tickets. Of course, I'm sure we'll change the plans a whole bunch before we go. Especially since I'm hoping free dining will come out for December again.

Now I just need to finish up this TR so I can start my new PTR!

 

[mickeystoontown]

We are officially booked for the December trip for Dec. 11-18 with QS dining and 6 day water park & more tickets. Of course, I'm sure we'll change the plans a whole bunch before we go. Especially since I'm hoping free dining will come out for December again.

Now I just need to finish up this TR so I can start my new PTR!

Congratulations! Nothing beats the Disney blues like knowing there's another trip in the works.

 

[annmarieda]

We are officially booked for the December trip for Dec. 11-18 with QS dining and 6 day water park & more tickets. Of course, I'm sure we'll change the plans a whole bunch before we go. Especially since I'm hoping free dining will come out for December again.

Now I just need to finish up this TR so I can start my new PTR!

And...where are you staying??? Our trips might overlap a bit.... unless I move ours back a bit. I am thinking I might push it from the 15th to the 19th and extend from the 22nd to the 26th...or maybe 27th. (it might be nice to have a full day in the parks on the 26th since it is my bday. )

Now to just wait out the year, right? I could say it is draggin on...but... considering I started planning this 2 months ago.... I think the rest of the time might go by fast. (not too fast though...I want my life to pass me by while I wait for Disney. )

 

[flamestarrdust]

After our Safari, we decided to check out Rafiki's planet watch. However, we didn't have very much time to spend there since it was already about 3pm and RPW closes at 5pm. Once we got to the train station, a train was already finished boarding so we were told we would have to wait for the next one. This made us get to RPW at around 3:30pm. Once we finally arrived, we decided to check out one of the kid stations. I believe it was some sort of animal search. Each kid got a list of what animals to find and then had to look through the fenced area for them. All of the animals were fake so this made it a little easier to locate them. After that, we walked over to Conservation Station. Alleyah is interested in possibly becoming a vet one day so she really enjoyed this area. There were also a few Disney characters to get pictures and autographs from. The Disney characters there that day were Pocahontas, a character from Jungle Book, and Jiminy Cricket. The girls wanted to get a photo with Pocahontas but the line was really long. So they got a picture with Jiminy instead.

After meeting Jiminy, we went to check out the petting zoo. We only got to spend a few minutes there because they were about to close. Once we got back to the train, the wait was much less due to more trains coming since they were closing. Once we arrived back, we went towards Asia, so DFi could ride EE. We made our way over to EE and grabbed 4 FPs. Even if Alleyah wouldn't ride, DFi could ride twice. After getting the FPs, we decided to ride KRR and it only had a 20 minute wait so we went for it. It was definitely worth it. Neither of us had rode it before and we all had a blast. We all got wet but Alleyah and I got soaked. Ofcourse waiting in line so close to Yak & Yeti started making us very hungry. That places smells incredible. It is definitely one of our must trys on the next trip. After KS, we went straight to EE. We briefly tried to convince Alleyah to ride it but gave up. So DFi and Haylee rode first while Alleyah and I waited outside the gift shop. Then DFi and I rode it while the girls waited in the gift shop. DFi loves this ride. It was his favorite of the entire trip.

Continued in the next post...

 

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After EE, we had just enough time to ride Dinosaur. Here are a few pics on the way and while waiting in line.

This was a new ride for all of us as well and we all enjoyed but it was a bit scary even for me. After that, it was around 7pm, so we decided to leave the park and go to Boma for our 8:20pm ressie. It did take us a bit longer to get there than I planned and we arrived at AKL only about 10 to 15 minutes before our reservation. This made our wait much longer than we intended. Plus, there were several people showing up without a reservation trying to get tables. This was very frustrating since we were all very hungry by this time. I think we were seated some around 8:40pm or 8:45pm. Here a few pics of our food:

Hummus

Continued in the next post...

 

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After dinner, the girls and I explored the resort while DFi went for a smoke. After that we went to wait for a bus. We decided since it was already so late, we should take a bus to DTD and transfer to a POP bus from there. This turned out to be a huge mistake. We didn't wait too long for a DTD bus but once at DTD, we waited forever to get on a POP bus. They were having some sort of bus issues and were waiting on more to show up.This caused me to have a minor meltdown on the bus. Because we were all hot and tired, I got upset because the kids were grumpy and so I cried a little. Afterwards, some people on the bus made rude comments about it which made it worse. Once, we arrived back at POP somewhere around midnight or 12:30am and went straight to bed.

Up Next, our first day at Epcot...

 

[annmarieda]

We didn't wait too long for a DTD bus but once at DTD, we waited forever to get on a POP bus. They were having some sort of bus issues and were waiting on more to show up.This caused me to have a minor meltdown on the bus. Because we were all hot and tired, I got upset because the kids were grumpy and so I cried a little. Afterwards, some people on the bus made rude comments about it which made it worse. Once, we arrived back at POP somewhere around midnight or 12:30pm and went straight to bed.

Up Next, our first day at Epcot...

The buses were horrible at Pop when we went in September. I can totally sympathize. And for the people makine rude comments.... phewy on them!!!

 

[flamestarrdust]

The buses were horrible at Pop when we went in September. I can totally sympathize. And for the people makine rude comments.... phewy on them!!!

Yeah, they were horrible. I am a slacker and just got finished reading your TR from September. I had the exact same bus problems as you did. Not to be mean, but we were constantly waiting on scooters and wheelchairs. 3 or 4 buses would go before we got on. I don't know if it was because of FD or if it was because we were at POP. When I stayed at CBR in June/July 2006, we never had bus issues like that. It makes me wonder if perhaps CBR buses run more often than POP's. That's why I'm hoping if/when they announce FD for December that the Regular DP is free with moderates so we can upgrade to CBR or POFQ.

By the way, I loved your TR. It brought me back to Disney. It made me so glad I am in the process of planning a new trip.

 

[annmarieda]

Yeah, they were horrible. I am a slacker and just got finished reading your TR from September. I had the exact same bus problems as you did. Not to be mean, but we were constantly waiting on scooters and wheelchairs. 3 or 4 buses would go before we got on. I don't know if it was because of FD or if it was because we were at POP. When I stayed at CBR in June/July 2006, we never had bus issues like that. It makes me wonder if perhaps CBR buses run more often than POP's. That's why I'm hoping if/when they announce FD for December that the Regular DP is free with moderates so we can upgrade to CBR or POFQ.

By the way, I loved your TR. It brought me back to Disney. It made me so glad I am in the process of planning a new trip.

Yes, not to be mean... but I agree. And, it wasn't just the chairs and scooters, but the families that loaded up with them. I kid you knot, I think one time there must have been a grand gathering that loaded up with the person in the chair/scooter. Again, not to be mean... I totally get needing to load them first... but their entire extended family? I felt frustration at this. We wait while several buses come and go and a family that size can walk right up and get on just because they have someone needing assistance? Again.. not to be mean. I have wondered though if it had to do with FD or Pop...so, it makes me leery of going during FD or staying at Pop.

People are starting to get a FD pin... so it probably is only a matter of time. The pin out right now has dates through August. QS is only offered though for mods and values. Maybe the public offer will be different.

 

[lbuzz52]

just found this- the title got me as my dh is also more along for the ride... looking forward to more!!

 

[flamestarrdust]

Yes, not to be mean... but I agree. And, it wasn't just the chairs and scooters, but the families that loaded up with them. I kid you knot, I think one time there must have been a grand gathering that loaded up with the person in the chair/scooter. Again, not to be mean... I totally get needing to load them first... but their entire extended family? I felt frustration at this. We wait while several buses come and go and a family that size can walk right up and get on just because they have someone needing assistance? Again.. not to be mean. I have wondered though if it had to do with FD or Pop...so, it makes me leery of going during FD or staying at Pop.

People are starting to get a FD pin... so it probably is only a matter of time. The pin out right now has dates through August. QS is only offered though for mods and values. Maybe the public offer will be different.

I agree with you on being leery about going to POP or FD. I love POP but I just don't know I can deal with that bus situation again.

If they only do FD QS with the values and moderates, I will either stay at POP and upgrade to regular dining or possibly pay the extra money and stay at AKL which is one of our dream resorts.

just found this- the title got me as my dh is also more along for the ride... looking forward to more!!

Thanks for reading along! Hopefully your DH will end up liking WDW as much as my DFi does.

 

[flamestarrdust]

I was really excited to get to Epcot. It is by far one of my favorite parks and I love spending as much time there as possible.

On this day, we got up at around 9 or 10 and ate poptarts for breakfast. We didn't want to eat too much since we had a lunch reservation for Le Cellier at 1:20pm.

Here are a few room shots with the girls first waking up (please ignore our mess ) :

I should mention that the night before DFi had noticed his feet swelling from all the walking and heat. We had hoped that after a good night's sleep that this would go away. It did go down a little but not enough for him to be comfortable wearing his tennis shoes so he ended up wearing my brown flip flops. This also ended up being a mistake but more about this later.

We arrived at Epcot around 11am and immediately went to get FPs for Soarin. Our FPs were for around 3:30pm which gave us plenty of time to explore before and after lunch. After getting the FPs, we decided to ride Living with the Land since it had such a short wait and none of us had done it before. We all really enjoyed this and it was very interesting. After that we made our way over to Nemo & Friends.

DFi and the girls checking out the ducks on the way:

On the way, DFi wants to stop at a DSA to smoke. The girls and I tell him, we will meet him at Nemo & Friends. We also decide to find out when Crush's Turtle Talk closes. AJ wanted to see it then but we didn't think we would have enough time before our lunch ADR. So we get to Nemo & Friends and we don't see DFi anywhere so we decide to take some pics with the various character statues.

Once we were done taking pictures, we continued to wait for DFi. Finally after about 20 minutes, DFi comes wandering up. He had gone towards the Nemo & Friends ride after smoking and didn't see us. So he decided to try to go inside to look for us. As he was doing this, there was apparently no wait for the ride so a CM ushered him inside where he ended up riding the ride. He didn't realize going in that it was actually the line for the ride. Once he found us, we got in line to ride Nemo. After the ride, we made our way to Le Cellier for our lunch ADR.

Up Next...a YUMMY Lunch and the girls play dress up...

 

[flamestarrdust]

I apologize for not posting updates as often as I should. I intend to improve that especially since I have so much going on and need to start my PTR for our upcoming trip in December. So please hang in there because I promise there are a lot more updates to come.

 

[annmarieda]

No worries... I will be here. I love the updates, but totally understand life getting busy!!!

Yay for December!!!

 

[vikkil70]

Enjoying all the updates and totally understand about life being crazy and busy.

Sorry to hear you had bad experiences with the busses at Pop. I guess we got lucky, we did'nt have to wait too often at all. Though my father said he did have a bit of a wait for a DTD bus his first night there. The rest of the week was not too bad, only about 5 mins. in the mornings. Usually coming back was pretty good, we got lucky one day at AK and the bus was getting ready to leave but saw us coming up and waited, which was great becuase we were all hot and beat. One afternoon at MK we did have to long wait though and watched quite a few buses come for other resorts multiple times. I think that was the only bad wait we had.

Loving the trip report and looking forward to you PTR. We don't have a trip planned til 2012 (hopefully) so I need to live vicariously through others.

 

[flamestarrdust]

No worries... I will be here. I love the updates, but totally understand life getting busy!!!

Yay for December!!!

I can't wait for December! It's a dream come true for me and for the kids to get to see WDW at Christmas time.

Once I start my PTR, I'll explain why I've been so busy this year.

Enjoying all the updates and totally understand about life being crazy and busy.

Sorry to hear you had bad experiences with the busses at Pop. I guess we got lucky, we did'nt have to wait too often at all. Though my father said he did have a bit of a wait for a DTD bus his first night there. The rest of the week was not too bad, only about 5 mins. in the mornings. Usually coming back was pretty good, we got lucky one day at AK and the bus was getting ready to leave but saw us coming up and waited, which was great becuase we were all hot and beat. One afternoon at MK we did have to long wait though and watched quite a few buses come for other resorts multiple times. I think that was the only bad wait we had.

Loving the trip report and looking forward to you PTR. We don't have a trip planned til 2012 (hopefully) so I need to live vicariously through others.

It's good to hear the buses aren't always bad at POP.

I completely understand needing to live vicariously through others. I did that all throughout 2006 to 2010. I feel like I go through Disney withdrawal between trips.

 

[flamestarrdust]

After Nemo & Friends, we made our way over to Le Cellier for our 1:20pm ADR. We arrived around 1:05pm and were seated not too long after that.

Haylee coloring the kids menu and DFi sticking his tongue out at me since he knows I'm taking a pic.

First we ordered our drinks. I got the pomegranate lemonade which was really yummy. Haylee ordered a strawberry milkshake which was also delicious. DFi and AJ ordered coke. AJ decided to order off the prefix menu so she got the cheese soup and the steak au jus sandwich. Her soup came out before our entrees. So much to her dismay, we dipped our pretzel bread in her soup. In the past I have not liked that soup but on this trip, it was very very good. For the rest of the entrees, Haylee got the Salmon and DFi & I both got the Mushroom Filet.

a pic of me taking before the entrees came out

Haylee coloring

Haylee's Salmon (very yummy)

Mushroom Filet (Just as wonderful as always )

AJ's Steak Sandwich (Very very good)

DFi giving Haylee moose ears

AJ making a silly face

AJ giving me bunny ears

my pomegranate lemonade

chocolate whiskey cake (my dessert, it was ok but not as good as the other desserts)

Chocolate Mousse Dessert (AJ's, this was ok, too)

Smores (Haylee's, this was good but Haylee complained the graham cracker cookie was a bit too hard to eat)

Blanc Semifreddo with chilled fruit soup (DFi's, this was by far the best dessert. We both loved it. )

After lunch we took a few pics at the Canadian Pavillion:

While we were taking pics, another asked if we would take a pic of them in front of the waterfall so we did. And then they took a pic of us:

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

[flamestarrdust]

Everyone really enjoyed their lunch at Le Cellier and we intend to make it a tradition on every WDW trip.

Up Next, WS and dress up time for the girls...