"I could get used to a view like this....Yep, I'm used to it" BLT Spring Break

Oh the meltdowns! We had those on Day 1 of our trip last year! :sad2: And it wasn't just the kids...:rolleyes1 We learned our lesson and quickly adjusted. I am sure you did the same...right? :lmao:

LOVED the picture of you holding Chance as a baby. :lovestruc It truly gave perspective on how long it had been since your last trip.

We have never done the Art of Animation. I just thought my 5 yr old DS would be too young for it. We will definintely have to put this on our to do list for next time. :thumbsup2 He likes to remind us that he will be SEVEN next time we go! Wooooo- big guy! :rotfl2:

You did indeed have a nice view from your room. I enjoyed the early morning shots. It made me want to take in a deep breath of Disney air! :cloud9:
 
Just found your trip report and enjoying it very much! Your family is beautiful...you certainly got off to a rough start!

Thank you and welcome to our TR!! The more the merrier!!

It was a rough start and thankfully no major incidents that could of derailed the trip!

Oh the meltdowns! We had those on Day 1 of our trip last year! :sad2: And it wasn't just the kids...:rolleyes1 We learned our lesson and quickly adjusted. I am sure you did the same...right? :lmao:

LOVED the picture of you holding Chance as a baby. :lovestruc It truly gave perspective on how long it had been since your last trip.

We have never done the Art of Animation. I just thought my 5 yr old DS would be too young for it. We will definintely have to put this on our to do list for next time. :thumbsup2 He likes to remind us that he will be SEVEN next time we go! Wooooo- big guy! :rotfl2:

You did indeed have a nice view from your room. I enjoyed the early morning shots. It made me want to take in a deep breath of Disney air! :cloud9:

Art of Animation was one of LGs top things to do and we wanted to try and make it back later too...

Chance was only 6 months old last time and I'm so glad we went this year so he could join in the "do you remember" stories from Disneyworld now. He just had to listen to our stories of what happened and I don't think you can beat the 4-5 year old age at Disney...such a fun age.

I hope we learned our lesson, but only time will tell...:surfweb:
 
Somehow I managed to miss your update Mike...

What a bummer about the melt downs - I know how you feel there.

We loved the Animation Studio as well - one of our favorites at DHS.

And you are right the 4-5 year old age at Disney is such a magical one.

D~
 
Somehow I managed to miss your update Mike...

What a bummer about the melt downs - I know how you feel there.

We loved the Animation Studio as well - one of our favorites at DHS.

And you are right the 4-5 year old age at Disney is such a magical one.

D~

Lol...D. No worries, I've discovered that following, and writing your own, TRs is a full time job.

That was my biggest sell to Billie about the trip...you don't get to redo an age with your kids...you only get to have him at 4 once....now I just got work on something for the next trip:rotfl2: I'm hoping for next Fall for a MNSSHP opportunity....but we'll see.
 

I am really enjoying your Trip Report! Your family is precious and it looks like you had a great time. I have always wanted to try BLT - seeing your photos and awesome view are a great selling point!

I hope you get to go back to Disney for Halloween - MNSSHP is a ton of fun.
 
I am really enjoying your Trip Report! Your family is precious and it looks like you had a great time. I have always wanted to try BLT - seeing your photos and awesome view are a great selling point!

I hope you get to go back to Disney for Halloween - MNSSHP is a ton of fun.

Welcome DisneyElite and Thanks!!

We loved BLT and it really worked out well renting the points too.

MNSSHP for Fall '13 is my goal, but we've agreed that we HAVE to move to a bigger house before we go back. So, we have some work to get done before we can go back...
 
I was all ready to post the other night...

Had just read an update and made a comment on D's TR, I believe, and went to my TR and was notified of the update of the Dis being down...grrrrrr

Chance and Billie had just left right after the Pixar Pals parade and Lg and I were off to...

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(Which BTW has a 16 minute wait right now....I still randomly look at my Lines app somedays to just see how busy the parks are...dont judge me....:lmao:)

For whatever reason she was really jacked up to ride this. She knows that I like Star Wars and was asking me questions about it through the whole que. She also was trying to make me feel better about Chance and Bill going back to the resort....

"You know, Chance wouldnt like this ride would he?"

"No, youre probably right...."

"...and Mom says she doesnt like the simulator rides...she says it makes her head hurt....right?"

"Yep, she doesnt like these rides"

"so, itd be just you and me anyways for this then huh?"

"I think youre right LG"

The ride itself was a lot of fun, LG loved it!! She loved it when they used someones picture from your group as the fugitive. The only thing that I didnt like was there was some real jerks that felt the need to comment everytime C3PO talked to R2...and usually fairly inappropiate comments too that luckily LG isnt old enough to catch yet. But c'mon...really?

She wanted to get right back in line and ride again, but our wait was around 20 minutes and the posted time was now 30. So it was off to somewhere else.

LG wanted to check out the Muppett 3D that we werent able to do this last time.

http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i449/mbegbert14/Disney%202012/f480a91c.jpg[/IMG

We both thought it was just ok, and I love the Muppets. LG wasnt overly familiar with them yet. We have since bought the new Muppet movie and both thought it was great. Not sure why we really didnt like the Muppet 3D?? Maybe the 3D thing isnt as cool anymore since EVERY movie is now 3D??? But she did really like the effects in the theater.

As soon as we left the Muppets, we stumbled across 2 character meet and greets...

This one....
[IMG]http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i449/mbegbert14/Disney%202012/835af552.jpg

and this one...
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We were still doing good on time so I asked her if she wanted to get any autographs since she only has the ones from CM so far(minus Goofy....:mad:)

She decided on P&F. So we jumped in that line and it took her about 5 minutes of not moving to realize she really didnt want to meet them that bad and saw that the Cars line was much, much shorter. So we hippity hopped it over to see Lightning and Mader, which I was ok with because there was a couple of guys that were performing to keep those in the P&F line enertained while waiting, and it was pretty annoying honestly...it looked like a couple of guys who were older than me dressed in hip hop clothes with their hats on sideways "trying to be hip and cool". Like they were just trying to hard at it.....anyways....

Meeting the Cars just made me miss Chancer that much more....he loves his Cars characters...and he was missing it. He would of enjoyed meeting those 2.....

After that, LG wanted to go to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playset. She remembers it from last time and wanted to do some of the same things that she did last time...

Some more then and now's

2007
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2012
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2007
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2012
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and some more from this year...
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Water!!
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She seemed to enjoy it just as much this time as last, but I thought I heard they were getting rid of it soon?? Im sure if it is still there next time we go, she probably will be giving me the "Daaaaad" look while posing for those pics. :thumbsup2

continued in next post...
 
/
We actually enjoyed the entertainment at P&Fs. However, I think you have to be a fan and watch the shows to get most of the scenes they were "filming".

Sorry you didn't like Muppets. We absolutely love it. :confused3 Also sorry you had some jerks making inappropriate comments. I probably would have reminded them that children were present (and notified a CM if they retaliated). Some people forget that WDW is a FAMILY place. :sad2:

I haven't heard anything about removal of HISTK playground. I know they closed it for refurb (or was supposed to) in March ... but not heard anything about it going the way of the DoDo. :confused3 (Loved your then and now pics!)
 
It was still an hour to go before our ADR, we decided to try the Great Movie Ride. It was a short wait, and should get us to the Sci-Fi at a decent time around our ADR.

This was a ride that LG loved!! I always enjoyed it, and why not we watch a TON of movies...she did get a little freaked out at the Alien spot and the whole shoot out scene and switching of the drivers caught her off guard too. She wouldnt admit, but she was and even made the comment that Chance wold of been scared by that!

After checking with Billie to see how things were going for them back at the resort, we were off to Sci-Fi. Bill said that Chance was asleep and had slept most of the afternoon, as her as well, and they were going to eat at the Contempo in a little bit after he woke up. I told her our agenda for the rest of the day and when we should be back.

Once we reached Sci-Fi...

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...there were plenty of people waiting outside with pagers, so I was a little afraid the wait might be awhile. And when a group of 10....yes, 10! without a reservation checked right before me, I figured it was going to be a decent wait.

Informed the front desk that our reservation only had 2 instead of 4, :sad1: And we began our wait....enjoyed the wait staff announce the names by saying.."now parking....Smith family" and one of the wait staff spoke very broken English, she was Asian, and it was very hard to hear her. You could see everyone look at each other when she spoke with the "what did she say" look. It usually took a couple times for her to find the party she needed.

After about a 15-20 minute wait, which wasnt awful, we were in....

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Lots of quesions from LG here....
What's Intermission? and plenty more about the things that were being shown on the big screen, and just general Drive-In questions on how it all worked. Now, I went to some Drive-In movies as a kid in our town, but not a lot and I was probably 10 the last time I went. So, it did take me awhile to think about it and it very much resembled the Drive-Ins and thought it was a very cool place.

When I booked our ADRs for this trip, I did my best to pick places that everyone would enjoy, but also specific ones that I thought one might like more than the other. Like this one for example...We are very basic eaters. Seemed like a menu that we would all enjoy, and thought Chance would totally dig eating "in" a car. But that all went out the window this morning when half of us went back to the resort.

Again, I was awful about taking food pics for the most part, but I know I had the Bacon Cheeseburger and Shake....both very delicious indeed. Poor LG had the mac and cheese I believe. Sometimes the kid menu choices are not much at all, she wasnt thrilled with the choices and was slowly getting tired and I have to admit that I was a little too. It was just that dark and relaxing in there...and add in the fact probably a little lack of sleep from getting up early too. Plus, I get the play old movies thing, but t was boring LG to death...

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At least they played some cartoons between movies and one was a Tom and Jerry, which has been a huge hit in our house lately...

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And this brings me to our server....he was really, really good. He saw me taking pics with my phone and after we had finished and before we brought our check, he offered to take our pic with it....

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Not too bad in the dark with the iPhone....and this brings me to the part I have to explain some with what happened before we left and affected the rest of the trip, well at least during times like this, that I felt awful about and absolutely hated....hated...

Tips...


sigh....


If you remember, credit cards are gone and have been cancelled. Including Debit card, so there is no charging abilities on our KTTW cards.(We sked the front desk if we could write a check for cash, but we couldnt) Very limited cash, especially after using it to pay for the hotel in KC. And now today, Billie has left and with her, her purse. I have yet to buy a wallet and when the left, she took whatever cash we had with us, with her. I only carried the KTTW card and limited gift card on me. We had to make sure to have something left for the way back in case of an emergency situation...so we had to pass on tips....sorry :sad2: We will have to really take care of our servers the next time we go.

So, this wonderful server got a whopping nothing from us....I still feel terrible about it...and to make it even worse, LG thought she left her sunglasses when we were almost outside, so we went back to check the table while he was finishing getting the table cleared and surely noticed the big fat nothing for the tip....and it ended up that she had lost her sunglasses somehwere else...d'oh!!

Afterwards, the time had come to use our FP for TSM and we were about 10 minutes early...and if you remember, had 4 FP and now there was just the 2 of us....

What to do, what to do....I explain the situation to LG and she wasnt following me at first. We can use our FPs for us, ride and then still have 2 FP's...she figured it out..."and then we can ride AGAIN!!"

Yes, orrrrrr......

"give them to someone else???"

"Yep...what do you want to do??""

She decided to give them to someone else....so proud of her sometimes. I really didnt have to do any arm pulling for her to decide. So, I go stand at the stand by entrance, which is by the FP entrance and Im looking for 2 people going in. While Im standing there the FP return CM saw me with the FPs and wanted to see them and told me I had to wait 10 minutes....

I know, just looking to give this away to someone else.

She said that if I couldnt find anyone she could just take them...ummm, no. That would be a complete waste...

Eventually I saw a guy in a Cardinals hat with his son walk up to stand by, and then ask about FPs...of course they tell them theyre all gone, so I tell him about my extra 2, when he can go in, and talk some Cardinal baseball as well and he was from STL and was also at Game 7...too cool. Small world stuff. He was very appreciative and thanked us several times.

When it was finally time to go in, LG says she is a little disappointe to not see Mr. PotatoHead while in line, but is glad we dont have to wait.

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and our scores!!!
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I kicked her butt!! LOL!!! But what an absolutely fun ride....

With this, it was time to head back and see the rest of the fam. They were starting to get bored...

Well, I let LG choose the mode of transportation back. It could be the bus back or boat over to Epcot and take the monorail from there back to BLT...and what would be faster??

So, what did she choose and how did THAT go???

:surfweb:
 
We actually enjoyed the entertainment at P&Fs. However, I think you have to be a fan and watch the shows to get most of the scenes they were "filming".

Sorry you didn't like Muppets. We absolutely love it. :confused3 Also sorry you had some jerks making inappropriate comments. I probably would have reminded them that children were present (and notified a CM if they retaliated). Some people forget that WDW is a FAMILY place. :sad2:

I haven't heard anything about removal of HISTK playground. I know they closed it for refurb (or was supposed to) in March ... but not heard anything about it going the way of the DoDo. :confused3 (Loved your then and now pics!)

Just reread my post....man, it sounded really negative. Maybe that was just our mood after he morning we had...:confused3.

We love P&F in our house too, Im guessing we didnt give it much of a chance unfortunately.

Maybe thats what I had heard was the refurb...
 
Excellent update Mike.

I am so sorry that Billie and ds had to go back to the resort... sometimes it's just better that way so they can recharge.

I am so sorry about not being able to tip. That had to be incredibly embarassing - but totally not your fault. Did you explain to your servers what happened? I am sure they would have been very understanding about it.

And how nice of you to give out Pixie Dust to that dad and his son... Perfect - and WTG LG for deciding to PD instead of riding twice... That had to be a HARD decision to make.

Loved all the pics too - and loved the awesome ones your server took for you at Sci Fi. :)

D~
 
Excellent update Mike.

I am so sorry that Billie and ds had to go back to the resort... sometimes it's just better that way so they can recharge.

I am so sorry about not being able to tip. That had to be incredibly embarassing - but totally not your fault. Did you explain to your servers what happened? I am sure they would have been very understanding about it.

And how nice of you to give out Pixie Dust to that dad and his son... Perfect - and WTG LG for deciding to PD instead of riding twice... That had to be a HARD decision to make.

Loved all the pics too - and loved the awesome ones your server took for you at Sci Fi. :)

D~

I didnt explain it to them, thought about it, but they would be probably thinking, "yeah right, dont make up some lame excuse to not tip me....whatev..." :lmao:

Very proud of LG, not sure as a kid if I would of made that choice....

But I probably shouldnt of let her choose the way back to the resort though...:rolleyes:
 
I'm also very proud of LG for wanting to Pixie Dust another family! :lovestruc

We love Sci Fi ... but we have a local drive-in here, so the kids are very familiar with how it works -- seeing as how they've been going since they were born. It's a great way to see a movie here ... it's about $7 for adults and just a few dollars ($3, I think) for kids ... and you get to see 2-3 movies!!! It's an amazing deal. They always play the family-friendly movie first, and sometimes the second movie is hit or miss on rating ... but even with one movie, it's still a great value! Some weekends they play three movies ... and it's literally down the street from us. We can hear the radio station from our place (but can't see the screen).

The only thing I dislike about Sci Fi is that you are split up so much as a family. There's really no socializing over dinner there. It looks like they've increased lighting there since we last dined ... as it was very dark at the table and I had a hard time seeing my food. I have no clue if my steak on my salad was cooked the way I requested it ... it was good nonetheless.

Still sorry to hear about the family needing to split up. Let LG know I don't fare well with the Alien scene, so she's not alone. :thumbsup2

I meant "big fan of P&F" ... as in ... we've seen every episode a million times. We got all the antics and the kids were anxious to "help out" with the filming. DH enjoys the show, but I wouldn't call him a "big fan" ... and I think he agreed with you on the whole film-shooting scenario. :lmao:
 
I'm also very proud of LG for wanting to Pixie Dust another family! :lovestruc

We love Sci Fi ... but we have a local drive-in here, so the kids are very familiar with how it works -- seeing as how they've been going since they were born. It's a great way to see a movie here ... it's about $7 for adults and just a few dollars ($3, I think) for kids ... and you get to see 2-3 movies!!! It's an amazing deal. They always play the family-friendly movie first, and sometimes the second movie is hit or miss on rating ... but even with one movie, it's still a great value! Some weekends they play three movies ... and it's literally down the street from us. We can hear the radio station from our place (but can't see the screen).

The only thing I dislike about Sci Fi is that you are split up so much as a family. There's really no socializing over dinner there. It looks like they've increased lighting there since we last dined ... as it was very dark at the table and I had a hard time seeing my food. I have no clue if my steak on my salad was cooked the way I requested it ... it was good nonetheless.

Still sorry to hear about the family needing to split up. Let LG know I don't fare well with the Alien scene, so she's not alone. :thumbsup2

I meant "big fan of P&F" ... as in ... we've seen every episode a million times. We got all the antics and the kids were anxious to "help out" with the filming. DH enjoys the show, but I wouldn't call him a "big fan" ... and I think he agreed with you on the whole film-shooting scenario. :lmao:

Our fam would love to go to a Drive-In movie...I need to look into finding one that is close around here, but I dont think that too many exist anymore..:confused3

Hated to split up as well, there was so much that Chance would of enjoyed the rest of that day....but I really, really, really enjoyed that time with LG as well. She has grown up so much, and we are so similar with things, it was great just hanging out with her and doing "our" thing. :hug:
 
Our fam would love to go to a Drive-In movie...I need to look into finding one that is close around here, but I dont think that too many exist anymore..:confused3

Hated to split up as well, there was so much that Chance would of enjoyed the rest of that day....but I really, really, really enjoyed that time with LG as well. She has grown up so much, and we are so similar with things, it was great just hanging out with her and doing "our" thing. :hug:

I find it odd that I actually have two drive-ins within a reasonable drive. One is literally within walking distance (but who wants to walk a busy highway?). The other is about 40 minutes away -- which isn't horrible, but not great either. I think everyone should have a local drive-in! :love: The food is cheaper, better concession, and you can bring your OWN food if you want! We usually get some snacks and sodas and put in a cooler to enjoy. The only thing I hate about our local drive-in is the restrooms. The ladies room has two stalls (I heard men have a stall and a "wall"). So lines to potty are LONG ... and no FPs available. :lmao:

I'm glad you got to enjoy time with your DD! I was hoping to get some special time with my DD, but it just didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Next year! :thumbsup2
 
Our fam would love to go to a Drive-In movie...I need to look into finding one that is close around here, but I dont think that too many exist anymore..:confused3

If you feel like driving to MN, we have a few up here. There's one about 10 miles from us... I took the girls the summer that Up! came out... Note to self (and anyone else listening)... Do NOT, I repeat - DO NOT go to a drive-in with a Ford Taurus :rolleyes1 Everyone, I repeat - EVERYONE goes to drive-ins with Ford Expeditions, and they sit on TOP of them. When you go in a Ford Taurus - you really don't get to see the movie, unless you pull all the car seats out of the car and sit in them on the dirt road (which means you have to exit your comfy car seat every time a car wants to drive on said road). :confused3 And, BTW, if you are at all interested in my personal review of car seats... Don't be a tightwad like me - spring for the car seat with extra padding... Every tushie that sits in it will thank you - including your own. :rolleyes1

D~ <--- Any other reviews you'd like - just ask. popcorn::
 
Enjoying your TR! I grew up in Iowa...I'm a huge corn fan.
(family in Algona, Huxley, Des Moines, Ankeny and grew up in Clinton)

Totally feel your pain about Des Moines airport prices... we usually drive all the way from Colorado because it's so expensive to drive there. Or we fly into Omaha, rent a car, and drive. Which is still far cheaper. :rotfl:


I also totally understand what your wife is going through with missing make up! I always feel not myself without it on even the small amounts I use. Aggravating!
 
I find it odd that I actually have two drive-ins within a reasonable drive. One is literally within walking distance (but who wants to walk a busy highway?). The other is about 40 minutes away -- which isn't horrible, but not great either. I think everyone should have a local drive-in! :love: The food is cheaper, better concession, and you can bring your OWN food if you want! We usually get some snacks and sodas and put in a cooler to enjoy. The only thing I hate about our local drive-in is the restrooms. The ladies room has two stalls (I heard men have a stall and a "wall"). So lines to potty are LONG ... and no FPs available. :lmao:

I'm glad you got to enjoy time with your DD! I was hoping to get some special time with my DD, but it just didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Next year! :thumbsup2

2!!! Within walking distance....nice.

I checked around here and the closest is over an hour and half away...no thanks. At least for right now. Sounds like there is a need to do some upgrading of the bathroom areas...:crazy2:

If you feel like driving to MN, we have a few up here. There's one about 10 miles from us... I took the girls the summer that Up! came out... Note to self (and anyone else listening)... Do NOT, I repeat - DO NOT go to a drive-in with a Ford Taurus :rolleyes1 Everyone, I repeat - EVERYONE goes to drive-ins with Ford Expeditions, and they sit on TOP of them. When you go in a Ford Taurus - you really don't get to see the movie, unless you pull all the car seats out of the car and sit in them on the dirt road (which means you have to exit your comfy car seat every time a car wants to drive on said road). :confused3 And, BTW, if you are at all interested in my personal review of car seats... Don't be a tightwad like me - spring for the car seat with extra padding... Every tushie that sits in it will thank you - including your own. :rolleyes1

D~ <--- Any other reviews you'd like - just ask. popcorn::

:rotfl2: We all love your reviews!!!

Enjoying your TR! I grew up in Iowa...I'm a huge corn fan.
(family in Algona, Huxley, Des Moines, Ankeny and grew up in Clinton)

Totally feel your pain about Des Moines airport prices... we usually drive all the way from Colorado because it's so expensive to drive there. Or we fly into Omaha, rent a car, and drive. Which is still far cheaper. :rotfl:


I also totally understand what your wife is going through with missing make up! I always feel not myself without it on even the small amounts I use. Aggravating!

Another Iowan on the Dis!!! Welcome!!

Hoping the DSM air prices start to drop to normal after Southwest gets settled this Fall. The drive across Nebraska is not very fun...have only done it once and it was very memorable for being not so fun...

That is most definetly how Billie feels about make up too, she did handle it much better this trip though.
 
Before i update the rest of the day at the Studios with LG and how we got home, looking over my last upate I noticed something...

See if you can catch it....

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I'll see if anyone points it out before I go and just tell you the answer. What kind of teacher would I be if I just handed out the answers....geeesh....:scratchin
 













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