I Want to Quit This Whole Disney World! -- (Update 2/20)

[oboedm]

I was relieved to read that they were finally able to find you another flight and were able to meet up with the family relatively on time.

I love Hayden's "10 minutes awesome". I may need to steal that one 'cause it's too cute.

It is too cute! He was the coolest kid to hang out with!

These are some tense updates, Paula!

Can't wait to find out what happens next... your report is 10 minutes awesome!

Thanks for still reading! I have been bad with the update because I have been stalling-- waiting for SIL to finish the pictures!

This is a VERY cute report -- don't we all have issues when we go to WDW? It's either the process, or the people...or sometimes both!

Too bad we can't all just take clones of ourselves on our trips! You'd never wonder why someone was "like that"!

But to be honest, there's something about being able to share a trip with those you care about.

I know! I do need to just clone myself. I wouldn't have to worry about pleasing other people! It was fun to go with them and see their reactions to everything!

 

[oboedm]

Day 1: Part Three—Never Schedule a Character Meal…

Okay… I think I am ready to get going full speed on this TR. My sister in law sent a few days’ worth of edited pictures in the mail, so this will be the last update with unedited pictures! YAY! I will have a bunch more to choose from and I won’t have to worry about going “too fast” and running out of material.

Additionally, I have been preparing for our trip to Disneyland next week! We are going with my three sisters, their kids and my cousin and her kids. Oh, and my parents as well. Should be stressful, but hopefully fun as well.

Alright… here we go!

When I left off last time, SIL and I were waiting for the cast member to return with information about a closer room. She finally came back after her hour long mani-pedi break and said they didn’t have one. Although a closer room would have been nice, I was excited for the river view. Additionally, it was at the far end of the resort so I knew it would be quiet.

Here is SIL at the counter with the slowest Cast Member working at POFQ. Just kidding. She was really nice, but it took forever. I am sure it was only five minutes, but we had to get to CRT!

When we went to our room, we discovered Mickey towel heads! Hayden was ESTATIC! We got several towel animals throughout the week and he named each one.

We quickly use “the facilities”, SIL and BIL loaded up the stroller and we were on our way! Pictures of our first bus ride! According to the time stamp, these photos were taken around 6:55 p.m. We were already 10 minutes late!

We finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom! We were rushing so much that we never really stopped to admire the castle or say, “I can’t believe we are here!” Never schedule a character meal on your first night. It was a stressful time and we didn’t have time to enjoy just BEING there.

We were rushing to get to the meal ASAP. We were starving. We walked up to the CRT podium about 45 minutes after our scheduled time. They were awesome and decided to take up back right then. We were only a couple of families away from meeting Cinderella herself!

Here is a picture of the inside of the castle. We have the pictures with Cinderella on our PhotoPass, but I haven’t ordered the CD yet.

Hayden didn’t want much to do with Cinderella, but before we went upstairs to the dining area she knelt down and gave him a kiss on the cheek! I was sad that the PhotoPass people did not get this moment! Here is our picture of it!

He was so upset and wiped the lipstick off right away! Before we knew it, we were ascending the winding staircase on our way to the dining room!

We got a table on the second level, near the wall. Not a great view of Fantasyland, but I was starving and didn’t care. I just wanted food!

Stay Tuned for our food/character experiences at CRT!

 

[klacey1]

That's great that they took you guys even though you were so late! I agree-- NEVER book an important ADR the first night of a trip!

 

[annmarieda]

So glad you made your ADR!

Hayden is so cute with Cinderella. Boys?!? Too cool to get a kiss from a princess? Or was she just yucky?

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Glad to see that you made your ADR!

 

[MarelloDisney]

You and your DH remind of me and my DH! I am loving your TR!! Can't wait to read more.

 

[oboedm]

That's great that they took you guys even though you were so late! I agree-- NEVER book an important ADR the first night of a trip!

I know-- I have learned my lesson! Either that or book a earlier flight!

So glad you made your ADR!

Hayden is so cute with Cinderella. Boys?!? Too cool to get a kiss from a princess? Or was she just yucky?

I don't know what his deal was-- he was probably just hungry and scared? She really just grabbed him, so he might have thought she was going to abduct him or something!

Glad to see that you made your ADR!

Me too! I am going to post about out time there shortly. =)

You and your DH remind of me and my DH! I am loving your TR!! Can't wait to read more.

:Welcome: I am so glad you are joining in and hope I didn't lose you! =)

 

[oboedm]

Day 1: Part Four—Dinner at CRT


I always have the best of intentions when it comes to these reports, but I can’t seem to follow through! I toyed with the idea of just letting the TR close, but I couldn’t do that! I am updating my family blog as well, and I know I want to write about the trip, so I might as well update the TR as well!

I have been busy and work (both jobs) and they have restricted internet access during the work day, so I have to update at home. I am fine with that, but had to adjust my routine since I can no longer check my personal email, do online banking, etc. It has messed with my home schedule, to say the least!

Just so you know, I wrote 3 installments today—I am only posting one, but I figured if I get a few more up this week (and use the weekends to write them) I will be “good to go”! Maybe I can finish this thing before the end of the year!

Side Note: As long as it is taking my SIL to edit, I realize now that I should have just taken her pictures and done it myself. She has two kids and she is busy with them. I have two jobs, but I think I could have done it faster myself. I have an editing program, but I am not the best at using it.

I made the mistake of relying on my dad to take pictures on our trip to Disneyland a few weeks ago, and our group ended up splitting up more than I thought we would. (They didn’t want to follow my carefully crafted plans, as such, guess who rode Soarin’ 4 times, and guess who didn’t get to ride once.) =)

Before the next trip I am going to buy a camera like SIL’s and learn how to use it and edit pictures. That way I am not relying on others. I will just have to rely on my husband to take video, and he allows me to tell him what to tape, so that is good. =)

Anyway, back to the TR! When I last left you a decade ago, we were ascending the stairs of Cinderella Castle. We sat down on our table (second floor, against the wall, so no cool view of Fantasyland). I didn’t care. We were FAMISHED!

We ordered our drinks and they handed out wishing stars, a sword for Hayden and a wand for Ginny. Here is a picture of Hayden with the wishing star—you can see the kiss from Cinderella really well in this picture.

We didn’t think that Ginny would be interested in the wand, but it turned out to be a hit—with all of us!

Hayden liked his sword. It seemed to distract him while waiting for the food. I remember that our drinks were brought rather quickly, and we pretty much drank them (3 diet cokes, 1 Sprite, 1 chocolate milk) in one swallow.

The princesses started coming around. SIL is waiting patiently to see her favorite princess, Snow White!

Ginny LOVED the characters. She was fascinated by them and was all smiles, every time.

Hayden was a bit more apprehensive—and seemed to get worse the more characters we saw. He was coaxed into giving Snow White a high five.

Our appetizers came. The boys both ordered “A Royal Tasting of Cheese: a trio of cheeses with accompaniments”. This was a theme throughout the trip. I don’t know how many times they ordered the same thing.

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9364.jpg

They thought the cheese was okay and gave it a 3.5. The sweet cheese (the one on the left) tasted like a dead rat in honey lying on the sidewalk, but the other two were okay. The middle cheese was good, but the sharp cheese was mundane.

SIL and I ordered the same thing: “Salmon-Crab Cake: served with a Sweet Corn Nectar topped with a Fennel Salsa”. SIL and I gave it a 2-2.5. We thought there was too much salmon, not enough crab. The crust and sauce were good, but it was served lukewarm. We ate about half because we wanted to save room.

Hayden ordered a salad. I don’t have a picture of that. He probably ate one bite. Getting him to eat was the battle of the trip. The second battle was getting him to interact with characters. The third battle was getting him on rides.

Despite the battles, he was one of the most well-behaved child I have ever been around. I think he only had 2-3 meltdowns the entire trip, which was impressive!

Around this time, Aurora came to our table. Hayden pretended to be interested in his salad.

Ginny loved her necklace and was happy to take a picture with her!

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9335.jpg
Around this time, our bread came to the table. After the appetizer! I was not impressed, considering how HUNGRY we were.

Anyway, SIL had her back turned to the “princess action”, as Aurora was just there. I am sure she was trying to get Hayden situated or something. Belle snuck up behind her and tugged her ponytail! It was great! I am so glad I had the camera ready!


http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9338.jpg
Once again, Ginny was happy to take a picture! I also want to point out SIL’s awesome PhotoShop job on this picture… she added makeup with some sort of paint attachment thingy.

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9339.jpg

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/47487_433279494042_688419042_4802192_8121464_n.jpg
… especially because she got Hayden to take a picture with her!

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/47487_433279494042_688419042_4802192_8121464_n.jpg

Ariel came by right after that, but Hayden had already “shut down”

Obligatory picture of Ginny! We made BIL get in this one, because Laura wanted to eat and he decided after DH’s rant that Ariel sucks.


http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9344.jpg

We had seen all the princess and now we could enjoy our meal. Side Note: the menu must have changed a week or so before we got there, as EVERYTHING was different. I was upset about that, because I knew what to order based on our experience last year. We weren’t impressed with the food—at all!

SIL and DH ordered “Grilled Pork Chop: Grilled Bone-In Pork Chop with roasted Butternut Squash, braised Baby Greens and an Apple-Onion Ragout”. They gave it a 2.5-3 because it was dry. SIL really liked the Apple-Onion Ragout, but DH didn’t like any of the sides. It was really plain and tasteless. Honestly, I don’t know why they gave it a 2.5-3!?!

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9369.jpg

BIL ordered “Roasted Lamb Chops: with Gratin Potatoes, Vegetable Ragout and drizzled with Herb Pesto”. He gave it a 5 and called it delectable. Up until that point, he hadn’t had lamb for 8+ years, so I don’t know if it was the lamb or the absence of lamb that gave it the 5. =) He said the sides were good and played well with the lamb’s flavoring.

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9366.jpg

I ordered the “Fried Cornish Game Hen: While Fried Cornish Hen with a house made Macaroni and Cheese and Broccoli”. I have never had Cornish Hen, so that was my “new thing” for the meal. It was so greasy! I know it was fried, but still! The Mac and Cheese was oily, grainy and gross. I ate most of the broccoli. Not impressed, especially since we had a good food experience last year. This dish must have received poor reviews, as it is no longer on the menu.

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9370.jpg

We ordered the free toddler meal for Ginny, since it was free. She didn’t care for it, but she wasn’t a huge fan of solid foods at this point.

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9367.jpg

Onto dessert! Hayden got the ice cream with the Sundae. It was a hit!

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9371.jpg
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9376.jpg

SIL, BIL and DH ordered the “Valrhona Chocolate Mousse: a light chocolate mousse presented with berries and raspberry sauce”. BIL called it “creamy and delightful”, DH said it “wasn’t overly filling and expected, and SIL said, “there wasn’t enough and the white chocolate was flavorless. Overall, it received a 4-4.5

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9372.jpg

I ordered “Crème Caramel: Caramel topped Vanilla Custard”. It was… different. When I think of custard, I don’t think of flan. I think of a really thick pudding. I gave it a 3.5 because I wanted a stronger caramel flavor. It was light, which I liked. At this point, I was full, even though my meal wasn’t 100% awesome.

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv312/oboedm/Sep%203/9373.jpg

The overall experience was okay. We were rushed and stressed when we got there, and sometimes the princesses came a bit too close together, which was also stressful because 1) we were starving and 2) we were already overwhelmed.

I would rather go some other place for dinner. We ate at many good places and off the top of my head, I can’t think of a worse place. That being said, you can’t beat the atmosphere—you are eating IN THE CASTLE.

When we go in Feb/March, we are taking a 7 and 8-year-old girl with us, so we will probably go here again. I checked the menu recently and a few things have been changed, so we will give it another shot, especially since we liked it in 2009.

As of now, we have it booked for arrival day. I know I said I wouldn’t to this again, but we are eyeing a flight/arrival time of 2:30 instead of 4:30 and a later dinner time. =)

What would we do after CRT? Would we make Wishes? Ride something all together? Just go back to the hotel? Stay tuned for our adventures later that night!

 

[NOLAdisneymom]

Love your trip report so far! Y'all take the cutest pics!

 

[klacey1]

Ginny is such a little model! She looks so sweet in all of the pictures! The one of her and your SIL is definitely frame worthy! Glad at least one of the kids was into the characters! Belle seems like she did an amazing job if she got a smile out of Hayden!

 

[annmarieda]

I have never been to CRT. We always just choose to go to Akershus.. I may have to reconsider though as eating in the castle would be amazing.

I love the pictures....the one of your sil when Belle pulled her ponytail and (of course) the one of Ginny with the wand are my favs.

Sorry the food wasn't better...maybe on your next trip it will be!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm late, but I'm subbing. Even though it was a little underwhelming, I'm glad that you were able to make it to your reservation and that they let you in right away. Can't wait to hear more. Ginny is so adorable in every picture! Hayden is the opposite of my nephew. He's a little younger, but my nephew loved the characters when we visited. He does remind me of my neice though. She's five now, and getting her to go on some rides is like pulling teeth.

 

[oboedm]

Love your trip report so far! Y'all take the cutest pics!

Thanks! It was all my SIL's doing!

Ginny is such a little model! She looks so sweet in all of the pictures! The one of her and your SIL is definitely frame worthy! Glad at least one of the kids was into the characters! Belle seems like she did an amazing job if she got a smile out of Hayden!

She is really cute in person... and she was born looking like my FIL, so she has gotten a lot cuter. She has a great personality, so even when she does veer towards "old man" she still looks cute!

I have never been to CRT. We always just choose to go to Akershus.. I may have to reconsider though as eating in the castle would be amazing.

I love the pictures....the one of your sil when Belle pulled her ponytail and (of course) the one of Ginny with the wand are my favs.

Sorry the food wasn't better...maybe on your next trip it will be!

It was fun, but I prefer Akershus. The princesses there were a lot more attentive. Snow White at Akershus must have spend 5 minutes with Hayden, crouched to his level and talking. Hopefully CRT is better in Feb, you are right!

I'm late, but I'm subbing. Even though it was a little underwhelming, I'm glad that you were able to make it to your reservation and that they let you in right away. Can't wait to hear more. Ginny is so adorable in every picture! Hayden is the opposite of my nephew. He's a little younger, but my nephew loved the characters when we visited. He does remind me of my neice though. She's five now, and getting her to go on some rides is like pulling teeth.

Every kid is different, I guess! We went with 5 year olds to Disneyland a few weeks back, and we even got him on Tower of Terror! Hayden has too many quirks to count!

 

[oboedm]

Day 1: Part Five—Our First Ride and Explosion!

After we finished dessert, we left Cinderella’s Royal Table (obviously, it’s not like we were going to spend our entire vacation there). We wanted to ride something in Fantasyland together as our “first ride”, but it was roped off and we were too lazy to walk around the castle. Most of the good spots for Wishes were taken by this point, so we went to Tomorrowland—Hayden likes Buzz, so we thought this was a good first ride. We planned to go to MK two different days, so we could do Wishes another night.

Here is a great shot of the castle, taken by SIL:

We walked into Buzz with a 5-minute wait. SIL and BIL liked seeing Buzz. They were impressed by the technology. The cast member asked if we wanted a group shot next to him, but we said we were coming back later in the week.

DH rode alone, I rode with SIL and BIL rode with Hayden. SIL was busy calming Ginny down, so she wasn’t able to really play the game. I am really bad at this game—and it isn’t my favorite ride—it’s frustrating to me because I can never see where I am pointing. Here is our score and picture:

DH, all alone and having fun:

BIL determined to do well—and the top of Hayden’s head:

I forget how LOUD that ride is. Maybe it was because we were so tired and stressed, maybe it was because Ginny was scared and cried, maybe it was because Hayden exited the ride with a look on his face like his eardrums had just exploded, I don’t know… either way, it wasn’t a good choice for a first ride. It was just overwhelming for everyone. We really shouldn’t have pushed ourselves.

We went into the gift shop and Hayden did not want to go inside the “jail” and get a picture with Zurg. At this point, he was exhausted and overwhelmed and shut down. BIL was able to squeeze into the bars with Ginny, and DH stood outside.

As we walked out of the gift shop, Hayden started crying and we knew it was time to go. We put him and Ginny in the stroller and high tailed it out of there with Wishes exploding in the background. We had an early breakfast reservation for Ohana, and we hadn’t unpacked anything!

A final shot from our first day:

On the way back, SIL realized that she hadn’t gotten the port-a-crib from the front office, so we stopped by. At this point, it was 10:00 p.m. and we were tired! They said that if it wasn’t dropped off within the next 20 minutes, it would have to wait until morning! Eeek!

We went back to the room and found our luggage. Whoopee! However, when we opened our luggage we saw that our toiletries had exploded! We bought small containers at Target and filled those with shampoo, body wash, etc. The lids had come loose!

Luckily, we had placed everything in large gallon sized bags, so they only exploded on other bottles. We had placed our toothbrushes in different bags. I am SO GLAD that we packed the way they did. We will definitely pack this way from now on!

DH and I unpacked and fell into bed. We were exhausted, and finally fell asleep around 11:15-11:30 p.m.


Summary of the Day:

Best Part of Day 1: seeing BIL and SILs family!

Worst Part of Day 1: Rushing around and being overwhelmed with everything. I felt like we really didn’t enjoy our first evening there—we were just “doing what we had to do”.

Fixing it for Next Time: We will take an earlier flight so we have time to take a nap or explore the resort at a leisurely pace before we go to dinner. If we can’t get an earlier flight, we will plan to eat at the hotel.

Food Round Up:
I want to see how much we would have spent on all this food and see if it saves as much as Disney claims it would save.

4 Adults, CRT: $219.04
1 Child, CRT: $33.60
Total Food Costs, Day 1: $252.64
Total Food Costs, Trip: $252.64

Cost of upgrade to DxDP: $1161.00
Cost of DxDP w/o Free Dining: $3671.00 (3418.36 until break even)

 

[klacey1]

Sorry everyone was so overwhelmed-- I can only imagine! After reading about all of the stresses of the day, I felt overwhelmed myself! You guys were really troopers to push through, but like you said, maybe that wasn't the best idea. I hope it gets better!!

 

[DizFan101]

Cute pictures!
Can't wait to see more!
The picture of Ginny with Wand looks soo cute. It looks like she's angry at it, and wants to kill it.

 

[annmarieda]

I have had that happen with toiletries before. It has made me a true believer in the use of ziplock bags!

I am sorry everyone got overwhelmed. It is easy to do...especially after a long day. At least the pics of you all on Buzz look great. Your dh, especially looks like he is having a good time.

 

[Joyciemc]

The picture of Ginny with Wand looks soo cute. It looks like she's angry at it, and wants to kill it.

DizFan101- HA! And it really does.


Paula- your DH's face on Buzz is hysterical!
And thank goodness for ziploc, huh?

 

[oboedm]

Sorry everyone was so overwhelmed-- I can only imagine! After reading about all of the stresses of the day, I felt overwhelmed myself! You guys were really troopers to push through, but like you said, maybe that wasn't the best idea. I hope it gets better!!

It did get better, so that is good! It is amazing what a good night's sleep will do! Have fun on your trip! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Cute pictures!
Can't wait to see more!
The picture of Ginny with Wand looks soo cute. It looks like she's angry at it, and wants to kill it.

I know She made that face so many times! Her "concentrate face" look angry... mine does too, and Ginny and I aren't even bloood related!

I have had that happen with toiletries before. It has made me a true believer in the use of ziplock bags!

I am sorry everyone got overwhelmed. It is easy to do...especially after a long day. At least the pics of you all on Buzz look great. Your dh, especially looks like he is having a good time.

Yes, he is silly! I think he was secretly glad he didn't have to ride with me... I get frustrated so I just "check out". I will have to find all the secret targets for next time!

DizFan101- HA! And it really does.


Paula- your DH's face on Buzz is hysterical!
And thank goodness for ziploc, huh?

.

Yes! What did humans do before the invention of plastic bags?

 

[3timesmom]

I'm in!!! Nice TR and great pictures!! Can't wait to read more!!!