"I'll trip a baby..." Nov/Dec '10 Trip Report

[dawnmichele]

Enjoying your report so far! I am amused at the antics of your (obviously awesome) brother in the CRT photos.

Taking pictures of my crazy - I mean awesome brother definitely added to the fun!

 

[dawnmichele]

I can't believe I missed the start of your report!

I know! Me too! Luckily it's never too late to join in.

 

[dawnmichele]

Where is the rest!?!?

Sorry for the big pause in the Trip Reporting. Our sister had a baby and I've been all wrapped up in that. I'm back on it though. Stay tuned.

 

[dawnmichele]

When I left off, DD and I had just decided to leave the MK for DHS. We weren't sure the best way to get there, and Hannah really wanted to take a boat, so we stopped in the friendly information center and found out we could take the ferry to the TTC and then hop on a bus for DHS. Outside the information center was a cart full of buttons for things like your first visit, birthday, anniversary, etc. Hannah really wanted one, so since we were here with our family I told her she could ask for "Family Reunion" buttons for all of us, which we wore till some nice lady started asking me about our reunion and I felt guilty so I took mine off. (I did save it of course with all my other trip paraphernalia).

By the time we made it to the Studios Hannah was grumbling for some coffee so we wandered about till we found the Writer's Stop where she got an latte and I got a chocolate chip cookie so giant we couldn't finish it.

We are both giant Narnia fans, both the books and the movies, so we were most excited to check out the Journey Into Narnia exhibit. We headed straight there and stood at the front of the line for what seemed like a really long time (by which I mean maybe 10 minutes). When we were finally let in we were standing in a replica of the room in Prince Caspian with the broken stone table. We watched a pretty long movie made up of enough clips from the film that you would know the entire plot if you hadn't seen it before. Since we've seen the movie at least a half a dozen times it was kinda boring for us so we were anxious to move on to the next step of the exhibit. That is until we did move on to the next step which was a small room with maybe 6 or 8 display cases of movie costumes and props.

I have to say that DD and I may have been spoiled by seeing a traveling exhibit of the same sort about a year ago in our home town. It was 7 times as large and incredibly interesting and moving and maybe if we hadn't been to that we wouldn't have been so disappointed in this. But as it was it was by far the one disappointment of the trip.

One big disappointment out of 6 days at the park isn't much though, so we moved on.

We wandered around checking things out. DHS is probably my least favorite park, but I love the look of the place. We checked out some stores and saw lots of Tangled merchandise. We were hoping to see the movie while we were there but never did. I found some little charms that I wanted for the Disney book I was making, but decided to wait and see if I still wanted them a couple days later.

We managed to catch a performance of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which was very much like I remembered from 1997. We both enjoyed it. Ariel is Hannah's favorite Disney character.

All the good rides were out of fast passes, and all the wait times were far too long (for us), so we decided to head on over to Epcot where we had dinner reservations at Le Cellier.

Once there we walked straight on to Spaceship Earth again, this time getting stuck at the top for several minutes. I remembered to take a few pictures of our future life in our house made of natural materials by the beach.

Wait times for all the good rides (for me, Soarin', for Hannah Mission Space, for both Test Track) were all too long so we decided to wander the world showcase till it was time for dinner. I made sure to stop in Mexico for another frozen Mango Margarita. I sat and drank it while Hannah rode the Maelstrom. A very nice older lady asked me where I got my drink so I told her, and told her there were some non alcoholic frozen drinks up ahead as well. "Oh no" she told me, "I think a Margarita is just what I need to make my feet stop hurting." Go older lady!

Our ADR was at 8:30, but when we showed up in Canada at 8:10 I decided to see if we could check in early. Not only could we, but we were seated almost immediately. Our server was fantastic and Hannah was in love with her dinner. "The stead is just so good I can't believe it's real" were her exact words, but I'll write more about that when I finish this and get to the dining report.

As we were finishing up we could hear IllumiNations starting up, and when we left it was just in time to beat the crowd to the monorail. We had thought about meeting up with my awesome brother at the Top of the World when we got back but we were so exhausted we just crashed right out.

All in all, another fantastic day at the happiest place on earth!

 

[murmkc]

What fun! I am working on my addition to this day - I will try to post it tonight!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Mmmm, Le Cellier. One of my favorites.

 

[mousebymarriage]

great trip report and pics, can't wait to hear more!

 

[murmkc]

So this was one of the days that Karen and I went our own way.

As this was our fourth trip to the world together in the last 5 years, we were not in any rush. This was a very leisurely trip for us. We slept in and did not hit the MK until Shelly and Hannah has done half the park! We enjoyed our lunch together at Cosmic Ray's and then headed off to get Karen her requisite Pooh fix. After that was checked off the list we wandered the park and hit up some of our favorite rides. We did the Pooh ride (which has an awesome new queue), Philharmagic, Pirates, The Haunted Mansion, etc.


We really wanted to check out the top of the world lounge and get ready for dinner at 'Ohana so we headed back to the room pretty early. Karen decided that we stop off for a drink so we hit up the Outer Rim bar at the Contemporary.

After a couple rounds, Top of the World had opened so we headed on up. It was awesome and the bartenders were great.

After a few rounds at the Top of the world, it was time for a monorail ride over to the Poly for dinner.

It took a while for our seat to be ready, so Karen purchased us a few more drinks to pass the time (we were really having fun!).

Dinner was fantastic - I highly recommend it!

We then headed back to explore Bay Lake Tower a bit and Karen spent a few minutes doing her awesome photography thing.

We then headed back to the room for some quality time prior to crashing out.

It was a great day, and only a small part of an awesome vacation.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Looks like you guys had a fun day! Love the pictures at Ohana!

I can't wait until July, when we'll be staying at Bay Lake Tower. I totally want to check out the top of the world lounge.

 

[KayBella]

oh how I miss Le Cellier (did I just spell that wrong???) The thought of that place made me instantly want the bread they bring out ahead of time. Yummy!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Joining in!

Sounds like a great trip so far!

 

[murmkc]

Eagerly awaiting the next part!!! Don't make me wait any longer!

 

[murmkc]

Merry Christmas - where is the next part!?!?!

 

[njbeachbum]

More post more! I must have more!!!!

 

[murmkc]

It is almost NEXT YEAR - where is the rest!?!?

 

[dawnmichele]

Well it Is next year, and here I am about to tell you about day 4 (Wednesday). I really am sorry for the delay, but you know, life interrupts and the best laid plans and all that.

Anyway.

Wednesday, we all slept in and got off to a slow start. I worked on my book till Hannah woke up, the we got dressed, ate breakfast and packed the bag. I also took some pictures of the room.

the kitchen:

my bed/couch pulled out:

hannah's bed/chair (with Hannah still in it):

the tray I used for working in my book:

view from the monorail platform at the Contemporary:

It was after 10 when we got to the Magic Kingdom.

We had already decided to head straight for TomorrowLand.

I made a call home while Hannah rode Space Mountain.

Then we headed off for the days main goal: The Haunted Mansion. There was no line and we walked right in to the first room and breezed onto the ride. Hannah loved it.

Next to the Hall of Presidents. Again, hardly any wait. We walked into the theater and chose somewhere in the middle of the front half of the theatre. The movie they showed was all touching and mushy and made cry a little bit.

After that it was clearly time for lunch so we headed for Pecos Bills. They were incredibly crowded. It didn't take too long to get our food but we had to walk through several seating areas before Hannah spotted a table. We were close to the Pirates so we decided to take an adventure on it again. Shopped a bit and then headed back to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain. I loved the ride but not the long bit with the characters and scenes from the movie.

We're in the back:

Back to The Haunted Mansion We stopped for a while for her to look over the cart outside the ride. My brother called at this time to tell us of a fantastic counter service he had found called Hurricane Hanna's. They had fantastic food and offered virgin strawberry daquiris as a desert option. We made plans to eat there the next day. Hannah bought a Nightmare Before Christmas lanyard and we were off.

Hannah rode Space Mountain again and I checked out the intergalactic cases of Coke, glad to know that I'd be able to have some wherever I went.

It was time to leave too soon.

We headed back to the room where Karen and Brian fixed some tasty tacos for our cook in the room dinner night! It was delish, and fun. A brilliant idea from my brother. We had meant to finish dinner in time to make it to the Main St Electrical Parade, but it didn't turn out like that. Big drag. Instead though we decided to head to the Top of the World Lounge and watch the MK fireworks from there. First a little laundry and a little work in the book, but soon it was time to head to the lobby for the special secret elevator to the Top of the World.

It was very chilly outside and I was dressed all wrong for fireworks on the top floor of a big building, but it was an incredible view and great place from which to watch the show. A great ending to another great day.

 

[murmkc]

Day 4 was a super late start for Karen and I. We essentially did not make it out until lunch time and jumped a monorail to Epcot to take our favorite walk all the way to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Just as Shelly mentioned above, on the way we discovered Hurrican Hannah's (this was the result of Karen's suggestion to use counter service meals for burgers). It was by far our fav CS spot!

We were then fueled up for the rest of the trek to DHS. Here is a pic of Karen at the posts that mark the start of the trail to DHS from the Boardwalk.

- and an in route pic.

- and then we arrived!

While there we visited the Tune in Lounge at 50's Prime Time Cafe and we had a couple wonderful beverages!

We did not hit many rides but we checked out One Man's Dream. I have to hit it up on every trip!
We also visited Star Tours which is not currently in operation but were happy to find a character photo op!

After our short visit to the studios we started the return trip for our favorite walk and stopped for some drinks at the Boardwalk pool bar on the way.

By the time we made it back to Bay Lake Tower I may have had a drink too many! - I blame the wet floor.

The fun continued with cooking up Tacos and Quesidillas in the room!


- and we capped it off with the Top of the World Lounge and a great view of fireworks!

I can't wait to head back to the world for even more fun!

 

[murmkc]

I almost forgot to mention that while we were enjoying our drinks at the Boardwalk pool that there was some sort of resort event going on where a cast member was playing music and interacting with the kids that were there. We got to watch some gradeschool kid go completely crazy doing Michael Jackson moves to Beat It. He was pretty talented and a funny memory from the trip!

 

[dawnmichele]

I can't believe I forgot this story. It's the story of how we came up with the title for this trip report.

While we were making dinner we were talking about what was left that we really wanted to do but hadn't. The number one thing was Soarin' at Epcot. We had been to Epcot just about every day we had been there, but it was always so late that all the Fast Passes were gone and the wait times were over 50 minutes. So we decided we'd go to Epcot first thing in the morning and do whatever it took to get some Fast Passes to Soarin'. This is when I announced "I'll trip a baby if I have to for Fast Passes to Soarin'"



Please know I would never trip a baby, or anyone for that matter, for anything - especially a Fast Pass for a ride. Well I might trip a grown up if they were doing something nefarious, but never never a baby. Also please keep in mind that my brother and Karen had fed me a couple adult beverages at this point as well.
So, that's the story of "I'll trip a baby..."

 

[dawnmichele]

The next morning, day 5, we were up and out around 9. I like that a lot better. We caught the monorail to the TTC and then to Epcot. Of course we headed straight to Soarin' (ok, not straight there because we weren't sure where it was and had to ask a cast member). We had glanced on the sign that FPs for something were gone already and we were worried (I was worried I mean). But! we got our passes and then since it was only a 35 minute wait, we stood in line to ride it right then.

Man that line seemed to take forever. It made me feel for people who come at more crowded times and have lots of 30 minute lines to wait in. I don't think I ever want to go to Disney in the summer.

Soarin' was fantastic and well worth the wait. I especially loved the smelly parts. Just as we were exiting the ride my awesome brother called. He and Karen were in the land and had just gotten their FPs. We met up and compared times - we had a 6 minute overlap. Ours were done at 12:36 and theirs started at 12:30.

While we waited for noon:thirty, we went to ride Ellen's Universe of Energy which was Way longer than I remembered. Not very thrilling after Dinosaur at the Animal Kingdom, but still fun. After that we looked around a store for a little while and then I decided I needed some kind of non-sweet snack. My brother remembered a pretzel card near the Land so we headed there.

There wasn't much time left after the snacks were finished, so my brother led us in the back way to Nemo so we could just check out some of the aquariums. We had fun watching the dolphins swim around through the glass, checked out the lovely coral reefs and spotted one manatee.

Soarin' was just as lovely the second time.

After that, we walked to the back exit of Epcot that I did not know existed headed for the Beach Club and Hurricane Hanna's. Brian and Karen were not kidding around. That place was fantastic. I had an amazing salad and Hannah had what she said was the best burger of the trip. Of course her favorite part was the virgin strawberry daquiri. Somehow we all ended up with frozen deserts even though we were in the shade on a cool day. Still, a great lunch.

We walked along the boardwalk some more, and then Hannah and I hopped on the Friendship 2 boat for Hollywood Studios.

We headed straight for the Tower of Terror, which was another long wait at 30 minutes, but so very worth it. I think it was my favorite ride of the whole trip.

You can't really tell but I am holding on to my glasses in this picture. The cast member running the ride told us to take off our glasses and hold on to them, so I did. And then i held them just a little too tight. I didn't realize this till later though because when I put them back on, I put my sunglasses on instead and slipped the regular ones into their case.

We wanted to ride the Rockin' Rollercoaster, but the line there was over 50 minutes and we decided we didn't want to wait that long for a ride that was over so fast. The next time I go to Disney World, I am going to make sure to visit each park at opening at least one time while I'm there so I can be sure to ride everything.

The store that sold the little charms I kept wanting was close so we headed there. I switched from sunglasses to regular and noticed things were a little blurry. I stopped and told Hannah I thought something was wrong with my glasses. She looked at me and then slowly put her finger through where the left lens was supposed to be.

!!!

Hannah totally panicked and wanted to retrace our steps and see if she could find it. She had visions of it crushed on the ground. I was kinda in shock wondering what I was going to do - I almost always bring back up glasses on a trip but hadn't this time. I had just told Hannah she could go check when I realized I should check my purse first. I called to her just in time for her to come back, which was good because the lens was right there in the glasses case. It had fallen out but it didn't take long to pop it back into place. Crisis Averted! My glasses are still a little crooked though.

So. Off to the store for the charms. It was the store just outside the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and they had a bunch of character charms for bracelets and necklaces. I'm using mine on the binger rings of my memory book however. I got a 2010 one, Marie and Thumper.

We walked across the park after that, heading for the Star Wars area. We knew Brian had his picture taken with Darth Vader the day before and I was hoping I could get a shot with Hannah. We were too late though. We got there just as the last training show was ending.

We walked through the street scenes. We just missed the last Backlot Tour. We walked to the Buzz Lightyear ride, but the wait time was over 100 minutes. Seriously the line of people went on forever. On the other side of the street was a giant line for meeting Buzz and Woody. We sat down on a bench and talked over the possibilities. We decided to head off to Epcot to walk around the World Showcase until our dinner in Italy.

We had the bus to Epcot all to ourselves.

Hannah rode Mission Space again, but since it made me sick the first time I used the time to talk to my very pregnant sister back home. After that we headed to wander the World. I had hoped to have another frozen Mango Margarita, but it was seriously chilly out so Hannah and I shared a large cappuccino instead.

We checked out Germany since it is Hannah's favorite country.

We checked out Italy for me, and then we checked in way early at Tutto Italia. We were seated almost right away.

Dinner was fantastic and after we had a fast walk to the monorail. Because it was cold, and to beat the IllumiNations crowds. We made it back to the room just in time to watch the the MK Fireworks from our room! It was fantastic! The best way to end a great day.