Is That Real Chocolate? (May 2016 Trip Report)- UPDATE-2017 INVITE!

[luvflorida]

"Is that real chocolate?"

"How can he keep his eyes open like that for so long?"

"Why do they DO this to kids?"

These questions (and the situations behind them) will be answered in this trip report! I'll also give twenty-five points to anyone who guesses correctly what these questions are referring to! That's twenty-five points for each question. Not much you can do with the points, but you'll have the satisfaction of having everyone know you guessed correctly!


to my trip report! How this particular trip came about can be found on my pre-trip report:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/id...omtu-trip-to-wdw-thank-you-very-much.3505604/ You can also meet the family and find links to other reports I've done.

A few details:
Trip Dates: May 4th-May 10th

Parks: All four parks (we also attended special events at Animal Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon when they were closed to the public!)

Resorts: One night at Pop Century and five nights at the Yacht and Beach Club

Firsts: First plane trip for our 2 year old grandson
First trip to WDW for our 34 year old son-in-law

We did so much on this trip and got to experience a lot of Disney magic!
I'll start this trip report with the first pic I took and the last pic I took. All we need now is the in between!

BEFORE!

AFTER!

 

[luvflorida]

INTRODUCTIONS- POST #3

WEDNESDAY, MAY 4th- DAY ONE- POST #4
departure day

THURSDAY, MAY 5th- DAY TWO- starts at POST #5
arrival at Beach Club Resort
DSMMC registration
Animal Kingdom
Special evening event at Animal Kingdom

FRIDAY, MAY 6th- DAY THREE- starts at POST #27
DSMMC breakfast event at Atlantic Dance Hall
Hollywood Studios
Epcot
Mickey Bars on the beach at the Beach Club
Special evening event at Typhoon Lagoon

SATURDAY, MAY 7th- DAY FOUR- starts at POST #49
Family Fun Run event at Epcot
Breakfast event at Disney Springs
Stormalong Bay
Evening at Magic Kingdom

SUNDAY, MAY 8th- DAY FIVE- starts at POST #74
DSMMC Mother's Day breakfast at Epcot
Lunch at Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Stormalong Bay (Harry's turn!)
Epcot/Magic Kingdom

MONDAY, MAY 9th- DAY SIX- starts at POST #89
Hollywood Studios
Jedi Training Academy
"Is that real chocolate!"
Dinner at Mama Melrose Italian Restaurant

TUESDAY, MAY 10th- DAY SEVEN- starts at POST #106
The Enchanted Tales With Belle
Adventureland and Fantasyland
Lunch at Casey's Corner
Epcot
Airport
Final thoughts and observations about our trip!

 

[luvflorida]

Before I begin with day one, here are a few introductions.

This is me, Sharon. I am a retired elementary school teacher, a wife, mother of three grown children, and grandmother of three grandchildren. Last year, I celebrated my 60th birthday twice- once at Disneyland and once at Walt Disney World. It was a great year!

This is Larry, my wonderful husband of 37 years. He is the owner of a computer software company. We travel a lot, and he likes Disney, but loves Vegas! Note: It looks like he is wearing a crown in this picture. He isn't! I also like how the squirrel got in the pic!

On this trip with us (or, I should say, we were with them!) was our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids. Our daughter, Megan, works part-time in the family business, and also teaches high school show choir choreography part-time. She is also a blogger, and the reason we all went on this trip! Our son-in-law, Daniel, is a high school music/show choir/band teacher. Their three beautiful kids are, of course, our precious grandchildren- Carter (he starts third grade in August and turns eight soon after) Vanessa (she's five and starts Kindergarten in August) and Harrison (he'll turn three in June).

If you look closely, you'll see a tiny Star Wars emblem on the bottom of Megan's Star Wars shirt that matches the bigger one on the front. That represents baby number four! She is due in September, and it's a girl. Our second granddaughter!

My husband and I (and our own three kids) are originally from Maine. We are New Englanders, through and through! However, eight years ago, we relocated to Arizona. Megan's husband is from Arizona, and that's where they settled. Once our first grandchild was on the way, that was it. My husband and I packed up and moved across the country.

We went from this:

To this:

A huge change in many ways, but we are loving it! Our son is living in Nevada and our younger daughter is in Colorado, so it's nice that we're all out West. We do go back to Maine to visit family members and friends every summer, and to make sure the grandkids grow up knowing New England!

So, that's a bit about us, now on to this trip report!

 

[luvflorida]

If you've read my pre-trip report, you already know how this trip came about. If not, here's a short summary. Megan received an invitation from Disney to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, an annual event held at WDW (last year at Disneyland). She was VERY excited to be a part of this amazing conference! The conference was held May 5-8 at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort. There are approximately 200 social media moms (and some dads) that attend each year, along with family members. So many wonderful events are held throughout the conference. There was a lot of Disney magic and special surprises that I will share throughout this report!

Since Daniel had end-of-year school programs and obligations to attend to, Megan invited me to join her and the kids on this trip. She didn't have to ask twice!
We extended the trip for a few days after the conference was over, so Daniel and Larry could join us toward the end of the trip.

We were SO excited to take the kids to WDW! Our own three kids grew up going to Disney World since we lived on the East Coast, and the grandkids have all been to Disneyland, but this was Vanessa and Harrison's first trip to the World. Also, Daniel's first trip! Carter has been to Disney World, but was only a year and a half, so doesn't remember it. He had his first haircut at the Magic Kingdom!

Okay, enough of all that! On to DAY ONE!

Wednesday, May 4th- After loading the car with my stuff, I drove over to Megan's house and we loaded her luggage, the kids' luggage, and Vanessa and Harry into the car, then headed to Carter's school to pick him up. He was thrilled to get out two hours early! Forty minutes later, we parked the car at Sky Harbor Airport. After a shuttle ride, an elevator, a tram, another elevator, bag check-in, and security, we were at our gate!

Here are the grandkids checking out our plane. Note: After this day, we would never see these outfits again. Somehow, they were lost between our first resort and second resort. Megan checked several times with Pop Century, where we spent our first night, but the clothes never turned up.

I love this picture! This was Harrison's first plane trip, and as we taxied down the runway, he wanted to hold his mom's hand. So sweet! I like his reading material, too!

Harry ended up loving the flight!

Activity and puzzle books kept the rest of us busy for most of the flight!

Four and half hours later, we landed safely in Orlando. After baggage claim, we made our way over to the Magical Express.

Off to Pop Century for one night! It was after midnight by the time we got to the hotel, so it was pretty much straight to bed for everyone. Tomorrow would be a very busy day!

 

[luvflorida]

DAY TWO- THURSDAY, MAY 4TH

We were up and out bright and early this morning. I knew this first morning we didn't want to waste time going out for breakfast, so I had packed juice boxes and breakfast bars in my luggage, just for this purpose. After our quick in-room breakfast, we walked over to the Pop Century lobby and left our luggage to be transferred over to the Yacht and Beach Club.

Let's go, guys! Busy, busy day ahead of us!

So much to see on our walk to the lobby! A giant computer!

Very large Rubik's Cube!

Huge Yo-Yo!

Surfing Goofy!

Carter is going to drive us over to our other resort!

We actually got a ride from Uber. Megan and Daniel have used Uber before, but this was my first Uber experience. We only waited about ten minutes for our car to arrive. Our driver was very friendly, engaging the kids in conversation the whole way. It was a short drive and it wasn't long before we were pulling up to the Beach Club.

Originally, we were booked at the Yacht Club, but a few days before leaving we learned we would be staying at the Beach Club. The Yacht Club would have been nice, since we've never stayed there, but I absolutely love the Beach Club! We stayed here twenty years ago with our own three kids and I remember how much we loved everything about it. Probably because it reminds us so much of New England!

It was a quick check in, then up to our room. Our room was on the second floor. It was one with a tiny balcony and not much of a view, kind of above the entrance area to the hotel.

Not much room out here!

Our luggage was brought up to our room, we arranged a few things, then headed off to the convention center to register for the conference. We knew there would be a special guest there to greet us!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

joining in - sounds like a really neat trip!

Congratulations on the upcoming grandchild #4!

My kids are currently very close to the first 3 (though I am fairly confident there won't be a #4) so interested to hear how you made out

That is a rather small balcony!

 

[longlostprincess]

joining! i love the beach club and im so excited to hear more about the trip

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Following along. I love the Beach Club! Looking forward to more of your trip!

 

[luvflorida]

joining in - sounds like a really neat trip!

Congratulations on the upcoming grandchild #4!

My kids are currently very close to the first 3 (though I am fairly confident there won't be a #4) so interested to hear how you made out

That is a rather small balcony!

Thanks for joining in! And thanks so much for the congrats on our fourth grandchild! This will be their last baby. We do have an older son, but he's pretty much a confirmed bachelor, so I don't see any grandkids from him! He is an awesome uncle, though! We also have a younger daughter (almost 26) and maybe there will be children in her future, but for now she's happy just being a fun auntie! The grandkids love spending time with their uncle and aunt!

Yes, that balcony was very small! The picture shows about half the length of it. It was nice, however, to be able to open the sliding door and catch a breeze.

joining! i love the beach club and im so excited to hear more about the trip

Thanks so much for joining in! I love the Beach Club, too! I'll be sure to post more pictures of the resort. One evening, I went out for a walk and took some pics of the sun setting on the lake and the buildings.

Following along. I love the Beach Club! Looking forward to more of your trip!

Thank you so much! I'm so happy to know that others are reading along! Yes, the Beach Club is the best! The grandkids LOVED Stormalong Bay! One of the most relaxing moments on this vacation was the afternoon we returned from the parks and enjoyed Mickey Bars on the beach near Hurricane Hanna's.

 

[luvflorida]

DAY TWO- continued

Our luggage was brought to our room around 8am, and shortly thereafter we headed over to the convention center. It was a short walk from the Beach Club, through a covered walkway and past the Disney bus pick-up drop-off area.

Lots of signs and banners inside the convention center.

Harry saw his mom posing for a pic, so he decided to join her!

For those of you who aren't familiar with what the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is all about, here is a bit of info. The DSMMC is an annual event held in May at WDW (one year it was Disneyland) and this was the 7th (I believe) year of the event. Approximately 200 bloggers/social media people are invited to participate. Attendees are welcome (and encouraged) to bring along family members to join in the events. My daughter, Megan, has been blogging for quite a few years, and has participated in other Disney related events, but DSMMC is THE event that everyone hopes to get an invitation to. She was SO excited when she received an email to participate this year!
It is a blogging and press event. It is a conference and a celebration of all things Disney. Attendees include family friendly bloggers (mostly moms, but also some dads) travel bloggers and Disney focused bloggers. It is a four-day event with one day devoted to conference sessions, and several evenings and mornings for special breakfast/dinner/entertainment events, all hosted by Disney. There are also a few other sponsors at the events. The rest of the time is for families to enjoy the parks. Attendees DO have to pay a conference fee to attend and must pay for their own transportation to and from Orlando. However, attendees are sprinkled with an amazing amount of Disney magic, pixie dust and VIP treatment throughout the four-day event. Let me just say, if you ever have the chance to attend DSMMC, jump at it! Don't pass it up!

Okay, back to day two and registration!

After Megan checked in, we spent some time at the various stations set up. There was an area where kids (or adults!) could have photos taken posing with various props.

Grandkids posing with their sunglasses, courtesy of Babble Media.

Harry and his upside down sunglasses.

Coffee Beans!

Aaaaaaaaand...a very special guest was on hand to greet everyone at registration!

We were so glad that Harry enjoyed meeting Mickey. Back in November, we took him to Disneyland and he was apprehensive of all the characters and didn't want to get too close to any of them. Not the case this trip! This trip, he loved the characters (especially Goofy!) and insisted on kissing them on the nose!

The gang with Mickey!

After registration, we walked back to our room to change the kids' clothes (we wanted to save the Mickey t-shirts for when they did the pirate adventure interactive game at the Magic Kingdom, but they actually never wore them again) then headed over to catch the bus to the Animal Kingdom!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Seems like a neat conference/event - and for it to only be 200 people invited, that is quite exclusive which is great

Also great that Mickey was there! Glad the meet went well

 

[DVCStephanie]

What a fun trip! I would love to stay at Beach Club one day

 

[ariane37]

Joining, loving your report so far! We've stayed at BWV a few times and are staying at BC for the first time this Nov.

The DSMMC sounds SO incredibly cool! Can't wait to hear more about that!

 

[luvflorida]

Seems like a neat conference/event - and for it to only be 200 people invited, that is quite exclusive which is great

Also great that Mickey was there! Glad the meet went well

When you add family members that also come along to the event, the total number of attendees probably ends up around 700, maybe even less. Approximately 175-200 social media moms/bloggers are chosen each year to attend DSMMC. I'm guessing there may be some that come alone and some with one other person. A lot of moms bring along their spouse/significant other and their kids. Averaging four people per family would bring the total people attending to 800, but I'm guessing it ends up less than that.

There were two evening events that were held in parks that were closed to the public and I have to say, it was a strange feeling! The group was contained to a small section of each park, but it was still uncrowded. Odd, but nice!

The best part of meeting Mickey at registration- no lines! This perk would repeat itself over the next several days!

What a fun trip! I would love to stay at Beach Club one day

It really is a relaxing resort and the pool/beach area has something for everyone- pools (regular and sand-bottom zero entry) water slides, and a lazy lagoon area! Being able to walk to Epcot and walk or take a boat to Hollywood Studios also makes the Beach Club a desirable place to stay.

Joining, loving your report so far! We've stayed at BWV a few times and are staying at BC for the first time this Nov.

The DSMMC sounds SO incredibly cool! Can't wait to hear more about that!

Thanks so much for following along! If you have any questions about the BC, ask away! Hopefully, I can answer them! I hope you have a great time when you go in November!

 

[luvflorida]

As I work on my trip report, I'm going back and forth between several folders- Megan's photos and my own photos, plus PhotoPass pics. I'm trying not to miss anything!

I meant to include this pic in the previous post. American Tourister had a variety of Disney-themed luggage on display at registration. I love the matching red and black Mickey Mouse bags!

So, we're on our way to catch the bus to the Animal Kingdom!

Now see that railing behind the bench in the pic below? And see that sweet little boy in the Mickey hat sitting between his big sister and big brother? Mere seconds after this pic was taken, that sweet little guy decided to stand up on the bench, take his hat off, and toss it over the railing! From where I was standing, it was hard to tell just how far down the hat had gone. I could see water and lots of bushes behind the bench, so we figured it was gone for good. I walked over to the railing, peered down, and saw the hat way down in some bushes. There was quite a drop off behind that railing! Now there happened to be a cast member working in the bus area, but he was in a wheelchair, so I couldn't ask him for help in getting the hat, so I decided to go over after it. I stood on the bench, climbed over the railing, jumped down into the bushes, grabbed the hat and quickly climbed back over the railing. I figured all was good, but not so fast! The next thing I see is the cast member coming toward me. He said, "Ma'am, did you just climb over that railing?" I told him I did, and that I was retrieving a hat that my grandson had tossed over. He said, "Oh, so you had a reason for climbing over the railing. Okay, then." So, that was that! I hope everyone waiting for the bus that morning appreciated the free entertainment I provided! I know Megan and the kids did!

Notice Harry is no longer on the bench. He is in his stroller, all strapped in!

MagicBands fist bump!

And speaking of MagicBands- We received three sets. The first set was for the one night at Pop Century, the second set was for the DSMMC event, and the third set was for two nights at the All Star Music Resort. However, Megan learned that DSMMC attendees could extend their stay at the Yacht and Beach Club at a deeply discounted rate, so she ended up cancelling the reservations for the All Star Music Resort.

These are the MagicBands that we received from the DSMMC event, and yes, they were indeed "magical" bands! Everyone received a 7-day park hopper band, and each band had 10 fastpasses per day on it, good for four days (the length of the conference). A total of 40 fastpassses per MagicBand to be used at any park, any time between Thursday and Sunday. Now that is some Disney magic!

The other set, Megan personalized for her family. You can see they're big fans of Star Wars!

Not long after the hat incident, a bus rolled up and we were on our way to the Animal Kingdom!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

wow, that must of been a bit scary and just a "what just happened?" type moment when he threw the hat over the railing.

Seems kind of an odd response to be like "oh, well you had a reason for doing that" - like, either they should be ok with you going over the railing or not regardless of the reason ... though I agree your method was definitely the easiest rather than ask that CM who'd have to radio to a CM that can go in that area, etc.

Wow, that is a lot of magic bands! and how cool that they came pre-loaded with the special FP+! Could you then add regular FP+ on top of those?

 

[luvflorida]

wow, that must of been a bit scary and just a "what just happened?" type moment when he threw the hat over the railing.

Seems kind of an odd response to be like "oh, well you had a reason for doing that" - like, either they should be ok with you going over the railing or not regardless of the reason ... though I agree your method was definitely the easiest rather than ask that CM who'd have to radio to a CM that can go in that area, etc.

Wow, that is a lot of magic bands! and how cool that they came pre-loaded with the special FP+! Could you then add regular FP+ on top of those?

It was definitely one of those "uh oh!" moments! I briefly thought about running back to the hotel to see if anyone there could help us retrieve the hat, and I also briefly thought about just leaving it there. However, when I realized I could see the hat, I figured the easiest and quickest response was to just climb over and get it myself. I agree, the CM's response was a bit odd. He didn't say it in a stern way or anything, just kind of matter-of-fact about it.

Correction about the MagicBands. Now that I look at the pic of the first set, those are actually the bands we received in the mail for our night at Pop Century. The set we received from DSMMC were different colors. I'm not sure if we could have added regular FS+. I'll have to ask my daughter about that! She was the one who received all the info and can answer a lot of the "technical" aspects of the trip! I checked with her just to make sure I was correct about the 10 per day Fastpasses per band, and she verified that. Memory Maker was also a bit of Disney magic that was added to the MagicBands.

 

[luvflorida]

I'm interrupting this trip report to bring you....summer! I know it's not really summer yet, but in Phoenix it is!

Yesterday was Carter's last day of school and he is officially now a third-grader. In New England, we are used to the school year starting after Labor Day and getting out mid/late June, depending on snow days used. But here in Arizona, our grandson gets out in May and goes back to school the first week of August. Still seems strange to me!

This is how he plans on spending his summer!

And Vanessa, too! She starts Kindergarten in August.

Harrison turns three the end of June, so he has another two years before he goes off to school.

Our house is only a ten minute drive from the grandkids' house, so we get to see a lot of them! We are very lucky grandparents!

Okay, back to this trip report and...finally, the Animal Kingdom!

This is what it was like when we entered the park. It would be a totally different picture later that evening!

I was so excited to see DiVine! I had never seen her before. If she hadn't been moving around, I'm sure very few people would have even spotted her. She blends in well with all the real vines!

DiVine walked slowly with very graceful movements, and was fascinating to watch. She seemed sort of otherworldly.

We walked to the back of the park to the Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Love this attraction! We saw quite a few animals, although none got too close to our vehicle. When my cousin and I were on the safari last summer, our driver had to stop while a curious giraffe walked up to the vehicle, peered inside, then slowly walked across the path.

We were getting hungry, so after Kilimanjaro Safaris, we headed over to Dinoland for some lunch. Carter stopped to say "hi" to this croc along the way.

ETA: I've tried to delete the duplicate pic in this post, but had no luck!

 

[luvflorida]

We decided on Restaurantosaurus for lunch.

It was a beautiful sunny day, so we chose a table on the porch. We got to the restaurant before noon, so we beat the lunch rush and had the porch all to ourselves for most of our lunch. Harry had fallen asleep in his stroller on the walk over, so it was a nice, quiet place for him to nap while we ate lunch.

MY kids never ate broccoli, but the grandkids love it!

We could see Triceratops Spin while we ate lunch, so that's what the kids wanted to do next.

Harry was awake by now, so he took a spin on the dinosaurs, too.

A note about the rides/attractions- Carter was chomping at the bit to hit the bigger, wilder attractions in all the parks, but he would have to wait until his dad joined us later on in the trip. Megan, being almost six months pregnant, would have to miss a lot of the major attractions, although she did go on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. She wasn't going to miss that one! And I am not a fan of roller coasters or anything else that goes too fast or spins too fast or, well, you get the picture! It was okay, though, because there was so much else to do, and when Daniel arrived, he and Carter (and Vanessa on a few) hit most of the major attractions.

After a few spins on the triceratops, we headed over to meet Mickey and Minnie!

 

[luvflorida]

Meeting Mickey and Minnie at Animal Kingdom.

A kiss on the nose for Mickey!

After hugs for Mickey and Minnie, we took the Wildlife Express over to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

On the trail to the conservation station. The spray fans that the kids are carrying were a huge hit! They were each allowed to choose something to buy and that's what they all picked. I'm glad we had a stroller with us, though, because the fans were quite heavy for little kids to carry, and it was nice to store them in the stroller's basket!

Meeting Rafiki!

Love this one! Rafiki patiently got the kids to line up and pose for this shot!

Carter loves rhinos, so he had to pose in front of this big guy!

After the conservation station, we made our way back to the front of the park and headed out. We had to get back to the Beach Club and get ready for a very special evening event! Where? Back to the Animal Kingdom!

We really enjoyed our day at the Animal Kingdom!