It Was The Best And the Worst of Times- We had some Doozies

[1hero2princesses]

Mostly it was the best of times but when things were bad they were really bad. Background -This was our first vacation in 8 years. First for me and DH to Disney in about 10 years (I had been a lot as a kid) he was only there once with me for a few days. First trip for kids DS 5, DD3, DD1.

Get to POR - they pull our brand new double stroller of the magical express and rip the middle wheel off. This does not bode well for the trip. We get inside, get the wheel on and it doesn't seem to stay. I send DH out to look for missing part. Says to me yeah right it will just be sitting there in the street. Yes, it was sitting there in the street. A little bit of Disney luck? Stroller was usable although I still need to get it fixed. Rest of first day was ok, but kids were too excited to go to bed early which may explain the next day a little...
Saturday - Head off to MK. Start to go through the gates with the stroller,Wait...where are the cards for the 5 year old and 3 year old, says the CM. I say POR gave me just to cards. Nasty sarcastic CM says well if you lost your cards you have to go to Customer Service. I said I didn't lose the cards they only gave me two cards. She says well I can't help that you lost them. I saw I didn't lose them I was only given two. I am not lying. She says well you have to pay for them. I said I did pay for them. I now know that POR just made a mistake and didn't give me the cards but she was really, really rude. So we have to head to the Customer Service. This makes the 3 year old hysterical that we went in and are now leaving. She starts throwing a fit. We finally all get inside get to the first ride, Dumbo and wait in line. Go to get on. 5 year old is so excited he runs and bumps into mom and then into Dumbo's wing, cutting open his lip which then swells up. Very nice CM gives us tickets for free ice cream and tells us to go into nearby restaurant to get ice. They refuse to give me ice and are not very nice about it. At this point none of us are happy. It was a rough morning.... But just wait until Dinner.. DH got an unwelcome wet surprise.....I will write more later if anyone is interested...

 

[disney's daughter]

Yes...Please write more...I feel bad for you already...I thought Disney gave ice out for free...At least, that's what people here on the forum have written...Even though the beginning and middle of your story isn't so great...I am hoping for a wonderful ending....

 

[ChelleinNC]

Wow, not a great start to a trip I do hope it got better

 

[1hero2princesses]

Thank you guys! Actually it did get a lot, lot better although that first day was by far the roughest. We did have some good moments the first day too. We had lunch at the castle and there is nothing like a 3 year old princess meeting the princesses. She was so very excited. The food was pretty good. I actually really liked the castle lunch and would recommend it. After lunch we rode a lot more rides in fantasyland which went pretty well.

This is Titled "the Pee Pee Incident"
Dinner did not go so well. We had ADR's at Liberty Tree. Mind you when I did all these ADR's my DD3 did not seem to be afraid of characters. We did find out this summer she was afraid of them but we had no idea how bad it had gotten. Before we could even sit down she saw Goofy and that was it. She did not want to go in there stated crying saying she wanted out. We ended up eating in shifts with one of us outside the door as the other one ate with the other two. On the upside the 5 year old really liked it. Here is the worst part, I guess you have to say the low of the trip. So we are almost done with dinner and my DH is outside with DD. She says she has to go to the bathroom. You can imagine what happens when he attempts to take her INSIDE to go potty. Oh yes, poor daddy. Well at least it was a quick dry shirt! I actually thought the dinner was good and wish we could have enjoyed it more. By the time we got outside everything was roped of for Spectromagic. By this time the 3 year old had worked herself in such a tizzy she went to sleep, so the rest of us enjoyed the parade. DD 1 just loved it! I couldn't capture on film how she was throwing her arms out and yelling at the parade but it was really cute. I won't forget it. And I am sure daddy won't forget the other part.....

 

[disney's daughter]

Ahhhhh..."Memories"....I have those...when my grandchildren were younger...Something would always happen.....I remember when my youngest grandchild became deathly afraid of the characters...Now...she turns on her charm...What a difference!

 

[1hero2princesses]

Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. We started out with our second and last character meal (although we had more scheduled). We tried the Tusker House. We didn't even make it inside before she got upset because she saw a character. My DH wolfed down 2 plates of food and went outside to wait. They were really very nice. Let me take some donuts and dried cereal for her to eat outside. We tended to encounter really nice CM's or ones not so nice, not a lot in between. Otherwise we really enjoyed Animal Kingdom. It was pretty hot day so we didn't look that great, but I wish I had gotten more pictures. I also wish it was open an hour or two later at this time of year. Getting out of there at 5 was tough. My kids loved the River Rapids ride. I thought it was fun, but I think they maybe should have a little more scenery along the way? I didn't think the logging theme was even clear, but I enjoyed and the ride and got very wet. No other major accidents melt downs or anything else this day! It was a minor miracle.

 

[1hero2princesses]

I have no idea if anyone is reading but I am going to keep writing. It is a great way to re-live your trip! Anyway - one very cute update - my DD3 the other day wanted to talk about WDW as she lay in her little princess bed the other night. She said I want to go on the bunny ride (Splash her favorite). I said maybe next year or the year after next. You also like it's a small world - she said yeah they had hula girls! Then she said - I Want to go Back to Happy World! I said well we will try to go back to Disney. She said yes, I want to go back to Happy World. I love that.

 

[1hero2princesses]

Day 3 was Hollywood Studios. Got there reasonably early for us - about 9:30. I so wanted to be there at gate opening everyday, but it turned out to be much harder than I thought. My kids and DH slept much later at Disney than at home. Usually I am the one not wanting to get up. At Disney I was up, dressed and fetched coffee before anyone else even woke up. It just took forever to get ready. And I also discovered it took me forever to sunscreen everyone (both DD's are Redheads). Anyway - headed as fast as possible for Toy Story Mania. I knew my DS would love it and I knew the stories from the DIS. I also had a friend who never got to ride it in June because wait times were never under 120 minutes and they missed the fast pass. Anyway we got lucky. Got fastpasses and got in line. Wait time was about 25 minutes. Very entertaining cue, although DD3 was a little afraid of Mr. Potato head (not a huge surprise there). Anyway, great ride. Opps gotta go check the oven. I will write more later...

 

[1hero2princesses]

Back to HS. This actually turned out to be a great park for DS 5. It is the only park that I feel is a little more boy oriented. After Toy Story Mania we headed toward the Indiana Jones show. My DS only sort of knows of him, but he knows he is cool right now so that is enough for him. On our way I stopped into the Primetime Cafe to ask about trying to get in. Our ADR's were for Playhouse Disney n' Dine but we had learned at this point that DD3 was not going to be able to do the character meals. We figured if we couldn't get in anywhere else we would eat in shifts again. They said they weren't taking walk ups but we could keep try again later. Saw the show and headed back (I also called trying to get into places as we waited for the show -nothing). We were getting close to the other ADR so I went back into Primetime to check again. This time I basically begged my way in. I told her the pee pee story. She felt sorry for me and got us a table. It was a great place and honestly the brownie sundae thing was one of my favorite desserts of the week. We were doing free dining and this is the first time we had ever ate in any disney sit down places. Such a treat. We usually only go out to eat about 3 times a year (yes we are pathetic people but it is very expensive here in the Chicago area). Anyway back to the story - It started to rain about 2 and didn't stop till about 10 that night so we had to tour HS in the rain. We did as many shows and rides as we could. My DS really like the Jedi Training and the Star Tours Ride. The kids loved Pizza Planet. I did make one HUGE mistake that evening. I let DS (who is afraid of scary stuff) ride TOT. He kept asking and I was seconding guessing myself the whole time we were walking to it. I kept asking him if he wanted to it, saying it might be too scary. DH says to me stop trying to freak him out and just go on it. Famous last words. I should have said no right then! I just didn't really remember the ride very well. I just didn't remember it being that scary! He was such a little trooper but he was really scared. I felt so guilty. I talked to him the whole time and held his hand. Said just close your eyes and I will keep talking. It is all just pretend and it will be over soon. I still feel bad about that one. I thought he would have nightmares for weeks. Strangely enough I think he tried hard to put it out of his mind because he hasn't really mentioned it much. Bad, Bad mommy. I was upset for 2 days. Unfortunately he didn't want to go in the haunted mansion or ride space mountain but other than that I haven't seen any ill effects yet. We didn't see Fantasmic (which I would have liked to see) because at this point I was sure DD3 would have a breakdown if she saw giant projected characters and scary music. Ahh... the good times. Seriously I underestimated the level of scary stuff. My kids loved the fast but just hated the dark and scary... I know they are on the high side of fear of creepy stuff but I didn't really think of too many things as really scary. That TOT mistake was totally mine. I knew better. Other than that DS really liked this park. I wish we could have done more of the character meet and greets. He did get to see Buzz and Woody (waited about 40 minutes for them) but missed the Incredibles (they went on break 3 people before we got to them). He would have liked to do a few others I think too. I know a lot of people say this isn't a full day park but for us it would have been a good day and half. We actually did pop back here later in the week but only for an hour! I wish Disney had more boy oriented stuff. I felt like it was maybe a little princess heavy. Especially because they don't offer a boys oriented character meal. I know this is a hot topic but I just don't get it! It would be so popular.

 

[janloz]

I'm reading, please keep going. When we went first time to WDW, DD turned 5 and REFUSED to go on/in any attraction that was 3D after bad experience so DH & I would swap who wouldn't go in.

 

[1hero2princesses]

I am going to try to figure out how to post photos. I have never posted a photo before, so please be kind. Anyway I forgot to mention one of the "worst of times" moments. On Saturday night after MK we got back to POR. The kids who had been tired were now all reved up. So they jumped on the bed. I said no jumping on the bed and went to the bathroom I hear DH say no jumping on the bed someone is going to get hurt. And Thud. DD3 fell off and scraped up her face. All of her pictures from the week show that her nose and lip are all scabbed. We held ice on her so the swelling wasn't too bad. All her beautiful princess pictures show here looking all beat up. Oh well. At least she wasn't hurt badly. We had already done CRT so we did get pictures with one of her favorites, Cinderella. There she is all week all dolled up (DD3 pretty much only will wear skirts or dresses, she is very girly) looking like she just fought a prize fight.

 

[1hero2princesses]

I think I need to refer to the kids by name. So from now on I will refer to DS5 as Buzz, DD3 as Tink and DD1 as Minnie. Day 4, Tuesday, was Epcot and MNSSHP Party. In the morning we went to Epcot and started Future World. We rode Nemo, saw the Turtle Talk and the kids and I rode Soarin, which my Tink called Sauris. I have no idea why? She is still calling it that. We had lunch at Coral Reef which we all really like. The kids liked the fish tank and we enjoyed the food. After lunch I wanted to try to get everyone to rest in the vain hope we would be able to stay at MNSSHP a little later, so we went back to POR. Didn't work. DH ending up swimming with the kids while I prepared costumes and got repacked for the evening. We got to MK around 4:15 and headed stright to the Barbershop. I had been wanting to get both girls first haircuts there and figured we might as well do it then and get the sprinkles in their hair. We ended up waiting about 50 minutes so I also got Buzz a little touch up to his buzz and a blue mickey head painted in his hair. I figured it is disney, it is MNSSHP so anything goes. The girls did great for the cuts and the place does a very good job. And it is very inexpensive. I would have paid more to have it done here. They also got those cute little ears for mom to keep and it gives me a story to tell them about their first haircut. I am glad I did it. Off to soccer in a few minutes so I will try to write MNSSHP party in the next post.

 

[grandpaof3]

We took our DD4, DS5 & DS7 to WDW in 1974 for the first time. My DD remembers the hotel we stayed at but nothing else about the trip. We went back each year for the next 6 yrs. and, yes, she does remember those times. The only resorts were CR. & POLY. and of course MK & River Country were the only attractions. There were very small crowds and I have pictures of my children on an empty Main Street in the middle of the day. Six years latter we took DD16 back to the world and couldn't believe how things had changed. Yep, those first seven years were the GOOD OLD DAYS.

We are now in the process of spoiling our Grandchildren and after 5 visits to the World they are real Disney Pros. Were back again next year, CR again this time.

Enjoy your DD's & DS while you can, they grow up way too fast.

 

[1hero2princesses]

Ok I am determined to finish this.... MNSSHP was not soooo... well fun for us. Unfortunately my kids didn't like it. They did like getting candy, but the lines for candy were pretty crazy. We accidently got stuck in the line that goes from Toontown back to Tomorrowland and it took forever. My little Tink and I did get our faces painted. We got in line about 15 minutes to 7 but this still took about a half an hour as there were so many in front of us. I think that was the first time in my life I have ever had my face painted (I am 40!). Anyway I am sure that is picture she will be able to laugh at someday. I did like the parade but the kids were rather scared of it. I thought the fireworks were ok, but honestly our 4th of July Fireworks here are twice or three times as long and much much more impressive. I do love that boo to you song and did buy their special events CD. Anyway I guess my kids were just too young. Overall they found the whole thing to be very scary. Even Buzz, who is 5 was really scared and kept pulling the stroller hood down over his face. I don't think I would do it again unless my kids were a lot older and really into Halloween. I think if your kids are not afraid of "scary" stuff they will be fine, but otherwise I would have to say save your money till they are older.