It's Pam's Fault . . . Updated 7/10 Chapter 7: DDs Princess Day!

[princess@heart]

Okay, you're timing is about as good as my Pal Mickey who told us as we walked to the bus at Epcot that there were no lines at Mission Space.

I'm glad to hear that you got the royal treatment-did it include glow cubes?

BTW, as much as I am enjoying the very cute rotating siggie pictures, couldn't your time be better spent working on your TR? We want to hear more about this royal treatment and your "dreams"

I know, I know... It's just so hard for me to write TRs becasue I want to go back so bad!

We didn't get glow cubes at Coral Reef, but they did give us souvenier menus!

 

[KangaFan]

It is hard, isn't it. I'm just now leaving the depressed that we're not going back soon and entering the we had a great time, so I'll have to relive it through my TR phase.

And I apologize, as you will read on your TR, I did not realize that you had started, I just thought you had left a teaser, but DisneyJo set me straight and I found your new link. Thanks DJ!

 

[amytheobald]

I m loving the TR...so what all did you put inside your little books!!

 

[KangaFan]

I m loving the TR...so what all did you put inside your little books!!

I put mini versions of my itineraries, approximate show times for entertainment at all the parks, a list of DDP restaurants and confirmed use of snack credits for each park, and Tour Guide Mike's best tips for each attraction. Of all the things in there, the itinerary, the entertainment times & TGMs tips got the most use. If you don't want to do TGM, you could put the best tips from the DIS, but we found TGMs tips worth their weight in gold. HTH!!!

 

[amytheobald]

I put mini versions of my itineraries, approximate show times for entertainment at all the parks, a list of DDP restaurants and confirmed use of snack credits for each park, and Tour Guide Mike's best tips for each attraction. Of all the things in there, the itinerary, the entertainment times & TGMs tips got the most use. If you don't want to do TGM, you could put the best tips from the DIS, but we found TGMs tips worth their weight in gold. HTH!!!

I am a TGM subscriber, but I m overwhelmed...unsure of how to use or have all of the info accessible and useful while we are there.

 

[tinkgurl]

That anniversary pin is so cute!

 

[princess@heart]

Does TGM do Disneyland, too?

 

[KangaFan]

I am a TGM subscriber, but I m overwhelmed...unsure of how to use or have all of the info accessible and useful while we are there.

I know what you're saying. I found it very confusing at first, but then I learned my way around. The most useful parts are his schedule of what parks to visit what day and his sample touring plans. Once I covered those, I moved on to other articles about other things we wanted to do. If I couldn't find a link, I just did a search and the articles popped up. The forums are great, too. If you want to know something and can't find it, post and I'm sure you will have some expert advice with links ASAP.

Does TGM do Disneyland, too?

Good question. I think he only does Disney World because he knows the ins and outs since he use to work there, but I'll take a look and get back to you on that one.

 

[KangaFan]

That anniversary pin is so cute!

Cute & free, two of my favorite things!

 

[kimkreis]

I didn't realize you were posting this over here!!!
I get my oh so excited Disney face on the DIs and I don't even know it!!

Subscribing so I will know how your trip turned out!

 

[KangaFan]

Hi Kim! I didn't realize you didn't know I was posting on the DIS. Glad you could join us over here.

Hey everyone else! Sorry it has taken me so long between chapters. Cub scouts, laundry, volunteering, Sunday school, dishes, vacuuming, etc just keep getting in the way--I'm going to have to fire my maid oh and the cook, they keep forgetting to show up. LOL! Here's chapter 4 finally!

Day 4—Tuesday, January 23rd

Well, after 3 days of walking and a full day of Epcot, I was able to sleep in until 5 this morning. Did I mention that I am not normally a morning person? Anyway, I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I thought I would get up and start the day.

Surprisingly, we already had quite a bit of laundry and most of the week after this day was going to be cooler, so I got up and went down to “Laundry on the Levee” to throw a couple of loads in. Let me tell you, 5:30 is a great time to do laundry! I had my pick of machines. After loading in my clothes, I neatly folded my two “laundry” aka Disney stores shopping bags and placed my dryer sheets on top so they would be ready to use when I got back. I then went back to the room, got the kids breakfast, laid out their clothes and went back to transfer the clothes from washers to dryers. One problem—my bags and dryer sheets were gone. I had seen a cleaning crew working around the pool so I thought I might check the trash to see if they threw them away. Sure enough, my bags were in there, but no dryer sheets. I went up to the front desk to see if they could contact housekeeping because these were the only dryer sheets I had brought with me. I have to say that this is the only time I encountered poor service. Apparently POFQ does not put their best and brightest on the overnight shift. Anyway, the gal on duty just told me that they contract out for those cleaning services and that she had no way to contact them. There was no, “Oh, I’m sorry that happened, let me see if we can replace them for you . . ., etc.” I guess this is what I expected of a Disney resort, but since it didn’t happen, we just carried on with unsoftened clothing and no one seemed to notice.

Anyway, we got ready, hopped a bus to MK and got there just as the opening show was finishing. It was nice not having to wait so long for the park to open and we strolled through the front gate and headed down Main Street USA. At one point, DS fell behind and when I turned to look for him, he came running up to me and said, “Look, Mom, free pins!” He was nonchalantly holding two of the Tinker Bell Year of Million Dreams pins. I asked him what the CM said when he gave them to him and he said, “follow the directions on the back.” My son later decided that the pins were too “girly” for him, so he gave his to my daughter. I explained that the other pin was supposed to be given to a person or family who we thought deserved a little something extra. (We later presented the pin to my aunt since she is such a big pin collector and has done so much to make magic for us by answering my many questions, offering planning advice, etc. She was thrilled and very touched.)

Pins in hand, we headed to our first destination, Tomorrowland and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin! Tomorrowland was so cool, I felt like I’d stepped right into an episode of the Jetsons! It was also EMPTY compared to what Fantasy Land had been like on Sunday.

We walked right on to Buzz. DD was not thrilled with it and I couldn’t seem to get my laser to point upward, so my score was not up to par, but it was fun anyway. (Note to newbies like us, the laser guns come out of the holders—we didn’t realize this until the next day while watching Top Ten with DS in our room!) DS & DH wanted to go back on, but DD did not, so they went back through while we headed to Astro Orbiter which was a complete walk on! We posed for a picture (DSis was sitting in front of us):

And we were off. I have to say that I didn’t think anything of the somewhat old looking seatbelt until DD took us all the way to the top and our rocket tilted! Maybe its because I had not gone on this as a child, but I thought it was a little hairy up there, tilted to the side, with only what looked like a thick old belt loosely holding us in. DSis is not a lover of heights, so she kept her rocket on the ground and as much as I like to tease her, I think I would have joined her if I could. DD loved it, though and by the time we got off, DH & DS were there, so they rode again. I offered to abstain and be the photographer. DSis volunteered to assist me.

By the time my family had managed to survive their second spin on Astro Orbiter, it was time to head to Toon Town for the grand opening. We had a mission—to try and ride the Barnstormer with Goofy. You see, when I first started planning our Disney adventure, I had ordered the planning DVD during the “Happiest Celebration on Earth” and this DVD featured a clip with children riding the Barnstormer with Goofy. DD was thrilled and couldn’t wait to ride with Goofy. At the time, I thought this was just a commercial photo shoot, so I explained to her that Goofy didn’t usually ride, that it was just for the video. Once I found the DIS, however, I learned that he did indeed ride the first ride of the day and I decided to be my daughter’s own personal dream team and to try and make her dream come true.

We arrived at Toon Town around 9:45 and the kids checked out Donald’s Boat while I saved our spot at the rope drop.

There were two different ropes on the Disney railroad side of Toon Town, so I picked the one of the left because it was closer to the Barnstormer. We were there a few minutes when characters started appearing. At first, they headed to the other rope and I started to worry that my overachieving-Disney-planning self had picked wrong, but eventually, more characters came and greeted at our rope too. We got Chip & Dale

And Donald & Daisy

The kids were really excited to see Chip & Dale “again” and even more excited to see Donald & Daisy. As the rope dropped, Daisy chose DD & DS to walk with her to the Toon Town Fair. I thought for a split second that this meant the kids wouldn’t get to ride Barnstormer with Goofy, but the smiles on their faces told me that this was fun for them, not the dream I’d planned, but a dream nevertheless.

As we followed them in, DH came up to me and said, “Oooh, Daisy is messing with the plan, you want me to take her out?” One of these days I’m going to call his bluff, just to see what he’ll do.

Back to Daisy. This was a better deal than I first realized and I was glad that I had flexed because the kids got to do pics with Daisy & Donald, Chip & Dale and Princess Aurora & Prince Philip (didn’t know that he even had a name before this, I just always thought of him as the guy who woke Sleeping Beauty.)

 

[KangaFan]

After our Semi-private photo shoot, we met up with my aunt and headed over to the Barnstormer. Can you believe my aunt, a Florida resident and an annual passholder, has never ridden the Barnstormer??? She loved it and so did the kids. DS wanted to go again, but DD wanted to check out Minnie’s House, so we split up. The camera and I went with DD and did a Minnie photo shoot.

The details just cracked me up. Especially the fridge contents

And the flowers

Here’s DD trying to steal Minnie’s cheese

Next we moved on to Mickey’s House

I loved the kitchen being “remodeled” by Goofy and friends

The garden was great, too

As a former native, I thought all the Massachusetts folks would appreciate this one

After we finished up with the Mouse tour of homes, DD played on the playground while I bought some matching Minnie hats for my nieces and then we all met up and boarded the WDW Railroad. We sat in the back and were in luck this time because we had a GREAT conductor who made DS a Guest Conductor

She was so nice and let both kids say “all aboard”

And gave DS one of these

We thought about heading to Frontierland, but realized that it was getting close to time for our ADR at Crystal Palace, so we got off at Main Street and headed to Crystal Palace for a little smackeral. On the way, we stopped for a picture in front of the castle.

It ended up being a really cute picture, too bad DD was cranky and didn’t want to join us. In hindsight, I wish that I had waited until after she had eaten. She probably would have been much more cooperative and it might have been worth waiting in the longer line for this particular photopass spot.

 

[KangaFan]

Our ADR was for 11:35 and we got there a little after 11, so we checked in and went to do a potty break. We could have had our choice of benches to wait on when we arrived, but by the time we came back from the restroom, it was packed, so I was glad to have already checked in. We were seated very close to our reserved time and the characters started coming right away.

Since our anniversary was on the reservation, we got this

and later on, we all got to march in the “It’s my Special Day” parade around the restaurant. My aunt was like a big kid when Eeyore, her favorite, came by.

The kids got to bounce with Tigger.

The food was delicious and the characters were sweet, but it just wasn’t the Garden Grill. We had to take turns hitting the buffet, so we wouldn’t miss any of the characters. I found this much more hectic than the family style seating and even though it was 11:30 on a Tuesday in January, it was packed, so it was noisy. We happened to be in one of the center tables close to the buffet which also meant that people were constantly walking by. The kids really enjoyed it, though, and while I don’t think I would really feel the need to go back, I’m glad we went once.

After lunch, we headed out. My in-laws were arriving and we wanted to have time for a break before we came back with them in the afternoon. We split up and DH took the kids back to POFQ while I went with DSis and my aunt to do a pharmacy run. The kids had colds and I wanted to get some cough medicine. As we got to the monorail, we realized that there was no one waiting, so we got to go in front! I was bummed that the kids had missed this, but I did remember to ask (thanks to all the great TRs I had read) if they had any of the trading cards for the kids. And I got these:

After our Walgreens stop, my aunt dropped me off at POFQ. The kids & DH were in my in-laws room, so I walked over. There are definitely advantages to checking in on a Tuesday. They had a ground floor, river front room! Here’s a cute pic of DFIL walking to their room with DD and her new cat, Rosemary. (I think she’s from Aristocats, but since we’ve never seen it, DD named her Rosemary.)

We headed back to our room to change out a few things before returning to MK. This is when I first saw these little guys

These were our only towel animals of the week, but since we got 4, I can’t complain. I think we may have had a different cleaner on this day, because my Mom (who’s room connected to ours) got animals too.

All re-packed for the afternoon and Spectro, we hopped the bus to MK with my in-laws. We took the train from Main Street to Frontierland and DD, now the pro, sat in the very back so she could get her own Guest conductor card. A different conductor, but just as nice, she let all the kids in the back say “all aboard.” We got off in Frontierland and I grabbed FPs for BTMR for later. For our first ride, we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. DD was tired and was afraid that it would be scary, so DH stayed outside with her. Next we stopped by the Tiki Room. DD had looked at this one on the computer and loved the music. I have to say that the birds Tiki song and birds were cute, but at the risk of sounding like my mother, some of the newer music was a too loud.

Next, it was time for a little ice cream break and you guessed it, one of these babies

Refreshed from our snack break, we headed to Haunted Mansion. I assumed that DD who was spooked at the idea of Pirates would not want to do Haunted Mansion, but the snack break must have helped because she was ready to ride. On the way in, we talked about how we were going to “scare” the ghosts and DD decided she would say “ooga booga booga.” I sat her between myself and DMIL and she loved it. I think “scaring” the ghosts really helped her.

As you may or may not remember from my pre-trip, It’s a Small World is DMIL’s favorite ride. In fact, she like it so much that DH and his two brothers came to loathe it and DFIL would use it as a threat, “be good or I’ll make you ride IASW with Mom again.” Anyway, it was a dream of DMIL’s to ride it with her grandchildren, so that was next on our list.

I thought the Good-bye signs in all the languages were cute. DD loved it all and is now a big IASW fan just like her Grandma. After reading his own Disney guide, DS had been seriously concerned that the song would get stuck in his head. At the end he announced triumphantly that he had kept it out by thinking of other things.

 

[KangaFan]

Next, I sent DH, DD and the in-laws to use the Mickey’s Philharmagic FPs we had picked up earlier while DS & I headed over to Space Mountain. I had not ridden it yet and we had picked up some FPs earlier in the day. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was down. And even more unfortunate was the scene DS got to witness—a grown man pitching a fit and using choice language because he couldn’t use his Fast Pass. God Bless the cast member who remained calm despite being verbally attacked. DS was really disappointed, but I told him that it may not be down all night, so we went to check out the TTA and had a nice little trip around Tomorrowland.

And guess what? When we went through SM, it was up and running, so we got off and made a beeline for the FP entrance. Because of the down time, it was still and 10 or 15 minute wait with FPs, but the line moved quickly and before we knew it, we were loading into our rocket. It wasn’t a favorite of mine, but it was great to be there with DS who LOVED it even though this was his 3rd or 4th trip. We had another set of FPs, but with the wait time and Spectro looming, I knew we needed to get over to our seats. I gave the FPs to couple of girls who were heading to the standby line which was running 60 minutes + at this point and we headed over to Liberty Square to watch Spectro. Here's a cute pic of my Mom and DD waiting for the parade to start:

DS was really disappointed about not using the second set of FPs and decided that this Spectromagic was a big waste of his time. He let me know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to watch it. Knowing my son, I let him sulk and told him that was fine, he didn’t have to watch, he could just sit there, not watching. It took about 30-40 seconds once it started before he was gazing at the parade in amazement. Thanks Disney! This was our first parade (as non-performers) and it was incredible!

There must have been a little extra pixie dust floating our way because first Pluto came bounding toward us and stopped right in front of DS (who casually explained this by saying, “oh, he remembered me from the Garden Grill”). Then this fish drove right up to us and stopped, staring at my children with his cute fishy face.

And finally Cinderella waved to DD, who couldn’t have been happier!

Once Spectro was done, it was time to find a good spot to watch the fireworks. I have to say, this is the only time that I felt somewhat unprepared. Everyone was looking to me and my guides to tell them where to go. I knew a couple of good spots from reading TRs, but finding them on the map and actually getting there was more difficult than I had thought.

Everyone was pretty tired at this point, especially the guys, who stood during the parade, so we went over near Dumbo where there were some tables and benches. The kids, DMIL and my Mom went for a ride on Dumbo and even got to stay on for a second round without getting off. After Dumbo shut down, the kids used the non-flying Dumbo as a rest/play spot and even watched the fireworks from here.

It was a little bit like watching a tennis match (looking left and right) from our vantage point once the two different layers of fireworks started, but it wasn’t crowded, we had seats and we couldn’t complain about the view of the castle.

We took our time exciting and headed home to POFQ. DD fell asleep on the bus, so DH took her back to the room. The rest of us stopped by the food court to grab a bite to eat since we had skipped dinner. We were just too full from lunch. The food court was hopping! I was amazed at the number of people eating at 9 o’clock. After dinner, we collapsed, happy and exhausted!

DO --a Magic Kingdom morning midweek in January—it was wonderful!
--take your laser gun out of the holder on Buzz—I’m sure this would
have helped my pitiful score
--get to Toon Town early, the kids loved interacting with the characters
and being chosen by Daisy
--be flexible and not too tied to your schedule. We avoided a lot of
grumpiness and had some great times by diverting from my grand
plan
--sit in the back of the WDW Railroad—not many people do since
it isn’t convenient to the entrance, but the kids loved it and we picked
up two more free souvenirs
--plan to do important pictures when everyone is happy/fed/rested
--check-in during the week if you can. My in-laws had a wonderful
room location without reserving/paying for a “preferred” room
--Spectromagic! And get there early and save seats so you can be
in front—the kids really felt that so many of the characters were
waving to them since they were in front.
--pack your own glow bracelets—this was a great TR tip—the kids loved
these and it saved us from purchasing expensive glow toys—they
also enjoyed sharing them with other kids around us, so bring extras!

DON’T--leave anything in the laundry rooms at Disney resorts
--underestimate the scare factor of Astro Orbiter if you have anyone
who is afraid of heights
--push your kids when they don’t want to get their picture taken. One
grumpy face can ruin a picture
--feel that Crystal Palace is a must do unless you have a die-hard Pooh
fan. If I had to choose just 1 or 2 character meals, this wouldn’t
have made the cut because of how loud/crowded it was

Up next: Aaargh! Pirate Adventure (the land lubber version), breakfast at the GF Café, MGM a la rain, 50's Prime Time and Fantasmic!

 

[KimAshton]

Love your TR. Kids are so adorable

 

[princessjv]

Loving the report! I'm lovin the pic's and the tips at the end. We were at Mk the same day. Wish I was back!

 

[deide71]

Your trip report is fantastic. I am really enjoying it, and plan on using the tips you provide on our trip later this month. Thanks for all of the time and energy I am sure it requires to pull this off .

 

[KangaFan]

Kim: thanks for reading! I think they're pretty cute, but I'm not the most objective person

Princessjv: Wasn't it a great MK day? I'm with you on wanting to return. I think one of the reasons it is taking me so long to post these chapters is that it makes me want to go back so badly

Deide: later this month? Can you fit Princessjv & I in your luggage? I've learned so much on the DIS that I felt I needed to pay it forward. And although its kind of bittersweet, it is nice to relive all the details without boring a bunch of your non-Disney loving friends to death Thanks for reading!

 

[DisneyJo]

Great day Trinity, must remember the railroad tip and did your fastpasses work past there time like you know who says?

The photos of Daisy and your kids are great, that's got to be as good as riding the Barnstormer with Goofy

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

Kanga,
I was way behind , but now I'm all caught up and good. I have to tell you it never, ever crossed my mind to get off the train at ToonTown and wait for the rope drop on that side. What an awesome tip!

I love you photos. Mickey's garden can be a sensory overload spot for me. I can't ever seem to take it all in, and your pictures are like Cliff Notes. Thanks!

Keep up the great work. Looking forward to more.