It's Tough to be with a Bug weekend (10/30-11/03) in WDW!!!

[kindra657]

I've attempted trip reports before but I don't think I'm the best writer and find that I have a difficult time relaying my thoughts and feelings appropriately thru writing, but our trip was too cool to not report!

We planned a "last minute" trip to wdw for halloween weekend-Friday 30th- Tues Nov 3. Found out that dd didn't have school on the 2nd or the 3rd (election day and teacher in-service day) so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend!

cast:

me, Kindra.

DH-Donald

DD- Ramiah (8)

DD BFF- Sierra (8) (aka C-Bug or just "Bug")

This is Bug's first wdw trip and we are super excited to share it with her!! Her mom and I are very close friends and she was very nervous about letting bug go with us...but in the end, my power of persuasion pervailed and she was given the green light to go to wdw! yay!

Plan: Do as much as possible in 4 days! DDP- QS (no resies)

We live in a suburb of Cleveland, but because flights were super cheap out of Detroit, we decided to drive up there for our flight down to MCO. Our 7:00am flight on Fri was too early for a 2 hour drive from OH so we decided to drive up Thurs night and get a room. We got a room at the Comfort Inn with 5 days of parking for $59!! ..not too bad!

We drove up to detroit after trick or treat on thurs. We got there around 11pm and went straight to sleep...

NOT!!!

At 12:30am I'm laying in my bed looking over at the girls' bed and Bug keeps looking at me and grinning. I kept giggling cause I could see how excited she was! It made me so happy! I finally fell asleep around 1am and popped right out of bed at 3:50am! omg will I ever get a good night's sleep before Disney??? Oh well, the magic will bring me energy!!...I hope...

I'm crazy sleepy and I go back to work tomorrow morning, so I will continue this tomorrow; download some pictures and continue with our adventures and exciting trip then!

 

[praisehisname]

Hi! I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Denise

 

[kindra657]

October 30th FRIDAY

We got off the plane around 9:45am, headed straight to ME, and was on our bus to SSR within 10 minutes.

We have a family joke about being "cursed" because we are the last to be dropped off every time we take ME. It's something that's expected and something we no longer get disappointed about! It's just the Wallace Family Curse- no matter what resort we stay at. Well, at this point we named Bug our lucky charm because we were the 2nd stop to get dropped off (out of 4) and our 1st stop at OKW was VERY fast!!


We did the online check-in so that was a breeze. No lines for the online check-in counter.

We received our room keys & welcome home packet, and headed directly to Artists Palette for a snack because we were starving! DD, Bug, and DH all grabbed a muffin and I knew that the girls wouldn't eat those massive muffins, so I waited for their leftovers



Our room wasn't ready yet, so we jumped on the bus for MK!!! Bug couldn't wait to ride HM!!! We arrived at MK and took a leisurely stroll down Mainstreet, USA. I wanted to make a mad dash to POTC but Bug saw the Swiss Family Tree House and had to take a look. I took this opportunity message Bug's aunt and dad and let them know we arrived safely. I notified her mom as soon as the plane touched the ground because she probably would have had the national guard looking for her if I didn't!!


After visiting the Disneyodendron we took off to POTC, saving the Jungle Cruise for later (which we never got to ). Bug liked the POTC well enough, but it's one of our favorites. DD whistled the POTC songs so much that it got on MY nerves!!


After POTC, we headed back to Splash and BTMR to see what the wait times were like and to grab fastpasses. Splash mountain was broke down, so we decided to grabbed fast passes for BTMR for 1:30-2:30. On our way to the HM from BTMR, we caught Princess Tiana's Riverboat Jubilee! We enjoyed that a lot and was wondering how guests were able to go onto the riverboat .


We then headed over to the HM (15 min wait) off to Philharmagic (no wait- we walked in and sat down in great seats). Bug enjoyed Philhar but probably not as much as we do.
You see, we live about 30 minutes from Cedar Point and she's very accustomed to extreme thrill rides and that was what she kept looking for. I had to keep reminding her that Disney world has theme parks and that they are very special and magical in ways that cedar point could never compete with. At 8 years old, I doubt she understood any of it at that point.


Anyhoo, we had lunch at Columbia Harbor House. I shared a fish platter with DH and the girls shared a shrimp platter. With QS, we do a lot of sharing because the portions are so big. The girls loved their shrimp and I always enjoy the fish. The line for HM was shorter at this point, so we decided to go on it again because Bug absolutely LOVED HM!!! She was so excited about the "cold chills" she kept feeling and how she knew it was ghosts running past her! I loved it!!


After we rode HM, we were walking to BTMR for our FP return and a cast member stopped and asked us what we were celebrating. We explained that it was bug's 1st visit. He then issued us this:


at this point, DD got crazy excited! She's been reading "The Princess and the Frog" and she's already into Princess Tiana. When the cast member told her that we would have a special meet with her, I thought DD was going to pass out!! I love being the mommy to a silly DD

 

[kindra657]

Hi! I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Denise

Welcome aboard Denise! Good to know someone will be reading this!! The trip is only 4 days, but there's a TON to report!!

 

[Hanover]

Welcome aboard Denise! Good to know someone will be reading this!! The trip is only 4 days, but there's a TON to report!!

What a great start to your TR! I love that you were given such special passes to meet Princess Tiana!!

 

[praisehisname]

How fun to experience everything through a "newbie's" eyes! Can't wait to read more!

Denise

 

[kindra657]

What a great start to your TR! I love that you were given such special passes to meet Princess Tiana!!

Thanks and welcome aboard as well!! you were there the same weekend so maybe you can contribute to some of my opinions on crowds!

 

[kindra657]

Ok, so we received the special invitation and at this point I'm angry at myself for packing the autograph book in the checked luggage

With ticket in hand, we headed over to POTC again to wait for our FP return time and we caught the capt Jack Sparrow show. DD was called to participate in the tutorial



Bug also got picked to pledge her loyalty to the code and they both received certified pirate certificates With these 3 precious pieces of paper in hand, we headed to BTMR and saw that Splash was operating!


Splash will be down for a refurb during our Jan trip so I really wanted to make it on there! We grabbed FPs for Splash with a return time of 4:55p. That was a little later than we wanted because we wanted to head to AK for EMH at 5 but oh well, gotta make it to Splash!!

We rode BTMR and headed to Laugh Floor cause DH loves that show! It was about 2:30. DH ended up being "Mike" during the show (cause of the green shirt I think) and we then went over to see the castle.


We decided to head back over to the riverboat. It was 3:17....enough time for HM again?? The line was short so we went for it. We were 5 mins late for our 3:30 apt time!

We got to the waiting area for the riverboat and our cast member leader, (can't remember his name but he was from New Orleans!) was amazing! VERY upbeat, fun, and energetic!!



This was lots of fun and will give more details soon!

Gotta get DD to Basketball...I'll update some more on our 1st day later this evening!

 

[kindra657]

Since the start of our day at MK, I was thinking that the crowd levels were moderate to high. The crowd calender called for a "6" on Friday and I'd say that the forcast was relatively accurate. We've ventured to wdw for 3 different spring breaks, so my tolerance for crowds may be a little higher than others. Ok, enough about crowds and back to our awesome 1st day!!

We got off of the Riverboat and we all agreed that the Jubilee was a ton of fun! We asked Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen to sign the boarding pass since we didn't have our autograph book yet. They were happy to sign it! Bug and DD were totally excited about meeting a princess before the movie was even released!! They gave us some special necklaces and we are saving them for when we go to see the movie (with their free movie tickets)
Btw, prince Naveen was absolutely gorgeous!!!

We found our way over to Splash for our FP return and then took the wdw railroad to the front of the park.


We took the monorail to the ttc in order to catch a bus to AK. I showed Bug a video on youtube showing Expedition Everest a few weeks before the trip, but I didn't show her the whole ride...just enough for a teaser! She's enjoyed MK so far and I couldn't wait to get her on Disney's coolest coaster (IMO)!!! At this point, she's high with anticipation!!


DH was starting to show signs of winding down...have I mentioned that DH cannot keep up with us girls? Well if I neglected that detail, now ya know!!!
here he is giving us a great big yawn!

We got to AK around 5:30 and there weren't many people there
After eating a quick dinner at Pizzafari (we love the italian sandwich there), we went straight to EE!!!

DD is in heaven...Bug looks a little scared...


We got off of EE and Bug LOVED it!! We then rode EE 2 more times and then went over to ride Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur. We rode EE 3 more times and headed to It's Tough To Be a Bug right at 8pm
Ya know what bug, it is tough to be a bug isn't it?

We took a few photos of our studio room in SSR (didn't take any of the couch cause it was already full of the girls' stuff and pulled out into a bed)

END OF DAY 1- What an amazing start to a wonderful 4 days in Disney!!!

 

[kindra657]

I forgot to include details of the Riverboat Jubilee Experience!! First, we go to the boat boarding area where we received our special instructions. This is where they gave us instructions on how to properly hold the hankies they gave us to wave, the different props we would use, and our costume change. We followed our "leader's" directions while on the boat. We danced, shaked, and boogied down with the scarves, musical notes, and a big church-choir-like shirt. Once we were "behind the scenes" we got in line to meet with the prince and princess. There were 25 guests on board and all were celebrating something (birthdays, anniversaries, 1st visits, etc and all had celebration buttons on...HINT HINT!!!) All of the cast members were a ton of fun and made the time fly on the boat!

Overall, the entire experience was amazing! It was about 40 minutes long total and it was a ton of fun! We were all sweating when we got done and we all agreed that our arms got good workouts! lol!

 

[kindra657]

Day 2

Saturday October 31 HALLOWEEN!!!

DHS had EMH at 8:00am and we decided we wanted to take advantage of them before heading over to Epcot.

We (me, DD, and Bug) woke up at 6:30 am, we all got our costumes on (which we would soon regret), and headed over to artist's palette for breakfast and were on the bus to DHS at 7:20.

We got to DHS in time for 8:00 rope drop and we headed straight to the thrill rides: TOT and RRC. We rode TOT 3x and RRC 1x and then decided to head to epcot before the crowds hit.
We headed down to the friendship boat dock at 8:45 and their was a boat waiting for us! The 25 minute ride to Epcot was enjoyable, as usual and we were able to show Bug where we were all going to stay for our Aug trip!
(In Aug we (my family and bug's family) are all going to wdw for a week and staying the bwv.)

We were in such a hurry this morning, that I forgot to grab the camera!!

We got to Epcot and headed straight to Soarin. DH was still in the room sleeping or doing his homework...???....but I had his AP so I attempted to get him a FP for the ride along with ours. This is when I learned that because he didn't use his ticket to get into the park, it could not be used to get a FP. The cast member came over and I explained to him that DH was a party pooper and didn't want to wake up with us at 6:30am and the CM was really nice. He issued us a FP for DH! YAY!!

We rode soarin and while we were getting off, I got a text message from DH saying he was there and for us to meet him at the entrance with his AP.

We met DH at the gate and he had my camera!!
got a pic of the girls in their costumes!


Once DH got into Epcot, we went and got FPs to Soarin and rode Mission: Space. For some reason, that ride made me very sick over the summer so I decided to do the green side while the 3 of them did the orange version.

We got a snack and headed to the land for our Soarin FP return


Bug loved Mission: Space and she liked test track and Soarin but she was still so excited from TOT and RRC, that's all she kept talking about! lol!

We attempted to venture into the world's showcase, but...by 12:00, we got HOT HOT HOT!!! I was wearing layers of clothing for my costume and I didn't think I could take anymore heat! I don't think it was a good idea putting on the costume early in the day

We went back to SSR and decided to take a dip!

DH is going to KILL me for posting this pic


After we cooled off in the pool for a bit, we decided to have lunch at Artist's Palette YUM!!!


I took some resort photos:


We decided against going back to Epcot cause the girls wanted to get their costumes back on for Trick or Treat around the resort! FUN!


With me being dressed as a gypsy, they said we looked like a "band of gypsies!" We then decided against Illuminations and stayed for the costume contest and arts and crafts.


We made a night of it at SSR!! I won 3rd place in the costume contest and we (Wallace Family) won the Disney Trivia game. The girl got their bathing suites back on and jumped in the pool. DH and I laid by the pool and watched "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

It was a wonderful halloween!!!

 

[kindra657]

Is anyone reading this

Oh well, I will go ahead and continue on with the report!

Day 3 Sunday November 1st

We, including DH!!, woke up at 7:00am. I actually woke Bug up 30 minutes before dd cause that lil Bug takes a LOOOOOOONG time in the shower!!
I said to dh, "what takes her so long!?" He then said "She has to run around the shower to get wet!!" ...it was a joke referring to how skinny she is and it was so funny!
When she finally got out of the shower---due to me threatening the life of her thru the locked door cause dd was about to mess all over herself---we were poking fun at her about running around the shower getting wet. Her facial expressions are priceless!!!!



We finally got ready and had breakfast at Artist's Palette...then we headed to AK for rope drop!!

While waiting in line to get through the gates, I saw another DISer!! Unfortunately I'm a bit shy around people I don't know. She grinned and said hi to me and I grinned and said hi to her.
She looked like a sweetheart and I was hoping she would strike up a conversation but she didn't and I'm a coward so I didn't either .
I may have lost out on an opportunity to make a great friend. Anyhoo, 2 people in her party were celebrating their birthdays and one was 82 years old (Stella). We cheered really loud for them when the CMs made an announcement for them

Up to this point, bug and dd were getting along great! I remember standing in the line wondering how long it would last because those two are so much alike! They act like sisters more than friends. Even with late nights and early mornings, those two continued to get along great! Must have been the magic in air .



Thus far, Bug wasn't getting tired either. I was telling my bf (her mom) that Bug would probably spend time with my dh while my dd and I ran around the parks from dawn till dusk. She did tell me that Bug would keep up and she was right!! I was surprised!

We got into the park and were standing to the right-hand side of the rope. A CM walked up and invited the girls to open the park for them!!! yay!! They got to raise the cover of the tip board and the CM also told us that because the girls helped with opening the park, we would get VIP seating to The Festival of the Lion King and when we went was our choice!! We chose the 11:00 show and the girls went under the rope to open the park!!!


We watched the rope drop show and headed straight to EE for FPs!!

 

[Hanover]

I'm reading! You are doing a great job! It's always nice to see reports of a trip from the same time we vacationed and see their perspective of the days.

SSR looks like a fabulous resort and the food looks good too!

 

[kindra657]

I'm reading! You are doing a great job! It's always nice to see reports of a trip from the same time we vacationed and see their perspective of the days.

SSR looks like a fabulous resort and the food looks good too!

Well it's good to see that I'm not doing this TR for my own benefit...tho I do enjoy reliving the trip in order to share it with my fellow DISers

You should chime in and state where you were when we were doing "this" or "that" and your perspective on the crowds, weather, etc.

SSR was a lot nicer than I expected. I enjoyed the resort more than I thought I was going to as well! The busing system wasn't too shabby either. If I get "stuck" with SSR again due to lack of availability at my other favs, I won't be disappointed next time

Had a long evening at work and finishing up an assignment, but I'll add more on day 3 tomorrow!!

 

[kindra657]

Sorry everyone, been very busy with school and work.

After rope drop, we immediately headed over to EE, grabbed a FP, and got into the Standby line (0 min wait) cause this is Bug's favorite ride!!

We then headed over to Harambe and during the safari, a Rhino was so close to the truck Bug coulda leaned over and gave him a kiss!! She was blown away by how many animals there were and how long the ride was!

She was also pretty afraid of the old rickety bridge!!! She called her mom and "told" on Disney about that one! She still thinks that bridge was broken and I'm in no hurry to tell her that it's all part of the story!! HAHA!! too funny!

Even though we only had 30 minutes prior needing to be at the FOTLC, we went thru the Pagani Exploration Trail. 1/2 way thru I glanced at my watch and realized we only had 10 minutes to high-tail it over to Camp Minnie & Mickey!!!

We made to the FOTCL in time and the CM told us that the last show was still in there and for us to maybe visit with some characters for a little while until she was ready for us. Okkie dokkie!

Is the bug actually smiling??? We were in line to visit with Mickey- this would be her first visit
here's all of us with mickey Holy Cow I'm in a picture!!! LOL

We got back to the exit to the FOTCL and got our VIP seating assignments!!! Too darn cool!!!!

Guess who got to participate in the show! YAY!!!

I'm thinking that the girls must be in heaven!! The weird part is, my dd was totally in heaven (you can see her cheesing in like every picture) but bug really didn't seem too impressed at times when I thought she would be. Maybe all of this is too "corny" for Bug but dd was having a ball---as she always does! ....or maybe it was all so overwhelming, that Bug was so blown away she became speechless!!!...or maybe she was missing her family

At this point in our trip, I was somewhat confused by her lack of enthusiasm but decided to not let it bother me and let time tell what was going on with the little Buggers.

We were hungry (again) so we went back to Pizzafari for that italian sandwich again! yum!


Right before the FOTLC, we got Bug her first lanyard and set of pins (she had been wearing mine). She enjoyed the pin trading and was very excited about it! She wanted to pin trade with every CM she saw!!!

Bug loves those roller coasters...so we headed by to EE with our FP return!, but before getting into the FP return line, I grabbed more FPs ....see a pattern? haha!
DD and DH are always happy to pay a visit to the yeti!....even tho he's broken

Bug was becoming more and more impressed with those hidden mickeys!!


We decided it was time to head over and ride Dinosaur again is that a picture of me again?

We then got our seats to Finding Nemo: The Musical and the girls busted out DD's AK "passport" type book she bought from the EE gift shop. Bug bought an $11 AK pin and DD wanted this. It was a great buy cause it kept them occupied during "down" time.

After Nemo, we went back to EE with our FP return HEY, THERE'S ME AGAIN!! hahahaha!

We decided to call it a day and head over to Epcot so that we could tour the World's Showcase. DD and Bug wanted to do the Kim Possible missions and DH and I wanted some food and wine!!! yeah!!

We went over to the line for Epcot, which was very long and waited for a bus. The girls continued working on the AK booklet we bought . After about 5 minutes of waitng a TTC bus pulled up next to us. There were 2 wheelchairs in the Epcot line and a lot of people. I knew it would standing room only. My dogs were barking so we decided to board the empty TTC bus and take the monorail to Epcot. I know we did some back-tracking but sometimes the journey itself is enjoyable as well!

Next up: Food & Wine Festival and DHS for EMH!!!

 

[Hanover]

Awesome addition to your report! That's great your daughter and Bug were able to do the FOTLK animal sound. Brennan and Keegan were chosen to do that about 5 years ago and they had to make the giraffe sound. They were stumped until they told them it sounded like a sheep. I still think of that time every time we see the FOTLK. I love that show! The singing, the tumble monkeys and the guy that does the fire turning bit just constantly amaze me.

 

[kindra657]

Awesome addition to your report! That's great your daughter and Bug were able to do the FOTLK animal sound. Brennan and Keegan were chosen to do that about 5 years ago and they had to make the giraffe sound. They were stumped until they told them it sounded like a sheep. I still think of that time every time we see the FOTLK. I love that show! The singing, the tumble monkeys and the guy that does the fire turning bit just constantly amaze me.

When I realized that we were in the giraffe section, I was wondering how the CM would handle the fact that my dd knew what sound a giraffe made. Bug didn't know so the CM used her and asked her what sound the giraffe made. It was a lot of fun!

 

[kindra657]

Oh my goodness!!! Between school and work, I have been completely swamped and haven't had any free time at all. I hope to get some time this week to do an update on our TR! I know my readers, all 2 of you, are hanging on to the edge of your seat waiting for updates!

 

[kindra657]

Continue of Day 3:

So when I left off we were waiting for our bus to Epcot. The Epcot bus line was full and there were 2 wheelchairs in line so we decided to take the TTC bus when it pulled up. We took the bus to the ttc and then the monorail back to Epcot. The trip was probably longer, but we weren't standing the whole time...which is a great thing when the dogs are barking!

We were heading to Epcot in order to tour the World's Showcase and enjoy the F&WF but we all agreed to see a few things in FW that we missed the day before.
As soon as we zoomed into Epcot, through the "No bag" line we immediately rode Spaceship Earth. There was a 5minute wait and it went by quickly as we saw little bunnies in the bushes while in line...awe!

Bug didn't like that ride at all. She said that it was boring, except for when the computer gave her a "george lopez" head, which was funny to her . DH and I thoroughly enjoy Spaceship Earth so we didn't mind inconveniencing her for a few minutes.

After riding spaceship earth, we headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We rode Finding Nemo and went to see Talk with Turtle Crush. Bug was very impressed with how the Nemo characters were swimming with "real" fish in the water. She also enjoyed crush and got a chance to ask him a question!

We got our Kim Possible time ticket and headed to the WS for the F&WF. I didn't get many pics during our WS travels because my hands were usually full of food and wine
Our first stop: Argentina- beef empanadas and margaritas from Mexico! We then had churros--well DH and I were supposed to share one. Somehow I completely forgot to share and gobbled mine down all by myself!

The girls' kim possible mission was in china. I ate some of DH's beef something he got from the chinese booth while I finished my margarita. The girls finished their mission and I had to force them to give up their "kimmunicator." DD really enjoys the missions. Bug didn't enjoy it too much but I expect that was due to dd trying to take over and not let her really enjoy it.
At this point I was feeling very relaxed and continued on to Germany for a German Reisling (can't remember the name) and a pretzel. The girls loved their preztels and I loved the reisling. After Germany we stopped in Morocco to visit princess Jasmine (dd's favorite...though Tiana may be becoming her favorite now)...

DD loves the Moroccan pavillion but I'm not sure what Bug's take was on it. Oh well, at this point, the wine really had me relaxed and I didn't have a care in the world

Before leaving WS, DH had to get the Grand Marnier Slush from France. I had to have my escargot and then we were off to the friendship boat ride to DHS for EMH!!

Of course we had to ride TSM!! There was a 30 minute standby wait, though the sign said 70 minutes. The 30 minutes went by quickly though! We rode RRC and then we rode TOT about 5 times (NO WAIT) and made some fun friends who kept riding it with us. We ended up riding the very last ride of the evening. As we were walking off of TOT for the last time I was thinking "wow, last ones off and first ones on!" because we were planning on returning to DHS for rope drop in the am!
We then called it a night and headed by to the resort.

Up next: Day 4-
Will we make it for rope drop? Will we have enough energy for EMH at the MK?