Jedis, Pirates and Extended Family! A May/June 2012 TR Update: Lunch @ H&V

[shan23877]

Great autograph books! And thanks for sharing the first day of school pics. Anthony looks super cool!

That's exactly how we felt about H&V. Breakfast was pretty good food-wise, but the characters were great. There was no one there and Maddie got to meet everyone twice. We'll go back as long as she's into those characters.

 

[amandaw]

Glad y'all had a good lunch @ H&V! And that's great that they were able to seat y'all early. Looks like Tessa was really having fun dancing! And Anthony looks so happy to be meeting the Disney Jr characters!

 

[megan511]

Great autograph books! And thanks for sharing the first day of school pics. Anthony looks super cool!

That's exactly how we felt about H&V. Breakfast was pretty good food-wise, but the characters were great. There was no one there and Maddie got to meet everyone twice. We'll go back as long as she's into those characters.

Thank you!

It seems like the characters are really able to interact more at H&V. I feel the same way, as long as the kids are into it we will go.

Glad y'all had a good lunch @ H&V! And that's great that they were able to seat y'all early. Looks like Tessa was really having fun dancing! And Anthony looks so happy to be meeting the Disney Jr characters!

Thanks! Tessa did have fun and Anthony was super excited especially to meet Jake!

I am going to try and finish this TR soon and then I will work on catching up on others TRs. Hopefully we will have power over the next few days, Sandy is currently coming through our area.

 

[megan511]

After our lunch we headed out of DHS to take a break! After a week at Disney we were starting to feel the fatigue.

Some of us more than others...

After the kids took a nap we went in the quiet pool in Trinidad South. It was the one and only time we went to the pool and we never made it over to the pirate pool. I wish we could have made time for that, next time getting in the pool is going to be more of a priority.

After some pool time we made a game plan for the rest of our evening. Originally we had planned on going to DHS the next day too but we decided we would try and do whatever we could tonight and go to Magic Kingdom Sunday instead. Chad was burned out on Star Wars and there isn't a whole lot at DHS for Tessa to do. Anthony was fine with the decision so we packed the kids back up and headed over to DHS again.

When we arrived we headed straight for the Fetts' line. We were hoping to meet Jango and as luck would have it that's who we met! (Tessa was NOT interested in being in the picture!)

When we left the line we saw Tuskan Raiders (or as Anthony calls them "Err Guys") coming out from backstage. They immediately headed for the strollers and started checking out people's stuff! Luckily we got our stroller back and a picture.

Anthony even got to hold the staff. He was super excited.

After meeting the Tuskan Raiders we headed over to Darth Mall. We were hoping to meet Luke Skywalker or the Droids C3PO and R2-D2. We waited about 30 minutes in line and when it was our turn we met Luke. There seems to always be one "prince" character that Tessa likes. Last year it was Prince Naveen and this year it was Luke. When he said hi to her she gave him the biggest grin. I so wish Photopass would have caught it! Anthony was excited too of course.

After our chat with Luke we asked Anthony if there was anything else he wanted to do. He wanted to build another lightsaber (even though he has EVERY lightsaber made at home.) We walked back over to Tatooine Traders and Anthony built a double lightsaber. Then we had to leave the park. SWW had been a lot of fun but we had a dinner ADR to make. We stopped for a few photos on our way out.

If you are a Star Wars fan at all I would definitely recommend SWW. It is a blast and we didn't even see all there was to see. I really wish we could have seen Hyperspace Hoopla (all the SW characters perform in a dance party) but it just never worked out. Hopefully we can make it back to SWW one day. Since it always seems to fall in the end of May/beginning of June range which happens to coincide perfectly with Ant's birthday I'm sure it won't be the last time we make it to SWW.

Up next: Dinner with the Fab 5!

 

[megan511]

We arrived at the Contemporary Resort for our dinner ADR at

We had never eaten here before and were super excited! Well me and Anthony were anyway.

As soon as we were seated Donald came by our table.

Then we went and got some food.

I thought everything we had was really pretty good especially considering the scathing reviews I had read. I really liked the Mickey ravioli, the salads and the desserts. Anthony and Tessa ate pretty well here too especially Tessa. Chad wasn't thrilled by it but he never is.

Soon Mickey came by our table.

I think this picture is too funny.

Mickey got a warmer welcome from Ant.

Next was Minnie.

While we were eating our waiter let us know that Pluto would not be going to individual tables today but that he was meeting by the entrance of the restaurant. He said when we finished eating just to go get in line for him and that Goofy would be by shortly. While we were waiting on Goofy, Anthony was brought another cupcake!

I had to get some dessert too of course.

Goofy was taking quite a while to get around the room. Donald came by for the second time while we were still waiting on Goofy.

Tessa being silly.

Finally Goofy arrived!

We said bye to Goofy and went to get a picture with Pluto.

After Chef Mickey's we headed back to CBR to rest up before our last day.

 

[shan23877]

I'm so glad that you guys enjoyed Chef Mickey! We have so much fun there-so even if the food isn't the greatest it doesn't matter. Maddie really loves the 'chef outfits'.

I wonder why Pluto wasn't making the rounds? That's strange!

Love that picture of Tessa.

 

[amandaw]

Looks like y'all finished up nicely at SWW with those character meets! It really does seem like a lot of fun. If Reid continues to be interested in Star Wars (which I'm sure he will), I can see us going at some point in our future. I wonder how/if it will change with the Disney purchasing Lucasfilm.

Glad y'all had a good meal at Chef Mickey's! We've had breakfast there before & I've never understood the horrible reviews. We've enjoyed eating there. That is strange though that Pluto wasn't going to the tables.

 

[megan511]

I'm so glad that you guys enjoyed Chef Mickey! We have so much fun there-so even if the food isn't the greatest it doesn't matter. Maddie really loves the 'chef outfits'.

I wonder why Pluto wasn't making the rounds? That's strange!

Love that picture of Tessa.

Thank you! It is such a fun place. The decor is so cute. I love their chef outfits too! It was a little strange that Pluto wasn't walking around. But at least they had him available to meet.

Haha thanks. It makes me laugh every time I see it!

Looks like y'all finished up nicely at SWW with those character meets! It really does seem like a lot of fun. If Reid continues to be interested in Star Wars (which I'm sure he will), I can see us going at some point in our future. I wonder how/if it will change with the Disney purchasing Lucasfilm.

Glad y'all had a good meal at Chef Mickey's! We've had breakfast there before & I've never understood the horrible reviews. We've enjoyed eating there. That is strange though that Pluto wasn't going to the tables.

Star Wars Weekend was really fun. I would definitely recommend it if Reid is still interested in a couple years.

I wonder how it will change too! I'm hoping they will expand on Star Wars in DHS. Maybe have some more character meets during the year. DHS could use some more attractions and as much as I would like to see Cars Land I don't love the idea of Disneyland and Disney World being identical. So a Star Wars land at DHS would be awesome!

I don't get the Chef Mickey's bad reviews at all. I guess if you were expecting a gourmet meal you would be disappointed but we all now we are paying for the characters not the food. So I was pleasantly surprised. Pluto not visiting tables was weird but at least we got to see him.

 

[megan511]

I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by since the kids' started school. The past two months feel like a blur! But I'm ready to post my final update for this TR.

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! We had a lot of fun. Tessa was Merida and Anthony was Thor.

We also celebrated Tessa's 4th birthday on November 2. Of course she got some Disney stuff! She got a Rapunzel dress and the new Jake and the Neverland Pirates movie.

Okay now it's time to wrap up this TR!

 

[megan511]

I don't have as many pictures from this day but there are a few. I also don't really remember everything because I didn't take note. Hopefully I can figure things out based on the pictures.

Sunday June 3 was our last day at Disney. I don't know if I mentioned this or not but my parents and sister went home on Saturday. We woke up bright and early yet again to make it to Magic Kingdom for rope drop. We hopped on the ferry and headed over to my favorite place on Earth.

Every year I try to remember to get a picture in front of the train station. I finally did this year!

We tend to experience the "last day doldrums" in our family. I think it's because we are tired and sad that we have to go back to reality the next day. Well the doldrums were in full force this morning. Anthony was sporting a major attitude, Tessa was cranky, Chad was acting miserable and I was upset and sad that it was our last day. When the opening show started I looked around at all the families who were so excited and then I looked at my three "Grumpys" and I will admit I teared up. I also realized the my children had to be exhausted. It was time to let go of what I may have wanted and just do what my kids' wanted. This trip was about them after all. So I decided to go with flow and when the kids were done to just leave and relax at the hotel.

We rushed into MK with the masses and headed straight for Fantasyland and Peter Pan. Then we must have gone to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad because the stand-by line when we rode was only 10 minutes and we basically walked on. We decided to try and see if Tessa was tall enough to ride. She was right at 40 inches so it was a judgement call for the CM. He said she was good! I was a little nervous but Tessa loves anything bumpy and is a daredevil. She had loved Barnstormer too so I thought she was ready to give this a try.

She loved it! Tessa was smiling and laughing the whole time. For me though it was terrifying! Tessa is so light that she was really bouncing around. I had a death grip on her! I'm also pretty sure this ride is how my camera got a big crack in it because I was so concerned with Tessa I just kind of let the camera bag slide around. Since Tessa liked it so much though we will call it a success! The kids were in MUCH better moods at this point too. Nothing like a runaway train to snap you out of the morning grumps.

After our family ride, Anthony wanted to ride again. The stand-by time was now reading 20 minutes but based on our ride before I didn't think it would even take that long. Chad thought that 20 minutes was just way too long to wait and was rolling his eyes! I wanted to tell him, "look buddy, you don't KNOW what long lines are. I once waited 2 1/2 hours to ride Back to the Future. 2 1/2 HOURS. And you think 20 minutes is bad? I also waited a good 1 to 1 1/2 hours to ride BTMR at Disneyland. Don't talk to me about lines!" But I didn't. I just said I didn't think it would even take 20 minutes and besides what was our rush? So Anthony and I got back in line and again it was basically a walk on.

After BTMR I asked Anthony if he wanted to ride Splash Mountain and since Tessa had been able to ride BTMR we would try getting her on Splash. Anthony said Splash was too scary!?! He had only ridden it twice every other MK day...but oh well. Today was about doing whatever the kids wanted to do so we didn't push the issue. We decided to visit some Happy Haunts for the last time. Anthony promised he would ride with us and we told him just to close his eyes in the stretching room.

Anthony had no problems riding this time and even wanted to go again. So we did. It was around 11 at this point and we decided to eat an early lunch to avoid crowds. We had enjoyed Columbia Harbour House so much and since we were right there we grabbed a table and ordered our food.

We all ordered the exact same things as before. Chicken nuggets for Chad, Anchors Aweigh Sandwich for me, nuggets and mac & cheese for the kiddos.

(No, it was not red inside the restaurant...)

At lunch Chad said we had done everything (after riding 3 rides and being there for a little over 2 hours.) Now instead of letting my feelings fester and then exploding later I explained to Chad that I felt like he was rushing us and that this was our last day and could we just take it easy and not be on a time schedule to leave. We had absolutely nothing planned other than pack. Chad then said that he wasn't trying to rush us and that he was sorry for coming across like that. Wasn't that mature of us?

Okay I am heavily relying on my pictures (or lack there of) but I guess next we must have gone on the carousel because I have these...

After the carousel we went to Storybook Circus to check on the line for Dumbo. I want to say it was around 40 minutes because I know we didn't ride it. We did ride the Barnstormer though so the line for that couldn't have been too bad.

After the Barnstormer we did something we have never done before. Rode the train! We caught the train at the new Storybook Circus station. Tessa loves trains so I thought she would love this. She liked it but she definitely likes the one in Animal Kingdom better. This one probably wasn't fast enough for her.

Anthony's grump face was in full force. Geez you would think his parents hadn't taken him to Disney World.

We rode the train all the way back around to Storybook Circus. Now we could only see a tiny portion of it but it was adorable. The theming is amazing and no detail was left unnoticed. I can't wait to see the rest of New Fantasyland!

next

 

[megan511]

Based on pictures it would appear that we went to Tomorrowland next. We got FP's for Buzz and then we went to watch Monsters Inc Laugh Floor again...

And took another spin on the People Mover before using our FP's.

Anthony wanted to play some Sorcerers of the MK so Chad took him to do that while I took Tessa back to Fantasyland. Tessa kept pointing to the carousel so we rode it a few times. Then we headed toward Main Street Bakery to wait on the boys and found this beauty.

Peanut Butter Cupcake

I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate so I about did a dance when I saw this. Unfortunately it was tad underwhelming. It was kind of dry but it didn't stop me from eating it.

After Chad and Anthony finished their Sorcerers game they met me at the bakery and we headed out.

We said good-bye to Magic Kingdom and headed back to CBR to do the dreaded packing to go home. After a few hours of rest we decided to go to Downtown Disney to eat dinner and look at some last minute souvenirs.

I think they were tired!

We went into World of Disney where we got some picture frames, I got a dress, and the kids picked out some toys (including Duffy and the storybook.)

Then we went to Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner.

Dessert!

I had the Rotisserie Turkey Club - Avocado, bacon, red onion, plum tomatoes, romaine, remoulade and chips $13. It was good!

Anthony had pizza and Tessa had spaghetti. I think Chad had pizza too.

After leaving Downtown Disney we debated going back to Magic Kingdom to watch Wishes. We ultimately decided not to but to go to the Polynesian to watch Wishes.

Well when we got there Anthony and Tessa were just too exhausted. They were little crank pots (understandably so) so we decided to leave. We have the Wishes soundtrack CD so we played that in the car while we drove around the Magic Kingdom area trying to watch the fireworks from the road. We had a good view of them around the Contemporary and Grand Floridian! It wasn't the perfect ending to our trip but it was a good one.

The next day we woke up bright and early and headed home.

That's a wrap on my TR! Thanks so much to everyone for reading along. I truly appreciate all of you who followed along and commented. I hope to be able to share about our future trip too which is next month!

 

[amandaw]

First....the kids look adorable in their Halloween costumes!!

And secondly.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESSA!!

I can't believe the trip is over! Looks like y'all had a nice last day in MK. Even if everyone was feeling a little down. I think it happens to all of us. Dinner looks really good. We've eaten there before & enjoyed our meal.

Thank you so much for sharing all of your wonderful family memories with us! I've truly enjoyed the journey! And it was really neat getting to learn about SWW! I can't wait for the next TR!!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I loved the whole TR!! Oh, and happy birthday Tessa!!

 

[RGirl]

How great to see another good review of H&V! I wonder if we should try it. Hmmmmm

Again, the SW stuff is so cool!!!

I can’t wait to try CM’s for dinner. We love the characters there! But how weird that Pluto was too lazy to make the rounds.

Oh, I know those last-day blues! But BTMRR can always cheer me up too!

*sigh* So sad that it is over. But excited for your upcoming trip! Thanks so much for sharing your holiday with us!

 

[megan511]

First....the kids look adorable in their Halloween costumes!!

And secondly.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESSA!!

I can't believe the trip is over! Looks like y'all had a nice last day in MK. Even if everyone was feeling a little down. I think it happens to all of us. Dinner looks really good. We've eaten there before & enjoyed our meal.

Thank you so much for sharing all of your wonderful family memories with us! I've truly enjoyed the journey! And it was really neat getting to learn about SWW! I can't wait for the next TR!!

Thanks so much! We had a fun Halloween & Tessa enjoyed her birthday.

We did have a good last day despite a somewhat rocky start.

Thanks so much Amanda for following along & for all your comments. I have so enjoyed it & I can't wait to share about the next trip!

I loved the whole TR!! Oh, and happy birthday Tessa!!

Thank you so much! I'm so happy you enjoyed it & thanks for all your comments.

How great to see another good review of H&V! I wonder if we should try it. Hmmmmm

Again, the SW stuff is so cool!!!

I can’t wait to try CM’s for dinner. We love the characters there! But how weird that Pluto was too lazy to make the rounds.

Oh, I know those last-day blues! But BTMRR can always cheer me up too!

*sigh* So sad that it is over. But excited for your upcoming trip! Thanks so much for sharing your holiday with us!

If Willow is into Playhouse Disney I would say give it a try. The character interaction is great.

We (well me & Anthony) loved the SW stuff. It was strange that Pluto didn't walk around. Maybe he was in training?

You can't not smile on BTMRR!

Thanks so much Roni for reading & posting. I so appreciate it & have enjoyed it. I'm excited to share about the next trip!