Just mom and her 2 little boys 10/19-25, MNSSHP, lot of character meals

[MJAJmom]

I've been thinking about our time about MNSSHP and what we liked and didn't like, and what would I change in our plans for next time. So, here are some general observations...

Decoration and theming - Disney knows how to throw a good party. The halloween decorations at MK were fabulous. All the pumpkins, scarecrows, orange banners were very festive. These could all be enjoyed without paying admission to MNSSHP. Lots of good photo ops. So many adults and children were dressed in costumes so that made it really feel like a special party was happening.

Parade/Fireworks - The Boo to You parade was amazing. The headless horseman ride was so neat, and the dancing white ghouls were fabulous. Lots of characters were on the floats or walking by. It really was a great parade and my favorite part of the event. The fireworks were better than the nightly MK Wishes FW. This time I'll have to agree with my boys, that if you've seen the FW once then you can skip them the second time..

Attend once vs twice - Since this was our first time attending a hard-ticket event and our first time at MNSSHP, and the fact that I was without DH, I enjoyed attending 2 nights during the week to make sure we saw it all. My boys are young and they can't stay up too late so the only way to see it all was to go on 2 nights. Very expensive, but I thought it was worth it since we probably won't be back to a MNSSHP for a while. I'd like to try P&P or MVMCP as our next event. You can do most of the stuff at the event in one night as long as you start promptly at 7pm and stay until about 11:30 or midnight. Next time I would plan a more casual day before the event and not do the half day at Epcot/MK. Instead I'd do a later character breakfast, have the boys try the pirate cruise, have a fun lunch and then swim.

Doing rides vs party/characters - Since you have to pay extra for a party ticket, I think its a waste of time to ride a whole bunch of rides instead of seeing parade/fireworks/characters/shows. You can get in with your ticket at 4pm, so I would do rides from 4-7pm, but when the party starts, you really need to focus 100% on all the scheduled party things in order to see it all.

Characters - So many characters were available and some in halloween costumes all night long. That part was awesome. I would recommend focusing first on the characters in costume (Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, and Chip/Dale at dance party) and rare characters (snow white 7 dwarfs, Jafar, Cruella and other villians). As a last priority, I'd put the several characters that you can find everyday in the park (Buzz, Aladdin/Jasmine, Alice, Mad Hatter...) unless there is a very short line. It wasn't very well posted about what characters were where and what times they were out. You really had to be aggressive and ask each of the CM's about the times that Snow White would be out, or the times that Pooh/Eeyore switched with Tigger/Piglet. I would suggest picking one big characters (Cinderella, Snow White/dwarfs, Mickey or Minnie) and get in their line at 6:45pm to accomplish that one early on. We didn't bring the autograph books, figured we'd just enjoy the characters, but now I wish I we did autographs.

Dance Parties - We only saw the Ariel Grotto dance party, didn't get to go by the Stitch Dance party. We saw Chip/Dale and they alternated with Donald/Pluto. It was cute for the boys to dance with with characters, but it seemed like this was a 5-10 minute thing and then you're done. Dance a song or 2, take a few pictures and leave. Might be a good place to take a quick break and sit down and have a snack/drink. But for us, it was a quickie. Might be able to drop by again when you know the other 2 characters are alternating.

Trick or Treating - There were lots of candy stations, some more crowded than others, but they did move fairly quickly. The candy was pretty generic - some chocolate bars, some chewy candies, some lolipops. We threw away about half of it. The candy was for the boys and they were thrilled with the selection. The toontown trail of treats was very fun with the candy and characters.

Villians Show, Free Face Painting - We never saw the villians show and I wish we did. Never saw where they were doing the free face painting but that was not something that my boys were interested in, even if it was free.

Closing Thoughts - Our sole purpose for this trip was to experience Disney at Halloween. We certainly did that and it was magical and well worth it. For us, the most important items were the parade and the characters. MJ still talks about things he saw in the parade. Certainly two thumbs up review from all of us.


Next up: Friday means Animal Kingdom starting with Donald's Safari Breakfast
Hmmm... the forecast says rain all day. Oh my!

 

[MJAJmom]

I wake up and look outside -- it's raining. A light steady rain and a gloomy dark sky. Rats!!! Gotta admit, I just don't want to be walking around the park all day in the rain. Much rather just crawl back in bed. Take a deep breath and snap out of it. AK is our mission today, so put on a happy face and let's make it happen!!

I have to wake up the boys this morning. We were out late last night at MNSSHP, so they are pretty tired this morning. Our ADR is at 8:10am at Donald's Safari Breakfast. We've not been before and I'm looking forward to seeing the characters in their safari clothes and to see Daisy.

There's a steady rain falling as we get throught the ticket entrance and walk our way all the way to the back of Africa to get to Tusker House. I did not take the stroller since its raining so much. I did not take the boys ponchos either. They have their lightweight jacket and their umbrellas. I'm wearing my poncho, mostly to keep dry the bag that has my camera in it. The boys love their umbrellas and don't seem to care that they are getting wet.

We check in at Tusker House, get seated quickly, and get our coffee and milks pretty fast. Our server was very good and quick to help us out with simple requests for more napkins, forks, more coffee, the check. We get in the buffet line. Lots to choose from for breakfast selections. Lots of breads/rolls/danish and hot foods. The boys eat their usual stuff - waffles, bacon, watermelon and dry cereals. I'd say the food was pretty good.

The characters took a while to come out since it was first thing in the morning. Donald came by first. He looked very good in his safari clothes.

The boys had on their last set of matching shirts. I really liked these white ones. They started the parade and party music. Daisy came over to our section and started walking around with her maraccas. She came by our table, grabbed MJ by the hand and they walked around together for the next 5 minutes. MJ was both excited and unsure of himself walking with Daisy. AJ joined in the parade too.

Finally the parade was over and we got back to eating. Daisy made her way over. I loved seeing Daisy. I just wish we saw Daisy in her pink/purple dress and matching bow - that's how I think of Daisy. The safari outfit almost seemed too boyish for her - but that's the theme for the breakfast. Next time I'll have to figure out where to find the "regular" Daisy. She was very sweet to the boys and gave them kisses.

Goofy was next. AJ is very excited and gives him hugs and hi-fives. He's just so tall!!

And lastly is the big guy himself, Mickey. Somehow, you just feel so honored that Mickey is meeting with you. Like he's the owner of the place or some big movie star.

MJ has done a great job managing all the autographs, I'm so proud of him. I love all the custom autograph pages I printed. However I did make a major goof-up, have you seen it yet? Well, go back up and look at the picture of Mickey signing his autograph. Notice anything strange about the clipboard??? See how I totally forgot to take off the huge white price tag barcode??? AAAAAHHHHHH!! It's in every picture I have of a character signing their autograph. I decorated the front side of the clipboard, but did not even think about what was on the backside of the clipboard. Of course, now I've ripped it off!!!

The breakfast at Donald's Safari was pretty darn good. I think we'll cetainly come back and do it again before starting out our day at AK

As soon as we walk out the doors, King Louie and Baloo are over in the covered patio area. I guess to stay dry out of the rain. Only 1 person is there, so we go for a visit. King Louie does a great job acting like a silly ape.

It's still raining out so we'll try for an indoor show. We walk down to Lion King and it's a few minutes before start time. There is nobody at this show. Maybe just 2 rows filled up on each of the 4 sides. I love this show. The costumes are so colorful, and such beautiful animal prints. We are seated in the giraffe section. AJs favorite part is the warrior guy who twirls the fire batons. AJ loves all the tiki torches, loves it when we ride by the Poly on the monorail at night so he can see all the torches lit up. MJ loves Timon and Puumba. He loves it at the end when Timon says "you've been a great audience, thank you....... Now get out of here!!!" He repeated that phrase all day. Great show!!

Now the rain is off and on. We trade some pins with several CMs. We'll try another indoor show while the rain is still a factor. We've not seen It's a Bug's Life. I've heard good and bad things about the show. Well, let's give it a try. At least it's indoors.


Next Up.... It's a Bug's Life - Did my boys like it or scream???

 

[MJAJmom]

It was fun walking through the tunnels to get to the waiting area at It's a Bug's Life. The boys have no idea what they are going to see. We've never seen the Bug movie, but I tell them there are some big bugs in it and it gets very dark. Other than that, we are all clueless.

Inside with our 3D glasses, the beginning is pretty tame. Some cute bugs, some silly jokes, the boys seem to like it so far. They like the talking bug coming out of the ceiling. Then comes the part where the bad bug says he wants to extinguish all the humans. The spiders come down from the ceiling, the bad bug sprays the audience with bug spray and the place goes pitch black. Couldn't even see my boys to hold them and reassure them. Luckily, I was sitting in the middle of both of them, and reached out with my arms to comfort them. They didn't cry or scream or anything, but it was very unexpected for us. The good bug comes back and we laugh some more, and everything is OK again. As we leave, MJ says he was a little bit scared and doesn't want to see it again. Good enough, seems like it was a one time show for our family (just like the AK Nemo show, saw it once and don't need to see it again, boys just aren't into Nemo). We won't be seeing this show again.

Outside, it's not raining for the moment, so we head over to Camp Minnie Mickey. The characters at the 4 camp trails are Minnie/Mickey, Koda/Kenai, Pluto/Chip/Dale and Goofy. We start with Mickey and Minnie. They are dressed in safari clothes. As always, they are very sweet and animated with the boys.

I've never seen the movie Brother Bear, but the 2 bears here a very adorable.

The next trail has 3 characters: Chip, Dale and Pluto. I really like how they have several characters together instead of standing in line to meet them one at a time. There were about 5 people ahead of us and when we were next, the CM said that Chip/Dale needed some acorns and Pluto needed a bone. Break time! So we wait a few minutes for them to come back. Chip and Dale came back first and the boys played with them for a few minutes until finally Pluto came back to join them. It gave us some extra time with the characters.

The last trail was Goofy. Since we've seen him so many times already and his line was long, we decided to skip him. Sorry Goofy!! Thankfully, the rain held off until our pictures were finished. A minute after that, it starts again with a light rain. It's almost lunch time so we'll head there. Our lunch place is RainForest Cafe. Last time we were there, AJ slept through the entire lunch so he's never even seen this place. We make a few pressed pennies while we are waiting for our table.

We are seated right next to the gorillas hanging from the trees. It's a very loud place. When the gorillas start moving and chirping, AJ is scared and wants to leave. He stared at that gorilla on the tree the entire time he ate and would not look away, making sure he wasn't going to come over and eat him or something. Since he was scared, we hurried a bit through our lunch so we could leave sooner. I think the Rainforest Cafe is awesome with all the jungle decorations, however, it is very loud and overwhelming for the boys. I think next trip, we'll probably skip it and try another place for lunch.

As we make our way outside, it's raining out a bit harder. So now I need to think. Most of the stuff I wanted to do today is outside (Safari, Jungle Trek to see tigers, boneyard, triceratops spin, pangini trail to see gorillas). I think we've done enough in the rain today. Yes, I'm a wimp. Alright boys, let's head back to the hotel. The boys take forever to make their way to the car, and it's raining pretty good now. Halfway to the car, AJ trips and falls in a puddle, falls on top of his umbrella and completely bends the umbrella shaft. Good grief!! He's fine, but wet. I try my best to un-bend the metal rod on his favorite Hulk umbrella. It stays up, but it will never fold down again. Luckily this is our last park day, otherwise, we'd be shopping for a new umbrella for the little guy.

Back at the hotel, they play for a bit and take a nap. I get a nap too. Pretty bummed that it rained today. I was hoping to see a few new things at AK. Looks like we'll just have to schedule another trip.


Next up.... An honest confession about the bad side of travelling with 2 young boys. Let's call it.... "Boys Behaving Badly"

 

[MJAJmom]

We really did have a great time on this trip. For the most part, the boys were behaving fine, just being little, just being boys. The days are long and standing in line waiting for rides is quite boring for 2 young boys.

It wouldn't be an honest trip report is I didn't share the ugly parts. But first, let me vent and get all the yelling out of my system.... so here goes:

"Stop hitting your brother. Get off the ropes. Stop swinging those chains. Don't push him. Leave your brother alone. Get off the floor. Put your shoes back on. Finish your breakfast. Don't hit him. Hands to yourself. I said no pushing. Are you not listening? Get off him. Don't jump on the bed. Hurry up. Slow down. You'll hurt yourself. Get over here. Stop hitting your brother. Tell him you're sorry. No pushing. Don't touch him. Sit down. For the last time, PLEASE STOP HITTING YOUR BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!"

Now, deep breath. Breathe in.... exhale slowly.... Ahhhhhh. I feel better already.

There was really only 2 things that drove me nuts. One at the parks, one at the hotel. At the parks, when you stand in line, there are either poles, ropes or chains to separate the rows of people. Every time we are in the lines, my boys have to climb the poles, swing the chains and bounce the ropes up and down. Not occassionally, every time. Drove me crazy. Sometimes I would ignore it, sometimes it wouldn't be as bad, and sometimes all I did was bug them to stop. At the hotel, they loved to jump on the bed, but worse, they would launch from one bed to the other. Every time we came into the room. I know, they needed to blow off some steam, but come on.

I'd give my boys the 80/20 rating. 80% good and 20% misbehaving. With that, I can't complain. I love my little monkeys, even when they are acting like monkeys.


Next Up. Our Grand Floridian photo shoot. Will we get rained out? Will AJ ever smile??

 

[cdotla]

Great updates!

Thanks for posting all your thoughts about MNSSHP. I echo your thoughts 100% of strategy. Wish I came across your post before I attended my first MNSSHP.

Great photos in all your last updates.

Thanks for your thoughts on the RainForest Cafe. We don't have one close to us, so WDW wld be our only chance to visit it. However, I think I will pass. Just too many other better spots to try, and such little time!

And finally, thanks for your candid/honest post about the 80/20 rule. Guess what? Same applies for girls!

Enjoying your TR! Can't wait for more!

 

[MJAJmom]

Great updates!

Thanks for your thoughts on the RainForest Cafe. We don't have one close to us, so WDW wld be our only chance to visit it. However, I think I will pass. Just too many other better spots to try, and such little time!

And finally, thanks for your candid/honest post about the 80/20 rule. Guess what? Same applies for girls!

You know, I really like the Rainforest Cafe, it's so amazing how they make it look like a jungle. Plus all the animals. The TRex at DTD reminds me of RF, except with dinosaurs (amazing theming but very loud too). The food selection is pretty wide, and the food is decent tasting. But it is VERY loud. I'd try it once just to check it out because it is very unique. I think if we sat more in the middle of the place, instead of right next to the gorillas, AJ might have done better. They were just too close for him.

By the way, I peeked in on your TR, and your girl and boy are beautiful.

 

[MJAJmom]

With the rain today, I was pretty bummed out about missing some things at AK this morning, and you can't do a photo shoot in the rain. We had our GF photo shoot scheduled for 5:30pm. I had it all planned out, AK in the morning, then the boys would nap, we'd take some photos and then head over to Chef Mickey's for our dinner ADR. I really wanted some outside photos on the beach. My goal for the photo shoot was to get some good pictures of the boys together, and if the planets and moons aligned properly, then get 1 good photo for our Chrismas card.

The boys were napping and I was resting and reading. And slowly, the miracles started happening. The rain stopped. OK, that's a good sign. Eventually the boys wake up and I get us dressed into our photo clothes. I brought a navy blue shirt for AJ and a black one for MJ. These were about the only 2 shirts I had for them that didn't have stripes or some superhero on the front. I needed a solid plain shirt. Fix their hair a little bit and we head over the the main building where the photographers are.

OMG, the clouds are breaking up and the sun is peaking through. It's been rotten weather most of the day and now we may have sun for our photos. We meet our photo gal, can't remember her name. She's pretty nice but seems bored with her job. I told her I wanted to take photos outside first on the beach, so that's where we head. Amazing now that we have some sunshine, the pixie dust has finally found me.

First we start on the hammock, all 3 of us sitting and then the 2 boys laying down. No smiles from the boys here.

Since we had on black and blue shirts, several of the pictures looked better in black and white. I absolutely love B&W photography, so when I got back my photoCD, I loved playing around with these pictures. I told the gal I saw some cute photos with the kids around the palm trees, so that was next.

The gal tried to get the boys to smile. Luckily I remember MJ telling me how the school photographers get the kids to smile for their class pictures. He makes them say "popcorn, pizza, cheesy bread". So mommy makes them say all kids of silly words, including "monkey's butt, belly button". Finally, finally, finally, we get a smile out of AJ. And what an awesome, sweet, melt my heart picture he gives me. MJ is still sporting his serious, GQ face, but I love it.

Next, we go over to the grassy area. She wants them to sit down, but the grass is too wet. I get them to put their arms around each other, not a natural thing for them to do.

We try in front of the water fountain by the pool. IMO, these don't look great, the background is just not appealing. Is that a waterfountain or just a very large green hat on my head?? But here you go anyways...

Last set outside is by the white railing. The kids aren't big enough to lean over the railing, so they just stand in front of it. These ones I liked.

And now, take that picture, make it black and white, crop it in tighter, and you get my Christmas card picture!!! We have accomplished my goal of getting 1 shot. A shot where AJ is smiling! A shot when the sun was shining. So, so happy.

We came inside and took some pictures on the stairs. The carpet pattern is green and ugly so the pictures I thought were horrible. There was a bride taking pictures on those same stairs - boy what till she sees that ugly carpet in her photos - oh my. I paid $25 for the photo shoot since I prepurchased the PhotoCD and because the fine print on the receipt says $25 for GF photoshoot. She loads my pictures on a PhotoPass card and we are done. The boys played on the enclosed patio behind their desk with their cars while they were getting the photos ready.

As they were finishing up our photos, the clouds rolled back in and the sun went away. Boy did I get lucky. The sun came out for about 40 minutes today - just in time for our photo shoot. I guess that was our magical gift from disney. I never saw the Dream Team once this trip and I was looking hard. For $25, it was well worth it. Our photographer was just OK. She seemed distracted and bored taking pictures. For $75 or $125 (the cost without the PhotoPass CD discounts), no way. I'd rather pay a professional photographer at home. Glad we did it. I got my christmas card picture and a few other good ones. I'm happy.

Now we can jump on the monorail and go to Chef Mickey's for dinner. Last trip we did CM for our "last supper", so I felt this was a good tradition to start. So Chef Mickey's is our last dinner this trip too.


Next up: Seeing the Fab5 for dinner

 

[MJAJmom]

I had to jump in and show you the matching Tshirts, which you've already seen in the pictures. First, I wanted to thank the many talented designers on DISsigns. They blow my mind with their creativity. I stumbled on to that forum rather late in my planning, but did manage to create a few shirts. Now every trip, I'll plan on making making Tshirts. Second, I wanted to show you the ugly carpet. I put the Tshirts on the floor of the GF hotel room and took pictures. I forgot to take a pic before I left, I was running out of time. But you can see the green/yellow swirl carpeting. Just fine for the hotel room, but not great for the background of your photo shoots.

Here are the front and back of the boys shirts. Aren't the design just wonderful -- gosh those folks are amazing!

For me, I knew I wanted a tinkerbell shirt and a MNSSHP shirt. Didn't have time to explore other shirts for me.

OK, now I'm ready to get back to chef mickey's....

 

[cdotla]

Great photos from your photo session!

Can't wait to hear about Chef Mickey's!

 

[MJAJmom]

Great photos from your photo session!

Can't wait to hear about Chef Mickey's!

Thanks. Chef Mickey's is such a great place. We've been for dinner twice now, I'd like to try out breakfast next time. Good food with the Fab5, you just can't get any better than that!!!

 

[MJAJmom]

MJ loves riding the monorail. Not because he likes to ride the train or see the lagoon views or hotel views. It's because he likes to pole dance. He likes to climb up the hand support poles and slide down them like a fireman. Every time we get on the monorail. Part boy, part monkey, part fireman.

We find a few pressed penny machines while we're waiting for dinner. Waited about 12 minutes for our table. I love the atmosphere at Chef Mickey's. It feels very alive and festive, but not overwhelming. We get seated in an upper section in back of the buffet, never even saw this section last time. It's cozy but feels somewhat remote. Our server guy is great. Goofy and Mickey are circulating in our small section so we'll meet them and then go to the buffet. Goofy is always fun. Seems hard to get a good picture of him because he's so tall. The boys like Goofy.

Mickey came by next. During our last trip, Mickey was last character to come to our table, and after I took 1 shot, my camera battery died. We had not seen Mickey all week and I was so excited for the boys to see Mickey on our last night. I almost threw up!! I ran out to the gift shop and bought a disposable camera and came back. I told my sob story to the character CM and thankfully she got Mickey out so we could take some photos with him. This trip, I was not going to let that happen ever again!!! I just feel so honored when Mickey comes by.

Now we have a quick character break and can go to the buffet line. The boys have gotten used to the fact that they have to come with me to the buffet and stand in line. The boys get some pizza, chicken nuggets and fruits. I try a sample of several dishes and veggies. The dessert buffet is always a hit with the ice cream and toppings, chocolate covered mouse cookies and brownies. I think the food is pretty good here.

Donald Duck comes by next. I gotta say that this is my least favorite outfit for Donald. He looks strange to me in the chef clothes.

AJ gets in his high-fives with Donald and Pluto. He has such a huge windup before, he keeps the characters waiting before hitting their hands.

We wait on getting our dessert because Minnie is just entered our small section. I love here traditional red polka dot dress and hair bow.

I think it makes a nicer picture when the characters kneel down and hug the little kids and take pictures down at their level. I need to remember to ask the characters to do that more often, if they don't do it automatically.

As we are getting our check paid, Mickey comes by one more time. AJ wanted to show Mickey a dance. So they both were dancing together.

Overall, it's a great place, great meal and excellent characters. I like having dinner here on our last night, we don't feel rushed to head out to a park. We make our way back to the monorail, it's raining pretty hard outside now. I'm tired on the rain - go away please.


Next up - Saturday is our last day. Boo-Hoo. We'll try out Cape May Cafe breakfast. Never been to the Beach Club Hotel before.

 

[cdotla]

Great Chef Mickey photos!!! I agree - you just can't beat this place! We go every trip.

 

[MJAJmom]

Back at the hotel, the thought of packing everything up at night just is not exciting me. We're all tired and I think I'd rather go to bed than pack. Our flight leaves at 3:30pm. I think we'll eat our breakfast and then come back to pack up and check out. I called and got us an extra hour for check out time if needed.

In the morning, we are all slow to wake up. Our ADR at Cape May Cafe is for 8:05am. It's misting out a little bit, so my plans to walk around the Beach Club hotel and check it out are not looking good. We did go around the back to check out the pool, Storm Along Bay, which looks pretty fun. I'd like to try out either the Beach/Yacht Club or Animal Kingdom Lodge for our next stay (only if DH comes with us, otherwise I'm doing a monorail resort again).

My first impression of the Cape May Cafe is great! It's very casual and festive. Bright colors, looks fun. We are seated in a booth, which works out great for containing little boys. Our server is wonderful and very responsive. I didn't see any characters around so we go straight to the buffet.

The buffet looks very good. All the usual hot stuff and lots of cereals, breads and fruits, more so than other buffets. The food all tasted very good.

The characters come out. They are dressed in beach clothes, they look so fun!! Goofy comes by first. Matthew is giggling as Goofy uses his head to put the clipboard on to sign his autograph.

The boys love these character meals. Although they don't eat very much because they're so busy waiting or playing with the characters. MJ thinks we should be eating every meal with some characters. Minnie is next. She looks great in her beach shirt. Whoever they have underneath as Minnie, has always done a fabulous job interacting with my boys.

I didn't get around to making matching shirts for the boys today, but at least I did have them both in plain white shirts. Definitely need to start much earlier making shirts for our next trip. Donald is next. Now this is the Donald I like better, wearing his blue hat. I like this Donald much better than the Chef Mickey Donald. AJ brought his doggie to breakfast. Doggie is who he sleeps with every day and is his snuggly. AJ wanted to show Donald his doggie, and Donald really gets into it. He grabs his doggie and puts in on his head and on his nose, giving him hugs and kissess. AJ just goes wild, he loves it. Still today he talks about how Chip grabbed his doggie at LTT and how Donald played with his doggie at Cape May.

I just love this picture with AJ snuggling his doggie and Donald holding them both.

I really enjoyed this breakfast and think this could be a good one for our last breakfast meal on each trip. Because you have to drive to the Beach Club hotel, I think it's harded to include before going to the park for rope drop. The characters seem to come around a lot slower here. But they are very cute and had fun with us at the table. It doesn't look like they'll come by a second time while we are here, so we end up heading back to the hotel. Back to packing up our suitcases. So sad.


Next up: Showing you the signed autograph pages - very awesome!!

 

[cdotla]

Great update about Cape May for breakfast - we will have to try that on a future trip. We still haven't been there.

I have, however, stayed at the Yacht & Beach Club. It was wonderful. I didn't have the kiddos with me, so if you can believe it, I did not experience Stormalong Bay. However, I did take a 1am dip in the quiet pool! Anyway, I highly recommend this resort. Walkable to both the Studios and Epcot, so it really is almost as convenient as a monorail resort. Plus, that pool just can't be beat! While I didn't personally enjoy it, I certainly checked it out and it is awesome!

So sad when your trip comes to an end, isn't it?

Can't wait to see your autographs!

 

[MJAJmom]

I have, however, stayed at the Yacht & Beach Club. It was wonderful. I didn't have the kiddos with me, so if you can believe it, I did not experience Stormalong Bay. However, I did take a 1am dip in the quiet pool! Anyway, I highly recommend this resort. Walkable to both the Studios and Epcot, so it really is almost as convenient as a monorail resort. Plus, that pool just can't be beat! While I didn't personally enjoy it, I certainly checked it out and it is awesome!

Thanks for following my story. I thought the Beach/Yacht Club hotel looked like a nice place to stay. I did not realize that you could walk to HS. How long of a walk was it to Epcot and to DHS? That would be a plus!!

 

[MJAJmom]

This was our first trip to try character autographs. I wanted to make it special and buying a generic autograph book just didn't seem quite right. So I found the DISsigns forum and found several awesome designers of autograph pages. Mega, mega thanks go to Chaos1Cent, AreYouThereYet, Heather, Natalie and LJCollins for their fabulous autograph pages. Their creativity just blows me away!!!

I figured out what character meals we were doing and what characters we wanted to see at each park. Then printed out a custom autograph page on a blank 4x6 index card. I ended up with about a 3inch stack of cards. I decorated the front of a clipboard for the characters to hold. After the characters signed the pages, we put them in a photo album that had 4 cards per page. The boys loved looking at the autographs we got each day.

Here are some of the autographs. Aren't they awesome!!!

This is something that we can look at each day and remember our trip. I won't kid you, it took a lot of work. But I am SO SO glad that I did it.


Next up: Checking out of the hotel and heading to DTD to shop and eat

 

[goofygal531]

We're an all boy family, so there will be no princess breakfasts or BBB for us - makes me sad.

Hi, enjoying your TP!

I just wanted to mention that I also have two boys. My DS4 really wanted to meet Cinderella, as he's never met a princess before. He also really wanted to go inside the castle.

Our most recent trip (over Thanksgiving) we had breakfast at CRT. I have to say, I'm really impressed with how the restaurant incorporates both boys and girls in the "show". When we arrived at the table, my boys were given swords and wishing stars. Mid meal, they have this light show where the boys wave their swords and girls wave their wands over their stars and they make a wish and you see all these stars on the ceiling - cute. My boys loved it. They also loved meeting Mary Poppins.

I never thought I'd be taking my boys to dine with the princesses, but we all enjoyed it.

Next trip, we're going to 1900 Park Fare for dinner. DS4 wants to see Prince Charming! Plus I heard the evil step sisters are a hoot! He kept seeing the characters from the open door in the GF lobby and really wanted to be apart of the fun. Plus I alway call him my prince, so he wants to meet "THE" prince

We're not making a habit of princesses meals, the Castle meal was a once-in-a-lifetime thing for us. I'm not going back for a long time But I'm glad we did it.

 

[goofygal531]

So, important tip for next time -- try the ponchos on the kids before you head out, get them used to it, or buy a normal raincoat. For us, next time I will purchase a normal raincoat for them.

We had heavy rain during MVMCP and my DS4 hated the poncho too! He's also never worn one before either.

For our June trip, I had bought each of the boys lightweight rain coats from Target (tip from this board! ) Over in the socks/underwear section, usually on an end rack, you'll see raincoats in a pouch hanging up. Small, like a poncho size folded. They're made out of the poncho vinyl but have snaps down the front and a hood. I think they were $6 each. We have the "Cars". Why I didnt' pack them for our Nov trip I don't know

http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Black-Slicker-Sizes-Medium/dp/B001D1FXHU

That's my best tip for the rain with a 4 year old!

Might take you up on that double stroller rental! Thanks for sharing

 

[MJAJmom]

Hi, enjoying your TP!

I just wanted to mention that I also have two boys. My DS4 really wanted to meet Cinderella, as he's never met a princess before. He also really wanted to go inside the castle.

Our most recent trip (over Thanksgiving) we had breakfast at CRT. I have to say, I'm really impressed with how the restaurant incorporates both boys and girls in the "show". When we arrived at the table, my boys were given swords and wishing stars. Mid meal, they have this light show where the boys wave their swords and girls wave their wands over their stars and they make a wish and you see all these stars on the ceiling - cute. My boys loved it. They also loved meeting Mary Poppins. .

Hi, thanks for following along. I just never thought to bring the boys to CRT, but that sounds fun. They would love the swords!!!

Funny, just today I showed MJ some pictures of the fairies at the Tinkerbell meet and greet. He said "Gross, I never want to meet them!" Oh my. I would like to try 1900 Park Fare at our next visit. This trip, I was deciding on either Ohanas or Park Fare, we choose Ohanas. Always can get excited for things to do for next trip.

 

[MJAJmom]

We had heavy rain during MVMCP and my DS4 hated the poncho too! He's also never worn one before either.

For our June trip, I had bought each of the boys lightweight rain coats from Target (tip from this board! ) Over in the socks/underwear section, usually on an end rack, you'll see raincoats in a pouch hanging up. Small, like a poncho size folded. They're made out of the poncho vinyl but have snaps down the front and a hood. I think they were $6 each. We have the "Cars". Why I didnt' pack them for our Nov trip I don't know

Good suggestion, those black raincoats look nice, and seem like they'd fit better. My boys just did not like the feel of the ponchos. It was too bulky and their arms got lost underneath. Then once I took it off and tried to put it back on, the poncho was wet underneath and MJ threw a fit. "Yuck, it's all wet on me!!" Luckily they LOVED their umbrellas. Next trip, I'll plan better for rain.