Just the four of us...and several thousand other people (a spring break TR) ~ DONE!

[michellem1118]

Mia! And Happy Easter to the rest of your family!

 

[tinkerbells mum]

joining in too can't wait to hear more. hope Mia had a lovely birthday xx

 

[Disneychix]

Happy Birthday to your darling DD! I hope it was a lovely day!

Can't wait for more TR. Your pics of CBR look beautiful! I've never stayed there but am now thinking about it.

 

[tigerdragon]

Mia! And Happy Easter to the rest of your family!

Thanks so much! I hope you had a Happy Easter too!

joining in too can't wait to hear more. hope Mia had a lovely birthday xx

She did! Thanks so much!

Happy Birthday to your darling DD! I hope it was a lovely day!

Can't wait for more TR. Your pics of CBR look beautiful! I've never stayed there but am now thinking about it.

Thank you!

We do love CBR. It has a wonderful tropical feel. I definitely recommend it to anyone.

 

[tigerdragon]

Alrighty, when we last left off we had unloaded the car and unpacked and were itching to get to a park. So what did we choose? Magic Kingdom!

We made our way to the bus stop which seemed to be an awfully long walk from our room. Both times in the past our room was a very short walk to the bus stop so I guess we were a little spoiled by it. But the walk was very pretty.

Our MK bus came fairly quickly and we were off. I was curious and a little bit anxious to see how Mia was going to act on the bus. She was great when we started but kept wanting to get up and move around. It seemed like such a long ride and I was thrilled when we finally made it to MK.

We made our way with ease through bag check and the turnstiles. First thing up was to buy an autograph book. Alexander and I both love to collect character autographs. We found a little cart selling hats, autograph books, and a few other little goodies.

There was a group of teenaged girls in front of us that were taking their sweet time deciding what they wanted. As we were standing there this nasty man (who was on our bus) came up behind us and started taking pictures of the girls. One of the girls stuck her butt out and he stood right there and took a picture. I was I mean, you're at Disney World. This isn't spring break in Cancun. I don't really think of myself as a prude, but this was just too blatant for me. Thankfully Alexander was playing around and didn't notice. This wasn't exactly the magical way I wanted our Disney trip to start.

So after all that we finally got our autograph book and made our way to Main Street. I just love when the castle finally comes into view. It always takes my breath away. It's just so beautiful. I want to live there! We did take some photopass pictures but I don't have my CD yet. I'll add those in when I get it.

We found our way over to Frontierland and got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain RR. The fastpass time was only an hour later. I was kind of surprised all the FP's weren't already gone. I think this day was either a 9 or 10 on the crowd calendar and I had heard that FP's would always be gone by the afternoon. I was also surprised that people were actually getting in the standby line. I guess some people either don't know about FP's or maybe they already had one. I was just happy we could go ahead and get ours.

After the FP's were picked up it was time to eat. It was already 7pm and we hadn't eaten anything since our lunch which seemed like a very long time ago. Like I mentioned earlier in this TR we were on the quick service dining plan. I highly recommend it to anyone that doesn't want to be tied down to TS ressies every day.

Our choice for dinner was Columbia Harbour House. Let me just warn you now I did not take very many food pictures so there won't be much food porn on this TR. If you want descriptions of something just let me know and I'll do my best to describe it.

So, back to the dinner. I had the fried fish basket with fries, chocolate cake, and a coke. Dave had the fried shrimp basket with fries, apple crisp, and a coke. Alexander had the PBJ kids meal (an uncrustable), cookie, grapes, and chocolate milk. And Mia shared a bit of everyone's meal.

Here are a few pics from dinner.

Mia enjoyed watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Dave's iphone while waiting for food.

Alexander goofing around and trying to open his milk.

A bit of what Mia had to eat.

With our bellies pleasantly full we decided to head over and see what the wait time was for Haunted Mansion. HM is one of my favorite rides in all the parks and definitely my favorite in MK. It's just creepy enough for me. I loved the fact that it was dark out. That made it just a little more creepy. I loved it! The wait time said 20 minutes but it really took 15 minutes to get through the line.

This was another thing that I was curious about, and a bit anxious too, to see how Mia was going to react. I didn't know if she would be frightened by the rides, bored, crying, whatever. Really with a two year old their behavior can seem to go any way at any time. Much to my surprise, she was wonderful and loved the ride! Yay! I was so happy! I kept pointing things out to her and she would look at it all with a big grin on her face. I was so afraid this trip would be just either me or Dave riding with Alexander and that was it. I think if she had been tall enough to go on more rides she would have been fine with those too. She's already a little daredevil at home so I'm sure she'll like the thrill rides like the rest of us.

With our trip through HM over with it was time to head back to BTMRR and use our fastpasses. Mia was refusing to sit in the stroller so we let her walk and s-l-o-w-l-y walked to BTMRR. I know Mia didn't get to do as much as the rest of us so I wanted to let her walk when it was possible and find little things along the way to enjoy herself.

When we finally made it there we had to do the baby swap. Dave and Alexander rode first while I stayed back with Mia. She was still refusing to get in her stroller and wanted to play. I can understand that since she was in her carseat for so long. But I was afraid she was disturbing the people around us. She was being loud and we were playing in the area in front of BTMRR. Everyone else there was so mellow and quiet, maybe because it was getting late in the evening. Mia also had not taken a nap the whole day and instead of acting tired she was acting a little crazy. I tried picking her up and moving her to a different area but she would try to flop around in my arms or just lay down on the ground. It was so stressful then but I laugh about it now. I know there is some sort of playground in that area, but I didn't know where it was and didn't feel like looking for it.

After what seemed like an hour (fastpasses, really?) Dave and Alexander finally showed up and it was time for me to ride BTMRR with Alexander. He's lucky right now to have a little sister because he got to ride everything twice. Let me just add this, I love that Disney World has the rider swap on the bigger rides. I know there are many rides either Dave or I would have just sat out if it wasn't for the rider swap passes. BTMRR was just as fun as I remembered it. It's a nice roller coaster without being too jarring. There are others I like more, but we always have a great time on it.

Okay, gotta stop here now. I'll add more of our MK evening later.

 

[heaven2dc]

Mia is such a cutie watching her Playhouse Disney! It's hard for a 2 year old to want to sit still and play (I have a 2 1/2 yr old grandson and he sits in his stroller for about an hour then wants out to run so I definitely understand what you are going through.) I've never gone on HM at night but want to on my next trip - it looks so spooky at night!

 

[tinkerbells mum]

glad you got fastpasses so late in the day. i'm sure no one was bothered by Mia having fun, it is DIsney after all xx

 

[tigerdragon]

Mia is such a cutie watching her Playhouse Disney! It's hard for a 2 year old to want to sit still and play (I have a 2 1/2 yr old grandson and he sits in his stroller for about an hour then wants out to run so I definitely understand what you are going through.) I've never gone on HM at night but want to on my next trip - it looks so spooky at night!

Your grandson sounds just like Mia. She was okay in the stroller sometimes, but really wanted to be out walking like the rest of us. I just wish somebody would push me in a stroller. HM was great at night. The graveyard was so cool and spooky!

glad you got fastpasses so late in the day. i'm sure no one was bothered by Mia having fun, it is DIsney after all xx

I hope they weren't. I'm sure it was just me feeling that way since I was getting stressed.

 

[dellasgirl]

that was icky and creepy about that man with the camera ss that had to be at the start of your mk nite.
YEA on FP'S for BTMR and double YEA for Alexander getting to ride twice
I love Columbia House also.
Keep it comming

 

[tigerdragon]

Alrighty then, after Alexander and I got off of BTMRR we found Dave and Mia, who was a very unhappy little girl sitting in the stroller. Dave can always get Mia to sit in the stroller even when I can't. She may not like it, but she always gives in.

We thought maybe we should just make our way out of the park since we were tired and a certain little someone was very crabby. But as we walked through Adventureland we saw that Pirates only had a 5 minute wait. Since Mia loved HM so much we thought we'd give this one a try. It doesn't hurt to see a little Captain Jack on the first day of your trip, too. Right ladies?

Well Mia loved it! Even more so that HM. She and Alexander both tried to grab the mist as we passed through it and Mia danced to the music. We all really enjoyed the ride. I mean, how can you not? It has Johnny Depp in it! I love how realistic the animatronics are too. It's really impressive.

After our ride Alexander spotted the light up carts and just had to have a Mickey lightsaber. I swear that boy can spot a lightsaber a mile away. Since we were buying him a toy we thought Mia would like something too. This is what they each got.

Twenty-two dollars later and we started heading back toward the entrance. We didn't get too far when we found some benches between Crystal Palace and the castle and decided to take a little break and let the kids play with their toys. We weren't too far from Aloha Isle so I sent Dave back to get us what is so coveted here on the Dis...a delicious Dole Whip. OMG, I could eat one every day! I love pineapple so I think they are wonderful. That is one snack credit well spent!

We also took some pictures of the castle.

Isn't it beautiful! I love it all lit up at night. Who am I kidding, I love it any time.

After our little break, we again started making our way to the exit. Oh man, was it crowded! It was so hard to push our way through the crowds. As we got to Casey's we heard an announcement that Wishes would be starting in 5 minutes. In those 5 minutes I took Mia and walked around near Casey's and the baby care area. Just before the fireworks started we made our way back to Dave and Alexander.

The fireworks started and we got to see Tink fly. It was awesome! I wish I had some pictures to share but we really just wanted to enjoy the fireworks without worrying about getting good pictures. The best part though wasn't the fireworks. It was when I turned around to look at the boys and Alexander and Dave were both cheek to cheek, wide eyed, and just enjoying the fireworks. It was so touching.

Then Wishes ended and we headed out (finally) with the masses. I don't think the wait for the bus was too long, but we were definitely packed in like sardines. Alexander sat by me with Mia on my lap and Dave was somewhere else standing up, which he did on most bus rides. We were all exhausted by then and as soon as the lights went off and the bus got rolling I felt Mia's head roll around and fall back on my chest. She was in a deep sleep. Alexander even laid his head on me and almost fell asleep. He will never admit to being sleepy at home, but he certainly did that night.

When we got back to CBR I saw that we had a blinking light on the phone. There were two messages waiting for us. The first was just welcoming us to Disney World and hoping we enjoyed our stay. The second was a happy anniversary message from Mickey for me and Dave. We both put our ear to the receiver to listen to it and thought it was so sweet. It was a nice treat for the end of the day.

Up next our first full day and Alexander gets to do his favorites!

 

[tigerdragon]

that was icky and creepy about that man with the camera ss that had to be at the start of your mk nite.
YEA on FP'S for BTMR and double YEA for Alexander getting to ride twice
I love Columbia House also.
Keep it comming

Yes, the guy was so icky! I guess it just goes to show there are creeps anywhere, even Disney.

Oh yes, Alexander was thrilled to ride the big rides twice. He's a thrill ride junkie so it was great for him.

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

Lovin' the Report.
We were there March 10-18th, and stayed at CBR, also.
We loved CBR, it is so tropical.
I'm writing a TR also, and I think it helps with the Disney blues.
I'm going to do a scrapbook after my trip report, so I'm going to print my
report to put in the scrapbook.
That way I can keep it forever !
BTW, we also had a GPS (Emily) and she had to recalculate a few time
also !
But, she really helped us get around. As long as I don't have to read a map, I'm happy !
Can't wait to read more ...........
(I said I wasn't going to read any reports while I worked on mine, but that is not happening)

 

[NMAmy]

Got a little behind so bear with me while I catch up!

As we were standing there this nasty man (who was on our bus) came up behind us and started taking pictures of the girls.

Ewww.

I think this day was either a 9 or 10 on the crowd calendar and I had heard that FP's would always be gone by the afternoon.

Did you notice that it really didn't seem as busy all week as it was predicted? I'd been a tad nervous before arrival but it was nowhere near as busy as the time we went at Christmas.

This was another thing that I was curious about, and a bit anxious too, to see how Mia was going to react.

I've never been with a child that young so it's interesting to see how she does!

I tried picking her up and moving her to a different area but she would try to flop around in my arms or just lay down on the ground. It was so stressful then but I laugh about it now.

We used to call that the "floppy fish maneuver" at our house!

 

[tigerdragon]

Lovin' the Report.
We were there March 10-18th, and stayed at CBR, also.
We loved CBR, it is so tropical.
I'm writing a TR also, and I think it helps with the Disney blues.
I'm going to do a scrapbook after my trip report, so I'm going to print my
report to put in the scrapbook.
That way I can keep it forever !
BTW, we also had a GPS (Emily) and she had to recalculate a few time
also !
But, she really helped us get around. As long as I don't have to read a map, I'm happy !
Can't wait to read more ...........
(I said I wasn't going to read any reports while I worked on mine, but that is not happening)

I don't know how I missed your TR. I'll definitely go check it out. I didn't realize how much work a TR was and I have so many I'm reading as well. I plan on printing my TR out too and keeping it. That's part of the reason I'm writing this one, I want to be able to remember all the little details.

I do really like our GPS, even with all it's faults. Dave is traveling for business this week and took it with him. So far so good he reports. But I will always have to have a map with me. I love looking at them. Geography was one of my favorite classes in school.

Got a little behind so bear with me while I catch up!



Ewww.



Did you notice that it really didn't seem as busy all week as it was predicted? I'd been a tad nervous before arrival but it was nowhere near as busy as the time we went at Christmas.


I've never been with a child that young so it's interesting to see how she does!



We used to call that the "floppy fish maneuver" at our house!

There were times it felt really crowded, like during the fireworks, but there were other times that I was wondering where everyone was. I guess it depends on the time and location. I still prefer spring break time over summer just because of the weather. I'd love to go during Christmas some time. I bet the decorations are beautiful.

LOL @ floppy fish maneuver. I'm going to have to start calling it that. Mia definitely has it perfected.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

oops...I missed a couple of updates.

Hotel room looks good

Happy Belated Birthday to Mia

So sorry about all your forgotten things. I keep a Disney packing list on my computer and Blackberry year-round I also keep Disney supplies permanently packed in my suitcase. I'm crazy...I know.

I so didn't know that there was a back entrance to Disney

Fun first night at MK (minus the weird "photographer"). You are right HM is SOOOO much better at night (even better at MNSSHP when the characters are walking around outside)

 

[LovingDisny]

I just found your report. Such a cute family. We are leaving in 58 days staying at POR. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[tigerdragon]

oops...I missed a couple of updates.

Hotel room looks good

Happy Belated Birthday to Mia

So sorry about all your forgotten things. I keep a Disney packing list on my computer and Blackberry year-round I also keep Disney supplies permanently packed in my suitcase. I'm crazy...I know.

I so didn't know that there was a back entrance to Disney

Fun first night at MK (minus the weird "photographer"). You are right HM is SOOOO much better at night (even better at MNSSHP when the characters are walking around outside)

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

I keep a packing list too but the shoes, hair straightener, and baby soap aren't on it. Those are things I should just know to bring. I'll put them on my list for next year. I don't know how I missed the Mickey ears.

The "backway" as I call it isn't really through the back, it's more like a service entrance but it's still regular streets. I know I'm not really describing it well. I didn't know about it either until our GPS made us go through there. I still wished we had gone a different way so I could have seen "the sign".

I just found your report. Such a cute family. We are leaving in 58 days staying at POR. Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Aww, thanks! Glad you're joining in.

 

[tigerdragon]

The day started with our first wake up call at 7am. But, of course, I was already awake. I think I woke up around 6:30 and just couldn't get back to sleep. When the phone rang I expected to hear Mickey and Stitch but instead got silence. Oh well. After I got ready I woke everyone else up and everyone was ready to go by 8:15. A little later than I wanted but we were still good.

Dave tried telling me which way to get to the bus stop but he is directionally challenged. I swear he would get lost walking in a circle. This became a running joke for us, he would start going in one direction and I would have to tell him he's going the wrong way. When we go to the mall he never knows which way to go to exit, and we've been going there together for almost 14 years.

But back to the trip report, we made our way to the bus stop and had to wait about 15 minutes for our bus to Hollywood Studios. We got there exactly at rope drop. I bet your thinking that we followed the mass of human bodies and headed to Toy Story Mania. Nope, we didn't. That was for another day. No, instead, we veered left and headed to the Jedi Training Academy. When you have a Star Wars lovin' kid in your family, nothing else matters except fighting Darth Vader.

This was not Alexander's first time to do JTA. We were there last June during Star Wars Weekend and of course Alexander had to do it then. That was back when you had to rush over to the stage, have your kids dressed in something Star Wars, and have them hopping up and down shouting excitedly in hopes that they would be one of the lucky few chosen. Thankfully Alexander was about the 5th or 6th kid chosen and I was so happy for him that I actually started crying. My niece was on that trip too and she was also chosen. My sister and I were thrilled.

But back to this year, we did still rush to the stage and Alexander was wearing a Star Wars shirt, but he wears one most of the time anyway. This year he had this little guy on his shirt: . Thankfully he was only the second person in line. I was so afraid we'd get there and there would already be a long line and we'd have to wait for the next show. But we did still have 50 or so minutes to wait for the first show and the line did fill up quickly. I felt sorry for the people who were showing up a little later. They all had this look of shock on their faces. I know this is such a popular attraction and it's just too bad that they can't fit more kids in.

This morning it was overcast and there were a few sprinkles off and on. A cast member came out at one point to warn us that if it started raining the show would be canceled. Of course (being a Diser) I already knew this. I hadn't checked the weather report the night before so I didn't know there was rain expected. I was so hoping that the rain would stay away and the show wouldn't be canceled. Thankfully the rain never did let loose and it was on with the show.

While waiting in line Alexander made friends with the little girl in front of us and the little boy behind us. The mother of the boy behind us was asking what these were.

Alexander was more than happy to tell her it was an AT-AT and proceeded to tell her much more about Star Wars than she probably ever wanted to know. She was very nice about it and shared a lot of information with her son. I think her son was about 4 or 5 and just getting into Star Wars. It was so cute to hear the kids talking to each other about Star Wars. Alexander let the little girl in front of us play with the lightsaber he brought with him. He refused to leave it back in the room, LOL.

A little bit before the start a cast member came out to ask the kids a few questions. The first is are you between 4 and 12. So for those wondering that is the age requirement. Then they asked a few other questions which I don't specifically remember. All you needed to do was answer yes but Alexander was serious about his answers and wouldn't give an exact yes. They allowed him in anyway. They gave the kids a card to let them know they were in. Here is a pictures of the kids waiting after they were given their cards.

After that they were given robes to put on.

Alexander had to help the little boy behind him get his on. His mom and I thought that was so sweet!

He such a sweet boy who is so good with other kids. He's really such a great big brother to Mia too.

Finally, the kids were taken to the edge of the stage and the Jedi Master comes out.

This guy was so funny and really made the show entertaining not just for the kids but for the adults as well.

Then the kids were shown their spots to stand on. The smaller ones were up front and the taller kids were in back. I think Alexander had the same spot as last year.

Then they were given lightsabers and shown how to use them. Of course Alexander was already an expert. They were shown how to properly fight Darth Vader.

After that the young padawans were led back to the side of the stage and out came the Stormtroopers.

They were then followed by him

Very intimidating.

The kids were lined up to fight Darth Vader one by one.

Here's a little video of Alexander fighting.


After all the kids had a chance to fight, Darth Vader realized none of them would be converted to the Dark Side and left. The robes and lightsabers were given to the Jedi master and the kids were given a certificate stating that they had proven to be worthy of training to become a Jedi.

A group shot of the kids

Alexander came off the stage with a huge grin on his face. I do have more close-up pictures of him that the Photopass photographers took that I'll share when the CD comes in.

Oops, too many pictures in this post so I have to break this up into two segments.

 

[tigerdragon]

I forgot to mention that while Alexander and I were waiting Dave and Mia went back to Tower of Terror to grab fastpasses. The return time was 9:50.

Alexander then took the obligatory shot on the speeder.

Since we were right there Dave and Alexander rode this:

We didn't get a baby swap pass since I had no desire to ride it. I've ridden it before and I have not been impressed. I'm so happy it's getting a remodel because it seriously needs it. I'll be happy to ride it then.

As the boys rode Star Tours I took Mia for a diaper change and just walked around with her and let her have some free time. After a little bit we went into the store that Star Tours exits into. We just happened to see Dave and Alexander coming out just as we walked in. That was perfect timing! While there Alexander decided to buy a small stuffed Chewbacca and an R2-D2 light up toy. Mia liked the R2-D2 toy as much as Alexander and still plays with it now when she gets a chance.

We started making our way to the other side of the park to use our fastpasses for ToT. On the way there we stopped and got some popcorn. I want to let you in on a little secret, the popcorn at Disney is magic. Seriously, I think Tinkerbell must sprinkle some pixie dust on it because it is able to get a cranky little girl who hates riding in her stroller to eagerly sit down without any fuss at all. Here is Mia enjoying some of that magical popcorn:

Alright so after our great popcorn discovery it was back to this wonderful ride.

I love Tower of Terror! It is my favorite ride in all the parks! It's one of those I could ride over and over and over again. Because I love it so much I rode it first with Alexander. Before we went on we also got a baby swap pass. Have I mentioned how much I love those? Because I really do.

Btw, when we got to ToT it was a few minutes after our fastpass return time window but the cast member didn't mention anything about it. I have only ever used fastpasses within the hour you are given so it was nice to know it could be used after that actual time.

So Alexander and I rode and we both screamed, laughed, and just loved every single second of the ride. While we were riding Dave and Mia went over to Rock N Rollercoaster and got fastpasses. I believe the return time was 1:50.

Then the boys rode on ToT and I strolled around with Mia in some of the shops. She was still munching on some popcorn and was as happy as could be.

After the guys came out it was time for lunch. There was a place I wanted to try that we had never been to before: Starring Rolls Cafe. If you have seen the pictures of the cupcakes that they serve then you would want to eat there too. Let me tell you the food did not disappoint. The place is tiny and I was confused on where to order, but the cast members working there were great. Dave and I both got the turkey sandwich and Cokes. For our desserts we got a chocolate peanut butter cupcake and a chocolate eclair. The eclair was for me. I love them. Alexander got the PBJ uncrustable meal again.

So here is my only food porn pics of the entire trip report.

The desserts were fabulous but I was in love with that sandwich! It was yummy turkey, a thick slice of mozzarella with peppers on it, and I believe there was avocado on top. My mouth is watering thinking about it now. So many people on the Dis complain that Hollywood Studios does not have any good counter service restaurants but I think it's because they have never eaten at Starring Rolls. I honestly never knew it existed before. I'm so happy we discovered it and it is a must-do for us now on every trip.

Alright folks, I'm going to leave it at that for tonight. I'll try to get another update in tomorrow.

 

[tinkerbell615]

I might just have to try that turkey sandwich. It sounds really yummy. I am really enjoying your report. Thanks.