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

[NMAmy]

Crush said to Mia "Hey sister in the red, I see you. Thanks for waving babe". I thought that was cute. Mia had no clue he was talking to her, but I knew.

Aww...she got a Crush shout out!

Crush: Woah, dude. I shall call you Dory.

Hilarious!

So Crush asked if he had a question and Alexander asked where his favorite place to visit was.

Great job, Alexander!

San Angel Inn. So I had made us and ADR for 12:30 pm.

And we missed each other again--we had dinner at WS that day and lunch in the room.

Let me just pause here to say how much I love making ADR's online now. I can't tell you how much I hated getting up at 6 am just to call, wait who knows how long to speak with someone, and try to make an ADR. It's so much easier to just turn on the computer, plug in the times I want, and see what's available. Wonderful!

HA! I totally agree.

Great update and great pictures!

 

[tigerdragon]

Great update!

Thanks!

OMG... the conversation between Mia and Crush... How cute!!! Can't wait to see Crush on our next trip. Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

Yes, the other Mia and Crush were just too funny! I always look forward to Crush too.

Thanks for the info. Makes perfect sense!

So glad both of your kiddos got to interact with Crush! Totally cute dude!

Yay for front row on Soarin

So glad to hear that San Angel is getting better. It's so pretty in there but the food was AWFUL when we ate there (mushy and COLD). This was several years ago though and it seems that it's really improving.

I'm glad I made sense, LOL.

Ick, mushy and cold food at San Angel! We really did enjoy it, I just wish the portions were larger. We have some great Mexican restaurants around here and the amount of food they serve is just massive. I was expecting it to be a bit more like that, but it was still good.

And we missed each other again--we had dinner at WS that day and lunch in the room.

Well, we did have dinner at WS (which I'll add in my next update) but it wasn't great and just a counter service. Who knows, maybe we were close to the same place at the same time.

 

[disney2mom]

I love your update and pictures! I am debating on pre-ordering the photo pass CD, I got an offer for $99! Did you find it was worth the $$? My family is not big on stopping for photo pass photographers but they will if I make them

 

[taymacsmom]

I'm in! Anxiously waiting to hear about the crowds. We are planning for 2011 and "throwing around" ideas for when. DD will be in college next year so we are considering March. Your kids are adorable! Can't wait for more!

 

[tigerdragon]

Since we were in the Mexico pavilion we thought it would be a good time to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour. I think that's what it's called. I really could do without this ride, but the kids liked it well enough.

Alexander loves stopping at the kidcot stations to make a mask so we picked up one for each of the kids at the kidcot stop in Mexico.

At this point Mia was starting to get fussy so I thought it would be a good idea to buy some of that magical Disney popcorn and get her back in the stroller. I had no idea where they were selling popcorn in World Showcase and I remembered seeing a popcorn stand at Future World so we walked all the way back there to buy some. I'm sure had we started walking the other way in WS we would have quickly come to a popcorn stand, but I wasn't sure about it and didn't want to look.

So we went back to Future World and Dave and the kids stayed at a bench while I went in search of some popcorn. While I was away Dave played around with the camera and took these pictures.

Alexander is such a ham in front of the camera.

Dave loves to try to get close-up pictures with our camera, while I'm pretty much just a point and shoot picture-taker. I thought his pictures turned out so pretty, except the one with the bee. That one scared me since I'm allergic to them.

I made my way back with the popcorn and we got Mia settled into the stroller. The plan was to walk around a little bit at World Showcase and head back to the resort for a nap in the afternoon.

We went to Canada this time. It just feels wrong to start on the other side when touring World Showcase so Canada is always first for us. I took Alexander down to the kidcot stop and let him color his mask for a little bit while Dave and Mia strolled around just taking in the sights.

After Canada we went to UK. Dave and Alexander looked around in the shops and found the kidcot stop. After that Dave, Alexander, and Mia had fun running around in the little maze. Dave was pushing Mia in the stroller and they were chasing after Alexander. It was so funny and I wish I had taken pictures or video.

As we were making our way from UK to France we saw Mary Poppins and Alice, but Alexander wasn't interested in stopping to see them. He just isn't interested in the girly characters, and he absolutely refuses to see any princesses. Boys.

Dave and Alexander had their pictures taken...

...and we moved on to France.

One thing I had been looking forward to this whole trip was getting some yummy treats from Boulingerie Pattiserie. I'm sure I totally messed the spelling up there but, you know, it's the bakery in France. I saw a picture on another trip report of a napoleon and I knew I had to have one. I took Alexander with me and he picked out a chocolate mousse. Oh my goodness was the napoleon wonderful! I wish I had some pictures of it, but trust me, it is fabulous. I was told that the mousse was good too but I didn't try it. I was too busy scarfing down my napoleon.

While we were enjoying our snacks Mia was getting increasingly grouchy so we knew it was time to leave and head back to CBR. She didn't want to sit in the stroller any longer and the magical popcorn wasn't even helping. So we let her out and made our way out of the park. It took forever with her walking, but she had a great time.

We finally made it back to CBR and everyone, except Alexander, took naps. Alexander chose to play with his Legos instead.

After our naps we went to Old Port Royale to fill our mugs. While we were there Dave remembered that Alexander had used his key to open our door and had left it on the table back in the room. So I had to trek back to the room and pick it up.

While I was gone Dave took the kids to the arcade and let Alexander play some games. With our package we got 100 points for the arcade which is about enough to play one video game. If you have a 9 year old boy one game is just not enough. So Dave bought some more points and let Alexander play some more games. They have 2 or 3 Star Wars games at the arcade so Alexander was one happy kid.

After I got back, Alexander finished his game and we headed back to Epcot. We got there at 6:30 pm. The first thing we did was ride Spaceship Earth. Mia rode with me and she had a great time on the ride.

We didn't stick around to play any of the games after the ride and instead went into Mouse Gears to look around a bit. Does anyone else notice the funky smell in Mouse Gears? It smells like a sewer line or something broke in there. The smell was there again on other days. I don't know what it is, but I wish they would do something about it. We wound up not buying anything while we were there. I was looking for a stuffed Mickey for Mia but the only thing I could find in the size I wanted was a Minnie.

By this time we were all pretty hungry. My plan was to go to eat at World Showcase and then try to do some things there. Let me tell you, this quickly became a complete waste of an evening. Since Alexander is a picky eater we decided to walk to Liberty Inn in World Showcase to have our counter service dinner. Oh my goodness, that was such a long walk to America. We would have taken the ferry but it was no longer running by this point.

So we finally, finally! made it there and we were all tired and a bit cranky. Alexander and I ordered our food, burgers for everyone, and Dave took Mia to a table. While Alexander and I were waiting for our food we could hear Mia whining. She was still in her stroller and not happy to be there.

We got our burgers which were not so good. I wound up only eating about half of my food because I was stressed about the way Mia was acting. We were sitting by a fountain and Mia started playing around with the rocks. The fountain was probably the highlight of Mia's evening. Normally I wouldn't let her play with something like that but it was making her happy, so that meant the rest of us were happy.

After dinner we only had about 20 minutes before Epcot was closing and for Illuminations to begin. It was just too late, and we were too tired, to do anything else. We didn't even feel like watching Illuminations either.

We did wind up seeing a little bit of Illuminations as we were leaving. On the way out Alexander stopped to buy a Mickey head Canada flag pin. We then made it on the bus, back to our room, and it was lights out.

In hindsight, I wish we had just stayed back at CBR and let the kids play on the beach and playground. It would have been so much more relaxing. Dave and I also talked about each of us taking an evening and just taking Alexander by ourselves to a park of his choice so that he could have some one on one time with us. That turned out to be a great idea.

Up next: my favorite park - Animal Kingdom!

 

[tigerdragon]

I love your update and pictures! I am debating on pre-ordering the photo pass CD, I got an offer for $99! Did you find it was worth the $$? My family is not big on stopping for photo pass photographers but they will if I make them

It's totally worth it if you plan on taking a lot of pictures. It was worth it for us because we had over 200 photopass pictures taken. We made an effort to stop at as many photopass photographers as we could. I didn't pre-purchase the CD though because I wasn't sure how many pictures we would have taken. I wish I had pre-purchased it though because it would have saved me $50. So, yeah, I think it's worth it, but only if you get a lot of pictures. It was also nice to have a lot of family pictures too. We wound up only having one family photo taken with our camera.

I'm in! Anxiously waiting to hear about the crowds. We are planning for 2011 and "throwing around" ideas for when. DD will be in college next year so we are considering March. Your kids are adorable! Can't wait for more!

Thanks for the compliments!

I've only ever gone when there have been crowds so I don't have a whole lot to compare it to, but I have never found it to be unbearable during spring break. There were definitely long wait times at the big rides, but we made good use of fastpasses and tried to do some of the smaller rides too. The best thing about going in March for me is the weather. We've gone in June and October and the heat and humidity then are just awful.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Loved your turtle talk experience! Crush said something to my one daughter (6-1/2) who ran back to us and cried. Then, began to talk to her twin, who stood and walked to us too. Then, he chatted with DH. Fortunately, DH didn't walk away.

I love Animal Kingdom too. I look forward to hearing about your day there.

 

[DenishaT]

I decided to say HI instead of just lurking! your family is adorable!! I can't wait to read more!!

 

[MHTeacher]

Sometimes, the best idea is to head back to the resort and call it a night.

Looking forward to your AK report.

 

[tigerdragon]

I woke up at 6:45 with our Mickey wake-up call. I think this was the first morning I didn't wake up before the wake-up call. That was nice, although 6:45 was still early. Everyone got up and ready, well almost everyone. Mia was happy to just lay in bed and watch some Disney channel.

After everyone was ready we made it to the bus stop at about 8:15 am and a bus arrived quickly. We were the only ones on the bus to Animal Kingdom. It was kind of neat riding with just the four of us and the driver. It was like our own personal escort to Animal Kingdom.

We made it to the park about 10 minutes before rope drop and got to see the little opening show. See, here's Minnie's butt to prove it.

Our first ride was the Safari. We always prefer to do this first thing, sort of a tradition I guess. Btw, the safari was the first ride Dave, Alexander, and I ever rode on in all the Disney parks.

The wait wasn't long at all. In fact, it was pretty much a walk on. We were given the last row to sit in on our vehicle. That was great because it made taking pictures a lot easier, and we took plenty. I won't share them all but here are some of my favorites.

Some pretty wild animals. (Yes, it was very chilly this morning and I'm glad I had a blanket to cover Mia up.)

Nope, no animals. I just love the moss hanging off the trees. I wish we had it here in NW Arkansas.

This guy decided to cross the road right in front of us and got really close. It was awesome!

Alexander and his favorite animal. Look close, there's a giraffe back there in the trees.

Then the elephants

I have another picture of this elephant, but it's a little, um, x-rated.

Another animal crossing the road

Yeah, that's right, he's cleaning himself.

Poor Pumbaa, he's so ugly. So ugly he's cute though.

So we helped save the baby elephant and finished up the safari. We all really enjoyed our ride this morning. There were so many animals out and moving around. Mia loved waving and pointing at all of them.

Dave took this picture of Alexander after the ride.

We hadn't had breakfast yet so stopped to get a couple pastries and juice and a cappuccino. We also did a little shopping too. Dave found a few things for himself and I bought a few things for Mia.

After shopping we headed to Expedition Everest to pick up some fastpasses. We saw the chimps playing around.

I think their play area looks more like a construction site.

Dave and Alexander had some photopass pics taken.

After picking up our fastpasses we went to Dinoland to see the wait time for Dinosaur.

It said only 10 minutes so we didn't even bother getting a rider swap pass. Alexander and I rode first. It was just a walk on, not even a 10 minute wait. We loved it.

I thought while we were riding Dave was going to take Mia to the Boneyard but instead they were just sitting outside the entrance to Dinosaur.

Dave and Alexander went to ride Dinosaur and I took Mia over to ride Triceratop Spin. In line in front of us was another lady and her two children. As we were waiting, the lady pulled out some cookie wafers to give to her children. Of course, as soon as Mia saw that she wanted one too. The lady was so nice and offered one to Mia. I was so happy she did because I did not want to deal with the meltdown had she not. I guess I was bad mommy though for not thinking ahead and packing cookies.

We only had to wait a couple rounds before it was our turn to ride. Mia was as happy as could be while we were riding. She enjoyed going up and down and looking at everything.

The view from our ride

After our ride we went over to the Boneyard. We didn't make it very far in before Mia spotted a small side. She was in heaven just walking up the stairs and sliding down, over and over again.

A little video of Mia playing around


At one point she started going down head first. That was when it was time to leave and meet up with the boys.

More to come later...

 

[tigerdragon]

Loved your turtle talk experience! Crush said something to my one daughter (6-1/2) who ran back to us and cried. Then, began to talk to her twin, who stood and walked to us too. Then, he chatted with DH. Fortunately, DH didn't walk away.

I love Animal Kingdom too. I look forward to hearing about your day there.

Oh that's funny how your kids reacted to Crush. Were they scared of him? I bet Crush was happy your DH didn't walk away.

I decided to say HI instead of just lurking! your family is adorable!! I can't wait to read more!!

Thanks for joining in!

Sometimes, the best idea is to head back to the resort and call it a night.

Yes, I'll have to remember that the next time we go.

 

[MHTeacher]

Sounds like a good start to an Animal Kingdom day! I remember that morning did start off chilly, didn't it?

I have to say that you do a much better job than I do about getting your family to the bus stop bright and early. -----------Teenaged girls

 

[kjmommie]

I can't wait to try the Boneyard playarea. We have never been there and this year there will be a 3 year old and a 4 year old with us so it will be a good diversion!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

i missed 2 updates

I find that going back to Epcot is always our toughest night. So much walking and you are always in one part of the park when they decide they want to be in the other part. That's why we didn't leave on our last trip. We didn't have the stroller and I thought it could get ugly

Love the pic from Tricertop Spin. I don't think I've seen a pic taken from that ride before

OH and I love the one of Mia on the slide. She looks like such a little lady

 

[Angies1274]

Joining in!! Love your TR!! Your kids are just adorable! I'm so happy to hear you liked CBR!! We are thinking about staying there on our next trip.

I can't wait to read more!!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Oh that's funny how your kids reacted to Crush. Were they scared of him? I bet Crush was happy your DH didn't walk away.

Painfully shy mixed in with lack of sleep.

Looks like a great time at AK. I love that the Boneyard is there for the very little ones. They need to be able to run around -it looks like Mia enjoyed that freedom!

 

[Honeymooner04]

I've really enjoyed your trip report so far! Can't wait to read more!

 

[tigerdragon]

Our pastries that we had for breakfast seemed like a long time ago and we were all ready for lunch. Our choice was Flame Tree BBQ. We've never eaten there before but have heard great things about it. I ordered the BBQ chicken salad, mousse, and a lemonade. Dave had the pork sandwich meal, mousse, and a Coke. Alexander had a hot dog meal and Sprite. Everything was as good as I had hoped. I was skeptical of the mousse but it was delicious! I could go for one right now.

With this being an outdoor seating area there were birds everywhere.

Check this lady out, she looks thrilled to have her picture taken.

There were plenty of signs saying do not feed the birds. We didn't, except for a little food that might have fallen off Mia's tray, but there were plenty of people throwing fries and things to the birds. If I was a bird this is where I would want to live.

After lunch it was time to use our fastpasses for Expedition Everest. We had noticed that Animal Kingdom wasn't very crowded. That was until we got to EE. Apparently that's where everyone in the park was at. This is what the wait time for EE was up to.

Thank goodness for fastpasses!

First thing we had to do was get a rider swap. There was a cast member standing at a podium at EE kind of doing, nothing. So we asked her if we could get a rider swap from her. No, we had to get one from the fastpass CM. We went up to get one from her and were told we couldn't have one. What? We've never been told no before. And yes, she could clearly see Mia in her stroller. So we went back to the podium CM and told her they wouldn't give us one. She had no idea why so she went and got us one herself. It was just a strange situation.

Alexander and I rode together first while Dave stayed back with Mia. Alexander and I both love thrill rides and this is probably my favorite roller coaster anywhere. Needless to say, we were excited!

A few pics from the ride, sorry they aren't so great.

As much as I love EE, it always makes me dizzy when I get off the ride. I don't know why since no other roller coaster does that to me.

We met up with Dave and Mia and the boys went to ride. Mia and I watched some more ducks while we waited. Mia liked quacking at the ducks.

I took this while we were waiting

Well, gotta cut it short today. More of AK to come later.

 

[tigerdragon]

I have to say that you do a much better job than I do about getting your family to the bus stop bright and early. -----------Teenaged girls

Getting a 9 and a 2 year old ready in the morning is easy. I suspect it won't be in about 10 or 12 years though.

I can't wait to try the Boneyard playarea. We have never been there and this year there will be a 3 year old and a 4 year old with us so it will be a good diversion!

Oh they will love it! There's much more to it that what Mia discovered. Alexander loves playing around in there too. He's just a lot harder to keep up with.

I find that going back to Epcot is always our toughest night. So much walking and you are always in one part of the park when they decide they want to be in the other part. That's why we didn't leave on our last trip. We didn't have the stroller and I thought it could get ugly

Love the pic from Tricertop Spin. I don't think I've seen a pic taken from that ride before

OH and I love the one of Mia on the slide. She looks like such a little lady

Aww, that's so sweet! Thanks!

Joining in!! Love your TR!! Your kids are just adorable! I'm so happy to hear you liked CBR!! We are thinking about staying there on our next trip.

I can't wait to read more!!

Thanks for joining in! I'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed in CBR. It's so beautiful!

Painfully shy mixed in with lack of sleep.

Looks like a great time at AK. I love that the Boneyard is there for the very little ones. They need to be able to run around -it looks like Mia enjoyed that freedom!

Well maybe next time your kiddos won't be scared of Crush.

The Boneyard was great for Mia. She probably would have gone up and down that slide all day if I had let her.

I've really enjoyed your trip report so far! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks!

 

[tigerdragon]

After riding EE, it was time to get Alexander a Mickey ice cream bar that I had been promising him. He was kind enough to share it with his sister...a little.

A little video of it


We went to see my favorite 3D show - It's Tough to be a Bug. We had to wait in the holding area for a few minutes before the show began. The kids liked playing around in there and were kind enough to pose for a few pictures.

We got to sit in the middle of the row in the center. Perfect seats! For some reason there was more fog and water spray in there than I remember. Maybe it's because we were closer? I'm not sure since we are usually in the last few rows.

We all certainly enjoyed the show. It just cracks me up at the end when everyone gets poked in the back and when the creepy crawlies all exit. Of course I know when it's coming, but I love seeing the reaction of the newbies.

After the show we stopped to have our photopass pics taken in front of the Tree of Life. I just love the tree, probably as much as I love the castle.

After our show with the bugs we didn't really have a plan. We weren't ready to leave yet so we went over to Camp Minnie-Mickey. We thought about seeing Festival of the Lion King. I absolutely love it but I didn't think Mia would sit through it.

On the way over I overheard a woman tell her granddaughter that Camp Minnie-Mickey was going to be like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Uh, sorry no little girl. If that's what you're expecting you will be disappointed.

Instead of seeing Lion King we decided to see some characters instead. Up first was Chip and Dale. They have to be two of my favorite characters because they are always so funny and usually have great interaction with the guests. A few years ago when Alexander got to meet them he was jumping up and down with excitement and Chip and Dale started jumping up and down with him. It was hilarious and adorable!

Even though we had already seen Donald Duck, Alexander wanted to get his autograph again. Donald Duck usually signs his name "Donald Duck #1" but failed to put the "#1" on the first autograph so Alexander wanted that signature in his autograph book.

At this point Mia was getting a little antsy so Dave took her to find some popcorn.

Alexander and I stayed to get some more autographs and we saw Thumper and Miss Bunny come out. I didn't know Miss Bunny had a name until the character handler told us. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Next we went to see Goofy again. He was a crack up as usual and gave Alexander plenty of high-fives.

As Alexander and I left Goofy kissed my hand and I told him he was such a gentleman.

While we were with Goofy, Festival of the Lion King let out and the crowds to see the characters were getting ridiculously long. We were going to see Mickey and Minnie again but decided we weren't interested in waiting in the lines.

At this point Dave and Mia were back with us. It had taken quite a while to find some popcorn. Dave told me he was beginning to think they didn't sell popcorn in Animal Kingdom. But they finally did and Mia was happy for a few minutes.

That happiness didn't last too long and we decided to leave AK for the day. We got back to our room at about 2:30 pm and I got Mia to sleep.

As I mentioned before, Dave and I had decided that we would each take Alexander out by ourselves for one evening each so this was my evening to take him somewhere.

Right after Mia went to sleep Alexander and I left for Epcot. There were a few things we wanted to do that we didn't get to do the day before. First thing we had to do was wait for a bus and it took forever. Finally it came and we arrived at Epcot at about 4 pm.

Some of the topiaries

I asked Alexander what was most important to him and he said he really wanted to ride Test Track. Unfortunately all the fastpasses were gone for the day and the wait time said 70 minutes.

I was about ready to beg and plead that we do something else, but this evening was for him so we waited in that long, horrible line. I hate the queue for Test Track. It's just incredibly loud and annoying. While waiting we played a game of who could name more characters from Star Wars. Needless to say, Alexander won.

After our game I did some people watching. There was a family from England that loved to talk and I loved to hear their accents. They didn't say anything really interesting though, I just liked their accents.

About 10 or so people in front of us were two couples who look like they stepped right out of that reality show Jersey Shore. One of the girls looked just like, what's her name, Sookie or Snookie. I'm not sure as I've never watched the show, I've just seen the people from it all over other shows. Anyway, they were amusing. Well, except for the time when they were making out. I guess they didn't have anything else to do while waiting for Test Track.

Finally after a whole hour we got to the ride. As it happens we somehow ended up by the Jersey Shore wannabe kids and guess what they were talking about. Jersey Shore! Seriously! I laughed to myself. We were almost put in a car with them but they had to ride side by side as couples so they got in another car. I really wish they had been with us because I would have loved to show you their picture.

But here's our picture with just a bunch of regular non-reality tv looking folks.

After the ride I asked Alexander if the wait had been worth it. He said no and I agreed.


Alright, I'll post more of our evening at Epcot at another time.