Laissez les bon temps Rouler...Feb 2010 2/20 MK Last part of the Night updt 9/70 pg65

[vamassey1]

Awwww, I'm sorry that 'Ohana wasn't right that night for you. Our food is always good but the best time for us was when we were there for Wishes and it was just perfect!

Being able to see Wishes made a huge difference. On our other trips I knew it wasn't timed right for viewing, but on this one it was.

We are eating there in June and it's been a couple of trips since we've been so I'm hoping for another wonderful evening!

I hope your diner is wonderful!

So cool that you got the Mickey head key chains! I'll be sure to keep your secret!

I knew I could count on you!

Okay, I'm here now!! Aren't the dancers and all the CMs during the AK parade amazing? That is NOT a short parade route either! They work it hard for 30 minutes!! Joe and I rode in the first float with Rafiki on our honeymoon, our arms ached from waving after it. There is a small break in the middle for them, it goes down a path that doesn't have room for people to sit on, and everyone quickly waters up and walks normal, stretches, etc. It was really cool to watch! Our arms were thankful for the break too!

Brooke! I'm so glad you made it over. I know how busy you are getting ready to leave in just a few short days.

How cool that you got to ride in the parade. I'm so glad to hear that they get a break. They work so hard.

Sorry to hear your 'Ohana dinner was a disappointment. We've had meals like that too, where it's just off for a variety of reasons...it can really ruin the "magic" of a meal!

I was real disappointed, but now that time has passed and I want to give it another try. Maybe next time it won't be freezing cold and over booked.

I'm sorry to read that there was some kind of tension in the air at Ohana that night. You're probably right, if they had overflow people there from the luau, it will show in the service and the overall mood.

I really think that is what happened. I would be so disappointed if the service of one of my favorites had become so bad. I think it boiled down to being over booked and just needing to turn the tables over as fast as possible.

 

[englishrose47]

I hope the atmosphere is good on August when we plan on eating there !!!

 

[vamassey1]

I hope the atmosphere is good on August when we plan on eating there !!!

I'm sure it will be great. I don't think you'll have to worry about them canceling the luau do to the cold like we did.

 

[vamassey1]

I know I'm long over due for another update but I have to post a life update. I spent my day today at the LSU student union with my daughters. Danielle was there due to the Division Science Fair and of course Michelle was in and out since she was in and out of classes. I had a great time hanging out with the other Moms there with their kids too. After a very long day Danielle ended up placing third in her category. Not too bad. I also had an impromptu Dis Meet. PittypatBR was there too with her grandson. We can now say that we have finally met. After Dennis met us up there to Danielle home I went to the Disney College Program information meeting with Michelle. I had vision of lots of Disney trip to go see Michelle. Although it was a great meeting Michelle didn't sign up. She's a Jr now and has all her classed planned out so she can graduate in May 2012. If she did the program she would have to postpone that by a semester. At least I can say I've been to one of the presentations now. I think its a great opportunity for any college student but I do understand her not wanting to do it since she can see the end so far in sight.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Congratulations to Danielle for placing third in her category!

Too bad Michelle doesn't want to do the Disney program! Maybe you can convince Danielle to do it. I really hope one of my two want to do it.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Congrats to Danielle!!

Too bad to hear about Michelle, but I do understand her desire to just get DONE. I wish I had known about the CP, I woulda signed up for it, I wasn't ready to leave college when I did - I loved it!

 

[vamassey1]

Congratulations to Danielle for placing third in her category!

Too bad Michelle doesn't want to do the Disney program! Maybe you can convince Danielle to do it. I really hope one of my two want to do it.

Thanks Jackie!

Michelle really wants to do the program but she wants to graduate too. She is planning a trip to Disney with her boyfriend for May 2012. She wants to go after classes are done but before graduation. She was really torn last night.

 

[vamassey1]

Congrats to Danielle!!

Too bad to hear about Michelle, but I do understand her desire to just get DONE. I wish I had known about the CP, I woulda signed up for it, I wasn't ready to leave college when I did - I loved it!

Thanks Brook! I really wanted her to sign up too, but I want her to graduate also. Sounds like the program would have been perfect for you. I'll have to start working on Danielle. Sounds like it's best to sign up in your early years of college. If you do the program you can go back for the summer and do a summer intership. Perfect way to spend the summer.

 

[PittypatBR]

Vanessa, it was so neat to meet you yesterday. All of a sudden I looked up and thought, "Hey, I know her! But where do I know her from?" Then it hit me! A fun mini DIS meet in the middle of the science fair! Congratulations to Danielle on placing! That was very good considering all the competition!

I can understand that Michelle would rather graduate on time than do the Disney program, but it WOULD have been fun! How about a Disney FAMILY program!!

 

[vamassey1]

Vanessa, it was so neat to meet you yesterday. All of a sudden I looked up and thought, "Hey, I know her! But where do I know her from?" Then it hit me! A fun mini DIS meet in the middle of the science fair! Congratulations to Danielle on placing! That was very good considering all the competition!

I can understand that Michelle would rather graduate on time than do the Disney program, but it WOULD have been fun! How about a Disney FAMILY program!!

I'm so glad you came over to say hello! I'm very happy that she placed. I'm also happy that she placed third, first and second move onto State. I'm sure that competition is even tougher.

Just tell me where to sign up for the FAMILY program. I'll be the first in line.

 

[vamassey1]

I wanted to post a wrap up of our final AK day. Looking back at the schedule I put together for this day we did really well. Every trip I put down that I want to try to enter at the secret entrance from Rainforest Cafe and every trip I get voted down. Some day I really want to try it to see if it's any better. We did all the rides we wanted except for Kali, it was just too cold. We also caught the parade and all the shows. Of course have almost two days in the park really helped with that. Dennis would have liked to have ridden Dinosaur more. Of course there are always small things I wish we had done or spent more time doing. I would like to spend a little more time watching DeVine. I would also like to watch more of the entertainment Village Beatniks, Topicals, MOr Thiam and Tam Tam's of the Congo. When I think back on this day the thing that stands out the most is the time Dennis and spent just relaxing, eating Disney treats and people watching. I really enjoyed walking around and having our picture taken by several photo pass people. The first time we experienced AK was on a weekend trip for just the two of us in 2002. It was Dennis' first trip ever.

Overall I was disappointed in our 'Ohana meal. Not enough to not go again, but we wait a while before we go back. We had 3 great meals there before but with so many places we still need to try I really want to branch out before we go back.

I would love to have gone down to the beach at the Poly since we have never done this. I always write it down to try but we haven't made it yet. But there is always next trip, whenever that may be.

Up next in our final day at DHS and the Toy Story Dash.

 

[All7OfUs]

Great re-cap of your AK day(s). I know how it is to have everything written down, and wishing that there had been more time to do the "smaller" things. I admit, watching the music acts, and spending more time relaxing is great, but when there are headliners that haven't been done, it's hard to pull away.

I love that what stands out, though, is the down time. You're right, it does take at least 2 days at that park to be able to get some of that.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Great wrap up, Vanessa! I have to say some of my favorite memories are also when we just slow down and relax in the parks, too.

 

[MEK]

Thanks for the AK wrap up. I agree that some of the best park days are when you just lay back and "smell the roses".

Looking forward to your next day and the TSM Dash.

 

[vamassey1]

Great re-cap of your AK day(s). I know how it is to have everything written down, and wishing that there had been more time to do the "smaller" things. I admit, watching the music acts, and spending more time relaxing is great, but when there are headliners that haven't been done, it's hard to pull away.

I love that what stands out, though, is the down time. You're right, it does take at least 2 days at that park to be able to get some of that.

The headliners take top priority on the first park day. By the second day we can usually slow down a little especially as we're getting close to the end of the trip.

Great wrap up, Vanessa! I have to say some of my favorite memories are also when we just slow down and relax in the parks, too.

Thanks CP! I need to slow down more. By our last day we were really moving slow.

Thanks for the AK wrap up. I agree that some of the best park days are when you just lay back and "smell the roses".

Looking forward to your next day and the TSM Dash.

I love the pictures you take when you slow down!

TSM Dash is something new for DH and Michelle. They are use to the RRC and TT dash. It was a hard idea to sell to DH.

 

[vamassey1]

Today would be our second to last park day, it was also our only full day at DHS. Today would be the day to ride Toy Story Mania, hopefully twice.

The plan was like most days up early at enter park at rope drop. We would make the dash for TSM, get FPs and ride stand by. Lunch would be in the park and diner was for 7:30 at Cafe May Cafe'. We still had lots of things we wanted to do at DHS. Luckily we had already hit Fantasmic and it would not be showing on this day. After facing lots of crowds it actually was a little better this day. For Dennis and the girls riding Rock n' Roller Coaster was a must. For me riding Tower of Terror was a must. In past trips riding both of these at least twice was very doable with fps, but now we TSM they would be competing for those coveted fps spots. We really wanted to hit at least one show of Idol. At home we have watched this show fairly regularly so we wanted to see what Disney had to offer. Danielle and I could have seen it in 2009 but things just didn't work out. Since we missed Indy on the last trip I was game to do it again. Dennis wanted to see LMA but since it only had 2 shows that day we didn't know if it would work out.

Before I truly start this day I have a disclaimer. Remember how I had stopped taking notes back on the 17th, well for this day I have a real foggy memory of what all we did. It doesn't help that by this time we had finally slowed down and our picture taking had really slowed down too.

We did wake up early and have our regular breakfast in the food court. Michelle once again met us at the bus stop. We were at the park before opening and waited in the cold for the park to open. The plan was to dash for TSM. I would grab some fps and met the others at the entrance. They knew better this time to not go in without me. This would be our first TSM dash. In 2009 Tena ended up getting her disability pass so we never had to wait long or use fps. Danielle and I rode 4 times that day. Tena rode it 6 times. I have to admit I was a little excited about doing my first dash after reading so much about it. Dennis was somewhat reluctant. On past trip we would dash down Sunset get fps for RRC or Tower or Terror, which ever ride we didn't get fps for we rode stand by. It was no problem to get at least two rides on each by the end of the day. We were having a hard time explaining to him that yes this would be worth it. Also remember he likes to be in constant motion from one ride to the next. Waiting doesn't sit very well with him.

First picture of the day.



Once we let into the turnstiles I gathered all the tickets as we made out way to the rope. Dennis once more made a plea to head down Sunset but was out voted. Michelle had never ridden so she helped us out vote him. I knew once he rode it he would love it. He's too competitive not to. I don't think they made a big deal in opening the park this day. Once the rope dropped we were off. As we rushed down Pixar Place I ended up missing the going to the right so I could get in the line to get fps. What a mistake! I had to back track and get in line. Of course that made it take longer and of course I ended up behind some one who was taking forever to her Fps. Finally I had the coveted fps in hand and headed for the entrance. To say Dennis was losing his patience would be putting it lightly. The line was already reading 30 minutes and going through his mind was the fact he could already be on another ride. I calmed him down and told him it most likely wouldn't take 30 minutes to go through the line. I don't remember what time it was listed before we could be more fps but I know it wasn't for anytime soon. I was excited to actually be going through the line. I never got a chance to look at everything on our last trip.

I think Michelle took this while they were waiting for me.



Some pictures from the line.









The thing I was most looking forward to was seeing Mr. Potatohead but I wasn't sure where he was in the line. We did pass a place where there was a red curtain. Since we never did see him I'm guessing that where he was. I'm still disappointed we didn't see him. I don't think it took us a full 30 minutes for our wait, but any wait was too long for Dennis. I don't remember who rode with who but we all had a blast and of course Dennis had the high score. He reluctantly admitted that it was fun and yes he wanted to do it again so getting those fps would be worth it.

So what to do next?

We headed down Sunset to see what the stand by lines were like at RRC and TOT. Dennis wanted to ride RRC but the stand by line was really long. The standby was 30 minutes for TOT and I didn't mind waiting that long. I've never actually rode stand by so I kind of wanted to see what the line was like. The girls like my wait more than Dennis' wait so I suggested he go ride single rider on RRC and we would do stand by on TOT.

I love how spooky it looks.







Fake smile.



More in next post.

 

[vamassey1]

As we waited we took more pictures. I do believe our wait was more than 30 minutes. And yes I did resent the people passing me up in the FP line. I through daggers at them with my eyes and wanted to be them.







Finally we were inside the hotel.










Soon we were on my favorite ride! I do love to loose my stomach. I'm glad the girls humored me by riding but if they hadn't I would have ridden it by myself, I've done it before and would do it again. Dennis was finished my sooner than we were. We met back up with him and picked up fps for RRC for later. Since I didn't ride I still have mine. The return time was listed as 2:25 and the next time we could get another one was 12:25.

We know how 3 rides under our belts and we were holding 2 fps so what to do next?

 

[mom2rtk]

So you made rope drop? See! You're fully capable! But can you get there even earlier next time?????

I do like your photos from ToT. I'd like to try my hand at photographing the queue again. I just don't want to ride! Maybe I'll go through and take the chicken exit...... We had FP's for ToT this last time and I missed WAY too much!

 

[glennbo123]

Bummer that you walked by the end of the fastpass line for TSM without realizing it. I can see how that could happen on your first time doing the "dash". I'm glad that Dennis ended up liking the ride though.

 

[All7OfUs]

I think I might have missed that FiP line too- it's easy to do, when you're not sure what you're looking for!

Very impressive getting those early morning rides out of the way so fast! And I"m so glad Dennis liked TSM! It is irresistable, isn't it!?