Let the memories (of our May 2011 trip) begin! *UPDATED SEPT. 18th- LINK to NEW TR!*

[natebenma]

Now, if you have been paying attention, you will also notice that we are about to enter the second park of the day (we had visited MK in the morning) even though we do not have a hopper pass (we are just not a hopper pass kind of family yet). Let's just say I owe my friend A. more than one by now...

What I do have is some favorite parks at specific times of the day. There is nothing like Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning or an afternoon touring World Showcase but I LOVE the vibe of DHS at night. Can't really pinpoint why but there is something very special about it. Maybe it has something to do with the lighting and the music. All I know is that I can never get enough of it.

The last family picture of the day is probably one of my favorites of the trip:

A. is a good friend to have!!! for Disney friends (I have one too)

I love your description of the personalities of the parks at the different times of the day. You captured it beautifully!

The photos of Beatriz on the horsie- precious! I am now thinking how many years you will be able to enjoy having her do this. I hope into her teen years!!!

We have just seen Fantasmic once- it was at the end of a long day, really long hot wait in the stadium. The show didn't blow us away. I'm sure part of it was how tired we were, hope to try it again, sometime.

I agree, that is one amazing family photo. Trying to figure out in my mind how to turn that into a holiday card.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We're planning to skip Fantasmic for our first trip since our daughter will only be four. I've heard a lot of people say how scary it can be for little ones! I never would have pegged HS as a good night time park, but we'll try it! I love the pictures of B on the horse!

 

[natebenma]

Also wanted to say thank you to you and Joey for the link to the Fantasy Football League. We have never done it before, but my 13 year old son Nate is managing a team. He is really having fun with it!!! His best friend and flag football teammate was here during the draft to "help" him.

So funny, when they were doing the draft, his friend said "What's up with all the Disney names!" It cracked me up that it was noticeable.

We ended up with Tom Brady!!! Actually, quite a few New England palyers. Our team motto should be "All Patriots, All the Time". In fact, one of the other managers pointed that out during the draft.

I'm guessing your husband's team is Animal?

 

[Queila]

We're planning to skip Fantasmic for our first trip since our daughter will only be four. I've heard a lot of people say how scary it can be for little ones! I never would have pegged HS as a good night time park, but we'll try it! I love the pictures of B on the horse!

DHS at night is really special. I strongly recommend it even if it is just for walking around and enjoying the vibe of the evening.

I would wait until your daughter is a little older to go see Fantasmic. Specially if she's already shown signs of being scared of villans and alike.

Also wanted to say thank you to you and Joey for the link to the Fantasy Football League. We have never done it before, but my 13 year old son Nate is managing a team. He is really having fun with it!!! His best friend and flag football teammate was here during the draft to "help" him.

So funny, when they were doing the draft, his friend said "What's up with all the Disney names!" It cracked me up that it was noticeable.

We ended up with Tom Brady!!! Actually, quite a few New England palyers. Our team motto should be "All Patriots, All the Time". In fact, one of the other managers pointed that out during the draft.

I'm guessing your husband's team is Animal?

I am glad you guys are enjoying it. Fantasy football takes over my house on Sundays and Mondays. It can be an addiction.

Yes, Joey is Animal.

 

[Queila]

Small Life Update
I have always been jealous of runners. I used to see people jogging and running around the neighborhood and wonder where they found the time or the will power.

It turns out that a couple of months ago I achieved my Weight Watcher's goal weight and to celebrate it I decided to start running and in order to encourage me Joey signed us up to a 5K. To help me with my training I have been using a program called Couch to 5K (c25k) that I simply cannot recommend enough.

So last Sunday Joey and I ran our first 5K together I have to say I cannot believe there was a dorment runner inside of me.

Who would have "thunk"??

I still have a long way to go to increase my stamina and endurance but the accomplishment feeling was greater than I had anticipated. So much so that I have to share it here!

Now if I could have it my way Joey and I would run the Expedition Everest Challenge at Animal Kingdom next May.

We'll see!

​

 

[lbuzz52]

i too can say i have seen fantasmic but probably won't rush back. It was a bit more than my kids cared for. i used the bus at DHS that evening right at the end of fantasmic, but we didnt' enter the park.
congrats on the 5K

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on seeing Fantasmic! Loved the family shot at the end and how nice of A to get you into the park.

Also on completing the 5K!

 

[natebenma]

Congrats on your 5K!!! That's great! Sounds like you are very proud of yourself and you should be!!!


I am very tempted to do a c25k program- one started up in my town in the summer and a few of my friends did it, but I couldn't commit the time between guitar lessons, two flag football schedules, PTA and community theatre duties! Maybe soon!

 

[ronnmel]

Bonjour, I'm Mel, of Ronnmel. I finally convinced him to get his own account, so he should be popping back in here in the next few days. Since he got into your TR I decided to give it a shot as well. I'm really enjoying it so far!

I love seeing the pictures of the Montreal airport and recognizing everything, even the gate number. I'm pretty sure we got the same Air Canada flight as you, just 3 months later.

You really seem to have gotten the best location for POP, that's great!

I agree about MSEP, it's just not as good as Spectro and the music is really annoying. I've read several TRs lately all saying the same thing, so you are not alone in thinking that. Hopefully they'll bring back Spectro, or a newer even better parade soon.

Isn't it neat how they dance the Twist (and the Hustle at 6pm) everyday at POP?

I LOVE the drawing class! It's awesome!! I did it several times last trip and Brian was my favorite artist. I can't believe I never even thought of taking a picture of him!

Mmmmm, red velvet cupcake! You have to eat that thing with a knife and fork it's so big, but it's YUMMY!!

I love Lumière too! I teach French second language to grade 1 and when trying to find words with "u" in them I told them "lumière" and one girl replied "like the guy in Beauty and the Beast! A girl after my own heart. And because of this job I mix French and English ALL THE TIME. I love Montreal for that.

Kids and small bladders. Don't I know about that.

Walking straight on Soarin through the VIP entrance. That's priceless! How nice of your friend.

Retiring and getting a job at Disney, hope we can do that when we reach that point in our lives.

Rope drop definitely is the way to go for us! We love being able to do so much in so little time.

The MK welcome show brings so much joy to my heart that I teared up as well.

We have the same grey Mickey t-shirt! Walmart, right?

I'd love to stay at AKL. It looks lovely!

 

[ronDisney]

Thank you and . Hope you stick around.

Salut Ron!
Thanks for the compliment and to my trip report. It is nice to have a fellow Montrealer on board. I think you are the first one. We live in the south shore so we are technically on opposing sides of the island but, still, it is nice to see a neighbour around here.

My daughter will be 4 soon and that means we only have a couple of more years to take her to Disney without disrupting school. I KNOW we will miss these days...

Wishing you the best on your plans of starting a family...

You don't need to tell me about the daydreaming about Disney. That is a family activity in this house. We are constantly dreaming about what our next trip would be like, where we would stay, what would we eat... Every now and then Beatriz actually asks me :" Mommy, let's talk about Disney". It is cute and scary at the same time.

Now about the Deluxe resorts, I thought AKL was an unattainable dream until I found out about renting DVC points. In 2010 we spent 1 week at AKL (savanna view) for the same amount f money we paid for Pop this year. Availability in the Summer is a little tougher but it is doable if you plan in advance.

For 2010 we booked our room in November for a May trip. For 2011 we started planning our trip in february and I did not find any points to rent for the week I was interested in May at the Deluxe resorts of my choice, namely Bay Lake Tower and The Beach Club. So we ended up at Pop century which, as I said, was great but not wonderful.

Hope you stick around!
Q

You rented DVC points? Hmmmm. My wife has definately thought about that as well. If you're saying that the end result ended up being almost as much as you paid for POP, it might be worth doing a lil more digging. While my wife you would love AKL, if I had to choose a deluxe I would definately prefer POLY, with Contemporary being a close second.

Fantasmic...
I liked it, not LOVED it. After catching it for the first time in 2009 after a 2 hour wait, we promised ourselves that it would never happen again.
We would just go in, right before the show, even if it meant standing in the nosebleed section. But...with the decision to make the show every night, I doubt that will ever be a problem again. We did as you did, and we still got some pretty decent seats. As for the show itself. It was nice and it's an experience, but it's not anything that I would go out of my way for. Basically, if we're at the studios at night and have a hankering to watch it, we'll just get in line 30 mins before, if not, we either head home or do 1 or 2 more rides. It will probably have to be a "must do" however, when we bring our kid for the first time. I have to be careful though not to over hype the show, and be confident that he/she can take some of the more darker parts.

Good going on the Weight Watcher's thing, and especially on the running.

I used to run a bit, and even did a 10k years ago.

I keep on telling myself I gotta get back into shape but i'm a couch potato by nature, so it's incredibly hard to get off my butt and get some activity in. But, when we were prepping for our Disney trip in Aug 2011, it wasn't too hard at all to get some walking/jogging in, because it was all towards a "higher purpose".

I tell ya, if we could manage one of the Disney runs over there, i'd be a lot more motivated to get active and remain active. I even bought a runDisney shirt there on my last trip, though siince i've gotten back, I unfortunately haven't used it nearly enough.

Favorite park?
Like you I have a hard time nailing that one down. Each one has their points.
I can't really say. I love the world as a whole.
On our last trip though, my wife had a big change of heart towards the studios. She didn't care too much for it before. But, now that she discovered the drawing classes and Tower or Terror, it definately helped the park raise up a couple of notches on the "favorit park list".

 

[Shell & Ted]

I've been a lurker for a while and love your writing style. Your daughter is adorable.

I wanted to say congrats on your first 5K. I began doing the C2 5K while doing WW a year ago. Just completed my first 10K. It's amazing how addictive running actually is.

 

[pinkxray]

Congrats on the 5K and making your goal weight! I just signed up for WW online(again). I totally dropped dieting over the summer but need to get back on the wagon. I have been doing the C25K program and have made it to week 6. I did it last year on my treadmill and man, is it different running outside. I am hoping to do a 5k soon, but the ultimate goal is the Princess Half Marathon. DH doesn't know it yet but I fully intend on doing it in 2014. 3 years should be enough training right? I kind of feel like I could do it in 2012 but DH would kill me if I try to get him back to Disney before my promise of 3 years is up.

 

[Queila]

i too can say i have seen fantasmic but probably won't rush back. It was a bit more than my kids cared for. i used the bus at DHS that evening right at the end of fantasmic, but we didnt' enter the park.
congrats on the 5K

Thank you. SO that means we could have crossed each other that night?

Yay on seeing Fantasmic! Loved the family shot at the end and how nice of A to get you into the park.

Also on completing the 5K!

Thank you. I am telling you, A. is a superstar!

Congrats on your 5K!!! That's great! Sounds like you are very proud of yourself and you should be!!!


I am very tempted to do a c25k program- one started up in my town in the summer and a few of my friends did it, but I couldn't commit the time between guitar lessons, two flag football schedules, PTA and community theatre duties! Maybe soon!

Thank you. Yes... running the 5K was such a high. I finally "get it" why people love running so much...

Finding the time is not easy. I highly encourage you to start c25k. If i can do it, anyone can. Trust me. I run Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays but I needJoey to stay with Beatriz while I go. The good thing is te time starts counting from the minute I step foot out of my house. For me that is a great advantage.

Bonjour, I'm Mel, of Ronnmel. I finally convinced him to get his own account, so he should be popping back in here in the next few days. Since he got into your TR I decided to give it a shot as well. I'm really enjoying it so far!

I love seeing the pictures of the Montreal airport and recognizing everything, even the gate number. I'm pretty sure we got the same Air Canada flight as you, just 3 months later.

You really seem to have gotten the best location for POP, that's great!

I agree about MSEP, it's just not as good as Spectro and the music is really annoying. I've read several TRs lately all saying the same thing, so you are not alone in thinking that. Hopefully they'll bring back Spectro, or a newer even better parade soon.

Isn't it neat how they dance the Twist (and the Hustle at 6pm) everyday at POP?

I LOVE the drawing class! It's awesome!! I did it several times last trip and Brian was my favorite artist. I can't believe I never even thought of taking a picture of him!

Mmmmm, red velvet cupcake! You have to eat that thing with a knife and fork it's so big, but it's YUMMY!!

I love Lumière too! I teach French second language to grade 1 and when trying to find words with "u" in them I told them "lumière" and one girl replied "like the guy in Beauty and the Beast! A girl after my own heart. And because of this job I mix French and English ALL THE TIME. I love Montreal for that.

Kids and small bladders. Don't I know about that.

Walking straight on Soarin through the VIP entrance. That's priceless! How nice of your friend.

Retiring and getting a job at Disney, hope we can do that when we reach that point in our lives.

Rope drop definitely is the way to go for us! We love being able to do so much in so little time.

The MK welcome show brings so much joy to my heart that I teared up as well.

We have the same grey Mickey t-shirt! Walmart, right?

I'd love to stay at AKL. It looks lovely!

Hello and I am so happy to have fellow Montrealers reading the TR. I started reading your TR but have yet to go back and leave a comment. Shame on me.

That is such a cute story about your student mentioning Lumiere. What a cool job you have! Sometimes I feel like I missed my true calling in life. I should have been a teacher. I guess you experience the small kids with small bladers thing in a daily basis, eh?

In our house we mix languages all the time. I guess that is what makes this part of the world so special. My daughter is not yet 4 and can comunicate in 4 languages. My little one is so anxious to start school BTW. I am going to start looking for a Pre-K for her for next September.

AKL was my ultimate Disney dream and I am so happy we got to do it. I highly recommend it to anyone!

YES.... gray t-shirt IS from Walmart! Did you wear yours during your trip too? Gotta love Walmart for carrying Disney apparel!

Have a great weekend!

Q

 

[Queila]

I've been a lurker for a while and love your writing style. Your daughter is adorable.

I wanted to say congrats on your first 5K. I began doing the C2 5K while doing WW a year ago. Just completed my first 10K. It's amazing how addictive running actually is.

Thank you very much and . I am so glad you got to leave a comment. It is nice to know the people that are reading.

Congrats on doing a 10K! A 10K is still a far away dream for me but, hey, 3 months ago I couldn't run 90 seconds without huffing and puffing so... you never know...

I seriously could become a spokesperson for WW,S and C25K. Both programs changed my life. I am in such a better place now (fitness wise) than I was one year ago. So worth it!

Running is definitely addictive. It took me a while to find my stride but now that I did, I look forward to my runs. Who would have thought??

Congrats on the 5K and making your goal weight! I just signed up for WW online(again). I totally dropped dieting over the summer but need to get back on the wagon. I have been doing the C25K program and have made it to week 6. I did it last year on my treadmill and man, is it different running outside. I am hoping to do a 5k soon, but the ultimate goal is the Princess Half Marathon. DH doesn't know it yet but I fully intend on doing it in 2014. 3 years should be enough training right? I kind of feel like I could do it in 2012 but DH would kill me if I try to get him back to Disney before my promise of 3 years is up.

Congrats on signing up to WW's. Keeping it up in the Summer was not easy so I understand where you are coming from. You must not be too far from your goal weight so hang in there and soon you will get your lifetime membership.

Isn't C25K wonderful? I am so glad I found the program! When I ran the 5K I was on week 6. I am not going to lie, I struggled a bit. Specially on the hills. But I can see the improvement as each week goes by and I am already looking forward to an opportunity to running another one. The problem is finding one around here now that the cold weather is creeping around us. I started c25k in the Summer so I have done all the runs outside so far but I guess pretty soon I am going to have to start using the treadmill. Is that supposed to be easier or harder?

Disney Princess Half in 2013 sounds doable to me (if I keep training, of course). Maybe we can be there together!

 

[Queila]

You rented DVC points? Hmmmm. My wife has definately thought about that as well. If you're saying that the end result ended up being almost as much as you paid for POP, it might be worth doing a lil more digging. While my wife you would love AKL, if I had to choose a deluxe I would definately prefer POLY, with Contemporary being a close second.

Fantasmic...
I liked it, not LOVED it. After catching it for the first time in 2009 after a 2 hour wait, we promised ourselves that it would never happen again.
We would just go in, right before the show, even if it meant standing in the nosebleed section. But...with the decision to make the show every night, I doubt that will ever be a problem again. We did as you did, and we still got some pretty decent seats. As for the show itself. It was nice and it's an experience, but it's not anything that I would go out of my way for. Basically, if we're at the studios at night and have a hankering to watch it, we'll just get in line 30 mins before, if not, we either head home or do 1 or 2 more rides. It will probably have to be a "must do" however, when we bring our kid for the first time. I have to be careful though not to over hype the show, and be confident that he/she can take some of the more darker parts.

Good going on the Weight Watcher's thing, and especially on the running.

I used to run a bit, and even did a 10k years ago.

I keep on telling myself I gotta get back into shape but i'm a couch potato by nature, so it's incredibly hard to get off my butt and get some activity in. But, when we were prepping for our Disney trip in Aug 2011, it wasn't too hard at all to get some walking/jogging in, because it was all towards a "higher purpose".

I tell ya, if we could manage one of the Disney runs over there, i'd be a lot more motivated to get active and remain active. I even bought a runDisney shirt there on my last trip, though siince i've gotten back, I unfortunately haven't used it nearly enough.

Favorite park?
Like you I have a hard time nailing that one down. Each one has their points.
I can't really say. I love the world as a whole.
On our last trip though, my wife had a big change of heart towards the studios. She didn't care too much for it before. But, now that she discovered the drawing classes and Tower or Terror, it definately helped the park raise up a couple of notches on the "favorit park list".

I highly recommend looking into renting DVC points. They have some active threads about it here at the DisBords. Keep in mind though that not every Deluxe hotel is a DVC property so staying in places like the Polynesian with points is just not worth it. If you like the Contemporary feel, DVC has the Bay Lake Tower now which apparently is incredible!

I guess we feel the same way about Fantasmic. We will not get out of our way to see it anymore. And I am so glad we did not have to wait two hours for it. I guess I would have been REALLY disappointed then...

Congratulations on running a 10K. Don't tell anyone but on the third Km of my 5K the winner of the 10K, that started at the same time as us, actually passed me. It got me thinking that 10Kers are really super human athletes.

I can completely relate to the "running" with a higher purpose thing. I am not going to lie but the thought of doing the Expedition Everest Challenge or even the Princess Half Marathon is a HUGE motivator for me. Apparently no one can put a race on like Disney. Why am I not surprised?

I think DHS and AK are a bit underrated. I believe to be able to truly enjoy these parks you have to slow down and take in all the information. Lots of people seem not to be willing to take the time to do the rides that are not necessarily thrills and they miss out on a lot of cool stuff (like the drawing classes, for example).

We only started enjoying these things after we had our daughter and we got a whole new appreciation for each park.

Bonne fin de semaine!
Q

 

[ronnmel]

Hello and :welcome" I am so happy to have fellow Montrealers reading the TR. I started reading your TR but have yet to go back and leave a comment. Shame on me.

YES.... gray t-shirt IS from Walmart! Did you wear yours during your trip too? Gotta love Walmart for carrying Disney apparel!

Have a great weekend!

Q

Hope you are enjoying the read of my TR. I hope you go back to leave a comment, I love reading those!

Yep, I wore that gray t-shirt during my trip, along with 3 more I also bought from Walmart (2 of which were from the kids section. I'm that tiny! ). I figured the more I spent there, the less I'd be tempted to spend at Disney.

Have a great weekend too!

 

[Queila]

Day 5- Animal Kingdom Day

So this was the much anticipated full day at Animal Kingdom Park. On our two previous trips Animal Kingdom day became the someone-is-sick-and-need-medical-assistance day. So this time I reserved an entire day to properly tour and enjoy the park.

It also happened to be EMH morning but, who were we kidding, we were never going to make it for 8 am after staying up so late the previous night for Fantasmic.

We did manage to get to Animal Kingdom at 8h50 though. That gave us a 10 minute head start from the rest of the crowd and we took advantage of it.

Time for a quick picture by the entrance:

As soon as we got into the park we started making our way hastely to the Kilimanjaro Safari and it pained me to walk right past all the CM's standing at the Oasis without stoping to hear what they had to say.

I guess we are THAT type of guests after all...

On our way up to Africa we did notice some characters were getting ready to greet guests and there was absolutely no waiting so we had to grab the opportunity:

Thumper:

In 2010 Beatriz had seen Thumper from far and asked to go see him but there was some pretty black clouds looming above our heads and we wisely decided to leave the park before it started pouring. Anyways, I was just happy we were able to make up for it and she finally got to take a picture with him.

Then there was Meeko:

Meeko is from Pocahontas, by the way. I know you did not need me to tell you that but I did it anyways. You know... just in case.

Pluto:

Then we finally made it to our safari and thankfully we were still able to walk straight in. Beatriz decided to seat on the edge which made me a little nervous but Joey sat right beside her and made sure she was ok. She is growing up so fast my little one...

Attempt of a shot of the three of us:

Beatriz was perfectly happy with her spot and fully enjoyed the ride:

Baby rhino:

The lion was taking a nap:

Thumbs up for our driver:

I had never noticed this spot on the way out of the safari before:

And while we had to wait for Joey (don't remember where he went) Beatriz bonded with some fake animals:

All in all it was a GREAT start to our day.

Next up:
Rafiki's Planet.​

 

[pinkxray]

Looks like a great morning so far at AK

 

[TanzUnited99]

I'm glad you got to spend an entire day at AK as we loved this park on our trip

Yay on meeting so many characters on your way to the safari - we met Miss Bunny and Meeko early on in the day as well. I love how they come down to Bs level.

Great animal pics - looking forward to reading more!

 

[natebenma]

Fantastic pictures from the safari- both of the animals and your adorable little girl!

The character photos are really cute too. What a difference from your last trip!