Lost Moms, SPF 80, and RideMax Plans, Oh My! A May 2010 Trip Report-FINAL Update 8/23

[alisonwonderland64]

Kali was disappointing. I think the one at my amusement park, which basically is just a concrete ditch, is more intense. I HATED Dinosaur. About 30 seconds into the ride, I closed my eyes, plugged my ears, and hunched down in my seat, and prayed for it to end. I don't do well with loud noises and things jumping out at me, so it was just a bad idea anyway.

I'm the exact same way about Dinosaur! I rode it again this year and actually managed to spend some of the time not hunched over in my seat with my eyes closed (unlike the first time I rode it, when I was exactly like you), but it's FAR from being a must-do for me. I'm with you on the whole loud noises and things jumping out thing.

And your pictures are so great! I love that one of the monkeys in FOTLK (great show!) and your last one of Everest--it really looks like an actual mountain and it looks so dramatic .

 

[bellebookworm9]

I'm the exact same way about Dinosaur! I rode it again this year and actually managed to spend some of the time not hunched over in my seat with my eyes closed (unlike the first time I rode it, when I was exactly like you), but it's FAR from being a must-do for me. I'm with you on the whole loud noises and things jumping out thing.

And your pictures are so great! I love that one of the monkeys in FOTLK (great show!) and your last one of Everest--it really looks like an actual mountain and it looks so dramatic .

You get my congrats for braving Dinosaur more than once!

Thanks! I put the Everest one of the Picture of the Day thread and got complimented by one of the greatest photographers on there! For a $100 point and shoot, it didn't do too badly, though it does tend to do poorly in really bright/really dark areas.

 

[Kellybelly777]

Aaaah!!! I missed your TR!!!

But, with my trip only being 9 days away, I have a little bit of an excuse as I've been very busy

Just wanted to let you know though that I'm slowly (but surely) reading!!! It's great so far (even if I'm only on the 3rd post..... )

 

[Disneybuckeye]

Whew! Caught back up. Glad to hear this trip is still going well. Love the shirts you made and I agree the tumble monkeys are great. I enjoy Dinosaur because it is kind of fake and cheesey. Of course if loud noises bothey you that rider would do it. I also can only do Everest no more than three times in a day. The part where it does backwards bothers me a little because I feel like it is going to go upside down. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Aaaah!!! I missed your TR!!!

But, with my trip only being 9 days away, I have a little bit of an excuse as I've been very busy

Just wanted to let you know though that I'm slowly (but surely) reading!!! It's great so far (even if I'm only on the 3rd post..... )

You didn't miss it, it's still happening! How exciting that your trip is so close! You'll catch up soon, I'm sure.

Whew! Caught back up. Glad to hear this trip is still going well. Love the shirts you made and I agree the tumble monkeys are great. I enjoy Dinosaur because it is kind of fake and cheesey. Of course if loud noises bothey you that rider would do it. I also can only do Everest no more than three times in a day. The part where it does backwards bothers me a little because I feel like it is going to go upside down. Looking forward to reading more.

Yeah, it never really went bad. The next day is where the lost mom part comes in, and there's the Typhoon Lagoon bus fiasco in a few days, but overall nothing went terribly badly. My friends got the best picture ever on Dinosaur in 2007; they all look completely terrified. The backwards part of Everest isn't the problem and I don't mind going upside down, anyway. I think it's just the drop, which is really odd because I did Tower of Terror a few days later with no problem. It's normally only rides with weightlessness that bother me.

 

[bellebookworm9]

After our nap, we woke up refreshed and decided to go down to the pool and grab some dinner. Our dining place of choice was the Maji Pool bar at Kidani. We shared the turkey club and a bag of chips. Later we got the Lava Smoothie (Raspberry puree with pina colada mix) and it was very good as well. The bartender was Matt from Honolulu, Hawaii and he was very friendly.

We swam for a few minutes, and of course I went down the slide. The water felt chilly though, so we moved over to the hot tub. Two young boys were swimming in it (Mom and Dad were nearby) and we had a very interesting conversation with the youngest boy. His name was Stone, and he had two brothers, Ryder and Brody. This kid was so awesome! He was so outgoing and just chatted with us for at least half an hour. Throughout the evening I took a bunch of pictures of the pool area.

(I think that is my favorite proverb of the whole resort.)

(See that bridge? The slide comes out underneath it.)

Parents with young kids, it might be helpful for you to know that the whole pool area is gated off, and the gate is very tricky to open, so if your little ones happen to run off, they probably won't get very far. Everyone else should know that there are two hot tubs; one is easy to find as it's near the pool bar. The other is near the fitness center, behind the slide area, and I'm still not entirely sure how to get there without going through the fitness center, so it's very secluded.

We headed in after about 45 minutes, as we had another early day planned at the Magic Kingdom. How long would we wait in the dreaded line to meet the fairies? Will I ever get to meet Mickey? What would we think of Liberty Tree Tavern? AND the horrible, awful, no good, very bad, lost mom fiasco!

"That's a side of you I don't see very often!"

 

[glennbo123]

I loooove the pool at Kidani! I've never eaten anything from the pool bar.

Those gates are kind of tricky to open. Last year you had to use your room key to open them, but not this year....you just have to have some kind of advanced degree.

 

[bellebookworm9]

I loooove the pool at Kidani! I've never eaten anything from the pool bar.

Those gates are kind of tricky to open. Last year you had to use your room key to open them, but not this year....you just have to have some kind of advanced degree.

That pool was amazing. I think this was the last time we swam in it though. Next year I am going to try Stormalong Bay, which may be the only pool better than this one. For what the food is at the pool bar, it wasn't bad. We could have ordered from Private Dining to be brought out, but that would have cost about $21 for a burger, once you add on all the charges. So true about the gates!

 

[Kellybelly777]

I love all of your pictures!!! The pool is one of the things I'm most excited for for this trip and I can already tell I won't be disapointed

 

[bellebookworm9]

I love all of your pictures!!! The pool is one of the things I'm most excited for for this trip and I can already tell I won't be disapointed

Thanks That pool was awesome, easily one of the best things about Kidani.

 

[bellebookworm9]

*I would just like to forewarn you all that this day is going to be broken down into at least 7 posts, due to the obscene amount of photos I took, especially of SpectroMagic. I think I have two posts worth of those alone.*

Day number two at Magic Kingdom began bright and early, as usual. We arrived at the bus stop around 8, and we were at MK by 8:45. We saw the opening show, which was really cute. I don't have any pictures of it though. Since there was quite a large crowd and mom's feet were still rather sore, we decided I'd dart through the crowd to get Space Mountain FPs, and then meet at Buzz Lightyear. This plan worked beautifully, and we rode Buzz twice in a row with barely any wait. I decided I like Toy Story Mania better, for the sole reason that on Buzz you can't really tell what you're hitting. I repaid mom in kind for her beating me at TSM.
Ride Number 1: Mom

Ride Number 1: Me

Ride Number 2: Mom

Ride Number 2: Me

After we saved the galaxy from the Evil Emperor Zurg, we walked back to Fantasyland to get in line for Pooh. On the way, I stopped to take a picture of the Randy Paucsh plaque:

Now, RideMax predicted the wait at 2 minutes, the posted wait was 20. I think it turned out to be about 8, but I was freaking out because we wanted to make the Toontown Rope Drop at 9:45. We thought the ride was very cute, and when it was over we booked it towards Toontown. There were several other families with small kids in strollers (big surprise, right?) and we moved around them right to the rope. Mom said, "This is a side of Gretchen I don't see very often: getting to the front of the line, take no prisoners!" The CMs came and asked who was going where, and of course almost everybody was going to meet the fairies. Finally, they led us back. Now, when we arrived at the Toontown Hall of Fame I tried to turn right in at the first walkway, but the CM told me I had to go to the other entrance. Ooops. I really didn't know, but it was a little embarrassing. Thankfully, no strollers are allowed in the building, so that delayed most of the other families for a minute or two. We had made it! We were the second family in line! After just a minute or two of waiting, we were admitted to Pixie Hollow. (I really wish Disney would get their names straight. They call it Pixie Hollow, and Tinker Bell is actually a pixie in Peter Pan. Maleficent is a fairy. Apparently the difference is that fairies can talk to humans, where pixies cannot unless the human is shrunk to pixie size. But Disney calls Tink & friends fairies. )

Anyway, the first pixie/fairy I met was Fawn.

She asked me where I was from and when I said Buffalo, she said I must be an animal fairy!

Next up was the leading lady herself:

She was so animated, just like she is in the movie! She told me all about what we had to do today, asked me if I was trained and said Fairy Mary would be so glad I already was, asked me what we had done that morning and when I told her, she said I must be a fast flying fairy. I don't think she took a breath the whole time!

The photopass guy, unbeknown to me, took a picture of me with the moonstone scepter from "Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure."

The last one was Silver Mist.

That is apparently the "Water Fairy Pose."

Next we headed to Mickey's House.

Meeting the Big Cheese!

 

[bellebookworm9]

We arrived at Mickey's. His door was open so we walked right in and took a tour of his home.

He must have been in a hurry to put on the same outfit he wears everyday to leave his bed unmade!

Note to Self #1: Never let Goofy & Donald do any remodeling for me...

Note to Self #2: Never play any sports against Mickey. He will win.

Since there didn't seem to be a lot of people around, we got in line to meet Mickey. The wait wasn't too long, maybe 10 minutes. The queue kept us entertained.

They led us back with a couple other families. We chatted with the handler, who was from Rochester, not far from Geneseo. Much to my surprise, Mickey had a friend with him!

Now I had officially met all 7 of the classic characters! (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale!) We stopped at County Bounty, to look for a gift for grandma again. We didn't find anything but I did purchase a picture frame with all the princesses on it. Mom and I had agreed that we'd get our favorite Photopass picture printed twice, and each buy a frame we liked. Next on our list was Minnie's house. Her door was open too. You'd think these toons would lock their doors-it's almost like they want people to come in!

After almost an hour in Toontown, we'd had our fill. I liked Minnie's house better than Mickey's, but I'm glad we got to see them before they are demolished. We headed back into Fantasyland to have some more fun before lunch.

"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears..."

 

[Kellybelly777]

Good update!!! I'm very sad to see toontown going

 

[Vwdiva93]

Love the update!
That's great that you got to meet Mickey & Minnie together!! When I went in June all of the lines for Mickey were insane

 

[bellebookworm9]

Good update!!! I'm very sad to see toontown going

I'm really not sure how I feel about the Fantasyland update. I don't do well with change, and this doesn't seem to be for the better, but we'll see. We've never made it back to Toontown in any of it's re-incarnations, so it was cool to see.

Love the update!
That's great that you got to meet Mickey & Minnie together!! When I went in June all of the lines for Mickey were insane

Yeah, I was really surprised! The key is to get there early. Toontown actually opens at 9:45, which most people don't know because the Times Guide says 10. Then, since everyone goes straight for the fairies/princesses, you have to either be at the front of that line then run to Mickey, or skip them completely and go straight to Mickey.

 

[bellebookworm9]

After our time with the toons, we went to Snow White's Scary Adventures. The wait wasn't too bad; I'd say 5-10 minutes. We passed the time by taking pictures of the surroundings, and once we got on the ride, I took a few pictures as well.

Mom says that ride terrified me as a child, and I can totally see why. It's still kind of scary! She also said I rode Dumbo with my father, but I don't remember that. I was three though, so forgive my lack of memory.

We went to Peter Pan's Flight to get some FPs, and then walked across the road to it's a small world. The posted wait was 20 minutes, and it was 11:10. We had a lunch ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern at 11:30, and we didn't want to be late for that, so we walked over waaaay early. We checked in and sat in the lobby. Mom colored one of the pictures they provide, which you can see in some of the following pictures. They only have red & blue crayons out, though. (You can also see part of our RideMax schedule in one of the pictures, too.) I took some pictures of the lobby.

When 11:30 rolled around, they picked a family to open the restaurant. The family went upstairs to the balcony and made an announcement, complete with bell ringing. We were the third or fourth family seated. Our server was Caitlyn from Pennsylvania and she was an excellent server. Mom got a coke and I got a sprite.

We started off with the tavern fried cheese. On the left is cheddar bites, the right is mozzarella sticks. We really enjoyed this.

For our entree we split the angus chuck cheeseburger with cheddar and bacon, with a side of fruit salad. They even cut it in half and put it on two separate plates-the only restaurant that did this. Most just brought out two plates, with the sandwich pre-cut on one of them, but a couple places didn't even cut it.

I had been wanting a burger for a few days and this was excellent. The fruit was sweet and juicy.

For dessert we got the Ooey Gooey toffee cake. Caitlyn and a few other servers brought it out with candles, rang their bell, and sang us their birthday song. This cake was delicious, plus it had the awesome Disney vanilla ice cream that we love so much. Mom kept saying "Mmmmmmm".

After our delicious lunch, we went back to it's a small world. The wait still said 20 minutes, but it was a little less than that. The song was much less obnoxious than I remembered (it was one of my favorite songs as a child, though. It was in a songbook at our church and I requested it a LOT). We paid more attention to all the dolls and had fun trying to figure out what countries they represented. After our trip on the happiest cruise that ever sailed, we headed back to the resort for our (almost) daily afternoon break.

"I Lost My Mom!"

 

[bellebookworm9]

After our nap, we arrived back at the park around 4. We got some Photopass pictures taken in front of the garden and train station. I hate that they're off center and crooked.

We decided that I would go ride Space Mountain twice with the FPs, while Mom shopped on Main Street. We agreed to meet at 4:30 (I think) and she would call when she got over to Space Mountain. I walked through the queue, but the real wait began at the loading dock. It was long even with the FP. However, as the CM was walking along the line, waiting to direct people he asked how many people were in each party. Since I was alone, I got to skip a whole bunch of people and got right on. Oh my God that ride was awful. It was so dark and jerky, and I kept thinking I was going to hit my head. I did not enjoy it at all and once was enough for me. Here's my redneck ride photo (I took several throughout the trip and this was the only one that turned out well).

I called mom and she didn't answer. I tried her a couple more times, still nothing. There was a really dark cloud heading our way with some distant thunder rumbles, so I went back to Main Street and peeked in all the shops. I didn't see her. I walked back to Tomorrowland. An announcement was made that the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Street Party would be canceled due to inclement weather. I walked down Main Street again. I couldn't find her. I walked back to Tomorrowland and didn't see her. I stood over by Cosmic Ray's, where we were planning to eat dinner. A LOUD crack of thunder happened, and I went inside because a)I'm terrified of thunderstorms and b)I didn't have a poncho. I kept calling her. No answer. Now I've surpassed angry and I'm going to worry. She's diabetic and has anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction that can cause death. I decided as long as I was inside, I'd get dinner and keep calling. I think I finally left a voicemail. I ordered the 1/2 chicken, green beans, and potato meal. I managed to find a table. It was a table for four, and probably the last empty one in the place. I didn't stay too long and as soon as the storm let up, I went back out, carrying the rest of dinner for Mom. I headed straight to First Aid. I told them I couldn't find my mom, and the nurse said she didn't have any extra moms there, but to go next door to Baby Care. They have a computer system where if she was looking for me, it would be in there. I went into Baby Care and found the CM in the little store area. I said "I lost my mom!" She looked at me like I had three heads. I explained what first aid had said and she was very confused. Her English wasn't very good, but I finally conveyed the computer system thing. She said "Oh, OK." Then she couldn't log into the computer. Then her walkie talkie wasn't working. Then she couldn't find the phone number to get ahold of someone who would know what was going on. Finally, I got through to Mom. I said "WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" She was in Tomorrowland. I thanked the CM and basically ran back to Tomorrowland. I think she was sitting on a bench outside of Space Mountain.

Her story was that she had come to Tomorrowland when she was done shopping and sat on a bench near the exit to Space. When it started to rain, she went into the gift shop/arcade where everyone exits into. She was also worried/angry, thinking I had gotten hurt on the ride or something. She said I must have walked right past her when I exited. Her phone calls wouldn't come through to me because she wasn't dialing our home area code. It kept going to an out of service Florida number, but she didn't know why it wasn't working. For whatever reason, her phone wasn't telling her that I was calling. I was definitely dialing the area code. Habit of a college student, every number goes into my phone with the proper area code, especially because if I'm calling home at school, I'm not in the same area code anymore. Her phone also didn't tell her until the next day that I had left a voicemail. Longest hour of my life, and I'm exhausted from writing it.

Once we had calmed down, we walked over to a table between Space Mountain and Cosmic Ray's. She ate the rest of dinner while I went to get a snack from the Lunching Pad. There was plenty of the dinner for the two of us. The chicken was flavorful and juicy, the beans were nicely seasoned, and the potatoes were amazing-they had garlic in them. From the Lunching Pad, I got a sweet cream cheese pretzel, a frozen cherry drink, and a bottle of water. It was all very good. While we ate, we figured out what to do next.

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow!"

 

[bellebookworm9]

After we finished eating, Mom stopped at the bathroom. I stood right by the exit and waited so we wouldn't get separated again. By now, our plan was shot so we had to pick what to skip and the loser was Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. We went on the TTA first. It was relaxing, but we didn't enjoy the dark part where it feels like you're whipping around the corner in Space Mountain and you can't see ANYTHING. There were two teenage girls in the car behind ours, who started out in opposite seats. After that part, they were in the same one! Next we walked over the Carousel of Progress. We were admitted quickly, but it was stuck or something, so we had to wait 5 minutes at the opening scene. I couldn't figure out why they kept telling people to remain seated, and made an announcement literally every minute for 5 minutes about it, telling us the ride would restart in x minutes. Then I realized they must have been saying it for the people in the other scenes! Anyway, once it started moving again, we really enjoyed it. I was singing along by the end.

We cut through the castle to Fantasyland, but took a bunch of pictures on the way.

We went into PhilharMagic and the waiting area was extremely crowded. It was a short wait, thank goodness. Of course, once the doors opened there was more than enough room in the theater. There were several groups of Asians in our row, and they just would not move down the row. There was a dad next to me who kept yelling at them and calling them the r word. I thought that was really unnecessary and normally I will tell people off for using that word, but I didn't want to start trouble. When the Asians did move down, they refused to sit right next to anybody on either side; there was a space between their parties and the next families. Not sure what the issue was there.

This is the only 3-D show I can tolerate at all, and I even had trouble with it when the instruments start flying at you and the corks pop during "Be Our Guest". Everything else was fine, and I had great fun reaching out to try to catch the jewels from Ariel's cavern. Next we went to Peter Pan, where we waited about 10-15 minutes, with the FPs. We enjoyed this ride, and found the mermaid that looks like Ariel. When it was done, we decided to go get our spot for SpectroMagic. It was an hour ahead of time.

"On this magic night, we cast a spell that can't be broken..."-SpectroMagic Part 1

 

[bellebookworm9]

Last time I had watched SpectroMagic was completely by accident. We were trying to get from Adventureland to Fantasyland by way of Frontierland, and got trapped. But since it was right by where the parade goes backstage, there was barely anybody there, so we headed for that area again, stopping for a frozen lemonade on the way. We sat on a low wall by Pecos Bill's while Mom made some phone calls. There appeared to be more people on the opposite side, by Splash Mountain. I went and pulled up come concrete right by the road. They had hula hoops and things for the kids. Mom came over and there was an older woman next to us on an ECV. She was crazy. She backed up to go do something else and ran over Mom's foot and didn't say anything. Finally, it was time to start. The music started (which I'm listening to right now) but it was just a tease because they turned it off after a minute or so. This happened several more times. Eventually, we could see the parade floats coming! Here begins the excessive picture taking. Almost all of them turned out very well, but you'll have to excuse the heads in front of me in a few of them.

"...Let this night forever live in our dreams!"-SpectroMagic Part 2

 

[bellebookworm9]

I cannot figure out why Dopey is on the Pinocchio float and not with the other dwarfs, but whatever. I absolutely love this parade. I know a lot of people are crazy about the Main Street Electrical Parade, but I watched a video of it on Youtube, and I definitely prefer Spectro. I'm sad we won't get to see it next time we go, but we'll get to see Mickey's Boo to You instead. As I was listening to the soundtrack while posting the pictures, I actually got chills and tears in my eyes. It was almost time for Wishes, so we headed towards Main Street.

"We put our faith and hope on a shooting star..."