MacDaddy's and the MacDiddies Fall Break Fantabulous:I'm back! 8/17

[mickeystoontown]

Girl, you are updating so fast, I can't keep up with ya.

Isn't it wonderful how Disney can turn the worst situation into something wonderful! Disney service has always been second to none and you've certained been liberally sprikled with their pixiedust.

I have to agree with you on the parking lot trams. I hate hate hate hate hate hate....did I say hate? them! I remember back when we stayed offsite and had a stroller and diaper bag and various other junk. It was such a pain to get everybody and everything onto those little bitty rows.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Krisscot]

Girl, you are updating so fast, I can't keep up with ya.

Isn't it wonderful how Disney can turn the worst situation into something wonderful! Disney service has always been second to none and you've certained been liberally sprikled with their pixiedust.

I have to agree with you on the parking lot trams. I hate hate hate hate hate hate....did I say hate? them! I remember back when we stayed offsite and had a stroller and diaper bag and various other junk. It was such a pain to get everybody and everything onto those little bitty rows.

Looking forward to reading more!

My students are in the computer lab today writing an essay and thye are extremely motivated so I am bored hahah

I know!!! We walked the rest of the time. I like to think it burned a few more of the calories

 

[claryche]

So glad that Disney helped to turn your vacation around. It was not starting off on a good foot. That is so why I love Disney. Their customer service is just awesome.

Loving all the updates.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Subbing! Great TR so far!

 

[Krisscot]

So we were in the mad dash to Expedition Everest! Running and shoving all of the masses of people in the bid to get coveted fast passes. OK just kidding there was hardly anyone there. That's why we stopped for every photopass and picture opportunity that came up. And if anyone has ever met my DD5, you would know that we don't go anywhere quickly. Just picture if you will the dog from UP. SQUIRREL!! That is Isobel. Except this time it was MONKEY!

Why is all this fruit piled up here? hahahah

We got to EE and low and behold it said only a 15 minute wait!!!! Awesome!!! So we grabbed fast passes so we could use them later and we jumped in line. Isobel was still excited but it started to sink in that she was going to ride a "scary" ride so her nervousness started to show through. SO Katie tried to distract by starting a documentarty of Perry visiting Everest.

I am Perry the Platypus... Mighty Adventurer and seeker of the Yeti (who apparently never works anymore) So seeker of the working Yeti....

We found a hidden Mickey! I bought this great app on the Iphone (from the hidden mickey authors) that not only gave you hints but pinpointed your location with gps so it told you which HM to look for. It was so much fun! Especially waiting in line...

And.... We made it!!! Isobel loved it! She kept saying Mom!!!! It's going backwards!!! Is it SUPPOSED to do that!!! And poor yeti was still frozen solid.

Such a great ride!! She was glad she did it and was ready to do it again. But that's for later... Perry was hanging out with his new buddies.

Up next: Please Walk Past Yak and Yeti and go to the Safari Ride!! or There is NO WAY YOU could be Hungry YET!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

How very sweet of Katie to distract her sister so she wouldn't be scared. Does she help out like that a lot or was it Disney magic?

 

[Krisscot]

How very sweet of Katie to distract her sister so she wouldn't be scared. Does she help out like that a lot or was it Disney magic?

You know it is very up and down with those two... THat is why I was kind of worried about going with them on my own. They are 6 years apart and at home can be at each others throats. But on this trip (or normally when Kaite realizes there is no one else to play/talk with) Katie can be a HUGE help. Isobel adores her and wants to be just like her (sometimes suffocating) and so I think when Katie realizes that if she just pays her a little atention that life will be much easier! (PLease let that happen soon )

 

[Krisscot]

So since we were off to a great start, I wanted to make sure that we got our safari ride in. WE new we couldn't get a ton of stuff in today because we had gotten up late and we had reservations for HOOP DE DOOOOO later at 715. We also wanted to make a quick run by Target or Walmart and stock up on some water and snacks for our fridge. So we hurried past Yak and Yeti which BTW is my DD11 favorite place in the world to eat. As a matter of fact Yak and Yeti is the reason my daughter wanted to make "sure" she was an adult on the meal plan so she could get the honey chicken and "real" desert. No more chicken nuggets apparently for her. She told me "if I have to eat chicken nuggets for 13 days I WILL DIE" just like that... in a very dramatic way.

Now what is so funny about this is... my 11 year old eats nothing... We have to bribe her to eat ANYTHING (she weighs 70 pounds on a good day... I sooo wish I had that problem) so I knew the sheer amount of food was going to be interesting for her but what the heck its free so whatever... So with much redirecting and a brief stop to take pics with Meeko...

I finally got the kids past yak and yeti and onto the safari ride that had NO WAIT whoo hoo for no wait!!! Perry has decided maybe he wants to live here...

honestly the giraffe were so close we couldl reach out an touch them... Not that I would ever do that... ahem...

We are lucky that I have a friend back in CA that works for the San Diego wild animal park and she has taken us out on the veldt before and just let the giraffe and rhino come and feed from our hands from the jeep. So I had to explain to Isobel that NO we were NOT going to feed these ones. lol So please don't try and get us kicked out of WDW. That would be bad.

So after jumping off the safari... I caved in and headed toward yak and yeti. Honey Chicken for everyone whoo hoo. It was hot and yummy and we got a great spot outside next to the little fountain. Katie was so excited she got a full chocolate cake for desert and said to me "Mom... This is sooo heaven" Like I said we didn't have a ton of time left so we ran back to EE and got one more ride in before we left..

Back by the fruit temple thing..Yes there is still fruit there... No I don't know why there is fruit there... No I don't think it is real... Do you have an idea of my 5 year old yet?

So we stopped for a couple more photo pass pics and were on our way..

THis was the final straw of why I would never ride the parking lot tram again... Isobel was still tired from the day before and at the point of waiting for the tram was become very irritable in the queue. And when I mean irritable... I mean throwing herself around screaming that she didn't want to leave. So when the tram pulls up I try and load a stroller, a soda, our packages, and a screamimng 5 year old in those tiny little rows, of course mind you everyone in the entire tram is loooking at me like I am crazy and I am looking at them like someone come help with with this stupid stroller!!!! but we were finally on our way...needless to say though we are WALKING from here on out..Just saves so many headaches. lol

Up Next: The Switch or Why I love the CBR staff forever and ever

 

[Krisscot]

So if you remmber from my previous post... I was supposed to check in with CBR's front desk when I got back, so after a quick trip to Target and another quick stop at Circle K for a DIET COKE (they had styrofoam and crushed ice for those experts who know what I am talking about ) we were back to CBR's custom house. I wait in line and they graciously have a new room set up for me closer and near the action. I was thrilled. I was even more thrilled when I saw it. Apparently they had upgraded me to preferred and didn't charge me a thing!!! WE were in room 2422 which looked out onto one of the small heated pools and was right around the corner from Old Port Royale. I could literally walk and fill up my diet coke in a matter of minutes. Oh the joys of refillable mugs. Yes I have 3. Mostly for myself. Don't lie you know you are the same way... Anyway they got my keys changed and the manager was talking to me about my incident with the rental car and just the extreme diabocal my trip out was. She the helped me get my tickets for Hoop de DOOOOOOO printed out (which was another problem because for some reason they couldn't get them to print or whatever) So at this point I am just laughing and the manager is laughing because everything associated with me isn't working. But they finally get printed and off I go.

We barely had time to drop our stuff at the room before we had to turn around and leave for our ressies. It was a nemo room again, which are cute but I don't think they are very imaginative. Isobel loved finding all fo teh characters and the hidden Mickeys but I still think POR has prettier rooms for a moderate. But still love it Not enough time to call for the luggage apparently they need an hour... (that would have to wait til like 11 tonight) But as we are freshening up, that same manager called and said she had been talking with someone else there and decide they wanted to get us VIP tickets to a viewing spot of Illuminations. They had just knew I had a rough start to my trip and wanted to make it better. I was so excited!!! WHat amazing people. I had never asked for a thing and they just went out of there way to make us happy. The set it up for a time that my husband would have arrived and they were just great!!

So it was off to Hoope De DOOOO we go.

We parked and spent some time watching the horses and interesting things at Fort Wilderness. THat is such a cute place. If all camping was like Disney camping I might actually like to do it... Not enough Circle K's though. But the kids had fun posing Perry and interacting with the Cast Members before going inside.

We finally were seated. We actually had pretty good seats for using the dining plan. Although, I was really bummed they didn't sit us with anyone else. At this point I could really have used some adult conversation.
I ordered the glowy icecubes as a special treat for the girls. I am not a huge drinker so I just had one added to my Diet Coke.

Cont... next post

 

[Krisscot]

Cont... from previous post

I had the waiter take a picture of us as a family. He was a good waiter but not super friendly. I had kind of hoped he would interact with us more. Again, I was probably just needing the adult convo...

The whole cast paid more attention to us than the waiter. Before we left to come to Florida, I had let the girls get "tinsil" put in their hair. For some reason that stuff is super popular here in Arizona but no one in Florida had seen it. It is just a couple of strands of glittery hair tinsel tied into your hair. It can be washed and curled and whatever. But it was a fun treat for the girls. Well the girl cast of Hoop De Doo loved it. They kept comig over asking what it was, where we had it done? My girls loved all of the attention, they thought they were just super special.

I have no idea what he said here to make her laugh so hard...

The one thing you never realize about traveling alone with two children is that someone always has to be taken to the bathroom. Now Katie is definetly old enough to go on her own, but Isobel has to be taken...so I had to leave Katie at the table by herself. Which kind of made me nervous, but she for sure didn't want to get up and miss the show to hang out in the bathroom. But all in all, it was a very successful evening... I loved Hoop De Doo way more than the Polynesian Spirit of Aloha show. It was just better food, atmosphere, everything. I asked my girls which one they had like better and it was hands down HDD. I asked them why and Isobel said the Aloha was just 'icky" lol.

Up Next: Day 3 I didn't Know You Could Jump Rope at Hollywood Studios?

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great updates!!! I love how Katie was so great to Isobel in the EE line. My girls can be at each other's throats as well so it's so nice when they get along.

The CBR staff you had rock!! What awesome magic they made for you!

HDD always sounds fun. Do you think it's worth two TS credits though?

Keep the great updates coming! I'm loving your report.

 

[Krisscot]

Great updates!!! I love how Katie was so great to Isobel in the EE line. My girls can be at each other's throats as well so it's so nice when they get along.

The CBR staff you had rock!! What awesome magic they made for you!

HDD always sounds fun. Do you think it's worth two TS credits though?

Keep the great updates coming! I'm loving your report.

Thanks for reading! HDD was AMAZING! We did it the first night and the kids talked about it the whole trip. Definitely worth the 2 credits. And really good food too. Although I ate way to much of the cornbread before the food even came. Once my husband arrived he was sad he didn't get to do it. I think sitting at a big table with lots of people would be soooo fun though! I guess they do a campfire there also where you can roast smores. I would do that too next time if I got the info on it. My girls were actually pretty good this trip. I don't know if it is becasue there wasn't anyone else to play with or just plain Disney magic. It certainly didn't last when we got home

 

[Krisscot]

Ok so before I go on to day 3 I just had to post some pics of why my kids thought you should be able to pet the animals on the safari ride... I mentioned I had a great friend who worked for the San Diego Wild Animal Park and this is what we got to do last time we visited her...

So much fun... but back to my WDW fun!!! I had let the kids sleep in after our exciting night at the HDD and the pervious days had kind of caught up with them so the slept pretty well. We had lunch ressies at Sci Fi Diner at 1pm so there was really no hurry to move quickly. After all, we are here for 13 days. And tomorrow morning I had set up ressies for TONGA TOAST Kona cafe...at 930am and we were soooooo not going to miss that!! They started to stir and I was pretty much all ready so I prompted Katie to begin her pre teen primping ritual. Heaven help me. Isobel is so easy. All she wants is dresses and ponytails. I love it. I miss that age with Katie. YIKES for junior high next year. Immediately after Isobel gets ready she turns on the TV to the WDW channel. Perky Stacy chatting away about her park top tens. I don't know if it is just me...and I know I haven't been in awhile... but where the heck did Samantha Brown go???? I loved her... and her dang perky hair. This Stacy chick is annoying but this would be the first of many times that Isobel watched it over...and over... and over... in one sitting. Kaite was so irritated at the end by this channel that she began to hide the remote. The tv was too tall to reach for Isobel but when she started climbing the dresser I told Katie she couldn't hide it anymore... But we decided to just get a quick snack in the Port Royale food court and fill up with Diet Coke (very important) . I had learned yesterday after getting the full breakfast for them that they are just not huge breakfast eaters. Even for Mickey Mouse waffles. This would change when my husband got there because he is a garbage diposal and could basically take care of the excess.

We drove the short distance to DHS and parked. We eyed the tram and Katie and I looked at each other like "no way" we didn't want to wrestle the stroller again... I actually liked walking the little extra distance. I rationalized I could eat more. And most of the time we would make it to the turnstile before the tram would get there. We had an hour and a half before our reservation for lunch so we decide to get fast passes for TOT and look around a little. We have TSM at California Adventure and we have been on it plenty of times (it is cool and everything but not worth the 110 minute waits that were going on) We got to TOT and the lady at the fast pass booths said it wasn't really worth getting fast passes because it was walk on but we got some anyway for later. Then we just proceeded to ride it. Amazingly it is Isobel's favorite ride!! She calls it Terror Tower.

So we walked around looking at shops and looking at people's pins. Some cast members had a jump rope and were encouraging kids to play. I will say again it really wasn't very busy. Katie proceeded to show up everyone by jumping 50 times straight before conceding. She then tried to help Isobel jump but she wasn't very good. But at least she tried, it was a great memory of the trip and something so simple. We loved it.

I texted my husband this picture and said I wanted it...Then I looked at the price YIKES it was almost $200!

Katie had to take a pic with the police officer for her dad... He had her pegged as TROUBLE. He has no idea...

Up Next: Sci Fi Diner and "Mom are these REAL movies?"

 

[nebo]

hi Kristen, great report. I can't believe all you went through in the early morning just to get there from the airport, amazing. That's great that Disney came through for the stroller, just like when we had the dead battery in the lot, you never think that Disney themselves might be the answer. Now, if they can only do something about the Brazilian tour groups!
By the way, I once had a side job in the company that makes the lime green mickey heads. It's here in Chicago, and when my wife Smidgy once said we need some to put on the windows of the resort for out next trip, I brought home a box of 5000!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

What a fun morning in DHS! The pictures of the girls jumping rope are too cute. It's neat the most simple things that stick in a child's memory.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I was glad to read that you and the girls enjoyed the Hoop Dee Doo Review. We love it too and have been four times. I think it's great that the cast spent a lot of time oohing and aahing over Katie and Isobel.

I can't believe that your girls love the Tower of Terror! I am such a scaredy cat that it took me 14 trips to Disney before I'd ever get on it. They are much braver than I am.

 

[Krisscot]

hi Kristen, great report. I can't believe all you went through in the early morning just to get there from the airport, amazing. That's great that Disney came through for the stroller, just like when we had the dead battery in the lot, you never think that Disney themselves might be the answer. Now, if they can only do something about the Brazilian tour groups!
By the way, I once had a side job in the company that makes the lime green mickey heads. It's here in Chicago, and when my wife Smidgy once said we need some to put on the windows of the resort for out next trip, I brought home a box of 5000!

I know! Can you believe it! If I had know I was going to be such a stud at the Indiana Jones stunt show I would have flattened that lady! JK It is always amazing the customer service level of Disney. I was so worried about taking the girls alone at first and they did everything they could to make me feel comfortale about it. I would get rid of the Brazilian groups too though, what a pain. I teach high school and I take my vacation to get away from that age maniac children....hahaha

I can't believe you made the green Mickey heads. I looked all over for people who had them while we were there and I only say 1!!!! I wanted to like have a secret handshake or something

What a fun morning in DHS! The pictures of the girls jumping rope are too cute. It's neat the most simple things that stick in a child's memory.

That was one of the best days there... So laid back and casual. I loved it.

I was glad to read that you and the girls enjoyed the Hoop Dee Doo Review. We love it too and have been four times. I think it's great that the cast spent a lot of time oohing and aahing over Katie and Isobel.

I can't believe that your girls love the Tower of Terror! I am such a scaredy cat that it took me 14 trips to Disney before I'd ever get on it. They are much braver than I am.

I am so surprised Isobel loves it too. The first time we ever rode it she wasn't realy sure in line and then she shook so hard while we were on it I thought for sure that is the end of Terror Tower but no way. She could shake the elavator apart and she screamed "I love it lets do it again" Crazy kid. The last couple of times she tried to make faces like my husband and Katie do for the pics. It always came out like half afraid/partially sticking her tongue out. She is so little though you could never see her, there was always someone in front of her. I would have bought that highly priced ridiculous picture

 

[Krisscot]

Ok so I just got my photo pass CD, so I have to update photos to at least where I left off last in my report so forgive the brief journey back in time... (No i haven't watch too much Ellen)

Ok I know there are a bunch but.. I prepaid for the CD... so my goal was to hit every photopass photographer I could "You'll take a photo and you will like it" Just kidding...maybe. You can tell my kids were a little sick of photopass toward the end days. For anyone considering prepaying for the disk DO IT!!! I was like man...$99! That's a lot! But then after being there and realizing if I just bought 5 pictures it would have been the same thing, and I probably would have. So instead every picture we took we just added it to the total. So technically I SAVED $4861 (my thinking is $20 a photo I took with the edits 248 pics= $4960 - $99= $4861) Sooooo when I tell my husband I prepaid for the photopass CD I say I just saved you almost $5000! and life is good.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I like the way you think! $4861, huh? Well then you saved him a ton!!!

The photos turned out great. It's nice to have photos with us moms in them since we usually take the pictures ourselves.

I really like your tattoo.

 

[claryche]

Ok I know there are a bunch but.. I prepaid for the CD... so my goal was to hit every photopass photographer I could "You'll take a photo and you will like it" Just kidding...maybe. You can tell my kids were a little sick of photopass toward the end days. For anyone considering prepaying for the disk DO IT!!! I was like man...$99! That's a lot! But then after being there and realizing if I just bought 5 pictures it would have been the same thing, and I probably would have. So instead every picture we took we just added it to the total. So technically I SAVED $4861 (my thinking is $20 a photo I took with the edits 248 pics= $4960 - $99= $4861) Sooooo when I tell my husband I prepaid for the photopass CD I say I just saved you almost $5000! and life is good.

I love your theory. I bought the CD, so I'll have to remember that for my DH too. And I'm like you, I see a photopass person and I'm like okay come on family picture time. Loving the trip report.