May 2011 Yo Ho Ho! Let Down Your Hair! (New 10/9 Lessons Learned #550)

[aprilisis]

I finally subscribed- I'm going back to catch up!

 

[cherbear]

It was definitely better than getting delayed on a plane -- we could at least get up and move around, etc. But a delay is just a delay -- it stinks!



Yeah, they were "excited"



Thanks! At this rate, we may be done my TR by the time you go!

considering I don't have a trip planned at all and probably won't be able to go for another couple years , I should hope you'll be done by the time I go

 

[aprilisis]

The train sounds like a great way to travel. That stinks about the delay, though. I can't wait to read more!

 

[Marshay]

Thanks for your answers

Glad to hear they have plugs

Don't think we could keep Trent entertained that long with no electronics

yeah, the kids on the trains are definitely all playing their leapster/gameboy games and watching movies and listening to music.

I finally subscribed- I'm going back to catch up!

Welcome!!

considering I don't have a trip planned at all and probably won't be able to go for another couple years , I should hope you'll be done by the time I go

Well, this TR is getting a lot harder to find the time to do! With Rachel not in school, I don't get my free time anymore!

The train sounds like a great way to travel. That stinks about the delay, though. I can't wait to read more!

Taking the train is really cool. I think we all look forward to it.

 

[Marshay]

When I last left you, our train had just arrived in Sanford, a little late but we are in Florida!!

I forgot to mention a few things.

That morning, the people in the roomettes right next to us told us how well-behaved our girls were. My first thought was "which train car were you in?" We thanked them for their patience with us and the grandmotherly lady said, "It's so nice to hear all the excitement. I can tell your girls are ready to meet Mickey Mouse!"

Jerry and I looked at each other and go, 'oh, so that's what you call it -- excitement!'

Seriously, the girls were good...yeah, they got a bit rowdy, but anyone would after being in a small room for a few hours. Yes, it's still much, much better than being cooped up in a car seat ... but it doesn't take the 'excitement' away altogether.

I also noticed that I had a few marks on my back that were starting to itch...not sure what that was about. I was just hoping they would go away...

Saturday, May 14th

We get in our car and decide to stop at Walmart for some groceries. The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining (and AccuWeather had predicted RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!! -- ha!!) and we are still a bit earlier than I thought we would be.

Jerry drops me off at Walmart and he picks up Burger King lunch (only fast-food around). I also checked out the Walmart Disney section and was pleasantly surprised by all the neat things -- esp the prices!!

I pick up some Disney postcards (funny, how the Walmart postcards are not allowed to say "Walt Disney World", even though they have Mickey, Princesses, etc on them. They all say something generic like "Hello from Florida") I also bought 2 child-size ponchos that are pink with princesses on them.

Soon we are on the road again, although GPS on our phone somehow gave us the wrong directions...had to do a U-turn, go the back way and then we saw this. Note the big sign saying "no stopping" with the camera above it!!

We go directly to AKV-Kidani and find out the ressie is messed up a bit as it's under my dad's name and we are listed as having 18 guests!! Seriously.

We get it straightened out (or so we thought....), and the room is not ready. We are in the far savannah, away from the main lobby and swimming pool. However, it's the only 2BR we can get w/o having to move, so we take it. On paper it looks pretty decent...it's at the bottom of the "U", so we should be looking out directly on the savannah and not someone else's room, right??

We meet up with my parents who are staying in the studio part of our 2br and we decide to head to Epcot for the Flower and Garden Show and the Pixar Weekend. The sun is still shining and it's the most glorious feeling in the world to be entering your first park on day 1!!

Of course, we don't have everything ready for the park, but I have diapers, tickets, water bottles, hats. The sun is still shining beautifully (take that! weather channel!!) and off we go.

I really want to make this a relaxing trip, esp these 2 days in Epcot so we can just explore. We walk around and see

Then off to Bambi's Butterfly Garden. Elizabeth got a small stuffed animal of Bambi with the Blu-Ray movie for her birthday, so she really likes Bambi.

The butterfly garden is really cute, with lots of flowers, a handful of butterflies flying around and a water feature.

It's all under a tent so it's getting a little warm inside. (Hey, someone wanted to see my pretty nails ... look in the lower right-hand corner...that's me holding our 2nd camera ... look how pretty those nails look!)

But the butterflies are so pretty

Then we head over toward Imagination and plop, plop, some rain drops start falling down (shame on you weather channel for making it rain!). So we go ride Figment and hope that the rain stops by the time we are done.

We get our obligatory family tradition photo by the upside down fountain. It's starting to get a little darker now...

But the sun comes out again and we miraculously find my mom and dad right behind us!

We see the African Cats sand sculpture (incredible)

What's funny about this photo is that I don't remember seeing the hippos at all while I was there. But when I looked at the photos, I was like -- oh, look at the hippos!

Then we are heading over toward Canada and the sky lets loose! (curse you AccuWeather!!) I mean, it's pouring, thundering and really getting dark.

Of course, we all left our ponchos in our vehicles. Jerry says he is buying ponchos, my dad wouldn't buy one when there are some in his car, but my mom wants one, so he buys one for her. Then Dad goes back to the car to get some dry shirts for him and my mom.

Mom, the girls and I huddle under a tree. I love the look of the girl behind us in this pic and the guys' shirt barely has a dry spot.

After we get our ponchos on, the rain lets up a bit so we walk on over to one of the buildings set up for Pixar Weekend. Thankfully, they let us in the building but close off the entrance shortly after us b/c too many people are trying to get in out of the rain.

Who do we meet??

 

[Marshay]

We meet Mr. Potatohead! The lines were VERY long but with it pouring outside, what more could we do? We didn't get a text about our room being ready, so let's meet some characters!

I love the background they had -- looked just like the room at Sunny dale/Sunny side (or whatever it was called)

Mr. Pot head looks a bit mad at Jerry in this pic

Then off to get a photo of Mater:

At this point we split up. Jerry takes Elie and gets in the long line for Monsters Inc. ...while I take Rachel and get in the shorter line for ....

any guesses?

Assuming you recognize this popular house, you'll also recognize Russell. I had to get a photo of this guy in front of us. His favorite character was Russell and to prove it, he dressed up JUST like him -- even to the patches and shoestrings!

The real Russell gave the fan Russell extra attention. Some of the people in front of me were getting restless but I just told them, 'hey, it's this guys' hero, let him have some more time!'

Then it was our turn.

I was very excited to see these new characters. I hadn't seen any of them in the parks and was so glad to meet them, too!

Up next ... Monsters INC!!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

And that was the only rain the whole trip!

Great Pixar pictures, great choice of shelter.

 

[Marshay]

And that was the only rain the whole trip!

Great Pixar pictures, great choice of shelter.

I know! Remember the week before and all the weather forecasts were predicting rain, rain, rain every day!! We were thinking, oh, no, here it comes.

But other than that Saturday -- we never had rain again!!

The shelter was a great spot -- busy and crazy but perfect to meet the characters. Can't wait to see your pics with them, too!

 

[Marshay]

Forgot to add another Praise.

If our room had been available upon checkin, we would have gone ahead and unpacked, settled in, etc. Once that was done, it would have poured and then there was no way we'd head out to Epcot.

So even though it seemed like a bad thing that our room wasn't ready right away, it turned out to be great -- we got to see a bit of the Flower and Garden Festival ... and a LOT of the Pixar Weekend characters.

 

[cadek]

Great first day in the parks! What a great escape from the rain, and beautiful pictures. The Russell fan pictures are so sweet!

I love your positive take, turning the negative of a room not ready, to looking at how that enabled you to have this great experience!

All of these Flower and Garden pictures make we want to go so badly! Next year it will be my mission to get there to see this, even for just a weekend!

 

[kaoden39]

Umm that gentleman in line in front of you definition of fanatic.


I am so glad you got to see the Pixar characters. That deserves praise.

 

[Marshay]

Great first day in the parks! What a great escape from the rain, and beautiful pictures. The Russell fan pictures are so sweet!

I love your positive take, turning the negative of a room not ready, to looking at how that enabled you to have this great experience!

All of these Flower and Garden pictures make we want to go so badly! Next year it will be my mission to get there to see this, even for just a weekend!

If you haven't ever been to a F&G at Epcot, you seriously need to go. I've been 3x now and love it. Everything is just so much more beautiful and there are tons of things to do!

Umm that gentleman in line in front of you definition of fanatic.

I am so glad you got to see the Pixar characters. That deserves praise.

Yes, he was a character!

And the Pixar characters were awesome -- there are a LOT more coming!

 

[kaoden39]

I can hardly wait to see more!!


I imagine you are real busy getting ready for Rachel's birthday party.

 

[Marshay]

Ok, so these photos are out of order but I'm still going to put it here. Rachel with the cool flowers in the background. I forgot to look up what, if anything, the flowers spelled this year. Last time I went, they spelled Mickey in "sailing code".

Peter Pan, Croc and Capn Hook. Elie really liked seeing these b/c both she and Rachel enjoy watching Jake and the Neverland pirates

Tinkerbell

Another one of Mickey and crew

Donald Duck

 

[Marshay]

Now I last left you waiting in line to see Russell. Jerry was still in line for Monsters Inc, but coming close to the front. So Rachel and I joined him.

Elizabeth was having some fun on Daddy's back. Notice, even Jerry color coordinated his bandana to match the girls' shirts!!

I had made sure that we watched Up, Monsters, Inc, Toy Story, Cars, It's a Bug's Life and Incredibles (among others) before going to Disney, so the girls would be at least a little familiar with the Pixar characters.

Finally, it was our turn (about 50 minute wait or more). We got photos with George (and yes, he has a sock on the back of him.)

Elizabeth was ok with George (that actually is a smile on her face) as long as Mommy was holding her

In fact, Elizabeth was VERY interested in George ... guess he looked like a big teddy bear!

Jerry joined in on the fun

Now the thing with the characters is that they had a variety of different characters and alternated them every 20 minutes or so. This made it difficult to predict whom you were going to actually be with. While we were waiting they had Mike Wazowski, Sully and Boo (whom I REALLY wanted to see) but by the time we got up front, it was just George.

By this time we were all hungry and it had stopped raining, so we went to UK for Fish and Chips. I had a DISmeet to go to but with the rain and our level of hunger, I just decided to skip it.

However, as we were getting our seats arranged under one of the umbrellas, I hear my name -- I'm so excited!!!! It's Carrie, my friend from DIS back when Disney had the CMO contest! (KigerKat on Dis). I knew she and her hubby were going to be there that weekend but since I skipped the DISmeet, I assumed I lost my chance to meet up with her.

But another Praise -- Carrie had seen our shirts (bright yellow is hard to miss) from a photo I put on DIS and recognized us. She was walking right by UK and happened to glance over our way!

Can you tell I was excited to see her!!? I even forgave her for wearing *that* bear in my presence!!

We stayed and talked for a while during the rain and wind. Jerry and the girls ate all the food (ok, almost all of it) but I didn't mind...it was great to meet Carrie and Brett in person.

Afterwards we walked around and Rachel enjoyed playing in this fountain

I know this photo is out of order but since we are in Epcot and wearing yellow it must be from this day??

Then we finally heard back that our Room was ready. So we work our way back to our SUV (note photos are not in order, per se...)

Beast and Belle

Elie liked this one...i'm not sure why...

Rachel really wanted to take photos of everything!!

On a sunny day, the front of Epcot looks like this (photopass pic)

But here is how we encountered it

What happened to Woody's eyes?? They were there in our picture!!

Some playing around with the photopass pictures...
Jerry and Elie

Everyone

Rachel and I

Goodbye

As we left the parking lot I saw this and got all excited I had to take a pic! Love her license plate/Disname.

We were very excited to see what our room would look like. We had stayed at AKV-Jambo house a few years ago so had an idea ... but my parents had never stayed at AKV (and didn't think they would like it).

I know everyone says that AKV is sooooo far from everything ... but I didn't think so (or else we just made good time).

Soon we were opening the door to 7240 & 7242 overlooking ....

 

[Marshay]

I can hardly wait to see more!!


I imagine you are real busy getting ready for Rachel's birthday party.

Oh, i'm glad you are enjoying! It is fun to go back over our pics and relive the vacation with all of you.

I think we have Rachel's party planned out now. I'll do a separate post on that.

 

[cdotla]

Love reading about the Pixar Weekend. I was in WDW too, but attending Destination D. I was hoping to have popped over to Epcot on one of our breaks, but there was never enough time. So I will just have to experience things vicariously through you!

PS - that Russell fan is AMAZING!!!!

 

[KigerKat]

as we were getting our seats arranged under one of the umbrellas, I hear my name -- I'm so excited!!!! It's Carrie, my friend from DIS back when Disney had the CMO contest! (KigerKat on Dis). I knew she and her hubby were going to be there that weekend but since I skipped the DISmeet, I assumed I lost my chance to meet up with her.

But another Praise -- Carrie had seen our shirts (bright yellow is hard to miss) from a photo I put on DIS and recognized us. She was walking right by UK and happened to glance over our way!

Can you tell I was excited to see her!!? I even forgave her for wearing *that* bear in my presence!!

As we left the parking lot I saw this and got all excited I had to take a pic! Love her license plate/Disname.

We were very excited to see what our room would look like. We had stayed at AKV-Jambo house a few years ago so had an idea ... but my parents had never stayed at AKV (and didn't think they would like it).

I know everyone says that AKV is sooooo far from everything ... but I didn't think so (or else we just made good time).

Soon we were opening the door to 7240 & 7242 overlooking ....

Sorry about the Pooh shirt! For some reason, I always end up wearing that shirt on our first day!!

It was really great running in to you guys that day, and the next day, and again the day after that. And how funny is it that you found my car?!?!?!

We had the same trouble you guys had in the Pixar tent with the Monsters, Inc. characters. We really wanted to be with Mike, Sully and Boo, but they would always change them just as we were getting to the front of the line. And Boo was TOO CUTE!! Her little head bobbing up and down!!

We saw the Russel fan when we were there, too. He must have gone over there twice, because we went to the tent after running into you guys and that's when we saw him. His costume was soooo cute. He deserved the extra attention!

 

[Trentmom]

oh many, boy were those ressies messed up... 18 people

Glad u made it to epcot for some of Pixar Weekend

Love the pics with Mr Potato Head. He is awesome

You got a lot of great photopass pics

That russell guy....that was too funny

Hope your room is good

 

[mousescrapper]

glad your arrival (minus the weird room mix up thing) worked out so well...you saw some amazing characters (and fans) I personally love the group shot w/ Mr. Potato head and Jerry sitting on the floor

I would have loved to see that UP! house up front and in person looked great!

the rain always comes when you don't have the ponchos

looking forward to more fun, surprises and excitment


J~