"MO-OM! Take Small Children by the Hand!" An October 2012 TR New 11/9

[glennbo123]

Woohoo, I'm caught up!

You're making me miss POR, I love it there too....love the peacefulness of the grounds, and the fun of the swimmin' hole. Un took some great pictures.

Sorry, but I had to laugh at some of the meltdowns after going so hard all day. It's a challenge having 3 kids sometimes, isn't it?!

Yay, I'm glad your kids are all now official Padawans! I remember how excited my son was when he got to do it. Back then, you couldn't sign up -- you had to get picked out of the crowd by the Jedi Trainer and we had to wait through 3 training sessions before he made it. But it was worth it. Also, they didn't do photopass pictures back then, so I just have a few pictures that I was able to get with the crappy point-and-shoot that I had back then. That's great that with the photopass photographer you were able to get so many great shots.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Woohoo, I'm caught up!

You're making me miss POR, I love it there too....love the peacefulness of the grounds, and the fun of the swimmin' hole. Un took some great pictures.

Sorry, but I had to laugh at some of the meltdowns after going so hard all day. It's a challenge having 3 kids sometimes, isn't it?!

Yay, I'm glad your kids are all now official Padawans! I remember how excited my son was when he got to do it. Back then, you couldn't sign up -- you had to get picked out of the crowd by the Jedi Trainer and we had to wait through 3 training sessions before he made it. But it was worth it. Also, they didn't do photopass pictures back then, so I just have a few pictures that I was able to get with the crappy point-and-shoot that I had back then. That's great that with the photopass photographer you were able to get so many great shots.

It's definitely an experience to get anywhere with all three of them. Though at home, one of them is almost always out of sorts. At least at Disney, there are lots of times when they're all enjoying themselves! One of these days, we'll spend enough time there on a trip that we won't feel like we have to run the whole time. Of course, we did actually spend seven days there in 2010, and that's when MOM had her meltdowns. But we won't go there...

I was so very glad to read that we wouldn't have to do the waiting to be picked thing for Jedi Training Academy while planning for this trip! The long line that morning was worth it to know that they'd all be able to do it. I figure the chances of all three of them getting picked would be slim to none. Then there REALLY would have been some unhappy campers! And the Photopass pics are great. It was funny, though - we went to MNSSHP our last night, and so didn't get a chance to put all our Photopass cards on one - or edit out the pictures. When we got home and registered our cards, Bryan had to sift through ALL the pictures of ALL the kids who had been in that session! When we got our disks, we realized that he'd missed a few. We now have very nice pictures of a bunch of kids we don't know.

Glad you got caught up! I know it's hard to stay current on here. There's always something getting in the way of my quality Disboards time!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

great update thanks for all the pics to describe the show i have never seen it before in person.

just from glenns really bad point and shoot camera

 

[glennbo123]

great update thanks for all the pics to describe the show i have never seen it before in person.

just from glenns really bad point and shoot camera

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

great update thanks for all the pics to describe the show i have never seen it before in person.

just from glenns really bad point and shoot camera

Glad you two are here to liven things up a bit!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Wow, it’s been a while since I last updated! Haley turned 12 the week of the fourth, and we just had her birthday party this week. But the big news is…..

I HAVE A TICKER!!!

Bryan and I both turn 40 in the next year (yes, I go first, as he loves to remind me). We both had plans to do small trips with friends that have fallen through for one reason or another. We decided that we would do something together instead. Then we realized that the DIS Unplugged team is hosting another “DISapalooza” gathering this December and decided that, instead of hearing all about it afterwards on the DIS, we’d actually attend this year!! So we’ve booked a four-day vacation the first weekend of December. We’ll be staying at Pop (tried for AoA, but it was full) and have three day tickets. Can’t wait to see Disney in December for ourselves instead of looking at pictures! The only catch (kind of)…we’re leaving the kids behind. I’m super excited about hitting the parks as adults, but I know there will be moments that I wish they were seeing it with us. We are looking at taking either a last fall break trip next year before Haley goes to high school (they don’t get the long break we do) or trying to sneak in a quick December trip after school gets out/before Christmas Eve, so at least we can tell them that there’s one in the works for them. Still not going to be fun telling them…

Anyway, now that the news stories are done, let’s get on with the report!

First of all, I have to go back and show you a few photos from Disney Jr. Live on Stage…I guess when I’m not there, I don’t think about it. This is what Bryan and Un did with Haley and Will while Jack and I rode Rockin’ Rollercoaster.



All ready to go!





Even though he loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, he just didn’t seem all that excited.



Bubbles!



Then you’ll notice a change in his demeanor.



It’s all because….



Jake had arrived! He loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He has a Tshirt that he would wear every single day if I’d let him.

Much more enthusiastic!




(And, yes, his sister is into it, too. )

I love this one – it shows Un trying to help them collect the gold doubloons!


All in all, I think it was a success! 

Now back to where we were…when we last left, the kids had just completed their Jedi training. We rode Star Tours one last time (after all, we were right there!). We did have one repeated section this time, but the rest of it was new (no notes about the planets we visited this time). Also, the ice cream that I said they all got before actually was bought now. I think maybe they had some popcorn to share or something while we watched the first part of the parade. I guess that’s what happens when you try to write a TR 9 months after the trip!

On our way out to the gates, we also stopped at…



It had been the answer to a trivia question we’d read on the bus to the park that morning (from Bryan’s Disney app). I really liked the vibe of this store. In fact, I wouldn’t mind spending more time at a few of the stores in this park. But, I guess I can’t do everything in one trip. After all, I did get to see the Streetmosphere people this time, right? We spent some time looking around.




(Ok, we really did look at more than food, no matter what these pictures show!)

At this point, we had to get moving if we were going to allow enough time to make our ADR at Chef Mickey’s. We did take a photo or two on the way out, though.




(this pic is out of order, but it's a good one to show that the crowds were really manageable!)


I told you there would be more hat pictures. Bryan was frustrated because the Disney Channel Rocks show was going on.

We then turned in the stroller (really missed having our own at times like these!), headed out the gates...



and took a bus to the Contemporary. We actually had really good bus mojo this day – we ended up making it to the Contemporary well before our ADR and had time to look in a few of the gift shops there and do some pressed pennies. I also took a picture of the Mary Blair mural – I just love it!




The five-legged goat – took us a little while to find it. I think Jack and Bryan were actually the ones to spot it first.

(continued next post)

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Then we headed down to the restaurant.



I know Chef Mickey’s is not everyone’s favorite, but it’s really a must-do for us. I remember it from when we used to visit as a family when I was a kid. We never stayed here (we always stayed at the Poly…didn’t know how lucky I was!) but my brother and I were always amazed at monorail going through the building, and we ate at Chef Mickey’s both times we visited here as kids. Now we’ve been here on every family trip we’ve taken so far.


We made our way down and had the customary photo taken – which we didn’t buy. We actually did back in 2008, but there was a story to that one (that I won’t go into here for sake of time!). As we were waiting to be seated, I hoped that we could be in the room just past the desert bar. We’d been there twice and preferred it. We’d also been sat to the left of the buffet, and in the room to the right. The only one I hoped we wouldn’t be seated in is the room to the right of the buffet. It always seemed a little isolated to me. So I wasn’t thrilled when we headed in that direction and were seated in the top row in the very corner! Great, I thought. Cruddy table. But we were all tired and cranky and I tried to worry about getting the kids settled in and autograph stuff out instead of where our table was.

The characters hit fast and furious…Minnie was first.





Then Pluto came along.



Jack was studying the signatures from the last character while waiting for the next one to sign, for some reason.



Goofy was next.



(We really were eating during all of this. I just don’t have pictures of anyone’s food! I always like the salmon here. The kids like picking their own food, too, so we were making multiple trips up to the buffet while trying to hit all the characters.)

So, remember how I complained about the cruddy table? Well, once the sun had gone down far enough that it wasn’t glaring in the window, the shades opened (by themselves, which caught us off guard). Suddenly we could see the Magic Kingdom as the sun went down! (And for some reason, I can't find those photos. I know they're somewhere!!) This made our day, especially since we hadn’t been to the Magic Kingdom yet this visit. The kids ooohed and ahhhed over the castle, and the sunset was beautiful. It was just the pick-me-up we needed, since we were all feeling the effects of the day.

We took part in the napkin waving, of course.



And we still had a few more characters to see. Donald came by.



And finally, the Big Cheese himself! He’s Will’s favorite (always has been), and he was really excited to see his buddy.





At this point, we had all of our signatures and pictures, our bellies were full…and we were beat! It was definitely time to go. We went up to the monorail level to go to the MK to get our bus. I was all excited when the Avenger-rail came by, but this was the best picture I got…



Yeah, I know. Totally awesome photographer here. I actually have written in my notes that a CM thought my reaction to the Avenger-rail was pretty darn funny, and that by this point I was slaphappy. I have no idea what I did...maybe that's a good thing!

When we came down the ramp from the monorail, this is what we were greeted with.



We’d be going to this on Thursday night – two more days! We were all pretty excited, since we’d had so much fun back in 2008 despite a lingering bout of stomach flu. Will had his favorite seat again. We REALLY needed our own stroller! I’m surprised Bryan could still walk after this trip.



It didn’t take very long for us to hit a bus to POR. We stopped in the lobby and asked someone to take a picture of all of us in our shirts. Bryan and I had come up with the idea, and my mom had made them for us.



As we walked back to the room, we realized that the nightly movie was going on. It’s right outside our room, so we got a good view of it. They were playing Monsters, Inc.



I ended up grabbing our mugs and heading back to fill them up while Bryan got the kids ready for bed. On the way back, I realized that our packages from Downtown Disney were at the gift shop, so I grabbed them. We also had a delivery from Garden Grocer to fix a problem we’d had in our order. All in all, I had quite the load to carry back. I’m probably lucky that I made it! Guess I have to work on that upper body strength…


When I got back to the room, I found out that Haley had gone out to watch the movie for a little while once Bryan was done getting the boys washed up.
She’d enjoyed it until she’d just gotten too sleepy. Glad we could take advantage of this little perk, at least for a few minutes. By this point, we were all pretty beat. We'd made it through an entire day in the parks, but we’d gone about as far as we could go. And to top it all off, we had an 8:05 ADR for Crystal Palace in the morning! Would we get out the door in time? I'd tell you to stay tuned and find out, but by this point you probably know us pretty well.

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[AussieMumma]

I'm really enjoying reading your TR

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Great update!

Thanks! Setting up my classroom is in full swing...hope to get another update up soon!

I'm really enjoying reading your TR

Thanks! Glad to have you along!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

those shirts turned out really cool are they iron on or sew on

 

[glennbo123]

I agree with Faunt, the shirts turned out great. I see that Bryan's is Star Wars themed, what were the others?

Hey, it must have been a successful day since everyone was exhausted.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

those shirts turned out really cool are they iron on or sew on

Thanks! They were sewn on. I was on Etsy and found shirts I really liked, but didn't want to pay for. So my mom and I worked together to figure it out. I basically went to the store and found fabric for everyone, and then made a pattern. My mom appliqued them with her sewing machine. We often do shirts, but we'd used iron-on transfer paper in the past and they fall apart after one washing.

I agree with Faunt, the shirts turned out great. I see that Bryan's is Star Wars themed, what were the others?

Hey, it must have been a successful day since everyone was exhausted.

Let's see...Mine was just a floral pattern, Haley's was Disney Fairies, Bryan's was Star Wars (of course!), Jack had Agent P, Will had Muppets, and Un had Nascar. I'll have you know I remembered that without looking back at the picture. Not bad for 9 months later! (Of course, it could have something to do with having to FIND something everyone would like in the first place! )

I really will try to post another update soon. I had my first contract day back at school today, and my class comes on Tuesday. At this rate, I might have this report done by the time our December trip comes along!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

First of all, I have to apologize for going so long between updates. School has been back in session for us for just under three weeks now (for the kids - I've officially been back that long!), and the beginning of the year is so crazy. I really do plan on finishing this. It might be right about at the same time that Bryan and I head to Disney in December, but I'll get it done!

Anyway, back to the trip...

Wednesday, October 17th - Our First Magic Kingdom Day!

We were up at 6 am…at least, some of us were. Even the allure of getting to the Magic Kingdom for the first time this trip wasn’t enough to help Jack jump out of bed. But eventually, we had everyone up and dressed. No breakfast for us this morning – we were headed to the Crystal Palace! Our ADRs were at 8:05, and the park didn’t open until 9. We’d done this for our past two trips, and loved the feeling of having Main Street to ourselves.

We got to the bus stop for MK and I couldn’t believe it! It was crazy crowded. It turned out that it was because there hadn’t been an MK bus for quite some time. We were getting a little worried, and more and more people continued to crowd in behind us. I listened to their conversations – they were headed to Chef Mickey’s, ‘Ohana, CP…lots of people going to character breakfasts, but no buses. Finally, a bus came up and – surprisingly enough – we got on it. We were some of the last people, though. There were a LOT of people left waiting, and our bus driver was on the radio asking for more buses as we got on. I hope they didn’t have to wait long! He assured them that there was a bus right behind him.

With our good bus mojo, we were entering the Magic Kingdom – finally – by 7:50. And then…the picture taking began!



I LOVE MK in the fall!













And almost no one there!



We stopped for a few obligatory Photopass pics.



And then the whole family got into taking pictures!



Jack had the video camera, Will had Bryan’s old camera, and Haley had the camera she got for Christmas. Yeah, we were quite the tourist family!







I loved the holiday-themed window displays!











And a few more pictures of the decorations…





I’ve been reading a lot about Disney history, including the windows for the Disney Legends. This is the only picture that came out well, and that I had time to snap because it was getting to be time to head to the restaurant.



(Continued in next post)

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Finally, we rounded the bend and headed toward the glass dome.





I checked in and we were seated after only a short wait. Just long enough to pose for a picture...



We ended up with a great view out the window from our seat!



The only complaint I have about this restaurant is how crowded it is, though it really wasn’t bad at when we first got there (getting out was a lot harder). Our waiter came up almost immediately, and he proved to be quite the character himself. I didn’t write down his name, but he was from Australia. I know he was joking with the kids about something that is called something different in Australia than it is here, but I didn’t write it down. Jack said something back to him, though, and that was all she wrote. He rode Jack like crazy for the rest of the meal! We had a lot of good laughs with him. One of the biggest ones had to do with Jack’s orange juice. First our waiter barely filled his glass.





Then, when Jack called him on it, he got more than he bargained for.





I'm not sure how it didn't get spilled...there was no way another drop would fit into that glass! Lots of fun!

The characters came by pretty fast. Will and Tigger had a good time messing around (Tigger is right on his energy level when he’s happy).








And Will also had a good time showing Pooh that he’d worn his Pooh Bear shirt.





We did go up to the buffet eventually. We really enjoy the food here! Who wouldn’t enjoy puffed French toast?!?



Though Haley looks excited about her meal here, none of the kids ate well. We still had a few more characters to see! Next was Piglet.


(All those cameras, and this was the best one we got!)

And finally, Eeyore.





Once we were all full (well, at least the adults ate their fill…or maybe a little more ), we headed back out to Main Street to formulate our plan. I was sincerely hoping to see New Fantasyland today – I’d read all about how they were doing informal previews on the DIS before we left, so I couldn’t wait! Would we get to see anything? Stay tuned…and I really will try to update faster next time! Thanks for hanging in there!

 

[annie170]

Hi Jen! I've been following your TR with interest as we have a few things in common. I live in Indiana also (northwest, closer to Chicago), I work in education (special needs), and I was also in DW the same time as you and your family. I had lunch at the Crystal Palace the same day you had breakfast.

I have a few relatives who teach in the Indianapolis area and I'm jealous of your balanced calendar. I wish we would adopt that up north, but I don't see it happening for awhile. We just started back this past week.

I agree with you regarding the crowds at CP. We waited far too long past our adr time to get in and never saw all the characters. The food is good, but I'm not sure I'd make a return visit at lunchtime.

Your family was really cute in your matching Mickey shirts and Un seems like a gem!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Hi Jen! I've been following your TR with interest as we have a few things in common. I live in Indiana also (northwest, closer to Chicago), I work in education (special needs), and I was also in DW the same time as you and your family. I had lunch at the Crystal Palace the same day you had breakfast.

I have a few relatives who teach in the Indianapolis area and I'm jealous of your balanced calendar. I wish we would adopt that up north, but I don't see it happening for awhile. We just started back this past week.

I agree with you regarding the crowds at CP. We waited far too long past our adr time to get in and never saw all the characters. The food is good, but I'm not sure I'd make a return visit at lunchtime.

Your family was really cute in your matching Mickey shirts and Un seems like a gem!

I'm so sorry it took this long to see your post! I swear, I've checked back and must've missed it. I'm apparently on the once-a-month update plan. Life's crazy! I have a short, non-trip update to make soon, though. And now I should have at least a little more time!

Wow - a lot in common! I'm sure I'll be counting down the days to fall break soon - those two weeks sound wonderful as I look at the pile of papers I have to grade! My DSIL teaches up in "the region", too, and she feels the same way you do. I wish they'd change it - I'd love to hit WDW with her in the fall!

CP for breakfast is something that I'm not sure my DH will want to give up. But I think I could skip it next trip. We'll have to see. Un is definitely one of our favorite people! He lives up your way, so we don't get to see him as often as we'd like. But we'll take him whenever we can get him! It's so funny that we were in WDW at the same time. Wasn't it a nice time for a trip?

Hope to be back soon for another update or two!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Let me start off by saying that Jack’s birthday is not in October. It’s in December. But we were pretty sure we wouldn’t be getting to the parks in December any time soon now that my school has gone to the extended calendar. When you get two weeks off in October and in the spring, it’s hard to justify pulling the kids (and myself) out of school for a four-day weekend just to see the holiday highlights at Disney! Of course, DH and I are doing that this year…but it’s not every year we turn 40, and the kids won’t be coming along. Anyway….We had promised Jack we’d go around his birthday because Haley got to celebrate her birthday (two weeks early) on our 2010 trip. My mom and I went in together and got her a BBB appointment, which she loved. But Jack was more impressed by the attention she got from her birthday button – including the cupcake she got at our sit-down meal that day. So, we decided we’d just let him get a button this trip because we wouldn’t get any closer to his birthday than this for a very long time.

Bryan and Jack split off from us after breakfast to head to Guest Services to get him a birthday button.




They stopped for a Photopass or two during their trek.





Haley, Will, Un, and I headed to Fantasyland. We immediately headed for the ride Will most wanted to go on – Peter Pan’s Flight. He was super excited for this one, though we were afraid he would be disappointed. See, he enjoys Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so he knows about the basic storyline. We’ve watched the movie, as well, but he’s much more into Jake. That, and on the Disneyland game for Kinect, you can go to Peter Pan’s flight. The only problem with that is that what you do in the game isn’t like the ride. On the game, you get to fight Captain Hook. We weren’t sure how disappointed he’d be when he realized all we’d be doing was sitting in a flying pirate ship. But he was fine – he loved the scene with Captain Hook and the croc, of course.



We also rode It’s a Small World while waiting for Bryan.






(Love this picture- like he's just trying to take it all in at once!)

I couldn’t figure out what was taking Bryan and Jack so long. It turns out that they got our stroller while they were there (good thinking, Honey!)…and made a little detour along the way when Bryan checked his parks app and realized there was no wait.





Bryan managed to max out his score this round. He was very proud of himself, and of course had to document the achievement!



He captured Jack's reaction, which is pure video game envy and Daddy awe!



Once they finally caught up with us, I steered us in the direction that I knew would take us towards New Fantasyland. I was dying to see if we could get in…the reports I’d heard about things being open here on the DIS had made me very hopeful. The first thing we noticed was this.



This was new!! And perfect for our gang.



But the coolest thing? THE WALKWAY BEHIND IT WAS OPEN!! I was jumping up and down when I saw this sign.



(continued next post)

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

We were impressed from the start.


(Ok, so now this picture doesn't look as impressive, but I was so excited to be there!)

We didn’t get to go to Maurice’s cottage because there was already a line. Now that I’ve heard more about it – and seen pictures of the amazing Lumiere animatronic - I’d love to go. Maybe in December!





We had to stop and gawk at the Beast’s castle. Since then, I was thoroughly disappointed when I saw a behind-the-scenes type picture that revealed the true scale. But we stood on the walkway and mooned over it for a minute before heading back to see if we could ride Little Mermaid.









We headed on back to see what the wait was for the Little Mermaid...and found out there wasn't one! We were blown away by the queue for this ride! And we didn’t even get to see the interactive parts or the little tribute to 20,000 Leagues because there was a CM there letting us take a shortcut.













We told the CM that we were completely impressed even before we’d stepped onto the ride. She beamed at us and told us we’d made her day, but that she thought it would get even better for us as we got onto the ride. I really loved it. The Little Mermaid is a movie I remember from my early adolescence, and I sang several of the songs in show choir. We bee-bopped to the different songs as we went. I especially liked the effect that makes you think you’re heading underwater.










(a lot of these pictures are Un’s!)

We exited the ride and tried to decide what to do next. A cast member near the exit mentioned that Ariel had very little wait, so we decided to head that direction. We wondered what that would be like – we really hadn’t waited for any characters at this point. Stay tuned to find out!

 

[annie170]

Wasn't that an awesome surprise to tour the new Fantasyland! You (and Un) captured some great photos! The three kids in the entrance is really cute!

I agree that October is a wonderful time to go to WDW. I had to take some time off last year, but generally go during Fall Break with just an extra day or two. So jealous of your two weeks off in October!

So you have family in the region? Small world!

Enjoying your updates!