"Mommy! Dey heads is fweaky!" 8 (otherwise) wonderful days in March 2011

[MyPeanut&Bug]

I have to ask, when you went to eat at City Park, do you have to park somewhere special and do the ystill charge you the full Universal parking fee? I have thought about going over there..but really have no time anyways...but if I only went for an hour or so, I don't think it would be worth it if I had to pay parking too.

We've always just parked in the deck - I have no idea if it's the main deck or what, it's the only one we've ever used and yes, it's the full parking fee. It was either $12 or $14. My DH is always amazed that I'm willing to do this b/c it's a big running joke in my family how far I'm willing to walk to avoid paying for parking at things like concerts, etc. I hate paying for parking with an overwhelming passion but I figure that little Universal parking fee is a drop in the bucket when I look at the cost of the whole trip, so I suck it up. I need my new Buffett gear.

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

We stayed at All Star Movies in December and really enjoy that resort. The food courts at the values have a great selection. Only thing missing that the moderates have is a slide in the pool and a sit down restaurant. Though now that the mods are remodling to Queen size beds, that is nice as the kids get bigger!

Oh, you may have swayed me back to moderates next trip with Queen beds! I swear it was musical beds with my 2 all week - they started out together but most mornings I ended up waking up with one of them and DH in bed with the other. Wouldn't be too bad except my kids are both wiggly, active sleepers!

 

[Mrs. Sojourner]

Sounds like a great start to your trip!

I love the Margaritaville tradition. It looks like a really cool place. What are some of your favorite things to order there?

 

[lovethattink]

I have to ask, when you went to eat at City Park, do you have to park somewhere special and do the ystill charge you the full Universal parking fee? I have thought about going over there..but really have no time anyways...but if I only went for an hour or so, I don't think it would be worth it if I had to pay parking too.

The enclosed parking garage utilizes moving sidewalks, escalators and elevators, on-site wheelchair rental, and an on-site kennel. Vehicles can leave the garage and return the same day by stopping at the toll plaza upon re-entry and presenting their parking ticket.

Daily parking fees per vehicle:
•Regular Parking $15.00
($3.00 between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.*)
•Preferred Parking $20.00
•RV/Bus Parking $20.00
•Valet $15.00 (under 2hrs)
•Valet $25.00 (over 2hrs)
•Valet Red Carpet $35.00


Prices may change during special events

 

[kathleen27]

I have Disney withdrawal too
Isn't it awful???

Your kids are so cute!

All Star Movies looks fun, love the Toy Story stuff!

 

[Disneyfreak616]

I'm here and I'm subbing!!! Great start! ASMo gets some bad reviews, but I think it's absolutely adorable!! Great choice!!

 

[jc040404]

Eliza just kept saying “I thought we going to Disney World! I don’t think this Disney World!” (Is she my kid or what??)

I love that!

Love your pic going under the arch!

ASMo looks like something out of a kids' dream, huh? My guys love it there and it is just too cute. I even picked it before kids for my birthday one year! Love your pics! That Toy Story area is adorable.

Looks like you're having a great time so far! Can't wait to read some more!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Hi Alicia!! Great start to your trip report! I am also a former preschool teacher now SAHM! Your children are so adorable! Benjamin is the same age as my son Gabe! So cute that Eliza easily woke up when you reminded her it was time to get up for Disney!! Great pics of all the icons at All-Star Movies! We are huge Toy Story fans in this house and the icons are so cool! Looking forward to hearing about your first park day!!

~Beth

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

Sounds like a great start to your trip!

I love the Margaritaville tradition. It looks like a really cool place. What are some of your favorite things to order there?

Hello and I'm a picky, boring eater, so it's pretty much a burger at Margaritaville for me They have fabulous frozen alcoholic drinks but I didn't have one this time.

I have Disney withdrawal too
Isn't it awful???

Your kids are so cute!

All Star Movies looks fun, love the Toy Story stuff!

Yes, it's awful! and thanks for the compliments on the kiddos. We all love the TS stuff!

I'm here and I'm subbing!!! Great start! ASMo gets some bad reviews, but I think it's absolutely adorable!! Great choice!!

Yep, we've stayed at ASMo twice and have no complaints whatsoever. I have dreams of staying at the Poly or WL but that will have to wait until we've hit the lottery.

I love that!

Love your pic going under the arch!

ASMo looks like something out of a kids' dream, huh? My guys love it there and it is just too cute. I even picked it before kids for my birthday one year! Love your pics! That Toy Story area is adorable.

Looks like you're having a great time so far! Can't wait to read some more!

It totally is like a kid's dream! It's just so very Disney to me, ya know? I'd love to stay in the TS area sometime.

Hi Alicia!! Great start to your trip report! I am also a former preschool teacher now SAHM! Your children are so adorable! Benjamin is the same age as my son Gabe! So cute that Eliza easily woke up when you reminded her it was time to get up for Disney!! Great pics of all the icons at All-Star Movies! We are huge Toy Story fans in this house and the icons are so cool! Looking forward to hearing about your first park day!!

~Beth

Hi Beth and Sounds like we have some things in common. I'm aiming to get our first day up tonight - my little guy was sick over the weekend and it all just kind of went by in a blur!

 

[jenseib]

The enclosed parking garage utilizes moving sidewalks, escalators and elevators, on-site wheelchair rental, and an on-site kennel. Vehicles can leave the garage and return the same day by stopping at the toll plaza upon re-entry and presenting their parking ticket.

Daily parking fees per vehicle:
•Regular Parking $15.00
($3.00 between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.*)•Preferred Parking $20.00
•RV/Bus Parking $20.00
•Valet $15.00 (under 2hrs)
•Valet $25.00 (over 2hrs)
•Valet Red Carpet $35.00


Prices may change during special events

OOH! If we went to eat it would be after 6...and $3 isn't so bad. Maybe we will go over and eat. Do you have to have reservations over there or just walk up? Bubba Gumps spunds good too.

 

[amyrella]

Joining in !!! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!!

 

[lovethattink]

OOH! If we went to eat it would be after 6...and $3 isn't so bad. Maybe we will go over and eat. Do you have to have reservations over there or just walk up? Bubba Gumps spunds good too.

407-224-FOOD is the general number. Some of the restaurants take reservations and some just call ahead seating. Their reservation system doesn't work like Disney's.

http://www.universalorlandoresort.com/minisite/cw_dining.html

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

Amazing how you can bound out of bed early and not mind at Disney when you’d be hitting the snooze button for 20 minutes at home, isn’t it? The next morning we were up early and leaving ASMo around 6:15 for our 7:15 breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey’s. The kids wore the personalized outfits I bought for them on Etsy – how cute are these?? I just loved them.

We ate at Chef Mickey’s on our last trip but my mom had never been in the Contemporary. Let’s just say she was more than ready to ditch us at the All Stars and move to deluxe.

We waited a little bit before we could be seated and were excited to see that we were at one of the first few tables – depending on which way a character went when they came out, we were either the 2nd or 3rd table. We filled our plates and only had a few minutes wait until Mickey and friends started coming out. Eliza was very excited…until it actually happened.

Goofy was first out. Benjamin was all smiles and ready to pose with him. Eliza was a bit wide eyed and well…just look at her face. Pretty much says it all.

Mickey was out next and when he was at the table ahead of us, Eliza began freaking. As close as I can determine from her hysteria, she could see a small area of the person’s real neck (covered in black) before it met the character’s head. She started crying and scrambling onto my lap and when we asked what was wrong, she yelled, VERY loudly, “Dey heads is fweaky!!!” Call me a bad mom, but it was all I could not to bust out laughing. There was certainly no posing with characters after that and she calmed down quickly after we moved her seat so it wasn’t along the main path the characters walk. Benjamin seemed to love the characters – it was a surprising role reversal and I wonder if it was the age – he was 4.5 years old his first trip, same age Eliza is now and he wanted very little to do with the characters. Who knows. All I know is that my mom and I spent the rest of the trip whispering “Dey heads is fweaky!” to each other anytime we saw a character.

Eliza was ok until Minnie came out – now Eliza LOVES Minnie Mouse. She is a very close 2nd only to the princesses in our house. I really thought she might change her tune when it came to Minnie….nope. Minnie saw Eliza’s Minnie dress and pointed to her own dress and then Eliza’s and started approaching Eliza. Screaming commenced once again and poor Minnie hightailed it out of there with her hands over her face.

We survived the rest of breakfast, made some pressed pennies and Benjamin made his first purchase – a Jack Sparrow Matchbox-type car. The kids each had $75 on a Disney gift card to spend, money from allowances and birthdays/holidays for the past year. And it was burning a major hole in Benjamin’s pocket – he’s our spender and he had been dying to buy something, anything, ever since we arrived. We then took the monorail over the Magic Kingdom (no flames please, it was only later I realized that was probably a no-no, leaving our car at the Contemporary and taking the monorail!)

Originally MK was a 9am open that day so I thought we’d have plenty of time to get there for rope drop and hit Dumbo – Eliza’s biggest must-do. But then it was changed to an 8am open, so I knew we wouldn’t make it in time and had warned her that we may not be able to do Dumbo right away. We got into the MK about 8:30-8:40am.

That feeling of hitting Main Street USA just chokes me up every time. The MK is my favorite park and I would happily spend our entire vacation there – it just IS Disney World. I settle for the majority of our days there. Buddy needed to buy sunglasses (which has become an ongoing joke with us – the man seems physically incapable of holding onto a pair of sunglasses. He bought 2 pairs on our last trip and this trip realized at the airport that he had forgotten his) We waited for him just inside the entrance because I wanted to walk down Main Street and see that glorious view of the castle come into view together. Eliza did a little dancing while we waited. And I absolutely loved all the signage they had up over areas they were refurbing, with quotes from the man himself. This was my favorite, because it is absolutely what he accomplished and the reason Disney is so different than any other vacation – and the reason we keep coming back!

Buddy had his glasses and joined us and we headed down Main Street. Sigh. No matter how many times I see it, the castle just thrills me every time. And my mom and Buddy teased me at how many pictures I take of it each trip. I’m a junkie, what can I say?

We walked through the Castle to Fantasyland and the kids immediately both agreed that they wanted to do the carousel. I was going to check out the Dumbo line first, but if they’re both actually agreeing on something, heck, we’ll jump on it!

So we did the carousel, Peter Pan, Mickey’s Philharmagic and it’s a small world.

Took a bathroom break and were regrouping over by the walkway that leads to Liberty Square. We were standing overlooking that little area of water when Benjamin dropped his beloved first purchase over. Tears immediately ensued and we tried to find it but there was too much plant growth to find anything. He only recovered when Baba promised to buy him another one at the first place he saw that had one – isn’t that the epitome of Grandmas?

It was a little after 10am at that point and the kids, especially a still teary eyed Benjamin, were able to convince Baba that they needed ice cream. And who am I to argue? Only in Disney!

I grabbed Fastpasses for Pooh while they got their ice cream. After eating, we headed to the Tea Cups – I know, seems wrong to fill them with sugar and spin them, doesn’t it? But we know Daddy can’t handle spinning, so it would be a fairly tame ride.

I LOVE this picture because it so perfectly sums up my children’s personalities – Eliza laughing and ready to take on anything and my cautious Benjamin, needing to look multiple times before he leaps.

We then did it’s a small world again, waited about 10 minutes and were able to use our Pooh FP. After an early morning and still catching up from the previous day’s early morning, we decided to head back to the hotel for our mid-day break at that point. We were able to catch a little bit of the block party down Main Street on our way out. We ate lunch back at the hotel food court and we all napped - the kids for 2 solid hours! (Another thing you gotta love about Disney World. My kids gave up napping at home at 3 years (Ben) and 2 years (Eliza) Benjamin tried to protest a nap this trip, but quickly gave up when he realized nap = able to stay up late! And heck, I can’t remember the last time I got a nap at home!)

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

We got back into the Magic Kingdom at about 4:30pm and found it very crowded. I knew MK was always going to be the most crowded, especially on a Saturday, but wow, it was just wall to wall people. This was definitely the most crowds we’ve ever had on a trip. We headed to Tomorrowland and grabbed FP for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. While we waited to use those, we saw the Monsters, Inc. show (just love that one!) and Buddy and I thought we’d check out Space Mountain – it was closed for refurb on our last trip and we were really excited to ride this trip. Unfortunately it was “temporarily closed for maintenance”. We checked multiple times throughout the night and found it closed every time. We used our FP’s for Buzz and then shopped a little and made some Toy Story pressed pennies. Benjamin bought a stylin’ Toy Story pair of mouse ears. Love it!

Things were only getting more crowded at that point and I could tell Buddy wasn’t dealing with it well and getting annoyed. He’s probably the member of our family least able to “go-with-the-flow” and I didn’t want a grump on my hands all trip. We decided we weren’t going to be staying as late as we planned that night because of the crowds and the fact that we weren’t willing to stay if we were going to spend most of the night in a line. At this point we were heading over to Fantasyland and Benjamin really wanted to do the Tomorrowland Speedway – sorry bud, it was an hour wait! We moved on with the promise of heading there first thing on another one of our MK days – he was fine with it b/c he’s like his dad – not willing to wait that long no matter how much he wants to ride! Once she was in FL, in view of Dumbo, Eliza started getting really upset at not being able to do it yet. We weren’t going to be back in the MK until Friday the 11th and I knew it was one of those things that she wouldn’t let go of all week if we didn’t do it then. So she and I stood in line (35 minute wait…can’t wait for double Dumbo after FL expansion!) while Buddy, Benjamin and my mom ate dinner at Pinnochio’s Village Haus. The look on her face when she was finally back on her beloved Dumbo was worth the wait.

After that we decided to leave – it took quite awhile to get down Main Street because the first showing of Wishes was about to begin (not good planning on our part! I just wasn’t prepared for the crowds at all!) My mom stopped to buy the kids balloons on the way out – Eliza chose the Mylar Mickey/Minnie one and Benjamin chose the neat light up mouse ear one. We made it out before Wishes was over, so thankfully the monorail line wasn’t bad at all. Back to the hotel, where Eliza and I ate dinner and the kids were asleep very shortly after that.

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

Joining in !!! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!!

Hello and !

 

[Mrs. Sojourner]

I love the outfits you got on etsy; so cute!

I would have had a hard time not laughing at your DD's hilarious comment too. Hopefully next visit to the World she will enjoy the characters like your DS now does.

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

I love the outfits you got on etsy; so cute!

I would have had a hard time not laughing at your DD's hilarious comment too. Hopefully next visit to the World she will enjoy the characters like your DS now does.

I doubt I'll ever NOT laugh looking at those pictures!! She loved Chef Mickey's last time but apparently as a mere 2 year old, she didn't know to be afraid!

 

[jenseib]

That is so funny. I would laugh too. My older DD was almost 5 when I took her for her first time. She was in awe at Epcot and wasn't looking where she was going and walked right into a pole,...even though we kept saying "look where you are going". My mom was with me and she quickly grabbed her as she was crying and both my mom and I were trying really hard not to luagh out loud. Of course her borther did!

 

[DancingDiva]

Great TR so far! Your kids are adorable! Cant wait to read more!

 

[jc040404]

That was so funny! What a sweet girl. Love that you waited in the Dumbo line with her, too. Her face said it all! Love the pic of Ben on Buzz. They both look like they're having such a great time!

Great update!