Mother In Law's Tongue - May 4-12 COMPLETE with VIDEOS & Puppy Update!!!

[budafam]

It was pirate time for DS!!! He was so excited to do Pirates League... I must admit, I was too! We checked in and he picked out the dead pirate makeup that he wanted done. We also went ahead and bought him a shirt since we didn't have a costume for him. It was $19.95 I believe which was just added onto the $29.99 price tag for the makeover experience.

MIL stayed outside with DD who was still sleeping in the stroller.

We were led into the main room and to a dressing room where he could change into his shirt.

Then he was taken over to pick out his pirate name. He had to spin the wheel first.

Then the lady told him his name. It was Jeffrey Bladecutter. So we were instructed that we had to wait for that name to be called.

Then we had to take a seat and wait. It was LOUD in there. Like so loud you couldn't hear the person next to you.

Here's a picture of the main room:

Finally Jeffrey Bladecutter was called to his chair. The process begun...

I forgot the guy's name that we had but he was GREAT! Very funny and great at the makeup!

The makeover was complete! They took us over to the secret door where DS had to put his sword up to it to get it to open. We were instructed that no cameras were allowed inside so we had to shut off the video camera They did a mini photo session with DS inside and then sent us to the checkout counter.

Our photos were added to the Photopass Plus free of charge (love that thing!) and we were on our way. I caught grandma's surprised face when she saw DS!

Pirate Goofy was doing meetngreets right around the corner so we quickly got in line. He pretended to be protecting his treasure from the dead pirate.. lol.

Then it was time for DS to wake up DD. What a great big brother, huh?

Next up: Intermission/Lunch Time

 

[budafam]

After the Pirates League we took a ride on the Jungle Cruise and then it started to pour We waited out the rain (didn't want to mess up the pirate's makeup). The kids had to try the sword again of course...

Everyone was getting hungry so we headed over to Pinnochio's Village Haus. DH was in heaven.

I opted to not eat here because I wanted to go to Columbia Harbour House later on. It was time to take DD and get her dressed up for BBB. We put her in a blue gown that I had bought from someone second hand. It costed me $6 and no one else had one at BBB. It's supposed to be Silvermist's dress.

Next up: Princess Time!

 

[OThopeful35]

Loving your report

 

[budafam]

DD and I made our way over to the castle & checked in for our appointment.

We sat down on a bench and Lucy was all smiles. She kept talking about how she was going to be a princess. Finally, princess Lucy was called to take a seat.

She was so quiet throughout the whole thing. DH showed up about halfway through the makeover and helped take pics while I recorded it. The mom next to me was offered to be pixie dusted... I secretly wish I would've been offered as well... lol. Then we had to pay the bill.

We headed over to the photoshoot and I must say, this was just icing on the cake! I loved how much attention both of the kids got and the pics from it turned out GREAT!

DH admitted that he had a tear in his eye when he saw DD all dolled up. It was remarkably quieter in BBB than Pirates League which I enjoyed quite a bit but I can see how that experience can end up costing a lot. I'm glad we bought our dress from home.

Next up: Seeing Double

 

[shalom]

The Silvermist dress looks more comfy than a lot of them, I think. I don't know if your daughter always has curly hair, but looks like she generally does at Disney -- except as a princess! That's quite a different look for your curly-haired cutie!

 

[budafam]

Okay everyone! I really need to kick this into high gear if I want to finish before our next trip (in 3 weeks!) So be prepared for many a new posts today

 

[budafam]

We took some quick pics in front of the castle.

Then we headed over to Town Square Theater to meet the princesses. The parade was started so we sat on the porch and enjoyed that. The kids were dancing around and there was a Photopass photographer that came over and started snapping pics. Unfortunately, when we got home the pics were not on our account. I emailed Disney about it but they were unable to find them

I had to take DD into the bathroom at Tony's to change her into her Belle dress. We got in line and did some pin trading while waiting. We talked to a lady in line that couldn't believe I had bought DD's dress at a garage sale for only $1.

DH was teasing DS that he wouldn't get any kisses this time because of the makeup and then this happened:

Belle was scared of our

On our way out we did a little more shopping in the princess shop and some more pin trading as well.

Then we did something that we have never done before. Rode the Magic Kingdom TRAIN! Yes, this was our first time... we saw Jessy & Woody backstage too

It was time for another pic in front of the castle... you can see we had someone trying to get in on the pic as well.

Next Up... Bad News

 

[budafam]

By this time I was starting to get hungry so we headed towards Columbia Harbour House so I could try this lobster roll everyone was talking about. I ordered and for some reason they took down the order as a tuna sandwich so I ended up getting the lobster roll for the tuna sandwich price

While sitting and (not enjoying) the lobster roll, a lady came up to our table and asked if she could take a picture of DS to show her grandson so he would want to be a pirate on their next trip. So I took a pic of her taking a pic.. lol.

Then DD fell asleep in the stroller.

It started to rain outside and DS wanted to ride Haunted Mansion again so MIL said she would stay with DD while we went on the ride quick. We got in line and I decided to call my dad real quick to check in with him back home. He was taking care of our 3 dogs for the week while we were gone. As soon as my dad answered the phone, I knew something was wrong. One of our dogs had escaped from him when he let them outside that morning. It was our smallest, our yorkie, Penny. She's 8 pounds and HATES being outside. She escaped underneath one of the fence panels in his yard and by the time he ran around to the other side, she was gone

I was immediately crying and not sure what to do. We rode the ride while I bawled my eyes out. As soon as we were off the ride we started making phone calls to everyone we could think of and our neighborhood at home was crawling with people looking for Penny. The good news is that she did have her collar on her... it had our old phone number on it which was no longer in service but it also had our address on it so my dad went over and put a note on our door to come to his house if they found the dog.

At the moment, that was all we could do...

Next Up: Cinderella's Dress = Kleenex

 

[budafam]

Cinderella's Dress = Kleenex

We decided to make our way over to CRT once the rain let up a bit. We were hoping they would let us in early for our ADR. Our ADR was for 6:40 and it was only 5:20. They said it would be no problem to get us in early so now we had to wake up Sleeping Beauty (DD). DH opted out of this meal since there's nothing he would eat anyways and not worth the money for him.

The only bathroom in the castle is halfway up the flight of stairs (or the only one they told us about at least). So we had to drag DD up there to change her into the Snow White dress. She was NOT having this. C-R-A-B-B-Y! We got her in the dress and went back downstairs to get in line for our picture with Cindy. The entire time we were in line, I tried to cheer up DD... I tried bribing her... lol... anything to make her happy but it just wasn't working. We got up to the front and the CM told us to go over there so we did. We waited and waited. Apparently she put us in the wrong place and we were out of line and she gave us a look like it was OUR fault. Ugh, great. So we send the kids up by Cinderella and DD just collapses into her dress and starts crying. AWESOME! lol... Cinderella did not know what to do. DS was doing great and ready to smile for his picture but DD... well, here are the pics...

Then we went and waited over by the wall... DD was not happy.

We were brought upstairs and seated in the middle by a booth/table. We ordered and the kids got their sword/magic wand. DD was starting to perk up and smile. FINALLY! The princesses came out and we got our pics with them.

DD & Snow White (DD obviously does not get that you need to put your arm down for a good pic.. lol)

and pics of the food:

We LOVED the food. It was great. I wish I had spent more time eating and less taking pics... DD was a happy camper by the end of the meal.

We finished up and left the castle to meet DH. We headed straight out of the park to go back to our resort. Personally, I would've loved to stay but everyone else had enough.

Next Up: Universal Day

 

[budafam]

Universal Day

Time for something new! DH & I were going to Universal Studios today. We had 2 park 1 day tickets and we were very, VERY excited! MIL was staying back at the resort with the kids... they were going to go swimming and relax a bit before our last day in Disney.

DH and I left plenty early and I'm glad we did. On the way there, DH refused to look at the maps I had printed out. He said that his phone GPS would suffice. We began to argue and so I decided to just keep my mouth shut. While DH was "loudly" talking to me, he missed a turn and we were instantly lost. We got stuck in a traffic jam for 20 minutes! WAY-TO-GO!

Finally we got back on track and saw the signs for Universal.

Now to find the parking garage. DH took a wrong turn and was in the line up for the employees' parking lot. Doh! We got out of that and finally found the parking garage. We got into an elevator with another couple and there were no signs of what level to go to... DH made a comment to the other people about it and they just looked at him like he was an alien or something. I found out later they were from a different country and probably didn't speak English. Off to a great start!

The moving walkways were great. Much less walking that way.

City Walk looked really cool but everything was closed up being so early in the morning.

We arrived at Islands of Adventure.

We were at the front of the line and I had a map in hand. Ready to go!

They opened the gates a few minutes early and we were off! I have never walked/ran so fast in my entire life... all while videotaping & taking pictures.

Until finally, we were there...

Next Up: Wizarding World of Harry Potter

 

[shalom]

You didn't like your lobster roll at Columbia Harbor? I was thinking I might get one a shot next time, although I confess it looks like way too much mayo for me.

Looking forward to your Harry Potter review. I have to confess that, the more I see of the Universal Parks, the less interested I am in going there -- with the huge exception of the Wizarding World, which looks terrific!

 

[deserrai]

I'm very late to the party, but I love your report so far. Your children are precious and so adorable. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[Holly324]

I'm late, but here! Your kiddos are adorable. I love the pirates league pics. We did that on our last trip, and I am sure we will again! They make it such a fun experience!

I didn't read everyone's comments, just used your links at the beginning of the report, so forgive me if someone has already asked this. How did you make the orange shirts?? LOVE LOVE LOVE them! We had matching shirts on our last trip, and it was so fun to have so many people asked where we got them. The best was the day we had matching Agent P shirts from Phineas and Ferb. We actually had a teenage girl ask us if she could get her pic with us! So fun!!! Anyway, I would love to try to make those shirts before our next trip (I have PLENTY of time!). Thanks!!

 

[budafam]

You didn't like your lobster roll at Columbia Harbor? I was thinking I might get one a shot next time, although I confess it looks like way too much mayo for me.

Looking forward to your Harry Potter review. I have to confess that, the more I see of the Universal Parks, the less interested I am in going there -- with the huge exception of the Wizarding World, which looks terrific!

It IS way too much mayo. I literally did not taste one bit of lobster in there If you're going during Food & Wine, I would suggest getting a lobster roll from the Hops & Barley stand. THOSE are AMAZING!!!

Universal is really great. We enjoyed it. I wish we would've taken our time a bit more... we did rush through it a bit and missed out on a lot. It's not Disney by any means but I am still really excited to take my kids there.

I'm late, but here! Your kiddos are adorable. I love the pirates league pics. We did that on our last trip, and I am sure we will again! They make it such a fun experience!

I didn't read everyone's comments, just used your links at the beginning of the report, so forgive me if someone has already asked this. How did you make the orange shirts?? LOVE LOVE LOVE them! We had matching shirts on our last trip, and it was so fun to have so many people asked where we got them. The best was the day we had matching Agent P shirts from Phineas and Ferb. We actually had a teenage girl ask us if she could get her pic with us! So fun!!! Anyway, I would love to try to make those shirts before our next trip (I have PLENTY of time!). Thanks!!

Thank you! The orange shirts were sprayed with bleach. I cut out Mickey heads & our names, placed them on the shirt (a towel in between the shirts) and sprayed with bleach. They turned out great and we got tons of compliments on them. I'm a huge fan of matching shirts. It makes it easier to remember what everyone's wearing that day.. lol.

 

[budafam]

My legs were on fire... calves were burning but we were here! We made it!

I regret not getting a picture here... but I was so worried about getting on that ride!

A different castle...

We thought the locker feature was neat. It took a bit to get used to it but by the end of our day, we had it figured out. We seemed to always get stuck behind someone who couldn't get their fingerprint to work. Ah well...

I had to put my DSLR camera away in the locker but fortunately, DH had his phone camera along so we did get some pics (and video) inside Hogwarts.

This ride was insane. I didn't know if I was right side up or inside out.. lol. DH had a scare halfway through the ride though! His cell phone battery fell out of his pocket while we were zooming through the castle. He felt the battery hit the seat and then slide around a bit before he caught it and put it back in there. I guess there's a good reason for those lockers! This ride was more intense than anything I had ever experienced at Disney. After it was all said and done, I had to buy a wand for my friend back home. She had given me some money to get Hermoine's wand, some beans & a Butterbeer mug (of course, I got to drink the Butterbeer).

I had made some Butterbeer at home and loved the stuff. I opted for the frozen variety at WWOHP and it tasted VERY watered down. There wasn't much flavor and honestly, a bit hard to drink it all. I'm glad I tried it but I wouldn't waste the money again...

We walked around a bit... into the candy shop and checked out a few things, then took a few more pics...

We passed by Three Broomsticks and there was a man out front trying to get people to come inside and eat. We weren't hungry yet so we moved on. I can't wait to take my kids here someday!

Next Up: Jurassic Park & Superheroes

 

[budafam]

Next up, we saw the sign for Jurassic Park. I have been a HUGE fan of this movie since it came out so this was really cool to be there. I got my pic taken under the sign.

We asked a man walking by to take a picture of the both of us... he said yes but when we checked the camera later on, he didn't take the pic ??? 1 point for Disney.. lol.

I had to chug the rest of the Butterbeer so we could clean the mug out and stick it in my purse. There were no lockers available so everything valuable went into ziplock bags. We were put into row 2. This ride was INTENSE! The drop was much worse than Splash Mountain but I loved it. We really didn't get too wet with all things considering.

I loved the hard hats with lights in the gift shop.

It was time to move on... we went through the Cartoon Network themed area...

There was a lot of hype about the Spiderman ride being updated recently so I was looking forward to it. Honestly, I was not that impressed. It was very jolting and not really thrilling. I was glad when the ride ended.

Then we came up to the Hulk.

My neighbor has ridden this and he told me that I have to go on it. My neighbor is a 50+ principal of an elementary school. I told him I would so I did. We got in line and it was a 15-20 minute wait. In the line there was an option for the 1st row... of course, DH wanted to go in that line but I said NO WAY! lol... he was lucky to be getting me on this!

We got up to the boarding area and guess what row they put us in!? 2ND ROW!!! Seriously!? Why not just put me in the front!? UGH! The ride starts out slowly, climing up the hill and then all of a sudden it speeds up and shoots you out of the tunnel into the weird horseshoe looking thing.

This was by far, the most intense rollercoaster I have ever been on. We both had to sit down after riding it. lol... I can't believe I did that.

Next Up: Christmas & City Walk

 

[shalom]

We asked a man walking by to take a picture of the both of us... he said yes but when we checked the camera later on, he didn't take the pic ??? 1 point for Disney.. lol.

Maybe your camera baffled him and he was embarrassed to admit it? Heaven knows I wonder what the random stranger pics I've taken look like sometimes!

This one has always puzzled me. Those two strips of cement look like they ought to be a label of some kind, but in pictures at least, they're blank.

My neighbor has ridden this and he told me that I have to go on it. My neighbor is a 50+ principal of an elementary school.

Never trust elementary school principals. They spend their days unnerving little kids.

The Universal "cut outs" have always bugged me. I'm just now realizing that Disney does 3D statues for most of their rides; cut outs are more common for comedy photo ops than for advertising or announcing rides. Very subtle touch I wasn't consciously aware of, but I think it's part of the reason I find WDW more appealing; feels more like it was done out of love rather than to get my attention. Or something.

And the argument that Universal does it because they're comic characters doesn't work for me, because I grew up on Carl Barks' version of Donald and the gang, and I had bunches of other Disney comics as well, so they're as much comic book characters to me as the Marvel ones. Loved them all as a kid.

Not impressed with all those brown-spined books in the Spider-man ride mock up, either. Looks like someone swiped them up and down with brown paint. What's with that?

The rides look great, but looks like I was right that Universal is the best park for rides-lovers, but likely not for me.

 

[budafam]

After resting a bit we started making our way towards the exit. We came across this Christmas shop and just had to take a peek inside.

The Grinch was awesome Something my son would've been excited to see. Really neat stuff inside the shop and then there was a candy store. Who doesn't love a candy store?

Even Universal has tasty treats to offer...

Before leaving the park, we had to take a quick potty break. I got a kick out of the cool hand dryers in the bathrooms. Had to take a pic.

DH got a phone call from his brother so while he was chatting we started walking through City Walk. We came up on the Nascar Cafe and DH got his pic taken in front of the car while talking to his brother (both him and his brother are big Nascar fans).

Just some more pics...

And we were there. Universal Studios.

Next Up: Universal Characters

 

[budafam]

DH ended his phone call with his brother. His brother said they had been driving all over our neighborhood looking for our lost puppy but no sign of her I was pretty sure someone had snatched her up by this point.

Upon entering the park we saw a bunch of characters that were out for meeting so we got some quick pics.

Then we got to see some celebs... well, animal celebs. Garfield & the dog from Little Rascals were out meeting and greeting people.

I had to take some pics of the antique cars... my dad would love it.

We finally came up on something we wanted to ride. E.T. I was excited for this even though I know it wasn't a thrill ride... E.T. was so cool when I was a kid. They took our names and gave us cards when we went through the line. At the end of the ride, E.T. says your name. How neat is that?

We came up on the Kwik E Mart and decided to get something to eat before continuing on.

I got a cheeseburger with fries & coleslaw and DH got a "surprise" cheese pizza. Together it costed around $20 (came with drinks too). The burger was good but the pizza tasted like cardboard. Disney scores another point

Next Up: Homer, Beetlejuice & Shrek

 

[disneydreamerinny]

OK, I've been reading this bit by bit for 3 days. Love it!