Mrs. Darling's June 2010 Accidental PTR: Pirates and Harry Potter 6/30 TR Link posted

[dismagiclover]

Time for another installment of Darling Family Disney Memories, but first I have an update on my parents' plans. They will be flying in late afternoon of Day 2. They have a one night reservation at Old Key West so we'll meet up with them there. These means I will probably have to give up my Ohana dinner. It's ok though because it gives me something new to shoot for on another trip. l think I'll try to fit it into our January trip. So we'll hang out with my parents the evening of Day 2. I may try to get us an ADR at Olivia's which is right there at Old Key West. Then we can all relax and hang out by the pool. It will actually be a nice beginning to the vacation. Then I'll drive them all to the port late morning on Day 3 which doesn't disrupt my plans at all. They are returning the morning of Day 7 so we'll meet up with them then. They will probably want to have lunch somewhere before they head to the airport so we'll do that. So now I know how my parents will fit in. My brother's family is another story. I talked to my SIL and they were thinking of coming up for a few days at some point. They aren't exactly sure when so I'm still being flexible on that. I'm in Disney and the more the merrier right?

Now on to some fun photo memories. We are up to our June 2009 trip in my Disney recollections. This is one some of you are very familiar with because there is a trip report here on the DIS documenting it. For anyone that is interested in the full report here is the link:
Darling Family June 2009 Beach Club Vacation: Hugging Ewoks and Finding Peter Pan

Here are some of the highlights (though there are so many I will have to save some for future installments.)

Some people call this the Beach Club. In the Darling Family we call it heaven.

Bright and early headed to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast with Pooh.

Walking down Main Street before breakfast

Piglet getting some Michael love

Teacup Fun

Star Wars Weekend

Ewok Love

Lei Minnie

The Evil Vader

My Boys Dressed for the Occasion

Jedi Mickey

A Classic Couple

Crushing on Prince Caspian

Sorcerer Mickey

This is what Stormalong Bay does to 7 year olds

Mommy and Daughter Night Out

And that is the first three days.

 

[belle8306]

Great Star Wars pictures. I will show my DH when he gets home. The ones with the Ewok are my favorite.

 

[Stefy]

Wonderful memory lane pics I remember your TR, was alot of fun to read through

 

[Angies1274]

Hey, I remember those pictures!! What a wonderful trip you had and I love reading about it. Ahhhh....the Beach Club....hoping to stay there someday!

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Oh, I hope we can get some Star Wars pictures like those! Last time we were there, we only got shots of the characters from afar. This year, we're going to have to do some interaction!

Beach Club looks amazing. Someday....

 

[DrMomof3]

OMG! We have to get Nathaniel to a Star Wars Weekend at some point...

Amanda

 

[creativeamanda]

dd11 and I are doing a daughter's night out. I think we are going to do EMH at Magic Kingdom after dh, ds, and ds7 go back to the room.

Thanks for sharing the pictures from Star Wars weekend--that's the one big thing we feel like we have to do for our son this trip.

 

[dismagiclover]

Great Star Wars pictures. I will show my DH when he gets home. The ones with the Ewok are my favorite.

The Ewok moment was my favorite of the entire trip. Michael loves Return of the Jedi and watches wants to watch the Ewok battle over and over. The one thing he wanted to do at Disney the most was hug an ewok. We even had the shirt he has on made special. It say I want to hug an ewok on the front and back. It was our first stop for Star Wars Weekend and it was as wonderful for him as he'd hoped. He wouldn't let go of the poor Ewok. And luckily the photopass photog was right there capturing it. As we walked away I said, "I know what Michael's favorite thing of the days was." He said, "No mommy. That wasn't my favorite thing of the day. That was my favorite thing of my whole life." One of those moments us parents live for

Wonderful memory lane pics I remember your TR, was alot of fun to read through

It was so much fun to write it too. Great times!

Hey, I remember those pictures!! What a wonderful trip you had and I love reading about it. Ahhhh....the Beach Club....hoping to stay there someday!

I don't know if any other trip will ever be as good as that one! It was so great with Star Wars Weekend, the Beach Club and so much more! I hope you get to stay there someday too.

Oh, I hope we can get some Star Wars pictures like those! Last time we were there, we only got shots of the characters from afar. This year, we're going to have to do some interaction!

Beach Club looks amazing. Someday....

We had to wait in line for the characters, but it was worth it. And Photopass took most of those pictures. Definitely worth the CD prepurchase. Just get there early! The crowds are thick.

OMG! We have to get Nathaniel to a Star Wars Weekend at some point...

Amanda

It is every little boy's fantasy (and lots of big boys too)

dd11 and I are doing a daughter's night out. I think we are going to do EMH at Magic Kingdom after dh, ds, and ds7 go back to the room.

Thanks for sharing the pictures from Star Wars weekend--that's the one big thing we feel like we have to do for our son this trip.

It is so fun to have that mommy/daughter time. And the MK is great for it. My advice for Star Wars Weekend is get there early. It gets crowded quick, but it is so worth it. Make sure to see the parade.

 

[wdwgirl03]

More great memories! I am not a huge Star Wars fan but I think it would be interesting to go for SWW. Love the pictures too...especially the Darth Vader one and the sleepy one after Stormalong Bay. So cute.

 

[belle8306]

The Ewok moment was my favorite of the entire trip. Michael loves Return of the Jedi and watches wants to watch the Ewok battle over and over. The one thing he wanted to do at Disney the most was hug an ewok. We even had the shirt he has on made special. It say I want to hug an ewok on the front and back. It was our first stop for Star Wars Weekend and it was as wonderful for him as he'd hoped. He wouldn't let go of the poor Ewok. And luckily the photopass photog was right there capturing it. As we walked away I said, "I know what Michael's favorite thing of the days was." He said, "No mommy. That wasn't my favorite thing of the day. That was my favorite thing of my whole life." One of those moments us parents live for
.

That is so sweet! What a great memory for your whole family. I have always thought the Ewoks were cute. You had a lot of great charcter interaction.

 

[dismagiclover]

More great memories! I am not a huge Star Wars fan but I think it would be interesting to go for SWW. Love the pictures too...especially the Darth Vader one and the sleepy one after Stormalong Bay. So cute.

SWW is lots of fun, but it is crowded! I'm not sure it would be worth it if you weren't a fan.

That is so sweet! What a great memory for your whole family. I have always thought the Ewoks were cute. You had a lot of great charcter interaction.

We made the characters a priority at SWW. We actually saw lots more characters, but don't want the PTR to get too off track. SWW was one of the highlights of the trip

 

[dismagiclover]

So it's time to get on with the plans. Day 9 is the day we live Disney and head over to Universal. We've never been to Universal before so this will all be new and it's a bit tougher to plan because we don't know exactly what to expect, but here goes.
We'll sleep in a bit this morning, but I'm not sure my boys know how to sleep in so we'll see how that goes The plan for breakfast is to ride the boat over to Downtown Disney and eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. Then we'll browse around Downtown Disney for a bit. I'm sure we'll stop in Goofy's Candy Company to use up those last credits and probably buy some Make Your Own Treats. Then right before we leave I'm thinking we'll stop in Earls of Sandwich and get lunch to go. Then we'll head back to Old Key West to say goodbye. Luckily our vacation isn't over yet though We have to go pick DH up at the airport It will finally be time for him to have some fun! Then we'll head over to Universal and check into Royal Pacific Resort. After scarfing down those sandwiches we'll head over to Universal Studios. Now I'm sure some of you might be asking why we aren't heading straight for Harry Potter. Mostly because it will be mid day and we're afraid of the crowds We'll have express privileges at Universal so hopefully we'll be able to avoid lots of line standing. We're planning on hitting most of the biggies at Universal Studios this day. Then after dinner we're thinking we'll head over to Islands of Adventure to check out the Harry Potter stuff. We probably won't ride the rides at this point because of the crowds, but we'll enjoy the ambience with hopefully fewer crowds (though I'm sure there will still be plenty of people around.) Then we'll head back to the hotel to rest up for Day 10 which is our real Harry Potter Day. So any tips for this day will be greatly appreciated. Any suggestions on where to eat dinner in Universal Studios?

 

[belle8306]

Day 9 looks great! Wolfgang Puck Express is wonderful! I have never been to Universal. I do listen to the DIS podcast and they have Universal specific shows. The last one I listened to they mentioned an Italian place that was suppose to be very good. I am sorry I can't remember the name!

 

[Angies1274]

I think your Day 9 plans look great!! I always try to plan for a day to sleep in...but I don't think my boys know how to sleep in either. Oohhh Wolfgang Puck for breakfast sounds good!! We love that place!! When we went to Goofy's this trip, we got our normal make your own pretzels. But, when we went up to pay I was all set to use our snack credits like last trip and they told me they can no longer be used for snack credits. They were still really yummy though...just not sure they were worth the six dollars each that we paid for them.

 

[DrMomof3]

That looks like a great plan! I've never been to Universal so I'm not much help...

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

Day 9 looks great! Wolfgang Puck Express is wonderful! I have never been to Universal. I do listen to the DIS podcast and they have Universal specific shows. The last one I listened to they mentioned an Italian place that was suppose to be very good. I am sorry I can't remember the name!

I'm excited to try Wolfgang Puck Express. We're going to try lunch there the first day and breakfast on this day so we get to go twice! I should look for some of those Universal podcasts. That would probably be helpful to us newbies.

I think your Day 9 plans look great!! I always try to plan for a day to sleep in...but I don't think my boys know how to sleep in either. Oohhh Wolfgang Puck for breakfast sounds good!! We love that place!! When we went to Goofy's this trip, we got our normal make your own pretzels. But, when we went up to pay I was all set to use our snack credits like last trip and they told me they can no longer be used for snack credits. They were still really yummy though...just not sure they were worth the six dollars each that we paid for them.

I knew that Goofy snack credits have changed. Kind of a bummer. We'll probably still get some make your own and pay OOP, but for $6 the kids will be sharing their order.

That looks like a great plan! I've never been to Universal so I'm not much help...

Amanda

I think we'll be a bit clueless at Universal, but it might be a nice change. At Disney we never even pick up maps anymore.

 

[Stefy]

Day 9 sounds good

Hopefully it won't be too crowded for you guys when you hit HP Land, but great idea just to take in the ambience on the first day at US, means you can appreciate it more rather than run around with everyone else trying to do everything at once

 

[dismagiclover]

Day 9 sounds good

Hopefully it won't be too crowded for you guys when you hit HP Land, but great idea just to take in the ambience on the first day at US, means you can appreciate it more rather than run around with everyone else trying to do everything at once

I hope it's not too crowded by the evening, but I'm sure there will still be lots of people there. Hopefully we can just enjoy the ambience and maybe pick up some strawberry and peanut butter ice cream and wash it down with butterbeer

 

[dismagiclover]

I'm back for more photo highlights from our fabulous June 2009 trip. So here you go!

Early morning view of the Beach Club from the Boardwalk

Early morning view of SAB, best pool on property!

Early morning on the Beach Club beach. Those are my feet relaxing as the boys played in the sand while we tried to let Wendy sleep in.

A Goofy Beach Club breakfast

A Beach Club Photo Shoot

Some grumpy people on the monorail LOL

Chef Mickey's Fun

An Epcot Evening

Including some Mommy/John time with the characters

Some time with the Disney Family

Test Track

The requisite Bruce picture

And some more character love

And we still have 4 more days to go! LOL

In other Disney news, I bought a Disney Box today. Now I have to get busy filling it with the things I'm taking on the trip. I don't think I'll have any trouble with that.

 

[Stefy]

Loving the update

Liking the sound of the Disney box