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

[dismagiclover]

So I was planning on doing another installment in the Darling Disney Memory Series, but frankly I'm a bit bored of that The next trip in the series was Jan. 2008. We stayed at Shades of Green for a week and had a fabulous time. Highlights included the Pirate and Princess Party with just John, a couple of evenings with just Wendy (one of them including the BBB), and an early breakfast at Crystal Palace with Michael where we traveled up Main Street jumping the street car tracks! Happy times! If any of you are absolutely desperate for pictures let me know and I'll try to dig some up (they aren't on this computer.)

Anyway on to the upcoming trip. My newest idea involves the Harmony Barbershop on Main Street. Wendy feels bad she is missing the Pirate's League because she loves to get all dolled up. I pointed out she was going on a Disney Cruise and that is way cooler, but you know how that goes So anyway I thought maybe we try for the Barbershop on our arrival day. Wendy could get some glitter and stuff in her hair and my boys can get an actual haircut. I won't cut their hair until then. Then they boys can also get the colored gel and the Mickey on the back of the head. What do you think? Have any of you ever done this? How long do you think the wait will be on a Thursday afternoon in June? Tell me everything you know

 

[liznboys]

We did the barbershop thing once back in October 2007. We got there right at opening so we had no wait. It was fun...dh got a buzz and a blue Mickey head on the back of his head, and ds#4 got a "first" haircut.

The only thing I wonder about with your plan is how long your wait would be?

 

[cdotla]

We have gone twice to the barbershop, and hit it just before the 3pm parade...works like a charm!

LOVED your Disneyland Half Marathon race recap!

 

[dismagiclover]

We did the barbershop thing once back in October 2007. We got there right at opening so we had no wait. It was fun...dh got a buzz and a blue Mickey head on the back of his head, and ds#4 got a "first" haircut.

The only thing I wonder about with your plan is how long your wait would be?

I'm glad to hear a fun report! I'm a bit concerned about the wait as well in the afternoon. I guess if it's too long we'll just skip. We'll still be in my favorite place so I won't mind too much

We have gone twice to the barbershop, and hit it just before the 3pm parade...works like a charm!

LOVED your Disneyland Half Marathon race recap!

That is a good idea trying to hit it right before the parade. I guess we'll have to see how the day goes. That could probably be arranged. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Stefy]

Oh the barbershop looks like so much fun. I am half tempted to get my hair glittered this year I have heard that it can get quite busy, but its well worth the wait

 

[Dolce27]

Glad to hear your OKW time is still intact! Someday I might get to those days on this report! When I do you'll have to chime in with your ideas

I think you're smart for waiting to see HP. It is going to insanity for those first few weeks in June I'm sure. I'm hoping that the FOTL passes we have will prevent us from spending too many hours in line

The Harry Potter part of your upcoming TR is what I'm most looking forward to. I've already booked my Disney 2011 trip through the marathon package and I called back Thursday to add on one more day (I wasn't giving up one of my 7 days at Disney for Universal! So now I'm 8 days at the Boardwalk Inn in January. ) So, in January, I'm going to check out the Harry Potter stuff and I am sooooo excited. I've been reading everything that I can about it. Over on the Universal boards they're reporting that the Forbidden Journey ride inside the castle can take up to one hour of your time. The whole thing sounds so cool! There are only two other attractions at IOA that I have any interest in seeing (I've never been before) so I'll just be there to spend the entire day doing Harry Potter stuff. It will be insane for when you visit but it sounds as if there's only three rides that you'd have to queue for. Most of it will be Hogsmede Village with its shops. (I can't wait to try butter beer!) I'm hoping that when I visit in January it won't be bad. All schools will be back in session by that point and everyone should have just used up their vacation days for the Christmas holidays (I hope!)

 

[dismagiclover]

Oh the barbershop looks like so much fun. I am half tempted to get my hair glittered this year I have heard that it can get quite busy, but its well worth the wait

I'm tempted to get glitter myself as well. I guess we'll see how busy it is. If it's not bad then maybe all 4 of us will do it

The Harry Potter part of your upcoming TR is what I'm most looking forward to. I've already booked my Disney 2011 trip through the marathon package and I called back Thursday to add on one more day (I wasn't giving up one of my 7 days at Disney for Universal! So now I'm 8 days at the Boardwalk Inn in January. ) So, in January, I'm going to check out the Harry Potter stuff and I am sooooo excited. I've been reading everything that I can about it. Over on the Universal boards they're reporting that the Forbidden Journey ride inside the castle can take up to one hour of your time. The whole thing sounds so cool! There are only two other attractions at IOA that I have any interest in seeing (I've never been before) so I'll just be there to spend the entire day doing Harry Potter stuff. It will be insane for when you visit but it sounds as if there's only three rides that you'd have to queue for. Most of it will be Hogsmede Village with its shops. (I can't wait to try butter beer!) I'm hoping that when I visit in January it won't be bad. All schools will be back in session by that point and everyone should have just used up their vacation days for the Christmas holidays (I hope!)

I'm really excited about Harry Potter too. Of course I don't think it will replace Disney in my heart, but it is somewhere entirely new and I've been following some of those threads too and it just sounds so cool. I wish we weren't going so close to the grand opening, but I'm not going to complain too loud because we're still going. I want to try the butter beer too (they say it's kind of like cream soda), but I'm also really looking forward to the Strawberry Peanut Butter Ice Cream. Sounds yummy! It will be insane though and our FOTL pass will only apply to the rides. I would imagine the crowds in the restaraunts and shops will be crazy. I really want my kids to get a wand at Olivvander's, but the lines will probably be insane. I guess we will see. I'm hoping they do some soft openings I can read about so we get a better idea of the layout and what to expect before we actually go. Don't worry I'll take plenty of pictures (but it's at the end of the trip so you'll have to wait until the end of the report too.) I'm pretty sure I'll get to it before January though

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

I admit, I can't wait to hear about HP either! I'm such a fan, but though DH has listened to all of the books (he's not much of a reader, but loves to listen to podcasts and audiobooks during his commute) he's just not as excited about it as I am. He told me I was more than welcome to head over on the 19th by myself to tour it. Yeah right.

Your MK day looks like so much fun - I hope you have luck with Captain Jack! I haven't actually been there since they started doing this, so I don't have any advice for you. But the rest of your day sounds great. I've heard great things about the barber shop, and I agree - hitting it right before the parade sounds like it might work. Your DD sounds a bit like mine...she'd also think she needed to do something, even if she was going on a cruise without the rest of us. We're doing BBB this trip for her, and she's pretty excited. We're letting her do the whole thing as a birthday present from us and my mom...expensive, but this means I won't have to have a big birthday party in July, so it works for me this year!

 

[Stefy]

I'm tempted to get glitter myself as well. I guess we'll see how busy it is. If it's not bad then maybe all 4 of us will do it

V cool, I hope you do get to do and take lots of pics

 

[dismagiclover]

I admit, I can't wait to hear about HP either! I'm such a fan, but though DH has listened to all of the books (he's not much of a reader, but loves to listen to podcasts and audiobooks during his commute) he's just not as excited about it as I am. He told me I was more than welcome to head over on the 19th by myself to tour it. Yeah right.

Your MK day looks like so much fun - I hope you have luck with Captain Jack! I haven't actually been there since they started doing this, so I don't have any advice for you. But the rest of your day sounds great. I've heard great things about the barber shop, and I agree - hitting it right before the parade sounds like it might work. Your DD sounds a bit like mine...she'd also think she needed to do something, even if she was going on a cruise without the rest of us. We're doing BBB this trip for her, and she's pretty excited. We're letting her do the whole thing as a birthday present from us and my mom...expensive, but this means I won't have to have a big birthday party in July, so it works for me this year!

Heading to Harry Potter on the 19th might be a tad bit on the wild side My DD did BBB a few years back and really enjoyed it. It's pricey though she would love to do it again. Hopefully the barbershop is good enough (it's gonna have to be.) I'm sure you get tired of the whole fair thing too. It gets tough for kids to figure out that there really is no such thing as fair. Heck, it's tough for lots of grown ups too

V cool, I hope you do get to do and take lots of pics

You know me. You don't have to worry about lack of pictures. And if we all do it I'm sure we'll have the PP help us out too

 

[dismagiclover]

On to our plans for Day 5!

This is mostly a resort day. We've never been to Old Key West before and one of the things people love about it is its laid back relaxing atmosphere. So today is the day we will try to experience it!

However we want to start the day right so we'll head over to the Polynesian for an Ohana breakfast. We've never been here before, but these are my favorite kind of character meals and there are not enough of them at Disney World. They are not buffet! I love just being able to sit and they bring the food to you. Don't have to worry about juggling the kids' plates, my plates and missing the characters all at the same time You know what I'm talking about. So we will just sit back, relax and let everything and everyone come to us Plus my boys will love the characters. What 5 and 8 year old boys don't love that stinker Stitch? He is definitely a kindred spirit. And Michael's best pal Pluto is there as well as my personal favorite Mickey. A great meal it will be

Then after our fun, but still relaxing breakfast we'll head back to Old Key West and enjoy the resort. Swimming will be on the agenda of course and we'll check out any activities going on in the Community Hall. If we feel up to it maybe we'll rent a boat and take a gander down the river. Just whatever strikes us. Lunch today will just be snacks at the poolside place because we do have an early dinner scheduled.

That dinner is at the Coral Reef another new place for us. I hope the boys like the aquariums. We'll mozy on over to Epcot late afternoon for dinner and depending on park conditions we may or may not try to slip in a ride or two. We won't do much though because we're planning on hitting Epcot the next morning. I can pretty much guarantee the boys will want to ride Spaceship Earth, but other than that we will probably just head back to OKW because of who might be waiting for us there.

The most exciting event of the day is the arrival of our favorite Disney family! That is right The Disney Family is joining us again this year For those of you that don't know the Disney Family check out last summer's trip report if you want to meet them. The Disney family consisits of Mrs. Disney (but I like to call her Liz). If you read my half marathon trippie you are very familiar with Liz. Liz has a DH, but he is not accompanying the family for this part of the trip report. Like my DH he actually works for a living Shocking I know, but someone has to pay for these trips, right He's coming down later to join them. Anyway the Disney family also has 4 Lost Boys that have a fabulous time with Michael and John. Wendy, well she does her best to keep all the Lost Boys out of trouble and tolerates them quite well So the Disney Family is set to arrive at OKW sometime on Sunday. Yes we are even staying at the same resort this trip! How cool is that So depending on the quality of the travel day for Liz and the Lost Boys we may or may not meet up with them sometime this evening. Don't worry if we don't. We'll definitely see them on Day 6.

And that is the plan for Day 5

 

[liznboys]

The most exciting event of the day is the arrival of our favorite Disney family! That is right The Disney Family is joining us again this year For those of you that don't know the Disney Family check out last summer's trip report if you want to meet them. The Disney family consisits of Mrs. Disney (but I like to call her Liz). If you read my half marathon trippie you are very familiar with Liz. Liz has a DH, but he is not accompanying the family for this part of the trip report. Like my DH he actually works for a living Shocking I know, but someone has to pay for these trips, right He's coming down later to joing them. Anway the Disney family also has 4 Lost Boys that have a fabulous time with Michael and John. Wendy, well she does her best to keep all the Lost Boys out of trouble and tolerates them quite well So the Disney Family is set to arrive at OKW sometime on Sunday. Yes we are even staying at the same resort this trip! How cool is that So depending on the quality of the travel day for Liz and the Lost Boys we may or may not meet up with them sometime this evening. Don't worry if we don't. We'll definitely see them on Day 6.

And that is the plan for Day 5

woohoo, we are there now! lol Yeah maybe if I get our rears out of here and on the road early enough, we could catch a swim with you guys that night or something! I know my boys will need to exert some energy before we hit the hay.

 

[BelAir3]

Where did you find the pirate costumes? I'm in Maryland also, did you purchase them locally or on the internet??

 

[dismagiclover]

woohoo, we are there now! lol Yeah maybe if I get our rears out of here and on the road early enough, we could catch a swim with you guys that night or something! I know my boys will need to exert some energy before we hit the hay.

We're definitely up for a swim if it works out

Where did you find the pirate costumes? I'm in Maryland also, did you purchase them locally or on the internet??

I found them online. The website is called Costume Craze and they were $7.50 each. This was back in February so I'm not sure if they have any left at that price or not. They are really just the shirt with the bandana and the belt. However they will be perfect for us because in June it will be way too hot to wear anything heavy. I'll just have them wear a t-shirt and shorts underneath.
And I see your first Disney Vacation is right around the corner! Have a Magical Time

 

[kcandbella]

Day 5 sounds very relaxing. Old Key West does look nice and laid back, I can't wait to hear how you like it and see pics. And how fun that you get to hang out with Liz and her boys again! I can see both of you are raising them right so when they are grown they can work to pay for THEIR wives and kids to go to Disney!

 

[liznboys]

... I can see both of you are raising them right so when they are grown they can work to pay for THEIR wives and kids to go to Disney!

oh my gosh that cracked me up I never thought of it like that, soooo funny.

 

[belle8306]

I love setting aside a day to relax and experience the resort. Disney resorts are so awesome they are an attraction all by themselves. We are planning having a day to explore some resorts we have never been to. O'hana's breakfast sounds really good. I have read a lot of good reviews.

 

[DrMomof3]

We've never eaten breakfast at O'hana but that sounds tempting!

Amanda

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Sounds like a great, relaxing day! We're hoping for some of that on this trip, too!

 

[cdotla]

Sounds like a great, relaxing day at OWK!

We will also be trying both O'Hanas for the 1st time for both breakfast and dinner this trip. And Coral Reef. I have always been a Kona girl myself, but after at least 10 breakfasts in the place I know I have to strike out on new adventures.

Holy moly! Did I catch that right? Is Liz is embarking on a solo trip to WDW with 4 boys??!! Well, if she can do that, I certainly can travel solo with the 2 of mine. Definitely keeping that in mind in the event DH doesn't turn around to Disney on our upcoming trip!