My Deep Descent into Disney Madness/May 2013...updated 6x 1/1 and completed

[Carable]

Oh my gosh! I was so far behind. I hope I remember all my comments but I want you to know that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your first day and a half.

That is so great that mousekeeping will even do dishes. We left a few things in the sink before completely not expecting them to touch them but they were washed and put away. Such an awesome touch.

Finley's smile at the BBB reveal was adorable!!

Bummer about the character interaction at 1900 PF. I would go for dinner if the step mother and the step daughters were worth the trip but you just never know.

What a great Mother's Day evening to enjoy EMH at MK on your own. I LOVE the fruit and nutella waffle!!! Oh, and a Dole Whip!!! Extra special!

How fun for your parents that the Dapper Dans interacted with them and recognized their first visit.

Thanks for all the comments, Brenda, and I'm glad you are enjoying our adventure. It has been therapeutic for me to write it out since I don't have a firm return date in my mind.

 

[Carable]

Day 3, Part 3 - Bonjour, Mickey!

As we left the adorable chipmunk pair, we went onward to Soarin’ to use those fastpasses I ran for earlier in the morning.

My parents had ridden the one in Disneyland, and were most excited for this one. It was no comparison to the one we ride in our local Busch Gardens, that’s for sure. Although, my dad said he was waiting for the water to hit during the scene where your feet “touch” the water, but they didn’t do it. Is that normal? Or is it only in CA? My mom actually squealed with delight, which is rare. She’s far too practical to squeal, so that was fun.

It was time to head towards our ADR in the World, but I had to introduce the kids to Club Cool. My son will tell you this was his favorite spot in Disney. Maybe because I don’t let them have much soda here at home and there he could just drink and drink. My favorites were Israel, China and Germany. Not a big fan of Japan’s. DH actually tasted the Beverly and my son did too eventually. Um, no thanks!

I was really excited to walk around the World Showcase because I have fond memories of running around there with my bestie in college, so I couldn’t wait to see the lagoon and the villages.

Hello Monorail!

Hello Sulley and Mike! I just saw your new movie this weekend and LOVED it.

Seriously, this was the cutest topiary there!

THAT is one fine view!

Aren't we a fine couple of sweaty tourists?

Why, hello Pascal, do you like Epcot?

Disney details!

Two beauties and a beast

We saw Mary Poppins and Alice out visiting, we didn’t stop to see them, but it was fun to see them out. But we weren’t heading there either….we were making a beeline for…

Les Chefs de France

This was an ADR I made later on in my planning and thought about canceling because of some of the reviews, but I’m so glad I didn’t. It was my favorite TS meal of the trip. We wandered around France waiting for the restaurant to open.

I will say, that the DIS Frump girls are entirely correct about the foreign CM’s, it must be a requirement that they are easy on the eyes. Our server was gorgeous, Brahim was from Lyon and had the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.

We got a great table by the window.

The kids put together the Epcot Passports I got them, which helped pass the time. I wonder if we got any stamps? (Hint, hint, NOT A ONE and you’ll see why eventually).

We got the Prix Fixe 3 courses menu using our DP. I got

Bisque de Homard - lobster bisque UNBELIEVABLY good.

Gratin de Macaroni - Baked macaroni with cream and gruyere cheese YUMMY! Best Mac and Cheese I've ever had.

Creme Brulee - Vanilla creme brulee served with a Madeleine

I also got French Limonade that I love. I fell in love with it on a trip to England years ago. I kept the bottle to use as a vase.

Some other food pics, everyone raved about this food!

Soupe a l' oignon gratinee - Onion soup topped with Gruyere cheese

Plat de Cote de boeuf au cabernet avec pates - beef short ribs briased in cabernet with pasta, pearl onions and mushrooms

Biscuit sable Breton, compote de rhubarbe a l'orange, fraise fraiches, sorbet rhubarbe et fraise - Brittany butter cookie, rhubarb compote with orange, fresh strawberries served with rhubarb and strawberry sorbet

Croustillant feuillantine, douceur au chocolat, glace noix de coco, tartare de banane - Crispy cake with chocolate milk mousse, coconut ice cream and bananas marinated in rum and lemon juice

They sang happy birthday to the kiddos and brought them cupcakes, SO CUTE! Can't find pictures of that anywhere on my computer, ack. But, to end on a high note. Here is the reason I made this reservation in the first place. I had read somewhere the approximate times that Remy makes his rounds during lunch and that noon was a good seating time. So, thanks to DIS awesomeness, here is the coolest rat ever (from one of my DH's favorite movies).

Stuffed and ready for adventure, where would we head next?

Continued in the next post... ​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Pardon the Interruption...some Cara opinions

Pins – GREAT last minute idea. I didn’t think the kids would like it, but they did, especially DD. BUT I will get the other pin backs the people on the DIS talk about because those Mickey backs are a nightmare. They never stayed on so they couldn’t wear the lanyards like they wanted to, so I had to dig in my backpack every time they wanted to trade. I did buy them on ebay from reputable people I got from the DIS list here in the Collectibles section, and I only got 2 pins that I think are scrappers due to their coloring. It just looks off. We ended up with 50 pins to trade and that was barely enough for three of us to trade.


Autographs: I loved it, and got a mat with princess signatures and one with the Fab 5 (with Daisy missing right now)...can't wait to get them in frames with pictures. The kids liked autographs well enough, but were over them by day 4 and 5. My son wanted blank pages instead, which was a downside of the surprise aspect of this trip. Still, I'm happy we did it at least once.

Souvenirs – Finally, Penny Pressing was a huge hit. I ended up buying the books for the kids to put them into. I did make them containters from M&M tubes for the quarters and pennies, but they were always jumbled up. Still, they were a great size to carry around, and I kept them ½ full so they weren’t so heavy.

​

Again I am lagging behind but did want say how much I appreciate you including you thoughts/your tid-bits

I am currently debating a lot of these ideas for our next trip - DD will be 4, nearing 5 and DS will be about 22 months, so don't want to overload either of them

Thinking might hold off on pin trading until next trip but will try to do autographs, at least for DD - but thinking of just having blank pages to make it easy and then after the trip I will printout the photo of her with the character onto the page with the autograph.

Might do the pressed pennies as her "collection" as I think she will get a kick out of it.

Thanks again!

 

[summerw]

I just read your report so far and am really enjoying it. Your rooms are amazing and you're selling me on cr in a big way. Mothers day alone in mk sounds awesome! We live near dlr and I get to go all the time, but always with ds3. I love it but I could totally handle an uncrowded evening there.

 

[wiigirl]

Great report!

 

[jecskc]

I'm all caught up !! Looking forward to reading more !!

Susan

 

[Carable]

Again I am lagging behind but did want say how much I appreciate you including you thoughts/your tid-bits

I am currently debating a lot of these ideas for our next trip - DD will be 4, nearing 5 and DS will be about 22 months, so don't want to overload either of them

Thinking might hold off on pin trading until next trip but will try to do autographs, at least for DD - but thinking of just having blank pages to make it easy and then after the trip I will printout the photo of her with the character onto the page with the autograph.

Might do the pressed pennies as her "collection" as I think she will get a kick out of it.

Thanks again!

I'm so glad I could be helpful. That was my intention. Everybody has different opinions, but I just wanted to put my 2 cents in there about traveling with my kiddos to help anyone who might be in my position. Thanks for following along!

I just read your report so far and am really enjoying it. Your rooms are amazing and you're selling me on cr in a big way. Mothers day alone in mk sounds awesome! We live near dlr and I get to go all the time, but always with ds3. I love it but I could totally handle an uncrowded evening there.

LUCKY you! I would definitely find a babysitter and take an evening alone there, it was good for the soul. And, I found that I wasn't as frantic on our MK days because I did what I wanted to do that evening, everything else was gravy. I did thoroughly enjoy my alone time, and I'm an only child so I'm not self-conscious at all about doing things on my own. I used to take full vacations by myself when I was younger and I miss it, honestly. I've been reading some SOLO reports on the boards (DisneyKid4Life especially) and am thinking of doing one in the next few years. I have a national conference that will be there in 2015....

Great report!

THANK you, I always appreciate comments and that you are following along.

I'm all caught up !! Looking forward to reading more !!

Susan

Thanks, Susan, you are so wonderful to keep up and comment. I so appreciate you!!!

I am in the middle of back-to-back birthday parties here at mi casa. My son's 8th Secret Spy party was last weekend and my daughter's 6th Harry Potter party is tomorrow. So I've been preoccupied to say the least. But, I'm hoping to get to the next installment later today if I get my cupcakes baked and decorated in time.

 

[sue_88]

Enjoyed reading!
I love the idea of suprising kids with a trip and then leaving right away! I wish I had that happen when I was little.
Bay Lake Tower is beautiful. MK is not my top park but this resort is still at the top of my list of deluxe favorites.
I understand your happiness on your evening to tour a park solo. I love being at Disney solo. I take time to really be "in the moment" and soak up the magic. It makes wonderful memories!

 

[Carable]

Enjoyed reading!
I love the idea of suprising kids with a trip and then leaving right away! I wish I had that happen when I was little.
Bay Lake Tower is beautiful. MK is not my top park but this resort is still at the top of my list of deluxe favorites.
I understand your happiness on your evening to tour a park solo. I love being at Disney solo. I take time to really be "in the moment" and soak up the magic. It makes wonderful memories!

Thank you! I was so happy that I was able to surprise them, especially since they had only a vague idea of what Disney was about. Now that they know, I'm looking forward to planning the vacation with them. I'm jealous of your next F&W vacation, that looks like it would be a fabulous time.

 

[Carable]

Day 3 - Part 3 - Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming....until you pass out

When I last left you folks, we had enjoyed a tremendous meal at Le Chefs de France. I highly recommend them for lunch!

After lunch, we decided to split up as my parents were going to stay and wander through the world showcase and we were going to head back for some rest. Although you will see we took the long way back.

We took in some topiaries, although my son was not a big fan of this one.

We wandered through the Oz garden. The kids liked the movie, so this was fun for them. Then we spied this with my daughter's name on it! She thought she was all that AND a bag of chips.

Look at this cute ramp made for the ducks, so cute.

I knew we HAD to do Turtle talk, so we walked through the longest empty queue I’ve ever seen and got on Nemo. Cute! Then we checked out some fish while waiting for Crush.

some stellar photography here

WHAT??? Turtle Talk was absolutely amazing, the improve skills were unparalleled. My kids were so NOT answering any questions, which is unfortunate because I would have loved to see them interact. It was one of the best things I did at the World this trip. Of course, I am completely in love with Crush, so that helped too.

We walked out to cruise the aquariums and after reading PrincessJess and Lia’s reports I had look for the elusive Paul, but he was not to be seen. I think he must have gone up to the Big Blue in the sky, sad. I did see Ringo.

Can you find this guy? That is some serious camouflaging there.

Fish are friends, not food.

We happened onto the Scuba Tank demonstration which the kids were fascinated by. Really, it is so funny what kids will like.

A Monster-rail sighting!

We kept working our way towards the front door....
Hello guys, whatcha doing?

Then, the kids were begging to see what was inside the big golf ball, so up next was...

After an easy walk-on, we took a little tour through history. We LOVED it, I mean loved it so much we ended up on it 3 times. My son had just finished studying ancient Egypt so he couldn’t get enough of that part. I had been on it ages ago, but had forgotten most of it, so this was such a nice relaxing ride. Here’s our future according to Nolan…

Lookie, there we are on the big screen!

We played around in here for awhile, the kids LOVED it. Hello beautiful fountain. The kids look like they could jump in it, don't they?

Then we finally made it to the exit with one final pic.

Unfortunately, my amazing navigational skills took a wrong turn here as I got us on the wrong monorail. Ugh, we ended up going on the express to MK, but it was an easy fix, we got off walked across the landing and got on the other one and took a quick hop to Contemporary. And, bonus, we got on the Monster’s University monorail.

Originally, the evening was free to go back to a park, any park, and I was thinking MK would be good, maybe take in frontierland while it wasn’t so busy. But DH was tired and the kids wanted to swim so we decided to stay in. We had some great pool time. I went upstairs a little early to shower and trip journal, and throw in a little laundry.

What monorail adventures did we have later that evening? Stay tuned for more!

Continued in next post... ​

 

[jecskc]

We have never taken the monorail from Epcot to MK or vice versa. We always have our car and DH prefers to drive. But one day I want to do it.

We are staying at Beach Club next trip so maybe we will have an opportunity to do it then.

Susan

 

[mirage0306]

Hi--joining in! Great TR! We love Turtle Talk too, and Spaceship Earth is a family favorite. We ride it several times each visit, too.

You are making me drool over BLT. Gorgeous.

 

[Carable]

We have never taken the monorail from Epcot to MK or vice versa. We always have our car and DH prefers to drive. But one day I want to do it.

We are staying at Beach Club next trip so maybe we will have an opportunity to do it then.

Susan

Susan, I really enjoyed the Monorail, and the wait was never very long as opposed to some of our bus waits. Staying at a monorail resort was a big plus. I really enjoyed riding through Epcot to the station, too. Beach and Yacht club are on my Disney bucket list, it looks so amazing.

Hi--joining in! Great TR! We love Turtle Talk too, and Spaceship Earth is a family favorite. We ride it several times each visit, too.

You are making me drool over BLT. Gorgeous.

Glad we aren't the only Spaceship Earth nerds. BLT is definitely drool-worthy, definitely worth the splurge if you can swing it, imho. I'm already thinking about how we can afford it for the next vacay next year, but there are so many other awesome places to stay there too. Sigh. Such a Disney problem to have, right?!

 

[Carable]

Day 3 - Part 4 - A Quiet Poly End

******UPDATE*******Sorry I've been MIA, but I've had an exhausting couple of weeks. My kids' birthdays are a week apart so we had two back to back parties, and if you can guess with my creative streak, they aren't ordinary parties. We had a Super Spy party for my son and a Harry Potter party for my daughter. They were super fun and I'm just now getting my house back together. LOL. Then, I got two interviews for the only two school librarian positions open in my school division (which is huge, btw) and that was nerve-wracking. I haven't been on an interview in almost 2 decades! Hopefully I will find out this week, but I'm struggling with this huge change in our lives even though this has always been the plan for me. Change can be invigorating, scary and hopefully come with a paycheck to help fund my Disney obsession, right????? Ok, on to the regularly scheduled Trip Report.**************************

When I left you last we had finally made it home to the BLT on the Monsterail. Here is the view of the pool we hung out for the rest of the afternoon.

I loved seeing this view in the hallway everytime we went to the elevator.

We got everyone cleaned up and talked about dinner. We were not overly impressed with Contempo because of the noise factor. So, I had done some research and we decided to try Captain Cooks for CS since it was so highly recommended. As we are getting dressed, my daughter decides now is the time to have a new clothing phase  the "straight pants" phase (that's what Finley calls leggings). UGH, we are still in it by the way. But ALL she wanted to wear was leggings, HOT BLACK and DIRTY leggings. Im so sorry I even brought them, what a headache. After a whiny monorail ride over to the Poly, I was greeted with this peaceful sight

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm feeling better already.

STITCH!

I had only been to the Poly once in the 90's to do the luau with my friend. I remember loving the beach, but couldn't really remember the lobby. It was lovely. We had to ask around, as Captain Cook's is hidden around a corner, but soon we arrived at the quiet, deserted counter service. Please excuse the horrible color in these pics, I had it on the wrong setting and didn't realize it until we were back at the hotel.

Mabe we had some dessert first...

Minnie Cupcake (pretty good, actually)

Macademia cookie

My new favorite beverage, seriously GET THIS at least once to try it

Finley's fav - Nuggets and Fries

My flatbread, I really enjoyed it. I know others aren't fans, but it was yummy to me.

Nolan got the skewer with chicken and pineapple. He loved it! I loved that they always had an adventurous option for kids.

The fish special that my hubby got, he liked it. I think he was so tired by then, he'd have eated cardboard though.

After filling up, I tried to get everyone outside to see the beach and maybe stay and watch Wishes, but they were seriously tuckered out. So we wandered around the lobby for a bit.

I wish I was going this direction....

I NEED this picture in my life.

Finley spied a hidden Mickey, I was SO PROUD of her.

We talked to the uber-friendly cast at the gift store, we traded some pins, the kids bought a pin each. We will definitely be back to stay there sometime.

Then, we took a peaceful ride back home on the monorail. Look at this amazing sunset we had....

The boys decided to stay and play at the awesome Contemporary game room. Nolan could have stayed there the whole week and been perfectly happy. Finley and I went upstairs and organized our pins, I told you I had created a monster that day. LOL.

The parents rolled in around 8, they didnt stay for Illuminations because my moms allergies flared up. It didnt happen at any of the other parks, so she thinks it was just the abundance of foliage there was too much for her. They enjoyed it, but they didnt have the endurance, so they were exhausted early and couldnt enjoy it fully.

We were almost all passed out by 8:45! It had been a full few days, so Im glad we got some sleep because tomorrow was something I was uber-excited about.

Continued in next post... ​

 

[Carable]

Commercial Break

I just have to take a minute to explain my unusual absence from my trip report and to report that it will be done within the month! I had back-to-back birthday parties at the end of June and then I started interviewing for a school library position the next week. It was a whirlwind, with three interviews and one job offer at the perfect school for me!!!!!! Yep, after 8 years of glorious stay-at-home momness, I am going back to my beloved profession. I will say that I am in a emotional place right now, though. While I love teaching and starting my dream job as a librarian finally is wonderful, I am so conflicted at this transition stage. I love being with my kids, and now I will be gone the 2 weeks before school starts and they will have to go to after school care now. And, to top it off, my daughter is going to have her tonsils out in the beginning of August, so we will be having a dramatic end to the summer. But, the silver lining, is that NOW we will have more funds to save up for my Disney madness AND my DH just told me last night that Disney is addicting, could he be converting????????

Ok, thank you for being my counselors and I will return to editing my photos and get Day 4 started ASAP!

Thanks readers, you are the best. ​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

congratulations on the new job! Best of luck with that and to your family and everyone adjusting. My wife is currently home with the kids but we talk about her going back to work at some point so I can, at least a little, get where you are coming from

Best of luck also to Finley with getting her tonsil's out

 

[emmysmommy]

Congratulations on the job offer Cara!!! That's awesome! I wish you all the best!

Sorry about Finley's tonsils...hopefully she'll be back to 100% post op very soon.

I've had to do some catching up but wanted to comment that I love Chefs de France for lunch. The crème brulee is addicting!

I love the aquarium at The Seas. I didn't think we've ever seen some of those intriguing sea critters. We usually just take a peek at the manatees and dolphins and move on.

Captain Cook's looks like a great CS option. Your flatbread looks wonderful. Was your son's chicken and pineapple kabob on the kid menu or the adult? It looks like a great option as well.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your reviews!

 

[Carable]

congratulations on the new job! Best of luck with that and to your family and everyone adjusting. My wife is currently home with the kids but we talk about her going back to work at some point so I can, at least a little, get where you are coming from

Best of luck also to Finley with getting her tonsil's out

Thanks so much! Being a parent is the most rewarding, frustrating and complicated job there is. I just hope I juggle all my responsibilities well so that my kids have the independence they need and the mommy time they want. Are you going to do a TR about your upcoming trip? I'd love to read it if you do.

Congratulations on the job offer Cara!!! That's awesome! I wish you all the best!

Sorry about Finley's tonsils...hopefully she'll be back to 100% post op very soon.

I've had to do some catching up but wanted to comment that I love Chefs de France for lunch. The crème brulee is addicting!

I love the aquarium at The Seas. I didn't think we've ever seen some of those intriguing sea critters. We usually just take a peek at the manatees and dolphins and move on.

Captain Cook's looks like a great CS option. Your flatbread looks wonderful. Was your son's chicken and pineapple kabob on the kid menu or the adult? It looks like a great option as well.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your reviews!

Thanks Brenda, I love how detailed your comments are, you are so sweet. The flatbread was good and the kabob was on the kids menu! Nolan is my adventurous eater, so I was so happy to see all kinds of different foods available for him almost everywhere we ate. AND he can eat his weight in food (where does it go?), so he would eat some of ours too.

Here comes day 4 finally! Got to get this done before school starts!

 

[Carable]

Day 4, Part 1 - The DIS Dream Day

Magically, I was up before Mike’s phone call, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the balcony to watch the sunrise and trip journal. Bliss.

After all my obsessive DIS research, I had found a few MUST-DO's that I rearranged the whole trip for and today I was hopefully going to conquer quite a few of them. I was eager to get this day started because I was obsessed with a ride I’ve never been on. Can you guess????

That’s right, Toy Story Mania.

Buzz was our favorite ride our last time here, so I just knew TSM would be over the top amazing. Our plan was to do Star Wars Weekend there on Friday, but I knew it would be a madhouse and I wanted a chance to do my must-do rides beforehand. So, I took some time away from our Epcot day and headed over here in the morning. My mom was still not feeling great from yesterday, so she stayed and in and relaxed for the morning.

Good morning, my lovely!

The amazing contemporary lobby.

Everybody else followed me to the bus, we only waited 5 minutes, had 1 stop, and were there in 20 minutes.

CM's were so great about saying Happy Birthday genuinely all vacation long when the kids wore their buttons.

making friends wherever we go...

HS was already open at 8:45am. Now, I had spent a lot of time in HS in the 90’s when it was MGM and my BFF was one of the tour guides on the Backlot tour, so I would go to work with her and while she worked I would wander around. Seriously, though, HS was nothing like I remembered. I loved it even more this time around.

What a beautiful sight....I hope I can get brave enough to go on this one next time around.

WE'RE HERE!!!!

Now, I had done my research, read the TR’s, I knew what I needed to do. We headed to the right of the hat and headed to TSM to grab fastpasses and then get in the stand-by line.

Hanging in line

The queue was as amazing as described.

one of our family favorite game, except when we land on Gingy (gingerbread man).

kids loved him!

my geeky inner librarian loved the books at the end of the ride

It was only 15 minutes and the queue is so fun, it went by quickly. The kids thought it was awesome. Finally it was time for….

a ride on slinky dog...

almost 100,000 on my first ride! Although look at that accuracy, baby.

Seriously. Cannot. Believe. This. Ride. SO MUCH LOVE. And, again, the theretofore undiscovered competitive side came out and I was in it to win it. Although, those darts were the death of me. So hard. The kids had a great time and couldn’t wait to get on it again.

As we exited Andy’s room, my DH and son decided to go check out Jedi Training. My son loves Star Wars, but he doesn’t like to be up in front of people. He’s the kid at all the school concerts, sitting down on the risers with his head in his hands. I have proof.

see the little guy in the middle in the red sweater, big mop of brown hair and his face in his hands? Yep, that's my guy!

So, I didn’t know if he’d want to do that or not on Friday, so I sent them to check out the show and get some information just in case.

The face paint cart was conveniently located at the exit, so why not, it’s vacation. Honesty time here, the facepaint was the worst I’ve ever seen. It was sloppy and wasn’t anything like the picture she picked out, it was an amateur job and I was disappointed. My DD was happy though, so I didn’t complain. But, I would be wary of this one. And, on a side note, if your child has sensitive skin BEWARE, this paint and some we got later one did a number on her skin. It was bumpy and irritated for days afterwards.

We wandered around, taking in the sights, looking for the boys. Finally found them in Star Traders as they came out of the Star Tours ride. We decided to do it again – it was fantastic, if a little frantic. We got to see Hoth and Naboo. I love that cute Gungan.

Of course, right after we leave, we realize that Nolan had left his bag with his star wars guys in it and the next show had already started. The CM was super friendly and we waited on the benches for a bit and then he let us on real quick to grab it. Crisis averted.

We went back into Star Traders and got some more “stuff”, some cute droids and souvenirs for our little friends back home.

Time to grab some cute pics outside Star Tours

Where were we headed next? And what character did we meet that made my son squeal?

Continued in the next post.... ​

 

[jecskc]

Getting caught up again .... Congrats on your new job !! How wonderful to find a job in a field that you love.

I stayed home with my kids for 7 years as well and then I went back part time. I only work for Disney myself. I could stay at home, but my love for Disney prevails and most of what I make goes into our vacations. I also love my job and the people I work for, so that helps. It is also nice to be among the adults in a professional atmosphere. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I went back to work.

There are many things I miss about staying at home, but I am glad that I went back to work. The transition can be a little rocky though, so chin up when things get stressful. You will get into a routine and things will smooth out and the extra money is an excellent motivator.

Looking forward to reading more !!

Susan