Newb's, a little pixie dust and tears (a first timers trip report)

[meggiebeth]

Great TR so far! I love the way you surprised the kids with the trip. Our family ought to do that next time!

Wolfgang Puck Express looks great value for a counter service restaurant! We'll have to try it on our next trip! When we went in August it was really busy- which put us off.

Can't wait for the next update!

 

[fgtriot]

Great TR so far! I love the way you surprised the kids with the trip. Our family ought to do that next time!

Wolfgang Puck Express looks great value for a counter service restaurant! We'll have to try it on our next trip! When we went in August it was really busy- which put us off.

Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks! The surprise was fun but we are having fun planning our return trip with the kids this time too.

WGPE was great, highly recommended. Dessert was just as awesome and the kids loved their food.

Working on the next update, hopefully will be done tomorrow.

 

[baseballmickey]

great start! can't wait to read more! I don't know if i'd ever be able to surprise my kids... unless i keep DW in the dark too!!

 

[fgtriot]

One of the biggest reasons DW and I decided to get to MK the same day we arrived in FL was because it was the only night that fit our schedule in which we could see the Electrical Parade. We walked down Main St just taking it all in for the moment, checking out the shops and getting our first family photopass pics taken. DW bought the package before we left so she was determined to “get her monies worth” and boy howdy did she.

At this point Tinkerbell herself from high atop her castle perch could see we were lost as to where to sit and enjoy the Main St Electrical Parade and be in a good position for Wishes. Thankfully a CM came to our rescue with a very unusual connection. Emotionally scarring back story time (ok not so emotionally scarring but whatever). When DW and I decided to have kids we wanted to make sure they had fairly unique names since our first names were the most popular for like ten years running when we were born. Nothing extremely outrageous, but something not heard too often or something with a different spelling than normal. We chose Ian (DS9), Morgan (DD7), and Allyson (DD3). So when this particular CM shared the same spelling as our youngest we were happily surprised.

Allyson (the CM) recommended we check for a spot by the firehouse and follow the end of the parade down Main St to the castle for Wishes. We couldn’t get in by the firehouse by we did find a nice spot right near the gate but on the side of the little garden area. I actually really liked this spot because we could not see what was coming until it was rounding the bend just to our right. Honestly I still don’t know to what level I enjoyed this parade. On one level the concept is awesome; on another there wasn’t a flow to the floats that fit any overall theme. This is a personal thing though, I am a little OCD about symmetry, and flow, and patterns. Maybe even a little more than a little. My wife won’t even let me help with the scrapbook unless I have my own page.

The technology behind the preshow for Wishes called “Magic, Memories and You” is top of the line (as if Disney would do it any other way). Seriously though I pride myself on AV stuff and have never seen anything like this. Disney made that plaster/cement castle look like a linen sheet with the projections. Very, very impressive show. Then, WISHES!!!!

Some of my favorite shots.

*Notice the position and layout of the pics??? Just a little OCD.

 

[fgtriot]

As established in my last posting, I have a little bit of OCD on certain things. One of my biggest challenges if you will is when plans change. The weird part is that if the change is due to necessity I have no problem, nor is it to say I have to go so far to have every minute of every day scheduled out. I absolutely love being spontaneous as long as there are no existing plans but if someone wants to change something on the agenda simply because they want to, I have trouble computing that. Explaining all that is important in understanding the significance of what happened next.

Our original plans were to head back to the resort after watching Wishes in order to make sure we had enough rest (and yes I mean we as in DW and I , not the kids) for what was sure to be a fun PACKED week. However; since we had not yet gotten the kids their ears DW and I wanted to do so before we left. Knowing we had EMH, instead of rushing out of the park, we found the hat store near the front so the ears could be personalized.

This minor adjustment didn’t bother me since we had planned to purchase these hats earlier in the day when we were at DTD but didn’t because they no longer had the build-your-own store. However this is where is gets weird. The “ear store” as DD3 called it, was rather busy and we were informed that it would be 45 minutes before our hats would be ready. Normally this is a “point of concern” as I refer to them, although DW calls them my “freak out moments” but much like the Spirit of God during times of turmoil, the Disney Magic officially kicked in. All of a sudden I’m the one making suggestions to keep us in the park. “Well since we have time, why don’t we go meet Mickey? It’s just right next to the store.” What??? Did that just come from my mouth? Sure did and I hesitated not a moment. Of course the rest of the family was more than willing to accommodate my unusual mood.

We head to the Town Hall where to our surprise the wait was only 5 minutes!! Actually I don’t even think it took that long. We walked right into the staging area, was greeted by a CM that said he would be right back and in barely enough time to pull the camera out of the backpack before being guided to Mickey’s dressing room. There he was the symbol of childhood dreams and magic worldwide. An ageless embodiment of what is right and good with the beautiful Minnie at his side. What escapes me at this point is how within this awe inspiring moment fear could complete overtake DD3 and eradicate all previous excitement. Suddenly DD3 needs to be held and protected. With one family ahead of us (actually it was one lady in her mid 40’s-early 50’s) I am now attempting to console and convince DD3 that Mickey isn’t scary but loving. How’d I do? Well…..

With that experience officially banked in our memories forever we headed back to our stroller but….we could meet the princesses now? Since we had no official plans (we weren’t even supposed to still be in the park) we decided why not. Thankfully this wasn’t even debated for a moment because as soon as we got in line to meet Aurora, Belle, & Cinderella there at the Town Hall, they closed the line behind us. We were to officially be the last visitors to these lovely ladies this evening. Both DDs were excited but DS9 not so much. I think it was more embarrassment than lack of excitement.

Now the girls were in their element, especially DD7. This also became our first “pixie dust moment”. What are pixie dust moments? They are those extra special, extra magical happenings that you never forget. It can be big (as we experienced later in our trip) or small and simple as a miss spoken thought as happened here momentarily. The first princess was Aurora and although she was pleasant you could almost tell she was tired from the long day and pushing to get through. Belle was much better, very interactive and fun. FTR, Belle is DD3’s favorite princess. However DD3 was shy and instead of talking to Belle, she kept whispering to DD7. Belle was great and played into it which really helped warm up DD3.

Finally Cinderella, DD7’s favorite and our “pixie dust moment” of the day. Whilst standing talking to Cinderella, DD3 says to Cinderella referring to DD7; “she is your favorite princess.” (photo above) Cinderella didn’t miss a beat and promptly responded; “I have waited my whole life to meet her!” We know what DD3 meant as I am sure Cinderella did too but I love how instead of correcting the statement, Cinderella played into it creating that moment we will not forget. From there the rest of the night was a whirlwind of fun, hitting Space Ranger Spin, The Transit People Mover, Carousel, and let DS9 try to pull the sword before calling it a night. Even through all the excitement, bedtime came pretty easy. Maybe it was the anticipation of the next day, maybe it was exhaustion from a full day, or maybe it was because it was after 1AM! Whatever the reason, I was the only one who had a hard time falling asleep, but that is normal for me, I always struggle sleeping in other beds besides my own. Yes I know, OCD.

 

[dvczerfs]

eat trip report and pics matthew! i love the picture of your son waiting for the princesses. you will have to remind him of that when hes 16!

 

[unclescrooge_0707]

It never occurred to me to use Late Night EMH for things like a princess meet & greet. I thought it was only for riding rides. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[AirGoofy]

Great TR and great pics.

 

[fgtriot]

eat trip report and pics matthew! i love the picture of your son waiting for the princesses. you will have to remind him of that when hes 16!

Thanks. We still pick on DS9 about that. The fact of liking girls still embarrass him.

It never occurred to me to use Late Night EMH for things like a princess meet & greet. I thought it was only for riding rides. Thanks for the suggestion.

As you could tell, it wasnt planned to do that but it worked great.

Great TR and great pics.

Thanks, never doing this before, it's nice to know I'm doing well and it is entertaining.

 

[CarolineB]

I really like your trip report. I loved the video of telling the kids they were going to Disney. I loved the "money shot." Awesome. I loved the "having one day for each child idea."

 

[jenjie]

Looking forward to more of your story! Thanks for sharing.

 

[dawnmichele]

I am loving your report! Can't wait to read more.

 

[fgtriot]

Waking up our first morning at The World brought new excitements and surprises. For starters, even though the kids didn’t get to bed until after 1am nor DW and I until after 2am amazingly no one was exhausted getting up at 8am. Side note: Prior to our trip we made a journey 45 minutes from home to the nearest Disney store to buy the kids a few shirts (they had outgrown most of the Disney t-shirts they had) to our surprise they had made it into an outlet store and we were able to get everyone a new shirt for each day of our stay. After a quick breakfast of pop tarts and cereal bars (which we mailed down a few days before we left) we were dressed and ready to go.

Plans for the day were Hollywood Studios and avoiding rain. This was the only day of our trip were weather was to be an issue but I actually feel it was to our benefit but I’m getting ahead of myself. First thing we do upon arrival at HS was get our fast passes for Toy Story Mania. Feeling like little Charley Bucket with his golden ticket I did what any half knowledged Disdad would do; I took a picture of it.

Of course DW had no clue the significance and immediately questioned my sanity. Although this was a normal daily activity it came a little early for me today.

Since we were in the area we decided to go over to The Little Mermaid show. Normally I like to wait until after lunch for the indoor shows when the temp starts to climb and the kids could use a rest but DD3 wanted to go now. Admittedly The Little Mermaid is my second least liked princess story, but being a dad of two little girls we do all things princess. Remembering back to that disastrous attempt at a Disney trip DW and I took DS9 on when he was 18months old (that is for another story, has been considered a mulligan and stricken from the record which why we are still first timers), I wanted to sit in the middle or further back as to save both my neck and from getting sprayed with water. As it turns out either something changed or my memory wasn’t that great because the whole room gets sprayed, but; it was only a light mist and not at all what I thought I remembered. The black light aspect of the show was pretty cool and even DS9 liked the production (though he won’t public admit it now).

As we were leaving The Little Mermaid show I spotted another opportunity that was originally planned for later in the day. The Disney Jr show was letting in right then and there wasn’t many people in line. I figure we could get right in and not have to wait in line later. So we head over there and soon realize why so few people were in line. They had been letting in since before we got out of Little Mermaid so by the time we got there the line closed and we had to wait anyhow. This however ended up more magical as while we were in line the characters from Disney’s Little Einsteins were coming out for their meet and greets which required them to walk right past us.

The Disney Jr show was pretty much what you would expect it to be. I love how interactive they make it for the kids and DD3 was in her glory.

This was also my first encounter with my new favorite Disney Jr TV show. Jake and the Neverland Pirates! We didn’t have any shows like that when I was a kid. Playing pirates all day long with a friend who does whatever you say and a pretty girl, going on fun adventures, outsmarting the bad guys and having enough booty to be set for life before age 8. Jake is officially my new hero! I even left with a few gold doubloons in my pocket.

From Disney Jr we decided to cross the park to meet my other animated heroes. Dreamers, inventors, adventurers, opportunist, entrepreneurs, and owners of the world coolest pet; Phineas and Ferb! The temperature was starting to rise so they characters often had to take “breaks” to get some water so we spent quite some time in the queue line. I was very impressed with Disney’s forethought on this wait, having interactive entertainment appropriately themed. The “radio DJ” knew his stuff, sounded authentic, and got the party rolling with several P&F songs for the crowd to play along with. The only way this meet and greet would have been better is if DD3 would have gotten in the pictures and if Agent P would have been there.

At this point we were starting to get hungry so we stopped at Pizza Planet for a bite to eat. Like WGPE, I will do a full review later but it was pizza and arcade games with an amazing cupcake. Warning the following picture may cause under controllable drooling and strong desire to do something dirty; like baking!

 

[AirGoofy]

As a dad of two dds, I get that whole princess stuff as it doesn't get much better. Oldest (10) is starting to not be as interested, but it is just starting. I take pics of FP, Dole Whips, and other Disney pics that DW just doesn't understand and never will. We are out of Playhouse Disney and am happy. I didn't like sitting on the floor.

 

[fgtriot]

As a dad of two dds, I get that whole princess stuff as it doesn't get much better. Oldest (10) is starting to not be as interested, but it is just starting. I take pics of FP, Dole Whips, and other Disney pics that DW just doesn't understand and never will. We are out of Playhouse Disney and am happy. I didn't like sitting on the floor.

I'm not too worried about out growing the princess thing, that one doesnt bother me much. However, I hear ya about that literal floor seating!

 

[fgtriot]

Now by lunch time day 2, where we rejoin or story, DS9 has gotten fully involved with pin trading. Having heard great things about it I went on eBay before our trip, ordered one lot of 50 random pins and split them between all of us. DW and I made sure to do much research to learn the unwritten “rules” of Disney pin trading and as this served for much enjoyment we’re certainly glad we did. Before you ask; yes I know this is actually off topic but it does become important to know for later and as previously established I am slightly OCD and simply put, I needed to say it. It would be awkward if later on I mentioned pin trading and you didn’t already know we had been trading the whole time. Then again I guess no more awkward than this paragraph has become. Well I’m not going to erase and retype all of it so let’s just move on.

Since we had eaten lunch a little later than we originally planned, by the time we were done people were already lining up for The Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun! parade. As we walked the parade route failing to find a decent seat DW decided to stop and ask a group of three CMs standing nearby for their recommendation. The CMs directed us about 100ft away to a corner just beyond The American Idol Experience but before the main center by “The Hat”. Upon arriving at the suggested spot we hear a voice behind us calling, “Family, Family!” It was Tameka, one of the CMs that directed us to this spot. Assuming I had misunderstood her previous directions I, by my typical nature, instantly apologized. Turned out I hadn’t done anything wrong. “I have a better idea for you!’ she proclaims in an excited yet pleased way, “follow me.” Tameka then guided us right back to where we first asked for her seating suggestion. One of the other CMs whose name escapes me, stood by with a huge smile on her face and stated they were going to give us “special seating” unhooking a rope previously blocking the steps of The American Idol Experience. So there we sat, front row, center steps. The CMs stuck around and talked with us while awaiting the parade. This was the first of what DW has come to call “pixie dust”; those extra special moments that go beyond a great time and make clear the term “Disney magic”.

For anyone with children who enjoy the masterpieces that the Disney/Pixar partnership has brought us, this parade is a must! Easily my personal favorite of the parades we saw both planned and unexpected (I’ll explain later). The music is obnoxiously addictive, where in you wanna dance listening to it, can’t stop singing it but both love and hate every moment. Got an awkward silent moment? Bring back the song “it’s a countdown to fun. 5-4-3-2-1” Crap! Now DW’s singing it again. Gonna be difficult to sleep tonight. Anyhow; having no one on the opposite side of the route then us meant all the characters and cast focused directly on us. Often coming right up to us to shake hands or high five, toss beach balls around or pose for our camera shots.

Obviously that last one is a personal favorite. I don’t know if it was the way she shook that hula-hoop or the cowgirl outfit but being this is a family site I will say no more.

Given the price of this trip for a family of five, we established early that DW and I would NOT be purchasing every souvenir that our children wanted. They had each saved up their allowance (mostly by force) and had been given gift cards from friends and family members. DW and I predetermined one exact souvenir that we would purchase for each of the kids (besides their ears, I mean come on those are a must and don’t count). Again I know this is a detour from our main story but important to know because after the parade we took DS9 to get his special gift. As nothing more than a grown child myself, a truth I ashamedly admit, I knew exactly what to get for DS9. THE MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON IN THE UNIVERSE!!! So we head over toward Star Tours so he can make his own light-saber. As much as this was a great idea for DS9 it was complete torture on my OCD. With each selection he made I stood behind him screaming in my head how those pieces weren’t supposed to go together. Really? A Jedi hilt with a Sith beam and Yoda’s power crystal? You’re killing me kid! I guess the important thing is that he loved it.

I guess.

While we were letting DS9 build his light-saber, the overcast skies decided to finally open up and rain. Although most of the rain was a simply drizzle the moments of downpour had us pinned down. We decide to try and wait out the rain for a moment and look around the rest of the shop. After a vocal chuckle over a t-shirt with Mr. Potato Head in a Darth Vader helmet talking to a French fry saying “I am your father,” I actually made my first pin trade. After scoring the first of the Yeti series I would spend the rest of the trip looking for I decided we cannot wait any longer and needed to head out. Having prepared for rain, we all donned a poncho.

At this time it was drizzling nothing major but in order to avoid the rain DW throws out the idea of going to watch the Beauty and The Beast stage show. As we arrive we notice that the play had already started (I may have mixed up the start times) and we do not have enough time to wait for the next start and make our dinner ADR as it was a bit earlier than normal for us. Instead we decide to peruse the shops between the auditorium and Hollywood and Vine where we were to dine. DW of course was finding many purchases she wanted to make that caused me to find various colorful ways to excuse why that item wasn’t good or right or worth it or whatever that prevented me from having to actually buy it. Big moment for me was Planet Hollywood where they had the pink Power Rangers outfits. Unfortunately DW would not pose for a pic with it. Finally the rain lets up and we head to eat albeit a few minutes early.