NO COMMANDO?? . . . .ARGHH! Can I do this?

[ArielSRL]

That was a smart move! We are on a similar schedule here, and probably in most places in the south. But I agree that Aug. 1 is WAY too early. One of the problems is that we get a lot of time off during the year, which keeps pushing the beginning earlier and earlier. I am retired from full time teaching and just work part time as a mentor to beginning teachers, but I like to go back and sub at my old school occasionally. It gives me a little extra play money and it lets me catch up with all my old friends!

Sounds like a good reason! I guess I should have said 'new teacher to the district' b/c I have been teaching for 8 years now, as well as subbing this year. Not that anyone asked...lol. At least they pay a stipend for me to report that early.

 

[ArielSRL]

"When we came out, the line for Nemo had disappeared so we hopped right in and before you knew it we were loading in the clamshells. We had not seen this since the renovation, and it was a lot of fun. All in all, this attraction is a little more kid-attractive, but I miss the scientific orientation of the old version. What WERE those elevators called? "

I think they were hydrolators? Is that right?

I was thinking hydro-lifts...but you might be right. It's something close to one of those...lol.

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

Just found this - great so far! Your family is lovely. Can't wait for the rest!

 

[DisneyJo]

Oh no not the hook glow thingie

 

[lynn2art]

HI all, I wanted to add that in the line for soarin (at Epcot) they have these flat screen tvs with trivia questions. That really seemed to entertain dreamy. He really likes trivia even if some of it was advanced for him. It kept him entertained. I must say that my Mom did an amazing job with the schedule. I had to laugh when we got in a line that lasted over 15 minutes (which was rare) and dreamy would complain about the wait! He would say we should have fast passed it. Also at the Coral reef, I was too full for desert so ordered coffee instead which they counted as a desert portion on the dining plan. I am not a huge sweets person normally so skipping desert doesn't bother me. I, however, can only drink coffee before 5:00 or (or I can't sleep) so this was only an option at lunch. I agree that the dining plan has its plusses but does eat up a lot of time. I think that combining sit down meals for "better" restaurants might be something to consider unless you have a really big appetite.

 

[puggymom]

OK, I'm in and all caught up. Glad to hear your toe wasn't too bad.

I haven't eaten at Coral Reef in years, may have to try it again soon(ish).

Loved how you planned, but aren't going commando.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[PittypatBR]

I think they were hydrolators? Is that right?

Pittypat, I just found your trip report yesterday, and I think we may have been related in another life! You think so much like I do! And I'm the one always starting early and going late, as opposed to the younger members of my family.

I'm enjoying your trip just like I was there. Keep it coming!

Hydrolators! That's it! Had a senior moment there! Welcome soldiersmom! Those kids and younger adults just wear out on me too! So glad to have you along!

At least they pay a stipend for me to report that early.

Glad you're getting that stipend - we never did!

Just found this - great so far! Your family is lovely. Can't wait for the rest!

Thanks, Illumuminations_Rocks! Happy to have you join us!

Oh no not the hook glow thingie

And they were so much fun, too! That was DGD and DGS favorite souvenir, I think!

I must say that my Mom did an amazing job with the schedule. I had to laugh when we got in a line that lasted over 15 minutes (which was rare) and dreamy would complain about the wait! He would say we should have fast passed it.

Also at the Coral reef, I was too full for desert so ordered coffee instead which they counted as a desert portion on the dining plan.

Well thank you, Darlin'. That's what keeps me planning! We did get a little spoiled about our wait-times. (Thank you Unofficial Guide! )

And I have to make a mistake now and then to get her to come in and correct me!

OK, I'm in and all caught up. Glad to hear your toe wasn't too bad.

I haven't eaten at Coral Reef in years, may have to try it again soon(ish).

Loved how you planned, but aren't going commando.

Can't wait to read more.

So happy to have you here, Puggymom. I've been enjoying your writing for a while now, too!

 

[princessjv]

What secret plan do you have up your sleeves? Is it for MK?

 

[PittypatBR]

What secret plan do you have up your sleeves? Is it for MK?

Comin' soon . . . .

 

[dddisrunner]

Loving your report! Your family is to cute! We ate at Coral Reef too. We thought the food was good but the service was so slow! Almost 2 hours for our meal. Can't wait to read what's coming up next!

 

[PittypatBR]

Loving your report! Your family is to cute! We ate at Coral Reef too. We thought the food was good but the service was so slow! Almost 2 hours for our meal. Can't wait to read what's coming up next!

I agree on the time issue, but all of the table service non-buffet restaurants were about the same. The worse thing was waiting for the check AFTER we finished eating. That cost about 10-15 minutes every time!

 

[PittypatBR]

Here’s the plan. We will get to the park reasonably early (no rope drops for us, though) and go straight to Fantasyland so that Wild Child can do some of her favorites. Then we will hit Tomorrowland so Dreamy can hit some of his. We have ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:25. We would like to finish what we want to do in the rest of MK before then and be able to leave afterwards for an early evening. How crowded will it be? How early can we get everyone (particularly WC) going? How hot will it be in the afternoon without a swim break? Quite a few ??? in the plan!

As usual, I am up first. After going up front and filling the mugs, I take a quick shower. By that time, everyone is stirring except Wild Child, so Dreamboy and I go up front to get him some breakfast. He loves those pancakes, so we get an adult pancake breakfast, an extra side of bacon, some cereal, chocolate milk, and bread to toast. This pretty much feeds the whole family, but Dreamboy eats the most! (He is the only one of us who is normally a big breakfast eater at home. Now you may realize from seeing the pictures that this may be the ONLY meal he eats – he is a skinny little guy!) Wild Child is up by the time we get back with the food, so we get her medicine and a little food down her, get her dressed, and off we go to the bus stop. Uh oh, there is a long line for MK- guess that’s what happens when you get going earlier. A bus pulls up shortly but it is very obvious that we aren’t going to make it on this one. Sure enough, the bus is full with only one family left in front of us. That’s okay, at least we will get to sit, and it is a long ride anyway! Eventually, we get to the MK gates at around ten or ten-thirty.

We make our way toward the castle and stop to grab the obligatory castle pics.

We notice that the show in front of the castle is going on. Hey, maybe that will suck away enough kids that ours can get on a ride or two. Sure enough, we manage to get in Dumbo, Snow White, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Pooh, Peter Pan, and IASWAA in a fairly short time.

Those singing and dancing dolls still grab you.

In the middle of this we decide we had better grab an early lunch since our dinner ADR’s are early so we drop in at Cosmic Ray’s. I really wanted to eat lunch at Pecos Bill’s, my favorite CS in MK, but after a VERY brief reflection I recognize the futility of crisscrossing the park for cheese sauce. DH and I weren’t very hungry, so we got a double cheeseburger meal and an extra bun and split the meal, which was just about the perfect size. As we were finishing our meal, DD and family finally arrived with theirs. Apparently there were “issues” with the order right in front of them, the manager got involved, and it took FOREVER to get theirs. That’s okay with Wild Child, she was sitting with us, sharing our FF and cookie and enjoying the entertainment.

After fortifying ourselves against the imminent danger of starvation, we headed for Buzz Lightyear, where Dreamy and his dad managed to beat DH and me AND WC and Mom, making him very happy. He also loves TTA, so we hopped aboard. This happens to be DH and my favorite way to take a relaxing break in MK also. This time something very weird happened. As we entered Space Mountain, it wasn’t very dark. What was going on here? As we got farther in, it was apparent that it was not running, and all the lights were on!! COOL! We had never seen what it looked like before! I guess they were working on it, but the only people we saw were two bored CM’s at the loading ramp.

Backtracking through Fantasyland, we headed for Haunted Mansion. The ghosts and spooks were enjoyed by all! When we got out, we started to Frontierland and realized people were lining the streets for the parade. We need FP’s for TR, so I dash over for those and come back while the others find a spot for the parade. We watch the parade behind a planter, which was fine until grown-ups climb up and tromp through the planter in front of the kids. Okay, they can still see enough to be happy. After the parade, Dreamboy and DH, who do NOT want to ride TR, head for the riverboat while DD, DSIL, WC, and I ride TR. WC enjoys it but still hides her eyes behind mom! We meet DH and Dreamboy and Wild Child has a close encounter with an egret

A bunch of cowboy and cowgirl CM’s show up in the street and a cowgirl grabs Dreamy to do the hokey pokey.

Next: Dinner at LTT and the rest of the day

 

[jenr812]

OK I'm finally getting caught up! I adore the pic of you with DGD in post 115! Too cute. And it's great that your DD is posting here too - perfect addition! I hope you get another Captain Hook!!! So without spoiling anything, did your DGD have a migraine-free trip overall? I really hope so!! How cool that you got to see Space all lit up. I hope it wasn't down for too long. That is one of our favorite rides ever! I can't wait to hear about LTT - we're going there too. I hope you post before we leave

 

[PittypatBR]

OK I'm finally getting caught up! I adore the pic of you with DGD in post 115! Too cute. And it's great that your DD is posting here too - perfect addition! I hope you get another Captain Hook!!! So without spoiling anything, did your DGD have a migraine-free trip overall? I really hope so!! How cool that you got to see Space all lit up. I hope it wasn't down for too long. That is one of our favorite rides ever! I can't wait to hear about LTT - we're going there too. I hope you post before we leave

Thanks! Read the next post for the answers to those two questions! As for the migraines, she made it just fine until the last morning (our departure day) when she woke up with one. Thank goodness we had changed our plans and gone to MK the afternoon before, so all we missed doing was Downtown Disney and Disney Quest. DGS was disappointed about missing Disney Quest, so DH took him in the game room and let him play $20 worth of games, which partially made up for it since he hadn't gotten to play any all week!

I know you are finishing your last minute stuff now, so let me wish you a WONDERFUL, MAGICAL trip!! ixiedust: I'm sure it will be.

 

[PittypatBR]

We take a break to find the bathrooms now, and I really want a Dole whip float, since the DIS seems to think that is a “must have.” They were RIGHT!! Yuummmy! We relax on a shady front porch with rocking chairs for a few minutes in Frontierland and then decide to split up again. Wild Child wants to ride POC again, and DH hasn’t ridden it yet and it is one of his favorites. Dreamboy doesn’t want to ride it, so he and I head out to the Hall of Presidents. He enjoys it but it is penance for me as I am NOT a big history fan. I’m a science person – I taught biology, I briefly worked in labs, and I love science. Dreamy shares this love (along with most of our family) but he likes geography, and he’s starting to learn some history in school, so I thought he might like to learn about the presidents. He does seem to like it, and I get a little nap during the show.

After the show, we walked across the street to Liberty Tree Tavern, (checking out the Liberty Bell on the way) where the rest of the crew joined us shortly. After POC they had taken Wild Child to see the Tiki Room. LTT was the only table service restaurant we ate in the first time we went to WDW 30 years ago, so it was fun to bring it full circle. As I check in, I notice that they have the light up Hook and Tink kids drinks on the menu, so I explain what happened to Hook and ask if I can possibly buy another without buying the drink. Such a nice lady – she goes in the back and gets one and GIVES it to me. A little Disney magic for me. ixiedust: I tuck it away SAFELY this time.

The format of LTT is family style service. They bring platters of food to the table and you serve yourselves. This makes the meal go quickly, and the characters are paced well also. The appetizer is salad, and the entrée is a platter of pot roast, ham, and turkey and dressing. There are sides of mac and cheese, creamed potatoes, and green beans. The dessert is apple cobbler with ice cream. The food here is not the attraction. It tastes like your basic cafeteria food, but there is plenty of it and the characters are the focus. Plus you can finish the meal in a reasonable amount of time.

After dinner, everyone is ready to head back to Pop right away, but I have two left-over fast passes to Buzz in my pocket. I asked Dreamboy if he wanted to take on the aliens one more time, and he was all for that, so we parted company with the others. I promised Wild Child I would get in the pool with her when we got back. After our little detour and a fast battle with Zurg, we headed for Main Street.

My sweet Dreamboy was ready to get back to the pool, but was gracious enough to allow me to hit the Main Street Bakery for a cinnamon roll and apple pastry for breakfast in the morning. Love those new snack credit rules. We headed for Pop and went straight to the room to change for the pool. On the way back to join the others, Dreamboy decided he wanted to stop and try out the Goofy splashpad. He had such a good time there I almost had to drag him away to get to the pool 20 minutes later!

It was a good thing we went on, though, because Wild Child was waiting for me to swim with her. DD said she had been telling all the other kids in the pool that Mimi was going to come swim with her. Awwww, melt my heart. That pool may have technically been heated, but I can assure you it was not bathtub warm. Plus that cool breeze was still blowing. I stayed in and played with both the kids for about 20 minutes or so but that was all I could take! Plus there was a very aggravating little boy who thought it was funny to splash me repeatedly after I told him I didn’t want to get my hair wet. Not an adorable munchkin. Warm shower, here I come! After the kids’ baths, we were ALL pretty weary so we went to sleep quickly.
Because tomorrow we are going to see some animals.

 

[jenr812]

Yay for getting a new Hook in a magical way! And Hooray that DGD didn't have a migraine til the last day. Well it stinks that she had one at all but you KWIM! Thanks for the review of LTT. I think it will be fun!

 

[timandlesley]

Loving the report, love all the photo's. You got to do a lot for not doing rope drop,what time did you get there? LTT photo's were great, almost made me want to change ADR's until I read your food comment : ) That is the reason we've avoided it but so glad you guys had a great time. Can't wait to read more!
Lesley

 

[lynn2art]

I will agree that you do not go to the Liberty tree tavern for the food. It is OK, but definitely like cafeteria food. I am glad that we went though. This was a great stop for the character meal. I find that buffets can be nerve wracking.: You never know if a character will come while you or a kid is getting food. Since there are really only two of us that take pictures, we have to be at the ready too. At this place you never leave your table so there is NO stress. There is something to be said for that, even if it is at the price of "better" food. I found that the characters here were not rushed and bantered with the kids, which is fun. I also like the selection of charaters. Our first meal at 1900 park fare was fun (with a little better food) but this was more relaxing and appealed to both our kids. So if you are considering character meals, keep it in mind. Be sides, the food is spotty at Disney anyway, except for a few that are consistantly good.

 

[KatGarcia]

I think we are going to try LTT next trip. It just seems so convenient being in MK and we def didn't really utilize any MK restaurants much these last few trips. Ive heard mixed reviews on the food...you say what I have mostly heard that the characters are the main but how is the food really?? Anything inedible?? Thanks much...enjoying your report!

 

[DisneyJo]

You're such a good Mimi, taking the kids for rides and especially swimming with them, they are very lucky!