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

[ArielSRL]

Great Pre TR and TR! Subbed!

I'm fairly new to the boards but am trying to jump right in. I am assuming the LGMH's = DISers? Is that correct? I think it would be cool for people to wear them everywhere too, not just WDW, so one could see who was part of the "family". What do you got to do to get one of these? I wanna feel like I am part of the group too. LOL

Anyway, I have been to WDW many times and DL twice. I was waiting til I heard about a new job (teacher here!) and I did. Just signed my new contract! So, because of this I am able to start planning my upcoming trips. I plan to get an AP and go for a long weekend in Oct (for my birthday, MNSSHP, and F&W Fest), a long weekend in Dec (the Christmas Party, the holiday decorations & Mega Mouse Meet) and then a week or so long trip after school is out in May/June. I am hoping to do Pre-Trippies and TRs for all my upcoming trips! I am so inspired by all these great TRs I am reading - which I am reading to get some pixie dust during this WDW dry time!

My first trip to WDW was in 1977, when I was 4. I need to dig out all the old photos, scan some in, and post them, too! Thanks for the idea!

Anyway, I am loving the TR and am on the edge of my seat, waiting for more!

 

[PittypatBR]

I love that your daughter and you share this wonderful love together and that you are passing it on to her kiddos.

I wish for you the same kind of relationship with your girls when they grow up. Of course, first you have to get through adolescence!

Your grandbabies are going to have so many wonderful memories of you going to WDW with them!

My DH says if he had known how much fun grandchildren would be he would have skipped the kids and gone straight to the grandkids!

Loving the TR. Your GD is the cutest thing with those curls!

I too am re-reading the HP series in preparation for the new book/movie in July. I am super excited!

I am actually hoping that Disney will do something HP related now that they have rights to the movies.

Anyway...Keep up the good work! Looking forward to the next installment.

Welcome, team weasel1 Thanks! Wouldn't it be great if Disney picked up on HP?

 

[PittypatBR]

Great Pre TR and TR! Subbed!

I'm fairly new to the boards but am trying to jump right in. I am assuming the LGMH's = DISers? Is that correct? I think it would be cool for people to wear them everywhere too, not just WDW, so one could see who was part of the "family". What do you got to do to get one of these? I wanna feel like I am part of the group too. LOL



My first trip to WDW was in 1977, when I was 4. I need to dig out all the old photos, scan some in, and post them, too! Thanks for the idea!

Anyway, I am loving the TR and am on the edge of my seat, waiting for more!

Welcome, ArielSRL! You are exactly the same age as my DD! I love all your plans. How nice to be close enough to do that! I will look forward to reading your TRs in the future! I am a semi-retired high school biology teacher. Congratulations on your new job! By the way, the LGMH refers to Disney paint chips from Home Depot in alien green, therefore "lime green mickey heads"! DISers have adopted the color and the Mickey heads for identification, and try to display them in one way or another while there. I had one attached to my park bag, and two on my window back at Pop. Unfortunately the only DISers I ran into were someone on the plane from New Orleans (I'm so sorry I forgot your "handle"!) and Twende, who left me a note on my door to say Hi. It's kind of funny, because we get so wrapped up in it here on the boards that we expect to see lots of other DISers when we get there, and forget that there are thousands of OTHER people there as well!! Glad to have you with us, and I will look forward to seeing your old pics too!

 

[PrincessV]

Afterwards Jungle Cruise was a short standby, so we rode that.

I love this pic! I can never get a good one on the JC – now I know how!

Wild Child really wanted one of those wonderful swirly popsicles, so we stopped for that.

Did you get to share? I just tried one of those for the first time and it was GOO-OOD!

When we were passing by where the log drops into the pool, we paused long enough for the next log to come down, sending up a huge plume of water which landed right on us. We were all three soaked!!

See, this is why I haven’t ridden (rode?) SplM in years, despite it being one of my favorites. I don’t mind a little spritzing, but soaked does not sound like a good time for me.

DSIL strolled back later to see what was up with the other family and came back to gleefully report that a very LARGE family had taken our place and seemed to be taking over the space pretty thoroughly. So mean Dad got his comeuppance. We would have been NICE neighbors!

Gotta love that Disney karma!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Great stuff, Pittypat!

I'm in!

Cute family!! Love the matching shirts!

 

[DisneyJo]

Loving your TR and I'm the same age as your DD too!!!!! Love the photos of wild child! Can't wait for more!

 

[krismom]

What a fun, loving family you are the matriarch of!
-Great writing, too!

 

[Cory's Gal]

The shirts look great!! I didn't see them in adult sizes!! Your family is beautiful, I was able to share a trip with my DH, DS, and my parents this past year and it's the best!! We are planning another one all together in a few years!! My mom and I get along like you and your daughter!! Thanks for continuing to share your TR!!!

 

[ArielSRL]

Welcome, ArielSRL! You are exactly the same age as my DD! I love all your plans. How nice to be close enough to do that! I will look forward to reading your TRs in the future! I am a semi-retired high school biology teacher. Congratulations on your new job! By the way, the LGMH refers to Disney paint chips from Home Depot in alien green, therefore "lime green mickey heads"! DISers have adopted the color and the Mickey heads for identification, and try to display them in one way or another while there. I had one attached to my park bag, and two on my window back at Pop. Unfortunately the only DISers I ran into were someone on the plane from New Orleans (I'm so sorry I forgot your "handle"!) and Twende, who left me a note on my door to say Hi. It's kind of funny, because we get so wrapped up in it here on the boards that we expect to see lots of other DISers when we get there, and forget that there are thousands of OTHER people there as well!! Glad to have you with us, and I will look forward to seeing your old pics too!

Thanks for the welcome and the congrats! Yes, it is nice to be in GA, and slightly closer to the Mouse than most! I pretty much always drive down, but I am not against flying if I can get a great deal.

So where exactly does one get the "lime green mickey heads"? Any info you have would be great!

Keep up the good work on the TR!

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Great writing PittyPat!

I am hooked and officially subscribing~

 

[PittypatBR]

WELCOME Disneyland mama, DisneyJo, krismom, Tiggerwannabe, and welcome back Cory's mom and PrincessV! Thanks for joining me. I hope you get something useful or at least a smile from the TR.

ArielSRL, the LGMH's are available in the paint section at your nearest Home Depot, unless of course some other sticky-fingered DIS boarder has gotten there first. Alien green isn't the most popular color you can imagine, but sometimes it takes a few trips to HD to find them in stock! They just occasionally jump right into our pockets as we go by. Some people do really fancy stuff with them, and you can find those descriptions elsewhere, but I just peeled a couple off, glued them back to back, and put contact paper on them. A couple I didn't even peel off - just used the whole square! Then I punched a hole in one ear so I could attach it to my pack.

Okay, on to the next installment so I can finish this day.

 

[PittypatBR]

When we got out of the Movie Ride, we looked at the schedule and decided we could make it to the performance of Beauty and the Beast that was starting at 4. It wouldn’t matter if we were a little late, and it might be nice to be under cover from the looks of the sky. We would get out just in time to make it to Mama Malone’s for our dinner ADR at 4:40. (When I made our ADR’s, the times left for several dinners were either early or late. Late doesn’t work well for our kiddos – they are used to eating at 5:30-6:30, and meals that end at 8 or later leave everyone cranky, grown-ups included! So we decided to take early times and then eat an early lunch.) So off we went to B and B and arrived shortly after it began. There were lots of seats left so we settled in and enjoyed it. When the show ended (about ten minutes before our ADR) and we began to file out, it started to rain lightly. We reached into our handy-dandy park packs and pulled out our el-cheapo ponchos and began to don them. Then it started to rain harder. Well, no problem, we were suited up and ready for the elements.

THEN . . . . we heard the thunder. Loud thunder. Suddenly the trip across the park took on new anxieties. Even an ADR wasn’t worth getting hit by lightning. The rest of the audience felt the same way, so most of us hung around the exit waiting for the storm to blow over. (Most of them weren’t prepared with ponchos, either.) The wind was pretty brisk by this time so we were hoping for it to move on quickly. After about ten minutes, the thunder and lightning seemed farther away so we decided to strike out. As soon as we got out to the street, the rain got heavier and more importantly, the lightning got closer. At this point safety beckoned and we ducked into a handy gift shop, along with roughly half the people in the park. We stayed there for another 15-20 minutes, but at least there were things to look at for the kids. Finally we gathered our courage, seized the ponchos to keep them from blowing off, and made a run for it. Now, I had not looked at the map very carefully, so I had gotten the location of Mama Malone’s confused with the 50’s Prime Time Café and I didn’t think we had very far to go. NOT SO! When DD looked carefully at the map we realized we were almost exactly on the other side of the park from MM. Oh well, the lightning is bound to be drawn to all those taller structures around us, right? No, we did a little broken field running and forded a few swollen rivers that used to be streets, but we did NOT endanger our lives.

Finally arriving at MM’s, we apologetically gave our name, stripped off the ponchos and stuffed them into one of my handy plastic bags, and sat down in a nice dry foyer. We were a little late, but managed to get seated within 10-15 minutes. (Within 5 minutes of our arrival at MM the rain had stopped completely!) Having perused the food porn site beforehand, I knew that they had excellent calamari here, so DD, DSIL, and I had that for our appetizer while DH had Caesar salad. Dreamboy and Wild Child had soup for their appetizer but mostly helped us eat our calamari. For the entrée, DH, DSIL and I had the charred butcher tender steak, and DD had the pork tenderloin. Desserts included cheesecake, gelato, and I had the wonderful chocolate truffle cake. The food and service were nice, and we all enjoyed our meal. It was a very relaxed pace which was nice after all the stress of getting there! We received our Fantasmic pass without having any idea if we were going to be able to use it. Have you ever noticed that most of the table service restaurants at WDW are windowless caves? (With the exception of CG, of course!) We emerged to find almost clear skies, so we began to feel encouraged about the possibility of seeing Fantasmic.

At this point, DH declared his intention of returning to PC. Again, Dreamboy opted to go back to the resort with Pop, and DSIL’s back was bothering him so he went along. That left the Fearless Femmes with a little time on our hands and the show to look forward to. Now Wild Child had earlier declared her desire to ride Tower of Terror, but DD and I weren’t really sure how she would like it. Now she again insisted she wanted to ride, and since DD and I just happen to love that experience we headed off to the Hotel of fear. After the storm, the park had cleared out quite a bit, so it was a wonderful time to ride. We basically just walked straight in and rode, and this at 7 pm. Wild Child thoroughly enjoyed it, although she tends to grab her mom and hide her face against DD’s arm at the climax of any ride. Afterwards WC was insistent that she wanted to ride RnRC, and cried when we said she was too small so we had to walk her over and show her the measurement board. After drying her tears, we decided to do the Backlot Tour next to fill the time. Wild Child did enjoy Catastrophe Canyon but I think the ride was better before the Extreme Motor Show took over their space.

Now you may be wondering why we skipped the big shows at DS. We had seen all of them last trip, and they just weren’t high on the kids’ priority list. We will definitely see them again next time. I think Dreamboy would have enjoyed the car stunts again, but we mostly preferred to do other things.

After this it was time to go get in our reserved spot for Fantasmic. (Of course with the low crowds it was totally unnecessary as there were LOTS of seats right up until the show started.) We picked out a nice spot and spread out our ponchos to protect our nice dry clothes and DD went off to get popcorn to entertain Wild Child. Meanwhile I pulled out the glow necklace and wand I had brought along and we put them together. There was a very nice family sitting in front of us and the brother and sister were playing a hand clap game. WC was fascinated and tried to play with us, so the kids took her down with them and taught her the game.

Here is Wild Child waiting for the show.

Fantasmic was wonderful, as always, but the wind was blowing rather hard and kept blowing the spray on the audience. We were sitting up fairly high, but at times it felt like we were back in the rain! I finally pulled out one of the damp ponchos and used it for partial cover for WC and me, and that was more comfortable. Afterwards we hopped, skipped, and jumped back to catch the bus to Pop. Dreamboy had a great time playing in the pool and the guys had a good time watching him and relaxing.

So here is the big revelation from this trip. YOU DON”T HAVE TO SPEND EVERY MINUTE TOGETHER TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!! As a matter of fact, everyone has a better time if they get to do what they like best! Dreamboy can swim and play imaginary games, Wild Child can ride thrill rides and sleep late, DH can come and go, eating main meals with us and spending some time in the parks but also relaxing at Pop. DD can hit it hard with me, and DSIL can carve out a little more relaxation. And I can unleash my commando heart and go early with Dreamboy and late with Wild Child, run across the parks for the fast passes, and nurture the plan. What fun!! (Of course, it helped that we had a ratio of 4 adults to 2 children, but that was just lagniappe. ) Our last trip would have gone better if we had split up more. We had an 18 year old in the mix then, so there was even more variation in likes and dislikes. Our problem then was that we thought it might be a long time before we got to return, and we couldn’t bear to miss anything, including the kids’ reactions to things. We have already made the decision that we will be back within a couple of years, so the urgency was not as great.

So, our plan for Monday is Epcot. But one more thing happened before this night was over, and it was kind of painful. Next up – OUCH!

 

[KatGarcia]

How I m,issed your pre TR i dunno...but i'm here now enjoying myself very much! What a great family you have!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Welcome back, Pitty Pat! I was wondering I hadn't got through your pre trip, and kept thinking, "now where was that non-commando report?" Thanks for writing!

 

[PittypatBR]

How I m,issed your pre TR i dunno...but i'm here now enjoying myself very much! What a great family you have!

Welcome KatGarcia! They are very special, and I have several more grandchildren to enjoy WDW with in the future!

Welcome back, Pitty Pat! I was wondering I hadn't got through your pre trip, and kept thinking, "now where was that non-commando report?" Thanks for writing!

Thanks, MAGICFOR2. Glad you are back on board!

 

[PittypatBR]

We got off the bus at Pop and headed for the food court to refill mugs. As my DGD went skipping along by my side, she kicked my little toe. I looked down and was horrified to see my toe sticking out at about a 45 degree angle from where it should have been. OH NO, a broken toe at Disney!! How would I do all the walking I needed to do? I just couldn't be an invalid after all that planning! So I reached down to see if it really was broken and if I could feel the bone wiggle. When I gave the toe a twitch back into position, I heard a pop/snap and it settled back into a much less acute angle. I still figured it was broken, so hurried on ahead and grabbed ice from the ice machine as I headed to the room. I filled a plastic bag and iced the toe down for about two hours. Miracle of miracles, the next morning I cautiously took a look and there was not much swelling and only a little redness - NOT the purple and red throbbing blob that a broken toe would have been. I tested my shoes and discovered that the Birks didn't touch it but gave it a little protection. So off I went, and never slowed down. Guess it was just dislocated. It is still a little tender and larger than my other little toe, but was I lucky!!

Before I go on to Tuesday at Epcot, I wanted to talk a little bit about Pop Century. First of all, here is the Mickey phone icon by our elevator. You can almost see our room in this picture, on the second floor about four rooms down.

It was a really wonderful location. It was a short walk to the hippy dippy pool or the food court, not a bad walk to the busses, and we passed the Goofy spray pad every time. The playground wasn’t far, but we never made it there to play. The kids just naturally ended up in the pool or spray pad when we were at the PC. We never tried out the other pools, either, but they looked fine. The theming was great and the grounds were very well kept. We enjoyed seeing the bunnies and duck families on the grounds. The lake was very pretty. I don’t understand why Disney doesn’t go ahead and complete the rest of the decades. It would seem that they could fill the rooms if they had them.

The rooms themselves were quite nice. A couple of features I liked were the shelf above the sinks to hold our toiletries, the hooks on the back of the bathroom door, and the clothesline above the tub. No, the room wasn’t really large, but it was perfectly adequate. We had small towel animals when we got there but didn’t get replacements during the week but the rooms were cleaned just fine ( and yes, we were tipping). The towel animals vary depending on which mousekeeper does your room.

The bus ride from Pop to MK was long, but no worse than from lots of other resorts. The ride to Epcot and DS wasn’t bad at all, and AK was in-between because of the stop at BB. They kept the busses coming quite well and we rarely had to wait very long either coming or going. If there was a long line and we didn’t all get on they would usually call in another bus pretty quickly. Now if we could just convince the teenage boys and young men to get up and give their seats to old people and mothers with young children! (Actually, I saw more courtesy this time than the last time I visited. I think it is often just thoughtlessness more than anything.)

The food court was fine. We liked that the beverage station had icees for the refillable mugs. (We love the refillable mugs, but miss the resort themed ones.) There were adequte food choices, and the choice of snacks for the food plan was very good. That makes the dining plan much better. The first time we used it two years ago they were still working out the kinks and very few things were available for snack credits. This time we used them for breakfast a lot as well as late night healthy snacks like vegs and dip and fruit. I'm not a coffee drinker but my family is and I didn't hear any complaints so guess the coffee is no worse than most places.

So overall, we really liked Pop Century. We will definitely go back there in the future. Of all the value AND moderate resorts, it is my favorite. We would love to stay at the Poly some day - who wouldn't? It's a great place, especially with kids. We would also like to try AK, becaue we love the animals. Otherwise, it's PC for us.

 

[PrincessV]

When I made our ADR’s, the times left for several dinners were either early or late. Late doesn’t work well for our kiddos – they are used to eating at 5:30-6:30, and meals that end at 8 or later leave everyone cranky, grown-ups included!

I hear you on that one – no way can my DS hold out past 6:30. The upside is that it seems most WDW-goers dine alter and I’ve always had a pretty easy time getting ADRs!

(Within 5 minutes of our arrival at MM the rain had stopped completely!)

Welcome to Florida!

There was a very nice family sitting in front of us and the brother and sister were playing a hand clap game. WC was fascinated and tried to play with us, so the kids took her down with them and taught her the game.

I love that kind of Disney Magic!

So, our plan for Monday is Epcot. But one more thing happened before this night was over, and it was kind of painful. Next up – OUCH!

Uh-oh…. This does not sound good…

 

[ArielSRL]

ArielSRL, the LGMH's are available in the paint section at your nearest Home Depot, unless of course some other sticky-fingered DIS boarder has gotten there first. Alien green isn't the most popular color you can imagine, but sometimes it takes a few trips to HD to find them in stock! They just occasionally jump right into our pockets as we go by. Some people do really fancy stuff with them, and you can find those descriptions elsewhere, but I just peeled a couple off, glued them back to back, and put contact paper on them. A couple I didn't even peel off - just used the whole square! Then I punched a hole in one ear so I could attach it to my pack.

Okay, thanks. I guess I will make a trip to the Home Depot soon and look for me some LGMH's!

 

[PittypatBR]

I hear you on that one – no way can my DS hold out past 6:30. The upside is that it seems most WDW-goers dine alter and I’ve always had a pretty easy time getting ADRs!

Yes, that really helped us because we didn't set our dates until less than 90 days out. It probably helps too that everyone from the western half of the US is still on another time zone and eating later works well for them!

Welcome to Florida!

Yeah, you'd think I'd be used to that since I'm from Louisiana!

I love that kind of Disney Magic!

Yes, they were SO sweet. They totally made up for the unpleasant dad the day before.

Uh-oh…. This does not sound good…

And as you have probably read by now, it sounded worse than it was, fortunately!

 

[PittypatBR]

Okay, thanks. I guess I will make a trip to the Home Depot soon and look for me some LGMH's!

You go, girl!