No Lines, Free Dines and Wiggly Times with PICS (8/28-9/3) LAST DAY ADDED 10/5

[stitchgal]

Cast of Characters

Me, Amy- 31, 10th trip (I think), DH got me into WDW
DH, Jason-32, 20+ trips, went every year as a child
DD, Mallory-3, 2nd trip to WDW, looking forward to it!
DD, Tabitha-just turned 1 and just started walking so we are excited to see her toddle around the World

August 27-September 3, 2006, Port Orleans Riverside

DAY 1, Monday, August 28 Arrival and where are the crowds?

Jason’s mother was visiting us for a few days right before the vacation and was kind enough to drive us to the airport. This saved us the taxi fare and the bother of installing the car seats in the taxi. We arrived at Washington Dulles Airport at 10:10 AM for our 12:38 PM flight to Orlando. Check in and security check went very, very smoothly and we got through in record speed. We had lunch at Potbelly’s in the terminal at 11, more than 1 ½ hrs before our flight so we were doing great on time. After lunch Jason and Mallory went to play in the empty seating area at the end of the terminal. We could watch the construction of the underground transportation system out the window. Mallory made friends and played hide and seek with two kids around her age we met there. Turns out they were on our flight sitting in the row across from us.

According to the gate agent there were only about 40 people on our 117 seat Boeing 717 aircraft. We were seated in the second and third rows of coach, on the side of the aisle with only two seats. This is good because there aren’t any strangers sitting next to us
and being up front means less navigating through the narrow aisles with the wide car seats. The flight went very smoothly and we arrived in Orlando 20 minutes early at 2:30 PM. Mallory fell asleep for the first hour of the flight but Tabitha was a little tougher and didn’t sleep.

After bathroom breaks and a quick monorail ride we arrived at the main terminal. Because we had a stroller, I took the elevators with Tabitha to the baggage claim level while Jason took the escalators with Mallory. There were 3 elevators at the bank I went to. One was apparently stuck on our floor and another one was being worked on, which left only one working so I had to wait about 10 minutes to get on it. After getting the checked bags we noticed that there was another bank of elevators further down. If only we had known…

National is on the second floor of the garage so we had to do elevators again. This time there were two elevators. One was working but the other was closed. MCO had elevator issues aplenty that day. Luckily there was no line so this problem didn’t slow us down. With National we get to pick our car from the Emerald Aisle. There were many types of cars on the aisle. The first one we came across that looked good was a red Chevrolet Impala. Jason camped out by it while I looked down the rest of the aisle. Seeing nothing else interesting, we took the Impala. It passed all the initial tests – it had low mileage, the luggage fit easily in the trunk, it had the LATCH car seat installation system, it had no visible damage and it didn’t smell funny. By the end of the trip we made the car fail that last requirement. We were out of the airport by 3:30 PM.

We arrived to check in to Port Orleans Riverside around 4 PM. The check-in line was very short; I think we were second in line or so. Mallory went off to watch cartoons while Jason and I checked in. After some negotiation, we were given a room in Alligator Bayou, as requested. We asked the check-in cast member about procedures for the Wiggles concert we wanted to see the next day. He called Disney-MGM Studios Guest Relations to get the “definitive word”. We were told that the parking lot would open at 6 AM. Ticket distribution would start at 8 AM. Ticket distribution would be via Fastpass at the “Light. Motor. Action. Extreme Stunt Show” Fastpass machines. All members of the party would not need to be present; however everyone’s park ticket would need to be there to feed the machines.

We got back in the car to drive to our room. We were in building 18, room 1806, which turned out to be a great location, close to parking and the food court. It was also right around the corner from a quiet pool, but maybe a 5 minute walk or so to the main pool. We had stayed at this resort in 2000 when it was known as Dixie Landings. On that trip we also in Alligator Bayou but were given a room with a parking lot view. I was happy this time to get the interior courtyard view which was very pretty.

Our building

The view


The room was as we expected. It was a reasonable size – with two double beds there was still room for the pack-and-play style crib the hotel provide as well as the trundle bed. Even with these extras there was still room to walk around. Only noise “issue” was the loud toilet flush from our bathroom and those around us. But frankly that sort of thing doesn’t bother us.

After waiting for the crib and calling tech support for our new cell phones, we left for the Magic Kingdom around 5:15 PM. Ignoring Disney’s directional signs, we went right out of the main driveway and past Fort Wilderness to get to the parking lot. This may not have been the most efficient way, as it requires circling the entire MK lot in order to get the entrance. Route experimentation would ensue for the rest of the trip. We used our AAA Diamond parking pass to park at the Ticket and Transportation Center. Tabitha had fallen asleep in the car and I was glad when she transferred still sleeping to the stroller.
The walk to the monorail from the diamond lot is a little long, but we prefer being able to “just go” versus waiting for the buses.

We got on the monorail for our express ride to the Magic Kingdom. We were wondering about crowd levels at the parks and noticed as we passed through the Contemporary that the Concourse Steakhouse looked crowded at 5:45 PM. This was bit surprising because Jason never remembers seeing that restaurant particularly crowded.

We entered the park with Tabitha still sleeping in the stroller. Jason noticed that the Jitney had just unloaded, so Mallory and I got aboard for the trip up Main Street. Jason pushed the stroller up Main Street.

We got a first look at the 50th decorated castle. We both liked it a lot, and was glad to get down in time to see it. Or almost anyway. The castle was still fully decorated on the front, but we would find out later today that all the decorations from the back had been removed. It would be an ongoing game whenever we went to the Magic Kingdom to see what other decorations had been removed.

Buzz Lightyear has been our traditional first ride at the MK. With Tabitha asleep, we decided Mallory and I would ride it while Jason went to get fastpasses for Pooh. The fastpass machines for Buzz were closed. Throughout our trip this week we would notice that a number of fastpass machines at rides where they are not really needed were closed early in the day. We guess that this was because of low attendance.

Mallory and I waited in stand-by line instead. Stand-by was posted at 20 minutes but our total wait and ride time was 15 minutes. Mallory didn’t like the ride at all when we were at Disneyland a few months ago but now she has seen Toy Story and knows Buzz so she liked it better this time around. She didn’t say much and I showed her how to work the gun but she just looked around.

After the ride, I asked her if she wanted to ride it again and she said sure. We would find out that she would always answer “Sure”. So to find out the real answer we had to ask “Do you want to ride it again right now?” If she really liked it, she would answer “Yes.” If she wasn’t so sure about it she would say either “Maybe next time” or “Maybe tomorrow.” Buzz was a ride again right now ride.

While we were riding Buzz, Jason went to get the fastpasses for Pooh. He noticed in walking through Tomorrowland and Fantasyland that there were not very crowded. Also the standby line for Pooh was short. After getting the passes he went to Cosmic Ray’s to see how long we would be waiting in line to get our food consider we would be eating at 6:00 during the prime meal rush. There was hardly anybody there! A few registers had no line at all. He headed back to Buzz via the shops for air conditioning.

Tabitha was just waking up at this time and a cast member at Merchant of Venus tried to give her a sticker. Apparently the face of a stranger was not the first thing she wanted to see when waking up. She cried and cried. Jason took the sticker to give to her (or more likely Mallory) later.

We all met at the exit to Buzz and headed off to dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. This would be our first experience with the Disney Dining Plan. Jason and I each used a counter service credit. With no lines at the registers, getting on meal from one side of the restaurant and another meal from a different side was no problem at all. I got a BBQ pork sandwich, which came with pasta salad and chocolate cake for dessert. Jason got half rotisserie chicken and BBQ ribs combo meal which came with mashed potatoes. He got carrot cake for dessert. I was surprised how good the BBQ sandwich was, better than I expected. Jason had a bite and agreed. Jason did not really care for his combo meal – he thought the ribs portion was too small and not very tasty. The chicken was ok, and was big, but he could have gone for less chicken and more ribs. The pre-packaged cake was ok; the icing was the best part of it. We got a zeroed out receipt, but using our memories and online resources we estimate the value of the two counter service credits at $32.53.

After dinner we did Pooh; with the fastpasses, the ride was a walk on. Both girls enjoyed the ride. After the ride, Mallory saw the Pooh playground and wanted to see “Piglet’s house”, the big tree where the Piglet character is sticking out, which I think is really Pooh’s house. The girls liked the playground (Mallory especially liked ringing the bell on Pooh’s house) and Jason went to get fastpasses for Peter Pan while they played around.

We headed over to do Pirates of the Caribbean next. I didn’t know how much I’d like the new Pirates ride but I did like it. We are both fans of the original version but like the new version too. I think the movie music after the short drop is very effective. Jason also liked the movie music but thought it should have started earlier and been louder. The Jack Sparrow animatronic did look good, we both thought. Jason thought the parts prior to the waterfall drop were much improved; he remembers being bored, as a kid ,floating through the caverns and finds the new show elements entertaining. However he really misses the talking skull doing the warning spiel prior to the drop. What is the point of removing it and replacing it with nothing? The changes after the drop were mostly fine. He missed the old dialog of the pirate on the “Wicked Wench”, but liked that the dialog of the other characters in the scene remained the same. He found the last scene much improved especially with the added re-rideability of the many things the Capt. Jack says.

From Pirates, we went to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to get Mallory officially measured. She fell just fell shy of the 40” mark. Having not built anything up in her mind, Mallory was not disappointed. However we are encouraged that she will be tall enough for December.

We then went to try Aladdin’s Magic Carpets. After a short wait we were put into the holding pen for the next ride. When our turn came we went out the pick our carpet. For whatever reason the cast member chose to let people from the main line in to pick carpets (via “the floodgate”) almost immediately letting the holding pen people in. As the floodgate is about an eighth of the way around the ride from the holding pen, and we were slow with our two young children, the floodgate people all got ahead of us. We and one or two other families got to walk all the way around the ride, but no carpets were to be had. We were let back into the holding pen and given an apology. No biggie. So we got to be one of the first in line for the next ride. The ride had a nice cool breeze at dusk.

So far, we had not been too hot and humid, but we were thirsty all the time. We had read ahead of time about getting free ice water at any fountain drink location. We asked for one and got it with no problems in a regular sized drink cup. Much better than the little cups they give you a Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Later we tried specifying a large cup of ice water and we were able to get it in the larger cup with no problem. Even better. Getting an ice water became a big theme of the trip. We got one at the Sunshine Tree Terrace after riding Aladdin.

Our fastpasses for Peter Pan started at 8:25 PM and we were there at 8:30 and had to wait in line for about 10 minutes. Enjoyable as always, but we missed the stars scene that we had seen at Disneyland 3 months earlier. We really liked that effect.

At this point we decided to split up with me taking Tabitha back to the hotel with the car and Jason and Mallory arriving by bus later. Tabitha fell asleep when we hit Main Street.

When Jason set up the stroller earlier in the day, he set the safety lock that keeps it from accidentally folding. This is something I never do. (It is redundant to the handle switches so it doesn’t add much safety anyway -- it’s the lock when it is folded that is more important). Thus, when we got to the car, I was having trouble folding the stroller, and I’ve never had trouble before. No one was near me in the lot but in a few minutes a family came by and I was grateful for their help with folding the stroller. I followed the signs for Port Orleans but still got lost somehow and passed nearly every park and hotel and ended up off property so the journey back was longer than expected.

Jason and I had discussed what rides he was allowed to do without me and the list was pretty slim (no Philharmagic, not Fantasyland dark rides, etc.). I wanted to see Mallory’s reaction to seeing this rides for the first time. However I am not much of a fan of Country Bears and Mallory had very much enjoyed the Tiki Room at Disneyland, so he decided to take Mallory to see that.

It was around 8:45 and Spectomagic was scheduled to start at 9:00. They got to the Country Bears and there was still 10 minutes to the next show. Jason asked the cast member if when the next show let out if Specto would have already started. The cast member said that because Specto starts at Main Street the show would let out on time. Jason the took Mallory to look over Peco Bill’s for lunch one day and to kill time before the show. They walked past the restooms and Jason asked Mallory if she needed to go. She said yes. It’s good to be proactive about these things.

They got back to see the Bears. Mallory enjoyed it. Jason not so much. Mallory would pick out things that the bears said the she liked at repeat them back to Jason. This made the show more “bear”able.

They got out of the show just as the five minute to Spectomagic warning announcement occurred. They picked a seat in front of Country Bears right on the “curb” (or tape line in this case). Did I mention that the park was deserted?

Mallory and Jason both enjoyed the parade. Mallory would tell Jason about the things she saw that she liked.

When the parade ended it was 15 minutes to the fireworks. Jason had read in ZZUB’s “Battle for my Wallet” trip report that a good place to go to see the fireworks was at the cross street half way up (or down) Main Street. So Jason and Mallory headed there. The watched the fireworks, which Jason really enjoyed. Mallory liked them for the first 5 minutes or so, but then put her head down on Jason’s shoulder, turned her head away from them and covered her up ear with her hand. She said they were too loud. This is her typical response. Jason turned halfway so that Mallory was looking towards the fireworks again and they watched the rest of the show that way. Mallory was fine with it.

As soon as the show ended Jason headed for the bus stop. After a slight directional error involving hard to read signs, he got to the stop and was second or third in line. They wait a few minutes for a bus and got seats. Mallory fell asleep halfway though the ride. Jason carried her back to the room, took off her shows and put her to bed. No need for the pajamas, books and songs bedtime routine tonight.

Even though it was late, Jason wanted to go out and see the food court, get his mug, and head to the French Quarter to get some of the infamous beignets. He wanted to do it tonight because he knew he would be too tired to do it any other night. I stayed in the room. He got the mug and filled it for his walk to the French Quarter. The walk took about 10 minutes. When he got to the food court he noted that you could get either three beignets or six. He asked how many he could get with a snack credit. He was told three, so that is what he got. He tried one – it was ok but nothing special. He left the rest with the kids and I for part of our breakfast the next day.
Coming up next – “Let’s Wiggle”

 

[ekball]

I'm on board - Great start!!
We leave in 14 days (woo hoo!) for a week with our DD (just under 3) and DS (14 mos.) - very similar to your crew so I'm anxious to read all about how your kiddos did. Sounds like a good start to me! I'm also anxious to hear about the Wiggles.....sans Greg?!?
Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Great trippie! Looking forward to hearing about your experience with the little ones. We leave in 2 days with 2 kiddos.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Manda]

I'm loving the details, Amy! Can't wait to read more!

 

[jenjersnap]

Great report, Amy!

 

[stitchgal]

DAY 2, Tuesday, August 29 Let's Wiggle

Jason got up at 5:45 AM to head over to MGM to get Wiggles tickets. We were a little worried about getting tickets, so we decided it would be best for him to get there around the 6:00 AM parking lot opening. He took some reading material to pass the time, so it was not a big deal for him. He deliberately got there a little after 6 AM, just in case there was a big line of cars waiting to get in. Hopefully by then the cars would already be in the lot and he would not have to wait parked in the street.

After driving the nearly deserted roads of Disney world at night with a condensation covered windshield he got to the Studios at 6:09 AM. There was no line of cars waiting to get in. He asked about using AAA Diamond parking but was told that lot was not open yet. That’s ok. When he got to his parking space he noticed that there were only about 30 cars parked in the lot. Maybe he got there a little earlier than necessary.

He walked to the main entrance and got into the dedicated line for Wiggles fans. The line started at the turnstiles and he was waiting about 20 feet behind the ticket booths.
There were probably less than 100 people in front of him.

Figuring the cast members present would surely have the final word about the procedures, he verified everything he had been told. Yes, distribution would start at 8:00. Yes, fastpasses from the Lights. Blah, Blah, etc, etc Show fastpass machines. Yes, one ticket per park pass. No you could not pick your show time, but if you wanted to wait, they would hold you aside in line until the show prior to the one you wanted sold out. You could then be first to get tickets for the one you want.

From talking with a few people and listening to other people’s conversations, (It’s hard not to the way people yell into cell phones) Jason found at that others had been told different things the day before about what to expect. Some people brought their little kids with them thinking they would need to be present to get tickets. Some people sent only the adult, but also only the one park ticket. This was not really surprising considering all the contradictory information we had received in the days and weeks before. But we had planned for the worst and had what we needed.

There was an official photographer there who was taking lots of pictures. Later in the week we noticed that Johnny (the guy with the Sprites) had one too. Jason wonders if his picture is floating around out there with the caption “Dedicated Wiggles Dad Gets Up Way Too Early”.

A little before 7:00 Jason checked the line behind him. The line had not even doubled yet. Then the line started to move. Once inside the park, there was a breakfast, coffee and pastry place open in case anyone wanted to buy something to eat. Disney thinks of everything, especially when it involves getting your money. The beginning of the line moved up to the Sorcery Mickey’s Hat area. Jason stopped about halfway down the street. The end of the line was not even at the end of the street.

Figuring that the Indiana Jones theater holds thousands and the line was not even 200 people long, Jason decided that there was no reason the stand in line anymore when there was a nice park bench across the street. So he exited the line and sat down to read and call me with an update. We planned to meet near the entrance at 9:00 and see the 10:00 show.

At around 7:30 Jason re-entered the line, which still did not reach to the end of the street. A little bit later the line moved up to the arch in front of the Little Mermaid theater. Jason’s part was against a low wall just the right height for sitting. Perfect.

The line moved again at 7:50. The line now started at the Flatbread Grill. The grill was open for breakfast especially for Wiggles fans. Another opportunity for Disney to get your money.

8:00 the line didn’t move. 8:05. 8:10. The crowd grows a little restless. Some people from the back head toward the front “just to see”. They are not observed returning. Finally at 8:15, the line moves up to the fastpass machines and distribution starts. Now I don’t know if you ever have seen large numbers of people try to use a fastpass machine. It’s a rather slow process. Part of the problem is it takes a few seconds from insertion to ticket distribution. Another part is that sometimes the fastpasses get stuck and don’t fall down to where you can reach them. A larger part is that people don’t have all their tickets ready. Still others have never used the machine before. What does this all add up too? The line moved ssslllooooowwwww.

At worst Jason was 200 in line. It took at least 15 minutes to get to the front of the line. At this rate, would all the tickets for the 10:00 even be distributed prior to the show starting?

Jason was second in line when the whole process got shutdown. Apparently plan B was to be put in action. The fastpass machines were turned off, and preprinted slips of paper were handed out. You could even pick the time of your show. So Jason took the 2:30 as we had originally planned. There was not park ticket check. You could have as many tickets as you like.

After he got our tickets, Jason tried to call me again, but I never answered the phone and we realized later my phone wasn’t working properly. This was around 8:40. Noticing the line was shortening rapidly, Jason re-entered the line. It moved twice the distance Jason was in it the first time in only 5 minutes. Much more efficient. He got tickets for the 10:00 show so that he was covered for either of our plans.
Apparently if he had got to the park by 8:30 he would have been fine.

Meanwhile, the girls and I had breakfast at the Riverside food court (we shared beignets in the room before leaving for breakfast-I thought they were yummy.) and Mallory had to have her cereal with no milk, which she shared with Tabitha, and they also shared an orange. I paid out of pocket since Jason had my resort card in case he needed it to get Wiggles tickets.

After eating, I went back to the room because I realized I forgot to pack wipes. When I got back to the room, I noticed one of Tabitha’s shoes were missing, so we went back to the food court and luckily it was still under the table.

We took the bus to MGM and arrived there a little past 9 AM. We met up with Jason. He had gone to the Wiggles theater, and a cast member there had said they were already seating so we headed for the Epic theater to Gate B as our tickets showed. It turned out they weren’t seating yet but we waited there for about 20 minutes before being seated. The line area was cool and shaded. A nice mist started spraying but then it did not stop. Everyone was getting soaked and I mean soaked; our hair was really wet. I wish we had pictures. Jason brought back ice waters for the wait.

They let us in about 15 minutes before the show and we found seats in the middle a quarter of the way up the bleachers, but really anywhere would have been good seats. We found out later that if we had Gate A tickets we may have been able to get floor seats. The theater did not even fill up for the first show. We were really surprised. It was a nice concert, about 35-40 minutes long. The yellow Wiggle, Greg Page, had left the tour earlier to go back to Australia and one of the Wiggly dancers, Sam Moran, filled in for him. I was a little disappointed at first that Greg wasn’t going to be there since he sings the majority of their songs. Sam was a great replacement though. All the other Wiggles characters were there too-Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword. Tabitha seemed interested in the concert but I thought she was going to fall asleep a few times. Mallory danced to a few of the songs but she seemed uninterested in parts. I think they were both tired from the previous day.

After the concert, we headed from MGM to Epcot. Tabitha, as I expected, fell asleep in the car and transferred fine again to sleeping in the stroller. We again parked at the AAA lot which is about the same distance to Epcot as from the busses, but on the other side.

On the way into the park, we met a lady coming out of the park talking about hurricane/tropical storm/whatever Ernesto. Jason asked if she had an update. Expecting something along the lines of a forecast of how bad the wind would be and when the rain would start, she instead starts this long monologue about everything she knew about the storm. She said that it would be coming up through (names six or seven Florida counties). Jason says that we are not local. So she then draws a map of the state of Florida in the air and shows us where all those counties are. She also mentioned that the storm will be going east of us which is bad because the winds on the west side of the eye are worse than the east. She then hurries off to get supplies from the store. She advises Jason to go get bottled water now. Summary of this 5 minute lecture – lots of quickly forgotten Florida geography trivia and no useful weather information.

We decided to let Mallory play a bit in Innoventions West. She and I played the Where’s the Fire? Game which you play on teams in search of fire hazards in the game house. You use these “flashlights” to find the fire hazards. I was having a little trouble with mine and Mallory had no clue what to do with it but liked it anyway. Neat game, but Mallory was a little small for it.

It was getting to be lunchtime and we decided to have lunch at the Sunshine Seasons in The Land. We had to wake up Tabitha from her nap because they don’t allow strollers in the pavilion. That was ok since it was lunchtime anyway.

We hadn’t been to The Land since they renovated it. The Soarin’ area always seemed crowded. I guess that is because there is so much there – the ride entrance, the fastpass machines, the mob of people waiting for their fastpasses to become valid, the Soarin’ mini shop, the restrooms, the Behind the Seeds tour info area – a lot for a small space! We were a little disappointed that Living with the Land was closed because Mallory loves the song. (Actually she loved the original “Listen to the Land” song from a vintage Epcot CD. But the difference is minor).

The new Sunshine Seasons food court is awesome. We loved the choices. We used 3 counter service credits here. From the Asian station, Jason and I each got an entrée item with 2 sides. I was a little confused what was what here and we really wanted to get 2 entrée items with 2 sides but it was ok. The sides were rice, broccoli, vegetables and noodles. We got sweet and sour chicken and stir-fry beef as the meats. Mallory also got her kids meal from here-sweet and sour chicken with rice and broccoli and a fortune cookie. Mallory loves Chinese food so this was a great option for her. As for desserts, you could pick anything from the dessert counter and there were some great options. I got the Butterfinger brownie. After we were seated, Jason asked why I didn’t get the strawberry shortcake. The reason – I didn’t see it! Jason got the apple flan. Mallory had a choice between a cookie and Rice Krispie treat so I got her the Rice Krispie treat since she had wanted one since we saw them at the food court this morning. The food was good but it seemed to be a little light on the meat and Mallory seemed to have more meat than we did! The desserts were good too. I normally don’t like flan but I thought the apple flan tasted more like a cream cheese dessert. Jason agrees with the assessment – it was definitely more apple than flan. But still good. We highly recommend this restaurant. The have sandwich, grill and salad stations as well. 3 counter service credits for $32.53.

We next headed to Journey to your Imagination which Jason and Mallory rode. Mallory didn’t like it her first visit to WDW at 15 months so we didn’t take Tabitha on it this time. Thinking back now, I think she would have been fine on it. So Tabitha and I played in Image Works for a bit. Mallory liked the ride this time and especially talked about the upside down room.

We headed to Mexico to do Rio del Tiempo and Jason went ahead to Norway to check out Maelstrom and reported back that it was a walk on. After Rio del Tiempo, Mallory announced that she didn’t want to do Maelstrom so we decided to get snacks at Norway’s bakery first. We got a rice cream, which Jason and I love and tried a cloudberry horn for the first time which I really liked. I think it was Mallory’s favorite too. 2 snack credits for $5.73.

Mallory still didn’t want to ride Maelstrom and she seemed to be getting a little cranky so we headed out of the park to get her nap. Somehow she fell asleep in the stroller. We have a sit and stand and she’s never done this before. She was sitting and hanging on tight. When she start to fall out she would wake-up, reposition, and go back to sleep. She woke up when we tried to transfer her to the car and never went back to sleep. She ended up with a 10 minute nap.

We went back to the hotel. I tried to get Tabitha to take a nap back in the room but it didn’t end up happening. I knew she’d probably fall asleep in the car on the way to dinner.

Mallory and Jason went to swim. They went to the nearby quiet pool. The pool was at least three feet deep everywhere, so Mallory stayed by the steps to play. A guy showed up and loudly announced how amazed he was that he was able to get a family size bag of chips for a snack credit. He offered Jason and Mallory some chips, but they declined.


We had a 6:45 ADR at Wolfgang Puck’s café. We considered cancelling because, with hurricane/tropical storm/tropical depression Ernesto coming, we wanted to get more park time today in case tomorrow was a washout. (Forecast at that time was the eye coming very close to Orlando and tropical storm wind and rain in full force by 2 PM the next day). I tried getting an ADR for Chef Mickey’s that night; didn’t think it would work and it didn’t. Jason thought about it and gave me 3 choices: go to MK, go to Epcot and eat at in the World Showcase or keep the Wolfgang Puck reservation and spend some time in Downtown Disney, By the time we were ready to go, a thunderstorm had blown in. We didn’t want to get soaked unnecessarily, especially the stroller, so we decided to wait it out. By the time the storm was over 30 minutes later, it was already after 5 so going to the parks wouldn’t work out because by the time we were done eating there would be little park time left. We wanted to get to bed relatively early that night because we wanted to be at MK by 8:00 the next morning.

The kids were getting restless, so I was glad when it finally headed out. We went to the boat docks to take the boat to Downtown Disney, but they were closed. Bummer. So we drove instead, got there around 6 and went to see if we could get in the restaurant early.

They seated us immediately and we noticed they were taking walk ins as well so it was not crowded at all. I started off with the BBQ chicken quesadilla appetizer and Jason got the spinach dip. The quesadilla was a little cold and at first I thought it was from the sour cream on top, but no, the chicken was actually cold. I thought about sending it back but didn’t, don’t ask me why. I got the macadamia nut crusted chicken, Jason got the Filet Mignon and Mallory chose pepperoni pizza. The chicken was delicious. Jason thought his streak was excellent and particularly loved the peppercorns. For dessert I got the white chocolate cheesecake and Jason got the key lime pie. I didn’t think the cheesecake was anything special and did not particularly taste like white chocolate. Jason said the key lime pie was very good but not the best he had ever had. I was full and didn’t finish it all my dessert. This was our first time here and we would definitely try it again. 3 table service credits, $139.79

Mallory playing at WP's

We walked to the Marketplace which was further away from the West Side than I thought. Part of this was because we took the long way around Pleasure Island because of construction. Mallory played for a bit in the Lego playground which looked different from last time we went (11/04). We also looked around in World of Disney and the Pooh shop.

It was getting late and we saw that boat service was running again so Tabitha and I took a boat back to Port Orleans and Jason and Mallory took the boat to the West Side to go to Disney Quest. Hurricane Ernesto was expected to blow in the next day and the boat captain told us they were shutting the boats early tonight and would be closed all day tomorrow. Also he said the Animal Kingdom was going to be closed all day but the rest of the parks wouldn’t close until winds reached 40 MPH.

While on the boat, I saw some buildings out my right side and wondering if they were the Treehouse Villas. The boat captain went into a little spiel identifying them as the Treehouses and telling us their use now. He said they were closed in 2001 due to handicap accessibility issues and they couldn’t be fixed due to being on a nature preserve. He said they are used now to house college interns from the U.S. and other countries. I’ve always wanted to see them and thought it would be cool to stay in one. I wish I saw them during the daytime though. Tabitha stayed awake the whole boat ride but fell asleep quickly after we got to the room.

On Jason and Mallory’s ride to the West Side there were to boat operators. Apparently one was training the other. While they were out in open water, the trainer mentioned that the boats were closing early. Mallory asked Jason if they were going to close the boats while they were still on them. Jason repeated the quest for the trainer. The trainer said “Oh no, honey, we always make sure our passengers get where they are going.”

It’s interesting how little minds work because whenever we mention DisneyQuest, Mallory always tells us you have to take a boat to get there. We had actually parked the car in the lot right outside the place. I guess the boat ride was the big impression though.

After entering DisneyQuest, they had the elevator ride to themselves. Mallory has become quite the Genie fan, and enjoyed the little show in the elevator.

After trying out a few arcade games (which involves Mallory sitting at the controls, and Jason trying the fly/drive/whatever from the side) Jason realized that was not working very well. They went down to the second floor where the touch screen painting is done. This Mallory could understand, and she really enjoyed it. One thing you can do is touch a fish icon, and then wherever you touch the screen a fish will appear. Mallory tried this a few times, then looked at her finger to see if there was a fish on it.

After that, they went to the booth where you can make your own song. Jason ran through the program, and Mallory wasn’t to sure about the whole thing, probably because she didn’t understand what was going on and it was kind of loud. She said she wanted to leave. Jason encouraged her to hang in there. They were making a birthday song. At one point it asks for a sound sample of you saying “Happy Birthday” and then the person’s name. In this case, “Happy Birthday Mallory!” Jason had Mallory do the sample. However she has a tiny voice and after three tries they could not get a very good sample. For one last try, Jason told Mallory to yell as loud as she could, and he held her up to the microphone. The result was a VERY LOUD “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MALRY”. The sample was played back and Mallory thought it was hilarious. Seriously, she very well may have considered that to be the funniest thing to ever happen to her in her life. Jason quickly finished the song and had it play the whole thing back. They sample played back at least three times and Mallory laugh hysterically each time. This turned out to be a lot of fun.

It was getting late so Jason and Mallory headed down to the first floor to exit. The line for Pirates was very short.

A quick drive back to the room and we were off to sleep.

Coming up next: Ernesto Who?

 

[stitchgal]

DAY 3, Wednesday, August 30 Ernesto Who?

We set the wake up call for 6 AM so that we could get ready to be at the Magic Kingdom at 8 for Little Ones Magic Hour. During Little Ones Extra Magic Hours the Magic Kingdom opens an hour earlier than it usually does. All the Fantasyland rides are open, and the characters are out to play with the kids and ride the rides with them.

We had a message on the room phone to watch the scroll on Channel 19 for hurricane information. Animal Kingdom was not closed for the day but its extra magic hours were changed from evening hours to morning hours starting at 7:30 AM. Typhoon Lagoon was closed for the day. The forecast was for light rain at any time with heavier rain and winds moving in and lasting from 2 PM to 2 AM.

I was starving after I got ready; I don’t know why since dinner was pretty big. I went to the food court and used a snack credit to get a cinnamon roll.

The kids had been up late last night so we let them sleep just sleep. Mallory got up at 7, Tabitha at 7:30.

It was a steady light rain by time we left for the TTC. Jason and I brought ponchos; I used mine and he used his to cover the stroller. He used an umbrella for himself. I bought a poncho for Mallory at the shop right outside the monorail station at the TTC for $6. I had seen them for $6.44 at Target before we left and was surprised they were cheaper at Disney.

At the TTC gate a cast member asked to see our hotel ID. I guess this was the check to see if we qualified for the event. The express monorail was not running yet, so we had to use the resort loop. Stopping at the Polynesian and Grand Floridian slowed us down some.

We got to the MK around 8:15.

Mallory was meandering and having fun on Main Street so we probably didn’t get to Fantasyland until 8:30.

The first thing we saw were Chip and Dale riding the carousel and Mallory got her picture taken with them when they got off. We saw Dopey walking around and Pooh and Eeyore go on the Pooh ride.

At the teacups, we met Alice and the Mad Hatter. Mallory was wearing her Finding Nemo t-shirt and the Mad Hatter said, oh look, I found Nemo! We’ve been watching the Disneyland Fun Sing Along video which shows Alice riding in a teacup. Mallory has been talking about wanting to ride with her. However, Mallory was really shy with Alice though and also probably a little young to ride the teacup with her.

Alice and the Mad Hatter did ride the teacups with another child while Jason and Mallory rode the cup next to them.

It had stopped raining by time they were done with the teacups and I was glad because the poncho was starting to turn into an oven. This is why Jason doesn’t wear them. After the teacups, we saw Pooh and Eeyore playing ball with some kids. Mallory kind of played with them but she was still a little young and didn’t understand how to play with the characters. Tabitha played a little too and started to walk over to Pooh when I put her down-until Mallory “threw” the ball at her and it hit her on the head. The video we took is hilarious and Tabitha was fine. Didn’t even cry. Mallory got bored and announced she wanted to ride the Pooh ride so we did. We decided to do Dumbo next but then we saw Mickey, Goofy and Pluto playing ball in front of Mickey’s Philharmagic. The kids were passing the ball in a circle but Mallory kept getting skipped because she wasn’t really paying attention and focusing on the characters instead. Although she is 3, we felt she is still young for Little Ones Magic Hours since she didn’t get a lot of the activities.

With the extra magic time over, we next rode Dumbo, Snow White, Peter Pan and It’s a Small World and all were walk ons. The ride vehicles stopped in Snow White and the work lights came on when we were in the dwarfs’ house. The lights didn’t turn back off until after seeing the witch and she looked very weird without the black light.

Jason and Mallory headed to Aloha Isle to get a Dole Whip float (for breakfast! Yum!) and I went to meet them at the bakery. We used a counter service credit at the bakery to get two items and a drink-we got the fruit and granola yogurt (very fruity-strawberries, blueberries and bananas-fruit in every bite) and an apple charlotte. 1 snack credit $3.72, 1 counter service, wild guess of $8.38.

We finally started on the photopass and got our picture taken in front of the castle.

We next headed over to Toontown to meet some characters. We did all 3 lines in the Toontown Hall of Fame tent. The first one was Chip and Dale and a mystery guest, the characters turned out to be Chip and Dale, Pooh, and Alice and the Mad Hatter. Pooh was the only character without a photopass photographer, don’t know why! Alice and the Mad Hatter remembered Mallory from Fantasyland this morning. Alice said to Mallory, “You were wearing a big plastic bag earlier today.”

I thought Tabitha might want to walk up to the characters but she didn’t so I held her and she enjoyed touching their fur and faces.

The second line was Minnie, Pluto and Goofy, which Mallory loved. She gives all the characters hugs and kisses them on the nose. The nose kissing part, we later suspected, wasn’t a good idea at all. The last line was the princess line, Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White.

The cast member letting people in said this line is always the slowest and it sure was; the other lines were being let in many times before we got to go in. Mallory was shy with the princesses.

It was now past 11:00 and Jason and Mallory went to ride Goofy’s Barnstormer while I took Tabitha to the Toontown playground. The line for Barnstormer was so short that when they got back to the station no one was waiting to get in their row. So they rode it again! Mallory really enjoyed the ride. Jason like it too – it is much longer than the similar ride as Disneyland. It’s actually long enough to have two trains. However the queue is very long with no shortcuts for when there is nobody waiting.

At the Toontown playground, the plastic ducks that Mallory sat on in November 2004 are not there now. When Jason and Mallory go back, we noticed a lot of characters in an area back by the train station. We think that area is called the Toontown teardrop. Wow, what an assortment of characters! We saw Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Suzy, Perla, a penguin from Mary Poppins, 2 Country Bears, Gepetto and Mr. Smee. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain harder again so the characters had to go in; we only got a picture with the Penguin.

A cast member said they were there throughout the day so we planned to go back to see them another time. The rain stopped again not 5 minutes after the characters had run for cover.

It was now after 11:30 and Tabitha desperately needed a nap. We put her in the stroller and she almost immediately fell asleep. I strolled her around for 50 minutes until we met Jason and Mallory again for lunch at Pecos Bill’s. I thought it would be long but time went by really quickly. I used the time to walk around the park and write some of the trip report.

While Tabitha napped and I wrote, Jason and Mallory headed into Tomorrowland. Mallory saw the race car parked in front of the speedway and had to try it out. After that they got in line for the racecars. Mallory tried to steer, but she was not strong enough to turn the wheel. So she watched while Jason steered. This is hard to do when you are not sitting right in front of the wheel. Wait time was about 5 minutes.

They moved on and Jason decided to try out the Starjets. Wait time was a little longer, maybe 10 minutes, but that is still incredibly short for this ride at noon. Mallory had no comment on this ride and Jason reinforced his opinion that those ride vehicles are cramped. Jason made a joke about Tower of Terror for the elevator ride to the platform. One of the mothers in the group made a comment about ToT and nervous 7 year olds that he didn’t quite catch.

Lastly they rode Buzz. Mallory enjoys riding it and looking around, but still does not get the concept of shooting the targets. Jason shot as many different things as he could looking for things of high point value.

We used two counter service credits for lunch-I got the cheeseburger with bacon and Jason got the bacon double cheeseburger. I’ve always loved the mushrooms at the fixin’ bar-yum! We had a prepackaged peanut butter brownie for the dessert, the only choice. We wondered why all the counter service restaurants couldn’t have all the dessert choices because they were all prepackaged. I really liked the peanut brownie though and think it was the best dessert on the trip, even being prepackaged and all. Jason thought it was the best pre-packaged dessert of the trip, but liked many of the freshly made desserts better.

After lunch, we rode Pirates and then the Jungle Cruise. We next rode The Haunted Mansion, or Mickey’s Ghost House to Mallory. This was another ride she didn’t like at Disneyland but loved here. She knows the music for the ride since we listen to an old WDW CD all the time. I think that helps.

We went to Philharmagic next and were very curious about Mallory’s reaction to a 3D movie. We told her Donald Duck was going to visit her and jump right out of the screen. She didn’t have much to say about the effects but she talked for days about Donald going under the sea with Ariel.

It was 3 by now so we decided to see the parade and found a spot curbside right in front of the castle.

Both kids enjoyed the parade, which seemed shorter to us than other parades.

Love this one!

I’m not big of parades and this one was ok. We saw the same Alice and Mad Hatter in the parade, the third time in a day!

the only picture we got of my beloved Piglet

It had been threatening to rain and start the hurricane rain but hadn’t yet. Tabitha was looking tired. We put her in the stroller while Jason and Mallory boarded the carousel. Tabitha fell asleep quickly.

While Tabitha slept, Mallory played a bit in Pooh’s playground. The water play area was running this time – it hadn’t been running on our previous visits. Mallory and I rode the Pooh ride yet again, which she told me is her favorite ride. Jason watched Tabitha sleep.

It was still looking like it was going to rain any minute. While Mallory and I rode Pooh Jason got a show guide. He suggested that Mallory and I do the 4:05 storytelling with Belle at the Enchanted Garden while he continued to watch Tabitha sleep. He originally planned to wait outside in the Enchanted Grove waiting area, but he eventually wised-up and moved to Cosmic Ray’s to get out of the hot and humid. Belle’s storytelling was a cute telling of Beauty and the Beast (Mallory calls it Belle and the Beast). Many kids and adults were picked out of the audience to play various parts in the show. As the show progressed it started to rain. It was a steady drizzle by the end of the show. We met back up with Jason and the recently awakened Tabitha.

We decided to do Carousel of Progress and Tomorrowland Transit Authority. COP is my favorite ride. I didn’t know if Mallory would be bored with it but she knows the song so I figured there was a chance she would like it. I think she enjoyed it and even Tabitha had squeals of delight. TTA was nice and relaxing, a nice ride to do in the rain.

We did some browsing in the Main Street shops and headed over to Exposition Hall to check out our photos. I noticed that Tabitha lost her shoe again so Jason went to look for it. He went back through the stores we had been in. He couldn’t find it on the floor so he asked a register cast member where someone might have turned it in. Apparently that register was the place because it was sitting on the counter right in front of him at eye level. The cast member pointed it out, Jason thanked her, and brought the shoe back.

There were a lot of characters at the front of the exposition hall-Goofy, Dale, Friar Tuck, and Prince John from Robin Hood. A cast member told us that Mickey and Minnie would be coming out soon and posing for pictures together so that was a treat. So we did that.

After pictures, Mallory watched a little bit of the cartoons in the back theater while Tabitha toddlered around. We noticed there wasn’t a loop anymore and you couldn’t get back to the front without retracing your steps. I peeked behind the curtain and noticed the old Mr. Toad’s ride vehicle was still there. The line for photopass viewing was kind of long, so we never did get to see our pictures. On the way out we saw Donald, so Mallory got to visit with the Duck.

It was still raining when we left for the day at 6:00 and headed to Boma for our 6:50 ADR. Our day was going great until the disaster that was Boma. First, when we got to check in they told us our ADR was for yesterday, not today, but we were pretty sure it was for today. They said they could take us in 10-15 minutes though and we waited about that time. Dinner turned out to be a disaster for the kids. Mallory barely ate, played standing up, under the table, etc. I think the only thing she really had was half her berry smoothie and maybe a little bit of peanut butter and jelly sandwich that we got off the bar for her in desperation. Mallory said that she wanted to go back to the hotel room. This is her code phrase for “I’m exhausted. Put me to bed now.” Tabitha was happily eating for a while and then started screeching and just wanted to sit on my lap but then that wasn’t working out either. We took turns taking her up to the buffet with one of us or one of us taking her out. Jason took Tabitha out the play in the waiting area while I finished up. Then, I took both kids out while Jason finished up. We looked in the gift shop which put Mallory in good mood for a while.

Oh yeah, the food was good too. This was our second time here. They said we could get smoothies here and but I didn’t feel like one but after tasting Mallory’s berry one, I wish I had. I especially enjoyed the nut crusted salmon, fufu, coconut rice and chai tea rice pudding. Jason liked the coconut rice, fufu and especially the spicy ribs. But there weren’t very many other things that he wanted. He also was not very impressed with the desserts. He didn’t like the famous Zebra Domes at all. We both came away not feeling like we wanted to come back again on our December trip as we had planned, but the meal was so stressful that I don’t know if we could give it a fair evaluation. 3 TS credits, $84.61.

Both kids fell asleep in the car. We think part of the problem was no nap for Mallory and Tabitha didn’t get much on her own exploring time (we call it baby time) since she was mostly in the stroller or held all day. We are usually afternoon break people. With the weather forecast we thought the day would get interrupted early. But the rain came late and we kept extending and extending never getting back to the room. Ultimately, we found that that was way too late to have dinner on such a busy day. Lesson learned.

We did do a lot today despite the inclement weather. Mallory rode 19 rides, Jason rode 18 Amy rode 13 and Tabitha rode 12. We also saw the parade and Amy and Mallory saw the Beauty and the Beast show. We met many characters and spent an hour shopping and see the exposition center. The lines at the MK were absolutely minimal. Ultimately it was probably the best day that we had, at least until 6:00.

Coming up Animal Kingdom Amateurs.

 

[jenjersnap]

Uh oh, do I hear some foreshadowing of illness in Minnie's kiss!?!

You are too brave going all day with the girls - wow, color me impressed! 1 p.m. is our max before the meltdowns start, even napping in the stroller.

Great job, looking forward to the next installment.

 

[fenfur]

Great TR! LOVE the details, especially the food yuuuummmmmm. Can't wait to read more. It's nice to see how the girls are doing with everything. We are planning on going next year with a 4 yr old, a 2 yr old and potentially a newborn.

 

[stitchgal]

DAY 4, Thursday, August 31 – Animal Kingdom Amateurs

We got up with the kids today at 7 AM. We were planning to go to Blizzard Beach today but decided to go to the Animal Kingdom instead.

After a slight off-property detour, we got there around 9. We parked in the AAA lot. The lot is very close to the park. The walk from this lot is probably shorter than the walk from the bus stops. Only problem is that the lot is somewhat small so I’m sure during busy times it would be important to get there early.

We saw a talking tree just outside the entrance that Mallory talked to for a while. Mallory was kind of shy though. The tree talked to Tabitha too, which caused her to cry. I’ve seen the talking trash can at the MK but never the talking tree.

Mallory enjoyed walking through the Oasis and seeing all the birds. She kept asking to see more animals. Just inside the entrance we met three cast members with insects in glass cages. We stopped to see what they had, one was a spider but I forget what the other two were.

Here's all of us

Jason went ahead and got fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari. We got back together at Kusafiri Bakery for breakfast. We paid out of pocket for a blueberry muffin ($1.99) and used a snack credit for a sticky bun. (1 snack, $3.18).

The safari looked like a walk on, and it was, so we didn’t use our fastpasses. Tabitha fell asleep on the safari ride but then there was a back up of cars at the end so she woke up.

Not much of a nap that morning.

We walked over to Kali River Rapids and showed Mallory what it was and asked her if she wanted to do it and she said yes. We asked her if she wanted to wear her poncho and she said yes to that too. So Jason and Mallory went on Kali and we agreed to meet at Expedition Everest.

Before getting in line they did the 38” height check. Mallory passed easily. The height checker put an arm band on her and stamped the word “Kali” across the band, with the K and I on her skin and the A and L on the band. It would certainly be difficult to counterfeit that band!

On the ride Mallory was directed to a special seat that had a retractable lap bar for her to use as well as the seatbelts used by everyone else. Jason appreciated that Disney went through the extra effort and expense to keep the height limit as low as possible. Mallory said she liked going down the waterfall. Jason asked if she wanted to ride it again and she said yes. He then asked her if she wanted to ride it again now and she said maybe next time. Because of the poncho, she hardly got wet. Jason only got a little bit wet.

While they were on the ride, Tabitha and I strolled over to Expedition Everest. We discovered that the yeti was having a bad hair day (the ride was closed). Fastpasses were going for 3-4 PM (this was around 11 AM) and changed to 4-5PM while I was there. As there was no shade in this area and it was already hot and humid, I decided to try to find a shadier area or just walk back to meet the others. We met just outside the Kali exit.

I told Jason EE was closed but he wanted to check out the area so he headed over there. I took Mallory to do a nearby kids activity with animal sounds, which she enjoyed. We also saw DeVine, who I’ve never seen before, and she was pretty neat.

Jason came back and reported that the ride had just restarted. This was at 11:25.

We decided to catch the 11:30 Flights of Wonder show, which Jason and I enjoyed a few years before we had kids. Mallory was enjoying it for a while but Tabitha was getting restless. The show actually consisted more of talking about a silly tour guide character than actual birds, so Mallory started to get restless too so we left the show. We decided that wasn’t a show to watch with preschool kids and was probably targeted more toward elementary school kids who could follow the storyline.

It was time for lunch. I wanted Tusker House and Jason wanted Pizzafari so I took the kids to find a table at Pizzafari while he got my lunch from Tusker House. Jason brought my food back precariously balanced on the stroller. It took a lot of concentration to make it back with no spills. I got the turkey wrap which came with tomato/cucumber salad and corn chowder. Wrap was ok, didn’t like the salad, but the corn chowder was excellent! I got the chocolate cake for dessert but really wanted the frozen strawberry lemonade (prepackage Minute Maid) from Pizzafari so we got that with Mallory’s meal. We usually don’t get her a meal at counter services but they had quesadillas here and those are her favorite (came with Mickey cheddar crackers). Turns out these must be Italian quesadillas as the bread more resembled pizza crust than tortillas. Mallory ate a little bit of the quesadilla and a lot of the crackers. Jason tried the quesadillas too and thought they were ok. For his own meal, Jason got the chicken parmesan sandwich and apple pie. He thought his sandwich was excellent and the pie was so-so. Both the quesadillas and chicken parm were extra salty. (3 CS, $34.95)

I took Tabitha for a diaper change and planned to meet Jason and Mallory at Camp Minnie/Mickey. On the way, I saw Stitch, one of my favorites. I hadn’t seen him yet, so I had to stop to get his picture with me and Tabitha. The sky was looking ominous though and I really shouldn’t have stopped. I started making the trek back to Camp Minnie/Mickey when I met up with a desperate Jason who was trying to get his family back together before the coming deluge. This was big one with thunder and lightning and everything. No longer having enough time to leave the park before the storm, we waited it out on a shop porch. Mallory had to use the bathroom so I took her in the rain. On the way we saw Stitch in the same location as before. So I had her see him too.

The rain let up in about 20 minutes and we left the park at about 1:30 having learned our lesson about naps the day before. Tabitha fell asleep before we made it out of the park and Mallory shortly after the car started moving. We were a little disappointed with our day so far since we had done so much the day before. So far Tabitha and I had done only one ride, Jason and Mallory had done two, and we had seen half a show. We were also really disappointed to not have had the chance to do EE today.

Since both kids were asleep, we decided that I would go to MGM to do what I wanted there and Jason would meet me at Epcot at 3:30. He dropped me off at guest drop off at MGM at 2. At least he thinks that’s where we were – it was very poorly marked. I went straight to my favorite thrill ride, Tower of Terror. The sign said a 20 minute wait but it was really a walk on. I love riding this ride with first timers. I rode with a bunch of teenagers who have only been on the California version and kept saying, wow, this is different. They thought the ride was awesome. It was great, as usual, for me too. I then just made a loop around the park to see what was happening, check out possible snack options, etc. I saw Piglet, my favorite Disney character other than Stitch, on Mickey Avenue but he didn’t have a PhotoPass photographer and I didn’t have my camera. So no picture. I didn’t see anything too interesting. The park was very uncrowded. After the lap, I decided to do ToT and walked on again. We don’t usually spend much time at MGM since we don’t think there’s that much for kids to do there. For that matter, there is not much for adults either besides ToT and Rockin Roller Coaster. We are not “show people” so maybe people who are more excited about shows would like this park more.

I left at 3 to take the bus to Epcot. We had planned to meet at the fire truck at Innoventions East but they weren’t there yet. I went to check over the new Club Cool because I needed a refreshing drink. I miss Ice Station Cool. I was disappointed to see the watermelon drink from China and Beverly gone. I had some Vegibeta, Kinley, and the ginger ale from Mozambique.

While I was at MGM, Jason drove the kids around for a while and pulled into the Epcot parking lot around 3. The kids were up by then so he got them out of the car, stuck them in the stroller, and headed for the park. He noticed that park was nearly deserted.

Jason headed to the Land to get fastpasses for Soarin’. Once inside the pavilion on the way to the stairs, they met a cast member who gave both the kids little plastic whales. Why whales were being given away in the LAND pavilion, Jason had no idea. They were appreciated though – Mallory played with them through the rest of the trip. Jason got the passes, which were good to the specific minute such as 3:57 PM instead of the rounded to the nearest 5 minutes like at the other machines. Soarin’ wasn’t too crowded with a standby line of maybe 45 minutes and fastpass return time about an hour later. More proof that the parks were slow this week.

Jason was looking for a good place to put Tabitha down and let her toddle, so he went to the Living Seas. The large viewing area for the tank was not too crowded and he let her walk around a bit. Tabitha liked to touch the glass and would react happily when a fish got real close.

A cast member came along and roped off one of the viewing windows. The cast member explained that they were going to feed the fish at 3:30. Jason decided to wait around so that Mallory could watch. The cast member said little kids could enter the roped off section and sit on the floor to get a good view. This Mallory did. Two or three divers came out and fed the turtles then another went by dropping off the fish food. Literally every fish in the tank was in front of those two or three windows. They knew it was literally because after the feeding they went to look out the opposite windows and there were only two fish there. First time Jason can remember ever being able to count all the fish he could see in the tank. Mallory enjoyed the show and talked about the divers for quite a while afterwards.

The family met back up. When Tabitha first saw me she was toddling around in Innoventions. She let out the happiest scream and toddled too me as fast as she could go. It’s all on video; too cute.

Jason told me about the Disney VISA card holder character meet and greet which was happening right then in Innoventions. We waited for about 15 minutes for it. We met Mickey, Donald and Pluto. Each family goes in individually, so we had the room all to ourselves for about 5 minutes. Tabitha particularly liked Pluto’s whiskers and squeezing Mickey’s nose.

Mallory enjoyed having the characters full attention too.

We decided to use the Soarin’ fastpasses with Jason running ahead to do it first. The stand by line was 45 minutes; I waited about 25 minutes with fast pass, the longest line I’ve had to stand in for the whole trip. I really love Soarin’. I’ve ridden it at Disney’s California Adventure but this is the first time I’ve ridden it at the World. It was great as usual and I even teared up a bit at the end.

I met everyone at San Angel Inn. Our ADR was for 5:30 but I didn’t get there until 5:40. They weren’t busy yet but looked like they would be soon. We were still seated immediately. We were worried that Mallory wouldn’t want to eat there because she said it was too noisy (the volcano area had a sound effect she didn’t like) and she wanted to go outside. We convinced her it was ok and then we got a table right next to the boat ride on the far right. Mallory enjoyed watching the boats and waving at them.

I got the Sopa Azteca (tortilla soup) for an appetizer and really enjoyed it until I ate something black, which I thought was a chip (it’s so hard to see in that lighting!) but it turned out to be a very spicy pepper! Jason got the nachos. The nachos were just as good as he remembered, but the size was a smaller individual portion size. Not really big enough for sharing. The chips on the table were really good too, although the salsa was a little too hot for me. The appetizers came quickly but the entrees took quite a while. We ended up talking to the couple at the next table after they commented on how Tabitha was just continuously eating all the time. We noticed they had T-shirts on that said Virginia is for Lovers so we talked a little bit about us both being from Virginia. Finally, all of our entrees arrived (they were waiting for theirs too).

I got the pollo a las rajas (grilled chicken breast served over red peppers, onions, chile poblano, chorizo and melted cheese), Jason the filete motuleno (grilled beef tenderloin over black beans and melted cheese, ranchero sauce, poblano pepper strips and fried plaintain) and Mallory got a quesadilla for the second time today. The chicken was excellent and I loved the sauce. This was surprisingly my favorite entrée of the trip, because I’m not too big of a fan of the restaurant. Jason thought the steak was ok but he said he had a better one last time we ate here. He enjoyed the cheese and peppers. He gave most of the plantains to me. I wasn’t thrilled by any of the dessert choices since they had my least favorite desserts, flan, rice pudding and bread pudding. I got the bread pudding, which was ok. Jason loves flan so he got that and loved it. Mallory got the vanilla ice cream. Dessert service time was fine. Overall a very good meal, but the entrees could have come out a little faster. (3 TS, $104.97)

It was getting late for the kids but we decided to make a loop around the World Showcase anyway. I took Tabitha to play on the Viking boat in Norway but saw that you can no longer go on the boat! Hmp! Jason and Mallory went to ride Maelstrom and I went to look in the church which I knew would be empty. I let Tabitha walk around a bit since it was pretty safe there. Mallory like the Maelstrom, but said it was a try again next time ride.

We checked out each country to see what kind of snack credits they had. I was disappointed that there wasn’t much that I wanted or considered special, except Kringla bakery. There were many places to get snacks, but mostly it was for regular theme park food. Jason was happy to see that he could get apple strudel in Germany. He liked it quite a bit during the Food and Wine Festival in 2004. I wish Boulangerie could be used for snack credits.

We saw lots of construction walls and signs saying they were preparing for the Food and Wine Festival.

I went to Boulangerie in France while Jason said he’d meet me at Harry Ramsden in England to get ice water. Well, found out that was closed for renovations! I wanted to look in the shops in England quickly so Jason said he’d meet me at the Refreshment Port but that was closed too! Finally, the girls and I watched the Innoventions plaza fountain show while Jason finally got his ice water at the Electric Umbrella. After the show was over, someone sat up on the rail by the fountains to take a picture. Next thing you know, she fell into the plants! It was pretty funny; she was really laughing after it happened.

We let the girls play with the sparkly sidewalks and projections outside Innoventions West. The sparkling sidewalks are one of my favorite things in Epcot. We rode Spaceship Earth right before the park closed. I considered going to the Magic Kingdom so that I could go do all four parks in one day, but decided against it.

This was our latest night out in the parks all together. Tabitha fell asleep in the car. I was tired and went to sleep after I put Tabitha down.

Jason took Mallory swimming, at the main pool, as promised. The water there was just as deep as at the quiet pool, so Mallory was still confined to the steps

Coming Up: A Day for Snowy Florida Mountains

 

[tictoc]

We were in Room 1403 from August 29th through September 5th! We had the parking lot view but loved it! It seemed much closer to get to the room from the van after a long day!

What a difference a day makes. When we went to see The Wiggles we arrived after eight and they allowed us to choose which show we wanted to see from the beginning. It was a great time. I missed the VISA greet though. Darn it!

 

[stitchgal]

DAY 5, Friday, September 1, A Day for Snowy Florida Mountains

We got up at 7:15 with the kids and had breakfast at the food court. We used a counter service credit and got chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and used snack credits to get a banana and cereal. Yes, we paid for a $1.99 muffin and then used a snack credit for a 99 cent banana but that’s before we knew how many extra credits we had (12 and 2 1/2 days left!) This resulted in plenty of food for a light breakfast. (1 CS $9.14, 2 snacks $3.07)

We arrived at Blizzard Beach around 9. Tabitha had already fallen asleep in the car so I stayed in the car with the air running so she could get a nap.

While I watched Tabitha nap and worked on the trip report, Jason and Mallory headed into the park taking advantage of early entry hour. Both water parks let resort guests in one hour early during the summer months.

Jason wanted to get to the back of the park to ride the tube slides with Mallory. They walked a bit to the left of the main entrance looking for a lazy river entrance. After looking for a little while they found one. He headed to the left because he thought the river flowed clockwise and going left would shorten his trip. It turned out it flowed the other way, so he ended up making the trip longer. He and Mallory shared a tube because Mallory is still too small to fit in the kid sized tubes.

They got to the back of the park and hopped out of the tube. At the tube slides there were two types of tubes – single tubes and double tubes. All were adult sized and none of them had the covering of the hole for little kids. Jason asked the cast member there how to handle the two of the riding together considering that Mallory would fall through the hole. She suggested that they take a single tube and then Mallory could ride down on top of Jason. Jason doubted this advice, but did it anyway hoping to find a more knowledgeable cast member at the top.

Turns out the he found a wonderful, knowledgeable and friendly cast member at the top. He said that although they could not use the single tube, if Jason would go down to the bottom and bring up a double, they could work out a way to get them to ride. Jason took the single down and brought the double up. Jason sat in the back of the tube and put his legs forward covering most of the other hole. Then he put Mallory between his legs, squeezing his legs a bit to hold her in place. Mallory could then hold onto the handles for extra steadiness.

They rode it and Mallory loved it! She wanted to ride again and again. There were two slides for the double tubes and an enclosed one that only accommodated singles. They rode three times total before Jason got tired of climbing the stairs and wanted to move on to meet Tabitha and I at a reasonable time. There was no wait for the slides.

They walked back to the front of the park and got in line for the chair lift. This line was about 7 minutes long. The single rider line was much faster. They enjoyed the ride, but walking to the top would be much faster.

From the top they had a wonderful view of the entire resort. In particular Jason remembers looking back at Everest and seeing the unfinished side of the mountain ( I did too) It is also a great place to see how large the show building for Rockin’ Rollercoaster is. Looking around, he noticed a few really tall trees scattered throughout the resort. Jason thinks these are probably disguised cell phone towers.

They went to the family raft ride, which had no line. They were paired with two tweens for the ride. Jason and Mallory enjoyed the ride a lot, especially how long it is. At the bottom were some photographers taking pictures for purchase. We wanted to find out if the pictures were photopass compatible, but never did.

By this time, Tabitha was done with her nap. When we got out of the car at 10, which was official park opening time, there was about a 10 min line just to get in the park.

We met Jason and Mallory at Tikes Peak, a kids play area. Tabitha liked exploring the water and the water that squirted out at her. Mallory surprised me by wanting to go down all the slides in that area by herself. Just a few months ago she would not do anything like that. They had a nice long (and slow) body slide for her and a nice tube slide.

Jason wanted to relax a bit, so Mallory and I left him on a chair with Tabitha (who played nicely with our bag of swimming supplies) and the two of us waited in line for the ski lift about 10 minutes. Mallory pointed out Animal Kingdom and Epcot to me from the top and when she did, the girl in front of us saw them too and didn’t even notice them until Mallory pointed them out. The ride was basically a walk on. We rode with a family of 3. Mallory enjoyed it again and told me we were going upside down when we were really going backwards.

We let the kids play a little more at Tikes Peak before we left around lunch time. I forgot something back at the hotel so Jason took Tabitha with him while I took Mallory to get dressed. We looked at some shops and I bought a beach coverup, the kind I have been looking for all summer. I finally found it here! I looked at the photos taken and there was a really nice one of me and Mallory on Teamboat Springs but there were lighting issues. They tried to darken it but it didn’t look right so we didn’t get it. There was a line to get the photos and only one person and one computer to look at them. I don’t know if it’s like that always because at the end of the day the line could get very long. Right before we were ready to leave, there was a rain downpour so we made a run for the car. Luckily Jason was already there waiting for us.

We had lunch at the Pepper Market at Coronado Springs. It’s interesting how this food court runs. You arrive at the restaurant and are escorted to your table. The server takes your drink order and gives you cards that are stamped whenever you get food. You then go up to the various food stations, place your order and watch them make your food fresh on the spot. The only trick is finding the poorly marked “Order here” sign at each station. In our experience the cast member will ignore you if you try to order from anywhere except the correct spot. They will not even tell you where you should stand. After eating you check out and pay. It’s unclear what stops you from hiding one of the stamp cards so that you can get free food.

We used two counter service credits and got a lot of food: bourbon chicken and stir fry beef which came with a huge bowl of noodles and a chicken quesadilla which came with black beans and rice. There wasn’t much dessert choices (muffins, danishes or cookies) so we got a peanut butter and a M&M cookie. The food was good and more than enough for all of us. (2 CS, about $42.00).

Jason went to Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest while the girls napped in the car. I was meeting him there at 3:15. Jason got in the single rider line and waited about 15 minutes. he wait was somewhat boring as the line moved slowly in an undecorated area. owever the cast member in charge of row assignment was amazing – he was very fast and managed the regular line, the front row line and the single rider line with extreme speed.

Jason got in a row about 2/3 of the way back. He chatted with his seatmate who told him that the standby line was only about 15 minutes long. The ride was awesome. The ride through the countryside prior to the main lift hill set the scene well. On the lift hill you can see all over Disney property and back into AK itself. In particular you get a great view of the burning forest scene in Kali. That view fits in nicely. he storyline is suspenseful, the drops, rises and turns feel great, and the yeti animatronics is wonderful, if somewhat briefly viewed. The ride is absolutely outstanding.

Still having time left, Jason went through the standby line. This line moves too fast! There is so much to see in the line that you hope for the ride to breakdown for a little while so that you can take it all in. The museum at the end is particular well detailed.

Jason timed the line at only 12 minutes (posted at 20). There was no line for the front row, so he requested it. Front row makes the torn-up track effect particularly scary. However the second show scene is somewhat hard to see. Best ride is probably from somewhere in the middle.

Having ridden twice and still having a little time, Jason headed off for a snack. After looking at a few places he settled on a frozen lemonade. He expected to get on of the prepackaged minute maid ones, but instead got a huge fresh made one. Excellent. (1 S, forgot cost, probably about $3).

The family got back together. Jason, Mallory and Tabitha sat down to eat the frozen lemonade and I got in the stand by line. I had about a 15 minute wait. I loved the extensive theming in the queue and wished I could have spent more time looking at it all but the line moved fast. I got to ride in the front row. I really liked it and I felt like I was going upside in some parts. (Jason really described better than I did) The person in front of me in line asked a cast member what a yeti is and then was talking about it later that the cast member looked at them like she had two heads because the woman didn’t know what a yeti is. Some people behind me in line asked a cast member if the big footprint in the museum was real and he said, yes it is and they totally believed him.

We then went down to the Flights of Wonder theater area to watch the 4’oclock parade. None of us have seen this parade before. We don’t think we’ve ever been in the Animal Kingdom past 1 PM, actually. We had curb side seats. A few characters came up to us during the parade and played with both girls. We liked the parade. Mallory talked about it for days afterwards.

We went quickly to the character landing and saw Pooh and Eeyore there.

As we exited the park, there were a lot of characters. We stood in line for Mickey since he had a short line. Mallory was so cute with him; she sang him the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song.

We headed to Kona Café at the Polynesian for our 5:30 ADR. Security gave us the three hour parking pass. Smoothies are included in the dining plan here-Jason got a strawberry/banana smoothie and I got an orange/passion fruit smoothie. Jason didn’t really like his and wished he had gotten his standard Coke. Mine was ok. I got the crab cakes appetizer and Jason got the potstickers, both were just ok to me. Jason agreed. I got the coconut almond chicken, which the server told me was a salad, which I don’t remember from when I had it 2 years ago. Jason got the Teriyaki steak and Mallory got the hot dog. I wish there were better Polynesian themed choices on the kid’s menu. The piece of chicken was served with a side salad. Jason’s steak was excellent; he loves the marinade they use. For dessert, Jason got the apple brown betty, I got the Kiluea torte and Mallory got a brownie sundae. None of us could finish our desserts. I think my dessert would have been good but I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of dessert tonight or Kona for that matter. I usually love Kona but I didn’t love it so much that night. The kids also weren’t on their best behavior so that could have something to do with it. (3 TS, $115.07)

I took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom with the girls while Jason moved the car to the TTC lot. The girls and I went to Pooh’s playground, where we planned to meet Jason. Mallory, of course, wanted to go on Pooh’s ride again. Because there was a bit of a line, I decided to get fastpasses for the ride. Well, I went up to the fastpass machines, put my ticket in and it ate it! Mallory got very upset about it. A cast member was coming to help another guest so I told them what happened. Mallory was so upset she almost started crying, saying she really wanted a fastpass! The problem was easily fixed and we finally got our fastpasses. We met up with Jason after the fastpass fiasco.

We went on it’s a small world. While waiting in the short line we saw the 8:00 clock show. Mallory loves the Disneyland clock show, but this one was much less impressive. On the ride we got stuck in a backup of boats in Polynesia so we didn’t get off the ride until 20 minutes later.

It was getting late, so I gave the Pooh fastpasses to Jason so I could take Tabitha back to the hotel. On the way I intended to stop for a strawberry swirl from the Enchanted Grove but at the last minute changed my mind and got a frozen raspberry lemonade instead-very good. (1 S, $3.50).

I made sure to follow the signs exactly back to Port Orleans since I got lost last time but I did the same thing again this time. I figured out where I went wrong though; it stopped saying to Port Orleans and said to Downtown Disney resorts instead and I didn’t think POR was a DD resort but apparently it is.

Jason and Mallory grabbed some Peter Pan fastpasses and headed off to see Enchanted Tiki Room. However when they got there they found out that it was closed. Another family arrived and were also disappointed saying that it was the only ride they had left to do.

Mallory volunteered that she wanted to ride Peter Pan, Snow White and Pooh. This was the first time Mallory had ever expressed preferences for what to do in a list. So Jason and Mallory headed back to Fantasyland, intending to ride Snow White first. Jason headed out to the hub and tried to go through the castle but the walkway was closed. So he tried using the walkway around the castle and that was also closed. So he had to go back into Liberty Square and around the back past Peter Pan finally getting to Snow White. This was quite the roundabout route from small world to Snow White, and carrying a three year old in the summer hot and humid made it not much fun.

After the Snow White ride, they went to use the Pooh fastpasses. When Jason put Mallory down to get the fastpasses out she started to do an urgent little dance. Jason asked if she needed to use the potty and she said no. So Jason said that the Pooh ride has a rule that you have to go potty before you can ride it. Mallory said she had ridden before without having to go potty. Jason said that it is a night time only rule. Mallory said ok, so off they went to the potty. She really had to go too. Mallory quoted this rule to us for weeks afterward.

After riding Pooh they did a quick turn on the teacups, rode the Wedway Peoplemover and saved the galaxy with Buzz. None of the rides had a wait. Jason found a 100,000 point target and hit it twice, ending with 350,000 or so points. Mallory got about 1200, which is better than the 400 she got the first time, so she must be hitting something.

Heading back to Pan to use the passes, Jason noticed that Pooh had no line. He asked Mallory if she wanted to ride again. She thought it was strange to be able to ride it again, perhaps because they had no fastpasses, but said ok, so they rode it one more time. Pan had no line either, so the fastpasses were not needed.

They exited the park down Main Street as the fireworks went off. They stopped every once and a while to watch. They got to the Port Orleans bus stop where there was a short line and within five minutes were seated on a bus. Mallory fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel.

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

Your daughter is so cute! Well, I should say both of your daughters are cute! The pictures of her with the characters is adorable. I'm loving all the pictures and the report. You've done a great job on this trip report!

 

[OhMari]

I really enjoyed reading your report for the last 45 minutes. Loved the picture of POR. I'll be staying there next April. Was it easy to use the counter service at the food court at POR?

Great vacation strategies, I think I need a nap, after all the things you guys do.

 

[stitchgal]

DAY 6, Saturday, September 2

This morning we had the wake up call set for 6 AM but I didn’t get up until about 6:20. Mallory didn’t get up until 7:20 and we had to wake Tabitha up at 7:45 to leave.

We had an 8:15 ADR for Playhouse Disney Play-n-Dine at Hollywood and Vine at MGM. We wanted to get there early to make sure we could get tickets for the first show of Johnny and the Sprites. We got to the park about 8:10 thinking that the ticket distribution would not start until park opening at 9:00. Turns out it was an extra magic hour morning and the park had already opened and ticket distribution had already started. Jason hurried around to the back of the park to get the tickets while I visited the shops with Mallory, now one of her favorite activities at the parks. We met back up at the restaurant. Jason reported that the back of the park was deserted and he had gotten the tickets for 10:00 easily. He also had worked up his first sweat of the day.

We checked in for breakfast at 8:20. The restaurant was so deserted that they were taking walk-ups and not distributing pagers. After a few minutes, we noticed people that arrived long after us were getting seated and pagers were being distributed. Jason went up to inquire; the check-in lady checked our status and said that we were already eating! The check-in lady went into the restaurant to check our table and reported back that some other family had taken our table! They were very good about fixing the mistake and we were seated right away.

The food was so-so, not a particularly good breakfast buffet. We were there more for the characters for Mallory anyway since she loves Little Einsteins. She showed June how she could dance.

With Leo

She repeatedly tried to give JoJo the coloring sheet picture of her she had colored. JoJo autographed it for her instead.

Jason, who doesn’t know anything, kept calling JoJo a he. Mallory did some of the singing and dancing with the characters, which she enjoyed.

Jason went to get fast passes for Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster (which we ended up never using) while we went to wait by the ABC theater for Johnny and the Sprites. We waited in a covered area outside the theater. There was no air movement and it was very hot! They were still giving out tickets for the 10:00 show while we were waiting. The theater was nice and cool. The stage was elaborate and was exactly what is on the mini show on the Disney Channel. There were still plenty of seats available when the show started, the place was maybe 80% full. Mallory loved the little Disney jokes in the show and said really loud, he just said fastpass! Same thing with a Buzz Lightyear joke. I think she probably enjoyed this show better than the Wiggles. Jason liked the show too because Johnny is an excellent singer and brought lots of energy to the performance.

After the show, we went back to the big hat area to decide what to do next. We noticed there were lots of characters in the area, so I took Mallory to see them while Jason strolled around Tabitha for a nap. Mallory went saw Pinocchio and Gepetto together and then she saw Stitch.

Then Mallory and I went on The Great Movie Ride. On the ride she just sat back and watched and wasn’t scared of anything. Later, she talked about going to someone’s house and seeing a witch and seeing Mary Poppins.

Jason was hot and Tabitha was still sleeping, so he and Mallory went to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid while I strolled Tabitha. I saw Annie at the Little Einsteins trailer and hoped she would be there after the Little Mermaid show was over. I met Jason and Mallory at the show exit. They both liked it, which is saying a lot because Jason is much more of a rides person than a show person. Tabitha was awake now. We went back to the Einsteins trailer. Quincy was there but just as we thought about getting in line, Quincy stepped out and they said June would be back in a few minutes. So we missed seeing the other 2 Little Einsteins. Mallory wanted to see Mickey again (I don’t know how many times she’s seen him!) and then she saw Daisy Duck.

We took the boat from MGM to the Boardwalk to have lunch. Tabitha started out ok on the boat ride but then was not having a good time at all. She started crying and I felt like a bad parent. I knew she just wanted to get down and walk around. Jason and I were seated separately on the boat because it was so crowded. He overheard some people talking about Tabitha say that the poor crying baby needed a nap. Jason told them she had already had her normal morning nap, so they decided she was too hot instead. Jason explained the need to walk around, but they decided the too hot excuse was better. I guess some people always think that they know better than the actual parents.

We got off at the Boardwalk and let Tabitha toddle for a bit. We thought about Boardwalk Pizza or Boardwalk Bakery for lunch but decided to get lunch in Epcot instead. On the way in via the International Gateway we met Chip and Dale yet again. We stopped for more cute pictures.

As we were leaving, for whatever reason one of the chipmunks climbed over the little fence and started walking around on the grass. Mallory thought that was pretty funny.

We thought about Rose and Crown for lunch or dinner but I didn’t like anything on their menu. We decided on the Yakitori House in Japan for lunch; I’ve never eaten there before and Jason has only once. It was a long hot walk to get there. I got the Sushi Tokyo Roll and Jason got the Tonosoma combination-teriyaki chicken, beef and rice. The only dessert was a ginger cake. Jason asked for two large Cokes, but the cast member would only allow mediums on the dining plan. That was a new one. We both liked our meals but weren’t particularly fond of the cake. The kids ate the cake up though. (2 CS, $28.37)

We decided to see whatever the exhibit in Japan was to let the kids roam around for a bit in uncrowded air conditioning. It was an exhibit on tin toys which had some neat toys. Mallory colored a mask at the kidcot station.

We decided it to get some snacks from some World Showcase countries in order to make up for our lost desserts. I wanted a kaki-gori, but didn’t see the snack credit symbol on the menu. I asked and they said I could use a snack credit. I like honeydew best but I was sharing with Mallory and she wanted rainbow so we got the rainbow. It was nice and refreshing for the very hot day. (1 S, $2.40). Jason went to get an apple strudel for a snack in Germany. He had gotten it at the Food and Wine Festival two years ago and it was just as good as he remembered it. (1 S, $3.93).

Mallory and I went ahead to ride Maelstrom (which had a short line) while Jason and Tabitha had a strawberry slush from Refreshment Outpost. Yes, Jason was going a little crazy using snack credits. He got the slush hoping it would be as good as the one he got at the Animal Kingdom the day earlier. When he ordered it, he heard the cast member say to another cast member that whenever she works Refreshment Outpost her hands are always stained red from the slushes by the end of her shift. Turns out this was a bad sign as the slush was pretty bad. Also it was hard to feed it too a baby without making a giant red food coloring mess. At least it was free. (1S, $3.72)

On the way to Norway, I saw a banner in China for something that sounded like the title of an exhibit, something about imagineering Hong Kong Disneyland. I wanted to check it out after the ride. We all went to China to look for the exhibit. While looking, we met Mulan near one of the shops.

She was kinda hidden back there. Jason went and asked in the movie building and they said the exhibit isn’t there any longer.

We were hot again and decided to go to Innoventions East, but as we passed Mexico Mallory said she wanted to go on the ride so Jason took her. Tabitha was all but asleep at this time and I think she fell asleep almost as soon as they left.

I decided to check to see the fastpass situation at Test Track. First of all, I was pretty silly-don’t take a sleeping baby near Test Track-too loud! She stirred every time a car passed but luckily didn’t wake up. The FPs were taken for the day (it was 3:00) and the wait time was 45 minutes. I realized, after we came home, that we didn’t do the whole east side of Future World. I barely saw Mission Space, didn’t even see Universe of Energy and forgot to look at the closed Wonders of Life pavilion.

On their way to Innoventions, Jason and Mallory stopped by Test Track and the Mousegear shop. While to in the shop they were looking at a tall round display in the middle of a room. Mallory worked her way halfway around the display then noticed that she was out of sight of Jason. She called out to him and started walking around it to find him. Jason picked the same direction to try to catch up to her (so he was essentially chasing her), so it took maybe a complete lap until he caught up. Mallory was nearly in tears until he caught up to her. (This took about 5 seconds.) Guess she is not one of those kids who doesn’t mind losing her parents.

We met at Innoventions East and looked around a little. Mallory liked the preschool computers and another Kidcot station but overall I didn’t find much to do here. Mallory said she wanted to ride the big ball ride again. She fell asleep towards the end of the ride. We tried to put her in the stroller but she didn’t want to sleep there, preferring Jason’s shoulder. So he found a quiet place in Innoventions West (counter intuitively it was the robots making music show – It’s not too loud, it’s not very interesting so there are few people there, and more importantly one can sit away from the noisy major walkways) while I took Tabitha to play in the kids fire safe house, which she loves.

Mallory woke up so we headed to the Living Seas. We had an ADR at Spoodles that night but had been thinking all day about maybe doing something else. We thought about Coral Reef but it turned out it was closed for an unexpected emergency. We looked at the menu anyway.

Because the Coral Reef idea didn’t work out, we decided on doing Sunshine Seasons again because there were other things we wanted to try. But first we went in Living Seas and looked at the fish for a bit. Mallory wanted to see the sea turtle. After looking for a bit she finally found it.

We had 3 table service credits left and we had heard about converting them to counter service credits with 2 extra snacks each. We got the details from a cashier at Sunshine and were given 3 coupons for 2 snacks (must be used at same place and time) or some other merchandise that we weren’t interested in (a poster or a pin lanyard). I got the rotisserie chicken flatbread and the strawberry shortcake I wanted the first time I was there. Jason got a chicken Caesar salad and key lime pie and Mallory got a kids make your own sandwich with a Rice Krispie treat. The chicken was pretty good. The cake was good but was more whipped cream topping than actual cake. Jason thought his salad was ok and really liked the pie. Mallory enjoyed the time savings of having her sandwich already taken apart for her so that she did not have to do it herself. The restaurant was nearly deserted with no lines for the cashiers. (3 TS for $36.76 worth of food and 6 snacks).

We split up with Jason taking Tabitha back to MGM to get the car and I taking Mallory. Jason carried Tabitha out the International Gateway. The boat was not waiting at the Epcot stop so Jason hurried along towards the Yacht and Beach Club. As he topped the hill he saw the boat about halfway from the Boardwalk to the Y&B stop. He hurried as fast as he could. By the time he got to the start of the dock the boat had already loaded, but he was lucky that it was still waiting so they barely made it. Another guy was not so fortunate. He had run ahead of his group to hold the boat, but the boat wouldn’t wait because the rest of the group was too far away.

Tonight MGM closed early at 7 PM because of the Tom Joyner Family Reunion. It was about that time so Jason rode the boat with the Tom Joyner’s family. There were hundreds if not thousands of people streaming into the park – this guy has quite a big family. Tabitha did much better on this boat ride. The boat wasn’t completely full so Jason let her toddle on the floor by his seat – holding on tightly of course. They got back to the car without incident and Tabitha fell asleep immediately.

Meanwhile, Mallory and I rode the Imagination ride again. We got in line for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience but then I thought we probably wouldn’t have enough time for it and Mallory said she didn’t want to wait anyways so we left. We looked and marveled at the Imagination fountains (water doesn’t jump, mama!). We then headed off to the monorail to meet Jason at the guest drop off/pickup area at the TTC. He beat us by about ten minutes so he took pictures of the underside on the monorails passing overhead while he waited.

We were going to go to Downtown Disney but decided just to go back to the hotel and get Tabitha down for the night. She woke up when I took her out of the car so we let the kids play for a bit while we did some packing up for tomorrow.

It’s easier to get Tabitha to sleep with Mallory out of the room, so Jason took her to the French Quarter for snacks. He asked again how many beignets he could get for one snack credit and this time the answer was 6. So he got those for breakfast tomorrow. Jason got the pecan pie for himself and asked Mallory what she wanted. She looked the dessert case over and said she wanted the carrot cake. She ALWAYS wants the carrot cake. She doesn’t particularly like carrot cake. But we think she likes the design of a carrot in the icing so that is why she wants it. She ate about half the icing and left the cake for Jason. Jason said the pecan pie was excellent but the carrot cake was somewhere between ok and not so good. (3 S, $11.89).

They looked around the resort quickly including checking out the pool. It looked fun, but definitely smaller than the Riverside pool. They drove back to our resort and Jason asked Mallory if she wanted to go swimming. She said no, she would rather go to bed. So she did.

 

[stitchgal]

DAY 7, Sunday, September 3 – It’s Not Easy Being Green

Our last day at the World started with Mallory throwing up at 5:30 AM. She seemed ok and went back to sleep until 7:15 AM. She seemed fine when she woke up. We had to again wake up Tabitha to leave, I feel so bad for her but she did wake up happy.

We went to Little Ones Magic Hour again this morning. We got there around 8:15 and I just saw Piglet going backstage as we came-missed him again! Snow White and Dopey were playing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in front of her ride and Mallory enjoyed doing this. Goofy was on the carousel and Stitch was on Dumbo.

Pooh and Eeyore were playing Red Light Green Light in the Pooh playground but it was kinda haphazard. The cast member attending Pooh seemed upset that Pooh didn’t want to play. I was just disappointed the whole time because I missed Piglet. We rode Pooh and Snow White again.

After the magic hour, we decided to get breakfast. Jason went to get something from the bakery and I wanted to get a strawberry swirl. When I went to buy my swirl, I found out the Enchanted Grove wasn’t opened yet. We agreed to meet in Cosmic Ray’s since it was cool in there. It was 9:30 in the morning, the restaurant is closed, yet the alien guy is playing at full speed and very loud. Mallory had been wanting to be picked up all morning and saying she was hot but I thought it was the heat again. Well, she threw up in Cosmic Ray’s. Jason told a cast member about it and a few of the got together to talk about how to clean up “the spill”. We got a cinnamon roll (wanted to use a snack credit but paid via room charge because of cashier error) for breakfast and Mallory just wanted to drink water. We were debating just leaving but Mallory said she wanted to ride a few more rides and she was looking better. I noticed the Enchanted Grove opened at 10 so I got my strawberry swirl then. (1S, $3.29) We went to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz Lightyear but decided not to because the stand by line was too long. This was the first day that the parks started to feel crowded. Jason got a strawberry-banana smoothie from Auntie Gravity’s to use up a snack credit (1S, $3.72).

Tabitha had fallen asleep so Jason and Mallory went to do the Enchanted Tiki room. Mallory loved the Tiki birds at Disneyland so I was wondering what she would think of this version. Turns out she liked it just fine – she clapped and smiled. But Jason, who hadn’t seen this version in quite a few years, didn’t like it at all. He loves the (nearly) original show in Disneyland. The problem with New Management is that it is only interested in cramming as many hits of the day (as of 1998) into the show as possible with no regard for story. In the original show all the songs worked together to advance the story to a coherent climax. Jason says he’ll stick to seeing it at Disneyland.

I sat down across from Pirates of the Caribbean on steps near the Funte de Fortuna to listen to and see what I could see of the pirate show. As I was sitting there, I looked back and saw Jack Sparrow creeping around, he looked at me and said, “They should tell me things like this.” I don’t know if he was supposed to be coming down the stairs but he went around the porch. It was pretty funny.

After the Tiki birds, we decided to head out after one last picture with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee-ah Mr. Smee, we saw him everywhere.

We went to Exposition Hall to buy the photopass CD-found out we had 114 photos. Jason took the girls for a loop on the train while I went to buy a box of fudge (I usually do this each trip) at the candy shop and see what kind of candies I could get for snacks. They told me I could get almost anything for a snack so I got a chocolate candy for me and chocolate covered pretzel stick for Mallory. (2 S, $5.54)

I noticed the Magic Kingdom was really getting crowded as I watched the crowds from a rocking chair on the Exposition Hall porch. Main Street was very crowded and it was all people walking into the park.

Mallory kept trying to negotiate for one more ride, but it was time to go. We went to Downtown Disney for lunch at Earl of Sandwich which we’ve heard is great. It was crowded inside and the menu reminded me of Panera or Au Bon Pain, which I wasn’t expecting. The line moved quickly. We used our last 2 counter services there which got us each a sandwich or salad, a drink and a muffin, cupcake or cookie. I got the Hawaiian BBQ sandwich and Jason got the meatball sandwich with a cookie and muffin (I told Jason to get a cupcake but that’s what he thought the muffin was.) Mallory complained it was too smelly inside (this was sickness related, not an odor review) so we ate outside. All the inside tables were taken anyway. Mallory didn’t eat anything and was starting to feel bad again. The sandwiches were delicious. We highly recommend this place. The receipts revealed that Disney gives this outside vendor $9 per CS credit. (2 CS, $18.43).

We did our last minute shopping at World of Disney for some souvenirs for the kids. We used up our last snack credits at a cart getting a Mickey ice cream bar, fruit cup and two bottled waters. (4 S, $10.12) I was holding Mallory and she just about fell asleep on me on the way to the car as we started to leave for the airport.

Mallory threw up on the way to the airport and we knew she was really sick then. This happened less than 5 minutes before we turned in the car. It was not a big mess because she hadn’t eaten much, but the car did not smell so fresh. I hope National did a good job cleaning it. The line to check in for our flight was very long, but moved well. We had to wait about 10-15 minutes. Once checked in we noticed that the line had dwindled to almost nothing. Guess we got there right after a few buses unloaded. There was no line for security.

All Mallory wanted to do at the airport was curl up on chairs and sleep. She slept most of the way on the plane ride too, which went smoothly. Even Tabitha was really good on the plane. The only problem on the way home was that our luggage took forever (nearly an hour) to come out of the carousel.

Thank you for reading my trip report!