No Plans and a Little Pixie Dust, updated 1/22 our trip is over

[scottny]

great update and pics.

I loved CR, we had a window seat but no one came by to disturb us.

 

[MagicJunkie]

I am finally catching up and enjoying all the pictures. It looks like you had a lot of fun and made great memories with your grandson.

 

[onelilspark]

I just read your TR.

I loved the photos of the old Wannamakers!! I moved out of hte area, but as soon as I saw that photo, I got all misty eyed Thanks for putting a smile on my face!

 

[tazdev3225]

great update and pics.

I loved CR, we had a window seat but no one came by to disturb us.

That is DGS's absolutely favorite restaurant. I don't know if that is a common thing but I really felt bad for the people sitting there. I don't think I would want to sit there after what I watched. We may not eat there on the coming trip as DH and I want to try a couple of places that DGS doesn't like.

I am finally catching up and enjoying all the pictures. It looks like you had a lot of fun and made great memories with your grandson.

We had a wonderful time. You are right the memories of the trip with him are priceless. He is a truly great kid and it was so much fun having him there.

I just read your TR.

I loved the photos of the old Wannamakers!! I moved out of hte area, but as soon as I saw that photo, I got all misty eyed Thanks for putting a smile on my face!

You are so welcome. That was the first trip I had to the lightshow in a long time. It is just as beautiful as I remembered. I hope it is a tradition the store never loses.

 

[tazdev3225]

I interrupt the TR of the parks for a review of the hotel. Before Jay was born we stayed offsite. It was cheaper and I could find a hotel that let us get one room. Then I had the trip of a lifetime at the Grand Floridian. That trip hooked me, and it was onsite from then on. We went as a family 2 years later and I convinced my kids to try it. We had to economize so we chose ASMo. Jay was 5 at the time and he was in love. He never wanted to go home. The 2 trips we took him on after that first trip had to be at ASMo. When I made our reservations I requested a preferred room and we were set. When we were on the plane, after he woke up, I asked Jay what building he wanted to stay in and he was hoping for the Dalmatians. We checked in and Jay was thrilled it was the Dalmatians Building and the room was ready. Our room number:

What was on our bed and the closest thing to a towel animal we had for the entire trip:

Jay on the giant fireplug steps:

Some general views from the room:

and from the elevator area and grounds:

and at night:

I did have pictures of the room but I can't find them. If I do I'll edit. I know from other threads that people don't think highly of ASMo. I will agree it could use some freshening up, but that being said we have always loved it. I love the grounds and the way the buildings look. I have never had a problem with noise. I don't know if it's because I'm from a very large city and therefore immune to noise or because it really isn't noisy. The room was clean and always made up every night when we got back to it. The food court can be a little busy in the morning but it was manageable. We never had a very long wait for a bus to any of the parks and the buses seemed to run very efficiently. Even the trips back at night seemed to go rather quickly. I know we must have stopped at the other All Stars but I really don't remember it. The only thing that I consider to be a major drawback is how far the bus stops are on the way back to the resort. I was also a little bothered by how far we were from the bus stop since I paid for a preferred room. It didn't bother me enough to complain. I think part of why I like the resort is that I don't go with high expectations. I want a place to sleep and shower and that is what I get. It is a cozy little resort and I highly recommend it to anybody on a budget or who wants a cute little resort that is fun for the kids.

Up next Day 5.

 

[tazdev3225]

DAY 5: Breakfast at Crystal Palace
This was the day I had been waiting for ever since I found the DIS boards. Wake up call that day was very early, I was out of bed by 6:30. Since I take a very fast shower I was ready to go by 6:45. Unfortunately I had to get the two guys dressed. My DH is worse that a woman in the shower. He honestly takes 45 minutes or more. Thankfully today he knew how much I wanted to be at the bus stop by 7:30 at the latest. My DGS was also really fast and we were out of the room by the time I wanted. We were headed to MK and the Crystal Palace for breakfast. Our reservations were for 8:15 AM a full 45 minutes before the park opened. I was going to see an almost empty MK. I never knew that you could do that and I was super excited. Here's Jay waiting for the bus look very unenthused.

I didn't care this is what I saw when we got there:

I had never seen the park like this before and it truly is the most amazing sight. After lingering for a while taking pictures we checked in at the Crystal Palace. We had a short wait and then were seated.

I loved all the Mickey head confetti and had to take some for the scrapbook. We got our food and the characters made their rounds. No flames please but I have never been a huge Pooh fan. My DD loves all things Pooh so this is a tradition for us on every trip. I do like Eeyore though, I have a thing for the sad sacks. Pictures of the characters as they came around:

Jay loves to get in the pictures with the characters. I didn't realize that I had titled the pictures. The one with Piglet says "Piglet choking Jay". The picture looks like Jay is being choked or is just a floating head but the smile on his face is cute. We were done breakfast by 9:30 or so and headed straight out to get on as many rides as we could that day. I was expecting the park to be really crowded as it was Columbus Day so I wanted to get a fast start.
Up next DAY 5 cont.

 

[tazdev3225]

DAY 5: cont
One more picture from when we first entered the park. Jay and me all alone in front of the castle. I will do this every trip just for this sight:

We left the Crystal Palace and headed towards Adventureland. I wanted to go to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo, sadly a ride I have never been on. Jay refused so I made him ride Aladdin's Flying Carpets instead.

He just looks like he is having so much fun. This was a first for us though because it is one of the rides we had never been on. We did The Enchanted Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise and then ait was on to POC. We did that twice and watched the Jack Sparrow show. We sae Capt. Hook and Mr Smee so of course we had to get pictures.

I also saw the photopass guy and was thrilled with this one.

Again thanks to the Dis boards because I would never have known that they do that. We headed over to Frontierland and did BTMRR and Splash Mountain. It was then on to Liberty Square. We rode the Riverboat. I like this for a chance to slow down and recharge. The view as you ride around is really peaceful. Here are a few pics from the ride.

Here's one of Jay 2 years ago on the ride

It's almost the same pensive look. I didn't realize how much he had grown until I saw this picture. A view of the Haunted mansion from the boat:

When we got off of the riverboat my DH spotted Donald Duck. So it was off to get a picture with him:

DH likes to talk to the kids in his Donald voice and it is the one character he has to see. We went on the Hall of Presidents because DH and I are history buffs and we use this as a history lesson for Jay. It's one of the ways we justify taking him out of school for a day or two.

We also did Haunted Mansion once again. It was then onto Fantasyland. I made Jay go on Its a Small World one more time as payment for the trip. It was then onto Philharmagic. This was yet another attraction we had never seen before. It was also pouring rain and they were seating immediately. We were all surprised at how good the show really is.

The rain had let up so it was off to Snow White's Adventure:

Day 5 will continue in the next installment.

 

[tazdev3225]

DAY 5: cont
After Snow White we continued our way around and did Peter Pan but none of my pictures turned out in there. I was a little disappointed in that but I bought a new camera when we got home so who knows maybe the next trip will be the one where I finally get a decent picture. It's just another excuse to going back. We then went on the Mad Tea Cups. This was truly a first for me as I get extremely dizzy just watching the ride. As this was my trip with no plans I had no lists telling me that the ride was ranked at the bottom. Jay and my DH loved it.

This a horrible picture I was wet and self-portraits on a moving ride are a little hard to take but here is the proof that I acyually was on the ride:

We went to Toontown but just really walked through it on our way to Tomorrowland. Jay is getting a little old for there, at least that was what he told me. Along the way Jay kept up his need to find critters.

This time it was a snail. He really is just like his father. That was the highlight of my DS's trips. I think it is a boy thing because my DD's liked seeing critters but they didn't look for them.
We were then on to Tomorrowland which will be in the next installment as I accidentally posted this when I meant to preview it. New rule always have coffee before posting in the morning. To be continued.

 

[scottny]

great update and pics.

I love getting into MK early. it is so magical.

good for you going on teacups, I will not and cannot.

 

[tazdev3225]

great update and pics.

I love getting into MK early. it is so magical.

good for you going on teacups, I will not and cannot.

I will eat an early breakfast on every trip from now on just to see that amazing and magical view of an empty park. Going on the teacups even amazed me as I have horrible motion sickness. I just didn't want to sit in the rain while the guys went on. They were under strict orders not to spin the teacup and working on taking pictures helped. I will probably not do it again.

 

[tazdev3225]

Day 5 continued some more.

After Toontown we finally were in Tomorrowland. We went on the Tomorrowland Speedway. This was another first for us.
DGS

and DH

Then DH and DGS got Fast Pass tickets for Space Mountain. We wandered around and saw the Carousel of Progress. We went on this on our very first trip to WDW over 20 years ago and really didn't remember it so we decided to go on it. I loved the ride and DH and DGS liked it. I also had fun taking pictures of it because I could play around with my camera settings. A few pics because I was really happy with the way they turned out.

The guys went on Space Mountain and I wandered around for a little bit. I do not go on that ride. I push myself on a few rides that I shouldn't go on because of my back and this isn't one of them. They were back really quickly and we went on Buzz Lightyear. Jay and Zurg:

I also got a picture of the guys with this funny looking tourist:

We wandered around the park at this point and watched the strange looking people coming in. There was a MNSSHP that night and people were coming in dressed in costume. I was a little jealous that the rain was completely gone and it was going to be a nice night for them. It rained during our MNSSHP and we didn't have a great time. We debated trying to get tickets for this one but decided against it as we were leaving the next day. I took a few pictures while DH went to see if we could get any seating at LTT or Crystal Palace for dinner. The Crystal Palace is really pretty all lit up.

Some interesting guests waiting for dinner:

Everything was booked solid so we started heading towards the exit, a little slowly so I could get some pictures that I didn't get the night we were at the party.

I took some outside as we debated where we wanted to go. DH and I had our first real disagreement of the trip here. He said something that I couldn't here, I am partially deaf, and he got mad. DGS and I headed up to the monorail to go to the Contemporary and head to DTD. DH caught up to us and all was well. The long days had caught up to us at last but one little 2 second argument happens. For us it was nothing compared to other trips. When we got off of the monorail we saw Chef Mickey's. We had never eaten here before and I told DH to see if they could seat us. More Pixie Dust. We were seated immediately.
Chef Mickey's and DTD next.

 

[tazdev3225]

DAY 5 Chef Mickey's

In all our trips we had never stopped at the Contemporary. Since we wanted to go to DTD from the MK this was the fastest way. When we got off the monorail and saw Chef Mickey's we decided to take a chance and I was happy that they could seat us right away. All I can say is that this is a fun place to eat. The characters interact more than they do anywhere else and Jay had a blast. The food was also fairly good. Here are pics of the food and desserts:

And DGS with the characters:

The only thing I didn't like was the waiter. He was good and attentive and truly deserved the tip we left him. He was from our area originally and said some things about Philly that bothered me. My city isn't perfect but I like it. I forgave him, blaming the Florida sun for frying his brain and his bad judgement. The food here was good, the entertainment a lot of fun and this is definitely a restaurant I will go to again. We just really lucked out with the Pixie Dust on this.
After eating we went downstairs for a bus to DTD as we hadn't gotten there yes this trip. We managed to see some of Hallowishes while we waited and just really enjoyed the atmosphere. The bus came and we were off to DTD to finish our last day. We went to Goofy's Candy Shop another first and we got a little more Pixie Dust again. We had snack credits left so I knew from the Dis boards that they could be used at Goofy's. I got the pretzel sticks and DGS got a candied apple. When we checked out we found out that Jay got the wrong one. When I went to pay for it the salesgirl said she would just give it to us for the snack credit. She was from Pittsburgh and we told her we were neighbors sort of being from the same state. Jay likes the Steelers and she was an Eagles fan. I love Disney magic. Here is Jay's apple it was huge:

And a couple of pictures:

Sadly it was getting late and the stores were shutting down for the night. We headed back to the bus stop and the hotel. We packed up our bags and realized we really hadn't bought any souvenirs. We went to bed so that we could get up early for our last day.
Day 6 and our return home next.

 

[scottny]

They were under strict orders not to spin the teacup and working on taking pictures helped. I will probably not do it again.

glad you told them that. I will not attempt it. your brave.


Great update and pics.

sad it is leaving day coming up, really enjoyed your tr.

 

[tazdev3225]

glad you told them that. I will not attempt it. your brave.


Great update and pics.

sad it is leaving day coming up, really enjoyed your tr.

I don't think it was bravery as much as I wanted to get out of the rain. As you can tell that was not my best look. I really suffer from motion sickness to the point that I won't even attempt Soarin'. I saw it on the planning DVD and turned green.
I am sad that the last day is coming up too. Thank you for leaving comments, it is a little disconcerting to see so many people look at them and very few leave comments. I have learned a valuable lesson from this TR, always try and leave a comment so others know that they are being read and enjoyed. Sadly the last day is coming but on a bright note I can start a preTR for my December trip.

 

[tazdev3225]

DAY 6: Time to Go Home

Sadly when I woke up this day I did not want to move. There was a packet on the door that told me what time to be ready for the ME that afternoon. I showered and finished packing our bags. I also kept two duffel bags out as we had to do all of our souvenir shopping. Jay and I went down to bell services and got a cart to bring the luggage down. Here is Jay with the luggage on our way down to check out.

As we had no charges on our bill we checked out quickly and headed to the MK. We did our traditional last ride on BTMRR and POC.

I took this shot when we were exiting BTMRR. I love it because I managed to get both trains in the shot.

We ate at Pecos Bill and DGS and I stuck to the burgers while DH tried the Taco Salad.

DH liked the Taco Salad and said he would get it again.

As we were headed out I got some shots of the flowers and scenery

and then stopped for one of these.

In all of my trips I had never had a Dole Whip before. I will definitely be getting one again. We split it but I had the most. They really are good. We went into the Emporium and managed to get what we needed for the unfortunate family back home who couldn't come with us.
We then hopped on the monorail and headed to Epcot. I had to get my pearls in Japan.

I took some other pictures around the WS of things I have missed before:

A quick shot of Jay in Morocco:

I stopped to buy a couple of things at the Food and Wine Festival booth for my mom and BFF. Then sadly we had to head to the bus and the ME to the airport.
Our farewell pictures:

Doesn't my DGS Jay look unhappy?
The bus came quickly and we were back at ASMo picking up our luggage and returning my ECV. While DH did this I ran into the food court to use our final credits for sandwiches and drinks to eat at the airport. ME came 20 minutes early and the driver was extremely impatient and rude. We took our seats on the bus and I shed a tear as we made our way to a couple more resorts and then the airport. We wound up eating our sandwiches on the bus and we were at the airport in no time. It always amazes me that the trip to WDW seems to take forever and the trip back to the airport seems to take seconds. We did curbside check-in and wandered around the airport while we waited for the plane to board. Jay by the Disney Store:

Our plane was on time and we were preboarded. The flight home was not as much fun as the flight down and soon we were seeing this:

Philadelphia was on the horizon. We landed and called our DS, Jay's father to head on down to get us and by the time we had picked up our luggage he was at the door waiting for us to come out. We packed up the car and we were soon headed up I-95 towards our house. While I was thrilled to be home I was somewhat sad because the magic was over.

Up next: FINAL THOUGHTS

 

[tazdev3225]

Final Thoughts

I did this trip with no plans other than my ADR's. There were times that I panicked and wanted to start writing out a list of things to do but I didn't. I know I missed some things that I had wanted to do, but on the other hand we did several things that we had not done before. I was not tied down to a list and I survived. I am going back again in December with just my DH and we have compromised. I am allowed to make lists of some things that I really want to do but I am not allowed to live by the list. I was expecting MK to be really crowded on Columbus Day and it may have been. We just went through the park from place to place and if there was a line we skipped it. I really feel as though I did not miss anything. If I did I will be back.

The Pixie Dust was a fun part of the trip. The hat the first day gave us a lot of laughs and the thought was appreciated it just was not me. The extra snack credits were great because we then managed to have 2 meals on the last day. Miyuki was a thrill that my DGS will never forget. I knew that the odds were against him getting anything but to see him rewarded for being such a good kid was worth seeing two shows. The giant candy apple was yet another thing that just brought a huge smile to Jay's face.

The trips with my DGS have given us memories that will last a lifetime. He is looking forward to his next trip in about 3 years when the whole family will be going. DH and I will be back again this year and sadly DGS will not be with us but it will be a new adventure for us. Thank you everyone who has read my TR and I especially thank those of you who took the time to leave a comment. It was nice to know that you were enjoying it. I hope everyone who has had the chance to read my little TR enjoyed it also. If anyone has some tips on what I can do to make the next one better please feel free to leave them also. I welcome all comments.

 

[MagicJunkie]

Picture trip reports are my favorite and I really enjoyed yours. Was that candy apple as yummy as it looked? Thank you for sharing some of your magical moments with us. You did a great job and I will be looking out for another report from you in December.

 

[jcc0621]

Hi fellow Philadelphian

I read your whole trip report today and i really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!

 

[tazdev3225]

Picture trip reports are my favorite and I really enjoyed yours. Was that candy apple as yummy as it looked? Thank you for sharing some of your magical moments with us. You did a great job and I will be looking out for another report from you in December.

I think it was. My DGS did not want to eat it until he got home to show his mom and dad. He said it was the best he had ever eaten. Thank you for reading and I will be starting a pre-TR soon.

Hi fellow Philadelphian

I read your whole trip report today and i really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!

Hi back fellow Philadelphian, What part are you from?I live in the NE but grew up in S. Philly. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about our trip and I loved sharing.

 

[jcc0621]

Hi back fellow Philadelphian, What part are you from?I live in the NE but grew up in S. Philly. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about our trip and I loved sharing.

ORiginally South Philly (Grays Ferry) but am now in Roxborough!