Oct 2012, In which it was Cold and Blustery....updated 01/08

[ash-n-brensmom]

What a great night at RR! When we were there in March we were seated in the back room (music room) with a pole between us and the stage. Then we realized that only the band was playing...no dancers. We were delighted when two dancers came with a "barn door" (portable dance floor) and a Karaoke machine right to our table (literally only a foot from us). We felt like we were getting our own little show. It was a great surprise!

It's funny, because we saw her head away from us with a speaker, she must have been making the rounds! That's really cool getting a private show like that!

What a great experience at Raglan Rd! But what about the bread pudding dessert?

We didn't order dessert this time, we were stuffed. And staying off site we weren't on the dining plan either, so all of our meals were OOP. I have had that dessert before, though....YUM-MY!!

 

[BMC423]

I'm here!!!

Yay for JB, I love them! We have never had a problem with them and we we only fly with them (unless of course they don't go where we are going). They are always on time, and often early! Glad you liked them, also the prices can't be beat!

I would have loved to see that lady's face when you told her about the civic!

Glad your room was clean and bug free this time around!

Yay for DTD and RR. I think going to DTD is the perfect way to start your trip, we do that too. RR is so good I had the salmon last time... delish!

 

[Ferb]

I'm here! I'm trying the new iPhone app

 

[khertz]

Sounds like a great first night! How sweet that the dancer at Raglan Road came down to talk to your family. Great pic of her with the girls too! Seems like a fun place. We have never been, but may need to try it!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

I'm here!!!

Yay for JB, I love them! We have never had a problem with them and we we only fly with them (unless of course they don't go where we are going). They are always on time, and often early! Glad you liked them, also the prices can't be beat!

I would have loved to see that lady's face when you told her about the civic!

Glad your room was clean and bug free this time around!

Yay for DTD and RR. I think going to DTD is the perfect way to start your trip, we do that too. RR is so good I had the salmon last time... delish!

YaY!!! So glad to have you here, Bicki!!!

Even after that comment about the Civic, she still tried to get me to upgrade. I get that they have a job to do, but when I say No, I mean NO!!

Raglan Road was delish as always! I just love the vibe in there,too!

And you're right, YAY for no bed bugs!!

I'm here! I'm trying the new iPhone app

'bout time!

Sounds like a great first night! How sweet that the dancer at Raglan Road came down to talk to your family. Great pic of her with the girls too! Seems like a fun place. We have never been, but may need to try it!

She was cute, loved her little Irish accent, too! The girls really enjoyed watching her. I've tried to get them into Irish Dancing, you know, just to live vicariously through them! But, nope...they didn't like it. Oh well...

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Day Two!!!
Okay, I left you hanging as to where we would be going today.....it's our first park day.....where would you go?

Magic Kingdom of course!!

We got up at 6 and headed out without eating...we stopped at a Hess station and grabbed something quick and nasty to eat on the way. Staying off site and driving ourselves gave us lots of freedom, but of course that meant we had to park at the TTC. We decided to take the ferry this morning....the weather was beautiful and the ferry was just getting ready to launch!

We aren't too excited!!

We noticed a lot of younger adults with wristbands on..these we found out were CM's there for the New Fantasyland preview...boy were we jealous!!

We arrived at the park by 8:15 and while we waited for the opening show a CM was running around and throwing Mickey confetti at unsuspecting guests! It was funny and Rapunzel enjoyed gathering as much as she could!

While we waited for the opening show we saw him do it to a few more people..someone really loves their job!



The park opened at 9 and we headed straight for Merida! Rapunzel just loves her, and everything about her and this movie! We were like the 4th family in line and got to talking with a really cute family with two little girls. They were really nice and they loved talking to Rapunzel and especially Stitch...little mother hen that girl is! The time for Merida passed and we started to wonder when she would get here. Then a CM came out with a booklet of handwritten F/P's and announced that Merida was running late. We decided to take the FP and head over into Fantasyland and see what we could done with the rest of the morning. We felt like we had wasted so much time there and the morning was slipping away.

Gotta give this a try every time!

We rode PPF with a 20 min posted wait...urgh...wasted time see? But it was okay...we were going to be in the park 3 times this week...plenty of time to see and do. I really love PPF! A classic feel good ride!

WtP was posted at 20 min and we didn't want to wait for that one...so we wandered over to the new Storybook area. This place is pretty cool...I am looking forward to seeing it once all the construction walls have come down. It seemed a little awkward walking back there with walls everywhere.

We checked out the new Dumbo queue and play area. I was very impressed. It's a little dark in there, but on a hot sunny day that would be a relief for parents!
The wait time was listed at 15 min but really there was no wait...we let the girls hang out in the play area and walk around and check stuff out. I didn't think they would enjoy it as much as they did! Rapunzel even made a friend while in there!

I would like to apologize for all of the wonky picture sizes. Photobucket has been a total pain in the buttinsky lately. I don't like the new format and I keep having to force it into the old one. Then because we were close to our capacity Ferb opened a new acct, well that has been a real pain as well. Trying to get all the pics in order from two different accts, while trying to edit the sizes and crop and such....and on top of it, photobucket hasn't been saving the newly edited pic. This little post has taken me an hour to write just because of the photo editing!!!! AAARRGGGHHH!!! I am not the most computer literate person either, which doesn't exactly help! Anyway, rant over, and again I apologize!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Love the confetti throwing CM!!! Allow me to hang my head in shame while admitting that I have never made RD for MK. I really would like to try to make it next time we go. We have been there for 8:00sm EMH's so surely we can make it for a 9:00am RD, right?

It looks like you had beautiful weather for MK. We have had all day rain the past two times we have gone.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Love the confetti throwing CM!!! Allow me to hang my head in shame while admitting that I have never made RD for MK. I really would like to try to make it next time we go. We have been there for 8:00sm EMH's so surely we can make it for a 9:00am RD, right?

It looks like you had beautiful weather for MK. We have had all day rain the past two times we have gone.

I love, love, love the opening ceremony here! It's really a shame that they have removed all of these special morning shows from every other park. I really hope this one stays!! And yes, if you can make it to EMH, you can do a 9 AM RD!

Too bad about all that rain...although, the few times we have had rain it's made for wonderful park touring! No waits at all!

 

[homeschoolmomof4]

Love the confetti throwing!! When my ginger boy was about 5 a very kind security guard saw my little guy picking up confetti off the ground and handed my son an envelope full of confetti. 8 years later, my son still has that confetti and the guard's kindness has not been forgotten.

And the opening ceremony is a must for our family. I've even been known to get teary-eyed!

Cannot wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Love the confetti throwing!! When my ginger boy was about 5 a very kind security guard saw my little guy picking up confetti off the ground and handed my son an envelope full of confetti. 8 years later, my son still has that confetti and the guard's kindness has not been forgotten.

And the opening ceremony is a must for our family. I've even been known to get teary-eyed!

Cannot wait to hear more about your trip!

Oh yeah, tears every time! That's a great story about your son! It just goes to show how a little act of kindness will stay with you!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Day Two...Cont​

I forgot to update this day with the date and weather....something that I enjoy seeing when I read other TR's. Today is Oct 23 and the weather was a high of 84 and a low of 65.

So, MK continued...

We had just finished playing in the new Dumbo area and we walked out to no line, just wait for the elephants to land...

Me and Stitch

Ferb and Rapunzel

We rode Barnstormer after with no wait, Rapunzel and I got to be in the first row! She has decided that this is one of her new faves! She hasn't been on this since 2008 and she was too young to enjoy it then.

We headed over to look at more of the area, the theme here is pretty cool! We stopped at the washrooms in the railway station and Rapunzel took a walk over to Casey's water area...

Next we headed into the Big Top, we wanted to see it, plus we were getting hungry...time for a treat!!
This was taken with Ferb's new Ipod, the panoramic shot needed some work, but you get the idea...

What a cool looking shop! The girls went wild! LOL! And so did I....just look at all those treats!!

I got a red velvet cake pop (the last one!)..heaven on a stick, Ferb got the pineapple spear dipped in chocolate, Rapunzel got caramel corn and the girls both got slushies. Next time, I want that pineapple spear, to be honest, it was better than the cake pop...crazy, I know!

The girls each got a pair of sunglasses here as well, the sun was really bright for us Canadians!

We stepped out and got in line for Donaldo and Goofini at 10:50 with a 10 minute wait posted...and this was pretty accurate. I wanted to do the Daisy and Minnie line, but the girls didn't want to. I wish there was a way to get right in their line without heading back through the shop....if there was, I probably could have convinced them to do it.

We had seen all we could of the Storybook Circus area and so we moved along to one of my faves and one that we had been trying to get Rapunzel to ride for years. We finally got her on it in Jan, but she didn't give it a straight thumbs up. So we wanted her to give it another go. Haunted Mansion....we knew we had to skip the stretching room if she would ride...so with that in mind, we headed over and talked her into to it...it took the whole walk over just talking about it and how she didn't mind it, and we really wanted to ride as a family...and she did it! And she is good to go from now on....as long as we skip the stretching room. We asked the first time, but by the end of our vacation we basically just helped ourselves to the bypass. We walked through the extended queue this time, but for later rides we just walked in through the direct line.

After our ride we headed over towards Rapunzel's favorite ride EVER!! BTMRR!!!! She deserved it after braving HM for us! We grabbed FP since it was listed with a 20 min wait and I wanted to tackle another of Rapunzel's newest achievements. POC! She likes it, but I wasn't sure if she was gonna be as excited after a 9 month break since her last time riding. She was good to go!! And excited!!

I apologize for the quality of this pic...photobucket once again will not let me edit...But, look at how excited that girl is!! And no, not me!! LOL!

That accomplished we headed back to BTMRR to use our FP...the wait was downgraded to 10 min so we rode back to back!! Love that ride!!

Now it was time to use our FP for Merida. We were a little nervous about how well this would work. Well, let me tell you, we got dumped with some serious Pixie Dust with this one! Rapunzel just loves Merida now. She asked for all this Merida stuff for Xmas and saw the movie twice at the theater.

We walked up to the meet and greet area...everyone in line giving us the stink eye. I get it, but it was a little weird. So we got the attention of the Character CM as she was exiting the now closing gate. I thought we had waited too long...but no, she took our FP and another CM came up to us and grabbed the girls and told them he needed their help!

He said his friend Merida likes to hide on him and play hide and seek and could the girls help him find her? Um, yeah!!! So, he walks them up the ramp and shows them a tapestry that she likes to hide behind...nope not there...then out of nowhere (well, actually from behind one of the set pieces) Merida comes jumping out at the girls!! They LOVED it! Especially Rapunzel! Merida was great...we had ordered photo books for the girls' autograph books and Merida had a page for herself. She loved it!

This was a great meet and greet and the girls really felt special!
It was time for lunch...we had an ADR for WCC...so we headed out to the entrance and took the ferry over to WL. That is for another update...lots of pics from that lunch...

 

[oopsiDAISY]

YOu have such great pictures of the new Storybook Circus area! Can't wait to see it all! What a wonderful m&g with Merida! Can't wait to read your review of WCC. I really want to try it out next time if I can get all the logistics worked out with our extra folks going this time.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

YOu have such great pictures of the new Storybook Circus area! Can't wait to see it all! What a wonderful m&g with Merida! Can't wait to read your review of WCC. I really want to try it out next time if I can get all the logistics worked out with our extra folks going this time.

We got some decent pics, we are NOT photogs at all! Like I said, the theme in there is pretty cool, and I am looking forward to seeing everything complete with all those walls down. Lots of the walls are for the mine train I think still, so it's going to be a while.

 

[jenseib]

Great updates. you should be able to switch back to old style photobucket still, but I heard the editing part is a combination of new and old, and pretty much sucks. LOL

Love your Merida greet. We have yet to see her. I need to remedy that.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Great updates. you should be able to switch back to old style photobucket still, but I heard the editing part is a combination of new and old, and pretty much sucks. LOL

Love your Merida greet. We have yet to see her. I need to remedy that.

Part of my problem is I have to keep two different accts open at the same time to get all the pics. And they won't allow that unless I open one on Internet Explorer, and it's not as compatible on that browser. So, I get glitches there, plus I have to keep editing the same pic over and over for some reason. I am ready to ditch Photobucket. Who do you use?

Merida was fun, would it have been as great without the pixie dust? Maybe, Rapunzel had to meet her either way, but I have a feeling meet and greets are starting to slowly be removed from our park touring. Which is kind of sad, but also will make planning the day easier. I think we will do the more important ones, like a new character or an elusive one, but we didn't get anywhere near filling our book this time.

 

[jenseib]

Part of my problem is I have to keep two different accts open at the same time to get all the pics. And they won't allow that unless I open one on Internet Explorer, and it's not as compatible on that browser. So, I get glitches there, plus I have to keep editing the same pic over and over for some reason. I am ready to ditch Photobucket. Who do you use?

Merida was fun, would it have been as great without the pixie dust? Maybe, Rapunzel had to meet her either way, but I have a feeling meet and greets are starting to slowly be removed from our park touring. Which is kind of sad, but also will make planning the day easier. I think we will do the more important ones, like a new character or an elusive one, but we didn't get anywhere near filling our book this time.

I use photoshop to edit. I have more control there. I have done a few phone pictures in the past and photobucket is too limited to me. But it did ok. They just need to leave it alone, or speed it up at the most. I have a pro account, but leery about renewing it.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Day Two, cont, cont...​

So we left off having just left MK to head to WL for our WCC lunch. Our ADR was at 1:05.

We took the boat to WL, it was a nice ride, I should have taken pictures.

We checked in for lunch and got seated right away. We have eaten here a few times already, but never for lunch. They changed the menu and Ferb liked the look of a few things on the new menu, and we are paying OOP for our food and lunch is cheaper! We always have a great time here, it's loud and funny! Except for lunch, apparently. It was almost empty when we sat down. It did start to fill up a little as time went on, but still never got really loud in there. I was worried that the antics of dinner-time weren't going to happen. WAS I WRONG?!

We got seated in the center of the dining room, and our server came and told us that since it was our Anniversary he was going to make us something. Here is what he made:

He took our drink orders and I got a Diet Coke. Those of you that have eaten here can see where this is going already!

At this point the girls are totally cracking up and our waiter wanted to know what was wrong? Rapunzel says, That's not big enough for my Mommy! He said, well you ordered a Diet! So he says, don't worry, I'll get you a bigger one...oh yeah, we can ALL see where this is going!!

Too bad I had to put it on the floor to drink with that straw!!!

We had a great lunch, lots of fun had by all...ketchup went back and forth,

The CM's were fun today, picking on the guests like crazy and just having a hoot! We were gonna skip dessert, we were really full...when our waiter comes over to Ferb and gets him to stand up and sing "You are my sunshine" in front of the whole restaurant for our Anniversary. He can't sing, just saying! But it was cute and we got a cupcake out of it!

Not the best pic quality wise, but shows how much fun our waiter was having with us!

We rolled out of there and headed back to MK again on the ferry. It was a beautiful afternoon and made for a lovely ride back to the park. I can really see the advantage of staying here with the ferry access!

We headed over to Frontierland and grabbed more FP for BTMRR. The wait was listed as 20 min. Ferb took Rapunzel over to the Tiki room and Stitch and I rode Splash Mt. We didn't get wet at all! We met up after and rode BTMRR with our FP's. At this point we realized we hadn't been to Tomorrowland yet, so we headed over and grabbed FP for Space Mt. and then went in for Monster's Inc. After Stitch and I used the FP for SM while Rapunzel and Ferb hung out and grabbed a frozen coke. We all rode the Peoplemover together and realized the park would be closing for MNSSHP soon. There were already tons of people in costume streaming into the park. So we decided to head out...but not before grabbing one of these beauties. This was a first for our family...and for sure, not going to be our last!!

Rapunzel wanted a sundae from next door, so I stood in line with her. We ate our ice cream in the Main St Bakery...sad that this will be changing over. And then we headed out, it was 6pm at this point. We got in our bathing suits and went for a relaxing swim and rest in the hot tub. Got another big day tomorrow!! And another RD!!

 

[blessedby3]

WCC looks like a lot of fun! We have never eaten there before. We even stayed at the WL in 2005 and didnt eat there May have to add that to our list for our next trip

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

WCC looks like a lot of fun! We have never eaten there before. We even stayed at the WL in 2005 and didnt eat there May have to add that to our list for our next trip

We have always had good service there and they love to make a big deal out of celebrations. On my b-day our waitress brought me champagne and then sang HB to me very loudly and quite off key...it was hilarious! Our first time there they had me and Ferb get up in front of the whole restaurant and participate in a kissing contest. The girls were MORTIFIED!!

I know that some people aren't too keen on the noise, but you if you like to have fun and goof around during your meal, this is the place. As our waiter said to us, Welcome to The Whispering Canyon Cafe, where no one whispers.

 

[marmalade]

Thanks for joining in on the fun!! Where abouts are you located? I am from Tonawanda originally! We love the Buffalo airport! We had to fly out of Toronto once....NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Hey, I'm from Tonawanda too! Small world!

I'm from Tonawanda too!

Love the diet coke!