Our "Dream" Disney trip....Tink's first visit to the magic!

[earthfaries]

I am really enjoying your trip report, can't wait to read more
What a fun and magical trip!!!
In Disneyland my son made a wish in the wishing well at Minnie's house for a baby and his wish came true! He got two! A brother and a sister. He always tells them he wished for them at DLit's so sweet.

 

[eyenjeff]

Day 3: Animal Kingdom and Epcot


This is the day we originally had reservations for breakfast at Animal Kingdom at Donald’s Breakfastosaurus. After having dinner with Pooh and friends the first night and Lunch yesterday with Jo Jo and friends I had decided that I needed a break from loud character meals. We were planning on going to Epcot after AK anyway so I called Disney dining on Wed from MGM and was able to cancel the breakfast and make an ADR for Biergarten in Germany instead. It worked out great as you will read a little later.

We made it to AK by around 9:30am and took a few pictures and looked at the map to see what we wanted to see.

Of course, we had to look in the shops along the way for our resident shopaholic. I had lost my sunglasses, so I bought a cheap pair and I think my son ended up with some kind of adventure kit of binoculars, pretend pocket knife, flashlight etc… all necessary items for exploring AK I guess.

I had only been to AK once before with my son on our solo trip when he was 5. We only ended up spending a half a day there because it was incredibly hot that day and not much shade and he was afraid of most of the rides so there wasn’t much for him there, we did not have at home. We have an awesome zoo here we spend a lot of time in (my son could give tours complete with all the facts! LOL!). We ended up leaving at lunch time that day and going to the contemporary and having a great lunch at their grill.

This time it was the first trip to AK for my husband, and my son was older and could ride the rides this time. We wanted to do the safari so we headed there to get a fast pass and by the time we got there, the fast pass return was past when we had to leave for Epcot! The stand by line was 70 mins, so I guess no safari for us. We spent a lot of time just walking around and seeing all the birds, swans, etc... around the tree of life.

We took some photopass pics and lots of our own pics too. We had not eaten breakfast so we got some of their danishes and sat by the flamingos and ate our treats. My daughter loved the flamingos!

We tried to wheel her away at one point and she got upset, so we decided to rest awhile longer. We went past the African drummer/dancers and they had just started to play.

Both my son and daughter loved them. Brigid (my daughter, you all already know her name and it is much easier to type everyone’s names instead of my_________.) was dancing in her stroller waving her hands and clapping!

We got some great video of her and Noah (formally known as “my son” LOL!). dancing together, he was trying to imitate the African dancers, it was really cute! Of course by that time Noah, was starving again and might die if we did not get popcorn right away so off we went to find popcorn, and of course we ended up with pretzels because he never ends up with what he asked for, EVER. Drives me crazy!! We walked around and spent a lot of time by the tree of life and in and around it.We were going to walk thru Asia but everyone was getting cranky and we decided to find a place for lunch. I was disappointed because I wanted to see the new Nemo show, and the Lion King show, and we never got to do it because of various meltdowns. I would have wanted to try EE but neither Noah nor Jeff (previously known as “my husband”) wanted to ride.

It was one of those days where nothing seemed to “gel”.

As we were walking towards Asia, we saw the creepiest thing I have ever seen in my life! A walking tree like person.

She was SOOOOOO Creepy!

She kind of slinked along and then stood still and blended into the tree line, and then she would walk along and stop and stare at you. At one point, she put one of her “branches” towards Brigid in the stroller, and scared her to death. As far as I could tell, she was on stilts and her arms must have had some kind of “stilty” attachments too. She was a great actress because she totally creeped out EVERYONE who saw her. Still frightens me to think of her!!! LOL!

We found the Flame tree bbq and the lines were really long so we kept walking and ended up retracing our earlier steps and went to the pizzafari. Which the lines in there were crazy long, but Noah decided that this was better so if Noah is happy everyone is happy. (oh my). I found a table with Brigid as she was asleep in her stroller, having long given up on us eating anytime soon. It was really loud in there, and as I later found out, there was an outside patio that was nice and quiet, where we should have gone. Live and Learn. I waited for Jeff and Noah with the lunch for about 30mins at the table. In which time, I realized that we were not going to make any of the shows or any rides and that we should just head over to Epcot when we were done with lunch. UGH!! I also had time for about a 10 min power nap leaning on the table, and was awakened by a screaming child at the next table. From what I could figure out from all the screaming, she was with her brother and grandparents waiting for her parents to get the food. She was screaming for her mommy continuously for about 10mins straight! Her grandfather just ignored her, Jeff was sure he was hard of hearing, or just really good at ignoring. Her grandma said a few things to her but that did not reassure her. Her brother tried to console her, but she was not to be consoled. Did I mention she was not a baby, she was about 4 or 5, a little too old to be “screaming” for her mommy when she was just in line. I wanted to say to them to let her go with her mom in line already!! But I held back as much as I could. As soon as her mom came to the table she turned the “waterworks” off instantly and just became a bratty 4ish yr old. What a relaxing lunch. When we left and saw the quiet patio, I was ready to kick myself! The lunch was pretty good; we had the Italian sandwiches with chips and dessert and large drink with straws! I couldn’t believe it, a straw. We had purchased a refillable straw cup earlier in the day because I am a “straw person”. I think it was for a fair price (sarcastic) of about $8 and then all refills are 99 cents. It had a large animal on top, which Noah picked a tiger. Of course we brought this home with us to add to our large straw cup collection. This was our first experience with the cardboard straws. They were ok, I don’t think they would have lasted too long, but I ended up pouring the drink in my refillable cup.

On the way out, went wandered thru a shop, surprised? Brigid was munching on a bag of potato chips ( her 1st ever chip, I am usually not that bad of a mother) and she proceeded to spill the chips all over the floor of the shop. Not just a few, almost the whole bag!!! Jeff went to tell the lady at the register, and he came back with the broom and dust pan himself! I asked him "What's up?". He said she was going to send someone to clean it, but HE offered to clean it up. He certainly doesn't sweep at home!!! He said he wanted to be able to say that he worked at Disney World and he made me take pics to prove it!

 

[eyenjeff]

We had rested long enough and decided to make our way to Epcot by my favorite mode of transportation, the only form really, from AK, the bus. We did not have to wait long; it is just hard when you have a baby, diaper bag/backpack, another backpack with the sweatshirts and jackets etc… Before anyone starts yelling………I know it was our choice to bring a 14 month old to Disney, I know we could have rented a stroller in each park we went to, I know we did not have to carry around all the stuff we did. I know we could have brought one of those ridiculous unsafe umbrella strollers (I am a neonatal/pediatric intensive care RN, who has seen a lot of injuries due to those strollers); I know I know I know. It just seemed to be our luck that whatever direction we were going was were the busses weren’t coming. We just had bad bus karma I guess. Sometimes we had to let people in front of us because we did not want to stand with Brigid and try to hold on etc… again, that was our choice, but it was safer. Anyway, with that little editorial out of the way, we made our way to Epcot by around 2:30.

Hurray!
Our ADR’s for Biergarten were for 5:15 so we had some time to explore. Of course Noah immediately wanted to _ _ _ _! I’m sure you can figure out what goes there. We took a photopass pic at the entrance, and she told us that there was another photographer by The Living Seas taking pics by Nemo and friends.
So we headed that way, plus I had not seen the new Finding Nemo ride or turtle talk with Crush. We made our way to LS and sure enough there was the PP lady. We took our pics and watched the birds and the waves “Mine mine mine mine!!!”

We got in line for Nemo, and we were lucky that it was pretty much a walk on, although we had to weave our way thru that crazy maze to make our way thru to the ride. I can’t imagine waiting in that maze for a long period of time. Plus I need to mention that behind us, walking thru the maze, was what I originally thought was a kid or a teenager, saying “mine, mine, mine” the ENTIRE time we were weaving thru that long maze!!!! DROVE ME NUTS!! Plus, when I finally looked back it wasn’t a kid at all, it was an adult, full grown, man, someone’s husband!!! Who was telling him he was annoying but he did not listen. Twice in one day I wanted to speak up but did not. It was comical the first time but by the 100th or so time, not so much!

We made it the shells and I rode with Brigid and Jeff and Noah rode together. She loved it! I liked it too, it was cute. We got off and headed to turtle talk with Crush. We walked right in. No wait. Now that was cool. Not sure how they do it, because I am technologically challenged, but it is very cool and funny!

Whoever is behind the magic curtain controlling crush has a great sense of humor. I would have loved to see that again. On the must do list for next time!

After crush, we decided to make our way over to the boat to World Showcase because we were very tired and did not want to walk all the way around.

Plus the boat stops right in Germany! Score! We had about a 10 min wait for the boat but it was worth it. Nice ride and a chance to relax.

We arrived a little early for our reservation, checked in and they took us within a few minutes.

Early dinner must not be that popular, and the fact that the Food and Wine festival was going on probably made a difference. As the night went on, it got more crowded.

We were seated right on the second level by the railing in the middle, great seats, great view of the band, with another family that was nice. Not too talkative but friendly enough.

The service for our drinks was a little slow, but OK. We thought the food was good. My husband really wanted to go there because he has German in him and enjoys the food. I enjoy the food too. It was a buffet so Noah was happy he could fill up on lots of whatever made him happy at that moment and if he did not like it, he could start over with something else and not get in trouble. (He is a really picky eater! Learned my lesson with him, and I am trying not to make the same mistake with Brigid lol!). The band and the music were lively and got the kids clapping along.

The atmosphere was good too, you really feel like you are outside in a beer garden in Germany. Overall I would recommend it and will return.

The surprise of the night came when I returned from a trip to the buffet and Jeff says, “Look who’s here!” At first I didn’t see who he was motioning to...and then…I couldn’t believe it! It was friends from Noah’s school, who I knew would be at Disney at the same time, but when we compared itineraries, we did not seem to be going to the same place at the same time. That was before I changed our ADR’s. How cool! I love those chance meetings!

Noah was glad to see his friend and sister, and they went down to the dance floor and danced to the music. We were glad to talk to people we knew and rehashed our trips so far and compared notes. It turned out that they were at AK all day too! But their time was much more productive than ours was. The rode a lot of rides and saw the Nemo show, I’m jealous. We were actually about done when they were seated right behind us and that had us staying for one more beer/pop and extra desserts and more laughs. How fun! For us we consider it a small “magical moment”.
We finally rolled ourselves out of there right around 7:15 and realized we had time to catch the last boat at 7:30 across the lagoon to head back towards the busses.

Of course we had promised Noah we would stop in Mouse Gears before we left, oh my! The boat came quickly and we made our way to future world and over to mouse gears. Just as we were going to enter, the music started by the “dancing fountain” as we call it, I think it is called the fountain of nations. It was like magic!

We stopped and watched it for awhile, and taped it, and took some pics but of course; the shopper among us was drooling at the site of that BIG store. Good gracious, if they don’t have it there, you can’t get it! We made a few purchases (well maybe more than a few), and headed towards the gate for our long walk to bus stop 13. I think now that I think about it that is the problem, the bus stop. I noticed that the “value” resorts have the farthest bus stops and the Deluxe have the closest. Check off another reason to stay at the Polynesian next time!!

We made it to the bus stop and on the way ran into our friends from home again; they had partaken in many more cocktails than us so they were feeling no pain! Just Disney happiness!

Home to the country faire and off to bed for everyone except for the “fairy”. (see previous day’s post).

This was a Big night for the organizational fairy. Tomorrow was the opening and closing of Magic Kingdom!!!! Our all day commando MK day. But that is a post for another time……There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow……….

 

[eyenjeff]

 

[earthfaries]

Can't wait to read more...!!!
I LOVE all your great pictures!

 

[eyenjeff]

Can't wait to read more...!!!
I LOVE all your great pictures!

Thanks! I'm going to try to write the next day today and post it tonite!

Til then...............................

 

[eyenjeff]

OK here it goes, our long MK day, I'll have to post it in sections because I don't know how much longer I can stay up!

Day 4: OPENING AND CLOSING OF MK


Our day started out sooo early! We had ADR’s for Crystal Palace at 8:20am for our Character breakfast. We had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the lobby of ASMu because they only had one bus going before our ADR time, and that was at 7:00am. Of course we tried to make it, but we were still in our room at 7am. We called the front desk and they ordered us a taxi and it was waiting for us when we got to the lobby. The only drawback was that the taxi had to drop us off at the TTC so we then took the monorail to MK. I love the monorail, it is so Disney, and so it was no problem.

We wanted an early breakfast in MK so we could get in before the gates were open and take pics of Main Street and the castle before the crowds came.

It was so peaceful walking down Main Street with hardly a soul around. We found a photopass guy to take our pic in front of the castle and took lots of pics on our own.

It was definitely worth getting up early for this. We checked in at the Crystal Palace at about 8:10am and were seated very quickly.

Pooh and friends are my favorite and Brigid love to watch them on Disney channel in the morning. Since we had dinner here the other night at the last minute, she already had experiences with the characters. She was still leery of them, but we did get a few pics, mostly of them sneaking up behind her before she knew they were there! I have read mixed reviews of CP, but we have come here each visit and have always been happy with it. The atmosphere is great; I love all the windows and the topiaries in the rotunda when you enter. It just screams Disney World to me!

Noah loves tigger so when he came around Noah was so happy! The food was good, the waffles have pics of pooh and piglet on them, very cute, and I think there was a good variety of choices.

We left there very full and satisfied and needing either a couch and blanket, or a long walk. Well we were in MK so…….long walk won out!

We decided to go over to Fantasyland because we have always wanted to ride the Pooh ride and never have been able to because of long wait times. We knew it was early enough we should be able to get on pretty quickly as it was only 9:05am and the park opened at 9am. Sure enough we entered Fantasyland and there was hardly anyone over there yet, so we were going to get a fast pass for Pooh and then ride something else and go back to pooh. As we were walking towards Pooh, Noah saw a CM and decided on his own to walk up to her and ask her if Pooh had fast passes. He was into all the “Disney lingo” by now, LOL! She said “of course, let me show you where to get them.” We went to park the stroller, and gather our camera etc... And she started talking to him more about Pooh and friends. She asked him if he knew a lot about Pooh and could answer some questions. He was so happy someone was talking to HIM!

About that time it dawned on me that she might be from the dream team but I wasn’t sure. I started taking pics just in case. He answered all her questions and she asked him if he had ever ridden Pooh, and he told her no because the line was always so long. “Well”, she said,” this is your lucky day!” First she handed him a certificate signed by Pooh and all his friends for completing the quiz and took pics with him.

Then she lead us to the front of the line and told Noah that he did not have to wait anymore to ride, he could go to the front of the line and get right on!

He was so surprised; the look on his face was priceless. Jeff and I were sooo excited that we received a real DREAM, even though a small one, we couldn’t stand it. We are always the ones who buy lots of raffle tickets and never win the raffle. We all went on the ride, loved it and I think it was even more magical because of the DREAM we received. We did not care if we only got a smile or a lanyard or a chance to go to the front of a line for Pooh, we were so grateful that our little family was lucky enough to have a little pixie dust come our way!!!

 

[eyenjeff]

When we finally came back down to earth we decided to go see Mickey’s Philharmagic, which is one of our favorites.

Brigid was tired and fell asleep in the ergo carrier while we were waiting to be seated. She slept thru the whole thing even with all the loud noises. I still love that show no matter how many times we see it!

Next was Small world, with only a 5 min wait, it really wasn’t a wait, it just took 5mins to walk to the front of the line to get on the boat! Which was great because Noah was beginning to have a mini melt down that later would escalate into a full blown melt down……..more on that later. He said that he didn’t want to go on a stupid ride with a bunch of dolls! He wanted to go_ _ _ P_ _ng!
You guessed it ..Shopping! Oh my goodness, it was only about 10:00 at the time and we had a LONG day ahead of us and he was already starting about the shopping! As we got on the ride with a complaining 8yr old, I’m sure all those around us were dreading us riding with them. The boat started going and he relaxed, if even for the duration of the ride, and he actually enjoyed it. He was pointing out all the different countries to Brigid, who was as wide eyed as ever and clapping along with the song, and jumping up and down with excitement.

I knew she would love this ride, so this one was important for her. There was an older couple sitting behind us who said hi to us at the end of the ride, and said they did not know what they enjoyed more, the ride, or watching Brigid’s reactions to it all. I thought that was a very nice thing to say and made me a proud mom!

We talked about what to do next, by this time, fantasyland was filling up and the wait times were increasing. Noah did not want to ride any of the other rides as we had done them before.

I really wanted to go to the Tinker Bell shop by the castle so we made our way over there, it was a shop, so that satisfied Noah for a minute till he got there and decided that there wasn’t any boy stuff in there! He wanted to now go back down Main Street and shop in all the shops to spend what was left of his money. I tried to tell him we would shop there later on in the evening, before we left the park so we did not have to carry our purchases all day with us. That did not go over well at all. He was throwing a full blown tantrum right there in the middle of MK like a 3 yr old! I realized that although he has matured since his last trip to Disney, he still could not handle that much stimulation and temptations at every turn. I managed to steer him away from Main Street by saying we were going to walk towards Splash Mtn and that there were shops along the way. Splash being his favorite ride, made him happy again.

The next subject was of course he was now “starving to death” and needed popcorn right now or he would die! He could use his snack credit whenever he wanted, it was the fact that there wasn’t a popcorn vender right there right now. All I kept saying was “Lord help me now!” He gets so obsessive about these ideas and doesn’t stop until he gets it and then usually picks a new topic to obsess about. We finally found a popcorn vendor, thank goodness, and stopped at a few small shops along the way to splash, and of course he did not find anything he desired. I know he was looking for a weapon of some kind he thought he could get by me upon inspection. We had agreed no weapons of any kind, because they could not come on the plane with us, and because he does not pay attention when swinging them around in a crowd and I spend the whole day telling him to put the sword down, don’t swing that, don’t hit your sister, don’t hit your father, don’t hit me…….etc You know how it goes…..torturous for the disciplinarian. He did not find his “non-weapon” that really was a weapon so we continued on to Splash. I had not had a chance to ride it yet so I was excited, I love this ride, it is pure Disney like Potc, Small world, Haunted mansion…when we got there the standby time was short, so we got a switch pass so we could easily switch off watching Brigid while the other went on the ride with Noah. It would have worked out great but after Noah and I got off, he all of the sudden did not want to ride it again, not sure what that was all about, as we had the switch fast pass and the wait would be short. Jeff was disappointed that he did not get to ride again, but we thought we would be back again and he would definitely ride then.

We bypassed BTMRR as one ride on there is enough for us, can you tell we are getting old? LOL! So off to see how long the wait time for Pirates was….it was walk on so yo ho yo ho a pirate’s life for me…!!! We decided it was time for a snack because we had ADR’s for Liberty tree tavern at 4:30 and couldn’t make it that long without a little something. Of course Noah wasn’t hungry because he had eaten the entire bucket of popcorn himself. We decided to go to Casey’s for hotdogs and headed that way. There were some street performers milling about and we wanted to stop and enjoy them but all Noah could focus on was Main street shops were right over there and couldn’t he just go in and see what he could find and he would meet us right back here. Of course, not wanting to have park security come and find me because I let my 8yr old go off shopping by himself, although how tempting it was just to get rid of the continuous nagging! I said no, he would have to wait until after we had our hotdogs and then if there was time before finding seats for the parade, he could look in the shops. He was not happy even with that! He stayed on my heels the entire time begging me to let him go shopping for just one little thing! Just one little thing!! You are the meanest mom in the whole world, why do you always have to be so mean all the time? The whole while I was in line for the hotdogs he went on and on. I am sure the people around me were ready to kill him too. Jeff took Brigid and found a table to sit and I brought the hotdogs out to him. Noah continued with the nagging and pleading and continuous badgering and telling me what an awful mother I am. I did at one point find it funny, and tried to instill humor into the situation by saying, Wow you are right, I am the meanest mother in the world! I brought you to the “happiest place n earth” against your will, and MADE you ride the rides, eat popcorn, ice cream, etc….He did not find that funny at all. Oh well. It was either laughter or crying, because we were at the 2 hour mark now of his “fit”. We could not enjoy our hotdogs, we just wanted to be done, so everyone would stop staring at us for letting him rant and rave like that. He decided to start hitting me, of course, because he knew there was nothing I could do in the middle of MK. I lost it…I told Jeff to take him through the shops and have him spend the rest of his *#@&% money and then I did not want to hear another word about shopping again! I would take Brigid to the Baby center that was right here, and clean her up, change her, and give us both some peace and quiet because otherwise I WAS going to KILL him! Right there in the middle of MK, I was going to KILL HIM!! I can only take so much before I break, and I was at my point then. I told Jeff to take him shopping and when they were done, to find a place to watch the parade and then call me and Brigid and I will meet them there. Brigid and I headed off to the Baby center and they headed off down Main Street.

 

[eyenjeff]

The only thing I can say about their shopping trip is that he spent the last of his money on a Power Rangers sword. Yes, you read right, a sword. It was made with foam but still a sword. I couldn’t yell at Jeff because he got him out of my hair for a period of time and let me cool off. Of course I spent the rest of the day as I said I would saying, Please don’t hit your sister with the sword, Please don’t swing that in a crowd, you can’t take that on that ride! That is all I have to say about that situation. Now he was broke and couldn’t or shouldn’t bother us about shopping again! OR DID HE?




Brigid and I headed over to the Baby Center just past the Crystal Palace. I had read online and in guide books how wonderful they are, how serene, clean and great they are. I was looking forward to this fabulous oasis where I could regroup and find my sanity again. I walked in with Brigid in her stroller only to be met by a lady yelling at me for bringing in my stroller. I had to return immediately outside and park my stroller. I felt like my mom scolded me. In order to change Brigid and clean her up I needed the backpack diaper bag, I had to carry the camera case, my ID case with all the park passes and money etc…and of course Brigid.



I do have to say that it was a clean place to change your baby. They have nice large changing tables with deep sides and clean paper for each new child to sit on. The room that was supposed to be a quiet place to feed your baby in was like a zoo. There was a set of triplet boys in there SCREAMING at the top of their lungs that they did not want to eat what their mom was serving. There was at least 3 other people with this group of triplets I guess “helping” with them, all talking loudly. There was another parent with her child trying to eat in one of the high chairs and he was throwing all his food off the tray! The noise level alone was enough to send a sane person over the edge, and as we all know by now, I was not sane at that moment! I too had to go to the bathroom, and there was no way for me to go as I did not have my stroller in there to put her in and no one to watch her outside in the main room. SOME OASIS! I would have been better in the big outside bathroom, at least I could have gone then. I walked in practically in tears and by now I was crying, all the stress of the day finally got to me and I could not hold it back any longer. I’m sure they all thought I was a nut job, crying over the fact I could not use the bathroom. The lady who had previously yelled at me for bringing in my stroller came over and offered to watch Brigid if I put her in a high chair and belted her in. I was so desperate to go that I did just that. I felt guilty for leaving my child with someone she doesn’t know, but I did not have a choice at the time. What a stressful afternoon. I tried to dry my tears in the bathroom but they still kept coming, and she asked me if I was all right when I came out. I told her I was having problems with my son, who is now with his dad, and that I came in here for a small break and it has been so noisy and chaotic that I finally lost it! I briefly told her that my son has issues and is on multiple medications and he just can’t handle all the stimulation that Disney has. She was understanding, but what else could she do? Just listen and hope that I leave soon! LOL!
The phone rings and they tell me to walk towards the hall of presidents and I will see them with a spot up front on the right. So I pack up the stroller, fasten Brigid in the stroller, and start my walk to the hall of presidents hoping that all is now calm and collected with my little family.

I find them right where they say they are, hurray! They have a nice spot right up front next to a walkway that will be closed off during the parade. We still had about 10 mins for the parade to start, and as the minutes passed more and more people tried to squeeze their way in front of us. There was an older lady who practically stepped on Noah to push her way in front of him by the pole for the rope. Then there was the mom who just as the parade started, as I was taking pictures, shoved her daughter in front of me saying, there you go honey, now you can see. I was right up against the rope, where did she think the kid was going to stand? On top of my feet? I mumbled loudly to Jeff, “ I’m sure glad you were here 45 mins before the parade to get us a good spot!” “It’s so nice that people think that they are entitled to a spot to see the parades just because they have entered the park. I know that sounds mean, but I was having a very stressful day and I just wanted to enjoy the parade and take pics without anyone in front of me, hence why Jeff got the spot so early. It is all right if you write me and call me names, which is just the way I felt at the time.

The parade was great and the characters are interactive with the kids which I love.

After the parade ended, the crowd was dispersing and we went into the gift shop by the hall of presidents to duck the crowds. Then headed over across the street to look at the Christmas ornaments etc…We had ADR’s at Liberty Tree Tavern for 4:50pm so we did not want to stray far. We wanted to go on haunted mansion again, but of course Noah did not want to go, and started to have yet another melt down about not wanting to “waste time” eating again and wanted to go on Buzz again and space Mtn. He was NOT hungry so we couldn’t be either! We explained that there was not enough time to do that, but we could go to anything in this area of the park, and of course he was not thrilled with that idea. It turned into another melt down of him yelling at me what a terrible mother I was, how I always say NO to him etc…. Nothing calms him down when he goes into these manic fits. Sometimes talking to a person who is not involved in the situation, helps. We called my dad, and he tried to talk to him and calm him down, and it worked for a short time. At this time we at least found a place where we did not cause a scene. There is a place kind of next to the castle walkway on the way to Liberty square, where they sell funnel cakes and snacks I think, that has picnic tables, and is boundried by a wall, and not too many people around he could annoy. We just let him vent and bounce around and act ridiculous until it was time for us to go to LTT for our dinner, and we finally just starting walking towards the building all the while he is complaining about everything under the sun, ( when you can remove yourself from the madness, it is actually amusing to listen to his rants and “his” reasonings)..I am not always able to do that but when I do, I try not to laugh.

We checked in and waited for our table and had about a 10 min wait on the porch. HE continued until they called us in and then “POOF” the fit was over and he all of the sudden was starving!

 

[eyenjeff]

We really enjoyed the LTT and the atmosphere. It was really relaxing, not rushed and the characters were great. Our waiter was really nice and very attentive. He kept our drinks full, and brought us whatever we needed. We just ordered the turkey family style feast and did not stray from that. I’m not sure we knew we could at the time, but no matter because we loved the feast.

Brigid enjoyed Chip and Dale, but was not too happy about the rest!

Noah loved all the characters and took pics with them all. Of course true to form, Brigid ate her dinner, and wanted to go to sleep.

So another dinner where Jeff had to cut my meat, dish out my sides and make sure I could reach my plate. The joys of being loved so much by your daughter!! She was exhausted! We finished dinner, put her in the stroller, ( usually when we transfer her to the stroller she wakes up) and covered her and went on our way. She slept for about 2 ½ hours until right before Wishes started at 8:30pm.

We were full and happy now, and decided to head over to tomorrowland to go on Buzz, CoP, space Mtn, and the race cars. This of course made Noah a happy boy and the rest of the night he was back in his happy mood! Thank God!

It was getting dark and I love MK at night!

Tomorrowland is cool at night too, with all the fluorescent lights and many colors.

Jeff and Noah decided to go on the raceway as the wait time was 20 mins and I was happy to find a bench and just relax while Brigid slept in her stroller.

I just sat and people watched and waited. I guess the cars had a few breakdowns because they did not return in 20mins. I knew Jeff had his cell, so I decided to wander and take pics and look in the shops. Plus it was getting colder and I had put my coat over the stroller opening to keep Brigid warmer mostly by keeping the wind off of her. When they got off the ride, they called and I met them and we walked over to CoP.

There was no line and I asked Jeff to ask one of the CM if they would allow us to push the stroller into the theater and sit in the handicapped section if there wasn’t anyone waiting for it. I really thought they would say NO, but to my surprise, they said OK. I think mostly because there was no line waiting and it did not really matter. She slept through the whole thing! I consider that a magical moment. For 20 mins everyone was quiet, entertained, warm, and getting along in our favorite attraction! Noah loves this one too! He sings the song all the time.

Jeff and Noah went on Buzz

and then we decided to find a place to watch Wishes.

The first spectromagic was about to start, and we thought that this was a good time to go through the shops on main street, as everyone would be at the parade.

Noah had no more money, and although we took a risk of him asking for more, we went anyway. Let me tell you, it was a great idea. The stores were empty! We got to shop while listening to the Spectromagic music, how cool, without crowds. We ended up buying the Wishes CD and the CD with all of the other parade music on it. We play it at home when we watch our pics on the laptop as background music, it adds to the magic! Then as everyone was leaving the park we made our way to the front of the castle to see WISHES!

 

[eyenjeff]

As you have already read, we love wishes and Brigid woke up about
5 mins before it started, so she got to oooo and ahhhh with us and sing along with Jiminy Cricket and see Tink fly through the sky!

We wanted to see Spectromagic and I remembered that at the later parade time, there is hardly anyone in Frontierland to see the parade. We were there for the Halloween parade and the Christmas parade before and sat over there. So we headed off to stake out our spot. It was chilly by then but we were determined to see Spectromagic. We looked for a spot where we could sit for awhile before the parade started. We found a great spot where the deck of the porch goes right up to the rope.

It was perfect. As it turned out, there was no need to worry about seeing this parade, as not too many people were left at least at that part of the park. We were right across from the popcorn cart and the pretzel cart so of course we had to get snacks because we had not eaten anything in a couple of hours and might die if we did not keep up our strength! LOL!


While we were sitting waiting for the parade to start, a very nice gentleman was sweeping the street with his little broom and dust pan and came over to talk to us. He was so sweet. We exchanged stories of where we were from, what it is like to work at Disney, etc.. He was really great. After he went on his way, Jeff decided that we were going to retire to Orlando and come and work at Disney World. He wanted just to sweep streets and talk to guests and get to watch all the parades and fireworks whenever he wanted. I decided that I would be the lady that sell all the light up stuff and walk the parade route enticing kids to buy my wares!!! So now we have a retirement plan. I think my husband has lost his mind! When I first met him, he told me the last place he would ever want to live is Florida! Wow, times sure have changed for the better!

Spectromagic did not disappoint us! As always it was awesome. I know it is not the original electrical parade of our youth but it is still magical. Brigid of course was wide eyed and loved all the lights! She was waving at all the characters and because we were pretty much alone watching the parade, a lot of them came up to the kids and said HI! That was really cool!

All good things must come to an end, and by now it was after 11:00pm. We had been at MK since 8:00am! Oh MY!!!! We really needed to go back to the room and go to sleep!!

It was a nice walk back to the busses thru a practically empty park again, like we had when we entered that morning. I love all the twinkle lights in the trees and they had some of the main street lights on around the decorations, getting ready for the holiday season that was going to start next week.

We made it back to ASMu and made the long walk back to the room. We put the kids to bed which wasn’t too hard because they were already in a coma. Of course Jeff drifted off to sleep quickly so the “fairy” could come, but not before I said that we were going to sleep until we woke up tomorrow, no rushing around in the morning. It was agreed upon by both of us willingly! Amen!

I finished my fairy duties and drifted off to sleep with the resort channel on playing nice soft Disney music.

Tomorrow, ( or should I say, later today, at this point,) is Epcot and ADR’s at 1900 Park Fare for dinner with Cinderella. But that is a post for another day!..............

 

[eyenjeff]

anyone still reading?

 

[kors]

I am still here!! Can't wait for the next update!!

 

[jake&samsmom]

Of course, still here!

 

[princessreilly]

Hi! I'm jumping on! You have a beautiful family. Thanks for sharing the great pics!

 

[kath1210]

I am here, too, and loving your report!

Remember me from the When You Wish Upon An All Star fridge swap? I am glad it worked out so well!!

 

[jake&samsmom]

Hi Eileen! I noticed your ticker (sorry, I'm slow to pick up sometimes ) --- the Poly in 12 months?! AWESOME!

 

[eyenjeff]

DAY 5: EPCOT AND 1900 PARK FARE DINNER


This was a tough morning for all of us to get up and moving! We had a long day at MK and did not get home till after midnight. We decided before we went to bed, that we were just going to get up when we got up.

So we finally all got up, mostly thanks to Brigid,

and dressed and out the door by around 9am. We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures of the pools and different buildings.

It was a beautiful day, blue skies and sunny. We headed to the food court and had our breakfast at a leisurely pace and headed to the bus stop for Epcot.

We made it to Epcot around 10:30 and headed over to test track for fast passes as that was our number one choice to ride that day. Of course, not thinking that is was Saturday and everyone decided to tour Epcot on that day, there were no fast passes left and the wait time was 70 mins! Same with Mission space, and we did not even go over to Soarin because we looked on the main wait time board and there were no fast passes left for anything that day! Oh well, live and learn, next trip we go on a weekday and early!!! So we decided to go thru Innovations and let Noah play with all the cool stuff. I had forgotten that they had video games there….UGH!!

It was pretty hard to tear him away, but we finally managed it. We sent some E Postcards home to the grandparents and decided we were going to check out Journey into your imagination. I had forgotten about Club cool and the tasting, until we were passing by, so we decided to go in and give it a try.

I know I had read about Club cool on these boards and all about the flavors etc… but of course due to lack of sleep and extreme exhaustion, my brain cells were not firing in the proper direction……..so you may guess what I suggested we try…..that’s right….Beverly!!! OMG!!!!! What the #@ll was I thinking? Or not thinking? Bleeeecccckkkk!!!! It was the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life! Worse than any cough medicine I have ever had, it could be used to torture people!!! Well it took a lot of more samples of the good tasting ones; to get that taste out of our mouths…..we did have a good laugh though! The first thing Jeff said is “you are going to have to write about this!” So after we had our fill of samples, we went over to the build a cup and ordered a frozen coke in a princess glass, so Brigid could have a souvenir, since Noah got the AK straw cup. Thank goodness for frozen coke!! Yum!!!

We all shared the coke, as we walked over to see Figment! There wasn’t a wait time for this so we got on right away. I hadn’t been on this since I went in 1984! It was cute, Noah and Brigid liked it, and afterwards it lets you out in an interactive area and then to a gift shop, of course. We had to watch the time, because we had to get to the GF for ADR’s at 4:50pm and we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get there. We were held up a little because we saw these cool photos we could put ourselves in and get to take home. So we took the photo and the CM said they would deliver to the package pick up at the front of Epcot by 7:00pm. (HMMM do you think it made it there? Stay tuned……) the picture turned out really nice! I wish I could post it here, maybe I can scan it, I’ll try later.

 

[eyenjeff]

So off to the monorail to travel to the Grand Floridian for our Cinderella dinner! Hurray, a “girlie” dinner!!! Yea!!
We had to still walk to the front of Epcot, and then up the ramp and onto the monorail to the TTC and then on to the MK monorail for the trip to GF. It actually sounds more complicated than it was, and it was quite fast. We enjoy the whole monorail experience, it is sooooo Disney! (Hence staying at the poly next time, so we can OD on monorail rides!)

We arrived at the GF early, (for once) and made our way to 1900 Park Fare. When we first walked in to the GF, you could smell the wonderful fragrance from the gingerbread house! We were able to take pics and see the wonderful creation! How cool it was! It was nice to get to see a few Christmas decorations even though we were a week early for all of it. Next year, Holiday Madness!!!

We arrived at 1900 PF and checked in and were seated immediately. The service was great, the server brought our drinks pretty fast and since we did not eat any lunch, we were hungry!!

I went up to the buffet to bet Brigid started before she self destructed from the hunger and they had a great selection. Of course as long as there is Mac and cheese, she was good to go, but I brought her lots of goodies and she was in eating heaven. I then took Noah up while Jeff stayed with Brigid, and even he was happy with the selections. I thought everything I chose was great. I had read mixed reviews and almost cancelled this ADR and I am so glad we didn’t.

The salad bar was good, there were different kinds of cheeses, breads, fruit, salad fixings, and a soup bar. So much to choose from! When I got back to the table, I had to tell Jeff where everything was, so he did not miss the good stuff!

There was an Italian section, with a great tomato-mozzarella salad, chicken cacciatore, pasta and sauce, and a risotto. Then they were carving a pork roast and prime rib! Hurray for prime rib, and cooked like I like it, med rare, more on the rare side! There was also a stir fry station, (I never made it to there!) Lots more that I can’t remember now, all I know is we ate forever and it was all great!

We told the server it was Noah’s birthday and they brought him a prince crown and a cupcake and candle.

At one point, they had all the birthday kids stand up and sang happy birthday and had a dance, Noah got to dance with one of the stepsisters! It was really cute.

The dessert bar was awesome too, very good, too much of course, but we managed to find room to taste a few things.

I almost forgot to tell you all about the characters!!! It was Cinderella’s and Prince Charming’s 1st anniversary celebration, so they were there of course and looking beautiful and handsome.

The evil stepmother and the two stepsisters were also there. They were all hilarious! The stepmother was so “in character” she was kind of scary and comical at the same time. Very good dry sense of humor. The stepsisters came over too and had fun with Noah. They were flirting with him and asking him if he was available….at first he did not get what they were asking, and when I explained it to him, he blushed. Then he asked me if they were serious, and that he was just a boy! I had to laugh!

It was so cute! Of course, Brigid had enough of characters and was not thrilled with any of them! LOL!

I thought that since Cinderella and Prince Charming were “real” people that she might be better than with the “animal” characters, but she would have none of it!! That’s ok, maybe next time.

 

[eyenjeff]

We finally had stuffed ourselves to the top and decided to head back to the hotel and maybe surprise Noah by going for a night swim. Thank goodness we did not tell him about it in advance, because remember the pictures from Epcot that were to be ready at 7pm? What do you think? Of course they weren’t ready……..

We made our way back to Epcot via the monorails and went to package pick up and of course, no pictures. They had to call the studio and hope that someone was still there. It took awhile for them to get hold of someone, but they did and promised to walk the pics up right away to package pick up. Well they should have defined, “right away” as about 30 mins. By this time it was after 7:30pm and we still had to make that long walk to the bus stop 13, and then wait for the bus back to ASMU. When we arrived at the bus stop there were a lot of people waiting and we did not get on the first bus. So we had to wait another 25 mins for another bus and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was too late to swim. They did have the poolside movie going, we stopped to watch a little of that, because it was so cool how they had it set up. I wish we had arrived back on time; it would have been fun to watch Peter Pan by the pool with a beverage!

After our brief stop at the movies, we started on our long trek back the Country Faire bldg.

As always, everyone showered, and off to bed except for the fairy, whose job is never done!

Tomorrow is our last day, Meeting our friends at MK for one last hurrah!! And off to the airport.

But…that is a post for another day……………It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow……