Our over-planned, 2nd annual WDW trip – lots of pics - Updated on 6/28

[scottny]

great report. makes me hope the next 49 days goes fast so i can get there myself.

 

[Marc A.]

Don't stop, you're on a roll.

 

[AshleyMWC]

Oh for the love of.....I am hooked on another trip report

Great start so far! Your girls are adorable and I am loving all the pics.

Waiting for more.......

 

[schmoopypoo]

Please continue. I am really enjoying your TR. Great job and your girls are adorable. Love their crocs I'm thinking of getting DD5 a pair for our upcoming trip

 

[princessjv]

I'm caught up! Aren't those Dole Whips yummo?!? I hope you make it for rope drop. It is also my dream to be there then...just never make it. We are always just a few minutes late.

 

[Punky's Mama]

I just found your trip report! I'm hooked, more please!!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Sure glad to hear that I did not lose you guys. I was getting nervous! I'll try to work on MK tomorrow. I took the day off because my 5 year old has observation for 1st grade tomorrow and Friday. I can't believe how fast time goes by. Next year, I will have both my kids in the same school. How wonderful will that be? No more expensive day care bills! I will just have to pay for the after school program and of course summer day camp. Well, now that the kids are in bed, I am going to try and get some exercise in before it gets too late. Bye

 

[DisneyObsessive]

would love to read more as well! Really love the way you write.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I didn't get a chance to work on the TR today. As I mentioned yesterday, Lilo had 1st grade observation today. I dropped her off at school, went to the gas station to fill the tank up and my phone rang. It was the school, Lilo had a fever. I just left the school for goodness sake. She gets a fever at least once a month. My mother swears that it is her tonsils. I picked her up, brought her to the Ear, Nose & Throat doctor since the pediatrcian never seems to do anything and it was tonsilitis. I guess my Mom was right. Since 1:00 she has had motrin and amoxicillin and she still had a fever of 102.1° orally at 7:30pm. I gave her a cold bath and some more Motrin, it went down to 99.9°. The doctor gave her a note to return to 1st grade observation tomorrow, but I can't send her if she still has a fever. I'll have to watch her tonight. Needless to say, no TR updates tonight. Sorry.

 

[IluvXU]

I just started reading.... enjoying your report. Thanks for sharing and can't wait to hear if you made it for rope drop!

 

[ILMICKEY]

Oh no, please don't stop!! I am very much enjoying your TR!

When my sons were little they were sick ALL the time, colds, flu, you name it. They had their tonsils out on the same day, 3 and 5 years old. I swear it was like a miracle. They got the occasional cold, but nothing like before. It was great!!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Hi Lilo is doing a little better today. She was able to make it to the second day of 1st grade observation. She is still not herself though. DH stayed with her today. I worked on the TR today during lunch and just finished. I'll post soon.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

​

It’s finally here!

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MK at Rope Drop

Ahhh, MK rope drop day. The day I dreamed about for years. On this morning, I would like to say that I jumped out of bed anxiously awaiting my dream day at MK, but I more or less dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. I woke DH up and then the girls. The car was filled with the bags for the day, so we departed. As we were driving down the road, I was thrilled to see that timing was on our side. We would make it in time for rope drop. I was so excited. Here is a picture taken from the Monorail:

While riding the monorail everyone was super excited to be going to their character breakfasts. We were among the minority; we did not have any ADR’s for breakfast, we were prepared to take on the MK at rope drop. We were actually there super early. We were standing at the very front of the line for rope drop at 8:30. Yes you heard me correctly, we were standing there a ½ hour early. DH was smart; he let me stand in line while he waited on a park bench in the shade. He was a gentleman and did ask me if we wanted to switch, I said, “Nope, I want to stay at the front of the line.” He did not feel the need to argue.

The plan was to let Aurora and Dad go on Space Mountain, they would first get 4 FP’s for later and then ride Space Mountain, while Lilo and I would take on Operation Dumbo. Lilo even wore her Operation Dumbo shirt that was made by one of the lovely designers here on the DIS. While standing there at rope drop, you could hear the train coming, so I knew the opening show was about to start. Since I was so close to rope drop, I kind of missed most of the opening show. The little that I did see was interesting. Then they let us go down Main Street. We walked at a brisk pace, nobody ran. As I was walking there were CM’s standing up and down Main Street waving to us while wearing Mickey Gloves. I embarrassed to say that seeing this brought tears to me eyes. The whole experience was just magical. As we reached the hub, we followed the plan, it was now time to split up. Lilo and I walked over to the castle, but they blocked the entrance through the castle to Fantasyland. Before we went left toward Liberty Square, I took a picture of Lilo in front of the castle.

This is by far my favorite picture of the entire trip. I love the fact that she standing there in front of the castle without swarms of people around her. I only wish Aurora was in the picture as well. We then walked over to Liberty Square for rope drop. They dropped the rope just as soon as we got there. It was at this point where I saw something so ridiculous. There was a couple there with two children. The Mom was carrying the baby in the front-loading baby carrier and the Dad was pushing the toddler in the stroller. Well, when they dropped the ropes this couple did not walk, they RAN. They were running as fast as they could to Fantasyland. To be quite honest, was that necessary? What if Mom fell? That would certainly put a damper on the whole Disney Dream Vacation. I found this experience to be quite humorous, I am just glad that an injury did not occur. Lilo and I briskfully strolled on over to Dumbo and we were the second family in line. I could not believe that we rode Dumbo’s first flight. Here are some pictures I took:

After Dumbo, we took on a few more Fantasyland favorites. Let me tell you Fantasyland is a dream first thing in the morning. We literally walked on every ride.

Then DH called, we agreed to meet in front of Peter Pan. We saw him walking toward us, looking back at this point I would say that he did look a little glum, but at the time I did not pay any attention to it. He walks over to me and I am ready to board Peter Pan when he grabbed my arm and says,

DH: Wait a minute! We have to talk.

Me: Talk? What’s to talk about, lets ride!

DH: I lost a park ticket.

Me: Who’s? (Hoping it would not be one of the kids because those tickets are not fingerprinted)

DH: Your’s

Me: Oh that is ok, I have copies of the tickets back at the palace. We can have them replaced later. For now, lets ride.

DH: What about FP’s?

Me: Opps, I did not think about FP’s. We can’t take on MK without FP’s

We rode Peter Pan and devised Plan B. Plan B was to let DH take the kids on rides in Fantasyland while I would run down to Guest Relations. There I walked back down Main Street watching the happy families entering MK as I am exiting. I took a picture of people:

Well, let me tell you that Guest Relations is wonderful. Someone helped me right away. They asked for the three remaining tickets, voided my lost ticket, and then printed a new ticket for me lickedy split. I was seriously in and out of there in no time at all. Huge thumbs up for Guest Relations!!!!

I met up with the family just as they were walking toward the Mad Tea Party. DH was extremely apologetic. It really was no big deal, I only missed It’s a Small World and Cinderella’s Carousel. I told him not to worry about it and we moved forward. Since, I don’t do well with spinning rides, I decided to sit Mad Tea Party out. I noticed Alice and the Mad Hatter, so I got in line. DH and the kids were done riding Mad Tea Party before their turn at autographs so they met up with me there. Check out this picture the girls are wearing matching outfits to Alice and the Mad Hatter.

Just as we finished with autographs, they dropped the rope for ToonTown, we went over to ride Barn Stormer when the girls noticed Minnie and wanted her autograph. After Barn stormer we walked over to Minnie’s house and waited in a very long line. When we finally got close to Minnie the CM says, Minnie will take 3 more autographs and then take a break for some Cheese. Well, we were the 3rd family. The CM takes the two families in front of us and then says, Minnie is taking a break now. Well, I freaked and yelled at the CM. “You said three autographs, we are the third.” No, I said two and Minnie is taking a break. Then they walked away. I know that I was right, I know what she said, so that ticked me off even more. DH told me that I needed to calm down and forget about it. This was difficult for me because a long line for Minnie was certainly not in the Plan nor was a 10-minute cheese break. Well as you can imagine, I lost that battle and I needed to just get over it. When Minnie finally returned (In all fairness for Minnie, she did take a short break. She must have known that I was right, but I’m not bitter), we got pictures and autographs:

Then we went on over to catch the train. We got off in Frontierland. I grabbed 4 FP’s for Splash and then we rode Lilo’s favorite, Big Thunder Mountain. While in line Aurora informed us of the location of a Hidden Mickey, sure enough DH noticed it. He was relieved that we at found at least one hidden Mickey. After Big Thunder Mountain’s hidden Mickey experience we were a little excited so we decided to take on some pirates and see if we could now see a Hidden Mickey on Pirates. Nope, nothing, Nah Dah, Zilch. We clearly stink at this game, so we gave up and grabbed some lunch. After lunch we used our FP’s for Splash and then trucked on over to The Haunted Mansion. Another family favorite!

At this point, we went to Tomorrowland. It was on the crowded side, but we still had FP’s for Space Mountain that we needed to use. Lilo said that she wanted to try it. She was willing to give it a try until see saw the car. A single seat all by herself was clearly not in the cards for Lilo. I asked the CM if we could change our mind a do child swap, she said sure. I waited with Lilo and switched when they got off. When Aurora and I were about to board there was another girl there chickening out. The CM brought the scared girl over to Aurora and said, this girl just got off and she wants to ride again, she must like it. Don’t you want to give it a try? Aurora looked at the girl and said, “It is so much fun. You’ll love it.” The girl decided to ride. Now I ask you, How come Aurora convinces a stranger to ride Space Mountain, but does not convince her own sister to ride? Must be a sister thing.

It was getting hot and the kids needed a snack to cool off so we got an ice cream, we sat in the shade to rest for a while. After our break, we rode the People Mover. Believe it or not this was our first time riding The People Mover and the kids loved this ride. Here are some pictures:

Space Mountain broke down while we were passing through. It was neat to see Space Mountain with all the lights on. DH took a picture, but it came out terrible because of the light reflective glass.

The girls liked it so much they asked the CM if we could stay on and ride again. He said sure. After the second spin on the People Mover, we parked the stroller and went on Disney’s newest attraction Laugh Floor. It was a riot. We love Turtle talk and Laugh Floor is just as much fun. When we departed Laugh Floor, where is it? Where is the stroller? We looked and looked for a while and could not find it anywhere. We assumed it was in the sea of strollers. Will we ever find it? Did someone steal it? Wait and see.

 

[princessjv]

What was the laugh floor like? I really haven't heard much about it.

So happy you got your ticket replaced without any issues. What a smart lady to photo copy the back...I never would have thouht of that!

I really am going to try to hit rope drops when I go in Oct. It also has been a dream!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

What was the laugh floor like? I really haven't heard much about it.

So happy you got your ticket replaced without any issues. What a smart lady to photo copy the back...I never would have thouht of that!

I really am going to try to hit rope drops when I go in Oct. It also has been a dream!

Laugh floor was really nice. It was much like Turtle talk where Crush interacts with the audience. Well, in Laugh floor, the monsters interact with the audience. They need laughter for energy so, the monsters tell jokes. It was really cute!

Well, I copied the tickets, but I left the copies back at my parents guest suite. I was starting to panic because I thought that we would either have to leave the park or stay in the park without a ticket. Fortunately, they used the other three tickets to track my lost ticket. They knew which parks I went to and when I last used it. They were able to cancel the lost ticket and replace instantly. I was quite impressed.

Disney at rope drop is a must for two reasons. First because it is magical. Second because you can accomplish a lot more then it you arrived right at opening.

Lilo wants me to post smiles.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Day 4 Continued

There we stood in the middle of Tomorrowland weaving in and out of each row in stroller parking. Where on earth could this Snoopy stroller be? I was not terribly heart broken because it was only a cheapo umbrella stroller, but the problem was, the autograph books were inside the stroller. Now it would be a tragedy, if we lost those! DH leaves me with the kids and looks up and down the rows. He comes back hands free, no stroller. Quickly I see a CM, I walk over and ask if there is a different stroller parking area that we might have missed. He points over to Stitch’s Great Escape exit and tells me to look over there. I walk over and before my very eyes, there it was, the Snoopy stroller! Phew! What a relief that was!

At this point we decided that we had enough parks. It was after 3:00, maybe even 4:00 so, we decided to call it a day and head back to the Palace. Besides, we were there at rope drop. We departed the beloved MK and headed out to our rental car.

Back at the palace we took the kids for a quick swim and them washed up for our ADR at Whispering Canyon Café. I heard such positive reviews on Whispering Canyon Café so; I was dieing to try this place. We were not sure how long it would take to get there or if they could take us early so, we arrived early to be safe. The Wilderness Lodge:

Now this is a great hotel. I would love to stay here. I wish we stayed here on our honeymoon.

We were early so we walked around before checking in. We went out to the pool area and it was beautiful! Lilo kept saying, “Mama, why didn’t you bring our babe-bing suits?” (Note: that was not a spelling error, this is how she pronounces “bathing suits”) I pulled out the suits and let them swim. Just kidding! I would need to put on that flameproof suit for letting non-disney resort guests swim in a Disney pool. You people would tear me apart if I allowed that to happen. I explained the rules to her. Pools are there for resort guests only. It clearly went in one ear and out the other because she kept telling us how she wanted to go swimming. She just did not understand. As we returned to the hotel, we noticed some bunnies. They were adorable!

The girls decided to look through the pin book while I checked us in. The hostess told me that we would not be seated early, he gave me a pager and sent me on my way. We looked through the store and then sat on the benches for a little while when the pager went off. We were seated. Our server was Maverick. Maverick was only OK. I guess I was expecting better. I ordered the raspberry margarita (very good) , DH ordered a beer, Lilo got a coke, and Aurora got a Caramel milk shake (this was heavenly!).

For Dinner, DH and I both got the skillet. The skillet was all right. The chicken was dry. I have had much better barbeque before, but it was not bad. Aurora ordered grilled chicken and Lilo insisted on having Macaroni and Cheese. I explained to her that it would not be the same as the Kraft Box that she has become accustomed to back home, but she insisted that was what she wanted.

Too many images so I split it up. See below

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Maverick made some errors, which down graded him to only OK, in my opinion. You see Aurora was having a good time joking around with him. Each and every time he did not follow through. She asked for ketchup, he brought her a bottle. Where all of the other tables got like 27 bottles of ketchup as they yelled “We need Ketchup!”. She joked and told him she was thirsty and wanted a lot of water. He brought her a small glass. She joked and said, “This is not big enough. I need a bigger glass.” He told her if she wanted more, he would bring it. Now she could definitely have handled the big glass of water, she isn’t a 3 year old, she is nearing 10, double digits for goodness sake. She was just trying to have fun!

Maverick also never brought us any corn bread, DH had to ask for it. Plus it also took him a LONG time to bring the check. Like I said, things like this downgraded him to only OK.

Maverick did do something that bumped him up a notch in my rating. You see, Lilo hated her Mac & Cheese because it did not taste like the one at home. Big shocker there! She would not eat a thing. Maverick asked why she was not eating, and she said, that she did not like it and asked for French fries. He actually brought her out a small bowl of French fries.

The girls participated in the horse race. This picture totally cracks me up. It was supposed to be of Lilo, but look at the CM next her. Could I have gotten a better picture of her behind?

At this point, we finally got our check and left. To be honest, I would not be in a rush to return to Whispering Canyon Café. The girls took a picture outside next to the buffalo.

The initial plan was to go to MK after dinner to see Wishes, but since Maverick was so slow, we had no other choice then to switch to plan B and see them from the TTC. We parked in the drop off/pick up lot where you are allowed to park 20 minutes or so and we walked over to the boat dock. Wishes was wonderful as usual, but I would much rather see Wishes from inside MK. Don’t worry, I’m not bitter, Maverick.

After Wishes we departed the TTC quickly and went back to the Palace. On the way home there was a white convertible in front of us with a Mickey Head on the back of the car. I remember this because pointed it out to DH since I thought it was cute. Would you believe that we followed this car all the way back to the Palace, to the point where she pulled into the spot across the way from my parents. We did have the code for the security gate, so that must have relieved some tension. The poor woman was probably scared to death thinking that we were following her home. Oh, on the way home I got a picture of Disney’s power lines. How cute is this:

When we got home, we tucked the kids in bed and told them that they did not have to get up super early tomorrow because we were taking a day off to rest. Besides a late breakfast with Lilo and Stitch over the Poly, we did not have anything planned. Lilo was very relieved as she told Daddy that “Mama” wore her out today. I guess since I am the one with the plan and making the orders, I am the one to blame. I am sure it is just exhausting sitting there in a stroller all day. Nope, I am not bitter about this either.

That night Lilo did not sleep too well. She was coughing up a storm. When she woke, she felt warm and was very cranky. What are we going to do now? She is sick. Should we cancel breakfast with Lilo and Stitch? You’ll find out in the next installment.

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

I remember those power lines! We passed them every day as we drove to the park. Sorry about Maverick and missing Wishes in the park... I hope Lilo is okay...Don't keep me hangin'

Christamae

 

[ILMICKEY]

Jeez, you'd think he could throw a straw or something!!! What a bummer. I have never been there but made ressies for our November trip. Think when we check in we can request NO MAVERICK??? Did you have a late ADR?

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Jeez, you'd think he could throw a straw or something!!! What a bummer. I have never been there but made ressies for our November trip. Think when we check in we can request NO MAVERICK??? Did you have a late ADR?

Our ADR's were for 7:00, so it was not that late. I would have assumed at that hour Maverick would have been a little more into his job. He did toss the straws onto the table, but that is about all Mav did. Definitely stay away from Maverick! I would say for the prices they charge and the service we got, it was not worth it. Fortunately, we used our Disney Rewards to cover the cost of the meal, but was still our money that we earned.