Our Ten Day Adventure w/ NO Lines!!!!

[AmyBennett]

A bit of pre-trip before I start you on our ten day journey to the Happiest Place on Earth:

I am dusting off my typing fingers and writing skills to bring this report to you. So bear/bare….hmmm which one is it….anyway, cut me some slack! Thanks.

Here is our crew:

DH: 41, athletic, has been to the World twice(eons ago when horses roamed the streets), only to MK once and MGM once(when it first opened) Doesn’t have the same obsessed Disney loving attitude as me. Lets call him: BUBBA

DD: 8yo, tall, athletic, good student(2nd grade)…wait , is this a description or a bragging contest?
Has never been to WDW, is about as excited as she gets! She is very shy, except with close friends and dad and I! We’ll call her: PP (This came about on our trip, Pin Princess….PP for short)

Me: Wife, Mother, 29yo(not a joke….I really am) SAHM, Obsessed with everything involved in planning our trip. I am the exact opposite of the rest of my family, not athletic, eat too much, smoke too much and drink too much! This is my 5th trip to WDW, twice when I was 10 and 12, once with senior class and once when I was 19 with 7 other people, drove down in a 1977 VW bus. (From NJ, but currently live in Pa(the poconos to be exact) Will always consider myself a Jersey girl though! Lets just call me: Mom


This trip has been in the making since the first time I visited WDW with my family(Mom, Dad, younger brother and younger sister) It is probably the best memory I have from childhood(there were many, but nothing is better than your 1st visit to the World) From the first time I walked down Main St and saw that castle, I knew that when I grew up, I would take my family on many trips.

Now back to reality: Bubba has the common sense of the family, and he thought it was in our best interest to wait until PP was old enough to enjoy it, remember it and walk it!
It also took us longer to save for this trip than we originally would have liked.

After many months reading the guide books(I had not found the DIS yet) we knew we would be pulling PP out of school and that we wanted to go for at least 8 days. At first we were thinking Sept/Oct, but I didn’t want to pull PP out of school so early in the year.
We decided on the end of March(little did I know that everyone but the NE gets a spring break….that I will find out later)

Flashback to last June: Went to travel agent, she kind of laughed at us booking a trip so far in advanced. Hey, we’re planners, what can I say? We booked airfare out of Philly, and by going two days early we saved about 200 bucks. What’s two more days of school in the grand scheme of things anyway? So, we were on way. We had airfare and a rental car(We knew we didn’t want to stay on property…..please don’t judge…we’re just not on-site people….nor are we standing in line, crowds, parade or firework people….so if I just sucked the magic right out of the report….Many apologies!!!!! But please keep reading!!!!

To make a long story short, Bubba bought the 7 day park hopper with magic extras, whatever it’s called back in July(so we saved a few bucks on this years increase). Did I mention Bubba is frugal???? Not to a fault, but frugal all the same. Then we began researching hotels. And by that I mean from July 05 until Feb. 06 we looked at every possible review and website of a motel in our price range. We were going to book a suite, but our at home business took a dive and we now had to do our motel on a budget. No problem: I found the Best Western Lakeside in Kissimmee for $59/night(peak season, you know!) . Less than two miles from the parks.

Then on a snowy day in Jan. I found the thing that would turn this wonderful trip, into a time and money saving adventure!!! THE DIS!!! As you will see, I learned a lot from you and will be forever grateful for the wonderful hints!!! This is when I became truly obsessed. Bubba would come home from work and wonder out loud “hmmm, what did she do all day? Laundry? ok, if you count one load getting moldy in the washer, Clean? Aren’t you supposed to move things when you dust and vacuum? Cook? You’re just starting dinner at 6pm? Are we European?” Anyway, you get the idea….OBSESSED, with trip reports, hints, hotels, and food!!! I’ve found when you start talking in abbreviations is when intervention should occur. The only thing I didn’t neglect was PP, she is the one thing I’m obsessed with more than the DIS.

So here begins our no line waiting, everyone else’s spring break, first trip to WDW as a fam: Wed March 29th – Fri.April 7th:

 

[AmyBennett]

TUE 3/28 or How much homework can one teacher give?

Here we are, one day left to go and all I have to do is pack, pick PP up from school and take a nice relaxing drive to Bubba’s place of employment (we are flying out of Philly, my parents live 20 min from the airport, we are going to stay with them Tue. Night to be closer, and Bubba’s job is half way to the parents, so it made much more sense to have FIL drive PP and I down there) Got all that, GOOD?

I am, by nature a procrastinator, meaning, if I had packed weeks ago, what would I have done all day on Tue waiting for PP to get out of school? See, my faults actually make sense…..So, I wait until about noon, and start packing. I am not an over packer…possibly an underpacker. My philosophy is, if we forgot it, we can buy it. Bubba loves this quirk of mine.


Ok, all packed: time to pick up PP. I had been very nervous about the amount of work her teacher was going to send with us. See, she was not exactly thrilled at the idea of her missing 8 days of school. What is wrong teachers these days anyway? It is second grade. I will probably take her out again in 4th grade….but I don’t think I would after that…..so give me a break. Send home a book and a few worksheets and we’ll be on our way. (Did I mention PP is a good student, and that I wasn’t all that worried about her missing school?) So here it is: The deciding factor in how much time we will have to take out of our Magical Vacation to measure pints and meters and put the question mark in the correct spot. PP gets out school very excited, because she knows we are on our way. Hmmm…..it doesn’t look like too much? Ever hear that term looks can be deceiving? That holds true for 8 days worth of second grade work! 23 worksheets, one huge packet on fish and a book. Oh, ok, she’s a good reader, no problem. Wait a second? A 25 chapter book, with a chapter summary on each chapter? Did I mention the teacher was not thrilled about her missing school? In the end we will finish it all, except smart Mom knew there was no way her reading group was going to finish the entire book while we were away…so what did I do? I called another mother and asked what chapter they were up to as of Friday. We kept right on track with the reading group and she went back on course with them instead of 17 chapters ahead….which would have made no sense, but I think the teacher wanted to see what we would do. I showed her, huh???

Anyway, we were on our way. We had to wait for Bubba to finish up some things at work, so we did some homework while we waited(she actually got a lot done, which made things easier in the days to come)

Got to parents, PP did more work! We had a quick bite to eat, I had a few glasses of wine to calm my nerves while I obsessed with my Dad. (We are basically the same person….obsessive, worry about the littlest things, etc…) Watched American Idol and went to bed(we had to be up about 3:30am to catch our 6:30am flight) Who actually sleeps the night before leaving for Disney???? Anyone, anyone???? Well, apparently Bubba and PP do. I however, feel asleep at 11 and was up at 2am. Drinking coffee with my mother(her nickname is Crazy…..it suits her, she is always up at 2am…) and chain smoking. Finally at 3am I got showered, woke up Bubba and began slowly waking PP(she is so not a morning person, let alone a middle of the night person….even for WDW). After much cajoling we finally managed to wake the child….Crazy got her dressed but we could not get her to brush her hair….This is important, as it will become a trend for the entire trip!

4:15am and we’re off the the Airport(Dad is taking us in Bubba’s SUV) Uneventful trip to the airport, but of course after Dad dropped us off, I worried incessantly about whether he got home ok. Checked our bags, picked up some cokes! This will also become a trend of PP’s. Coke….It’s not that I never let her have it, it’s just that she doesn’t drink it often, b/c I know it will keep her up! She finally perks up about 20 min. before we board. This is her first airplane trip, so I think she is a combination nervous/excited. I’ve never flown without much wine or blody marys, so this will be interesting. But I’m being brave for PP! Ok, enough of this…..I haven’t even got us on the airplane yet! Are you going to be able to hang in for 10 days of this?????

We took off fairly promptly(for US Air at least) and PP was in awe as we took off. Yeah, that lasted two minutes, once we hit about 10,000 feet, PP says to me: “Well, I’ve done this now, I’m over it” No kidding….little did she know that she would have the worst flying mate sitting directly behind her….a five year old little boy, who insisted on screaming “ I think we’re going to go down” PP wasn’t scared….just annoyed…8 year old girls are not big fans of boys to begin with and now he was ruining her first plane experience! She did purchase a “sky box breakfast” The child was obsessed with this thing. Cheese and crackers, bagel chips, breakfast bar….you think she never saw food before. And then she ordered another coke! That only means one thing: We have to use the dreaded plane restroom. Which, even if she didn’t have to go, she would have still made me take her because that’s our thing: We like to look at the restrooms in every public place we go! Don’t tell me your kids don’t do the same thing?

Off to the lavatory in the sky, I guess I forgot to tell PP about the severe flushing capability of the sky toilet….she nearly jumped out of her skin….it was quite amusing to me…..She is now traumatized for life. Oh well, we’re going to Disney World!!!!!

 

[AmyBennett]

OUR FIRST DAY AND THE BEST DECISION MOM MADE

We landed, took our first Monorail trip(we convinced PP this was a ride, hey, we like to get our money’s worth) Bubba picked up our luggage while I had a cigarette outside. Just aside note: I can’t go much more than two/three hours w/o a cig. Or I get really mean, pathetic, I know.

We then took a two mile trek to Alamo….or was it Dollar? This would become and joke, because neither Bubba nor I could remember which it was. We continuously looked at the brochure, said “oh, ok it’s Alamo” and would then follow the signs for Dollar. We were not working with much sleep! We finally found Dollar, and than had to walk another mile to get to Alamo. I had no intention of driving in a strange place( you know men are better at that kind of thing), however we used my credit card to book the car. When the woman asked who was driving, I immediately chimed in: “Oh, I don’t drive in strange places, he is”
She replied: “Oh, ok, well then we have to charge you $80 to put him on as a driver.
To which I quickly replied: “It’s ok, I’ll drive”

Now, I know that woman knew I had not intention of driving, but she let us put up our little charade and didn’t charge us the 80 bucks…she also didn’t put Bubba on the car, so if he were to drive and anything would happen, we would have a problem. We’re in Disney World….I really don’t care. See ya!!! Wait, what did you say? Go to the Alamo garage and pick our own car out? This is too cool…but then again, I don’t get out much. I turn to Bubba and say “Please make sure I pick a car out of the Alamo lot and not Dollar” I don’t need airport security chasing me down because I picked out of the wrong lot” Thanks!!!!

Off for another two mile trek to the Alamo lot, with Bubba carrying two bookbags and two huge suitcases. I was wheeling a little black carryon bag. Looking back, that doesn’t seem fair. Sorry Bubba! We find the Alamo lot, and PP and I go to look for a car leving Bubba at the front of the lot with our bags! PP wants to pick out the car….(we got a compact btw), but I know, this is where I will make my first crucial decision during this trip. I’ve read enough trip reports to know how easy it is to loose your car and that will so be us if I don’t choose wisely. Thank you fellow DISers for losing your car!!!!!!

The moment of truth….I find the ugliest, most obnoxious RUST colored car and hop right in. PP is annoyed because she didn’t get to pick it, but I tell her, it will pay off in the future!!!! She gets over it quickly and can’t wait to show Bubba our ugly car. I nervously drive to the front of the lot and pick up bubba. He laughs at me, because he does not yet know the wealth of information I have come with to make our lives easier. He will be kissing my feet by day 10!!!! I then nervously drive out of the lot, pull onto the access road, and quickly pull over. Ok Bubba, you’re driving. Ha!!! We scammed you Alamo….or was it Dollar???? 80 more bucks in our pocket!!!!!

Let me take a moment to describe the feeling of driving from the airport to Kissimme for the first time in 10 years with the two people you love the most in this world: It was a Zen moment for me, and I’m Catholic. I’m an anxious person(not about real life threats, but about the little things that tend to make me crazy) But this drive put a calming spell on me, like I was in a dream that I knew I didn’t have to wake up from for 10 days. Calm, like I have never been calm! Navigating with the map, Bubba not even yelling at me for being a little too dense to read the map correctly and PP in the back seat with a look of awe over her face, and NOT asking every three seconds, “how much longer?”
It is a place I have been taking myself back to since our return and sometimes I don’t want to leave it! Ok…enough of that, you people tuned in to hear a trip report, not Mom’s Zen revelations!!!!!

So far on this trip everything has gone so smoothly, too smoothly in fact that I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will we find the motel? Will it be clean? Will PP get strep(most of her classmates had it in the weeks before we left) Will Bubba be able to relax? What if our park hoppers don’t work? What if the hotel lost our reservation? I told you I worry…..so now you know how much that 20 minutes of driving through Florida in my Zen like state meant!

We find our motel with no problem. I plan….it’s what I do, so I knew exactly where it was, what landmarks were around and what marker we were after! Go Mom!!! Yet another great thing I did to make this trip easy!!! If you’re keeping score, I think so far I have TWO points in the easy trip department. Rust colored car = 1 point
Directions to motel = 1 point!

It is only about 10am by this point, so we are thinking, no way can we check in this early…but lets just check. Woo-hoo….they have a room and we can check in right away. We have a bit of trouble navigating the parking lot, as there are 13 buildings and they seemed to have taken bldg. 12 away. Oh, there it is, next to bldg. 8, why didn’t I think of that. Anyway, we are here, it is 80 degrees and just perfect. Up to the second floor(up a small set of steps, but we don’t care, ok Bubba and PP don’t care…I’m thinking, by the 5th day they are going to get pretty old….but they didn’t) The moment of truth…will all my research have paid off? Will there be bugs crawling around and mold in the fridge….FREE by the way!!!! I make Bubba open the door, because I am a bit nervous, the lobby was nice and the pool is around the bend and that looks nice….but you never know. Ta Da……Here it is, our home for the next 10 days. And it is so nice. Very clean, big, with two double beds. A huge vanity to put my toiletries on, and decent size TV, a FREE decent size fridge and cute little pictures hanging on the wall of fish and such! Now, I had read that they had recently remodeled and they had. The furniture was newer, and everything just looked clean. That is all I need…..a clean place to sleep!

We quickly call Crazy to let her know we are here…she is shocked we have checked in already….I tell her how smoothly things are going! We unpack and change into shorts. We drive to the front of the hotel and check out the gift shop, and some of the grounds. This is where PP buys her first souvenir…the first of many. She left the airport with $190 of her money and will constantly throughout the trip barter with us, as to whose money she is spending. I think it was a tinkerbell pen! And it defintely came out of her stash! We’re off to lunch(it’s only 11 am but we’re hungry). We go to TGIFs. We all love this place and it is right across the street from our hotel among a half of dozen other restaurants. I order a Margarita immediately, because….Hey, we’re on vacation people!!! PP orders Ribs(the first of many on this trip) I ordered a Cobb salad and Bubba orders buffalo chicken fingers. We eat, we make a mess, we overtip, we leave!

Off to DD. We have five extras, and I have nothing planned for this day except to check out DD and go to DQ.

 

[anny_c_99]

This is great..I can't wait to "read the rest of the story.

 

[TLinden16]

Great start to your trip. Can't wait to read more. Thanks for posting.

Karen

 

[AmyBennett]

Before I continue, just a warning: The time frame on most of our days will be a bit sketchy. We are not watch people. I will apologize in advance if this offends some of you. If this doesn’t offend you, don’t worry, eventually we will do something that will offend you!!!

So, we’re off to DD. We find it with ease. There is a shortcut directly behind our hotel, so we do not even have to venture out onto 192 to get to the parks. We quickly realize we are about 30 seconds from AK. And five minutes from the other parks. Woo Hoo, I think that is another point for Mom! I’m up to 3 if you’re counting. We find DD with ease and park on the DQ side. We check to see where we parked, and realize, it doesn’t really matter, we can see that bright car from the walkway into DD! Oh, and one other thing, I did take a picture of the license plate with the digital just in case. I would say that is another point for Mom, but we never actually had to use it!

We wander into DD taking it all in. Bubba and PP really wanted to go to DQ. This was not something I really wanted to do, but I’m a trooper. Quick cigarette before we head in and we have our first magical experience. The elevator up to DQ. How cool is that thing? I don’t want to spoil it for those of you that don’t know, but when that is the first place you visit and you get an elevator ride like that…..It’s Cool!!!! PP was a bit scared at first, but then loved it!!!!

We walk into the zoo they call DQ and it isn’t crowded at all. Bubba really wanted to do the create your own roller coaster and PP had read about it and wanted to do it as well. Until she saw the simulator you ride in. She helped Bubba create the coaster and then bailed! It’s ok, I’ll trick her and get her onto much scarier rides than that in the days to come! Bubba rides it and thinks it’s cool. A little tame, being the PP created most of it. But fun nonetheless. We then head for the Pirates Simulation. I have a hysterical pic. Of Bubba with the “pirate goggles” on. We are on with a girl doing a solo trip and she let PP be the captain. It took us a moment to get oriented, but we quickly figured it out. Shooting our cannons at the enemy with PP at the wheel. (I don’t think the world is ever going to be ready for this girl to drive) Next we headed to the Jungle Cruise Raft…..I was not prepared for the workout I would get on this thing! But it was fun. Did I mention that none of these attractions had lines? We walked right on. Spring Break???? Where????

We then did Pirates again(the real ride would be closed at MK, so we wanted our full Pirate experience), PP at the helm again and this time we had it mastered!!!
We headed over or up or down….does anyone else find that place extremely confusing? To some video games…..I can’t recall everything we did there, because I began to get very tired and this was just not my scene. But I grinned and bared it for my family. They did the Buzz thing….which I think was a bit stupid. I think the last thing we did was Bubba did the Nascar driving game and got beat by a nine year old boy! That was fun for me! We then decided we were tired and headed out, thinking maybe we would come back one night.

PP found her first pressed penny machine and we all got a little pixie dust from a CM who kindly handed her a penny b/c we were sleep deprived fumbling idiots looking for a penny. We looked around the gift shop a bit and left without buying anything. Amazing!

We found our car with no problem! Imagine that. We decided we couldn’t let that cool free fridge go to waste, so we found a Publix. We purchased 40 bucks worth of nothing…ok, it was something, but the only things I can remember are apples, twizzlers , Bacardi drinks for Bubba, two cases of water, one case of coke and one diet coke. Oh and the all important Box o’ Wine. I love wine. Good wine, but I do drink a few glasses a night and in the spirit of saving for this trip, I started drinking Franzia out of a box. I know what you’re thinking……and it’s probably all true!


We were set. Apples, wine and twizzlers! We headed back to the hotel, put away our groceries and figure this would be a good time to go swimming. PP and I thought so anyway, Bubba needed a nap. Did I mention he’s old? We change into suits and head down to the pool, which is very close to our room! Awesome. It was about 80 degrees and felt wonderful coming from the frozen tundra known as Pennsylvania. We swam a bit, then met an intoxicated woman from Chicago. If I were paying attention to what she said, I could recite the conversation, but one of my faults, is that when people start talking, and either I am not interested, or they are annoying me, I stop listening. It’s true, ask Bubba.

I get out, PP stays in. I head over to the pool bar and get myself a beer! Who needs a box of wine when you have Bud Light. I drink my beer while watching PP swim around like a fish. We then decide we are tired and hungry. I had made reservations at Rainforest Café for tonight, but that was about 1 hour ago….OOPs….The day is really catching up to us, so we send Bubba out for Wendy’s. We’re simple people really….that wendy’s was quite delicious. About five seconds after we eat we are asleep! Tomorrow is AK and we must be up early!!!!!!!!

 

[princesslibby]

You have been very busy today
I also take pictures of license plates. So far I've not had to put them to use.

libby

 

[AmyBennett]

OUR REAL 1ST DAY THR. 3/30/06 OR HOW NOT TO START A VACATION


Today is our first official day at WDW. I do not count DD or DQ. I never went there as a kid, therefore it does not count! I will say though, that it was a great relaxing way to start our vacation.

I had been such a planning fiend that our itinerary had been revamped so many times, that I often forgot what we were supposed to be doing. But PP would not forget what today was. She is an animal loving kid and was totally looking forward to AK. Maybe more than MK, (which to me is what the World is all about) Not this kid….she wanted to see some animals, so that was our plan for today. Of course we had to be there at opening….only non-planning, non-obsessive, non-Disers get there after the opening!

I woke way before our 6:30am alarm was set to go off. Ok, it was like 6:15, but that is early for me. I’m a night owl….I used to work nights, and I am a much nicer person after 8am. But we had parks to visit!!! Bubba awoke shortly after I did….Maybe it was all the lights I turned on, or maybe it was the coffee perking, or maybe it was the door slamming as I went out to have my first cigarette of the day…..Or just maybe it was my constant babble:
“Come on people….we have a park to visit….how can you still be sleeping….Chop, Chop” Ok, it’s official, I’ve turned into my mother. Regardless, Bubba was up, and I thought for sure PP would soon follow. We were going to “her” park after all.

This morning did not work out as I planned. It took Bubba and I about 40min. to wake PP and when she finally did get out of bed, she was not a happy camper. Did I mention she was not a morning person…even for WDW? She had that, “I’m tired, why is everyone being so mean to me attitude”. It turned into a bit of yelling on my part: “Doyouknowhowmuchyourfatherpaidforthisvacation-howcanyoubesoungrateful” You know the deal. The words you read on here and swear you will never be that parent.

This was not how our magical trip was supposed to begin. I calm myself, Bubba and PP down and we somehow manage to get dressed. PP was dressed, but refused to brush her hair. Oh well, I’m sure most kids don’t brush their hair at AK right? Lets just get out of this hotel and change our attitudes quickly! No problem. Until we go to breakfast.

Denny’s! I know, I know….what were we thinking? I’ll tell you what I was thinking. This is Kissimee, they know people have to eat quickly…there are things to do, right?
WRONG. We walked in to a crowded dining room, waited about 5 minutes for a man with gold teeth, speaking some form of English, I had never heard before, nor did I understand…..oh and I think he was wearing a janitor’s uniform…Chances are he didn’t actually work there, but anyway, he asked us for our drink order. Two cokes and a diet please. We got the drinks quickly, and we continued to peruse the menu. Now we have probably only been sitting in there for about 7 or 8 minutes….but a waitress didn’t even acknowledge us! I turned to Bubba and say: “Let’s leave”. We discuss this for another few minutes, figure out what our drinks cost and left. That’s seven dollars we will never see again….and I’m pretty sure the gold tooth janitor just picked up our 7 bucks. All the while, not one employee took notice.

Great, this is really not how this day was supposed to go. Oh, and I forgot to mention that PP was acting odd. She kept touching her ear and didn’t look too good. Great….now we are going to have to find a doctor. And every time we asked her if she felt ok, she snapped at us.

Ok, lets ignore PP until she has about 5 more cokes and worry about her ear later. We need food. It is still only about 7:50am, and AK is right around the corner. Lets just grab Burger King and forget this every happened!

Off to Burger King…..Hmmm…that is odd, the drive through is closed. Ok, I’ll go inside. PP wants nothing to eat and Bubba says, get me whatever. Inside I go, where I find another nightmare. One girl with questionable English skills(maybe we will eventually find an English speaking person in Kissimmee), and another girl in the back assembling egg sandwiches. The computers are down! Great….could this morning get any worse? I tell her, please just give me what you have ready and three drinks.
While I’m waiting for my food, I attempt to fill our cups from the self service station. Coke proceeds to come out of every direction and spray on everything but the cup. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

The girl apologizes, or at least I think it was an apology, and fills my cups behind the counter. I finally get my food after about 10 minutes and rush to the car. We decide to drive to AK and eat in the parking lot. Ok, now we are on our way!!!!!!

We pull into the AK lot about 8:15am. They open at 9am. Plenty of time. Aren’t you glad, obsessive trip planner got you all out bed???? I’d say that was another point for me, but none of us were in the point counting mood! We look in our scary BK bag and find some type of frenchtoast w/ egg sandwich concoction and a croissant sandwich. I don’t remember who ate what, but we basically pulled about our breakfast and only ate the egg and sausage. PP had the hashbrowns and a Coke. Lets just forget this ever happened ok?

Off to the entrance we go. None of us have been here before, so it is exciting. The nightmare of our morning is starting to wear off and a few smiles are beginning to appear. Even PP. She knows that animals are in her future.

I’ve read enough to know what we had to do here. Bubba, you run to EE, get fastpasses and PP and I will head over to the Safari and wait. We watch the characters on the bus do their opening of AK and Mickey scaffolds the Tree of Life. Oh, another aside: PP hates characters. She loves the idea of characters, but please do not get within a 50 foot radius of her!

Did I mention I walk slow, well slower than Bubba and thought for sure PP would run circles around me. I was wrong. We learned on this trip that PP is possibly the slowest walker in the world. I shouldn’t complain….I think she likes to take things in….or maybe she just does it to torture us. Probably the latter. I knew EE was on the other side of the park, so we have time. PP stops to look at birds, takes about a thousand pictures of birds with her disposable camera and we head over to the Safari. I have to say, Africa was cool. The way they make the buildings authentic, and the streets. We were impressed. But enough of that…we have rides to get on!

We wait for about 5 minutes and finally see Bubba speed walking back from EE over to us in Africa. We jump on the Safari with no wait. This was the first ride we officially rode at WDW, and I believe it was PP’s favorite. I came so close to a giraffe, I could have done dental work. It was great.

We then do the Pangani Forest Trail. PP is obsessed with guides they give you to spot birds. We do the walk through and head over to EE to use our FP. On the walk over there, I decide I need a cigarette. Do you know that they hide the smoking areas in AK? I’m not kidding. You need to have some sharp map skills to find those things….and even then, it’s difficult. I finally find one, up some stairs, around a corner, and behind a tree. Smoke quickly, make friends with someone…(I make friends with someone every time I smoke, so forgive me for not remembering who or what we talked about). Off to EE.

PP is giving us the third degree. The conversation went something like this:

PP: How fast does Mt. Everest go, does it go upside down, is it scary?

Me: I don’t know, I’ve never been here. And it’s called EE.

PP: Well you saw it on the computer, does Mt. Everest go upside down?

Me: I really don’t know, I’ve never been on it, and it’s called EE.

PP: Does Mt. Everest go fast, do you think it goes upside down?

Me: I don’t know, I’ve never been here and the name is EE

PP: Do you think it goes upside down?

Me: Nope, it doesn’t…..and it isn’t even that fast. Don’t worry, it will be fun.

PP: How would you know, you’ve never even been here?

Fears have been calmed and we have our first experience with FP. Man I love these things. We walk right on and hang on for our lives. It was very fun. The only problem PP had was the dark and the hairy yeti. Frankly, I had a problem with him as well….but she had the foresight to close her eyes. It was a good time all the same and PP came off loving it! Quote “Man I love that Mt. Everest”

I give up!

We walk over to the Tree of Life….Could they possibly fit anymore people in this park??? Why the narrow walk ways? And it was hot…..86 degrees I think. But we’ll get over it, we have go see how tough it is to be a bug. This is probably the longest line we will wait in for 10 days. About 15 minutes. We saw the show, bugs ran across our seats and we were out of there. It was cute…but not my favorite 3-D film. Bubba went and grabbed FPs for the Kali Rapids and PP decides she’s hungry. We’re right by Flame Tree BBQ and PP wants Ribs and a coke. Who knew? Bubba and I split a bbq pork sandwich and PP enjoys her ribs.

We use our FP for KRR. I will say only one thing about this ride…it is too short. And I would never wait 60 minutes for it. We come off only a bit wet and realize they’ve attempted to squeeze even more people into this park. We do the Jungle Trek and decide to check out Dinosaur. PP and I don’t want to do it, but Bubba does. He decides he will come back. Into Dinoland USA, Wow…..Someone just turned AK into Wildwood, NJ. Anyone who’s been to both, knows I’m right. But I read somewhere, it is supposed to be cheesy. Lets just say they succeeded. We play a few games, because PP’s second love is boardwalk games. We’ve easily dropped 50 bucks in Wildwood in about an hour. She’s an obsessed child! She is getting hot and wants Bubba to throw the basketball for her. Two balls for 5 bucks….Bubba misses both, but on the rebound of the last shot, grabs the ball and wouldn’t you know, that sucker goes right in? Some more pixie dust for us. The CM throws PP a purple stuffed dinosaur….she is one happy kid! But she is hot and we under estimated how the heat would affect her. I think we need to go. We have 9 more days. We’ll come back. Famous last words.

It’s about 1:30 and we head back to home base. We all swim together, Bubba has some vodka punch and I have a margarita. We decide we are hungry and want to go to Olive Garden for dinner. We get dressed. I try to convince PP she needs to wash the chlorine out of her hair and brush it…..No Go. Oh well, I’m sure there are plenty of scruffy kids at Olive Garden.

We don’t go to Olive Garden for their incredible Italian food. Bubba and I are both Italian, and I happen to be a pretty good cook. We go for the bread and salad. The entrees are just simply to fill our bellies further. PP orders tilapia(she’s a very good eater and gets many looks from servers when she orders adult meals…and we don’t care about the cost, because we know she will eat it), I order some pasta dish and Bubba gets stuffed chicken marsala. It is all tasty and I have two glasses of Australian Chardonay. Apparently the servers were having a contest to sell alcohol and our perky waitress thanked me for helping her out. First time I’ve been thanked for having a drinking problem. We finished up, I think we had desert…Maybe Bubba remembers. We paid/overtipped and left.

Where to now? We are going to MK first thing tomorrow morning, and I don’t want to ruin the experience by going at night….I know, I have issues. I check my trusty guide that tells me what parks to go to on which night and it says Epcot is a good choice. Off we go.

We will have two full days at Epcot, so we are just going because it is only like 6pm and we have to do something. PP loves the big golf ball, and all sorts of memories come flooding back to me. Now, this is my WDW. Not that animal stuff….this is like home!

We jump right on SE(I remember not being crazy about this as a kid, but really enjoyed it this time) and then head over to the Ice Cool station to try some coke. I tried to convince Bubba that the Beverly was the best, but he wouldn’t go for it. He did take a tiny sip….but nothing that created a priceless reaction. I drank about a gallon of the ginger ale and PP like the lemon/lime! And it was free!!!!! We went and did HISTA, PP liked this one much better than ITBAB. We wondered around a bit more, hit a gift shop for a huge lollipop PP insisted she had to have and head out for the night.

Wait where did we park? Oh, it’s ok, I can see the car from the gate..... We took our three minute drive home and went to sleep dreaming of a Castle that would be waiting for us in the morning! Ok, I dreamed of this….PP and Bubba just went to sleep!

Tomorrow: Day 2 and Our First Walk Down Main St.

 

[Joann]

LOL great TR so far can't wait for more! You sound sooo much like me!!!

 

[disneyfamilyof5]

Great report!! I'm supposed to be working but instead I'm glued to your report!! Can't wait for more!!

 

[java]

Loving the report. Can't wait to read more- I am now a Jersey girl myself(right on the other side of the River actually from the Poconos) so
I couldn't agree with you more about AK- we are convinced they pipe in the heat to make you feel like you are really in Africa. ugh and those tiny walkways-but we love the park.(oh yes and it is Wildwood at Disney- and when we go in July we get the full effect with the big hair- humidity and all)

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Great report! Can't wait to read more. Unfortunatly, I have to head off to work soon.

 

[AmyBennett]

My prayers have been answered! People are actually reading my report. Isn't that your worst fear? That you pour your sweat and tears into a report and noone reads it?

Thank you all for the kind words and motivation to continue writing!

I am supposed to be doing about a million errands today, but maybe I'll get started on Day 2 instead!

Java-- back at ya

Joann--What made me write this report in the first place was reading so many reports that sounded like me....It's funny to read about other people doing things you thought only you did!

Maybe they do pump heat into AK....it is Disney after all! And I'm so glad someone recognized the Wildwood factor besides me!

Ok, back to writing. Sorry Bubba....you really didn't need your checks deposited today did you? And really....can't we go without food one more day? For the sake of the Dis???

 

[tubachick]

Great so far, can't wait to hear what happens!!

 

[JAM'S MOM]

Great job of writing up your adventures. Looking forward to what is happening in the days ahead. We're leaving in two weeks! Thanks for taking the time to write everything up!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Enjoying your report, keep it coming!

Allyson

 

[AmyBennett]

FRI 3/31 DAY 2 AND OUR FIRST WALK DOWN MAIN ST.


During the planning of this trip, Bubba did not believe me, that after they let you through the gates of MK that people actually took off towards Tomorrow Land to head for SM. HA!

I wake up first again. About 6:20am or so. I go through my entire routine of turning on every light, coffee perking, door slamming, crazed babble ….However, today I do it with gusto. WE ARE GOING TO THE MK PEOPLE…..WAKE UP. I think this was followed by many “chop-chops” What does that many anyway? Anyone, anyone? Bubba was up….oops sorry Bubba, did I wake you? PP was a bit easier this morning. She knew there was a Castle in her future. I had laid out PP’s clothes the night before….not in ziploc bags….I know, I’m not quite on par with some of you. She then started what would become her morning ritual for the next nine days. Lay under the covers and attempt to get dressed. Why does it take an 8 year old twenty minutes to put on one sock….and then get mad when you ask her to hurry up? I managed to get her to brush her teeth(apparently hygiene does not matter on vacation to PP) without much of a fight, but to no avail…Not the hair. At this point, it has become a rats nest….Oh no….another one of my mother’s sayings…What is wrong with me? She lets me put it in a disheveled bun and we’re off to breakfast. Wouldn’t a normal 8 year old girl want to look pretty for MK? Not mine.

After yesterday’s fiasco we have learned our lesson. And the answer to our prayers is right across the street. A buffet called Golden Corral. Some of you may know it….and it comes highly recommended from my little family! Any place where you control the speed of service is for me!!!! And honestly, it wasn’t half bad. You will see how much we enjoyed it in the days to come.

I don’t remember what I ate, except that I inhaled it….We were going to MK, who has time to eat. PP got a coke, strawberries and some soft ice cream. Any place that serves ice cream for breakfast is a place for PP. I do remember I had guava juice, because it sounded interesting. And it was. I was finished eating about 10 minutes before the rest of the fam. The one thing that is MORE exciting than eating to me is going to the MK for the first time in 10 years!

PP has to pp….I had to do it people. We head to the very clean, but slippery bathroom. By this, I mean there were two teenage girls in there, who appeared to be showering in the hand sinks. This equates to a very slippery floor. PP went to wash her hands and almost wiped out….It was entertaining for me….Mother of the Year. Don’t worry, I would get mine in the days to come.

We’re out of the GC(Golden Corral, for those of you not paying attention) and off to MK. We arrive about 8:10am…(opening at 9am) and get to park in Minnie….I don’t recall the row, I only know we were close. Too close for a tram….Wait a second…you mean I have to walk to the TTC? Oh well, we’re at the MK, I don’t care. We hop on our first official Monorail ride and PP thinks it’s cool. The sights going over are worth the price of admission….The Castle, SM….GF, CR….etc…..it was a good time and we weren’t even through the turnstiles yet.

We insert our tickets, put our fingers in, and finally we’re in!!!!! I’m going to take this opportunity to tell you the one thing I’ve read that wasn’t all that helpful. Go left. I kept trying to get Bubba to Go Left, but that never seemed to work , nor was it any quicker…Oh well, you live, you learn.

We watch the train come in with Mickey and Friends and Pixie dust flies. It was a family from Pa opening the park that day…not us….If we could only be so lucky.

We walk up Main St. with mobs of people and I say to PP, “Look there it is”
To which she replies “where?”
After I fought the urge to scream “what do you mean, where?”
I replied “The Castle, straight ahead”
To which I received the greatest response a Disney-loving mother can: A huge smile and eyes all lit up! And she says….”Oh, there”

Ok, magic is over for today….did I mention, she is still doing that thing with her ear, but she claims it is from the plane….They have not unclogged yet. I gave her an allergy pill and hoped that would work!

To the right, I direct Bubba….We walk briskly into TL, and Bubba sees Buzz. No, I say, we have to do SM first….he looks hurt, but grabs FPs for it! We walk onto SM, and lucky for me PP has not had the time to give me the third degree about this ride, as she did Mt. Everest. We take our spaceships through the dark, around some curves and pull back in…..We LOVED it. Bubba and I both thought it was better than we remembered and PP was a smitten little girl! One thing though….Did they purposely lower those seats, so that I would look like an idiot getting out of the car? I think the CMs must have fun with that! And today I got out easily…for me. Wait until I have to do it after some wine.

PP and Bubba spot Stich , but any obsessive, DIS freak knows….Don’t waste your time. They decide to waste some time. Fine by me, but you know Fantasy Land is going to be packed? Ok, it is official, I am now my mother and my father. See, my dad would run us past rides that were not “recommended” so quickly, that we never knew what we were missing…and heaven forbid we did see it….We were not allowed to go on…To this day I have not been on Dumbo, or the Indy Speedway. Sad, I know. Regardless, I have become him….and decide to chill and allow them to experience the dreaded thing called Stich….Anyhow, I need to smoke. MK’s smoking areas seemed to be better marked, and I find one directly across from the Stich gift shop. I smoke like 8 cigarettes and make chit-chat with a british lady. She was complaining of all the walking! Huh? Do you people not do your research????? I find PP and Bubba in the gift shop and we high tail it to Fantasy Land. Nobody wants to be in Fantasy Land after 10am I say!

Ok, I must get some things done, or Bubba will be upset! And we don’t anger the one who provides the funds for our Disney adventures! I will try to finish day 2 in between homework and CCD tonight! How do you people with more than one kid do it??? I’m in awe!!!

 

[tarheel]

Great job on your report! I am really enjoying it. Isn't amazing how addicting the DIS can be? My trip is in a little less than a month and I am on here so much! Laundry gets done, but no dusting and no one has had a decent meal in awhile. I hope you were able to get out and get stuff done today, but I hope you're back tonight with more!!!

 

[eemiles03]

awesome TR!!! I've become addicted to them too!

 

[mouseaddicts]

Thanks so much for taking the time to WRITE this TR!!!

I am really starting to get into the reports these days ..... I suppose it's a way to share some before our trip. I am totally OCD when it comes to WDW planning!!!

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt ..... please continue ....