that it's HIS trip.
February 14 18, 2006
CAST:
DGM-Darling Grandma (me)
DGS-Darling Grandson (5)
Background: DGS has been begging to go to Disney World for several months. Our last trip was April 2005. We have never gone this long between trips and it was showing (for both of us). If you read my lesson learned post on the family board you will note that I made the huuuugggggeee mistake of telling DGS that this would be his trip. That statement was brought up to me several times during the trip (usually in the variety of I dont wanna do xxxx I wanna xxx and you SAID this was MY trip).
Details:
Airtran Airways $59 each way (ATL MCO)
Alamo Car rental: $138.00 for compact for 5 days
Pop Century: $59.00 per night (AP rate)
TIP LEARNED TODAY: Do not plan on grabbing food from Rosie's for Fantasmic---unless you have two adults and one can get seats at Fantasmic while the other one dies in line for the food.
Thurs. Feb. 16:
Mickey again calls DGS to wake him up. I hear Stitch through the phone. DGS tells me Stitch has escaped from the Magic Kingdom and we have to help find him. (Note: when the phone rang in the mornings I just held it to DGS' ear to wake him up--so I have NO IDEA what was actually said)
Donuts in the room for breakfast (bad Grandma--happy DGS) then we head to the Studios. DGS insisted I pack his Power Ranger costume for our trip (his only clothing contribution to packing.) He is wearing a blue PR costume over his clothes. Lots of people at the Studios had fun with DGS. From the security at bag check (who recognize a fellow crime fighter) to other guests who would just point out--look he's a PR --- I never heard anyone say "look he's dressed up as a PR"--it was always HE IS a PR. Aren't Disney guests the best! Their "recognition" pleased DGS. So I have planned to hit the very first Power Ranger meet & greet. BUT as we're heading there, DGS sees Playhouse Disney and INSISTS we stop there (and after all it is "his trip", and I did tell him that, and he wants to see PHD, etc.) "But honey"---we're going to see the POWER RANGERS--the people you are dressed like, the people we watch constantly, the theme from your birthday party just last month, we can see PHD after the PR" "NO--PHD first". Oh well, who knows the mind of a 5yo? Not this Gma.
We caught the first show of PHD--and it was great!!!! The room was not even 1/2 full and had plenty of room for dancing, interaction and all out good fun. I HIGHLY recommend if you have kids who love PHD that you try to make the first show.
After PHD we head to the area that the PR did their meet & greet--THEY'RE STILL THERE!!!!! We actually got autographs and pics with all of them. And did they ham it up with DGS. (I asked the photopass people to take several shots as I was buying the CD at the end of the trip. Most were happy to comply.) Back to the PR---several times DGS would be playing with more than one Ranger at a time, as the others would come over and hang with him too (when they didn't have other guests). SO a happy DGS bids farewell to the PR as they get back in the car and leave.
Next up: Chicken Little. The back way--through the shop without taking the tour. We head to Chicken Little just as the first tour is ending so we get in line with about 3 families in front of us. After DGS has fun horsing around with CL and Abby mallard, we stop and play with the coloring pictures and voice activities. From time to time we would look over and see NO ONE with CL and AM so DGS would run back over and play a little with them. After we have spent enough time here we head to Star Tours.
It's off to Endor and then the obligatory stop in the gift shop. DGS kept wanting the $100. Lego set that he was too young for (but Daddy can do it for me) and I kept telling him no. He finally settled for a Yoda Pez dispenser (and the candy that goes with it). (Tally for the day--donuts and candy--really BAD Gma--really happy DGS).
After Star Tours we head back to the PR area for their next meet & greet. We passed Buzz, Woody and Jessie on the way and they had NO LINES (actually Woody had 1 child) so we stopped and had pictures taken with all of them. Then DGS wanted to find the green army man so we found him and DGS had an autograph and picture with him.
We get to the PR area about 30 seconds before they come out and again DGS has a great time playing and posing. I told him he didn't need autographs AGAIN but he insisted.
After the PR leave DGS wants to play in the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. He is still wearing his PR costume so I ask if he wants to take it off. He says no and we go in to play.
NOTE: When DS saw the pictures from our trip he wanted to know why I let his son roam around the park dressed in his costume. Ummm...because he wanted to and 1) it didn't hurt anyone, 2) everyone thought he was cute, and 3) I didn't want to argue with him.
After playing he finally says he is hot so we take his costume off and put it in the backpack. Then we head over to Toy Story Pizza Planet for lunch. Where DGS ate ALL of the salad that came with my pizza and then only one piece of his pizza. (NOTE: share meals with DGS from this point on as we are wasting tons of food). After lunch we played in the arcade and then headed out to the Little Mermaid.
Having the miraculous ability to breathe underwater while we are at Disney, we survive the Mermaid show and I ask DGS what he wants to do next. We've pretty much hit all the highlights he wants to do at the studios so I ask--The Great Movie Ride? No. The new stunt show for Daddy? No. He wants to see the man and the rope. UMMMMMM...huh? The man and the rope! With the ball. You KNOW Grandma. Well no, not really. He takes out his map and points to Indiana Jones. Umm...in April you didn't like it. Now you want to go see it? Yes. Ok--off to Indiana Jones where we are just 10 minutes from the next show. (Our timing has been magical all day). We watch the Indy show up to the point where they have they first set of "directors' come out and talk to the audience ---after Indy drops in by rope and survives the ball rolling over him. DGS decides we can leave now as he has seen what he wanted to. OK.
Then he looks at me and says our next stop will be Beauty and the Beast. because "It's your favorite Grandma." Bless his little heart---he wants to be sure I see my favorite. So we're off to the Beauty and the Beast show. We enjoyed it greatly.
We then have a few hours to kill before Fantasmic so I decide to find the path that leads to EPCOT and we can do Test Track--since it was closed Tuesday. At EPCOT we enter through International Gateway and do Test Track, Soarin and Figment (2x). We then head back to MGM. I figure we will grab dinner at Rosie's and carry it into Fantasmic with us. This plan STINKS!!!!!! Guess what? The other ten thousand people going to Fantasmic have the same idea. We spent more time in the line for food than we did in line for ANYTHING so far for the trip. All that wait and DGS only eats the grapes (from both our meals) and his french fries--he doesn't touch the 3 pieces of chicken nuggets from his meal. NOTE: we had snacks and bottled water in the backpack so he had been "grazing" most days but I felt bad he didn't eat the nuggets. We should have waited and had dinner back at the food court.
Fantasmic was good except during the part when Mickey holds out his arms and shoots fireworks from them--only one hand had fireworks--the other didn't ignite. But DGS loved it (as always) and after the show it's back to our resort. DGS watches tv and snacks while I repack the backpack--we're spending the day in Cocoa Beach tomorrow so have to repack from theme park to day at the beach. DGS has said he doesn't want to go to the beach and see his great-grandparents and uncles and cousins. I'm hoping that not having a wake up call from Mickey will convince him that even Mickey wants him to go to the beach!
February 14 18, 2006
CAST:
DGM-Darling Grandma (me)
DGS-Darling Grandson (5)
Background: DGS has been begging to go to Disney World for several months. Our last trip was April 2005. We have never gone this long between trips and it was showing (for both of us). If you read my lesson learned post on the family board you will note that I made the huuuugggggeee mistake of telling DGS that this would be his trip. That statement was brought up to me several times during the trip (usually in the variety of I dont wanna do xxxx I wanna xxx and you SAID this was MY trip).
Details:
Airtran Airways $59 each way (ATL MCO)
Alamo Car rental: $138.00 for compact for 5 days
Pop Century: $59.00 per night (AP rate)
TIP LEARNED TODAY: Do not plan on grabbing food from Rosie's for Fantasmic---unless you have two adults and one can get seats at Fantasmic while the other one dies in line for the food.
Thurs. Feb. 16:
Mickey again calls DGS to wake him up. I hear Stitch through the phone. DGS tells me Stitch has escaped from the Magic Kingdom and we have to help find him. (Note: when the phone rang in the mornings I just held it to DGS' ear to wake him up--so I have NO IDEA what was actually said)
Donuts in the room for breakfast (bad Grandma--happy DGS) then we head to the Studios. DGS insisted I pack his Power Ranger costume for our trip (his only clothing contribution to packing.) He is wearing a blue PR costume over his clothes. Lots of people at the Studios had fun with DGS. From the security at bag check (who recognize a fellow crime fighter) to other guests who would just point out--look he's a PR --- I never heard anyone say "look he's dressed up as a PR"--it was always HE IS a PR. Aren't Disney guests the best! Their "recognition" pleased DGS. So I have planned to hit the very first Power Ranger meet & greet. BUT as we're heading there, DGS sees Playhouse Disney and INSISTS we stop there (and after all it is "his trip", and I did tell him that, and he wants to see PHD, etc.) "But honey"---we're going to see the POWER RANGERS--the people you are dressed like, the people we watch constantly, the theme from your birthday party just last month, we can see PHD after the PR" "NO--PHD first". Oh well, who knows the mind of a 5yo? Not this Gma.
We caught the first show of PHD--and it was great!!!! The room was not even 1/2 full and had plenty of room for dancing, interaction and all out good fun. I HIGHLY recommend if you have kids who love PHD that you try to make the first show.
After PHD we head to the area that the PR did their meet & greet--THEY'RE STILL THERE!!!!! We actually got autographs and pics with all of them. And did they ham it up with DGS. (I asked the photopass people to take several shots as I was buying the CD at the end of the trip. Most were happy to comply.) Back to the PR---several times DGS would be playing with more than one Ranger at a time, as the others would come over and hang with him too (when they didn't have other guests). SO a happy DGS bids farewell to the PR as they get back in the car and leave.
Next up: Chicken Little. The back way--through the shop without taking the tour. We head to Chicken Little just as the first tour is ending so we get in line with about 3 families in front of us. After DGS has fun horsing around with CL and Abby mallard, we stop and play with the coloring pictures and voice activities. From time to time we would look over and see NO ONE with CL and AM so DGS would run back over and play a little with them. After we have spent enough time here we head to Star Tours.
It's off to Endor and then the obligatory stop in the gift shop. DGS kept wanting the $100. Lego set that he was too young for (but Daddy can do it for me) and I kept telling him no. He finally settled for a Yoda Pez dispenser (and the candy that goes with it). (Tally for the day--donuts and candy--really BAD Gma--really happy DGS).
After Star Tours we head back to the PR area for their next meet & greet. We passed Buzz, Woody and Jessie on the way and they had NO LINES (actually Woody had 1 child) so we stopped and had pictures taken with all of them. Then DGS wanted to find the green army man so we found him and DGS had an autograph and picture with him.
We get to the PR area about 30 seconds before they come out and again DGS has a great time playing and posing. I told him he didn't need autographs AGAIN but he insisted.
After the PR leave DGS wants to play in the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. He is still wearing his PR costume so I ask if he wants to take it off. He says no and we go in to play.
NOTE: When DS saw the pictures from our trip he wanted to know why I let his son roam around the park dressed in his costume. Ummm...because he wanted to and 1) it didn't hurt anyone, 2) everyone thought he was cute, and 3) I didn't want to argue with him.
After playing he finally says he is hot so we take his costume off and put it in the backpack. Then we head over to Toy Story Pizza Planet for lunch. Where DGS ate ALL of the salad that came with my pizza and then only one piece of his pizza. (NOTE: share meals with DGS from this point on as we are wasting tons of food). After lunch we played in the arcade and then headed out to the Little Mermaid.
Having the miraculous ability to breathe underwater while we are at Disney, we survive the Mermaid show and I ask DGS what he wants to do next. We've pretty much hit all the highlights he wants to do at the studios so I ask--The Great Movie Ride? No. The new stunt show for Daddy? No. He wants to see the man and the rope. UMMMMMM...huh? The man and the rope! With the ball. You KNOW Grandma. Well no, not really. He takes out his map and points to Indiana Jones. Umm...in April you didn't like it. Now you want to go see it? Yes. Ok--off to Indiana Jones where we are just 10 minutes from the next show. (Our timing has been magical all day). We watch the Indy show up to the point where they have they first set of "directors' come out and talk to the audience ---after Indy drops in by rope and survives the ball rolling over him. DGS decides we can leave now as he has seen what he wanted to. OK.
Then he looks at me and says our next stop will be Beauty and the Beast. because "It's your favorite Grandma." Bless his little heart---he wants to be sure I see my favorite. So we're off to the Beauty and the Beast show. We enjoyed it greatly.
We then have a few hours to kill before Fantasmic so I decide to find the path that leads to EPCOT and we can do Test Track--since it was closed Tuesday. At EPCOT we enter through International Gateway and do Test Track, Soarin and Figment (2x). We then head back to MGM. I figure we will grab dinner at Rosie's and carry it into Fantasmic with us. This plan STINKS!!!!!! Guess what? The other ten thousand people going to Fantasmic have the same idea. We spent more time in the line for food than we did in line for ANYTHING so far for the trip. All that wait and DGS only eats the grapes (from both our meals) and his french fries--he doesn't touch the 3 pieces of chicken nuggets from his meal. NOTE: we had snacks and bottled water in the backpack so he had been "grazing" most days but I felt bad he didn't eat the nuggets. We should have waited and had dinner back at the food court.
Fantasmic was good except during the part when Mickey holds out his arms and shoots fireworks from them--only one hand had fireworks--the other didn't ignite. But DGS loved it (as always) and after the show it's back to our resort. DGS watches tv and snacks while I repack the backpack--we're spending the day in Cocoa Beach tomorrow so have to repack from theme park to day at the beach. DGS has said he doesn't want to go to the beach and see his great-grandparents and uncles and cousins. I'm hoping that not having a wake up call from Mickey will convince him that even Mickey wants him to go to the beach!
