Chickenlady
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 5, 2000
- Messages
- 392
Trip report Feb 3 -10, 2001
Cast
Chickenlady - 40 year old trip planner, 6th time at WDW
JR - my 3 year old son, 3nd time at WDW
Grammy - my mother, 62, roller coaster fanatic, more than 6 trips to WDW
DAY 6 - Feb. 8, 2001
I'm already whining about the trip almost being over (to be perfectly truthful I get bummed as soon as the plane lands at MCO). We were up early this morning for breakfast at 1900 Park Fair. I was impressed with my planning for our early breakfast but nobody else seemed impressed. I knew that Thurs. is EE day for MK, so we hopped a bus to MK at 7 am and then grabbed the monorail for the ride to the GF. We were very lucky to be able to ride in the front for the entire trip. The driver had told us that if someone at the Poly wants the front, we'd have to move. But as it turned out, we rode all the way to the GF in the front. JR really liked the ride. He was very concerned though for the various birds that were sitting on the monorail tract as we approached. He was yelling "Look out birdy, look out birdy"....driver didn't seem too amused.
The GF was really nice. Somehow we'd never managed to step foot in the place until now. I would like to stay here with DH once, but don't think my DS would be comfortable here. Breakfast at 1900 Park Fair was very nice! It was very subdued and quiet that morning, a welcome change. Everyone enjoyed the different breakfast variety...strawberry soup and bread pudding w/vanilla sauce....well, Grammy and I enjoyed those things, JR ate pancakes, what else! We got pictures with Alice, Pinocchio, Gepetto, and Mary Poppins. The server said that the Mad Hatter was there but we never even caught a glimpse of him. We will definitely make our way back here on future visits!
After that great breakfast, we rode the monorail (back in the regular cars, like normal people) back to the MK. From there we caught the boat over to Fort Wilderness. On the boat ride over I got a good view of WL and did feel a bit homesick from our last visit. JR much preferred ASMo over WL, but the WL is just so pretty to me (for the price savings though, I'll visit the WL and sleep at ASMo). Arrived at FW and headed straight for the petting zoo. DH had walked with JR over to the petting zoo on our last trip, when we were staying at WL and he said the kid loved it. Well, I'd never been to the petting zoo, so it took us a few min. to get oriented....the place was deserted. Found the petting zoo and discovered a school field trip!!!!!!! I was a very unhappy camper for a few min. Since they had lots (!) of young school kids lined up everywhere, it took a min. to figure out what to do. From what DH had said, normally you could pay $2 for a pony ride and could wander at your leisure through the zoo. Since the school kids had most of the ponies tied up, we were limited to a short romp through the trails. JR loves horse and ponies, so he was in seventh heaven. After his ride, we fed all sorts of critters...goats, sheep, and even chickens (big excitement for me, let me tell you). We saw Minnie Moo and admired all the animals. As we were leaving, we wanted to use the hand wash station...there was a line of about 30 kids! No way! We hightailed it over to the restroom that I'd seen on the way over. As we were walking to the restroom, JR starts singing (Val De Re, Val De Ra....). Grammy looks at him and says "What is he singing?" I couldn't believe it!!!!! He has a Disney sing-a-long tape that was filmed at FW and on that tape they sing the song he was singing! I don't for the life of me understand how he made the connection in his little 3 yr old brain!
We stopped at the General Store for a drink and then headed to the playground on the beach, so JR could run a bit. Unfortunately, our boat came within 15 min. and we had to leave..JR was not pleased. Returned to ASMo for our afternoon nap.
Woke from our nap ready to conquer new vistas! We jumped a bus to Epcot and proceeded to make JR's day by riding Energy. You would think that a 3 yr old would be afraid of the dinosaurs, but not our guy! He loved the creatures, even the one that sneezed/snorted on us. As the ride was ending JR was screaming "Again, Again!". Unfortunately, we had to head other places. Walked out of Energy to see CMs frantically putting out a fire in a trash can.....can only assume that someone threw out a smoldering cig. butt. This whole trip seemed to be at a much slower pace than usual. Every body of water or bird that we passed, we'd have to stop and admire it for several min. We made our way to Mexico and took the boat ride....JR just loves boats. I think he liked this ride because its so much like one of his other favorites "It's a small world". After Mexico, we grabbed the boat over to Germany for our PS dinner. As we arrived we caught the TON! JR loved seeing it again and once again he got touched by many puppets.
Dinner at Germany was not as much fun as it was in Sept. JR arrived and immediately started whining about wanting to dance.....well, the band wasn't playing yet! Tried to get him to eat anything....no way, not even a hotdog and the much loved green beans! He finally resorted to eating Saltines, that I had in my backpack. Waitress did notice this but still charged us full kids price....oh well, can't expect pixie dust all the time. JR did finally get to dance when the band played but he did not want to dance with Grammy, he wanted to dance freestyle by himself! Ok. We did notice that by this point in the week, he was appearing to be missing interaction with other kids. He tried desperately to join so kids on the dance floor, but they weren't receptive. After our dinner we wandered out just in time to see the second TON parade. Got JR a seat on the curb next to a group of kids and he was in heaven. Grammy (who was standing close behind him) said that he kept trying to engage the other kids in conversation...but apparently they didn't speak English.....poor little guy didn't quite understand.
As the parade ended, we got in line behind the rope and meandered all the way back to Mexico singing that catchy tune. Our ride back to ASMo was quiet as we had just missed the beginning of Illuminations....heard the first fireworks as we were getting on the bus. Mug refills all around and we were happy campers once again. Everyone fell asleep quickly.
Cast
Chickenlady - 40 year old trip planner, 6th time at WDW
JR - my 3 year old son, 3nd time at WDW
Grammy - my mother, 62, roller coaster fanatic, more than 6 trips to WDW
DAY 6 - Feb. 8, 2001
I'm already whining about the trip almost being over (to be perfectly truthful I get bummed as soon as the plane lands at MCO). We were up early this morning for breakfast at 1900 Park Fair. I was impressed with my planning for our early breakfast but nobody else seemed impressed. I knew that Thurs. is EE day for MK, so we hopped a bus to MK at 7 am and then grabbed the monorail for the ride to the GF. We were very lucky to be able to ride in the front for the entire trip. The driver had told us that if someone at the Poly wants the front, we'd have to move. But as it turned out, we rode all the way to the GF in the front. JR really liked the ride. He was very concerned though for the various birds that were sitting on the monorail tract as we approached. He was yelling "Look out birdy, look out birdy"....driver didn't seem too amused.
The GF was really nice. Somehow we'd never managed to step foot in the place until now. I would like to stay here with DH once, but don't think my DS would be comfortable here. Breakfast at 1900 Park Fair was very nice! It was very subdued and quiet that morning, a welcome change. Everyone enjoyed the different breakfast variety...strawberry soup and bread pudding w/vanilla sauce....well, Grammy and I enjoyed those things, JR ate pancakes, what else! We got pictures with Alice, Pinocchio, Gepetto, and Mary Poppins. The server said that the Mad Hatter was there but we never even caught a glimpse of him. We will definitely make our way back here on future visits!
After that great breakfast, we rode the monorail (back in the regular cars, like normal people) back to the MK. From there we caught the boat over to Fort Wilderness. On the boat ride over I got a good view of WL and did feel a bit homesick from our last visit. JR much preferred ASMo over WL, but the WL is just so pretty to me (for the price savings though, I'll visit the WL and sleep at ASMo). Arrived at FW and headed straight for the petting zoo. DH had walked with JR over to the petting zoo on our last trip, when we were staying at WL and he said the kid loved it. Well, I'd never been to the petting zoo, so it took us a few min. to get oriented....the place was deserted. Found the petting zoo and discovered a school field trip!!!!!!! I was a very unhappy camper for a few min. Since they had lots (!) of young school kids lined up everywhere, it took a min. to figure out what to do. From what DH had said, normally you could pay $2 for a pony ride and could wander at your leisure through the zoo. Since the school kids had most of the ponies tied up, we were limited to a short romp through the trails. JR loves horse and ponies, so he was in seventh heaven. After his ride, we fed all sorts of critters...goats, sheep, and even chickens (big excitement for me, let me tell you). We saw Minnie Moo and admired all the animals. As we were leaving, we wanted to use the hand wash station...there was a line of about 30 kids! No way! We hightailed it over to the restroom that I'd seen on the way over. As we were walking to the restroom, JR starts singing (Val De Re, Val De Ra....). Grammy looks at him and says "What is he singing?" I couldn't believe it!!!!! He has a Disney sing-a-long tape that was filmed at FW and on that tape they sing the song he was singing! I don't for the life of me understand how he made the connection in his little 3 yr old brain!
We stopped at the General Store for a drink and then headed to the playground on the beach, so JR could run a bit. Unfortunately, our boat came within 15 min. and we had to leave..JR was not pleased. Returned to ASMo for our afternoon nap.
Woke from our nap ready to conquer new vistas! We jumped a bus to Epcot and proceeded to make JR's day by riding Energy. You would think that a 3 yr old would be afraid of the dinosaurs, but not our guy! He loved the creatures, even the one that sneezed/snorted on us. As the ride was ending JR was screaming "Again, Again!". Unfortunately, we had to head other places. Walked out of Energy to see CMs frantically putting out a fire in a trash can.....can only assume that someone threw out a smoldering cig. butt. This whole trip seemed to be at a much slower pace than usual. Every body of water or bird that we passed, we'd have to stop and admire it for several min. We made our way to Mexico and took the boat ride....JR just loves boats. I think he liked this ride because its so much like one of his other favorites "It's a small world". After Mexico, we grabbed the boat over to Germany for our PS dinner. As we arrived we caught the TON! JR loved seeing it again and once again he got touched by many puppets.
Dinner at Germany was not as much fun as it was in Sept. JR arrived and immediately started whining about wanting to dance.....well, the band wasn't playing yet! Tried to get him to eat anything....no way, not even a hotdog and the much loved green beans! He finally resorted to eating Saltines, that I had in my backpack. Waitress did notice this but still charged us full kids price....oh well, can't expect pixie dust all the time. JR did finally get to dance when the band played but he did not want to dance with Grammy, he wanted to dance freestyle by himself! Ok. We did notice that by this point in the week, he was appearing to be missing interaction with other kids. He tried desperately to join so kids on the dance floor, but they weren't receptive. After our dinner we wandered out just in time to see the second TON parade. Got JR a seat on the curb next to a group of kids and he was in heaven. Grammy (who was standing close behind him) said that he kept trying to engage the other kids in conversation...but apparently they didn't speak English.....poor little guy didn't quite understand.
As the parade ended, we got in line behind the rope and meandered all the way back to Mexico singing that catchy tune. Our ride back to ASMo was quiet as we had just missed the beginning of Illuminations....heard the first fireworks as we were getting on the bus. Mug refills all around and we were happy campers once again. Everyone fell asleep quickly.
