Cast
Me DH age 33, my DW Debbie 43, DS Joshua 8, DD1 Jaina 3 AKA Gigi, and DD2 Jadyn 18 months AKA Peaches.
Day 4- MK and Epcot with our VIP Tour Guide
More early morning ironing and beignets. This time, I actually saved two beignets for DW, but her cold has gotten so bad, she really does not feel like eating. I feel really bad for DW, but I still eat the beignets
. Today we are going to try something new. We will be meeting our VIP tour guide at MK. I know some of you out there are probably grabbing your chest feigning a heart attack at the thought of paying almost a hundred bucks an hour for a guide, but I have my reasons. One reason is these guides will run around getting your next fastpass while you are eating or still enjoying an attraction. Two, you get special reserved seating for Share a Dream, Spectro, and Wishes. This seating was in a roped-off little alcove that I had never noticed before. It is off of one of the spokes between Liberty Square and the hub. No one is allowed on this spoke during the parade. Lastly, and most importantly, I get to know and pick the brain of a CM that Disney considers skilled enough to escort celebs, sports figures, etc. through the parks. We meet Cullen at guest services at the MK promptly at 9:00. Our kids are very shy, but within an hour DS was begging Cullen to ride the rides with him. Our plan was to hit Fantasyland immediately and knock everything out quickly so that we could get to the mountains before the lines
were longer than this trip report. That plan died about one minute after we entered the gates. The characters were out, and whom should we see? Princess Aurora, the one and only princess that DD1 has never met. And the line is from the emporium to the castle. OK maybe it was not quite that long, but God it was long. But wait, Cullen to the rescue! Cullen volunteers to pickup FPs for us at Philharmagic while we wait for our date with Sleeping Beauty. We agree to meet Cullen back at the Walt/Mickey statue in the hub. After getting our picture/autograph/hug, and after shooing off a lady who did not realize there was a line we meet back up with Cullen. Upon entering Fantasyland DD2 sees the
carousel and all bets are off. She decides that she wants to ride the carousel repeatedly until the MK closes or I puke, whichever happens first. I am pretty sure that God is getting me back, as my Mother tells me that I did the same thing back on our first trip to the world in 73. So while DW, DS, DD1, and Cullen ride Dumbo, Pooh, Snow White, and Small World, I ride the carousel, over and over and over again! DD2 picks a horse, I place her on it, she gets a terrified look on her face, grips the pole so tight that her knuckles turn white, and then stays like that until the ride is over. Then I remove her from the horse and she hollers until we get back in line to do it all over again. Our FP window for Philharmagic (FINALLY,THANK GOD NO MORE CAROUSEL) opens and we all go together to see Donald make a mess of things. I manage to keep DD2 from seeing the carousel when we exit and we all go to IaSW together. I am so glad that this attraction is scheduled for a rehab it looks awful! There are spit wads on some of the dolls and backgrounds that have been there since our trip last Thanksgiving. I am not sure which is worse, someone being so inconsiderate that they would shoot spitwads inside an attraction, or the fact that not one CM has taken the time to clean them off in almost six months. Oh well, we leave Fantasy land and at some point or another Cullen had snuck off and gotten HM FPs. Unfortunately none of the kids were brave enough to give HM a try this go round. We decide Splash Mountain would be a great idea, Cullen heads off to get FPs for Splash while DW, DS, and DD1 visit the Enchanted Tikki Birds. DD2 had fallen asleep in her stroller, so I sat outside and had a nice visit with Cullen. Upon everyone elses return we head for Splash as our FPs are already good. Upon seeing the logs make the big drop, DD2 decides that while she may be tall enough for SM this trip, she is definitely not brave enough. No problem, Cullen exchanges our SM FPs for BTMRR FPs. Dont you wish we could all have that kind of FP power? Not only does he exchange the SM FPs, but he gets a enough FPs so that I can ride with DS and DD2 and DW can watch sleeping DD2, then we can switch and DS and DD2 get to go again with DW. I think I love this guy! DS insists on riding with Cullen and DD2 pronounces that BTMRR is just a little scary and she will ride again with DW. DD2 wakes up while everyone else is riding and we have a grand time feeding the ducks cheerios. After everyone gets back we head to our lunch PS at Liberty Tree Tavern. I ask Cullen to join us for lunch, and he agrees, but only after he heads across the hub to pickup Buzz Lightyear FPs. DS has apparently had been bending Cullens ear while on BTMRR. We are seated almost immediately and both the food and service were very good. I try to pay for Cullens lunch but he politely explains that Mr. Eisner while be paying for his. Far be it from me to not help separate Mr. Eisner from a couple bucks. God knows someone needs to! After lunch we catch the end of Cinderellas Surprise Celebration and head to Tomorrowland. I had two goals for this trip. One was to see Festival of the Lion King we did yesterday. The other was to see Carousel of Progress, which has been closed every single time that we have been to the MK. Well CoP is open and we are in! We all enjoyed CoP very much, although my wife is sick of hearing me sing Its a great big beautiful tomorrow over and over again. We decide to take a quick spin on the TTA before using our Buzz FPs. DW and I really like to relax on TTA, but I know it will not be long before the kiddos are saying do we have to, its so boring. I am hearing the rumblings already. A neat treat- the interior lights were on inside Space Mountain and we got to see all of inner workings. I was surprised out how little space inside is actually used for the track. Off to save civilization from Zurg and it is already time for the afternoon parade. Cullen leads us to the reserved area, there is already one family with their tour guide there. Two more guide/family groups arrive and the parade begins. I have to say it is very nice to have a front row seat without having to wait a long time in the sun. It is also nice to actually have a seat, which were wrought iron benches. The kids got tons of attention from the characters as they were the only kids around. One unusual site during the parade. There is a parade coordinator that keeps the hub spoke clear and who apparently has other duties as well. Across from the area that we sat in there is a small guard shack looking building. Several of the characters stopped during the parade, whispered something to the coordinator, and were whisked either into or behind this shack, I am assuming for costume adjustments. After the parade was over, DW decided she was not up to anymore parks today and DD2 was definitely ready for another nap. They headed back to the resort while DS, DD1, and I headed for the monorail to Epcot. We bid Cullen adieu at the MK exit, I tried to give him a tip, but he would not take it. He is definitely a very special CM and a tribute to Walts idea of customer service. Upon arriving at Epcot we head to the Living Seas to check out the Nemo updates. They are very cute, it just goes to show that imagineers dont need to spend a ton of money to enhance or create an attraction. We have a 6:00 PS at Le Cellier so we begin our way around the WS. I am glad that they do not serve alcohol at the MK, but I was very happy to see the Rose and Crown and a halfyard of Bass Ale. It tasted so good, it was gone by the time we reached France! We had some time to kill and Mikuki the candy sculptor was due to start her demonstration soon. We had never seen her before, but I had read so many good things about her talents that I made the kids stand by her kiosk for a good ten minutes so we could be in the front. Mikuki is amazing! She made five or six animals out of candy, including painting them in a matter of minutes. It was amazing the amount of detail she put into each animal. She is definitely a must see, check the show schedule when you get to Epcot and try to make time. We still have a few minutes before our PS so we rush over to Italy to catch the Living Statues, another must see for us at Epcot. I convince DD2 to go up with me to get a photo and the Statue rubs my hair longingly (hey its my dream, dont ruin it) while a nice bystander snaps a photo. And then drops, and breaks, my brand new for this trip 5 megapixel Sony camera ..AARRRGGGHHH! He was profusely sorry, I just put the whole thing out of my mind. I will worry about it when I go back to the real world. We hustle over to Le Cellier for our PS and are seated immediately. I enjoy a wonderful bowl of cheddar cheese soup and a NY strip while the kids have a cheeseburger and a steak. The food was wonderful except for the kids fries. They were so salty I could not even eat them, and I am the person at our house who adds salt to everything. After dinner DD2 decides that because she is now tall enough to ride Test Track for the first time, we need to do so, even though the FPs are gone and the standby line is 60 minutes. Cullen where are you? Help, Cullen we need FP assistance! Alas Cullen does not materialize out of thin air and began dropping FPs like rose petals so I grab a beer and we get in line. After 10 minutes and the line not moving a single inch, I am beginning to think this was a very bad idea. Then out of nowhere a nice family of three walks up directly to me and says we have these three FPs and we are leaving, would you trade a pin for them?. I immediately offer them my entire lanyard, but they mercifully only take two pins. Since we have about 20 minutes until the FP window opens, we decide to check out the Mission Space post ride area where DS can play a video game and DD1 can play in the toddlers playground. The 20 minutes goes by quickly and with our FPs we walk all of the way into the TT pre-show area without stopping. After the pre-show we are one car away from riding and TT breaks down. DS and DD are crushed, but we decide to wait it out and in only about ten minutes it is back up and we are on our way. DD2 pronounced that TT is just a little scary and we decide to look for a spot to watch Illuminations ROE. With just twenty minutes to showtime we find an unguarded spot on the fence just inside the Cantina de San Angel. Upon parking the stroller we discover DD2 has fallen asleep. I hold DS on my hip so he can see over the fence while we watch ROE and sing We Go On together. It was a very special moment for me, I did not even realize that he knew the words (I cannot imagine why he would know them, I only make the family listen to the ROE CD nonstop in my truck). It seemed for just a moment that he and I were the only ones there and the whole show was just for us! I am getting teary-eyed just remembering it. After ROE was over, a mad dash to the bus and back to POFQ. An almost (I wish DW could have made it) perfect end to a perfect day.
Next- Returning Home and Final Thoughts
Me DH age 33, my DW Debbie 43, DS Joshua 8, DD1 Jaina 3 AKA Gigi, and DD2 Jadyn 18 months AKA Peaches.
Day 4- MK and Epcot with our VIP Tour Guide
More early morning ironing and beignets. This time, I actually saved two beignets for DW, but her cold has gotten so bad, she really does not feel like eating. I feel really bad for DW, but I still eat the beignets
. Today we are going to try something new. We will be meeting our VIP tour guide at MK. I know some of you out there are probably grabbing your chest feigning a heart attack at the thought of paying almost a hundred bucks an hour for a guide, but I have my reasons. One reason is these guides will run around getting your next fastpass while you are eating or still enjoying an attraction. Two, you get special reserved seating for Share a Dream, Spectro, and Wishes. This seating was in a roped-off little alcove that I had never noticed before. It is off of one of the spokes between Liberty Square and the hub. No one is allowed on this spoke during the parade. Lastly, and most importantly, I get to know and pick the brain of a CM that Disney considers skilled enough to escort celebs, sports figures, etc. through the parks. We meet Cullen at guest services at the MK promptly at 9:00. Our kids are very shy, but within an hour DS was begging Cullen to ride the rides with him. Our plan was to hit Fantasyland immediately and knock everything out quickly so that we could get to the mountains before the lineswere longer than this trip report. That plan died about one minute after we entered the gates. The characters were out, and whom should we see? Princess Aurora, the one and only princess that DD1 has never met. And the line is from the emporium to the castle. OK maybe it was not quite that long, but God it was long. But wait, Cullen to the rescue! Cullen volunteers to pickup FPs for us at Philharmagic while we wait for our date with Sleeping Beauty. We agree to meet Cullen back at the Walt/Mickey statue in the hub. After getting our picture/autograph/hug, and after shooing off a lady who did not realize there was a line we meet back up with Cullen. Upon entering Fantasyland DD2 sees the
carousel and all bets are off. She decides that she wants to ride the carousel repeatedly until the MK closes or I puke, whichever happens first. I am pretty sure that God is getting me back, as my Mother tells me that I did the same thing back on our first trip to the world in 73. So while DW, DS, DD1, and Cullen ride Dumbo, Pooh, Snow White, and Small World, I ride the carousel, over and over and over again! DD2 picks a horse, I place her on it, she gets a terrified look on her face, grips the pole so tight that her knuckles turn white, and then stays like that until the ride is over. Then I remove her from the horse and she hollers until we get back in line to do it all over again. Our FP window for Philharmagic (FINALLY,THANK GOD NO MORE CAROUSEL) opens and we all go together to see Donald make a mess of things. I manage to keep DD2 from seeing the carousel when we exit and we all go to IaSW together. I am so glad that this attraction is scheduled for a rehab it looks awful! There are spit wads on some of the dolls and backgrounds that have been there since our trip last Thanksgiving. I am not sure which is worse, someone being so inconsiderate that they would shoot spitwads inside an attraction, or the fact that not one CM has taken the time to clean them off in almost six months. Oh well, we leave Fantasy land and at some point or another Cullen had snuck off and gotten HM FPs. Unfortunately none of the kids were brave enough to give HM a try this go round. We decide Splash Mountain would be a great idea, Cullen heads off to get FPs for Splash while DW, DS, and DD1 visit the Enchanted Tikki Birds. DD2 had fallen asleep in her stroller, so I sat outside and had a nice visit with Cullen. Upon everyone elses return we head for Splash as our FPs are already good. Upon seeing the logs make the big drop, DD2 decides that while she may be tall enough for SM this trip, she is definitely not brave enough. No problem, Cullen exchanges our SM FPs for BTMRR FPs. Dont you wish we could all have that kind of FP power? Not only does he exchange the SM FPs, but he gets a enough FPs so that I can ride with DS and DD2 and DW can watch sleeping DD2, then we can switch and DS and DD2 get to go again with DW. I think I love this guy! DS insists on riding with Cullen and DD2 pronounces that BTMRR is just a little scary and she will ride again with DW. DD2 wakes up while everyone else is riding and we have a grand time feeding the ducks cheerios. After everyone gets back we head to our lunch PS at Liberty Tree Tavern. I ask Cullen to join us for lunch, and he agrees, but only after he heads across the hub to pickup Buzz Lightyear FPs. DS has apparently had been bending Cullens ear while on BTMRR. We are seated almost immediately and both the food and service were very good. I try to pay for Cullens lunch but he politely explains that Mr. Eisner while be paying for his. Far be it from me to not help separate Mr. Eisner from a couple bucks. God knows someone needs to! After lunch we catch the end of Cinderellas Surprise Celebration and head to Tomorrowland. I had two goals for this trip. One was to see Festival of the Lion King we did yesterday. The other was to see Carousel of Progress, which has been closed every single time that we have been to the MK. Well CoP is open and we are in! We all enjoyed CoP very much, although my wife is sick of hearing me sing Its a great big beautiful tomorrow over and over again. We decide to take a quick spin on the TTA before using our Buzz FPs. DW and I really like to relax on TTA, but I know it will not be long before the kiddos are saying do we have to, its so boring. I am hearing the rumblings already. A neat treat- the interior lights were on inside Space Mountain and we got to see all of inner workings. I was surprised out how little space inside is actually used for the track. Off to save civilization from Zurg and it is already time for the afternoon parade. Cullen leads us to the reserved area, there is already one family with their tour guide there. Two more guide/family groups arrive and the parade begins. I have to say it is very nice to have a front row seat without having to wait a long time in the sun. It is also nice to actually have a seat, which were wrought iron benches. The kids got tons of attention from the characters as they were the only kids around. One unusual site during the parade. There is a parade coordinator that keeps the hub spoke clear and who apparently has other duties as well. Across from the area that we sat in there is a small guard shack looking building. Several of the characters stopped during the parade, whispered something to the coordinator, and were whisked either into or behind this shack, I am assuming for costume adjustments. After the parade was over, DW decided she was not up to anymore parks today and DD2 was definitely ready for another nap. They headed back to the resort while DS, DD1, and I headed for the monorail to Epcot. We bid Cullen adieu at the MK exit, I tried to give him a tip, but he would not take it. He is definitely a very special CM and a tribute to Walts idea of customer service. Upon arriving at Epcot we head to the Living Seas to check out the Nemo updates. They are very cute, it just goes to show that imagineers dont need to spend a ton of money to enhance or create an attraction. We have a 6:00 PS at Le Cellier so we begin our way around the WS. I am glad that they do not serve alcohol at the MK, but I was very happy to see the Rose and Crown and a halfyard of Bass Ale. It tasted so good, it was gone by the time we reached France! We had some time to kill and Mikuki the candy sculptor was due to start her demonstration soon. We had never seen her before, but I had read so many good things about her talents that I made the kids stand by her kiosk for a good ten minutes so we could be in the front. Mikuki is amazing! She made five or six animals out of candy, including painting them in a matter of minutes. It was amazing the amount of detail she put into each animal. She is definitely a must see, check the show schedule when you get to Epcot and try to make time. We still have a few minutes before our PS so we rush over to Italy to catch the Living Statues, another must see for us at Epcot. I convince DD2 to go up with me to get a photo and the Statue rubs my hair longingly (hey its my dream, dont ruin it) while a nice bystander snaps a photo. And then drops, and breaks, my brand new for this trip 5 megapixel Sony camera ..AARRRGGGHHH! He was profusely sorry, I just put the whole thing out of my mind. I will worry about it when I go back to the real world. We hustle over to Le Cellier for our PS and are seated immediately. I enjoy a wonderful bowl of cheddar cheese soup and a NY strip while the kids have a cheeseburger and a steak. The food was wonderful except for the kids fries. They were so salty I could not even eat them, and I am the person at our house who adds salt to everything. After dinner DD2 decides that because she is now tall enough to ride Test Track for the first time, we need to do so, even though the FPs are gone and the standby line is 60 minutes. Cullen where are you? Help, Cullen we need FP assistance! Alas Cullen does not materialize out of thin air and began dropping FPs like rose petals so I grab a beer and we get in line. After 10 minutes and the line not moving a single inch, I am beginning to think this was a very bad idea. Then out of nowhere a nice family of three walks up directly to me and says we have these three FPs and we are leaving, would you trade a pin for them?. I immediately offer them my entire lanyard, but they mercifully only take two pins. Since we have about 20 minutes until the FP window opens, we decide to check out the Mission Space post ride area where DS can play a video game and DD1 can play in the toddlers playground. The 20 minutes goes by quickly and with our FPs we walk all of the way into the TT pre-show area without stopping. After the pre-show we are one car away from riding and TT breaks down. DS and DD are crushed, but we decide to wait it out and in only about ten minutes it is back up and we are on our way. DD2 pronounced that TT is just a little scary and we decide to look for a spot to watch Illuminations ROE. With just twenty minutes to showtime we find an unguarded spot on the fence just inside the Cantina de San Angel. Upon parking the stroller we discover DD2 has fallen asleep. I hold DS on my hip so he can see over the fence while we watch ROE and sing We Go On together. It was a very special moment for me, I did not even realize that he knew the words (I cannot imagine why he would know them, I only make the family listen to the ROE CD nonstop in my truck). It seemed for just a moment that he and I were the only ones there and the whole show was just for us! I am getting teary-eyed just remembering it. After ROE was over, a mad dash to the bus and back to POFQ. An almost (I wish DW could have made it) perfect end to a perfect day.
Next- Returning Home and Final Thoughts
. AND... I can't believe that family wanted something for the fastpasses... I usually just give them away if we are leaving... Never thought about taking something for them!
