Rope Drop is Tip #1!! A June 2016 TR...updated 10/31 pg 19 post 373 THE END!

[Princess Leia]

Love your updates! Great photos of Will with Minnie and Mickey. Looks like he really enjoyed meeting them. Hannah and Peter first met Minnie and Mickey at Camp Minnie Mickey at Animal Kingdom. It was great they got to meet Donald and Goofy too!

That's interesting about your meal at Yak and Yeti. I wasn't impressed by our meal there this year either.

What a shame timings didn't work out for JB! I would agree that Expedition Everest was amazing at night.

I love your fairy lights on your stroller.

Hope things go well for the start of the school session. I start back work on Thursday but will go into work tomorrow to prepare things for the staff days on Thursday and Friday.

 

[vamassey1]

The character pictures with Will are sooooo cute. What a precious memory. Your drink at Yak & Yeki looks delish. We ate there in 2010 and like it ok. We're thinking about going back on next trip. I had the Mango Pie and loved it. If we go back and it's there I will be getting it again. I'm sorry you missed Jungle Book but it looks like ya'll loved Everest. I'm looking forward to riding this at night. And I loved the blinged out stroller. Perfect way to find it at night.

 

[ariane37]

Aahhh! I've been waiting for you JB show review That stinks you missed it, although given the reviews you may have had a better night doing what you did lol. I'm still looking forward to seeing it in a few weeks so I can judge for myself, so instead of me reading you review you can read mine Also can't wait for EE at night.

Love the photos of Will with Minnie and Mickey at AK. We've never met them at the Outpost and I want to because their safari outfits are so cute! I tried last Nov. but it was supposed to be on Thanksgiving when I got sick; going to try again this Nov. but thinking by then they may actually be in their Xmas outfits, which would be fine, too.

LOL you know next year when you don't get the DDP, your boys will eat TONS

 

[ArielSRL]

Love your updates! Great photos of Will with Minnie and Mickey. Looks like he really enjoyed meeting them. Hannah and Peter first met Minnie and Mickey at Camp Minnie Mickey at Animal Kingdom. It was great they got to meet Donald and Goofy too!

It was such a great meet! I'm a little sorry AJ was asleep, but it was nice that Will had some time by himself!

That's interesting about your meal at Yak and Yeti. I wasn't impressed by our meal there this year either.

Yeh, kind of a thumbs down.

What a shame timings didn't work out for JB! I would agree that Expedition Everest was amazing at night.

This was the trip of deciding between things that we had planned to do and I preferred trying the nighttime safari, so I'm not that upset about it. I much prefer trying ROL....hopefully next June??? And yes, EE was just so great!

I love your fairy lights on your stroller.

Thank you! We got soooo many compliments on it!

Hope things go well for the start of the school session. I start back work on Thursday but will go into work tomorrow to prepare things for the staff days on Thursday and Friday.

Should be a good group. I'll kmfx anyway. Hopefully you have a productive day! The biggest thing for me tomorrow is AJ starting Pre-K! He's growing up way too fast! He'll be 5 in October!

The character pictures with Will are sooooo cute. What a precious memory.

Thank you!

Your drink at Yak & Yeki looks delish. We ate there in 2010 and like it ok. We're thinking about going back on next trip. I had the Mango Pie and loved it. If we go back and it's there I will be getting it again.

See, I probably should've gotten the mango pie. I love mango! Not sure if I will ever go back, but if so, I'll get it then!

I'm sorry you missed Jungle Book but it looks like ya'll loved Everest. I'm looking forward to riding this at night.

It was soooo good! You'll love it!

And I loved the blinged out stroller. Perfect way to find it at night.

yep, it made it so easy to find, the boys loved it, and we got tons of compliments!

Aahhh! I've been waiting for you JB show review That stinks you missed it, although given the reviews you may have had a better night doing what you did lol. I'm still looking forward to seeing it in a few weeks so I can judge for myself, so instead of me reading you review you can read mine Also can't wait for EE at night.

I guess I never indicated that we missed it before now, huh? Yes, I'll watch out for your review. Hopefully, fingers crossed, they'll have ROL next June?? Right??

Love the photos of Will with Minnie and Mickey at AK. We've never met them at the Outpost and I want to because their safari outfits are so cute! I tried last Nov. but it was supposed to be on Thanksgiving when I got sick; going to try again this Nov. but thinking by then they may actually be in their Xmas outfits, which would be fine, too.

It was such a great meet! Omg, hopefully there will be no such issues on any of your future trips like the past Nov one and you'll get to catch M&M at the Outpost!

LOL you know next year when you don't get the DDP, your boys will eat TONS

Don't you know it! Lol.

 

[Jfsag123]

I've missed a lot! First I have to go way back to say how much I enjoyed the video of Will and AJ dancing - so cute!! And your Tusker House breakfast looked great - I'm really thinking of adding it to the list for next year (and this time keeping it!).

Your last shot of you and Will with Mickey and Minnie is priceless. His face is just perfect. I also loled at the way you described seeing it's tough to be a bug - hooray for doing something on the touring plan!

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Yak & Yeti very much. It actually turned out to be one of the dining highlights of our trip.

And it's crazy how it worked out with the Jungle Book show - crossed those t's and dotted those i's and didn't see it! However, the after-dark ride on EE looks and sounds like it was worth it. The show takes up a lot of time, what with waiting for it then the show itself.

Sorry you've had to go back to work. My kids go back to school late next week and DH goes back to work later this week. Hate to see the summer end. However, I am telling myself the same thing as you - just puts us that much closer to our next trip!

 

[ErinF]

I've been out of town two different times over the past few weeks and have been super busy with school approaching, but I just got all caught up on your report. I continue to love reading about your trip!!

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with Earl of Sandwich. I really like it, but I had been to one in Las Vegas as well as the one in Downtown Disney at Disneyland previously. It is already pretty hectic in there at Disney Springs, so add in fussy kids + not so nice employee, and I can totally see where you're coming from.

Glad you enjoyed Tusker House, we ate there in 2012 and really liked it as well. It does have a little bit better than average food and great character interaction.

I do remember you saying or alluding to the fact that you never made it to the Jungle Book show. We had FP+ for it and we didn't make it either. I'm the main one in my family who likes shows, so after having my family sit through the Lion King show (which they did enjoy), they were not going to make it through what I knew was only going to be a mediocre show at best. If it had been Rivers of Light, we totally would have gone. We ended up in Dinoland instead, which has a fun atmosphere with the dance party and lights and such. And we did get to see a Tree of Life awakening before we left for the night. Did you say whether or not you all saw one? I loved that, it was really magical!!

 

[kastoney]

No JB and a sleeping child aside, it looks like a great day in AK. Love the photos of Will with Mickey and Minnie. Did you add their signatures on the bottom or did they come that way? They look great.

Glad you enjoyed Y&Y and most importantly the adult beverages

We're trying the nighttime AK stuff later this month and I'm definitely on the fence about the safari and jungle book. We'll see how that goes, but totally up for nighttime EE. Can't wait.

 

[ArielSRL]

I've missed a lot! First I have to go way back to say how much I enjoyed the video of Will and AJ dancing - so cute!! And your Tusker House breakfast looked great - I'm really thinking of adding it to the list for next year (and this time keeping it!).

The dancing was such a great moment! It's the little things like that, that makes Disney so magical, right? TH breakfast was wonderful. If we weren't paying oop and I knew the boys would eat, we'd keep it, but I'm trying to keep food costs down more than a character breakfast allows. But it's definitely a thumbs up from us!

Your last shot of you and Will with Mickey and Minnie is priceless. His face is just perfect. I also loled at the way you described seeing it's tough to be a bug - hooray for doing something on the touring plan!

Those M&M photos with Will were so precious! And yes, we actually followed the touring plan, albeit briefly!

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Yak & Yeti very much. It actually turned out to be one of the dining highlights of our trip.

We didn't have the best service though it wasn't horrible. Maybe it was our meal, though that was fine, too. I guess it just didn't bowl me over. What made it so good for you guys? Wondering if I was just missing something....

And it's crazy how it worked out with the Jungle Book show - crossed those t's and dotted those i's and didn't see it! However, the after-dark ride on EE looks and sounds like it was worth it. The show takes up a lot of time, what with waiting for it then the show itself.

Yes, EE was a highlight! Not too upset with missing JB.

Sorry you've had to go back to work. My kids go back to school late next week and DH goes back to work later this week. Hate to see the summer end. However, I am telling myself the same thing as you - just puts us that much closer to our next trip!

OMG it's killing me at this point. But it will balance out eventually, I tell myself. And yes, let's just keep busy until Disney June 2017!

 

[ArielSRL]

I've been out of town two different times over the past few weeks and have been super busy with school approaching, but I just got all caught up on your report. I continue to love reading about your trip!!

No worries! I'm way far behind myself. I haven't had much Dis time this week, either! Thank you!

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with Earl of Sandwich. I really like it, but I had been to one in Las Vegas as well as the one in Downtown Disney at Disneyland previously. It is already pretty hectic in there at Disney Springs, so add in fussy kids + not so nice employee, and I can totally see where you're coming from.

Yes, I think it was just one of those perfect storm type things. I wouldn't totally throw out EoS in the future but there are so many new choices at DS, it will get pushed far down the list now.

Glad you enjoyed Tusker House, we ate there in 2012 and really liked it as well. It does have a little bit better than average food and great character interaction.

Definitely high up on the list of character buffets. We are only skipping it next trip to save some money and try something new.

I do remember you saying or alluding to the fact that you never made it to the Jungle Book show. We had FP+ for it and we didn't make it either. I'm the main one in my family who likes shows, so after having my family sit through the Lion King show (which they did enjoy), they were not going to make it through what I knew was only going to be a mediocre show at best. If it had been Rivers of Light, we totally would have gone. We ended up in Dinoland instead, which has a fun atmosphere with the dance party and lights and such. And we did get to see a Tree of Life awakening before we left for the night. Did you say whether or not you all saw one? I loved that, it was really magical!!

Yeh, if it had been ROL, we would've totally made time for that. We didn't see any of the Tree Awakenings. I think I just forgot about it bc we certainly were there when it was going on. I don't even think I looked back at the tree when we were exiting, which is a total shame.

No JB and a sleeping child aside, it looks like a great day in AK. Love the photos of Will with Mickey and Minnie. Did you add their signatures on the bottom or did they come that way? They look great.

Thank you! I added in the signatures on the photopass site.

Glad you enjoyed Y&Y and most importantly the adult beverages

The food was good, though it didn't bowl me over, and the drinks that day might've been my first ones of the trip other than the wine in my room, which is so sad to say...lol.

We're trying the nighttime AK stuff later this month and I'm definitely on the fence about the safari and jungle book. We'll see how that goes, but totally up for nighttime EE. Can't wait.

Yes, definitely make time for EE. I think the safari is good if you time it right. It's just nice, in general, to be at AK, or really any park, in my opinion, at night. I love all the lights!

 

[ArielSRL]

So I totally wanted to update the TR this weekend but I left my work laptop at work bc I've had so much trouble with it and guess what....my photos are all on that computer. I ended up getting a laptop from my parents - one they weren't using, so I'll try to get it up and running and maybe start writing the update so I can just get the photos on a jump drive Monday and bring that home. So, the goal is the early part of next week, I hope.

Thanks for hanging in with me, with all these TR updating issues!

 

[ariane37]

So I totally wanted to update the TR this weekend but I left my work laptop at work bc I've had so much trouble with it and guess what....my photos are all on that computer. I ended up getting a laptop from my parents - one they weren't using, so I'll try to get it up and running and maybe start writing the update so I can just get the photos on a jump drive Monday and bring that home. So, the goal is the early part of next week, I hope.

Thanks for hanging in with me, with all these TR updating issues!

I won't leave you, promise

 

[vamassey1]

I'm still here.

 

[stephensmum]

I'm so enjoying you're trippie, your boys are so cute & didn't they do well staying up so late.

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm so enjoying you're trippie, your boys are so cute & didn't they do well staying up so late.

Thank you so much! I apologize for no updates lately. I'm having computer issues!

 

[ArielSRL]

So an update to my tech issues. I have my mom's laptop but it needs many, many updates. I thought I might could still post an update but it will not. So I'll update the laptop tonight and if I can't use it to post a TR update tomorrow night, I'll just use my DH's. But I promise I will update the TR somehow tomorrow night!

Something Disney related...my mom bought me a Disney Villain adult coloring book. She ordered one for herself and then ordered me one after I mentioned I would like one. I think it was released today. It's very nice...hard bound and everything! Here it is:


I suppose since I can't update the TR, I can color while I'm waiting on the Olympic gymnastics!

Thanks again for hanging in!

 

[vamassey1]

I love your coloring book!

 

[ArielSRL]

I love your coloring book!

Thank you!

 

[ArielSRL]

Day Five 6/8/2016 ~ Epcot (part 1)

Ok, I'm back...I think. I tried to update the laptop from my mom but so far, no good! So I'm on my DH's laptop and its super annoying plus I'm super tired but I'm just gonna bite the bullet and get this day started. A little bit of a late start because for the first time ever, I've been shopping LuLaRoe! Decided to see what all the fuss is about with their leggings. Bought two pair and won one pair! So excited! Also I'm kind of glad the Olympics are almost over. This has seriously been killing my sleep time and I really need as much as possible this first few weeks back at school. Okay, enough chitter-chatter. Onto the update...

We were headed to Epcot and I had FPs for Soarin', Turtle Talk, and Spaceship Earth. Of course, as usual, I planned for rope drop but I don't think I have to tell you that we didn't make that. I had planned Test Track, the Imagination Pavilion, and Club Cool for the morning and we ended up missing all that because we probably didn't get in until after 10:30. We immediately hit the Land pavilion and headed straight for Living with the Land. It was around 11 at this time so it was getting busy. We may have used our extra FPs for this because we were planning to use them for TT and obviously, we didn't make it over there, plus only Dad and myself would've ridden it. I think we still had to wait a bit - but the standby wait was much longer. It was an interesting ride as my family is very much into gardening - well other than me with the black thumb. Once done with that, we rushed over to the Soarin area because our FP window was closing. I was so glad this was open for us, even if it was the previous version. Mom and Will didn't want to/couldn't ride, but Dad, AJ, and I headed in with our FPs. So we ended up waiting probably 30 minutes, even with our FPs, which was kind of crazy. Not sure what was up, but we eventually made it in and we all enjoyed ourselves...even AJ! Thank goodness!

Mom had been having a time with Will and even ended up having to ride him around on the scooter to keep him entertained. Once we got out, AJ was having a fit for some candy from the little kiosk by Soarin so we picked out a couple things and he and Will had a treat or two. After that, we decided to go ahead and have lunch since we did plan it there - though I had it planned before Soarin', but, of course, that didn't work out. So it was kind of a nightmare. For one, Dad had to go back out to the stroller because his insulin was out there and he needed to take some before eating. AJ went with him. I really hate how you have to leave the stroller outside. They seriously need to find an area to turn into stroller parking in the pavilion or closer to it because its really very inconvenient. I'm fairly certain I left the diaper bag out there too and really could've used some items from there for the boys for our meals. As it was, Mom went ahead to get her food while I stayed behind with Will. He was already bored from having to wait at Soarin and here he was having to wait again. I think I gave him a Mickey lollipop that we had bought and that satisfied him for a bit. Another complaint about the Land is how close together the seating is to eat. It's really hard to fit a high chair at a table. It ultimately blocked someone else at another table and there really was no way of getting around it.

I kept watch for AJ and Dad to come back because they didn't know where we were sitting. I eventually saw them but had to actually leave Will at the table for a moment to walk to get their attention. Once they arrived, Mom wasn't far behind so then Dad, AJ, and I went to get our food. It really just took forever because of all the choices and the crowds. But we did all eventually get some food (I took these around 1pm so we had been in the pavilion for two hours at this point):

I got the spicy fish tacos. They were good but they were spicy...maybe just a tad too much.

AJ got cereal and milk and a cookie. I think I traded his QS meal for 3 snack credits to get this. My picky eater did not want anything else.

I think Dad got the Mongolian Beef with vegetable fried rice and apparently a cinnamon roll. I'm sure both were fine.

I believe I got the Whoopie Pie maybe? It looks a little red velvety but I don't see that on the All Ears menu and I'm working with limited resources (did I say I dislike this laptop??) so I'm going with it. It was delicious, whatever it was!

I think Mom got the Slow Roasted Pork chop but I can't remember and because she got her food before us, she was finished before I could get a photo! She also got Strawberry Shortcake.
I must've used a snack credit to get Will some cereal as well. All in all, it wasn't the best experience. I'm totally willing to give it another shot next trip if it fits into our schedule but since we are planning a later breakfast a GG, I'm not sure it will.

At some point I got on the MDE app and switched our Turtle Talk FP to Nemo and changed the time of it and our SSE one because we were way off schedule. Shocker, I know!

Ok, its getting a little late so I think I will finish Epcot another day. I'll try not to go so long between updates this next time!

Next up: Day Five 6/8/2016 ~ Epcot (part 2) & Disney Springs

 

[dnllmz]

Watch out Lularoe is addicting! I had to put myself on restrictions because it was getting out of hand.

The whoopie pie looks great. Sorry you missed rope drop. I feel like Epcot is a really important park to rope drop for my family since FEA, Soarin', and Test Trak are all Tier 1 for fast passes. I'm trying to pound that into my dh's head.

 

[ArielSRL]

Watch out Lularoe is addicting! I had to put myself on restrictions because it was getting out of hand.

I am sure! There were so many other things I wanted to order but I didn't! I held back because I want to test the quality of the clothes first and I'm on a budget! I'm very much a frugal kind of gal so I rarely pay full price for anything...so most of the clothes are priced higher than I am willing to pay. However I am not above hosting a party to get some freebies. I NEVER do that sort of thing so I feel like it might be time for all my friends whom I have ordered from, pay it back!

The whoopie pie looks great. Sorry you missed rope drop. I feel like Epcot is a really important park to rope drop for my family since FEA, Soarin', and Test Trak are all Tier 1 for fast passes. I'm trying to pound that into my dh's head.

It was a total recurring theme with my dad. I love him but he definitely has his faults (as do we all). But one of his is his inability to follow anyone else's schedule. And he is incredibly stubborn about it. He kind of thinks he knows the best way to do everything! My DH, who will go with us next June, is stubborn on some things, but he understands the importance of hitting rope drop and he knows I know what I am doing when it comes to WDW!