So Much Time & So Little To Do. Wait. Strike That. Reverse It. UPDATE 10/12

[PetersonFamily]

What a wonderful vacation! Disney at Christmas is magical! We also have a new saying in our family – “Disney tired”. Not just a little tired but more like “can I just sit down in the middle of this walkway and close my eyes for 5 minutes” tired. While driving back to Texas, Jeremy and I talked about some things we would definitely do again and def. not do again. We had 6 days of DxDP, attended the Wishes Dessert Party, used Photopass and I took 1500 pictures! I actually remembered to take pics of almost all of our meals (app’s, entrees & desserts). We had some great experiences & a few very disappointing ones. I will be posting all of our food pics and some pics from inside the restaurants. Here’s our family:

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Jeremy: Been to DW once (our honeymoon), He is an 8th grade Amer. History teacher and football coach. LOVES the Packers!

Erin: I've been to the WDW 3 times - as a teen in ’92 and ’95 and then for our honeymoon. I’m a dental hygienist 4 days a week and a SAHM on Fridays! Favorite parks: MK and World Showcase

Dillon: 7 yr. old who loves movies, video games, school and reading. Wants to be a scientist. 1st visit to Disney

Aubrie: 3 yr. old who thinks she is a princess and loves to dress up. A very independent and determined little girl… will more than likely be the CEO of her own company someday. 1st visit to Disney

Lochlan: Our precious 10 month old who stayed home w/ family but we will celebrate his first visit on our next trip!

Nov. 28: First, all the boring details: We started driving from Texas on the 26th, stopped in Vicksburg, MS and then drove all day on the 27th. At 11:00 pm, we arrived at the Clarion Maingate, which was 1 min, from the entrance and was very clean. Our idea was to surprise the kids at the hotel the morning we entered the first park. We woke up at 5:30 to let the kids in on the surprise. Well, Dillon was very excited and Aubrie was woken up too early to even care. Her response was “I don’t want to go to Disney World. I don’t want to wear my Sleeping Beauty dress!” We were trying to keep her quiet since it was still so early and we didn’t want to wake up our hotel neighbors, and I felt like one of those beauty pageant moms – “Sweetie, you have to wear your pretty dress. Don’t you want to look like a princess?” I curled her hair the best I could and we were off.
We arrived very quickly at CSR to check in and Aubrie instantly lightened up. El Centro is very beautiful w/ the fountain and esp. the Christmas decorations.

Jeremy took pics and the kids watched cartoons in the corner while I checked in.

We took a bus to Magic Kingdom and had an ADR for CP at 8:05. I read that you could enter as early as 7:45, so that’s what we were shooting for. At 7:45, we were walking up to the ticket booth and I realized we left our room keys in the car when we got out our stroller and park supplies. I panicked w/ images of me having to take the bus all the way back to the hotel, then back to MK and missing our ADR. I’m thinking “all of this planning for the perfect moment of entering early w/ a nearly empty park and it’s ruined”. I told Jer “Let’s just ask someone if there is anything we can do to prevent from having to go back.” So, I told a lady at the ticket booth what happened and she directed us to the guest services counter where they canceled our original tickets and issued new ones. This probably happens a lot b/c the CM’s were very understanding about it and acted like it wasn’t a big deal.
After we entered the park, we stopped to look at the castle, took pics and took our first Photopass pic.

To get your money’s worth out of PP, you have to stop whenever you see a photographer. When we saw someone wearing the PP outfit, we stopped. There were a lot of photographers at the charac. meets, which surprised me since I read that during slower times they were pretty scarce.

Coming up: Our first “Land” and will Aubrie love or reject Pooh and friends?

 

[emilodious]

Hi Erin!
I'm completely new to the Dis (well, that's a lie - I've been lurking for MONTHS but finally decided to register and post) and this is the first post I've ever made!! EEK... but... I'm completely excited to follow your TR from start to finish! Your's will be the first I have ever gotten in on at the beginning! How fun!!!

Look forward to more!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Hello from a fellow dental hygienist! Great start and I am looking forward to hearing more!

Heidi

 

[francis6306]

My daughter decided she didn't want to wear her princess dress either... Sigh... these girls and their demands sometimes! Subbing in!

 

[soldiersmom]

What a beautiful family! Can't wait to hear more about your trip. I bet your husband the Packer fan is happy today!

 

[PetersonFamily]

Hi Erin!
I'm completely new to the Dis (well, that's a lie - I've been lurking for MONTHS but finally decided to register and post) and this is the first post I've ever made!! EEK... but... I'm completely excited to follow your TR from start to finish! Your's will be the first I have ever gotten in on at the beginning! How fun!!! Look forward to more!

Hi emilodious!! I am so excited to see your very first post on my TR! I feel so special!

LoveMyTwo Princesses: Yay - Another hygienist! Saw your pics and links in your sig and will be reading your reports as well!

My daughter decided she didn't want to wear her princess dress either... Sigh... these girls and their demands sometimes! Subbing in!

Hi francis6306! As the pics show, she ended up wearing the dress but I can't remember now exactly how that happend I guess I was in such a rush w/ a million trip details on my mind, I blocked it out!

What a beautiful family! Can't wait to hear more about your trip. I bet your husband the Packer fan is happy today!

Soldiersmom - Thanks so much! Jeremy is in heaven right now w/ the Packers win. He has signed up for every Superbowl ticket giveaway that's out there. We live 45 min. away from Dallas, so he is determined that SOMEHOW he's going to the game!

 

[PetersonFamily]

After taking pics in front of the castle, we headed to Crystal Palace for b-fast. This was a Winnie the Pooh and Friends charac. b-fast w/ typical b-fast food. I didn’t take pics of our morning meals since it was the same food over and over – Mickey waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs, omelets, toast, etc. We had a window seat looking out at the castle, where I took some pics.

We also had a Mickey heart on our table for our 8th anniv., which was the only restaurant that did this for us during our trip. CRT did this for us during our Disneymoon in 2002, so it was neat to see this on our 1st morning of this trip. I had high hopes that Aubrie would not be scared of the Pooh characters but she didn’t want anything to do w/ them. Tigger was the 1st to come over and she pushed back in her chair and turned her head while whining. So, Dillon got solo pics w/ Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet.

Oh, Aubrie didn’t mind waving bye to them and blowing a kiss but forget about a hug and a picture! This is the only way I could get a pic of Aubrie w/ Pooh!

I sort of developed a slight case of OCD and took a LOT of pictures of the details inside the restaurants. I guess I was pretending to be a professional (and trying out my new camera)!!

We were almost finished before rope drop and I watched everyone rush into the park from our window seat. I was very anxious to get up and head to FANTASYLAND! Never having used the DP, I didn’t tell our waitress to deduct our meal from our credits, so she put the whole meal on our credit card instead of just the tip. I figured since they asked if we had the DP when we checked into the rest. that they would deduct the credits but that’s not the case. From then on, we knew better. So, we waited while our waitress corrected the bill. I was getting antsy but it was my own fault. Jeremy got the kids ready (Aubrie in the stroller) so when I came out, we hightailed it to Fantasyland and jumped in line for Dumbo. We stopped at the Partners statue before cutting through the castle.

Apparently everyone had the same idea we had – to ride Dumbo first – because the posted wait time was 25 min. and the line did look long but it actually was only about a 15 min. wait. Aubrie LOVED this ride. Come to find out by the end of the trip, her favorite rides involved hubs and boats. The plan was to send Jeremy for Peter Pan FP’s while we waited in line for Dumbo but I didn't want him to be one of those dads who had to cut through the line to catch up to us. It didn’t affect us at all since the wait wasn’t that bad and it was so early the park wasn’t a madhouse.

After Dumbo, I got FP’s for Peter Pan and was surprised to see a “SURPRISE FP” for Mickey’s PH! Even though we didn’t really need it after all (since we walked into MPH), it was a fun surprise and was the only FP like this we got on the trip. FP’s in hand, we saw the non-existent line for IASW and made a beeline. At this point it was apparent that I was the navigator and Jer was the driver. He was in charge of finding a place for the stroller or grabbing the stroller and moving it when we moved. I was in charge of figuring out where we should go next. Our family felt like kids in a candyshop! WDW really is amazing in that it’s one of the only places in the world you can go and completely forget about the stresses of life. Where the only thing to worry about is if you want to ride Splash Mountain first or BTMR – oh, decision, decisions!

Coming up: Dillon’s most anticipated ride & Aubrie actually talks to a character!

 

[OThopeful35]

What wonderful pictures!! Can't wait to see the rest

 

[PetersonFamily]

What wonderful pictures!! Can't wait to see the rest

Thanks so much!! Didn't realize 3 weeks has already past since my last post! I guess I've been just a little busy but will try and update more often.

 

[PetersonFamily]

So, the kids and I got in line for IASW while Jer parked the stroller. The problem is that the line never stopped so that he could catch up! I’m not complaining. It was great just walking onto the ride but when I realized he might not make it on the boat w/ us, I was telling him to go down the right side (FP aisle?) to easily catch up to us. He didn’t at first but then did step over a rope and rushed to the loading area – right as the little gates closed. I almost waved him goodbye but the CM saw him standing there and opened the gate.
After IASW, we hopped on Many Adv. of Pooh, The new interactive queue area is adorable. The line for this was a little longer, so we wanted to tackle it before it got out of hand.

Jer and I both thought this ride was too fast and would be a little more enjoyable if it was slowed down just a tad. It was nearing our FP time for Peter Pan. I absolutely love this ride. We boarded our ship and were off. The nighttime scene over London has always been a favorite of mine. The ride stopped several times and at one point stopped in the middle of the battle scene. Jer and I were both taking pics from both sides of the boat and were able to get a few shots that normally would be hard to get if the ship was moving.

After PP’sF, we started to get in line for Mickey’s PH and spotted the evil stepsisters and stepmother right outside the line. We figured out Aubrie only has a hatred for “masked characters”. She went right up to them w/ no problem. They were hilarious and sarcastic – so much fun!

After pictures, autographs and chit chatting w/ the sisters, we walked right into Mickey’s PH (no SURPRISE FP needed). We LOVED this show! So funny! On our way to Snow White’s Adven., we spotted the Sword and the Stone and wanted to see if anyone in our family would be lucky enough to remove it. No such luck!

Then it was on to Snow White’s Adventure and after that the Golden Carrousel. Aubrie was hesitant at first but once the ride started, she was in love!

Ironically, when we left Fantasyland, Aubrie stepped out of her Sleeping Beauty dress and into her real clothes!

I envisioned there being lots of characters around Fantasyland and read on Character Hunt where they would be, but we didn’t see any of the charac. on our list. It was getting close to our lunch ADR, so we left Fantasyland and headed into Liberty Square. We saw the Haunted Mansion and I said “Dillon….there… it is!” Dillon has been waiting to ride HM for a long time. So, I was so excited to see how he liked it and wanted to sit w/ him in the doom buggy while Jer rode w/ Aubrie. We waited in a small line for maybe 2 minutes and I was disappointed that the graveyards were covered. While we were walking through the hallway and into the stretching room, Dillon said “This is creepy.” He was acting more nervous than I thought he would. His favorite movie when he was 2 and 3 was Nightmare Before Christmas, so he has always liked things that were a little “dark”. We were seated and making our way through the house. I looked at Dillon and he looked scared, which really surprised me! After the ride, he decided he did like it but he wasn’t as enthusiastic as I expected him to be. In fact, sadly, this was the only time we rode HM this trip. His favorite part was the “garden” and he said he wasn’t scared anymore once he realized the ghosts were “happy haunts”!

Coming up: Our lunch ADR & IMHO the most heavenly dessert of all the desserts I tried!

 

[PetersonFamily]

Our busy and fun filled morning flew by and before we knew it, our 1:00 lunch ADR was upon us. I love the historical and geographical aspect of several parts of WDW. I love Liberty Square, Frontierland and the historical details that were included in the planning of these “lands”. For instance, the shutters on the buildings in Liberty Square are crooked b/c during the Revolutionary War, Americans would take the metal from hinges to use as bullets to fight the British. They used leather straps instead and over time, the leather would become warped causing the shutters to fall. Also, the symbolism of walking from Peter Pan’s Flight (London) to Liberty Square (Colonial Eastern US) to Frontierland (Western US).

Our lunch ADR was at Liberty Tree Tavern! Jer and I had never been here, so I was excited to give it a try.

Jer had the New England Clam Chowder, Colony Salad and some sort of brownie cake w/ a sauce. He liked everything but didn’t care much for the cake.

I had the Tavern Fried Cheese, New England Pot Roast and the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake! Overall, this was one of my favorite meals of the trip. The Fried Cheese came w/ cheesesticks and cheese curds w/ marinara sauce – very yummy. The pot roast w/ mashed potatoes was tender and flavorful and the Toffee Cake – let’s just say to die for! My exact words to Jer were “This is heaven on Earth.” If you have a sweet tooth, you will love this dessert. This restaurant will be a must for me on our next trip.

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After lunch, we decided to see the Hall of Presidents. We waited in the foyer no more than 10 min. I know some people use this attraction to take a quick snooze, but I love the show. While walking out of the HofP, we noticed the street was roped off and the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade was about to start. So, we crossed over to the Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe. Jer and Aubrie staked out a spot while Dillon and I checked out the shop.

This was a perfect spot to see the parade and not too crowded. I was glad we caught the parade, b/c this was the only time we were able to see Jiminy, Pinocchio, Fairy Godmother, Genie, Jafar and Captain Hook.

Coming Up: Frontierland and what will we never do again???

 

[emilodious]

Yeah! Your updates are wonderful! I was so excited when I got the notice that you had posted again!

Don't you just love Peter Pan's Flight? AMAZING ride! The London scene is by far my favorite - and to be stopped on the ride - that would have been GREAT!!

Keep going - you have faithful readers waiting to hear more... and the cliffhanger has me wondering... what could it be??

Em

 

[francis6306]

We saw the same Stepsisters! They were sooo fun! I think Cortlyn has that same sleeping beauty dress as well!

 

[Slatas]

Great photos! With 1500 pictures I'm following along to this TR.

 

[lovegrumpy]

Love it. Liberty tree tavern sounds yummy. Just might have to book it for are Aug trip.

 

[PetersonFamily]

After the parade, Jeremy ran to get FP’s for Splash Mountain and then we decided to visit Tom Sawyer’s Island. The kids had a great time here. We walked through the mine and the cave and over the barrel bridge.

The kids played on the playground and ran around the fort while I sat and rested. We did a lot of extra walking and I felt exhausted after we left the island. Jer and I felt that although it is a neat concept, the island is a little outdated. Dillon didn’t know anything about Tom Sawyer so he couldn’t understand some of the details. For instance, he couldn’t figure out why most of the words on the signs were misspelled! I did tell him about the hidden paintbrushes, which I regretted later on, b/c he kept tricking me. He would say very loudly “Mom there’s a paint brush!” I fully believe if the CM’s still put paintbrushes out, they had all been found that day! Dillon has an eye for detail and really wanted to find one. So, with the two of us searching and coming up empty handed, they had probably all been discovered. We spent about 45 min. to 1 hr. on this attraction from boarding the raft to stepping back into Frontierland. Although the kids had fun exploring, Jer and I decided we wouldn’t do this again on future trips due to the time and the fact that I was pooped afterwards.
After TSI, it was around 5:00. We continued along Frontierland and saw Country Bear Jamboree. The kids and I enjoyed this show while Jer said we could skip this one also for all future trips!! He wasn’t impressed. It was time to head over to Splash Mountain. Aubrie wasn’t tall enough, so Jer and Dillon rode first while Aubrie and I waited on the bridge to take pics. Then Dillon and I rode together.

When the ride was over, the CM asked if we wanted to ride again. Dillon wanted to go a third time, but I knew Jer was waiting for us and I was trying to get Adventureland under our belt before dinner. Looking back, I wish I had agreed to that third ride.
After SM, we saw the wait time for BTMR was long, so we didn’t ride on this night but we would be back another day to catch up on everything we missed. I was not going to let our first day at MK go by without a ride on Pirates! I LOVE this ride and was so excited for Dillon to ride it for the first time. Once we arrived in Adventureland, this was our first stop. There was no wait, so we immediately boarded our boat. Of course, this ride is classic Disney and it’s wonderful! Dillon and Aubrie both loved it also. Dillon enjoyed Pirates more than HM, which were his 2 must do rides. Fortunately, this would not be our only time on this ride and in fact, we rode Pirates more than any other ride on our trip! Us in line for Pirates:

Our day at MK was winding down. It was about 6:30 and we needed to leave pretty soon for our dinner ADR. But…..I was not going to leave the park without accomplishing something on my must-do list and I had to do it on this day or else……

Coming Up: My must-do item at MK, our dinner ADR and one of the tastiest appetizers of the whole trip

 

[francis6306]

We never made it to Tom Sawyer island while we were there. Part of me is sad about that, but the other part of me says that's okay, because there is just more to discover on our next trip- right?

 

[PetersonFamily]

We were leaving Adventureland when I said to Jeremy “Wait, wait we have to look for Aloha Isle to get a Dole Whip!” After all the hype on Disboards, I wanted to try one of these on our first day of the trip. So….. we ordered 2 pineapple floats for us and 2 pineapple whips for the kids. I hate to say it but…… it wasn’t as good as I had imagined. Granted, I have a major sweet tooth so it wasn’t as sweet as I was expecting or hoping. After he tasted his, Jer asked me what the big deal was!!! Oh well, it was good but for me wasn’t the greatest thing in the whole world!

I took a few pictures of the castle all lit and then we took a bus over to DHS for EMH.​

As soon as we got to the park, we gave the kids the “spin light balls” that I bought at Wal-Mart. They loved them and they looked so cool in the dark.

We wanted to see the Osbourne lights first since they were not going to be turned on that Wed., our scheduled full day at DHS. We walked around to Star Tours, which was closed but we took pictures with the walker for my Star Wars fan of a husband and for Dillon. We rounded the corner and saw the lights. They were so beautiful and just massive. Dillon found a “Hidden Mickey”. I told him about these earlier in the day, so he became obsessed with finding them.

We stared at the lights and then decided to try and catch Muppets 3-D. We wanted to save Sunset Blvd. and the right side of the park for that Wed. We walked into Muppets and were the only family waiting. Of course, this show is one of our favorites and the kids loved it, too.
It was getting close to our dinner ADR so we found Sci-Fi Dine In Theater and waited. Aubrie had a bit of a sleep-deprived meltdown over something or other. After dinner, it would definitely be time to call it a night. This restaurant has the neatest atmosphere. Dillon loves to stare at a screen (TV, movies or video games, doesn’t matter!) and he was impressed with the old 50’s and 60’s sci-fi clips and commercials. We were seated in a green car with Jer and Dillon in the back, Aubrie and I in the front.

Jeremy and I both ordered the spinach and artichoke dip w/ chips. WOW!!! This was great – one of the best appetizers on the trip. I could have eaten the whole thing but was still kinda full from lunch and knew we still had the entrée and dessert on its way.

The ribs and fries were good and of course my milkshake for dessert was delicious! Full, full, full is all I can say and this was just DAY ONE!!

Jer had the butcher steak, asparagus and potatoes and a milkshake – all delicious.

After stuffing ourselves, we were ready to call it a night. We took the bus back to Coronado Springs, got ready for bed and crashed.

 

[PetersonFamily]

It was so hard getting the kids out of bed on Mon. morning, but our b-fast ADR was waiting for us and we’re at Disney. There’s no sleeping at Disney!!! Once we got on the bus towards Animal Kingdom we were all awake and ready for another day.

Our ADR was at Boma at AKL. I guess I just assumed that we could take the bus to AK and it would be a quick walk to AKL. Nope. Wrong. I asked the bus driver about getting over there and he said “Stay on this bus and I’ll take you over there.” I guess he felt sorry for us!! We appreciated his kindness. We took some pics in front of the Christmas tree while we waited. I was amazed at all of the trees throughout WDW and how they were perfectly decorated to coordinate w/ the hotels and parks.

We really enjoyed this b-fast buffet, esp. the juice (Frunch, I think) and the scrambled eggs w/ goat cheese. We were energized and ready for the park!!

I planned to head straight to the Kilimanjaro Safari to avoid a long line but we saw that at Camp Minnie-Mickey, the lines were forming for the Greeting Trails. We couldn’t resist since we were on a mission to get as many autographs as possible. Our first line was Minnie. Aubrie and I loved the “Minnie” tree and gazebo w/ all the Christmas decorations.

Aubrie wouldn’t even walk up to Minnie on her own. Jer had to carry her and even then she kept her eyes on Minnie for most of the pictures, you know since the characters have been known to attack every now and then!!

Next, we saw Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Chip and Dale.​

We spent about an hour at the greeting trails and as we were finishing up there, Festival of the Lion King was starting. We went ahead and saw this show since it was right there. I figured the Safari would still be there after the show! Of course this show is wonderful. If you go to AK and miss this show, well then you’ve missed the whole thing. The CM’s at the show were telling everyone to be seated b/c the show was about to start. Well, of course, Aubrie has to go to the restroom. I asked a CM what we needed to do and she told me where the closest one was. When we came back, there was a CM waiting for us outside the side entrance door. I was so impressed w/ this gesture. They could have left it to us to figure out how to get back to our seats. I know the reason for this was safety concerns but I was still impressed. Something else I was impressed with was the actors. We were seated on the edge of the Simba section and had plain view of where the performers exited from behind the curtain. So, when I looked back I could see them coming out for the show. I never saw an actor who went from serious to “game face” and never saw any fake smiles or expressions. Everyone was either hitting someone on the back, clapping or laughing w/ someone as they came out for the main audience. It just added to the Disney experience. It was refreshing to see that they looked like they really loved their jobs!!
We headed to Africa and finally made it to Kilim. Safaris and only waited about 10 min.

It was a good time (11:00) b/c the animals were still out and about (except the warthog, who was snoozing).​

We stopped for a quick snack at the Kusafiri Bakery before we left Africa. Our dinner ADR was a 2 credit meal so we had to use a snack credit for lunch. We got cin. rolls and yogurts. I didn’t really care for my roll – too hard and stale. While making our way around to Asia we ran into Baloo and King Louie. I LOVE Baloo and Jungle Book, so I wanted my picture taken with him. Little did I know the funniest picture would be w/ King Louie. I guess I was turned around looking at Aubrie and Jer and when I turned back around his face was staring right into mine and I was actually SCARED for a second. Here’s this monkey face looking right at me!

We also saw Flik, who was adorable!​

We had planned on taking the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch but we felt like we were running out of time. We had a dinner ADR that night and still had a lot to do at AK. We took turns riding Kali River Rapids. Dillon and I went first and then Jer and Dillon rode while Aubrie and I waited. None of us got soaked, which is prob. why I enjoyed it so much!! We did wear our rain ponchos and took flip flops w/ us to the park in case we did get wet. I was prepared b/c I didn’t want to walk around in wet clothes the rest of the day. We decided to walk the Jungle Trek, which I’m glad we didn’t miss. KatMark recommended we do this and it was a neat little walk.

Coming Up: Our dinner ADR and Wishes Dessert Party

 

[emilodious]

What a great update!! I was so excited when I got the email that you had updated! The Festival of the Lion King is our ABSOLUTE favorite thing in all of WDW!! Seriously - the last time when we were there we saw it 11 times!!! Of course, at the time, my DS was doing gymnastics and the tumble monkey characters were our absolute favorite - they are AMAZING!

It makes me incredibly sad when I find out a family didn't take in this show - it completely is a perfect example of all things Disney, i think - and the audience participation makes it even better!!! DS was picked almost every time we were there to do one thing or another (my grandmother was with us, as well, and was in an ECV so it gave us seating right down in front every time!)....

Glad you enjoyed it!!! We always try to make it our last thing to do before leaving the World because it leaves us in that Disney mood for a long time after... we LOVE it, can't you tell???