Some pixie dust, some magic, and our dreams came true! Sept 20-27 W/Pics *COMPLETED*

[Tatum@disney]

I can't believe it has come and gone! We had a great time! This is one of my fav pic. It reminds me of gazing into the shop windows as a kid!!

 

[Tatum@disney]

Ok, never mind. I can't figure out how to get a pic attached.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Here is the picture Traci wanted to post:

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Traci had some good pics of the breakfast at Cape May:

notice Grace is afraid of Minnie.

And on our trek back through World Showcase:

In the Coronado Springs Lobby:

The girls with their treat bags at MNSSHP:

By the way, we did get a free stroller rental at MNSSHP.
Tatum looking beautiful on the carousel:

Here's an action shot on Dumbo!

We love Pooh!---or do we???

Traci and Tatum-Tatum's indulging in the free candy at MNSSHP:

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Does life get any better than this to a 4 year old??

Chef Mickey's:

Puppy Love:

The main Man (or should I say Mouse?):

We spent all that money and flew all this way to...blow bubbles!

Jungle Cruise:

Now we're up to date-I'll use both our photos in the TR from here on out!

 

[disneytx]

Your photos are so great!!! (They made me cry!) Great trip report!!! Thanks for sharing with us!!!!
Tracy

 

[zalansky]

What a great idea for a trip - the girls are ADORABLE!!! Can't wait to see more.

Tricia & Tatum looks soooo much alike!

 

[tinawv]

I am absolutely loving your trip report. Both girls are so adorable, and from the pictures it looks like they get along really well. Can't wait to read more.

 

[laylaInTexas]

Thanks for sharing Jennifer. I'm loving the report and the pics. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

We left the Contemporary and made our way to Coronado Springs. We made about 2 or 3 wrong turns but quickly realized our mistakes and course-corrected. Does anyone else feel they should make the road signs more readable and make the roads more distinguishable? Inevitably, we would be dealing with the children and miss the sign and then wonder which corner we were at. By the end of the trip we had it figured out but it took a week!

Ok, now this night was particularly difficult for me. Yes, we had the Garden Grocer delivery which means we had wine (yeah!) but Grace was especially tired this evening and decided to have one of her world-class meltdowns. Come on you parents out there, you know what I mean. And I felt bad, because we were four people in what amounted to 330 square feet and I had no way of sparing Traci and Tatum from enduring the Wrath of Grace. So I took her out on the balcony to give her a time out (or Traci and Tatum some time out as the case may be) and it wasn’t long before the curtains on the windows from the neighboring rooms were being peeked through with people wondering what the $!&# is all that noise?!! And so after being horrendously embarrassed and mad I did the only thing I could do-I took her in, put her in bed and let her cry herself to sleep. She was too tired to make sense so after about 15 minutes she was out like a light. And the rest of us, weary and worn out weren’t far behind her.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

Look at it this way, 95% of the adults in Disney World either currently have or have had kids, and all of those kids have been at the age of 4, exhausted and melting down (or will be within a few years). So, most everyone totally understands! That is one of the most wonderful things about Disney World. I sure can't speak for everyone, but as long as a parent is attempting to keep a child in line, I have no problems with a meltdown...it is normal, it happens to all of us and it is understandable when Disney World can be such an overwhelming experience for a young child (and us adults too). I only have problems with kids that are allowed and encouraged to run wild. Actually, I don't have problems with those kids, I have problems with their parents! From your trip report it sounds like Gracie is a wonderful little normal 4 year old and you are a great mom! I'm glad that your trip seems to be going great....keep telling the story!

 

[Tatum@disney]

It's funny I didn't even remember that meltdown until now. Gracie and Tatum are not fun when TIRED. I highly encourage down time in the afternoon. Esp. in the heat of the day. I don't think we quite mastered nap time during a vacation. It's hard when you're at Disney. I know I just kept wanting to go, go, go... I'm gonna try this posting a pic again. I think my pixels were off.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Sunday September 23rd

I set the alarm for 7:30am the next morning but woke up about 10 minutes before the alarm went off. I showered and dressed and proceeded to pack (or rather shove things back in the suitcases or bags or anything I could find). I worried that a split stay might be a hassle, packing up mid-vacation and changing hotels. And I have to tell you it was a BIG hassle lugging all of the suitcases down to the car. We took about 3 trips each, Traci and I until it was done. I guess classy people would’ve called Bell services. Anyway, Traci took some cute pictures of the girls in Casitas I after they got their letters from Tink. Those letters never grew old, they were just as excited on the third on as the first. Before we departed I went to Pepper Market and got us all eggs, bacon, muffins, and juice for breakfast. Pepper Market gets an A in my book, we never had a problem with the food at all.

We drove to the lobby and Traci was going to stay in the car with the girls under the carport unloading area while I checked out. The checkout invoice they hung on our doorknob the night before showed we owed $109.00 despite the fact that we had only charged $24.00 to the room (I bought a Christmas ornament and some pin locks so we would stop losing our pins). So I waited in line about 15 minutes to find out that it was a “computer glitch” due to the new ticket prices that were implemented since I booked and paid for my package. It took calling a manager over and then both of them going “in the back” to figure it out. So after leaving the girls waiting for 20+ minutes it was no surprise they made her move the car to regular parking. You can imagine we did not have kind words to say as we left Coronado Springs in our rearview mirror. If we had known some Spanish slang we would have used it!

So we drove to Old Key West and Grace was still in a funk;

But upon arriving at Old Key West it was like driving up to Heaven. We drove up to the security gate and the security officer smiled and said “Welcome Home”. Beautiful grounds, friendly people, Jamaican steel drums playing in the background, no one in line to check in. The wonderful woman who checked us in gave the girls balloon flowers and really started this half of our vacation off right. We walked out thinking “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

We were assigned room #3834 in Building 38 on Turtle Pond Road. We drove up to the building and thought it was beautiful! There was only one MAJOR problem. There was no elevator and room #3834 is on the THIRD FLOOR!!!!
Oh, we were a cussin’ as we lugged four 50lb suitcases and all of our miscellaneous bags up those stairs (not to mention our groceries). It was NOT pretty.
But after we marveled at the 1000+ square foot one bedroom VILLA that we paid $175 per night for we were feeling much better.
After a brief rest and unpacking we loaded into the rental car and drove to Disney-MGM Studios at around 10:30am. We were going to take the bus but after waiting 15 minutes or so we just got in the car and drove.
We got lost trying to find the entrance to the OTHER parking lot, the one the travel books say is better to park in, but we had to give up and park with all the other people who don’t know any better. It amazed me how many people spend $3000-$5000 for a family trip to Disney and never bother to pick up a book or log on to a website. I had numerous people tell me before I left, “oh we went to Disney. You better watch out. We weren’t able to find anywhere to eat because everything was all booked up and all the lines are too long.” I would just say oh, ok (yeah right!)!

Up next Disney MGM Studios and some storm clouds are brewing...

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

So we entered Disney Studios (as it shall soon be called) around 11am and took the obligatory pictures in front of “the hat”. We walked over to Voyage of the Little mermaid and a kind gentleman offered to take our strollers from us so we could make the show that was starting in a few minutes. We were on the second row and were sprinkled by the water screens in the show but the show was fantastic. Once again, Grace in her analytical form was more interested in just how they did all of the special effects than letting go and getting into the storyline. I was surprised the girls were not afraid of the large, ominous Ursula but they took it in stride. After the show we retrieved our strollers from the massive stroller section (I was very happy we brought our own and did not have one of the strollers which looked like everyone else’s-very hard to find in a mass of 200 strollers!) and it started to rain. Never Fear! Master OCD planner preparer Jennifer (and disboards reader) whipped out the trusty rain ponchos! We stopped to buy some Mickey ice cream treats for the little ones,

and Traci’s gonna kill me but here’s her enjoying an itsakadoozie:

With our trusty ponchos the rain wasn’t going to stop us so we headed over to MuppetVision 3D. On the way we stopped so Tatum could get some love from Sully. Of course, Grace wasn’t going anywhere near that creature!

Those of you born before 1980 will love MuppetVision. Those of you younger kids might want to walk on by.
The area around MuppetVision is great and Disney MGM in general is an interesting sensory bombardment of movie memorabilia.

After MuppetVision 3D we headed over to see Beauty and the Beast. This is a Broadway type production that kids just LOVE. The girls were entranced and Traci and I enjoyed some cool beers while resting our legs for the 30 minute show.

Then, we headed over to find a spot for the Stars and Cars Parade and while I guarded our excellent spots with my life (man, people were going to do ANYTHING to move our stuff and take our spots! I had to get rough!) the girls went over to the Pin Trading Store under the hat. The girls were loving trading pins with any and every castmember they saw. It wasn’t so much looking for specific pins for them, it was simply the act of trading which they enjoyed. Many times they would trade for a pin, then trade it away 10 minutes later.

Up next, Stars and Cars and 50's Primetime, oh my!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Thanks to everyone for joining this TR and thanks to Karla for her kind parenting words of encouragement.

I am really enjoying reliving this trip by the telling of the tale.

Stay with us, some really GREAT things are just around the corner!!!!

By the way, TGM rocks! We used his plans a lot during our trip and I believe it saved us a TON of time. So that's my plug-all of you go subscribe to tourguidemike.com before your next trip! It was funny when it would get a little crowded and Traci would turn to me and say "Is this a yellow day?".

And I want to add, I was not commando about adhering to the TGM plans (I thought I would be before we left) BUT we were informed and armed with his info if we needed it, so I think flexibilty is a key asset at WDW with children.

Also, sorry for the wide post and the large pictures, I am using Traci's photobucket account and it won't let me resize her pics. I will get her password so I can resize for future posts. (Wide posts are my pet peeve!)

I hope to post more tonight!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

So we had a good spot for the Stars and Motor Cars Parade, by the hat. Here are some parade pics:

After the parade it was around 3:30pm and our ADR for 50’s Prime Time Café was for 3:55pm. But it was raining and we decided to check in a little early. 50’s PT was PACKED-I guess everyone was trying to get in out of the rain. We had to wait in line to check in and then we waited in the “living room” to be called to dinner. Around 20 minutes later we were called to the table and seated near the kitchen door but we had a great table with a tv. I don’t remember our server’s name but he was pretty good-not the full effect but the server next to us was really hamming it up so we were able to see our neighbors get harassed. Our server flung our silverware down and said “set the table and remember, no elbows on the table!” The girls were wide-eyed not knowing if this was a joke or not and Grace started to whine that she couldn’t color her picture without putting her elbows on the table! She takes everything literally!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

(I didn't mean to post that last Part but I'll just continue it here)

Both Traci and I ordered Diet Cherry Cokes and she ordered the caesar salad for an appetizer and I ordered the Fried Herb Cheese (yum!). The kids ordered chicken noodle soup for their appetizers but neither one ate very much of it. Traci and I both ordered the Fried Chicken and the girls ordered Chicken Strip Meals. The Fried Chicken was okay, nothing spectacular- I wish I had ordered the Pot Roast but I can never pass up fried chicken !

We picked at our food as we watched our neighbors get spoon fed by our waiter. I was starting to get worried about not eating all my food! I actually took my green beans and put them on Tatum’s plate but he must’ve seen me because after dinner he brought me a plate full of green beans with whipped cream on top and said since I didn’t finish my vegetables I had to eat them for dessert. The girls got a kick out of this and Tatum, wanting the whipped cream whether it was on top of green beans or not, dug in and started eating! (yuck! )

We looked at the viewfinders which have the dessert menu on them:

The girls got sundaes, I ordered the s’mores and Traci ordered a strawberry milkshake.

We had a really great time and tipped the waiter above and beyond the dining plan tip. We tried to do this when we received excellent service, which we definitely did here. The courses came out fairly quickly and you somewhat had the sense you were being rushed to turn the tables over quickly but with two four year olds that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I recommend 50’s Prime Time, not necessarily for the food but the experience is a fun one.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Really enjoying your TR, keep it coming!

 

[princessreilly]

Same here!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

By the way- Boo to You! Check your PM!