Friday
This will be our last full day. Hmmm. Trying hard not to panic. We've entered the "no we can not send it back to your room" phase for package delivery. The "we have to start thinking about packing phase", the "there is going to be a nasty note under my door tomorrow morning telling me to leave phase", the tomorrow night someone else will be sleeping in my bed" phase. Sorry, I'll stop. Just getting a little close to panicking there for a minute.
We slept in a little, remember for me thats like 7 AM. I stared out the window at the castle, Kaleigh and I went out and stared at the castle from the patio, I think Tyler even joined us. OK, deep breath and lets go enjoy our day!
Over breakfast in the lounge we debated our options.
There was some talk about maybe going back to MGM. Tyler loves Pizza Planet (notice something here: Pizza Planet, Pizzafari, they suck kids in by putting Pizza in the name of the restaurant!). He also hadn't seen Buzz yet this trip, and I'm trying desperately to hang on to our Buzz days. They're fading fast.
There was water park discussion.
And then of course there was my idea, the right choice of course. (If you think I'm getting a little too full of myself here, then you will enjoy when I get to the part where I mess up big time!) We wanted to shop at Downtown Disney, but we were saving it for our time between check out and car pick up tomorrow. Also since we had UPH tickets we thought the kids were ready to try a little Disney Quest. Well, I realized we had better shop today or when would we PACK the things we brought. Also, maybe we just won't want to stray too far from the Polynesian tomorrow.
Chris likes this idea, it involves buying things. Kids like this idea, it involves something like video games. I of course like this idea because it was mine. (did you know I was really a dictator?)
So Disney Quest and then Shopping it is. We hop on the bus and are at DTD by 9AM. Our first clue that something was wrong with our plan was that the bus was only stopping at the Marketplace, not at the Westside yet. Didn't suspect a problem yet. Then none of the Marketplace stores open until 9:30, ignorance still bliss. We start walking to the Westside to go to DQ. It was hot, and humid, and hot. The children started to melt, without much grace. The witch in the Wizard of Oz melted quiet and calmly compared to my son. We stopped to rest, we encouraged, we threatened, it wasn't very pretty. Yet still we did not know of the horror to come.
You can almost hear the eerie music playing as we walk though a nearly deserted Westside. Now that I see the shop signs here "open at 11 AM" I am starting to realize. It is 9:20 AM and look at the sign on the DQ window. Opens at 11:30 AM. Aaaahhhhhhh!
I pride myself being such a great Disney planner. I never checked the times to DQ because I never thought we would end up here so early, or that opening time could be so late. Is that egg on my face or just sweat?
We go sit down at the table outside and try to figure out how to fix this, without actually breaking into Disney Quest. Sitting here for 2 hours is not an option - stores here are not open 'till 11. Having us all make the death march back to the Marketplace? Go back and read how well it went coming over here. We decided we had to make a sacrifice, we had to risk looking stupid, not too hard given our circumstances.
We got a cab to take us back to the marketplace.
It was cool. We could sit. Our driver was very outspoken about politics, in a way that amused my husband and I. And, the kids did not have to walk. We emerged from that cab new people. Arguably the best $ spent, it possibly saved our day. We took our new found happiness, brought it into the stores and spread it around. How? We bought stuff. We bought presents for my sister, her husband and his sister who were house and dog sitting for us. We pre-ordered Aladdin. We bought Christmas decorations and had them sent home. (to NY, not the Polynesian, remember we can't do THAT anymore), we bought Mickey ice trays, we bought...oh I can't even remember. But it is good we shopped today because now we can pack this stuff!
This all went so well that after all that, we WALKED back to DQ! And found...a long line!!!
It moved quick and we were inside after only a short wait. A CM nicely told us about a package check area to the right as you go in. Added bonus is you avoid the wait for the elevator at the entrance. So shop all you want and then check your bags!
So, we did the things that I had done before and knew were fun. The Pirate ride, the Jungle Cruise ride and the Aladdin ride. I know they all have real names, I just don't remember them. Then we stopped for food at the counter service area, it was OK. not great. A fun thing was the kids could look down and see maybe the Astro Blasters? Bumper car type things with balls? They enjoyed watching this.
Then we went to they create area. I was confused for a while about how this worked, but we finally figured it out. They kids each created songs which we bought. They played around with a few other things there. They didn't do the drawing on the computer, with the Animator teaching like a class, but they wanted to, next time I think we will definitely do this!
Well we were wiped out. It was time to go back, enjoy our hotel some more and go to the Luau!
Tammy
This will be our last full day. Hmmm. Trying hard not to panic. We've entered the "no we can not send it back to your room" phase for package delivery. The "we have to start thinking about packing phase", the "there is going to be a nasty note under my door tomorrow morning telling me to leave phase", the tomorrow night someone else will be sleeping in my bed" phase. Sorry, I'll stop. Just getting a little close to panicking there for a minute.
We slept in a little, remember for me thats like 7 AM. I stared out the window at the castle, Kaleigh and I went out and stared at the castle from the patio, I think Tyler even joined us. OK, deep breath and lets go enjoy our day!
Over breakfast in the lounge we debated our options.
There was some talk about maybe going back to MGM. Tyler loves Pizza Planet (notice something here: Pizza Planet, Pizzafari, they suck kids in by putting Pizza in the name of the restaurant!). He also hadn't seen Buzz yet this trip, and I'm trying desperately to hang on to our Buzz days. They're fading fast.
There was water park discussion.
And then of course there was my idea, the right choice of course. (If you think I'm getting a little too full of myself here, then you will enjoy when I get to the part where I mess up big time!) We wanted to shop at Downtown Disney, but we were saving it for our time between check out and car pick up tomorrow. Also since we had UPH tickets we thought the kids were ready to try a little Disney Quest. Well, I realized we had better shop today or when would we PACK the things we brought. Also, maybe we just won't want to stray too far from the Polynesian tomorrow.
Chris likes this idea, it involves buying things. Kids like this idea, it involves something like video games. I of course like this idea because it was mine. (did you know I was really a dictator?)
So Disney Quest and then Shopping it is. We hop on the bus and are at DTD by 9AM. Our first clue that something was wrong with our plan was that the bus was only stopping at the Marketplace, not at the Westside yet. Didn't suspect a problem yet. Then none of the Marketplace stores open until 9:30, ignorance still bliss. We start walking to the Westside to go to DQ. It was hot, and humid, and hot. The children started to melt, without much grace. The witch in the Wizard of Oz melted quiet and calmly compared to my son. We stopped to rest, we encouraged, we threatened, it wasn't very pretty. Yet still we did not know of the horror to come.
You can almost hear the eerie music playing as we walk though a nearly deserted Westside. Now that I see the shop signs here "open at 11 AM" I am starting to realize. It is 9:20 AM and look at the sign on the DQ window. Opens at 11:30 AM. Aaaahhhhhhh!
I pride myself being such a great Disney planner. I never checked the times to DQ because I never thought we would end up here so early, or that opening time could be so late. Is that egg on my face or just sweat?
We go sit down at the table outside and try to figure out how to fix this, without actually breaking into Disney Quest. Sitting here for 2 hours is not an option - stores here are not open 'till 11. Having us all make the death march back to the Marketplace? Go back and read how well it went coming over here. We decided we had to make a sacrifice, we had to risk looking stupid, not too hard given our circumstances.
We got a cab to take us back to the marketplace.
It was cool. We could sit. Our driver was very outspoken about politics, in a way that amused my husband and I. And, the kids did not have to walk. We emerged from that cab new people. Arguably the best $ spent, it possibly saved our day. We took our new found happiness, brought it into the stores and spread it around. How? We bought stuff. We bought presents for my sister, her husband and his sister who were house and dog sitting for us. We pre-ordered Aladdin. We bought Christmas decorations and had them sent home. (to NY, not the Polynesian, remember we can't do THAT anymore), we bought Mickey ice trays, we bought...oh I can't even remember. But it is good we shopped today because now we can pack this stuff!
This all went so well that after all that, we WALKED back to DQ! And found...a long line!!!
It moved quick and we were inside after only a short wait. A CM nicely told us about a package check area to the right as you go in. Added bonus is you avoid the wait for the elevator at the entrance. So shop all you want and then check your bags!
So, we did the things that I had done before and knew were fun. The Pirate ride, the Jungle Cruise ride and the Aladdin ride. I know they all have real names, I just don't remember them. Then we stopped for food at the counter service area, it was OK. not great. A fun thing was the kids could look down and see maybe the Astro Blasters? Bumper car type things with balls? They enjoyed watching this.
Then we went to they create area. I was confused for a while about how this worked, but we finally figured it out. They kids each created songs which we bought. They played around with a few other things there. They didn't do the drawing on the computer, with the Animator teaching like a class, but they wanted to, next time I think we will definitely do this!
Well we were wiped out. It was time to go back, enjoy our hotel some more and go to the Luau!
Tammy
