Suzy and Perla Skip the Lines Again: From roughing it to the lap of luxury

[estherhead]

Sorry you guys missed out on the kitchen sink at Beaches & Cream, but it's neat that you were able to go your own separate ways and do things each group wanted to do. Looking forward to hearing more about this trip and your most recent adventure!

That kitchen sink remains on my list. I shall conquer!

I've been checking in periodically on the trip report board for the June trip so I can get my trip report fix--so I was very happy to realize today that it's just that this earlier trip report wasn't done yet! I've started my first trip report and now I see how much time it takes (and how many brain cells), so thank you for spending so much time on these.

It's amazing isn't it? You think it should be easy because it's all right there in your head. But when you start to write it, somehow it isn't and it takes a bit.

It is good to see Suzy and Donald chiming in! Can't wait to read more about your adventures at DW.

Yes I love it when they say stuff on here, especially on this evening when we all split up.

As a side note: I realize my pace was super fast and then died. Work has slowed down a bit for me now and I shouldn't have any trouble keeping up to date and contributing to all y'alls TR addiciton: once school starts! I never realized before how little time I spend on my computer once the kids are out of school for summer. We LOVE summer. We have a pool & we love our local bike path and soccer fields & socializing with our friends & grilling out. And every night after work it seems like it's 10:00 before I know it. Plus, this year Mulan and Ariel are old enough play Civilization and are often on my computer.

So if you can just stick it out with me until mid-August I'll start back. Perhaps not at my frantic "We're going to WDW again!" pace but certainly at a better pace.

I've already started working on our DisneyLAND family trip, making the very beginnings and started hanging out a tiny bit on those boards. So in a year when I'm writing that on the "Out West" TR's I'll have to have both of these done.

Also, for you amusement park enthusiasts, my family of five and Charming are going to Cedar Point this weekend. I'll make sure to take pictures and a chapter recap so you can decide if that is something your family may want to do.

I promise (hand over my heart) I will put up a chapter before the sun sets tonight!

 

[estherhead]

So, Charming, myself, Boo, and McQueen were all in line for ESPN. And as the rest of our group headed back over the bridge to split and do the little hikes to their respective parks, the line began to move. When we got to the front and put our name in with just four instead of eleven we were instantly sat. I was thrilled as by this point I was pretty hungry.

There is more than one section to this restaurant and they asked us where we wanted to be and Charming and I had both agreed, being the extroverted sports lovers we are, "Wherever that noise is coming from!" So off we went to our table in this room:

Along the side of this room is an area about two steps up from the main floor with tables and that is where they sat us. Had we gotten there when this show started it would have been nice to be right on the floor, but it was about half way over when we got there (I think it is two hours long? Maybe one.) So we were able to observe and watch the trivia. The audience could participate but it would have been tricky for us in our spot, plus to be honest we didn't really know the answers. The questions were for REAL sports fans and sad as this is, we didn't qualify as that. Charming's knowledge only goes back about 2 years because he is young and I LOVE watching sports but have more important things to remember in my head than sports trivia so I never know any historical sports data. But it was fun guessing and talking at our table and watching the crowd.

Here was the view from our actual table:

It was about 4 tables away from the kitchen door which generally means excellent service and our girl did not disappoint. She hustled! There were a ton of people and it was chaotic and I only ever saw four wait staff going in this door. If that is really how many worked it I have two things to say: 1) They made a TON of money this night and 2) They slept really, really well.

It's probably shocking that none of us had alcohol at an ESPN Club but 3 of us were under 13 and one of us was in charge of the other three. So I had water. We put in our order. McQueen got a cheeseburger. He ate it all up. EVERY bite of his food.

I had the Tailgate pulled pork which was delicious and harming had the Nachos for Two. They were good and he loved them but they really were for two and even he struggled to eat them all.

Boo was HAPPY! She got chicken tenders and ate more of them than normal:

Meanwhile, team Milo had made their way to Epcot. As the International Gateway is conveniently located next to Britain which happens to have fish and chips and a few famous beers, the men and their two kids had found their dinner.

Ariel LOVED this meal and talks about it still, as does Donald. Fish and chips can be so greasy but this place always does it just right, down to the newspaper to suck up all the fat.

Not a bad view either:

And according to our cameras, Team Suzy was also eating dinner. Our family knows our priorities and at 5 o'clock it's DINNER! And since our confusion, it was WELL past that by the time we all got our meals.

Having had the shortest walk, and also made up of some pretty fast eaters, Team Milo was done first and began their tour of the world. I'm pretty sure this consisted of a lot of drinking, but they did manage to enjoy a few topiares. Topiares aren't really Milo and Buzz's thing but Donald enjoys them. He loved these romance ones and made everyone stop to enjoy them.

He made Ariel and Buzz stop in front of this one and dance. Ariel, clearly, is enjoying her waltz. Buzz, however, was more than thrilled to have the dance be over and when he reached for his book (he reads ALWAYS, even in the parks) he looked at Donald and said, "That was awkward."

This little romance topiary area also had natural and perfume smell things. Like vanilla. You smelled both little boxes and guessed which one was the real and which the perfume. They did that and then headed into France. Buzz, who is a carb freak! made a stop at our favorite little pastry shop:

I wasn't here for this but I'll still give my opinion. Buzz and Charming both consistently get that chocolate eclair every time we go. And I consistently hate it. But all the other pastries here are AWESOME!

On to Morocco they went. Milo has a favorite drink he likes to get here to eat with his French pastry called Tangeriene coffee. It's in the Tangergiene cafe (of course). It has a liquor he loves and coffee.

While this gorging of deliciousness at Epcot was happening, Team Suzy was settling in for the hour wait before Fantasmic:

About halfway through our meal, the ESPN show ended and the pre-NBA finals began. I can't remember which teams were playing but Charming had been deprived of ESPN viewing due to our camping and was glued to every bit of the action on the tvs. But Boo and McQueen had had enough and once their meals were done, they were done. So we left Charming at the table and headed out to find some video game action. I bought $20.00 worth of play time and McQueen got started.

Boo entertained herself as well, but at her age it's free since she doesn't understand she's not really playing.

Coming up: Our evenings continued...

 

[Native NYer]

Loving your tr!
I'm so impressed with your camping abilities and how organized you are. I don't think I could ever do it!

 

[estherhead]

Loving your tr!
I'm so impressed with your camping abilities and how organized you are. I don't think I could ever do it!

Thanks! We are some pretty good campers, I must say.

I have a correction to make, everyone, in the above chapter. The nachos are CLEARLY just Charming's nachos from a different angle. I have lost my mind. That is what I get for writing a chapter at work.

I have been informed by Suzy that she, Mulan, and Jack-Jack captured front row seats at Fantasmic and THEN she went back out and got pizza from the food places right outside the theater. This should have been obvious since super cool nachos aren't available inside DHS anywhere, let alone near Fantasmic. But I can often be very, very unaware of the obvious. Feel free to laugh.

 

[estherhead]

This chapter is photo free. Partially on purpose so the photos won't distract you and partially (okay, MOSTLY) because I accidentally left my camera at work and want to write this chapter and don't want to wait. So the photos of Cedar Point will be a different chapter. This is a tutorial, but of course is also about my trip to Cedar Point.

This chapter is entitled:

Disney Rules to Live By: They Apply to EVERYTHING

Disney Rules apply to all aspects of life. Following are my own, personal cardinal rules.

• Rule 1: Get there early
• Rule 2: Research, Research, Research
• Rule 3: If it isn't a hurricane, stick it out through storms.
• Rule 4: Iphones make everything easier
• Rule 5: Feed people
• Rule 6: Don't plan complicated things with people who aren't your favorite people.

Get There Early

This works almost ALWAYS. Our plan at Cedar Point was to get there early. The park opens at 10:00 a.m. so I wanted to be there at 9:30 a.m. We did not make this goal (see rule 6 ) but were in the park at 10:01. Because we had a few tasks to do before we could hit the rides (wrist band on Boo & Parent Swap) we didn't make it to our first ride until 10:15. Cedar Point has early entry every day for resort guests so it is CRITICAL to be at your first ride AT 10:00.

I know, it seems so silly. It's 15 minutes. But the thing is it puts you behind MORE than 15 minutes. Because not everyone chooses the same first ride as you. At Cedar Point there are 4 major rides that split the crowd. So if you hit the first one at 10:00 the line is only 15 min or so. Which means when you hit ride number 2 it's only 10:15 (which is what we started at) and the line is 20-30 minutes. By 11:00 the lines are an hour. They get up to 2 hours. There is no Fastpass.

I'm just sayin'.

And it isn't just amusement parks, people. Get to work early, you're ahead all day. Ever go to a grocery store at 8 am? Awesome. Shelves stocked with all the sales, no mess of preschoolers & carts in every aisle, no lines at the cashiers. Even at Yellowstone a few years ago we would get up at 5 am to see wildlife. This was awesome. So many animals, no crowded roads, quiet and back to nature. Then back to our cabin for breakfast at 9:00. A morning hike while it was cool. And then a delightful afternoon nap.

Get there early. Seriously.

Research, Research, Research

I started researching Cedar Point the very moment I considered going. Many people, once away from the Disboards panic and don't realize that yes, there are support teams for ALL kinds of endeavors on the internet.

I like to start with TripAdvisor. It very rarely steers me wrong. Then I will type in the name of what I'm looking for and the word forum. This gets you forums of information. Cedar Point had a VERY helpful forum. As did Yellowstone. And Williamsburg. And I follow an HVAC forum at work. forums. Real people answering questions I actually want to know the answer to.

At Cedar Point I was mainly looking for: How does their Parent Swap Work (you have to get a purple ticket at guest relations, only two people can ride (not 4 like WDW), it is totally awesome!) Which ride should I ride first and why? What are height requirements for which rides? Are there discounts? Are some food options better? Cheaper?

The answers to these questions were priceless. We LOVED their Parent Swap. We rode the rides that break easily, get really long lines, and don't go during the rain first. This caused us to ride Top Speed Dragster first. This was genius. The line was only 30 minutes (later it would climb to 1.5) and it DID rain later and it DID stop working completely. Had we waited, we wouldn't have gotten on and it is a favorite of mine. We also took a picnic lunch which works GREAT and in this case worked SUPER GREAT. Which brings me to rule 3:

If it isn't a hurricane, stick it out through storms

Our day began at 90 degrees and 90% humidity and it just climbed and climbed. It was HOT! Whew. And bright sunshine. And weather.com had said only a 30% chance of rain. Because we hadn't got started until 10:15 no one wanted to stop at noon. So Donald bought a cream cheese pretzel (just as good as WDW!) for me and Boo and we kept on going. Not until 3:00 when most of the big rides were out of the way were we ready to stop for our real lunch break. As we walked from the back to the front storm clouds began to gather. Hmmm, what's this? The walk (like 2 miles I swear) went on and on and by the time we reached the picnic shelter there was lightening everywhere.

As we watched the storm roll in we ate. By the time our lunch was gone, the lightening was hitting the ground around us and we were starting to get scared, but it was too late. We had made our choice and there wasn't a way to get somewhere else in time.

About 15 minutes later, the rain came. It came in BUCKETS. Within 15 minutes of that there was 3-4 inches of standing water and the men dragged trash cans and big coolers to make shelters around the picnic tables as the rain was going horizontal and wasn't really very safe. We sat on the tables because of the flash flood. CRAZY!

But by 4:00, an hour later, it had stopped. We jumped from table top to table top until we were out of the flood zone and went to ride the carousel since Cedar Point had lost electricity ALL the rides had to be reset and this took a long time. But when we were done with the carousel, the big rides were ready and we were able to ride lots in the hour between the storms.

After the 2nd storm most people had lost faith and gone home. This left the park entirely to us and the very few who follow my rules to ride all the rides, even the big ones, with almost no lines to speak of for 3 whole hours. AWESOME!

Iphones make everything easier

There is a great & free Cedar Point ap. Sweet!

On our way up we needed a place to eat without eating at a boring chain place. Yelp! to the rescue. Where is a customer friendly, kid friendly place that had beer right where I am right now? Cool. There is a place that has BBQ food that has 30 microbrews on tap. Score!

When the storm rolled in we wanted to know how long it would last. Weather bug showed it was in two parts. It would be vicious from 3-4:00 and then 5:30-7:00. So we were able to come up with a plan. Eat at 3:00. Ride from 4-5:30. It did indeed start pouring again at 5:30 and we popped into a cheesy theater show. At 6:45 we went to have a nice snack in an inside place. We really didn't get that wet at all. And we didn't feel bored just waiting around. Perfect use of an iphone, impossible to have such a great plan with weather considerations without a smart phone.

Finally, on the next morning we were on the way to one spot and got told to go to another spot and we had an hour to kill. Did this prove problematic? Nope. Yelp! me a breakfast joint. Oh, there is a great one right here? Double score.

Not to mention easy, fast texting.

Feed people

Even though it worked out fine, 3:00 was too late to feed people. This caused people to stop having fun at about 2:00. Thus my insisting that we eat again at 6:30 when people claimed they weren't hungry. Guess what people? By the time you are actually starving, it's too late. And no one had a problem eating their dinners.

Feed people. If you see a child having a meltdown, check your watch. They are more than likely hungry. Not saying their aren't brats, just saying there are a lot FEWER brats than people generally assume.

Don't plan complicated things with people who aren't your favorite people

Clearly, sometimes you have no choice. As in our case. Our very close friends were coming to visit a friend of theirs who is a really nice guy and all of us went together. But he is a late guy, thus making us late. No matter what we did to rush him, it just didn't help. He was wonderful with our kids, but he spent a lot of his day texting and on his phone.

I'm just saying the 6 (Charming went with us) of us and our 2 great friends worked around him and his quirks. This is, of course, not ideal.

So though this rule is not always possible to apply, I do TRY to be around people I actually like, work well with, and/or respect. Especially on vacation, on little trips, and when planning anything complicated like parties.

The next day we went to the Rockin Roll Hall of Fame. It's great! But I didn't follow all the rules. Here is how that turned out:

Rule 1: We did NOT get here early. This led to us standing in a 30 minute line just to get an admission ticket. And fighting so many crowds left and right that Donald just got sick of the people and wanted to scream.

Rule 2: I didn't truly believe we would get to go here on this trip so I did VERY little research. Mainly, just the price. This was ok, though I ended up having to read in line (thank you iphone) and still had questions when I got to the tkt counter. Also, had I done research I would have known there are live bands on Saturday both here and at the nearby science center. This would have caused me to come early (duh!) to Rock Hall, eat lunch nearby, and come back to listen to music. It was fine, but I should have followed Rule 2.

Rule 3: It didn't rain, and it's indoors. So no need for Rule 3.

Rule 4: The line research. You aren't allowed to use iphones once inside. People were quite bitter.

Rule 5: We had a great bfast before hand and even Boo didn't ask for a drink nor snack. Genius!

Rule 6: Just the 6 of us went, Donald and I took turns with Boo. It was so nice and relaxing. No drama. no drama.

To sum up: Northern Ohio is a pretty cool little place to visit in summer. We could have spent an extra day easy. Two more if we wanted beach time. Cedar Point is a MUST if you have teens who like roller coasters.

 

[knitster]

You forgot Rule 7...or it could be Rule 5b - Ice cream makes everything better!

 

[Mommy2BnB]

Hooray! You're back!!! Glad everyone enjoyed their meals after you separated.

I enjoyed your report of your CP trip and it is good to know that the skills I have acquired from this board (ie: your TPs!) work in other areas of life!

 

[Laura Loves Tigger]

Cedar Point is AWESOME!! Growing up in NW Ohio, it was a staple of my summers - at least one trip each year. If you love coasters, it is THE park to attend. Great tips on touring and arriving early. ALSO, make your way to the back of the park when you arrive at opening. Then work your way forward. Most people begin at the front, so the rides in the back have short lines for a while.

 

[kthshh]

Following along.

 

[estherhead]

You forgot Rule 7...or it could be Rule 5b - Ice cream makes everything better!

Do you know we looked for ice cream twice? I'm not sure where to get ice cream at Cedar Point. But it definitely should be added into the rules.

Hooray! You're back!!! Glad everyone enjoyed their meals after you separated.

I enjoyed your report of your CP trip and it is good to know that the skills I have acquired from this board (ie: your TPs!) work in other areas of life!

Disney skills are for sure transferable.

Cedar Point is AWESOME!! Growing up in NW Ohio, it was a staple of my summers - at least one trip each year. If you love coasters, it is THE park to attend. Great tips on touring and arriving early. ALSO, make your way to the back of the park when you arrive at opening. Then work your way forward. Most people begin at the front, so the rides in the back have short lines for a while.

Skip the Raptor first for sure. We did Top Thrill Dragster first on our way back to the back. Since rain or any little thing shuts it down we wanted to get to it first thing.

Following along.

So, I have a little news on my family. As you all know Suzy & I took on WAY more responsibility in the family business this year. It's been working out and I'm getting more in the swing of things there. I still have a lot to learn but I'm learning and my crews are starting to trust me.

The news is it's a good thing we got more involved as my dad learned 2 days ago that he has colon cancer and we have cat scans/oncologist/colorectal surgeon appointments scheduled for the next two weeks. We are hopeful it will just require surgery but I'm gearing up for 9-12 months of chemo too.

In addition to that Suzy & Milo are finally moving into their new house this week and the kids begin school in 6 days. We are halfway through our downstairs remodel at our house with a bathroom halfway done. We did finally get the toilet off our back deck. So it is stressful and chaotic STILL. We cannot catch a break.

But today I got in the mail Epcot Food & Wine invite and I threw it in the trash immediately so Donald wouldn't see as he's already been saying, "How can we not go when Keegan Gerhard is going to be there?" Donald LOVES Keegan Gerhard and hates that he is now a judge on Cake Challenge instead of the host. He says it's way too much weird host girl time and too little actual Keegan informative time. Anyway, there is NO WAY we can do anything Disney as our multiple projects will take all our time AND money for easily the next 8 months. This made me realize I NEED some Disboards time. So I'm here to write another chapter. I'm brain dead today so don't expect magic.

 

[estherhead]

True Confession:

I put Boo up here:

She LOVED it. No one was in this arcade but us and she wanted to and I said yes. Because sometimes you just don't want to say no for the millionth time to a four year old.

Charming arrived just 15 short minutes after we had left him a said it was boring to watch sports without us. He played in the arcade with us but when we were ready to leave he, of course, really had wanted to watch sports. And McQueen didn't. And I didn't think watching sports with a bored and cranky McQueen and Boo sounded like much fun. So we split. He went back to the Dolphin, and we three hit the town.

McQueen had NOT been having the single most magical time ever. Things had been disappointing. I'm big on kids learning that disappointments happen in life and the sooner you learn how to deal with them gracefully and move on, the better. However, I'm also big on kids gaining self-confidence and believing they can accomplish anything they want to.

So I decided some one on one (and yes, we had Boo but it's the closest McQueen ever really gets to one on one) time for me and McQueen where everything I had control over would go his way for the next two hours was just what he needed. So we set off to explore the Boardwalk.

The first person we ran into was a magician:

McQueen LOVES the drama of magic and would love to be a magician. He has a kit and is pretty cute when doing his tricks. So this was right up his alley. But we were well into this skit and were more observers than involved. McQueen had a lot to say about this and was quite excited as we walked away.

I started walking towards a candy store as I thought this could be a great treat. But we ran into this before we got there:

This guy was a juggler though he had some really cool tricks and McQueen would later argue with me that he WASN'T a juggler. But he was.

There weren't very many kids around him and his whole act was with kids so much to my delight, McQueen was pretty much in the ENTIRE act. So perfect for a kid who wants to be the center of attention at all times.

In his hand is a bucket that traumatized Boo for weeks.

I have no pictures as he chose Boo and I, of course, switched to video. He brought her up and asked her how her parents paid for their trip to Disney? She shrugged, shy as always. He then told her that we had a secret and while she sleeps at night we steal the money in her ears. Then, he held the bucket up to her head and dropped coin after coin into the bucket. She slowly began to panic and looked in the bucket and touch her ear. Until finally running over to me in full out panic.

Literally, the rest of the week I would catch her touching her ear, pulling it out, and I KNOW she was checking for coins. I tried to reassure her it was a joke, but she didn't believe me.

McQueen was involved in this trick too but that little girl was the true star and FUNNY.

Meanwhile, here is Suzy, Mulan's, and Jack's view:

Waiting is SO much easier with an Iphone:

7,000 people:

Fantasmic was about to begin and they were READY. I have no photos of the boys & Ariel but I know they were having a wonderful time since Donald still claims it was a favorite night.

After our magician and juggler we wandered over to the boardwalk games as McQueen was still sure he was a loser. As we passed a shooting gallery he said, "I'm really good at that one." It was the kind that someone always wins. Shooting water to get the little guy to the top. And we were the only two around which meant I could let him win. Perfect.

I asked the carnie to take a photo of us so we could have a picture of McQueen beating me.

McQueen started out doing great but he was getting cocky telling me how amazing he was so I took over the top spot. He got very quiet suddenly. About 3/4 of the way I let off without being too obvious and he won. Proclaiming loudly as he picked a prize, "I TOLD you I was great at that one."

He was just beaming after the hour on the Boardwalk and chattered away as we walked back to the hotel. Boo fell asleep in her stroller.

The boys were learning about Guttenberg in a big silver golf ball.

I transferred Boo to her bed. It's SO exhausting being entertained:

Suzy had thought she could get a head start on our DHS morning by meeting Buzz Lightyear after Fantasmic. This was a GREAT plan. However, right before it was there turn Buzz ended his night and it was only Woody.

So no Jack-Jack and Buzz.

Just a few minutes later, before they had even left DHS, Jack-jack was asleep.

This, my friends, is the face of the end of an amazing Disney Day:

 

[Lisa0620]

I just have to tell you how much I love your trip reports! I followed a link that you had posted on your tent set up at FW and then read all your reports over the last week. I love the mix of practical ideas along with "big picture" perspective. My sister and I are super close too, but she is older and her kids are grown so we didn't get to share raising our kids together, how wonderful that must be. I'm much more a Suzy than a Perla - I laughed out loud about how tortuous it was for her to make small talk with the ladies at the weird garage sale to guard the dresses, I would have just died. I'm encouraged to try DQ with our Aspie (he's 9) after hearing that Buzz loves it; it gets such mixed reviews. Looking forward to the rest of the report. I really hope things go well for your Dad.
Lisa

 

[estherhead]

I just have to tell you how much I love your trip reports! I followed a link that you had posted on your tent set up at FW and then read all your reports over the last week. I love the mix of practical ideas along with "big picture" perspective. My sister and I are super close too, but she is older and her kids are grown so we didn't get to share raising our kids together, how wonderful that must be. I'm much more a Suzy than a Perla - I laughed out loud about how tortuous it was for her to make small talk with the ladies at the weird garage sale to guard the dresses, I would have just died. I'm encouraged to try DQ with our Aspie (he's 9) after hearing that Buzz loves it; it gets such mixed reviews. Looking forward to the rest of the report. I really hope things go well for your Dad.
Lisa

Thanks! I love writing these TR's, sharing my oodles of Disney knowledge, and meeting other Disney lovers. I love it! And I've been afraid that this summer I'd lose readers from being out of commission TR wise. But there really hasn't been a choice.

I'll keep everyone up to date on my dad. We're just in the wait and see stage.

As for poor Suzy, we had a yard sale ourselves this weekend. She has a "performance" switch that she can switch on if she has enough warning. She is actually an excellent performer/actress. Many years & children ago she and Milo were in a band and she did great. It's those pesky surprise chit-chat time periods that are just awful. And the night before the yard sale we were eating dinner and a lady rang the door bell to ask if she could shop. I thought Donald, Suzy, and my mom (also introverted) would die. Worse 30 minutes ever. But by Saturday morning Donald and Suzy had turned their switches on and all told we made $625.00! Huge score for the trash we didn't need anymore.

And yes, it is a HUGE blessing to raise our kids together. When Suzy was pregnant with Charming I was living in New York and leading a very not-kid-friendly life. And not interested in kids. But not being there for his birth KILLED me. We were so close I didn't like her having a life altering thing without me. I knew if I was gonna have kids, it needed to be while she was. That's why Buzz & Mulan are the same age. We wanted to be pregnant together. Sadly they aren't EXACTLY the same age as Suzy gets pregnant instantly and I have to "try."

 

[glo1770]

I finally got all caught up on the trip report and I'm loving it.

I do have a question for Suzy though. How did the bag work out for you? I loved the look of that bag and bookmarked to purchase but I wanted to see your review first.

 

[KADDY1230]

great trip report

 

[preschoolmom]

Praying for your dad and family. Please keep us updated!

 

[Laura Loves Tigger]

So sorry to hear about your dad. Thoughts and prayers coming your way. My sis ter and I have daughters 3 months apart. It's great sharing these experiences.

 

[EvangelineG]

Just found your trip report last night and spent almost the entire evening reading most of it. I am in total admiration of you & Suzy's organizational skills, especially in regards to the camping! I am the planner & organizer in my family too, and we like to have our vacations very structured (2 sons with Aspergers...go figure!). I am currently planning our first trip to WDW for our family group of 10, so I am gleaning lots of tips from your TR.

I really appreciate you telling it like it is...meltdowns and arguments included, and giving a dose of common sense to some of the extreme opinions that can be a bit off-putting here at the DIS (I too read that older child in stroller thread ). I must say after reading your TR I am more excited to go than ever, and feeling confident that we can make it magical even with all the needs and personalities in a larger group!

 

[estherhead]

I finally got all caught up on the trip report and I'm loving it.

I do have a question for Suzy though. How did the bag work out for you? I loved the look of that bag and bookmarked to purchase but I wanted to see your review first.

She really like it. But she'll come (she gets internet today at her new house!!!!) and give you the full scoop once she has the net.

great trip report

Thanks!

Praying for your dad and family. Please keep us updated!

So sorry to hear about your dad. Thoughts and prayers coming your way. My sis ter and I have daughters 3 months apart. It's great sharing these experiences.

Thanks to both of you. We can use all the prayers we can get! There are a lot of things going around health-wise in our immediate circle. We have a very close family friend who is dying of cancer right now, probably within the day. I spent a lot of yesterday crying and went to Suzy's for support. We have an absolutely wonderfully supportive family and circle where crying and hugs and kind, encouraging words are totally acceptable and normal behavior so that makes it a little easier. It honestly is making us feel even closer and have more of a sense of community.

As for an update, he has his surgery scheduled. It's either Stage 2 or 3. We won't know till after his surgery. Of course, being the exhaustive researchers we are, we've been reading. My gut instinct now that everything has come in test-wise and doctor-wise is that he has Stage 3A or B. So I'm prepping for having a really rough year full of chemotherapy and recovery but getting to keep my dad around for years and years to come. And I'm telling myself lots and lots of people have to go through this and with the environment the way it is, even more will in the years to come. We're just being welcomed to the club.

Just found your trip report last night and spent almost the entire evening reading most of it. I am in total admiration of you & Suzy's organizational skills, especially in regards to the camping! I am the planner & organizer in my family too, and we like to have our vacations very structured (2 sons with Aspergers...go figure!). I am currently planning our first trip to WDW for our family group of 10, so I am gleaning lots of tips from your TR.

I really appreciate you telling it like it is...meltdowns and arguments included, and giving a dose of common sense to some of the extreme opinions that can be a bit off-putting here at the DIS (I too read that older child in stroller thread ). I must say after reading your TR I am more excited to go than ever, and feeling confident that we can make it magical even with all the needs and personalities in a larger group!

We sound kindred. Love me some Aspie kids. Thanks on the organized thing. It is amazing how well Suzy and I do to even us! In the midst of our chaotic universe we had a yard sale and I told her on Monday, "Don't expect anything to be priced or organized at this thing as I simply do NOT have the time to deal with it." She assured me we'd just toss it into the yard, put hand written cardboard signs with pricing up, and be done. But shockingly, we spent just 4 hours Friday night hauling our stuff over there and arranging and it looked AMAZING! Best yard sale ever. And we sold everything and made a bunch of money. It think she and I just work so well together and are so practiced (we do live within a mile, work together, kids in school together, vacation together) that it's almost automatic. my sis!

As for you, of COURSE you can make it magical! One of the main reasons I try to keep these TR's so honest is that the bad moments are part of the reason we love WDW. Yes, there are still critical and cranky people there but the proportions are flipped. In my regular life if a child has a meltdown and there are 20 people watching 19 will glare and 1 will look on empathetically. At WDW 19 will look on empathetically and 1 will glare. That's my kind of place.

As for large groups if you keep them all (and I mean adults too!) well rested and well fed you will get along fine. And don't listen when they say they aren't hungry and aren't tired. It's amazing how not tired people fall asleep 5 minutes after hitting the pillow and not hungry people eat their entire meal when they sit down.

 

[estherhead]

Ahhh, DHS day! We put on our favorite shirts of the trip, ate a quick b-fast in the room, and headed out into the great yonder of the Dolphin. Honest fact here: I never did get this walk right. And this day was no exception. We headed out of the room a jumble of strollers and children and our general chaos and kids yelling and then more yelling from the parents saying, "Be quiet! People are sleeping."

I turned wrong, Suzy said, "Where are you going?" Then we turned left. Then Donald turned wrong. We lost a child or too who were ahead of us going wrong. You get the idea. And iphones really only hurt us in these situations since weather & email are being checked first thing in the morning many of the adults are looking at their phone and not where they are going. Ahem. You know who you are. (Guilty!) Leaving children pushing smaller children in strollers into walls, down incorrect hallways, and other non-orderly things you can do when you are 10 and are in control of a 3 year old and a stroller.

We finally made it to the little walkway between the Swan and Dolphin and got ready to have our slow boat to China or exhausting hike of doom discussion. But Suzy was tired, I'd been hassling her about never taking public transport, and she just caved. So I have a great picture of Suzy herself on public transportation:

Ta-Da! She sits. But she was annoyed. It is a SLOW boat. Also, let's take a moment to admire the t-shirts. People LOVE these t-shirts. We do too. But of our 11 people 8-9 (I can never decide about Mulan) are introverted. Some extremely introverted. This makes wearing t-shirts that are awesome kind of a downer. Poor Donald was exhausted from people talking to him about his shirt by the end of the day. So much so that when I pulled these out to wear on our June trip he said, "Let me pick which day we wear that. I have to be up for it."

It was crowded. Not super crowded but still. As I stood there looking at all the people, we were on the left side next to the yellow rope you should stand next to if you are gonna run to be in Jedi Academy, I pondered the adults on here that freak out about "big" kids in strollers. Trust me, you do NOT want a child 5 or under in this crowd unprotected. So if you would NEVER put a 5 year old in a stroller because only unloving parents do that, be prepared to hold them as this rope drops. It's a pretty big crowd for a 5 year old. NFL stadium emptying into the streets kind of crowded. Not that 100,000 people are there, but it's in a narrow street and FEELS that way.

Here's what we do with our kids:

We did the "not a run but faster than a walk" march to TSM with everyone else. The crowd this a.m. was in a GREAT mood and everyone knew just what to do and no one really tried to be crazy. The TSM line starts outside so your stroller people have time to park their strollers and gather the little kids while the other half get in the outside part of the line and then they join you. But the line moves fast so if there is a delay in the stroller people, you have to get back out of line and start over. I wasn't a stroller person and we did have to get back out of line. But just once.

Pixar Place is SO NUTS in the a.m. that even though it seems counterproductive to get in and out of line, for me it works best as kids understand lines and will just stand there. If you try to form a little huddle nearby while you wait, you'll lose a kid. There is NO ROOM to form a huddle. Just get in the line, wait 3 minutes to see if the stroller parkers join you, if not holler "Come on, let's go to the back", all your little ducklings (who now have line mentality) will orderly follow you, and you go to the back. At least it works for me.

Once inside the building you wind through all the turnstyles. I've mentioned this before but I'm gonna mention it again as I'm not sure people really understand the difference.

I hear people who don't like rope drop say that it's silly to get to a park an hour early and stand around waiting for an hour when you can just skip that pre-park opening hour and stand in the ride's line an hour. They say it's the same.

But it's NOT the same. Because if you brave the crowd and get to DHS an hour before it opens you do have to straight up wait an hour. It's boring and it's torture. Though if you are organized you should be using the 45 minutes you are standing outside the crowd at the actual gate to get your whole family sunblocked, coffee-ed, and bathroomed. Just have them go to the potty 2-3 at a time while the rest of you stay in the line.

Anyway, if you do this, you only have to wait in one line (the one outside DHS) for the hour. Once you are in the TSM line it is 15 minutes and the entire thing is walking through the cool themed building. And the rest of the park is 100% empty. Because you are ahead of everyone. So waiting that torturous first hour saves you countless hours of waiting as the day continues. And not just in ride lines, but you eat lunch earlier (no lines), go to the bathroom at different times (no lines), and go back for a break at different times (no bus lines.) Seriously, in this case 1 hour waiting=4 hours saved.

Charming saying to all the sleep-in losers: "Suckers!!!!"

Couple interesting things about this shot:

First: how cute are they????? Second, that hat got a LOT of action on this trip. We loved wearing it as it was just so Mickey. However, in June no one wanted to wear it cause it was way too hot! So don't bother buying this hat in the summer, but in the spring, winter, and fall it's great.

Also, Donald is wearing the bag we bought in Cali at Target for $8.00 to carry our ponchos in at DL. This was a great buy and a great bag. He loves it. Target still carries this bag. They sell it in the camping gear area.

Finally, I hate this little tent area of TSM. It's hot, I feel claustrophobic, and heaven forbid someone were to fart. Everytime I'm in there I ponder who on earth designed this terrible tent?

We got slightly separated in here. Yellow matching shirts don't help so much at TSM.

Buzz ready to go:

Guess which score is mine? Hint: Boo was with me.

After riding the first time, I usually get a set of FP. The crazy FP lines are gone and the return times are still reasonable. In June, we had a different strategy, though, as Star Tours had just opened and we needed as many FP for that as possible. But next time we go, I'll probably go back to my usual: ride TSM 1st, then FP it.

McQueen did it for me this time. Well, he cuted this CM into doing it for us, I should say. Suzy and the rest of the younger set waited in the "Meet Woody and Buzz line" across from TSM. This line opens at 10 am and we try to be in the very front.

Because Suzy's mission to meet Buzz Lightyear the night before had failed, we had to do it this a.m. Here is the problem with that: It takes up valuable morning time with something only little ones can do, and you have mid-aged children who don't want to do ToT or RnR with you. And they are ANNOYING!!!!

Also, Boo hates Buzz. I thought this might be the trip she caved and was willing to stand near him. But no.

Here they are being out of control and irritating (but still cute) in line:

McQueen was really getting on my nerves in here as this particular thing is not about him at ALL and he insisted on being in every photo glaring at us. Do you see poor Jack-Jack in this pic? He LOVES this place and you don't even get to see him.

Awww.. there he is.

But Suzy's grabbing McQueen's arm and dragging him out of the way made us pay a penalty glare later.
Yeah, this one will go in the scrapbook for sure.

But because of Suzy's strong arming the boys out of her way and insisting they be nice, we did end up with some cute shots:

I admit it, we are embarassing:

This looks like a great moment in time:

But my experience of this moment was Suzy being very annoyed as McQueen would NOT get out of the way, Buzz was trying to drag Boo (who was, of course freaking) up to meet them, and me trying to not kill myself while looking through both a video camera and regular camera lens at the same time and not trip over Suzy, Buzz, Boo, the Photopass photographer, and the CM in a very tiny area. Plus, of course, I was still taking my batteries in an out after EVERY shot. Grrrr..

That is why pictures are better than words. Cause the whole story is rarely as adorable as the the story caught on film.

This one photo, though, it did finally all come together. Jack-Jack is shooting his laser, McQueen has caved and admitted Jack is adorable and the star, and I am still standing up.

Awwww.....

Lesson learned: Don't let the older kids go meet characters they don't care about with the younger kids. Suzy should have done this alone with Jack while I bored myself to death doing the Great Movie ride with the rest.

While we were being terrible, "STOP IT!@!!!!#@%$!!" mothers in the Buzz line: Donald, Milo, Charming, Mulan, and Ariel were thoroughly, and most importantly, peacefully riding RnR:

They were going to single rider it, but there was no line to speak of (that's right, cause we waited in the Rope Drop line), so they just rode it normal:

And now, you must wait to hear about the rest of our day.