Suzy & Perla and their secret to skipping lines, 2 trips down 2 to go, March is soon

[estherhead]

So from Chip & Dale we took our secret walkway (as Suzy said) to Toontown. I had heard of this walkway on here but it took me several trips to do it. Last year we did do it & truly it is a nice little shortcut.

This year though, instead of just being excited to have found it, I was looking around. It runs right next to the train tracks which is fun to wave at the train people. Also, on the left is a Alice in Wonderland themed area. It's cute but basically just cut outs. I realize it's a very unimportant part of MK but I do think the Alice stuff could be a bit better done.

So we made it to Goofy's Barnstormer and there was no line, just a walkon.

Both kids enjoyed it but not as much as the previous year. I think with their new found knowledge of how great Disney World is, this ride seemed to just be par for the course, not the only enjoyable thing. But still, it was fun.

It was SO hot!!! After this we kind of split up. Suzy went to the potty & I went to see how ling the line for Tink was. Mom sat on a bench. The line for Tink was FOREVER! The CM at the front of the line said to jump in as 45 min was as short as it would get. If it rained (which it was supposed to) it would jump right up to 2 hours +. Well, I didn't think 45 min sounded short. I don't stand in lines, Tink or otherwise. So I skipped.

Boo & I headed on over to Minnie's house. A/C!!!

I don't know why, but this statue interested me greatly. It ended up being prophetic...

Boo pretending to sew:

Boo popcorn. I mean LOVES! We have one of those microwave air poppers and I always have to hold her while it pops so she can see. And she can eat her weight in popcorn which is a LOT of popcorn since it doesn't weigh much. So this interested her a lot.

Do you think you can buy these salt & pepper shakers in the gift shops:

Somehow I thought these should be mouse or cheese themed:

Boo had to fight to be allowed to open the fridge. There was a honeymoon couple and the bride was VERY into this kitchen. I'm all about adults being excited about Disney World but the first time Boo tried to open the fridge this very nice (seemingly) young bride practically shoved Boo out of the way! Yikes! Anyway, Boo was interested enough to just wait.

Garden shed:

Getting this pic was also a challenge, a two-fold challenge. First, there was a nice foreign family sitting here, not taking a photo, but actually resting in the a.c. They didn't understand English well (for real, they weren't just playing that way) so it took a lot of hand gestures to make them understand I wanted a photo. Then once Boo was settled I could not get her to just smile properly. She did her posed smile, which is just atrocious! The family was trying to help make her laugh but it just wasn't working. So after they had moved & we had all worked quite hard, this is all we got:

Sigh.

After trying to get that shot & failing miserably, I decided I'd get a candid artsy shot of Boo in the garden, maybe in the gazebo. I probably took 20 and this is the best one:

Annoying.

So, I just gave my camera to someone else & held Boo & forced her to look at the camera & be cute. Not at all the plan of a frame-able shot of my gorgeous Boo, but at least one decent picture I could scrapbook to prove she was there!

In the shade against Minnie's house was part of my fam. They informed me Jack-Jack was trying to play in the water at Donald's boat so we headed that direction. Neither Boo nor Jack really wanted to get wet so it was not the fun that Donald's Boat should be, but it's better than when we normally go in November and it's completely turned off.

We let Boo & Jack-Jack play in the playground while Mom & I sat on a bench. I spent my time trying to get a shot of Mickey's house without anyone in front of it. I almost succeeded.

Boo & Jack-Jack needed a little snack and break. Boo made herself right at home there on the blazing hot cement:

Mickey's House! It was right there & soon to be crushed to nothing so I decided to take a little tour. Do you think my Mickey love would be so obvious if I hung something like this in my entryway?

My Donald remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. Thank goodness he does better work than Donald Duck!

After this it was time to hop a train!

 

[estherhead]

So we opted to hop a train. This always proves a challenge for my family as we do not traverse the parks lightly. No. We have kids, bags, strollers, etc. I opted to sit up a row from my family with a bunch of stuff next to a nice couple who unfortunately for them found themselves being constantly poked with a stroller or Boo's umbrella or something. I felt terrible for them but all of my adjustments only made their plight worse. So eventually I gave up. The most interesting part of the train ride is from Frontierland to Toontown, which naturally we didn't do since we were going to Frontierland from Toontown. I did enjoy my little peek at Main Street from the train but other than that, it was just a nice way to get to the other side of the park on a super hot day without walking.

I wonder why the people next to me were jabbed with an umbrella? Everyone can use some extra shade on a train.

So we were hot. Just at the point where you're kind of done being hot. So we tried to decide lunch or a ride? Pirates won. I was a bit worried about Boo and her fear but she had done well with characters so I figured it was time to test the waters. On our way in Pirate Goofy was there. At first Jack-Jack and Boo went to say hi but once Boo got close she realized that Goofy standing up is huge AND a pirate. That was just a few too many unfriendly things for her so we went to park the strollers.

I hadn't done Pirates the year before so I enjoyed it a lot this trip. Just so well done it never gets old, a true classic.

The air conditioning had felt so great we decided to keep the cool going and eat lunch. We wanted to eat lightly but those options were "seasonal" so instead we ate REALLY yummy fries and pulled pork. Jack-Jack was exhausted and ate about a bite before climbing in his stroller and falling asleep. Boo was tired too but NO WAY she was napping. That's just not her style.

Once I wasn't starving anymore I braved the heat to get Jungle Cruise FP's only to discover there weren't any as it was too slow. So I came back empty and ate a little bit more. Then we all used the potty and soaked in the cool, cool air for a little while longer.

As soon as we walked outside, however, and the heat hit us we realized it was hot. Cause we didn't know. So Mom decided that she would sit in the shade while Jack Jack slept and the rest of us would go see some Country Bears. It's slow but really fun mockery of bluegrass. Lovely.

We found Mom and Jack-Jack enjoying birds. There was a family eating a packed lunch in this nice shady spot. It would have been a very nice lunch but these birds were NUTS! So as the family shooed them and tried to get them away, Mom pulled out her camera. She loves birds. And, yes, I KNOW Jack-Jack's not really enjoying the birds here. But you get the idea.

Can you imagine a whole bunch of these trying to eat your lunch?

We decided it was time to use all the FP's we had collected and opted to start with Space Mt. since Mom sincerely thought she could get Boo to sleep. This was AWESOME. Oh, wait, on our way we ran by these guys:

I totally love the street entertainment at WDW. Love it! It just makes the whole atmosphere so fabulous.

Anyway, back to Mom. She just wants to read and while Suzy & I use the potty near Space Mt. she starts singing and rocking Boo. So we waved an walked right on past. This felt FAB! To be just two sisters, kid & hubby free, riding a roller coaster? Whoever heard of such a thing?

The new soundtrack was great. But this was the only pic I got:

Can you believe that? It was like 2 o'clock and there was NO line. We handed in our FP's and walked right on to the next car. It was shocking. Amazing and shocking!
When we came out Jack was still asleep and Boo was NOT. She is not really cooperative. You may have noticed.

So with Jack asleep and Mom now bored and hot we decided to shop since this is something we can't really do peacefully with an awake Jack-Jack. Shopping is a luxury I rarely have as I have a lot of kids around me all the time and shopping loses all joy and costs a lot of money under such circumstances. But Mom, Suzy, me, and Boo had LOTS of fun on this day.

See Mom's non-Disney boring purse? Last time on this trip as she saw & bought a super cool NEW Disney purse!

And we ran into the Dapper Dans:

And Suzy found charm bracelets which she pointed out to me and I later pointed out to my girls.

It was really great. I know I keep saying that, but truly it was peaceful and wonderful.

Coming up next: ATTACK OF THE KILLER BALLOONS!

 

[disneyaddicted]

"Yay! you're back, I have only read up to whee you are going to your first park, but I just wanted to say that I am so happy that Boo did well with the characters, She's growing up that girl. and getting more brave. So happy!

Sorry to hear that you were sick, I will read on and hope that you started to feel better and not worse.

 

[canopynut66]

Just realized I haven't told you all our names. For the March trip there will be a different cast of characters.

But for this one:

Suzy: My sister and other half. Truly, she is my perfect opposite and blend. My dh is my best friend. My sister is my other half.

Mom: My mom. She is my second or third best friend (with Donald first and then she & my sister tied.) She is retired and in her sixties. She and I have spent a lot of time together this year and have gotten even closer than we were before.

Me (Perla): Disney Fan (freak) and mom to three.

Donald: My sweet dh. Also a Disney lover, but not a lover of planning. He's a lover of fun (he's currently playing Monkey Island with the kids all draped all over him watching. That's his version of heaven.)

Mulan: My eldest. (almost 10) A hugger. Serious but a fun seeker. An excellent eldest sister.

Ariel: Middle child alert! (8) She's funny & the most emotional of all of us. Half the time I have no idea what she is talking about. But I can always count on her enthusiasm. She has a very sunny disposition.

Boo: (3.5) Crazy and anxious. Super cute. And obsessed with all things Disney. And cats. And NYC. Terrified of characters. Really looking forward to her princess breakfast.

Jack-Jack: (almost 3) Cutest, sweetest little boy ever. Says hilarious things and does hilarious things. Can't wait to report his every adorable comment to you. He is Suzy's.


I hope my mind records this all because they will all grow up so soon!!!!

My sister is addicted to Goodwill it just a known fact on her days off she cruises all the Goodwills in her area. when she came up to my house I took her to 7 (yes seven) in my area. She advised me she was 'training" me in what colors tags to look for and what days have more of a discount and loves telling me Wednesdays "I" would get even bigger discount!!!! She gets some of the best deals and I admit that. Agree that some must buy these coats and shirts etc for gifts and who they give them to do not like or they do not fit so off to Goodwill they go. She got me a brand new Jiminy Cricket $2.00/tag was $75.00

 

[Sleeping*Beauty]

I am really enjoying your trip report. I need to get better at getting a new Fastpass as soon as I can,

 

[houseful of boys]

So, I just gave my camera to someone else & held Boo & forced her to look at the camera & be cute. Not at all the plan of a frame-able shot of my gorgeous Boo, but at least one decent picture I could scrapbook to prove she was there!

I took this picture of you guys!! I was actually slightly annoyed that when I came out of the restroom I had missed Minnie's House. I was trying to find everyone and you spotted me and called me over to take your picture.

Then while you and Mom took the little ones to the playground I ran back to get FP for Winnie the Pooh. (which by the way you have to retrieve over by Philharmagic due to the construction....it was quite a hike) Now you know I am an easy going parent but when I got back I was secretly horrified to see this.

So nasty.

This always proves a challenge for my family as we do not traverse the parks lightly. No. We have kids, bags, strollers, etc. I opted to sit up a row from my family with a bunch of stuff next to a nice couple who unfortunately for them found themselves being constantly poked with a stroller or Boo's umbrella or something.

This confused me. Why oh why did you and Boo have 3 bags, a stroller and misc. other stuff??? One of the best things about this trip was that it was only me and Jack Jack. Usually, I am the pack mule for 4 boys and 1 man so to just have my baggalini and 1 stroller was so easy, I thought. And even still Boo did not have extra clothes when she needed them later that night. What in heavens was in her backpack?

Here's my shot of Jack Jack and Pirate Goofy. He was sooooooo tired. Those crazy kids had gotten up at 5:30 that morning!!

And check this out!

Awesome! Don't you just hate it when you've carried Fast Passes around very responsibly and then there is absolutely no line! It was so fun to do something just for us.

And shopping in Main Street shops was also amazing. I never, ever do this. It's just so difficult with my kids. So it was great. Question....How much air conditioning does it take to be able to keep your doors wide open and blast the sidewalk with cold air on a 90+ degree day??

And at the last store while getting ready to check out, Jack Jack woke up. What to do next Perla?

 

[estherhead]

"Yay! you're back, I have only read up to whee you are going to your first park, but I just wanted to say that I am so happy that Boo did well with the characters, She's growing up that girl. and getting more brave. So happy!

Sorry to hear that you were sick, I will read on and hope that you started to feel better and not worse.

She's changed even more from WDW! I'm so proud of her.

My sister is addicted to Goodwill it just a known fact on her days off she cruises all the Goodwills in her area. when she came up to my house I took her to 7 (yes seven) in my area. She advised me she was 'training" me in what colors tags to look for and what days have more of a discount and loves telling me Wednesdays "I" would get even bigger discount!!!! She gets some of the best deals and I admit that. Agree that some must buy these coats and shirts etc for gifts and who they give them to do not like or they do not fit so off to Goodwill they go. She got me a brand new Jiminy Cricket $2.00/tag was $75.00

Sounds like I need more training! Awesome!

I am really enjoying your trip report. I need to get better at getting a new Fastpass as soon as I can,

Thanks! Suzy is the one that truly spearheaded the FP system and it was super cool. Definitely do it. During the busy times I can see it being just amazing, for us it was great to practice but there weren't really any lines.

I took this picture of you guys!! I was actually slightly annoyed that when I came out of the restroom I had missed Minnie's House. I was trying to find everyone and you spotted me and called me over to take your picture.

I thought you had. I remembered that you were sitting on the bench in the shade and I was surprised to see you but then I couldn't remember if that was true. Thus the ambiguity.

Then while you and Mom took the little ones to the playground I ran back to get FP for Winnie the Pooh. (which by the way you have to retrieve over by Philharmagic due to the construction....it was quite a hike) Now you know I am an easy going parent but when I got back I was secretly horrified to see this.

So nasty.



This confused me. Why oh why did you and Boo have 3 bags, a stroller and misc. other stuff??? One of the best things about this trip was that it was only me and Jack Jack. Usually, I am the pack mule for 4 boys and 1 man so to just have my baggalini and 1 stroller was so easy, I thought. And even still Boo did not have extra clothes when she needed them later that night. What in heavens was in her backpack?

In her little backpack was our ponchos. In my backpack was bandaids (came in handy) & neosporin, fruit chews, bottle of water, and my empty (when it was empty) refillable mug, and the video camera. The ponchos couldn't go in there because I didn't want the wet ponchos to be on the video camera. And multiple times through my 9 days it would have been a genuine concern. I also had to carry around a stupid Ariel umbrella since Boo's stroller didn't have a sun shade. Because my stupid husband threw away my cool stroller. And it did come in handy so I continued to carry it around. I actually didn't carry anything around that I didn't use.

Here's my shot of Jack Jack and Pirate Goofy. He was sooooooo tired. Those crazy kids had gotten up at 5:30 that morning!!

And check this out!

Awesome! Don't you just hate it when you've carried Fast Passes around very responsibly and then there is absolutely no line! It was so fun to do something just for us.

And shopping in Main Street shops was also amazing. I never, ever do this. It's just so difficult with my kids. So it was great. Question....How much air conditioning does it take to be able to keep your doors wide open and blast the sidewalk with cold air on a 90+ degree day??

I wonder who works in the air conditioning business?

And at the last store while getting ready to check out, Jack Jack woke up. What to do next Perla?

Watching Community and Office now so I'm gonna work on the next chapter!

 

[estherhead]

I apologize in advance if this isn't inspired but I already WROTE this chapter and then my computer got a virus and I had to shut the whole thing down and lost it and Donald had to restore my computer to hours before! So irritating. And now I don't want to write it cause I already did!

But the day itself was being a truly magical day in Magic Kingdom.

So we were done shopping. As we came out there was a guy with balloons and Mom was in a great Disney mood and wanted to buy the kids balloons. Boo picked out a lovely one, and Jack-Jack didn't want one. While Mom was paying a wind came up and the balloons all attacked us. It was funny.

So we walk up Main Street, Mickey balloon in hand. It was just so nice.

Here's the balloon Boo chose. This balloon drove me crazy all day.

But what you also notice is the big group of balloons there in front of Mom. What you don't see is the group of balloons to my left. I'm not sure if there is a rule of how close balloon holders can get to other balloons holders but there should be. Because what happened minutes after I took this shot was HILARIOUS!

I was laughing so hard I didn't take a picture and my words just won't do it. But Mom was happily pushing her stroller taking in the view and walking towards the castle, no clue there was an entire group of balloons behind her. A wind comes up and and the balloons to my left tackle the balloons you see front of Mom in that pic. AND with Boo's balloon! Leaving Mom in an absolute sea of balloons. Her arms were flailing but all the strings were wrapped around all the other strings. The balloon people could not get back apart.

I know, I know you can't really get it. But I assure you, it was so funny. It was $10,000 AFV funny.

After Mom escaped from the Attack of the Killer Balloons and glared at me for laughing and not helping her was headed to the front of the castle where the castle was just starting. I'm not sure if it was the 100 degrees or if the park was just that empty but there was NO ONE there and we walked right up and go these seats!

Donald Duck is Boo's current favorite character. I'm not sure, but I think this show might have helped:

These aren't zoomed, by the way, this was our view:

I enjoyed this thoroughly even though it was really hot. Normally I'm distracted by all the people between me and the show and I'm never willing to actually get here early enough to get good seats and clearly they do make a difference.

I was still distracted, though, as this was when Boo's balloon first started annoying me. It was just so windy this day that the balloon was everywhere hitting all the people around me. Obviously Jack-Jack had known something we didn't know when he decided not to get one.

From here was all decided we need A/C and to use more FP's. Off to Philharmagic! Not sure why I took this pic, but it's one you don't see often on here:

Boo hated this. She doesn't like interactive 4D movies. Although later in the week we tried again and she ended up liking a few. In the spring I think we'll try this again with her new love of Donald. I got up right at the end and left as she couldn't take it anymore. My theory with her this time was to tell her that as soon as she wanted to leave something she could but she had to take the first step towards the door. She rarely took that first step but here she did.

Then it was off to Neverland! At least one of us was excited:

Alright, I took a flash photo. I did check to make sure there were no other boats but I always want in ride pics for my scrapbooks and never get them because you aren't allowed so I decided to break a rule. Sorry! Kind of.

Then we rode Winnie the Pooh. Now, I'm not a complainer about construction. I love change and new stuff and construction. What would Disney be like without construction? Old and super boring. But the construction around Pooh kind of ruined it. I never realized before how important the words in the line are to the whole experience. They should have left a Small World open and put off it's work and just closed Pooh. It was hot and totally messed with my mojo.

This was the only pic I got.

After Pooh I decided to get ice cream for everyone as we could all use a good afternoon pick me up. I decided in my genius that everyone could ride the carousel (there was no line) and I would stand in the ice cream line and bring it to them. Clearly, I'm not from Florida as this was an idiotic mistake. Why do they even see ice cream cones here in September? I got two sundaes & 1 cone and some waters. The nice lady makes the sundaes and waters and puts them in a carrier for me and then makes the cone and hands it to me. As I turn to walk away, so literally 2 seconds after the cone was made, it starts dripping so much it is to my elbow. I knew immediately I was in big trouble and turned back but it was too late she was already helping the person behind me. So I take off running to the carousel. It is slowing down but I can't see them so I'm panicked they would still be in line. I start running even faster to the exit as people are exiting not wanting to miss them and realize the cone is not going to make it. So I plop it on top of one of the sundaes.

Fortunately, they are at the exit right at that moment and we rush to the shade. The cone was for Mom, as I knew that's what she'd want. She actually scooped it up with her hand! She and I were SOOOO sticky you have no idea. I was telling this story to a friend of mine who is from Alabama and he looked at me in surprise. It had never occurred to him why he never ate ice cream in cones as a kid. He said he always wanted a cone and his mom always said no and made them get it in a cup, even when we was older. None of his friends were allowed to have cones either. Evidently his mom was a lot smarter than me!

After we cleaned up we headed to Adventureland.

I wanted to check out the line for Tiana but she was just ending:

So we went to ride Jungle Cruise instead:

We may also have gotten on Aladdin but I can't remember. Hmmm... I'm pretty sure we did as I recall the family we rode with had food, maybe an iced coffee? Do they sell those at MK? Or something from Aloha Isle which would make more sense. But not anything pineapple or I would remember being jealous. Anyway, the mom called the dad over to put it in the stroller as he wasn't in line yet and I recall thinking back to my MK ice cream experience and being sad for her as clearly it was ill-advised. Her iced anything would be 100 degrees by the time they got off Aladdin. They should have just finished their drinks/ice cream and THEN ridden. But they looked like Northerners like us. Not too smart about the heat/humidity factor and iced drinks.

And then it was time for.... DINNER!

 

[estherhead]

Just two notes without editing the above: Notice the frogs they added to the gazebo that already existed now that it is Tiana's home. So awesome. What a simple thing that didn't have to be added that just makes it way cooler.

Also, I KNOW that's the entrance to Adventureland, not Jungle Cruise. Just put the wrong tag on it. I took the pic because why don't my hanging baskets look that cool? I had pretty good ones this year that I fertilized and took care of but even still. They are NOTHING like that one!

 

[houseful of boys]

Actually we didn't ride the magic carpets. While on Jungle Cruise it started pouring, remember? Just out of no where ..... rain. Since this was our first day we didn't realize that it would happen everyday this time of year.

Perla was supposed to cover our strollers before we got on to the ride so they wouldn't get wet in case it rained....but....we had been doing this all afternoon and it hadn't rained. So when we got off jungle cruise our stoller were half dry and half wet because she only half covered them. Fortunately the rain doesn't last long and they dried quickly.

On our way out of the park heading to dinner we spotted these guys.

Now this is when the hugging started getting out of control

Then Pooh had to have a turn

Then Tigger was jealous so he had to hug Pooh

Boo was tired by this point and had yet to take a nap so had no interest in hugging anyone.

Actually Perla, you went into guest relations while Jack Jack and I got this photos.

 

[estherhead]

Actually we didn't ride the magic carpets. While on Jungle Cruise it started pouring, remember? Just out of no where ..... rain. Since this was our first day we didn't realize that it would happen everyday this time of year.

Perla was supposed to cover our strollers before we got on to the ride so they wouldn't get wet in case it rained....but....we had been doing this all afternoon and it hadn't rained. So when we got off jungle cruise our stoller were half dry and half wet because she only half covered them. Fortunately the rain doesn't last long and they dried quickly.

On our way out of the park heading to dinner we spotted these guys.

Now this is when the hugging started getting out of control

Then Pooh had to have a turn

Then Tigger was jealous so he had to hug Pooh

Boo was tired by this point and had yet to take a nap so had no interest in hugging anyone.

Actually Perla, you went into guest relations while Jack Jack and I got this photos.

I've been a bit baffled as I took notes and then let Ariel draw on the other half of the notebook and she lost it. When will I ever learn? So I just have to try and remember and I'm not a good rememberer. Must be that lady was there when I rode with my dh & big kids later in the week.

And yes, I was still obsessed with finding a cm who could remove my tickets from my KTTW card without hurting my dining credits.

I had first tried at my resort desk and they said no way. Then I tried at MK this day. No one exactly said no but they weren't very reassuring. And my year of Disney was dependent on getting AP's!

Boo, as Suzy noted, had no interest whatsoever in meeting Pooh. I was slightly panicked about this as she hadn't been easy this first day. We had taken it very slowly and done things her way and it had gone fine and she had been willing to meet the characters at breakfast. But she was still really tentative and having to leave Philharmagic threw me a bit and then she wouldn't meet Pooh.

I also was still not feeling super good and I was ready to go take care of my congestion. But on that note I was starting to feel like this would not turn into an infection if I just took care of it.

As for the rain, this annoyed me. I just ran back quickly but the thing about this day is it was windy. So things had to be really secured if you wanted them to stay dry. And I just didn't do it. Oh well, live and learn. This day was a real eye opener for me with having to be the only parent. I know I had Mom and Suzy but as I already pointed out I had the video camera, regular camera, iphone camera, Boo, a stroller, 2 bags & my little purse. I did get used to it but this first day was hard on me.

 

[estherhead]

My family loves O'hana. And we love the Poly. Suzy and her family are going to stay at the Poly in November! So we decided to do a bit of scoping for them as well as eat at Kona which we'd never done.

We like to eat early and Mom ended up have some trouble with eating causing her pain so really the earlier the better!

Poly's so gorgeous:

At Kona we were the very first ones.

And it was fairly empty the whole time we were there:

Our yummy drinks:

You've probably figured this out already but we all can only handle one drink, tops. And I'll be honest, I barely could handle this one. It was STRONG! And good. Actually, all of these were delicious and I would order any of them. The bread was really good too and we ate it all up!

Boo ate all the pasta & Jack-Jack ate the chicken. Lesson learned! No need to order 2 kids meals for these two. What one wouldn't eat the other would. Together they made one person:

Mmmmm. I knew I wanted these before we got here. Duck wontons. These were good but they weren't the best dumplings I've ever had. The little salad there, though, and the ginger sauce was amazing! It doesn't look like much but it truly was fabulous. So I made sure to have a bite of it with every bite of dumpling.

Because it was fairly empty I let Boo play on the floor. But things got quite out of control and she and Jack got a bit out of control for any kind of restaurant, even a mostly empty one. So Suzy made some rules and I let her. I figure the person who makes the rules has to enforce the rules. Leaving me to enjoy my dinner .

This was Mom's. Tuna Oscar. She liked it but the fried green tomatoes were the highlight. Not the tuna.

Here's mine. Coconut Almond Chicken. The chicken was just plain sweet. Way too sweet. It was deliciously crunchy but I wouldn't order it again. And the sauce was sweet too. The salad was amazing, though. I'd eat it every day. Unfortunately, it was also sweet which just made the chicken that much more sweet. It was way too much.

Here's Suzy's. Pan Asian noodles with shrimp. She liked it but wouldn't order it again.

And here is Mom's dessert. Coconut tart with raspberries and lychees. Boo ate all the raspberries. Mom loved the lychees. The stick thing on top was yummy. And the tort was too but it was all a bit much for my palatte after a sweet drink, sweet chicken, and sweet salad. And I hate lychees.

I had ordered the Chef's Experience so I got the Kilauea Torte. It was good but all just overloaded me.

I would go here again in a heartbeat. But I wouldn't order what I ordered.

After dinner the plan was to kill some time exploring and relaxing and then head back to MK for Wishes.

Let the relaxing commence!

I mostly sat in a swing facing this view:

Mom mostly laid here (it got more relaxing once the kids got out):

Now that, my friend, is the life! Look at this view! Just chilling, feet up, swinging slowly, watching the kids and the castle.

Then here is a true confession. We pool hopped! I swear, we are NOT pool hoppers. We may let our children roll about on the ground from time to time. Well, ok, I may let them. Suzy not so much. But pool hoppers is even a bit much for us. However, while I was off going to the potty Suzy lost the children to this:

There was no one playing at this little area and boy, did our kids enjoy it. So truly I think no Poly guests, CM's, nor, really, anyone in the world was hurt by this happening. But now you know. Who we really are. And don't you dare follow our bad example.

Who we aren't, however, is smart people. Because smart people would have had a change of clothes for two preschoolers and a long day at Disney World. Fools, fools we were. These kids laughed and played. And they were soaked to the absolute skin.

Mom and I headed into the Poly to find something for them to wear and discovered that the Poly has nice things but not much in the way of 2T & 3T. To be honest, this was literally our own choices. We had a choice of 3 t-shirts for Jack and one pair of shorts. And for Boo it was even more limited and we ended up buying a nightgown that was too big for her but SOOO cute.

I tried forever to get this pic. What happened is we changed them and then went to grab a boat. But we just barely missed the first boat so we were on this dock a long time. This was really stressful for me because Boo had no underwear on! And she really wanted to twirl in her new nightgown and hold it above her head. Sigh. So it seemed like forever that I chased these kids around this dock trying get a good picture and keep Boo's "dress" down.

It only got more complicated on the boat as don't forget I have a stroller, a balloon, three bags & a Disney bag full of wet clothes, and an umbrella. And a pantie-less preschooler who wants to pull her dress up. Normally I love Disney boat rides but this one could not have ended sooner!!!!

At the MK gate we parted ways as Boo was scared to see the fireworks and I wasn't feeling well and was scared if I didn't nip it in the bud I'd get worse. So we headed to the resort instead.

LOVE POR! And I loved our housekeeper:

Boo got a snack and watched the old cartoon channel and slowly fell in love with Donald Duck.

I took really good care of myself this night and took my turn in the rotation of beds. This night did not go well as Boo drove me up one wall and down the other. Ugh.

But our first day had been DELIGHTFUL! And the wonderful thing about this trip is every day seemed better than the one before. So stay tuned!

 

[estherhead]

Sorry! My duck dumpling picture didn't get put in above and when I tried to add it I was over my picture count! So it got complicated. So
instead you get it here:

 

[ellajeansmom]

Hi there!

Very much enjoying your TR I think I read your 2008 TR - I wasn't into posting comments then but thought it was great!

Isn't POR wonderful?! We were in building 18 so just along the river from bldg 14 and in the corner room that looked out at the water. It was lovely

Aside from melting ice cream and balloon attacks (which are really just part of the fun) sounds like a great first day What a wonderful trip for the "babies" of the families to have on their own and not have to compete with the older kids, and grandma's along too!

Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Lovin' your trip report!

 

[estherhead]

Hi there!

Very much enjoying your TR I think I read your 2008 TR - I wasn't into posting comments then but thought it was great!

Isn't POR wonderful?! We were in building 18 so just along the river from bldg 14 and in the corner room that looked out at the water. It was lovely

Aside from melting ice cream and balloon attacks (which are really just part of the fun) sounds like a great first day What a wonderful trip for the "babies" of the families to have on their own and not have to compete with the older kids, and grandma's along too!

Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!

Thanks! It really was amazing to have just the little ones and have the freedom to do only what they wanted. Donald just put all the video we took onto a DVD and we watched it this morning and I have the first balloon attack on film! But, of course, not the full out attack on Mom. Definitely part of the fun!

And yes, POR was fabulous. at first stay.

Lovin' your trip report!

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it!

 

[houseful of boys]

This was Mom's. Tuna Oscar. She liked it but the fried green tomatoes were the highlight. Not the tuna.

This comes from a girl who doesn't eat fish. The tuna was amazing!! I loved it and wanted to steal this dish from mom.

Here's Suzy's. Pan Asian noodles with shrimp. She liked it but wouldn't order it again.

This was pretty good but when I go to Kona in November the reason I will not be ordering this dish again is because I will be ordering the Tuna!!!

I mostly sat in a swing

Here's proof

Then here is a true confession. We pool hopped!

Come on.....this wasn't pool hopping!! The place was deserted and they ran thru the water squirter area. No beach bags were pulled out. No bathing suits and towels hogging up Poly guest's chairs. Actually, Perla was taking a restroom break and I was walking around with Jack jack. We stumbled across this area and he started playing. I wasn't expecting it because earlier that day he nor Boo would get even the littlest bit wet at Donald's boat. But an hour relaxing on the beach and with belly full I guess things are different.

Mom, Jack Jack, and I went back into MK to watch Wishes.

We got there about an hour ahead of time and staked out a good spot on the curb right on the hub on the Tommorrowland side of Walt. We sat for about 20 minutes and then I realized that if I hurried Jack jack and I could sneak in a last ride of Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. So that's what we did. Mom stayed with our stroller on the curb and I carried Jack jack to Buzz. Then we came back for this.

Disney at night.

I had brought a light up Buzz and a light up bracelet that we had gotten at DisneyLand back in June but Jack Jack saw the light up swords and had to have one. Since I had planned on buying him a light saber this trip due to his newfound love of all things Star Wars, I decided that a $10 light up sword was a good deal. Plus I thought it was really cool too.

What a big day!!

 

[estherhead]

I see. I didn't realize the tuna was such a big hit! Mom just kept going on & on about the tomatoes. Guess she was just talking up what she knew I'd like!

And of course we wouldn't really pool hop. Because pool hopping is silly. I mean, from a mom's point of view, why on earth would I take a bunch of kids to another resort? Carry all the towels & stuff. It just sounds dreadful. And I've stayed at All Star Resorts. Not the best pools in the world but kids seriously do not know the difference! Very silly.

Coming up! EPCOT! Is Epcot fun with preschoolers? Must you get to rope drop to avoid all lines? Stay tuned!

 

[estherhead]

That is the question posed on this day. No Test Track, no Mission:Space, no Soarin', no Maelstrom, no Kim Possible. No Innovations. I have spent much of the last 10 years of WDW trips sitting outside.

The problem with future world is you can't take strollers into the pavilions. This is a big issue for those of us with little ones. That means if you have a sleeping baby: no air conditioning for you! Nothing interesting. Just sit in the heat with your sleeping baby. While your family does fun stuff.

So it was quite interesting to me how this day would run. The first thing we did which we normally don't is make two ADR's: One for Coral Reef and one for Akershus.

But back to the beginning. Of the day. In the wee hours of the morning Boo just could not settle. When she needs comfort she plays with my hair. By this time of the night she had played with my hair so much my head was hurting. So I kept shifting to try and get comfortable and reveal a new spot on head for her to yank on. Which made her shift. It was FOREVER OF H***. This is why three year olds have their own beds. I think the main issue is she's a pretty light sleeper and we were with Mom who (don't tell her I told you) can snore. Not all the time. But I'm just saying.

So Boo couldn't fall asleep. And every part of my head was sore. Anyway I started laying on her hands and legs. Call me evil if you want but I thought if I kind of swaddled her with my body she'd settle and drop back to sleep. It would almost work. We would almost drop off to sleep. And then a hand would wiggle out & hair yank and then a leg would wiggle out and fling itself over me. Yeah, she likes to put her leg up when she sleeps too.

Anyway after about 2 hours of this full out wrestling match I yelled at her. It actually kinda worked. We slept after that. But unfortunately it woke up everyone else too. Whoops!

And it only worked for a little while. I was awake way earlier than I planned this morning. Also, I woke up really congested. Because of that I decided to take a long hot shower and get the final bit of crud out of my lungs. I had realized in the middle of the night that my diligence was paying off and I was getting healthier. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get infected. But you know the end of the cold how everything drains? Yup. The shower helped. A lot. And because there was no need for anyone else to be awake there was no need for me to hurry. Delightful. Almost made up for not sleeping.

But everyone did get up and we did our morning routine. Mom went to eat at the food court, we got hot food (waffle for Jack, eggs for Boo), Suzy & I ate our Kashi bars. We got ready and packed. We did change one thing, however.

TIP TIME! Florida weather does not equal quality hair. Curly hair frizzes. Straight hair flattens. Please don't bother doing your hair. Seriously. Day one we had attempted. But on this morning, despite our short hair, we put it up in sad little pony tails and then little clips. And then we hair sprayed it with a thick coat. It was perfect. It was cool, looked put together (for Florida hair), and lasted all day without another thought. The tip is this: bring cute things to put your hair up & hard freeze hairspray. Then go ahead and do it on day one. You'll be glad you did!

Ok. So we were finally ready to leave the room at about 9:30 which is crazy late for us. Because we know that the biggest secret to skipping all the lines is: GET THERE EARLY!!! You will see this in action on DHS day. But since we weren't even sure what we were doing at Epcot we moseyed.

On our way to fill up our refillable mugs we stopped to chase these guys:

To any normal person these are just a beautiful part of the scenery. But for our kids they were a very important part of the vacation. And Boo, from the very beginning, called them ducks and mangoes. I have absolutely no idea. None of us had ever called them by their name, that I know of, and I tried to tell her they were Ibis. But she was having none of it.

"Here Mango! Here little Mango!" she would yell as she chased them. So that's it. From now on in our family these are Mangos.

The bus came fairly quickly. There was a full one that didn't pass us and we were all like, "here's the bus!" and then "oh man!" But the next bus was for us too and the bonus of having to wait for the second bus is? No people!

Woohoo! Great seats.

I think Epcot is the easiest park to get into. From a bus, monorail, or car it's right there. I've picked up my family from Epcot and just driven right to the front. I like that.

So we hopped off the bus, got our bags checked, and our picture taken:

Are we cheesy? Did we plan to match? Yup. Mom even bought a pink Minnie shirt so she could match. Again, we're cheesy. Which is the absolute best way to be.

Fountain!

Does anyone else love bird's of paradise? Raise your hands. Surely I'm not the only one. Love them!

Boo and I volunteered to get Soarin' FP's (just in case we wanted to ride it later) while Suzy & Mom & Jack-Jack went to the Universe of Energy. I had youtubed it (Another TIP!!! Youtube the rides before you go with your little ones. If it scares them while they are sitting on their couch at home, it'll scare them in person) and knew that it should probably be skipped with Boo. She's not completely comfortable with dinosaurs although she is coming around and I may try it in March.

But I was just at such a slower pace than normal that I took time to notice things I don't normally.

Find these next time you go. I pointed them out later to my family and it was really nice to talk about inventions with my big girls.

Also I really studied these mosaics. The whole building and sign have such nice mosaics.

Once we had the FP's we went to see the Circle of Life

I hadn't seen this, well, maybe ever. I certainly didn't remember it. But I thought Boo would like it since it's just a movie and is Lion King based. Sadly, we almost walked out of it because she got absolutely terrified. What in the world would terrify a preschooler in a tame nature movie. Wait for it (and really, try to guess.) In the mean time here's a pic of her pre-movie before she knew this was a terrifying movie:

Did you guess?














Pollution. That's right. The section on pollution and sludge totally freaked her out. And we even stood up and moved closer to the door. But then the Lion King song came back on and she settled back down.

After that we walked back to the center of Epcot to meet the rest. But they weren't quite done and I had to go to the potty. The closest one was in the building with Character Connection where you can meet the Fab Five. The line was forever but Boo was content to watch the other children get their pics with Mickey.

And after I went potty she wanted to watch the movies that played:

Even though it's ridiculous to wait in a line for something you don't want to do, it was air conditioned and I was going to have to wait somewhere. So I pushed her into the line, plopped down on the floor and waved people past us. Was it odd? Yes. But it was nice. I texted Donald about our trip and after 15 minutes or so it was time to meet up with the rest. Back into the heat!

Fine. We might text a bit too much.

That's what you get when everyone in the family has iphones.

Next on our list was Imagination:

When I say there was no one in here I'm not kidding. We were the only tourists in the building. And the two guys running the ride were the oldest guys I've ever seen working at WDW. Because Disney is smart and this is the perfect job for people who are 100. I like Figment. And I like the activities afterward. Why don't people like this ride? It's perfect for preschoolers.

Imagination, imagination,
A dream, a dream can be a dream come true,
with just a spark from me and you.

And we hopped on all the musical instruments. Normally there are so many kids here you can't hear the individual instruments because there is a kid standing on each one. But since we were the only ones here we could jump on one at a time.

I also hung out in the gift shop and actually bought something instead of just playing and not buying anything. A spinning airplane light up candy toy. Very good value. Candy, flashlight, spinny toy all for cheap.

After this we went to see Captain:EO. I knew it was George Lucas and Michael Jackson and I knew it was retro. That's where my knowledge stopped. So I happily walked in. Suzy and I discussed a bit as she had seen it in Disneyland but I opted to take Boo in. Had I seen the preshow I would have known it was a mistake. But we walked right in when the preshow was ending.

We sat right next to the door just in case. And left within 30 seconds of it starting. Oh well. Boo and I just hung outside watching the water jump from hole to hole. I could watch that all day and I videotaped way too much of it. We also watched a lizard for awhile.

Then they came out and I ran in to see if I could catch the very next showing. Nope. So I stood in the big empty room a bit and then it filled with a bunch of hispanic people. The guy running the show explained in GREAT detail that you are NOT allowed to sit down in the preshow room. Honestly, he went on and on and on. So we go in and every single person other than me sat. Because they all spoke Spanish. I'm sure some of them had understood him but it's just not the same when it's not your language. So after the preshow room was full of illegally sitting people the same super bossy guy comes in and gives the entire speech in English again. And everyone is still sitting. So then he says, "And for our Spanish friends, No se siente en el suelo." And every single person stood up.

This was interesting to me. For two reasons. Why not say it the short way in Spanish and English to begin with? Why give me, the only native English speaker and the only person standing the same, boring, bossy speech twice about how only people who want to die would sit down? And why is it we only obey things in our native tongue? Even if we can translate it, it just doesn't have the same power when we half guess what it means in our head as when someone commands it crystal clear from the outside. We are all that way. That's why the big Disney people who run the monorail repeat "stand clear of the doors" in Spanish. Because they are smart.

Anyhow, after this lesson in brevity we watched the preshow and were allowed into the theater. I loved this. Hilarious. I loved Michael Jackson's shirt. And lots of people were wearing that shirt at Disney the week we were there. So I wasn't the only one. I'm so glad it's not 1980-1995. But I'm more than willing to watch and make fun of all of us who lived through it.

Suzy & crew rode Nemo and checked us in at Coral Reef. And I ran to get there!

Don't be confused as we weren't by the window. But the table was empty and this was the biggest turtle I'd ever seen so I got up to take a picture:

The kids got their toys:

But this picture is after Jack-Jack stopped crying. He cried and he cried and we just couldn't figure out why. Finally I think Mom figured it out. She had bought him a Buzz Lightyear scope type thing that you look through. He didn't know the name (clearly I don't either) and he wanted it but since none of us had a clue what he was talking about and Suzy didn't have it he just kept getting more frustrated. Poor tyke.

I had learned my lesson about getting a sweet entree and got the steak. I liked it a lot. And I loved my chocolate wave:

Boo ate all my raspberries, of course.

I mentioned at the end of this meal that I didn't understand the horrible reviews of this place. But Suzy and Mom disagreed with me. It wasn't that it was horrible. But, as they pointed out, with all the other options at Epcot, why eat here? And when put that way, I agree. There are many, well, almost all the restaurants at Epcot that I would prefer over this one. So it gets bad reviews not on it's own lameness but by comparison, why eat here?

So when all was said and done I took a picture of the highlight of our meal:

And then we were off to explore the Seas. But I'll be over my photo count so next time...

 

[BelleTinkMom]

Hi there! I'm lovin your TR and so jealous on how many times you will be going to DW this year. I wish I could take a trip with my 10 year old and then one with my 5 year old, but DH would be too jealous.

We ate at Coral Reef on our 2009 trip and we loved it.

Can't wait to hear more.