That Mickey sure is one smart cookie!! May 2011 CBR TR (update 08/13)

[lbuzz52]

We've spilled a few drinks in our day too. LOL!
I'm just glad Rapunzel was safe with the stroller accident.

i was glad we didn't spill on the crowd!

More than a few spilled drinks in our time too. So many that now, I bring no spill bottles and pour drinks into them. My dh would have stayed crabby about it too.

I kind of want to see Fantasmic, but between the wait outside, then the wait inside and the chances someone will need to go potty meaning we'd lose our seats because everyone would have to get up, and the chances that someone would get scared, I just didn't go in the last time. We watched the high fireworks on our way out the first time we were there. Hoping to see Illuminations on our upcoming trip on our 2nd Epcot day.

Enjoyed your pictures of it. Glad Maya found the toy she was looking for. We had that on our first trip, only with an Ariel set. Ariana wanted it early in the week and I told her to wait and we almost didn't find it again. I was sweating on that one.

one thing you can count on me to say every night is "watch out for my drink". once everything is done with dinner/ baths/ whatever, i take a glass of tea in the living room and play with the kids. it shocks me how frequently they spill my cup, even with it there nightly

i'm sure if you sat at F! for a while before it started, you could buddy up enough to have someone spread out to save your seats for a restroom break. that being said, for us, it isnt' an every trip show.

 

[lovethattink]

Great update!! F! can be scary for kids. Too bad about all the drink spills, lol. Glad Rapunzel was safe! I found that once my washed or wet stuff isn't dripping, the fastest place to dry them is on hangers in the closet spaced far enough apart not to touch anything.

 

[luvmy2babies]

one thing you can count on me to say every night is "watch out for my drink". once everything is done with dinner/ baths/ whatever, i take a glass of tea in the living room and play with the kids. it shocks me how frequently they spill my cup, even with it there nightly

This made me . I could probably have "Watch out for my drink" on a t-shirt.

i'm sure if you sat at F! for a while before it started, you could buddy up enough to have someone spread out to save your seats for a restroom break. that being said, for us, it isnt' an every trip show.

You're probably right. Perhaps we will give it a try on a future trip. It’s on youtube, so I can try showing it to them ahead of time to see what happens. People seem to really love it. It looks like they'll have two showings most nights during our trip and I guess that is based on demand and the limited seating. I don't see them doing that at MK or Epcot, at least not at this point. They do have two Main Street Electrical Parades scheduled each night at MK.

The last time we were only in DHS that late because we arrived in the afternoon after Ariana recovered from a stomach issue. I’d had to cancel Hollywood and Vine that morning and we didn’t get there until 1:30 or 2. I pushed her in the stroller for a while until she was up to walking again. This time we’re doing DHS from our 8:15 ADR at Hollywood and Vine to probably just after the afternoon parade, then heading back to spend the afternoon/evening around the pool/resort. That’s the plan anyway.

Really enjoying your report. Motivation for me to get mine done after our trip. I started on one after our first trip and never finished it. That's partly why there are so many pictures from our first trip in my PTR for the one this month.

 

[lbuzz52]

This made me . I could probably have "Watch out for my drink" on a t-shirt.



You're probably right. Perhaps we will give it a try on a future trip. It’s on youtube, so I can try showing it to them ahead of time to see what happens. People seem to really love it. It looks like they'll have two showings most nights during our trip and I guess that is based on demand and the limited seating. I don't see them doing that at MK or Epcot, at least not at this point. They do have two Main Street Electrical Parades scheduled each night at MK.

The last time we were only in DHS that late because we arrived in the afternoon after Ariana recovered from a stomach issue. I’d had to cancel Hollywood and Vine that morning and we didn’t get there until 1:30 or 2. I pushed her in the stroller for a while until she was up to walking again. This time we’re doing DHS from our 8:15 ADR at Hollywood and Vine to probably just after the afternoon parade, then heading back to spend the afternoon/evening around the pool/resort. That’s the plan anyway.

Really enjoying your report. Motivation for me to get mine done after our trip. I started on one after our first trip and never finished it. That's partly why there are so many pictures from our first trip in my PTR for the one this month.

I'm glad you are sharing your pictures- even if it is within a PTR. The days are so much longer in the summer. i'm not sure if my kids would make it open to close with longer hours. I'd rather do the smaller crowds during the mornings if i had to choose, for sure. when we went in the summer time as kids, we were lucky enough to stay at the monorail resorts. (i'm not sure, but i'm betting that there were much more affordable rates- there definitely weren't as many resorts to choose from). Anyway, we would be there for rope drop, stay until after lunch, go park for a swim and a nap, and go back for dinner to close. we'd sleep just a few hours at night, and a couple in the afternoon, but it got us away from the worst of the heat and the crowds. We'd have the best ride times during the parades in the evenings.

Great update!! F! can be scary for kids. Too bad about all the drink spills, lol. Glad Rapunzel was safe! I found that once my washed or wet stuff isn't dripping, the fastest place to dry them is on hangers in the closet spaced far enough apart not to touch anything.

that is a good idea, in the closet. i'm not sure why they were drying so slowly. i ended up laying them over the air conditioning while we were in the room.LOL.

 

[lbuzz52]

Tuesday, may 17th- our last full park day.

James woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and was feeling cruddy. I don't think anything was wrong with him. I just think a long, physically demanding week with no naps had caught up to him.


However, our special letter today said we could not sleep in. We had an ADR at 8:10 for Crystal Palace! More time with his 100 acre friends!

​

Maya was also going to have a special moment today. Her one request this trip was to meet Rapunzel. As you all know, the times for this get crazy. So I had planned to make it to the line before the park was officially open.


Mickey also had another surprise for the kids today- special tee shirts, made just for them!


We opened the door and a bunny family was sitting there as if they were waiting to greet us.


We made it to the bus stop at 7:15. I was so proud of us (lol) By 750 we were at the turnstyles. The difference in the line was amazing!

I wanted a photopass picture in front of the castle with low crowds. We decided to change it up a bit and go closer to the castle for the picture. Of course, the only photopass photographer down there was already with a family. She must have known them or something because she took forever with them. She took pictures in multiple groupings, and even walked them to different spots. When it was our turn , she had found some other CM to chat with and definitely hurried through ours. We didn't have time to be picky though; we needed to move on to CP check -in.

There was a bit of a line to check in. i snapped a few pictures as we waited.

It was 8:15 by the time our buzzer went off. We were loved the scenery inside!

Pooh came by immediately.

My camera had the low battery signal, even though i had charged the batteries overnight. I brought a backup set, so I put those in. Same signal. I hoped for the best and assumed I'd have to buy batteries somewhere later that day. (I actually have no idea why it said that. I'm still using the same set of batteries at home month later)


There was a break in characters, so We went up for our food. Everyone was in line for the made to order omelettes so we decided we'd come back for those later. We grabbed breakfast pizza, puffed toast, scrambled eggs. I forgot syrup!


When we returned to our table, Eeyore was almost to us. But right before he came to our table, he waived and walked off. When he came back out, he joined in the parade.

And then he went over to the far side of the room. We told his handler that he never got to us before starting over at the other side. She told us he must have gotten lost and she'd have him over soon.

In the meantime, we went back up to check on the omelet line. It was twice as long now, so I settled for a second piece of yummy puffed toast. Well, i wouldn't really consider it settling. that stuff is great! It kind of reminds me of a beignet with out the powdered sugar. It was now about 8:45 and we still had two characters to see. We told our waitress we were ready for our check and that we had not seen Tigger or Piglet yet.

We were out of dining credits, so we charged the bill to the room. I can't be certain anymore, but for some reason i want to say that the total was about $87 with tip.


We waited a few more minutes, but Maya and I then had to go.

 

[jenseib]

I hate when the characters pass you by, but at least they usually make it back to you if you say something.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Nice pictures. I am really looking forward to our early ADR at Crystal Palace. Wasn't brave enough to schedule the earliest reservation. I got 8:30. On our first trip we had a Chef Mickey's ADR at 8:40 and made it comfortably even though we walked from the ASMo bus stop to the CR.

Can I ask what time the bus came by to pick you up? I'm guessing by 7:30. I am figuring we will be okay if we are out at the stop by 7:15.

I'm glad to see your photopass picture. I was wondering if they were out that early. Hopefully we can snag one.

Other thing is I've been practicing having ds eat with no high chair. Trying to decide if we can do our ADRs with out it. It was easy for the characters to interact with him when he was sitting it in and for me to take the pictures. We are working on it, but I'm not sure he wouldn't see a character a ways off and take off running if he was in a regular chair. Probably try a regular chair at a couple of CS places first. I'm sure James is a bit taller than Elijah. How did he do?

 

[lbuzz52]

I hate when the characters pass you by, but at least they usually make it back to you if you say something.

luck of the draw, thankfully we still saw them all though!

Nice pictures. I am really looking forward to our early ADR at Crystal Palace. Wasn't brave enough to schedule the earliest reservation. I got 8:30. On our first trip we had a Chef Mickey's ADR at 8:40 and made it comfortably even though we walked from the ASMo bus stop to the CR.

Can I ask what time the bus came by to pick you up? I'm guessing by 7:30. I am figuring we will be okay if we are out at the stop by 7:15.

I'm glad to see your photopass picture. I was wondering if they were out that early. Hopefully we can snag one.

Other thing is I've been practicing having ds eat with no high chair. Trying to decide if we can do our ADRs with out it. It was easy for the characters to interact with him when he was sitting it in and for me to take the pictures. We are working on it, but I'm not sure he wouldn't see a character a ways off and take off running if he was in a regular chair. Probably try a regular chair at a couple of CS places first. I'm sure James is a bit taller than Elijah. How did he do?

i had requested a highchair at all the meals. however, i quickly changed that. first of all, the highchairs there are TINY! James barely fit in them. and second of all, it wouldn't have made sense when it came to getting up to hug the characters. that being said, James was hit or miss with staying seated. He would do well, then at the end of the meals he would choose to stand up and wander around our table. He wasn't really brave enough to just take off, like he would be now.

I looked back on last year's itinerary, and i had listed 7:15 for the bus. i'd imagine that i aimed for that time to be at the bus stop. I'd say that we were there somewhere around 7:45 or 7:50. so yeah, it was probably 7:25 or so when we were picked up. our ADR was 8:05

definitely try to get some photopass!

 

[lbuzz52]

I need some brainstorming help please!

any thoughts for a Merida or Brave cake or cupcake? I just don't have many ideas at all!

 

[Lidian]

I need some brainstorming help please!

any thoughts for a Merida or Brave cake or cupcake? I just don't have many ideas at all!

I commented on your other thread with some suggestions I was considering:

bears
girl with long curly, red hair
archery
woodsy colors (if you want to go kinda plain)
Scottish theme (plaids, kilts, etc)'

Try hitting up a party store (or aisle) and seeing if they have anything to help with your theme! I'm not sure if you're going to do them yourself, if you're going to pipe decor, go for PVC stuff, or what ... but those are what I'm considering for our movie night!

 

[lbuzz52]

I commented on your other thread with some suggestions I was considering:

bears
girl with long curly, red hair
archery
woodsy colors (if you want to go kinda plain)
Scottish theme (plaids, kilts, etc)'

Try hitting up a party store (or aisle) and seeing if they have anything to help with your theme! I'm not sure if you're going to do them yourself, if you're going to pipe decor, go for PVC stuff, or what ... but those are what I'm considering for our movie night!

all great thoughts. i don't know if we are going to do them ourselves or not. Chris usually does them- but after last summer's melting fondant disaster, he is contemplating letting his coworker do it. that guy's parents own a bakery.

 

[Lidian]

all great thoughts. i don't know if we are going to do them ourselves or not. Chris usually does them- but after last summer's melting fondant disaster, he is contemplating letting his coworker do it. that guy's parents own a bakery.

Odds are high, I was probably going to make cupcakes with green frosting ... and put chocolate teddy grahams on them.

But if Chris's coworker can do awesome stuff, then DO IT!

I'll probably have my sister do a lot of our cupcake treats. She's really good with piping and fondant work. She actually makes some really awesome cakes! And I usually get to keep her kiddos when she makes them, so yay!

Anyway, anxious to hear what you end up with!!!!

 

[lbuzz52]

When we last left off, we were still waiting for a couple characters at Crystal Palace. However, Maya and I couldn't wait any longer.





She was pretty bummed about missing Piglet. We hated to cut short James' special meal, but we had to be in line for Rapunzel before the main rope drop. I really felt bad, as if i was choosing one kid over the other. It seemed like a good plan when i made it, but next time i wont schedule two important events back to back like that.


They allow parents to wait in line and the kids to join later, so I could have left Maya with Chris for another 5 minutes or so- but then Chris could have had to leave to bring her and they could have both missed out on Tigger and Piglet.

The boys waited for the last characters, and we headed on our way at a couple minutes before nine. I left the camera with Chris, with instructions to be there before 9:15.

​

We walked as quickly as our legs would take us. I was afraid we had cut it too close. We passed by the castle and soon we met up with the CM at Rapunzel. She pointed to where she wanted us to START the line! We were absolutely shocked to find that we were FIRST in line!

A minute later, a second CM led another half a dozen or so families to the line behind us. I guess they had gone through the castle or he had made them wait until rope drop after breakfast at CRT?

Chris and James came up and had trouble finding us. They weren't expecting is to be at the very front. As soon as they arrived, we were told to move the strollers to the side by the restaurant and enter. By this point, there were probably 25 or so families in line from pre-park opening ADRs alone. And the rope drop crowd had not yet made it. Those who didn't make it by maybe 9:05 were already too late for the first group. I felt bad for those who were running to make it. It's crazy that being there for rope drop puts you in line for more than an hour (the 10:xx show) but they were already filling that show before we walked in for the first one.

while we were waiting.​

The kids were placed at large table for coloring. James decided he wanted to participate too, so Maya made a spot for him next to her. The adults were directed to line up on the ramp in the same order we were originally.

After about 5 minutes, the children were told to join their parents in line because the guests of honor would be arriving soon. Once everyone was with the adult they belonged to, we were told to shout Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair.

the bonus photopass shot​

About this time, we realized the autograph books were in the stroller. We had been surprised we were being let in before 9:15, and in our rush to move the strollers we just forgot again!

Rapunzel took her time admiring Maya's shirt, and asked her if she lived in a tower too!

maya drug James over for some attention too.

one of my favorites from the trip!

We were done by 9:20. We decided to try one more time for Dumbo. Once again, the line was already 35 minutes. What can I say? We've been spoiled by low crowds and short lines on our trips. Chris doesn't see the appeal for this ride anyway. So once again we chose to skip it. Instead we chose to ride Peter Pan with a five minute wait. But first we grabbed a fastpass with 1010 opening and another surprise set for Philharmagic.


We had been asking Maya if she wanted to ride with her hands up on every thrill ride. Her response was always the same- "no!!" Well, Maya rode Peter Pan with her hands up the whole time. She was so proud of herself! She thought she was really big and brave for this

 

[Lidian]

Sorry that you missed some characters at CP.

That's completely amazing that you were FIRST in line to see Rapunzel! You got some amazing shots of the kiddos on your CD!!

That's impressive Maya was able to ride with her hands up on Peter Pan! You'll need to watch her, she sounds like the little daredevil. (Adorable story!!!)

 

[AKL LOVER]

The Rapunzel pictures are SO cute!! We still haven't made it to see her yet. My DD says she wants to, but then we get there and the reality is that she HATES to wait in line, so we always skip it! I think it upsets me more than her although I can't figure out why. If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to. Meh.

 

[lbuzz52]

Sorry that you missed some characters at CP.

That's completely amazing that you were FIRST in line to see Rapunzel! You got some amazing shots of the kiddos on your CD!!

That's impressive Maya was able to ride with her hands up on Peter Pan! You'll need to watch her, she sounds like the little daredevil. (Adorable story!!!)

it was amazing to be first in line! Make me completely believe in prepark openings for sure.
Thanks for the compliments on the kiddos!
Yes, Maya was quite the daredevil.haha! But now she's begging to ride tower of terror and rock n roller coaster so maybe she'll become my roller coaster partner yet!

The Rapunzel pictures are SO cute!! We still haven't made it to see her yet. My DD says she wants to, but then we get there and the reality is that she HATES to wait in line, so we always skip it! I think it upsets me more than her although I can't figure out why. If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to. Meh.

we were so incredibly lucky with our wait time for her!
Hopefully rapunzels wait time will really lessen with Merida being the new girl now. I hope you and your dd get to meet her!

 

[lovethattink]

Great pics with Rapunzel and Flynn.

 

[lbuzz52]

Great pics with Rapunzel and Flynn.

thanks!

 

[lbuzz52]

Next, we headed to Haunted Mansion and were pleased to find it a walk on. We took the new side of the queue and played in the interactive portion a bit.

When we got to the room, I actually remembered to stand on the side that opens so we got on quickly. James did well. He was nervous at one spot but easily reassured. He might not have registered for the new scene. My head was blown up like a balloon until it popped. Maya and chris' heads were taken off and exchanged.


It was approaching 10, so we decided to see if Tiana and Naveen were out yet. They were, and the line was short! This was one of my favorite interactions of the trip. We spent a good 10 minutes with them, and they were so in character!

We were also excited because we had seen so many characters by this point, in addition to a few princes and a couple queens. We were up to 8 princesses!

James was especially excited to see Naveeen

Maya told Tiana that she had dressed up as her for BBB and she was so pleased. She told her that she had her cookbook. Tiana told her she must try the recipe on page 48; it's her favorite.

James then took his turn with Tiana. She got down on his level and discussed Pooh Bear. She told him that he comes in to her restaurant all the time, and he always orders honey biscuits.

Meanwhile, Maya and Naveen were deep into a conversation about which princesses we still had to see. When she said Jasmine, Naveen told Maya to tell Aladdin his monkey needs a bath. She got a big kick out of this.

​

Yes, he was still talking about that silly monkey! Finally he has said all he needed to say and we moved on to give another family their turn.

We decided to grab a set of fastpasses for BTMR next and got a 10:50 return time. Chris and Maya then headed to Splash. I was growing tired of the playground there, so I decided I'd take James to Tom Sawyer and if they were done before we were they could go ahead and ride Thunder too. However, James had other plans. He had absolutely no interest in getting on that boat to Tom Sawyer's Island. And he was not shy about it.

What he really wanted to do was ride Splash. Poor thing. He had no idea that he wasn't tall enough to ride. Luckily he was amused by just watching the boats come down the drop. We stood there for the longest time watching, and he clapped with each drop. I asked him a few times if he was ready to see if daddy and sissy were back yet but he wasn't.

"no momma, one more water, one more water"

Eventually, we saw Maya and Chris coming back to where we had left the strollers. Apparently Maya had decided she didn't want to get her Rapunzel shirt wet and they rode BTMR instead.

We only had about 5 minutes or so until our next fastpass was opening, so we hit the restroom and waited at the playground until our FP were open. I could tell Chris wasn't feeling it today because even this seemed like to long of wait for him. I told him to ride Splash while he was waiting, but a huge group had just entered the line and they moved the standby from 10 to 30 while I was in the restroom. So we rode BTMR with our FP, grabbed a set and moved on.

We were still in search of that special gift for James. I was hoping to find a little pooh fleece blanket, as he was outgrowing most of the ones he had as a baby. So we headed to the shop outside of his ride. Of course, there aren't many fleece blankets to be found at the beginning of summer. I saw a cute frame with all four main Pooh characters on it, but decided to wait on it. We got Maya a special princess frame on our last trip, so it was a good option if we didn't find anything else.

The ride itself had a 50 min standby, so we moved on instead to the ten minute teacups. Once again Chris sat these out.

Our 1240 fp time was open, so we grabbed a set for Pooh and once again were given a bonus set for Philharmagic.

Maya asked for IASW next. James sat in between Chris and I and was holding our hands . They were loading the boats really fast. In fact, we were stopped three rooms back due to the unloading backup because of this. When we got out of the boat, we looked down and James had fallen asleep.

I have to be honest. I was fighting it sitting there myself but I didn't give in because I was afraid Chris would fall asleep. Can you imagine pulling up to unload and almost our entire row being asleep?

 

[lovethattink]

Awwww, Jame is so precious asleep from It's a Small World!

Love that you got both Tiana and Naveen! We have never seen Naveen there.

Too funny about the monkey!

I guess I'm not too observant. I just noticed up above about another thread, and now I see a ticker!! And a PTR!!!