The 3 Girls Do Disney President's Week! A TR with Tons of Pics! *UPDATE* DONE!!!

[ShannonMB]

Here we gooooo!

Woo Hoo!!! My first trip report!! I hope you'll join me in reliving our AWESOME trip!

I posted a pre-trippie right before we left and introduced the 3 of us, so if you want an in-depth intro, you can check them out on my PTR link. Briefly, though, here's who we are:

Me - Shannon - I have always loved Disney, but my obsession kicked in on our last trip in Oct, 2007. I hadn't been in 20+ years before that, and I actually thought, "Okay, we'll do Disney and get that out of the way". HAHA I was hooked.

DD - Lily (8) - The cutest, funniest, most precious 2nd Grader in the world. Also LOVES Disney, and LOVES hugging soft, squishy characters!

My Mom - Carol - Missed our last family trip, and was jealous at how much fun we bragged about having. She lives in SC (we are in Ohio), so she met us down there.

We were at the World from Saturday, 2/14 through Friday, 2/15 (Mom stayed one extra day, but she'll have to post her own trippie if you want to hear about that).

Okay, so let's get started!!!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

DAY 1

Lily and I were taking off from Columbus, OH, on a direct flight due to arrive in Orlando at 10:17am. Mom was scheduled to arrive at 11:25am from Charleston.

Lily and my flight arrived in Orlando EARLY, at 10:05am. Great flight, no problems at all! Here we are at the Cols airport before departure! Sleepy, but excited!!!!!

We got on the Magical Express easily enough, and headed to All Star Movies!

When we arrived, there was a short line to check in, and our room was READY! Magical start to the trip. Lily and I bought our mugs and headed to the room to check it out. It was just a little after noon at this time. Here is a pic of my mug. I was excited we got the new ones!

Here are a couple shots of All-Star Movies. We stayed in the Fantasia section.

Well, bad news from Mom, somehow she didn't get her connecting flight, and wasn't sure what time she would be arriving as she would have to do standby on another flight. She suggested we go along with our original plans, and she'd let us know when she'd be there. BUMMER!

Well, our first plan was to head to DTD and put a hurtin' on the $200 gift card we got from booking the 4/3 deal! So that's just what we did. We got on the resort bus with no trouble, and headed to the Marketplace.

We hadn't spent any time in this area on our last trip, so we were very excited to check it out!

 

[mouserus]

Great pics! Lily is so cute!!!!!!! Can't wait to read more.

 

[ShannonMB]

cont...

We walked around a little bit, checked out a lot of the stores, and found these Leggo people. Really cool!

Then we found World of Disney, and somehow spent $199 and change without planning to! Weird! So I got a little change from our $200 gift card, and we took some more pics!

After our shopping spree, we had a 3pm reservation to eat at T-Rex cafe!!! Lily and I were excited for this, because we love dinosaurs!! Well, I do, and I think Lil does, too.

 

[ShannonMB]

Day 1 cont...

So, we found T-Rex, and it did not disappoint!!! I LOVED the atmosphere.

We sat right below this little guy and his mom.

 

[ShannonMB]

Day 1 cont...

Lily got a slushie of some sort in a souvenir cup to drink. She is all about slushies in cool cups, so this was up her alley.

Lil wanted french onion soup for an appetizer, so we shared this. It was very tasty!

For her meal, Lily ordered dino-shaped chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and jello. She said it was all good, except the jello was weird. I tried it and it tasted like jello to me!

I ordered a cheesesteak sandwich and chips. Pretty average chain restaurant fare, but definitely pretty tasty!

I was going to do a separate dining report, but I think I'll just do it here and save the dining report for a future trip when we do deluxe dining. Lots of times I forgot to take pics of the food anyway, so how fun is a dining review with not-enough pics??? Anyway, Lily loved our server, Bruce, for some reason. She gave him a 10! hehehe Both of us definitely agreed that we would return here. It was great fun! Every 20 minutes the restaurant has a meteor shower, and the ceiling lights up, it gets dark, and the dinosaurs go nuts! The ice cave turns reddish-orange, too. It was neat, and a little spooky. Lily got a little freaked out by it, I think, but she still loved the place! I saw some littler kids looking very concerned, but none crying or anything. Overall, a very fun afternoon meal!

After our lunch, Lily wanted to build a dino, and here she is with her finished product -- named "Tink"!

There's still a lot more to day 1, so stay tuned!!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

Day 1, cont....

Around the time we finished eating, I think we found out from my Mom that she'd be arriving at All Star Movies around 5ish. Lil and I decided to head back to the resort and meet her, and our plan was to head to MK for Spectromagic and Wishes later.

We got on the bus back to Movies, and it was almost empty. We were riding along, and they stopped at Sports and Music, and picked up a LOT of people going to DTD. The bus was packed with standing people, and the driver did not stop at Movies to let us off. I guess he thought there was no one to drop off, and he was full, so would not stop at Movies! I was like, "help, driver, we were supposed to get off at Movies!" It was so packed I could not get up to tell the driver, so I'm sorta yelling it, and none of the people standing, blocking me would say anything to him. One guy says rudely, "You're supposed to look at the thing on top of the bus to know which one to get on". Yes, I know, and I was on the right bus, but he didn't make the stop. UGH~!

I was aggravated, because another round trip to DTD was likely to take a LONG time, and we were having such a great day, I didn't want to miss out on our further plans. So I just sat there, like, hmmm, what can I do. Well, the driver must have heard me that we were supposed to get off, because he turned around all the way at Blizzard Beach and took us back to Movies. I felt bad that all those people had to make a detour for us, but did feel vindicated to the jerk who was so rude to me. And I also felt like it was their fault in a way, if they would have helped me get the message to the driver sooner, he could have turned back around at Music. But nooo, they had to be jerks about it, so they had to go all the way back. UGHH. Oh well, no way was that going to ruin our magical day! And I was sooo glad to get off that bus!!

So Mom was at the resort when we got there, so we met up with her and hung out for a little bit. Lily and my bags had arrived at the room. Gotta love the Magical Express!!!

Then Lily decided she wanted her hair wrapped, so we did it. It cost (with the beads) $32! For her short hair! But it was cute, and luckily I didn't know the price until it was done (it's per inch). I'd hate to know how much the very long-haired teenager before Lily paid!

Our next stop was MK, to catch Spectromagic and Wishes for our first night!

 

[ShannonMB]

Day 1, cont...
Here's a pic of Lily getting her hair wrapped...

We got on the bus, and headed to the Magic Kingdom!!! MK is Lily and my favorite park, for sure! We had no problems getting there at all.

Spectro was happening 2x that night, once at 7 and once at 9, with Wishes at 8pm. I figured so we wouldn't have to rush, that we would to to the second Spectro show and just find a good spot for Wishes when we got there. Well, as soon as we walked into the park, it was about 10 min till 7pm, and there was this PERFECT spot for the first Spectro right there in front of us. There were some older people sitting on the curb, with no one behind them. So we got behind them, and said, Heck, we can't pass this up! Right after we got our spots, the crowds closed around us. It honestly felt like that spot was magically saved for us! hehehehe I know, I know, but that's really how it felt!

Here are a couple of my better shots of Spectromagic. It's kinda hard to get good ones!

We loved the parade! Spectromagic really is a wonderful show, especially to help kick off our trip on the first night!

After the parade, we just moved WITH the HUGE crowd toward the castle, as Wishes would be happening soon. We just kept in line with the crowd, and it really was shoulder to shoulder, with random people stopping right in the middle of the road to look at maps, or whatever (as usual ). But I figured we'd keep going till we got as close as we could, then that would be our spot. I kept hearing people saying "This crowd is ridiculous, I can't believe this, etc, etc." For some reason (probably because it was our first day), the crowd was not bothering me AT ALL!

Lily was really thirsty, so I got a drink for us at a pretzel cart, and Mom and Lily found a spot on the curb right in front of the hub, facing the castle. We sat down, then everyone sat down around us. It was an absolutely perfect, magical spot to see Wishes!!!!! Boy were we getting lucky! Here is a lame pic of the castle from our spot. I have not figured out how to master a wonderful castle pic at night.

No pics of the fireworks, sorry. I am fireworks-picture-challenged. So sorry if you were hoping to see some!

Wishes was of course breathtaking, and I had a few tears, especially when they had fireworks shaped like hearts for Valentine's day (at least I thought that's why they were there -- I didn't remember them in the past). It was WONDERFUL! Sitting there watching, I kept thinking to myself, "LOOK where you are!! You are HERE!!!" Goosebumps, seriously!

After Wishes, we decided to check out Fantasyland for a few minutes and see what we could find with a shortish wait. Might as well get on a ride or 2 since we had planned on the 2nd Spectro show anyway, and lots of people were of course headed out right after Wishes. On the way over to Fantasyland, we met a nice couple who were telling us they live in Daytona and go to Disney every week! WOW!!! Anyway, when my mom was telling them that I was taking pics of the food we ate, he said, "Oh, you must be on those boards. I don't post, but I lurk." I told him my username so he could check out my TR -- so if you guys are here, HI!!!

When we got to Fantasyland, Peter Pan was a 70 min wait! Oooh, we'll save that for MK day when we arrive at rope drop! Well, Philharmagic had NO wait, so we checked that out! Here are Mom and Lily getting ready for the show...

None of us had seen this one yet, and we all LOVED it. Really, really fun and now a must-do for us!

After that, we hit the teacups, and eeewwww, Mom and Lily spun those dang things so fast I seriously thought I was going to throw up. I survived, barely. They were laughing their heads off at my nausea.

We were getting kinda hungry and were right at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe, so we stopped in for some counter service. I got a cheeseburger with mushrooms and onions from the fixins bar, and Lily and my mom shared ribs, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Everything was REALLY good, and Lily particularly LOVED my fries dipped in the cheese sauce from the fixins. No pics, so see what I mean about not doing a dining report this time?

After that, we went on It's a Small World, with maybe a 10 minute wait. Cute ride. Then we headed out. Once again, no problem getting back on the bus.

When we arrived back at the room, my Mom's luggage had not arrived from Magical Express. She was upset and spent half the night at the front desk trying to get it worked out. It was a pretty big cluster, but I guess I'll talk a little more about that on day 2.

So that was day 1!!! Super-magical for Lily and me, a little less-so for Mom because of her plane delay, missing downtown Disney, and her luggage not arriving. But Lily and me, at least, were off to a great start!!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

Great pics! Lily is so cute!!!!!!! Can't wait to read more.

Thanks for joining me! Told ya Lily was cute, huh! heheheh JK I hope you'll stay tuned!

 

[GeminiAngel]

Great Report!!! Lily is so cute and happy!
I can't take good night photos or fireworks shots either, so I feel your pain.

Can't wait for more

 

[ShannonMB]

Great Report!!! Lily is so cute and happy!
I can't take good night photos or fireworks shots either, so I feel your pain.

Can't wait for more

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you'll stay with us for the adventures!

 

[Revulkcor]

Awww she is so cute! Can't wait to read more! I try to get to Disney as much as I can, I live only 45 minutes away but it's the price of a park hopper pass for the year that gets me.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Can't wait to hear all about your adventures! I am dying to take DD on a mommy/daughter trip!

 

[Hallowishes]

REALLY great trip report! cant wait to hear about the rest of your days at WDW. how did you blow $199 already?! LOL

 

[ShannonMB]

Awww she is so cute! Can't wait to read more! I try to get to Disney as much as I can, I live only 45 minutes away but it's the price of a park hopper pass for the year that gets me.

I don't know how much APs are, but I can imagine it's pretty STEEP, esp with the HOPPER! Enjoy your Florida weather, I came back to ccooollddd. Thanks so much for stopping by my TR!

ProudMommyof2 Can't wait to hear all about your adventures! I am dying to take DD on a mommy/daughter trip!

I see your DD is 7, isn't this such a fun age for the girls? My fave so far (Lily's 8). Don't have any sons, but I'm sure yours is precious! I don't know, there is something SO awesome about sharing Disney with Lily at this age. She is such a companion, and she still LOVES her momma! Hard to even imagine that in a few short years she likely won't want anything to do with me! Thanks for "joining us" on our trip!

REALLY great trip report! cant wait to hear about the rest of your days at WDW. how did you blow $199 already?! LOL

Thank you! I'm hoping it will be a fun TR, never done one before! Yeah, $199 in about 30 min. That gift card was burnin' a hole in our pockets, so we WENT for it! hehhe It was a BLAST! Hope you'll stay with us for our the next installment!

 

[mouserus]

Your pictures are great! I'm hooked on your tr. Can't wait to read more.

 

[ShannonMB]

Your pictures are great! I'm hooked on your tr. Can't wait to read more.

Thank you so much! Luckily my camera does all the work, since I'm decidedly not a gifted photographer. I'm working on it. Thanks for coming by!

I have to go back to work tonight for the first time since our trip. So I think I'll kick off Day 2 quickly before getting ready. Why can't life just be going to Disney and no work in between? Oh, I know, because Disney wouldn't be as much fun if we didn't have to work hard in between, right? I'll keep telling myself that during my 12 hour shift tonight!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

DAY 2 - Sun, 2/15 -- HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS -- LOTS OF PICS!!

On day 1, we were in bed by probably 11pm, which is late for DD. But we were pretty keyed up, especially after such a great Day 1. I knew if we wanted fast passes to Toy Story Mania, we better get there as close to rope drop as possible. The Studios was opening at 9am, so we were up by about 7, raring to go. Lily and I were, at least.

My mom was freaked about her luggage not being there, which I could understand -- she had no other clothes to wear! The bad part was, she had been down at the front desk till 2am, and said she had only slept about an hour. I don't want to get in to the whole rigamarole with the luggage, but apparently they had been looking for it with the same airline Lily and I used, and hers was a different one. At one point one of the CMs she talked to told her to go back to the airport and fill out a claim. NO WAY! To make a very long story short, a great CM named Tom ended up saving the day and he had her luggage there on the evening of Day 2. When he finally brought it up that night, he brought 3 stuffed animals - a Mickey, Minnie, and a Tigger!, balloons, a $25 gift card, and upgraded us to park hoppers. We didn't use them, but a very nice gesture, I thought. Anyway...

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!

Normally I would want to go to MK on our first day, but since Fantasmic was only showing 2 times while we were going, I picked that day to go there. I knew the park might be more crowded because of F!, but Lily and I really wanted to see it, and Mom never had, so we decided it would be worth the crowds/wait. We aren't at the park-hopping stage in our Disney life yet, we still like to just do 1 park per day. As we get more experienced and know what to skip, etc, it will be plenty of time to start hopping!

Mom was exhausted, but got ready and headed out with us. We got on the bus with no problems, and headed out. We arrived at The Studios at about 9:15am (not TOO far off from rope drop!). We had had a quick breakfast at the resort (no pics, all I can say is Lily loves Mickey waffles, and All Star Movies has really good sausage links )

We first went to get our Toy Story Mania fast passes! At 9:36am, our return time was 1:15 to 2:15pm. The standby line, while I waited for FP, was 50 min, which switched to 70 min before I got finished. Eeew, those people don't play around!! Well, we got our FP, at least!!

This pic was from later, when we went back to ride. But I thought you'd like a visual of the area (note 120 min stand-by line at 1:15pm, with FP gone by 11am-ish).

Well, I'm afraid it's time to get ready for work, but please stay tuned, because we had an AMAZING day at HS!!!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

Day 2, cont...

After getting our FP for Toy Story Mania, I was itching to get on the Big Movie Ride. I had never done it and was looking forward to it. I think the queue said 10 min, but it was a walk-on.

I LOVED this ride!!! I'm all about riding in a little car seeing cool stuff -- my favorite type of ride. Lily was underwhelmed -- she was very scared of the gangster stuff, and completely hid her face during the Alien part, which actually scared the heck out of me, too! It's a must-do for me now!

At this point, we decided to split up, because I wanted to ride Tower of Terror, and those 2 chickens wouldn't do it. So I sent them to check out American Idol, The Muppets 3-D, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

Tower of Terror, woohoo!

Tower of Terror was a total blast as usual. I didn't bother with fast pass, since I knew I had some time to kill while they did the other stuff. The wait time was posted at 50 min, but I think it was more like 40. I was bummed I gave them my camera, because that queue really is quite gorgeous. But my mom did get some cute pics of Lily.

The only slight problem I had was on the ride, I'm pooh sized, and the guy next to me held on to the little hand holding thing right next to my butt, so I felt like I kept landing on his hand every time I flew up in the air. Just a little embarrasing, I must say. When we got off, I said, "Sorry if I was sitting on your hand!!!" He just winked and said, "No problem!" A nice person, for sure.

The other 2 girls enjoyed all their adventures. They really liked American Idol, but it seems like it would be kind of a drag to me.

Obviously I was done way before they were, so I popped over to Star Tours and got a couple fast passes for that (I had mine and Lily's tickets). Then I sat on a bench and chilled for a few! No problem with that, in my mind!

They met me at my bench when they got done at AI, and I took a couple pics of Lily, who for some reason was giving me a snarky face.

Then it was already time for Star Tours, so Lil and I went on that while my mom made some calls about her luggage and/or her business. ick

Lily really liked Star Tours, and she had been too chicken to try it on our last trip. I personally got a little motion sick from it. But it was pretty fun, I guess.

 

[ShannonMB]

Day 2, cont...

It was 1:15pm now, so time for our Toy Story Mania fast passes!!!! Super excited!!! When we got there, a poor lady asked the CM, where is the fast pass machine? He had to break it to her that FP were gone by 11am. Poor people who don't know the drill! I said to him in a sing-songy, excited voice, "I've got miiiine!" (not so she could hear, of course, I didn't want to rub it in!) As you saw from my previous pic, the standby was 120 min at that point. eeewwww!!!

I took some cute pics in the queue, because even with FP, we probably waited 20 min.

We all really liked this one, especially me and Lily!!! Here are mine and Lily's scores...

I think my mom had something in the 40,000 range, but she was quick to point out that her accuracy % was better than ours. Super fun!!!

We had a 2:35pm ADR at Sci-Fi diner, and it was not quite 2pm, but we were hungry and thought we'd give it a try. We were seated immediately, which was a nice treat!!!

My pics from inside are suckish, but it's sorta like night photography, which we have already established I have not yet mastered. Oh well, you get the idea. As far as ambiance goes, Lily was looking forward to this theming. I thought it was just plain too dark in there. I had to take a pic to see my food! And my mom was put off by having to sit in the front of the car facing forward while me and Lil sat behind her. But hey, that's what it's all about.

I ordered a cheeseburger with bacon and onions, fries, and an oreo shake. I was mad at myself because I forgot I had heard you could get onion rings instead of fries, and they are supposed to be really good. Oh well.

My burger was just okay, because I ordered it med-well (I don't like pink in my burgers), but it was downright charred. The oreo shake was VERY good!!!

My mom ordered a chicken bruschetta sandwich with their melon and cucumber salad.

She said it was basically flavorless, and the salad was weird.

Lily got a drink with a glowing tink, and the cheese pizza kids meal with fries.

She loved it, but I tried it and I tell ya the pizza was microwaved. eeewww

Now, the desserts were GREAT. I had the chocolate cake with warm peanut butter in the middle. Can't go wrong there!!!

Mom got the cheesecake, which comes with caramel corn and other such accessories. She thought the cheesecake was good, but saw no point in the other stuff. Now I think she was just exhausted and not in a very Disney mood!!!

Lily got the ice cream sundae, which was a little melty when it came out...

Overall, it was an okay experience, and I'm glad we tried it, but I won't be rushing back unless Lily begs.