The Best week of our lives, Pixie dust galore!

[flipflopmom]

We were at the world July 11-18. It was truly the best week of our lives. Sooo much fun! It was the first trip for our girls, ages 2 and 9. Dh and I went to WDW for our honeymoon, Dec. 29-Jan. 3 1996-1997 for my first trip, his second. We stayed at the WL, and swore we'd never go back with out staying on property. Little did we know that statement didn't cover staying in a deluxe vs. a value... We booked on the 4/3 DxDp, staying at Pop.

We began our trip a few hours earlier than planned. We were driving the 11 hour trip, with the plan being for Dh to come home from work, get in the bed at 5, and sleep until midnight, then we'd hit the road to maximize on driving time. Well, he was so excited that he called me when he got off, and said we'd leave when he got home. I had a few last minute things, like the final load of laundry and a shower, while he slept. They didn't get done. I had to finish up the last minute packing I was leaving until after the shower. He gets home, decides we need to get a pizza so the kids wouldn't want to stop in a hour. We ended up not leaving until 7! The drive was pretty uneventful until around midnight. I tried to get him to stop and stay somewhere, but at that time, the Garmin said we would get there around 4/5 am. He had me call Pop, and they could get us in a room when we checked in, so we kept on. The last 2 hours were really hard on him, and he had to pull over to nap several times at rest areas. He wouldn't let me drive any. Every time he stopped, both girls woke up. So it was a Looooonnnnggg night, and we swore we'd never do it again!

Finally, after all the stops, we pulled into WDW at 6 am. I was so excited to see the signs! When we stopped, the girls woke up, so in we tramp to Pop at 6:15, girls in nightgowns, and the front desk was surprised to see us. Whomever I talked to didn't relay the message! We had done the online checkin, and they could get us in a room in 80's right away. We debated a bit, b/c I REALLY wanted the 60's building to be close to classic hall , and the kiddie pool. In hindsight, we should have taken the room. But we held out. DH went back to the car to sleep, I changed the kids, and off to explore the resort we go. We made it our mission to find all the cool icons we'd seen pictures of, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Lady and the Tramp, the Twisters, giant Mickey phone and foosball table, etc. At 9:30, the girls were ready to swim. We went back to the car for our suits, and DH woke up a little. We changed, and he joined us around 10:15-10:30. The pool felt soooo goood. We had a lot of fun in it. The kiddie pool was also a lot of fun! That was the only time I got in the pool all week!

While we were swimming, we noticed people starting to go to their rooms? The desk was supposed to call when our room was ready, and I had been checking the phone constantly. Finally around 11:30, I asked at the desk, and sure enough it was. I was miffed that they hadn't called, to say the least..... Anyway, we got a great room, just past the pool on the lake side, so not a far walk at all, secluded, and quiet. 3121.

Before we went to get all the stuff out of the car, we decided to stop at the food court for some lunch, as we were getting hungry. I had chicken and pasta, DH got a fish sandwich, DD got a kids pizza, and we all shared with the little one. The food was okay, we were really hungry as we hadn't eaten since dinner the night before. Trying to figure out what we could get on the DxDP was very confusing, and we finally talked to a manager that was very knowledgable and helped us out!

We unloaded, and I am OCD about unpacking ASAP. While I was doing that, DH crawled in the bed for a nap. Double bed. We sleep in a king. DH is a big man! Oh boy. We'd survive. It's Disney! Around 3pm, I showered and got ready, got DH up, got the kids ready, and off to Chef Mickey's we go. I am linking the review from my dining review.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32902770&postcount=7

If you are actually reading, please don't skip this review. It was one of the best, pixie dusted moments of the trip!

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Having a private audience with Mickey was sooo special! I love the pics we took, our littlest one is holding Mickey's hand, and not taking her eyes off him. It was the most precious thing. Our oldest, who started out more excited about rides, got into the characters as we were planning. She had written Mickey a letter about how she was so excited to finally be meeting him, she'd waited 9 years for this moment. To have such a special time to give it to him, his handler read it to him, is something I will always remember. After dinner, we rode the monorail to the MK!

 

[flipflopmom]

After getting to MK, I was so excited. The first time I saw the castle, it was this big, gigantic Blob of candyland for a celebration. I cried then, but it was because I was so disappointed! This time, I cried for joy! It was sprinkling, so we just soaked up the sight of the castle for a few minutes, then went to the Chapeau to let the girls get their ears. That was an experience! They liked the basics, then they wanted to make their own. Personally, the premade ones are much prettier, but, I wasn't going to argue.

This is what they ended up with, after trying on all the pirate, stitch, and Fantasia hats. Thankfully, the little one ended up with little girls' pink Minnie ears, we loved them!

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After hanging out in MK for a bit..... I forced DH to get to the Poly at 9pm. He was suspicious, but I think he caught on. I had arranged a deluxe Wishes cruise that we split with a fellow Disboarder that was on the July thread with me.

The Wishes cruise was FABULOUS, everyone should do it at least once. I will say that for all that I loved it, I wouldn't pay $320 for it, but splitting the cost with a friend, I felt it was worth that.

I had never seen her, and it was tooo funny that we were on the same boat going over from MK to Poly. If you've ever been on a thread that got "close" you know the random stuff you share. Well, I had told them that the Sunday before we left, I had so much Disney on the brain that I forgot to put panties on my two year old before we went to church!!!!!1Mom discovered it while she was holding her halfway through the service. So I am sure that the other people on the boat found it hilarious that my friend's opening statement to me was to ask if my children had on their undies! I met her DP and grandchildren, all so much fun!

We had the best time chatting with each other. We met our captain at the little house next to the Poly marina, paid for our parts, and then climbed aboard. Miss Priss was thoroughly disgusted that she, being under 12, had to wear a life jacket! We boarded the boat, and Capt. had a basket of snacks and a cooler of drinks. There were a ton of bags of popcorn, chips, doritos, pretzels, water, coke, diet coke, sprite. At the end, he had us take whatever we hadn't used, since we had paid for it.

The captain was very fun, we rode around seeing stuff you don't see from the land, won't through out any spoilers, but very cool. We watched the Electric Water Parade, and then docked next to MK for Wishes. Beautiful. Absolutely wonderful. He took us back to the GF since we all needed to board the monorail, and then we started the lloooooonnggg post Wishes trip back to Pop.

Below are pictures from the cruise. Click on them for larger views... as with all in the review.

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[kenaiwitch]

I'm in

 

[NorweJenNY]

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32902770&postcount=7

If you are actually reading, please don't skip this review. It was one of the best, pixie dusted moments of the trip!

[/URL][/IMG]
Having a private audience with Mickey was sooo special! I love the pics we took, our littlest one is holding Mickey's hand, and not taking her eyes off him. It was the most precious thing. Our oldest, who started out more excited about rides, got into the characters as we were planning. She had written Mickey a letter about how she was so excited to finally be meeting him, she'd waited 9 years for this moment. To have such a special time to give it to him, his handler read it to him, is something I will always remember.

That is TOO MUCH! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I RECOGNIZED THOSE OUTFITS ON YOUR LITTLE ONES! We were at Chef Mickey's that night too!!! July 11th! It was my son's 6th birthday and we had ADRs at 5:05, but arrived around 4:45. We got our picture taken and had to wait around for the restaurant to open, but we saw Mickey with these two cute little ones in polka dot dresses who helped open the restaurant that night!

You can even read my dining report to prove that we were there that night! (Link in my signature.)

It's a small world after all!

 

[flipflopmom]

OMG!!! What a really cool small world! I'll have to look at some of my pre rope drop pictures to see if I see your family!!!! MAN, I wish he could have done it with them, that would have been really cool for his b'day. It seems like I remember another family being there early...

 

[NorweJenNY]

OMG!!! What a really cool small world! I'll have to look at some of my pre rope drop pictures to see if I see your family!!!! MAN, I wish he could have done it with them, that would have been really cool for his b'day. It seems like I remember another family being there early...

My son was in an orange Goofy shirt, his little brother was in an orange Mickey shirt... two little boys in two orange shirts make them easy to spot! Though I guess you had a similar idea with similar dresses on yours!

I know there were a few other people around, so I don't know how visible we would have been. It would be interesting to see if you did catch us in a pic!

 

[flipflopmom]

So after this magical first day, what more could a kid ask for? A few minutes alone with the head mouse for your first meeting, making ears, swimming, seeing the castle, and a fireworks cruise???? Well, this old Disboarder had one more trick up my sleve.

When we got back to the room, I let Big Girl open the door. She said - "Someone's been in our room." (Kinda like the 3 little bears...) Then she saw them.... Mickey footprints. Sometime between dinner and 10:45 when we finally got back to the room, Mickey had found time to visit the room and leave them with goodies! They had autograph books, with a message from Mickey, a picture frame with a note from the gang, and 3 HUGE boxes of goodies like tiaras, Tink pouches with pens and paper, (lots of paper shred????) pins for trading, glow sticks, Mickey Krispies, a cooler on the table with four castle water bottles, a 3 mylar balloons, and tinkerbell on the wall. There was also a Huge Mickey and Huge Minnie, and a little chocolate Mickey with chocolates, and a flower arrangement in a Mickey Mug, and Mickey Hand gloves.


DH just gave me that look. You know the one.. "Lucy, you got some splainin to do." Rmember, this dear man had driven all night, listened for months to my planning and indecisiveness, and all he wanted to do was sleep. Soon.

Oldest says "Wow, I don't think Mickey does this for everyone. Pretty cool." This has been the best day of my life. THANK YOU DD! He couldn't say anything, not then anyway. I replied "What a special way to be welcomed to Disney, and I'm sure everyone doesn't get this." Some of the things I had shipped down to be added, and I had added on a lot of stuff to the basic Mickey's Welcome, including 2 BIG MINNIE's. When you do an in room celebration, there is no subtracting or substituting. Only adding..... Notice I said 1 Minnie???? I did call the florist and they brought one to us later. Of course, DD had already claimed MY BIG MICKEY by that point. I told her Mickey said "Sorry honey, Mickey's mommy's. Here's your Minnie!" That was fine.

Let me tell you, that Mickey is still in the bed with ME. He made a great pillow on the car trip home, he's a great snuggler.

I did later confess to DH how much it cost, and thankfully, he didn't kill me. He understood my need to make this trip special with all that's going on right now, and he MADE SURE the girls knew that Mickey only came on your first visit. He told them the reason he came to our room was because I had spent so much time on the Disboards researching he wanted to reward us.

Would I do it again? No. It's truly a once in a lifetime kind of thing. I had worried that I was missing the magic by not bringing our 9 year old earlier, and this was a way to recoup some of that. Am I glad I did it? You betcha'. The two year old still talks about Mickey visiting our room, and Oldest says "Mickey gave us that" whenever asked about something!

The pictures I took are REALLY BAD, because I forgot to turn the flash on! If you really want to see one, I'll post it!


At this point, DH is so exhausted and so are the girls. It's around 11pm. We have a Tusker House ADR at 8AM..... It's going to be a long week, DH is thinking! Will our big girl ride her first roller coaster????

 

[kenaiwitch]

wow! What an awesome mommy you are I wish my kids were young again. Fortunately for me I got GRANDKIDS
It's neat that Jenny recognzed you WOW

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Subbing!

 

[WLfamily]

I've made it over too!! You are doing a great job on all your surprises, can't wait to here more!

 

[flipflopmom]

AFter such a late night, I was worried about getting everyone up at 6:00-6:30 to make our ADR at 8am at Tusker House. The girls and I had no problems, DH was a little sluggish... But we were at the bus stop by 6:55, and a bus pulled up as soon as we got there. PIXIE DUST again! If we'd been a few minutes later, who knows how long until another AK bus game by?

More on this meal here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2245248

So after breakfast, RD had happened, and we headed straight for the safari and immediately boarded. Sooo much fun! Loved the giraffes and elephants. After the ride, we were ahead of the Ridemax schedule, so we decided to head over to Everest. The plan had been to get FP's, but the line was so short we got our rider swap passes and rode standby. This was DD's first coaster ride, what an intro, huh? Little one and I strolled around in the gift shop. When DH and DD came out, DH yelled, you gotta go do that, and DD yelled, LET'S GO THAT WAS AWESOME! So we swapped, and I LOVED IT. Honestly, I was really worried, b/c all three of us get motion sick easily, and I hadn't been on a coaster in years! But, it was all good. When we got back to DH and little one, he had an odd look on his face. He said he wasn't riding any more coasters that week. He said he didn't feel sick, just really odd, like his feet weren't on the ground. I was worried, but off we went!

We picked up Kali FP's for later, and headed towards FOTLK. On the way, the little gorilla from Tarzan had no wait, so we stopped for a photo. He is so cute! Then on to show, truly amazing! DD is a competitive gymnast, so we really appreciated the tumble monkey and the acrobatics involved. Had nearly no wait, 15 minutes or so. It was really, really, really hot, so we grabbed a couple of frozen lemonades on the way. Hit the spot!

After the FOTLK, we were headed back and noticed this canvas sign in a recessed area, with music coming from a little wooded area. Don't remember what it said... But there were a couple of CM's there. This area wasn't on the map, I don't think. But we asked what was going on, and the CM's said, "Just go in, lots of fun" So, we went down, and Chip and Dale and Meeko were doing the cha cha slide with about 8 kids. Both of my girls love this, so off we went! There were sooo few people, it was really another pixie dusted find!



After this, we went over to Dino land, and no line for Dinosaur. Okay people. I HATED THIS RIDE. SERIOUSLY.. HATED IT. It was very, very, very rough, and scary! I can't believe DD actually rode it again after riding it with DH, but she did.

By this time, poor little one had spent waayyyy too much time waiting for everyone to ride stuff, so we went over to the little dino thing that is like Dumbo. She had fun with that, then it was off to Yak and Yeti for lunch.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32917532&postcount=12

After lunch, we went over to the Flights of Wonder show, loved it, definitely worth seeing. Of course, there was no line here either. We just really loved the pixie dust on the lines this week. I will say that we ditched the Ridemax plan, and winged it.

Following the show, we went right outside and got the first Mickey bars of the trip! YUMMO but MESSY!! We ate them while waiting for the parade. I loved how DH always struck up NCAA football convos with everyone. We met a great family that were LSU fans, chatted with them for a while. I told her all about DIs, and we found out we had ADRs at CP at the same time the next night!

The parade is soo unique. Very cool, and worth seeing once. Doubt I'll wait for it again, but it was neat.

Right after the parade, we headed over to the Jungle trek for a view of the Tigers.

By this time, little one was beat, and it was raining. We decided to hit Kali while it was raining, we were already wet. Little one was soo tired, she conked out in the stroller on the way, so we just leisurely strolled over. DD and I rode first, and DH ran into our Disfriends from the cruise the night before. They chatted while we rode, we did our rider swap, and I chatted while they rode. We were sooo tired, the rain had stopped, and little one was asleep, so we just took it easy. BTW, if you are riding backwards up the hill on Kali, you will get absolutely soaked. Like standing in the shower fully clothed, soaked!

Sometime in here, don't remember when, I wanted to ride Everest again, DD didn't, so I jumped in the single rider line and rode in 5 minutes!

After Kali, DD decided she wanted to ride EE again, so off we went. Standby wasn't bad at all, we were worried b/c there had been a shut down earlier in the day. I guess the rain drove all the people away? Anyway, didn't take long at all, maybe 15 minutes. DH and little one, still asleep, found a spot to sit.

After this, we were ZONKED! Stopped for some photopass pics, and to watch the monkeys. Went by tree of life, had some more pics, and went over to AKL a little early for our Boma dinner.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32917691&postcount=13

So, we really enjoyed AK. Next year, we'll def. head to the cons. station, hit a few more trails, and explore the tree of life area. FOTLK, safari, and EE are on our must do lists, too!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Sounds like you've had a fantastic trip so far! I LOVE hearing about pixie dust and special memories that will last a lifetime!

 

[Liz&Griff'smom]

I love your TR so far. I cannot wait to read the rest. My husband and I went to WDW on our honeymoon in June of 97 and I remember the castle being covered. I think that it was the 25 anniversary of WDW and it was decorated like a giant cake. I will have to pull out my honeymoon pictures.

 

[disneybarbie]

can't wait to read more!

the Disney Florist surprise sounds fantastic

btw i got that seat on Kali River rapids ... i was soaked but everyone else on the ride only got slightly wet!!


Emma x

 

[flipflopmom]

Sounds like you've had a fantastic trip so far! I LOVE hearing about pixie dust and special memories that will last a lifetime!

Maybe you get a few good ideas for when you take your babies someday!

I love your TR so far. I cannot wait to read the rest. My husband and I went to WDW on our honeymoon in June of 97 and I remember the castle being covered. I think that it was the 25 anniversary of WDW and it was decorated like a giant cake. I will have to pull out my honeymoon pictures.

Were you as disappointed as I was?

can't wait to read more!
the Disney Florist surprise sounds fantastic
btw i got that seat on Kali River rapids ... i was soaked but everyone else on the ride only got slightly wet!!
Emma x

Nothing like a shower fully clothed on a hot day to cool you off, although, I could have done with a little less!

 

[flipflopmom]

So we've had sooo much luck and pixie dust. Has to run out sometime... and it did Monday morning.

Everyone was really tired Sunday night, and we crashed in the bed after dinner. Getting everyone going Monday morning was harder.....We had CRT ressie's at 8:10. I reallly, reallly wanted to get there early to get empty MK pictures. Welll..... we didn't get to the bus stop until around 7:10. And so it begins... For the scoop, read here..

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32961311&postcount=20

After breakfast, we were behind the rope drop crowd, but we still headed straight for Dumbo. Little one had been talking about this ride for months! We had to wait about 15 minutes, that is one slow moving ride. Little one was sooo excited to ride it, though. I thought she was going to bust. After Dumbo, we headed down to Peter Pan's flight. The wait for that was 15 minutes, I knew it could get long, too, so we rode it next. OFFF WEEE GOOOO is my family's statment whenever we're leaving, it was so exciting for them to hear it. Although, I thought I would fall flat on my face trying to get on with that moving line they had. I finally mastered it by the end of the week. After PP's flight, we headed down to IASM, I absolutely love that ride. Truly, truly love it! It was sooo nice that we could do things together for awhile instead of rider swapping everything!

So, we headed back to find the stroller, thank goodness I put the scarf on it, it was never where we left it, even though we thought we were doing a great job of parking in the designated areas, then hit Haunted Mansion.

No wait, pixie dust is back! When we got in the stretching room, I told DH to stand under the lady with the parasol. He asked why, I said "I don't remember, I just read it on Dis!" Well, little one starts to get scared, not crying just "I'm scared Mommy" , the door opens (under the parasol pic) so we were the first ones out, and on a doom buggy. I have little one with me, and as we were getting in "Mommy, I'm not scared anymore" then it starts, and she says "okay, I'm scared again" Such logic for a 2 year old!

Well, she is a clean freak!!! So I talked her through the first scenes by talking about how messy these silly ghosts are, and how we need to clean their lights for them. Hey, whatever works! The nerves were gone, and she liked the ride!

After HM, we did Country Bear Jamboree, which the girls loved. This is DH's nostalgic attraction from childhood. We'll be 70 and still going to the CBJ if it's still running. Grabbed BTMRR fastpasses. Time to talk. We have ADR's at the Plaza at 12. No one was hungry, but they were getting tired. We regrouped, and decided to go for Sophie's first haircut at the barber shop. Great time, little line.


While we were waiting for our turn, the Move it Shake it Parade starts. We had a front row seat! More pixie dust!


DH, Sophie, and Big one all took turns in the chair. Penny the barber was GREAT, never rushed, never worried about the people waiting and kids crying, totally devoted her attention to our family. The photopass photog wandered in , and got lots of great pics! For first haircut, you get ears with first haircut embroidered on them, a certificate, and a lock of their hair wrapped up in tissue paper with pixie dust and sealed with a Mickey sticker. It's really, really cool, and I never would have known about it if it weren't for Dis.




It was really one of the least expensive things we did. Little one got her first haircut, and pixie dust in her ponytail. Big girl got pixie dust and pink stripes, and DH got a haircut. $35. Totally reccommend this experience.

After all this, we were beat, and just wanted to rest, so we took some photopass pictures in front of the castle with the new do's, saw Mary Poppins, and went back to the room for a couple of hours.

 

[flipflopmom]

So, this is when we decided that staying on property can mean different things. I mentioned that our only previous experience was at the WL. Hop on a boat and you're at your resort. Not the case with staying at Pop. We were beat, had to walk to the very last bus stop, wait 20 minutes for a bus, ride 15 mins or so to the resort, unload stroller, and drag it back to the room. So, 1 hour after we left the gates, we were back in our rooms. 2pm. Had to be back for dinner at CP at 6. Everyone then decided they were hungry.. I walked back to the food court, and got 2 orders of nachos and cheese, which were huge orders as snack credits, and then refilled our mugs. DH and I napped, the girls snacked and watched tv. Sophie really, really, really needed a nap, but wanted to run around after the trip getting back. Not any room to really run around, but she tried.

We left at 4:30 to get back to MK, and arrived at CP at 5:30, where there was a huge line.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32961648&postcount=22

So, we weren't very happy, but hey, we'd gotten in POTC with no wait! BTW, we didn't see many tour groups yet this day, so we were pretty happy. The ones we had seen were always going where we were leaving! After dinner, we went to ride BTMRR with our FP's. Dh and Big girl rode, but we didn't rider swap b/c little one was really ill without her nap. We decided to just head out and find a place to park for Spectro and Wishes. On the walk over, little one fell asleep. I really wanted to be in front of the castle, so we went back to Main St. TOUR GROUPS CAMPED OUT EVERYWHERE. Lots of huge shopping bags, taking up lots of space! The kids were flopped out asleep, we finally went down near the corner of Casey's, and got right behind them. The little one slept, and DH and Big Girl shared a drink from the cart. Spectro was GREAT! Little one slept through it and wishes, but the sleep was more important!

We stayed in our spots between Spectro and Wishes, and I tried to take pics during Wishes, when I wasn't crying like a baby! The mob leaving was unreal, but we walked through the Emporium, and then out to bus stop, and back to the room, where we CRASHED!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a day of rest.

 

[Liz&Griff'smom]

Were you as disappointed as I was?!

I had not been to WDW in 12 years on our honeymoon, so did not think much about it. Of course, I also stayed in a hotel outside of the WDW resort to save money. If I could do it again I would stay at the Grand Floridian or another deluxe hotel. I was not well informed then.

 

[Liz&Griff'smom]

My son got his much needed hair cut at the Main Street barbershop also . My daughter also got her hair fixed with hairspray, color gel, and confetti. I believe that the whole thing cost 19 dollars plus tip. It was a great experience,

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

I'm here! Great TR so far...sounds like you had some wonderful, magical experiences...and also some not so wonderful, not so magical experiences. We stayed at POP on our first trip and really liked it, but definitely noticed the difference when we stayed at a moderate on our trip last month. For a quick trip, a value is fine...but if we go for more than a few days again, we'll definitely stay at a moderate.

Love the surprises you had for your kids! It's wonderful to see the excitement and wonder on their faces.