The Best week of our lives, Pixie dust galore!

[meanmom121]

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!

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????

okay I'm finally back her on the disboards with yall and really enjoying your trip report so far.. I am so truly happy about your chef Mickey experience how, special for the girls. Our first night we ate at 1900 park fair and DS dance with Anastasia during cinderella and prince charming's dance. I am really glad your Mickey surprise worked so well for the girls. We did a smaller surprise the first day of our arrival. Just snacks, camera, autograph books, pens and phot albums awaiting kids from Mickey. They were extremely excited. I have to agree ( why so much paper shred.)
But I am so so disappointed. we were in the building next to you the whole time and I didn't see you. I am really upset we didn't get to meet.
We weren't at the resort much though. - We spent all day at the parks.

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!

EE was first coaster ride for both our kids. We all loved this ride so much. Definitely on a must do list for the next time we get to go.
We used ridemax and pretty much walked on everything everywhere we went on the entire trip.

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.

I love Country bear jamboree - it is one of my special memories from when I was a kid - It was so state of the art an magical back then. In fact the only thing my brother asked me to bring him was something with country bear jamboree onit and I found nothing. My DH took a nap during CBJ though.

 

[meanmom121]

Oh forget to tell you how beautiful your daughters are.

 

[flipflopmom]

Oh forget to tell you how beautiful your daughters are.

Thanks, we think so! I looked for you the whole time we were there, mostly walking back and forth to bed! I wished we'd exchanged cell numbers!

 

[flipflopmom]

So today's plan was to get up, hit rope drop at MK, stay until 9ish, go to Ohana breakfast, and then swim until dinner at Narcoosee's. Yeah, right!

We did make it to rope drop, such a cute ceremony! Once we were allowed in the main gate, we headed for the castle. DD never got to ride the teacups or Pooh the day before, and she really wanted to! We also didn't get in Splash or the Jungle cruise..... See what's happening??

After rope drop in the castle, I steered the family to Tinkerbell's treasures. I hadn't mentioned it to the girls, but I hoped they could wake up Tinkerbell. Turns out, we were the first ones, and they did get to! It was a highlight of the trip for them. They run around yelling WAKE UP TINKERBELL.. I won't tell you everything they get to do, but it's a lot of fun, and definitely worth trying for.



After waking up Tink, we headed to the teacups. Lo and Behold, Alice herself was riding them. Of course, she got off when we got on, but the girls were excited to have seen her! Little one was sooo excited to ride, and loved it. See pic. below! Of course, when those blasted things started spinning, she wanted to have "a tea party" in the teacup. So we're drinking our pretend tea while I am trying not to get sick! It was worth it, definitely a memory maker!



We got off the teacups and rode Pooh, which was cute, with no ride. We started back towards the entrance, not wanting to be late for our ADR, and the Fairy Godmother was outside the castle, so we met her, and then to the side of the castle the Stepmother and Stepsisters were there. If you've never met them, it's a must. They are sooooo funny. Drucilla took Little One's bow and put it smack dab in the front of her hair, "all the cool people are wearing them like this now" and we had a fun banter about her mother!



After these M&G's we headed over to ohana. Here's the review, skip the stuff at the top about our morning, you've already read it!
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32961901&postcount=23

Think we'll go swim or back to MK? To be continued....

 

[meanmom121]

So today's plan was to get up, hit rope drop at MK, stay until 9ish, go to Ohana breakfast, and then swim until dinner at Narcoosee's. Yeah, right!

We did make it to rope drop, such a cute ceremony! Once we were allowed in the main gate, we headed for the castle. DD never got to ride the teacups or Pooh the day before, and she really wanted to! We also didn't get in Splash or the Jungle cruise..... See what's happening??

After rope drop in the castle, I steered the family to Tinkerbell's treasures. I hadn't mentioned it to the girls, but I hoped they could wake up Tinkerbell. Turns out, we were the first ones, and they did get to! It was a highlight of the trip for them. They run around yelling WAKE UP TINKERBELL.. I won't tell you everything they get to do, but it's a lot of fun, and definitely worth trying for.



After waking up Tink, we headed to the teacups. Lo and Behold, Alice herself was riding them. Of course, she got off when we got on, but the girls were excited to have seen her! Little one was sooo excited to ride, and loved it. See pic. below! Of course, when those blasted things started spinning, she wanted to have "a tea party" in the teacup. So we're drinking our pretend tea while I am trying not to get sick! It was worth it, definitely a memory maker!



We got off the teacups and rode Pooh, which was cute, with no ride. We started back towards the entrance, not wanting to be late for our ADR, and the Fairy Godmother was outside the castle, so we met her, and then to the side of the castle the Stepmother and Stepsisters were there. If you've never met them, it's a must. They are sooooo funny. Drucilla took Little One's bow and put it smack dab in the front of her hair, "all the cool people are wearing them like this now" and we had a fun banter about her mother!



After these M&G's we headed over to ohana. Here's the review, skip the stuff at the top about our morning, you've already read it!
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32961901&postcount=23

Think we'll go swim or back to MK? To be continued....

The step sisters were some of my favorites at the character meals - just a riot. I also really enjoyed The Mad Hatter at our Alice breakfast

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

Sounds like a fun morning! You had a lot of character interaction -- that is so fun! My girls seem to clam up around the characters, so we just end up with pictures but no real interaction.

 

[tarak]

I haven't had a chance to read your whole TR yet, but I just had to post that this comment cracked me up.

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!"

I'm planning to have the Mickey Welcome for our September trip as a surprise for my kids and mom, so I was glad to see it went over well. I do think it's one of those things that's wonderful once, but I couldn't see doing it again.
And I think after your review, we'll skip Dinosaur. I know my mom wouldn't be interested and I suspect the kids would be terrified!

 

[NorweJenNY]

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.

My first experience was off-property, so getting on property, anywhere on property was a noticeable difference with traveling! I never want to do non-Disney buses again!

We've stayed deluxe (OKW, SSR) but never in the MK resort area until our last night on this last trip when we were at WL. My goodness! We felt like we were living it up with just a simple boat ride away to the MK! Don't even have to walk as far as where the buses drop you off!

Next we'll be at a value (ASMo), and I suspect we will have very similar feelings as you do with the loading and unloading the kids, the stroller, the "stuff," every time you want to go back to the resort. But hey, it's in Disney! It's better than the longer waits for buses, hour+ long bus rides, and being dropped off at TTC like when we stayed off property! It's hard to remember that once you've been spoiled with a place like WL, isn't it?

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.

I love your picture, btw! Perfectly captures the moment!

And as for the tour groups! HOLY COW! Brazilians EVERYWHERE! I'm still trying to figure out if it was just particularly busy the week that your family and my family were there, or if there are actually 100 different Brazilian groups there all summer long...

They really did take up space and make for long lines! We just saw 'em coming and avoided their destinations like the plague! They were in every park, every day! Ugh!

 

[flipflopmom]

After lunch, we, of course, went back to MK. Took the train to Frontierland, and grabbed Splash FP's, and then got back on the train to Toon Town. Yet another thing we hadn't done yet!

We did the tours of Mickey and Minnie's house, and saw the wait for the fairies was 45 minutes. Based on what I'd heard here, that was pretty good. So off we gooooo. That line moves REALLY slow, but it was okay. I must say, I won't do it again, but the girls got to "go to Pixie Hollow" and meet Tinkerbell. I think the other two names were Rosetta and Iridessa? They were cute, and Tink was HYPER! They said she'd eaten too many coffee beans!



After the fairies, we spent a lot of time in the toon town shop. DH got stuff for a Star Wars Potato Head, and the girls and I picked up classic Disney stuff. That was a lot of fun, I think they were around $17 each?? They've played with it a LOT!

Headed for Barnstormer, did I mention it was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hot? So we chose not to wait in that hot line, and ventured on to Tomorrowland. DH and Big Girl rode Stitch with no wait, that was until the Bazilian Brazilians beat them to the line. They didn't really care for it, but I knew they wouldn't!I picked up Buzz FP's that had really short return times, and Little One snoozed in the stroller. We found shade, grabbed a frozen coke and a cream cheese pretzel, and just rested a bit. When our return time came up, we jumped on, little one woke up. This game was actually a lot easier for her to work the "gun" than on TSM....

By this time, it was getting close to parade time, so Big Girl and I headed to Splash, while DH and little one parked by the outside splash viewing section to watch the parade. We noticed it was getting dark...... While we were waiting for Splash, it started raining. THEN IT STARTED POURING! We actually got wetter in the outside part in the rain than on the ride. Poor DH, Little one was screaming that she was getting wet, so he grabbed a poncho for her, threw the shower curtain over the stroller, and held her. They were not really happy campers when we got back. He said the drops started as the parade came in sight. Those performers just kept on! Kudos to them!

Well, it's now 3:45. Supposed to be at Narcooses at 5:10. We all look like drowned rats. I called WDW dine, and they had a narcooses for 7... something. 7:45 maybe? So we took it, cancelled the other one, and started the long trek through the Brazilians to the front and back to Pop for a rest, shower, and wardrobe change.

Here's my dining review, you can skip the first paragraph, you know it already!

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32962240&postcount=26

It was a fabulous way to end the evening, the girls loved getting dressed up, it was soooo relaxing. Here are some of my fav pics from during and after dinner.



Tomorrow - EPCOT, or , the day that wasn't!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

I'm in! I love yout TR so far! It's great, and your girls are adorable!

 

[flipflopmom]

Thanks for all your comments everybody! It's been fun reliving our trip! I'm quite partial to my girls, too. They can be monsters disguised as princesses, but we wouldn't take anything for them! Epcot day will be hard to write... hopefully I can get it up this evening! Let's just say that it was the day that almost killed us, the day DH decided it was the Week of a Bazilian Brazilians!

 

[flipflopmom]

After all the running to CRT, we made sure that we were at the bus stop at 7am sharp for Akershus at 8am. As soon as we got there, the bus pulled up! Everytime that happened, DH and I high fived and said Pixie Dust! It became our goal to look for it, and recognize it, just like getting a later ADR at Narcoosee's the day before, getting a great Castle view table there, etc. It made for a lot of fun!

We got to Epcot at 7:30, and there was one other family already there. Of course, there was a CM that wasn't quite a morning person that didn't seem real happy to see any of us that said - they'll come check you in at 7:50. Like we were going to leave and come back in 20 minutes?? An elderly gentleman CM came by with signed Mickey pics and stickers for our girls and the 2 kids of the family there, he was really sweet. I bet he gets the magic. We took some pictures, and played games while we waited. I remember being rather euphoric that morning, even though it was like 85 degrees at 7:30!

Dining review: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32964872&postcount=28

I must say, that Little One was just ecstatic during this meal. She kept saying "Sleeping Beauty is right behind me"... "Cinderella is right behind me" It was a great time in the respect. Here's one of my fav. pics. capturing that

After breakfast, we left Norway and headed to Test Track. On the way, we stopped and picked up a Kim Possible mission, it was for Italy at 11am. DH and Big Girl were set for no wait, and then... they came. A tour group. DH, who NEVER runs, hustled to make it to the standby line ahead of them, and didn't make it. Once again, there goes the wait time. Little one and I went in the gift shop, made a few pressed pennies, looked at the cars, and then meandered over to where they unload. A great CM was at the photopass area, and kept giving her stickers and such to keep her occupied! I let her run around that little area, since she'd have to wait, and the CM smiled and talked with her... I was so thankful. When DH and Big Girl got off, I got her, and we rider swapped. While they waited, they of course looked at cars for a few minutes, then got our Soarin FP's and we met up at Nemo.

Walked right on to the ride, after taking pictures of course. Little one loved watching the Mine Mine Mine pigeons or whatever they are. She could have stayed there forever. The Nemo ride was okay... kind of cute, but not worth the wait some people must have after seeing the huge queue area! We excited, and headed for crush. It was about 15 minutes until the next show, so the girls and Dh wandered. I love Sting Rays, so I just camped out next to the window. Didn't realize that would put us in a great place to go in the theatre! I think the underside of sting rays always looks like they are happy and smiling at me. See?

The girls were right in front in the show, but didn't offer any questions. DH did get picked on, don't remember what he did, but Crush commented about him! After Crush, we totally forgot about the rest of the aquarium, and I REALLY wanted to see the Dolphins... Oh well, that'll be a priority next year!

This is where we kind of fell apart. We were supposed to be at Italy at 11, and Lunch at Coral Reef at 11:55. We realized we weren't going to get them both in. So, we did the Disney kiss of death and WANDERED! Ended up at the fountains, and played in the water there. It was soooo hot, that felt great! Went back over to Nemo for lunch at CR.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32965084&postcount=29

I was really frustrated, so that glow cube cocktail hit the spot! After lunch, we went over to the land. Started to watch Circle of Life, but for whatever reason, changed our minds and left the waiting area. I think Little One was antsy. Headed over to Living with the Land. DH loves this ride, another fav. from childhood. I don't really "get it" but we could all ride and that was fine.

It was time for our Soarin FP's so down we went. DH and big girl went first again, and even with FP's, thanks to a huge tour group that had just gone in and we didn't know, it was 50 minutes before they came out. Little one played with my I touch, and I talked to a teen girl that said her parents had been gone for 1 1/2 hours. While we were waiting, I got her a lollipop, and she ALMOST went to sleep. She would have, if I had the stroller, but no strollers in the land. That is an AWFUL place to occupy a 2 year old. We hadn't seen the Kidcot station upstairs, wish I had known about it. We did hit it on the way out, and I told the CM there that they needed a sign outside of Soarin' to direct all the anxious kids down there upstairs! When they FINALLY got off, I got on with Big Girl, and I LOVED it. It was sooo worth it. I have NO idea how he occupied little one while we were gone! This was probably around 1pm or so, and the FP's ran out for the day while we were there.

We broke down and bought a misting fan this day, it was a big help. I had bought each of us the small caribiner ones from Wal mart before we left, and they just didn't cut it!

We headed out of there, and over to Spaceship Earth. The line there wouldn't have been bad either, without the tour groups! But, as I said, had it not been for them, it would have been someone else... They were hot and tired, and getting a little punchy and rowdy... This ride was fun, it wasn't as cool AC wise as we hoped, but at least everyone could ride. Then it was off to Club Cool. Of course, being the wise DIs Mom I am, had Big Girl try "the one that all the Disers talk about honey. You've got to have it first."

My Beverly pics!

DH was in the mood for a little revenge, and there was of course, a tour group there, and he pointed the kids to the Beverly and gave a . Laughed his way out!

Posed for some photopass pics, and headed over to WS. Little One fell asleep, and it was close to time to eat again. We weren't hungry, but by this time, we had chalked the day up to a disaster and accepted it. It was 5:30, and we had done Test Track, Soarin, Nemo, Crush, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth.... 1. No more DxDP for us. 2. Never again in July with Tour Groups!

Made our way to Morocco, didn't even take time to stroll through any countries. I was SOOOO disappointed, as I was REALLY looking forward to that! Again, next year! My dining review of Marakeesh. http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32965339&postcount=30

 

[flipflopmom]

We finished up around 7 or so, and I felt bad. The heat, stress, and food was getting to me! We did see Jasmine and Aladdin, and I grabbed a snapshot, strolled through Morocco, and went over to the KP kiosk to see if there was anyway we could do our mission then. The CM there was from VA, and told us to do Japan, so we did. It was a lot of fun! I def. want to do more next year. There were some SERIOUS storm clouds moving in, lightning, thunder, etc. DH decided to camp out in the middle of them on a bench in front of Japan to get a spot for Illuminations. The girls and I played under the shelter in front of the store in Japan...

DH got some pretty pics, and I checked in with my parents. Mom said they were calling for bad storms in Orlando, I said yes, your son in law is sitting in them, trying to take pictures of lightening!! It didn't really rain, though!

Closer to time for Illuminations, the girls and I ventured out and got some snow cones (Khaki Gori or whatever they are called) and I got DH a Japanese beer. He looked like he could use one! We got settled for the show. It was really cool, especially with all the lightening in the background!

After the show, we meandered towards the front. Stopped for a few pictures. Big Girl and I are huge America's Next Top model fans, so we tried to re-create the "crowded naked in the phone booth" photo shoot, except with our clothes on, of course!

We stopped at the fountains in front for the colored lights show. It was beautiful, and a great way to end the night!

Headed found the little lights in the walkway outside Mouse Gears, and headed for the bus stop. It was sooo long after Illuminations, that they thankfully had everyone wait at the first series of stops, so we didn't have to make the long trek to the Pop stop. A bus came quickly, and off we went. We had a really funny driver, that told us that Disneyland could fit inside the TTC, and other Trivia.

Like I said, I was pretty upset when we left. Everything had been going sooo well, and it bombed today. I know the heat and tour groups had a huge part of it, plus we were just plain tired. As I mentioned at the beginning, we found out at the beginning of June that my father has kidney cancer in his one remaining kidney, and during the fireworks Big Girl just started BAWLING, and said "Poppie". OF course, that made me cry, too, we called him to talk to him for a few minutes, and even that didn't really help her. Mom said when he hung up he said "that was the most pitiful thing I've ever heard" and he was heartbroken. I hated that it did that, but it does help him remember why he is having the kidney removed and committing to a lifetime of dialysis, for my girls and his other grandkids.... I know the stress of the week really contributed to her being so upset. She was just sooo tired.


Well, tomorrow is another day. Another hot, tour group filled day. Will we find the pixie dust again? Will Big Girl ride Tower of Terror? Will I survive? Will Dh get his Photopass picture with Darth Vader? Will we like Mama Melrose? What will Little One do? Stayed tuned, up next, Hollywood Studios!

 

[WLfamily]

Oh Taryn, I hope your dad is doing well. My father-in-law had his kidney removed because of cancer a few years back. His remaining kidney doesn't function and he started dialysis about a year ago. He goes three times a week and does just fine. I am sure your father will come through this and live many more years with those grandbabies!

Your trip report is great!! Can't wait for more. Oh, I sent you a friend request on facebook!

 

[WLfamily]

I somehow missed part of your report (trying to keep up with everyones tr's is difficult!). I just had to comment on the resort thing. We spent one night at Pop this trip and wow the difference we saw in transportation!! I have no desire to do that again. Head over to my tr and I explain what happened to us in detail. My link is in my signature.

 

[flipflopmom]

Well, another morning, another time to get up at 6am to make sure we make it to our 8am ADR. Honestly, I could have just slept this morning. We were all so tired, but we were headed to Hollywood and Vine, and I really wanted to make sure we made it for Sophie, she'd spent sooo much time waiting for us to do big people stuff...
H&V breakfast review:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32965450&postcount=31
.


So after H&V, we looked out and saw..... LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of people waiting behind the rope. We got Sophie in the stroller right at the time they started moving, so we just let the initial stampede go by, and headed for TSM. I was going to get FP's, but there were 6 Tour Group leaders, each with what looked like 2inch thick stacks of tickets in the FP lines. So we headed to Standby, which was a posted 35 minute wait, but we were off the ride by 9:30. When we came out, the FP lines were incredibly long, with standby still showing 40 minute waits. I think the FP lines were at least that.


I have to admit, I didn't get the hype about this ride AT ALL. It was fun. Yes, but not at all worth all the strategies I read just to ride it! Sorry, just MHO!

After TSM, DD and I went to ride ToT and RnR, DH took the tix to get Star Tours FP's for him and DD to ride later, and then he took Sophie to the Honey, I shrunk the kids playground. From the pictures, it looked like she had a blast!



We rode ToT first, and DD was scared senseless in the line. She found a young teen in front of us, and they talked her through it. This was around 9:45 probably, and the wait was 40 minutes posted, and I think we were finished in about that time. I must say, this ride scared both of us to death. I don't know that I'll be on it again anytime soon!

Afterwards we headed to RnR, and the standby time was 1 hr. It was everybit that long. We should have taken the tickets and FP'd this one instead of Star Tours, but we took a gamble. DH and Sophie were fine on the playground, though. We LOVED RnR. However, my stomach was still....unsettled from ToT, so I was feeling a little uneasy after both. It took us forever to find DH and Sophie, we met up at Studio Catering Co. and just.... sat. It was SOOOO HOT, and there were sooooo many people, most of them in neon shirts walking in huge groups chanting.

We got a frozen lemonade and regrouped, looked at times guides, and mapped out the rest of our day. Went to the Playhouse Disney show, walked on to Little Mermaid. Loved Little Mermaid, and Sophie is now officially in with Ariel! After VOTLM, went to camp out a spot for the HSM show. Asked a CM where would be the best place to be, got there, and just waited. In the HOT sun. I ran over and got milkshakes and Doritos, those milkshakes were HUGE, and melted quickly. 2 would have been plenty for the 4 of us! Our waiting paid off, because, DD GOT TO BE IN THE SHOW! More pixie dust!



Where to now????

 

[flipflopmom]

I forgot to mention that when DD was picked to go up with the show, Sophie started BAWLING "She took my sister".. The CM felt sooo bad, she hugged her after the show. It was sweet!

After the HSM show, we headed over so DH and DD could ride Star Tours. They liked it, and DH was on a mission to get a photopass pic w/ Darth Vader. (Not the real DV, but a magic shot) Everytime we went, they said, "He'll be out in 5 minutes" then when the photog. came out, he told him he couldn't. He tried 3 different times, but the photog. always had an excuse not to. Decided he didn't want to do a bunch of them, so he just told him no. Something for next year!

After being in the Star Wars galaxy for a while, we went back and grabbed a parade spot. DD wanted a popcorn, and we all needed WATER! Grabbed a spot, watched the parade. The same CM that hugged Sophie b/c she was crying recognized them, and came over to wink and give them balls! When they did the little dancing part, Anna Kathryn took Sophie, but then she got distracted and Sophie just wandered off. I had to run and grab her, she was going to try to climb up on the float!

We went over to American Idol, and enjoyed resting in the cool and being entertained a bit! The girl that won was really cute, I hope she won that day's competition. She was 17, and sang Colors of the Wind.

After that, we went to Mama Melrose for dinner.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32965561&postcount=32

Even though we had done the FDP, we headed over towards Fantasmic. Sophie went to sleep, and we just did some photopass pics and wandered, then got in line. This is when it got ugly!

Well, we got in line. There were a few tour group kids camped out in front of us. As the time wore on, they just kept pouring in "catching up to their group". At the end of a long hot day, DH finally ripped the scarf off our stroller I had put on there for identification, held it up, and said "I just started my own tour group. Anyone want to pass everyone, just come with me!" He had gotten really mad b/c they kept hitting our girls, even though Sophie was in the stroller asleep, with their bags as they barged through!

Fantasmic was standing room only at 8pm for the 9pm show, and there were 2 shows that night. DD still slept! We woke her up when it started. GREAT SHOW, LOVED IT!

Did the mad dash back to the bus stop, in the midst of the stampede, and waited 45 minutes to get on the 4th bus to Pop that came. There were that many people ahead of us, and probably 4 bus loads after us.

That did it. We won't be frequenting Pop again. It's a fun place, but there are SOOOO many people stayingt there that the transportation was just of nightmarish proportions for us.

The girls were kind of hyped when we got back, so DH took them to the pool for 30 minutes to cool off before bed!

 

[WLfamily]

Comments: We too got up many mornings at 6:30 to make rope drop and miss the crowds. Sleeping would have been nice but I guess we were battleing the lesser of two evils. No sleep and not as hot or crowded, or sleep and deal with heat and crowds.
This is another reason I am not crazy about doing this again in July.

TOT ~ I rode it for the first time also on this trip. It is not my cup of tea. I think I one point I was praying for death!

I think I may have mentioned it before, but my ds name is Brad like your dh. I love what he did at Fantasmic!! That is my kind of man!! Those tour groups were brutal!!!

Can't wait for more!!

 

[Born 2B a Princess]

I'm sorry your day at Epcot wasn't as magical as you had hoped. Sounds like it was really, really hot and crowded. You had a much worse experience with tour groups than we did!

I haven't been brave enough yet to ride RnRC or TOT -- although DH did get the girls to ride RnRC on our July trip. They both said they'll ride TOT on our next trip. We shall see...

I love Fantasmic but the crowds are just insane. Love what your DH did! Too funny! We would have joined your "group" for sure!

We ended up cancelling our Restaurant Marrakesh reservation -- just too much going on to get there. I was sad because I love Mediterranean food and we just can't get it where we live...but it gives me a restaurant to look forward to next time.

Early mornings really are a killer...but we have found that making it to rope drop helps us get so much more done. I was glad we had a couple of non-park days on our trip, although even on those days we were up early to make it to the water parks by rope drop. For our next trip (whenever I can talk DH into another "regular" trip since our October trip is for MNSSHP and water parks only -- no regular park days), I think I'm going to schedule at least one day where we don't have ANYTHING in the morning...

My girls loved the playground at DHS, too!

I'm enjoying your TR!

 

[meanmom121]

I forgot to mention that when DD was picked to go up with the show, Sophie started BAWLING "She took my sister".. The CM felt sooo bad, she hugged her after the show. It was sweet!

After the HSM show, we headed over so DH and DD could ride Star Tours. They liked it, and DH was on a mission to get a photopass pic w/ Darth Vader. (Not the real DV, but a magic shot) Everytime we went, they said, "He'll be out in 5 minutes" then when the photog. came out, he told him he couldn't. He tried 3 different times, but the photog. always had an excuse not to. Decided he didn't want to do a bunch of them, so he just told him no. Something for next year!

After being in the Star Wars galaxy for a while, we went back and grabbed a parade spot. DD wanted a popcorn, and we all needed WATER! Grabbed a spot, watched the parade. The same CM that hugged Sophie b/c she was crying recognized them, and came over to wink and give them balls! When they did the little dancing part, Anna Kathryn took Sophie, but then she got distracted and Sophie just wandered off. I had to run and grab her, she was going to try to climb up on the float!

We went over to American Idol, and enjoyed resting in the cool and being entertained a bit! The girl that won was really cute, I hope she won that day's competition. She was 17, and sang Colors of the Wind.

After that, we went to Mama Melrose for dinner.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32965561&postcount=32

Even though we had done the FDP, we headed over towards Fantasmic. Sophie went to sleep, and we just did some photopass pics and wandered, then got in line. This is when it got ugly!

Well, we got in line. There were a few tour group kids camped out in front of us. As the time wore on, they just kept pouring in "catching up to their group". At the end of a long hot day, DH finally ripped the scarf off our stroller I had put on there for identification, held it up, and said "I just started my own tour group. Anyone want to pass everyone, just come with me!" He had gotten really mad b/c they kept hitting our girls, even though Sophie was in the stroller asleep, with their bags as they barged through!

Fantasmic was standing room only at 8pm for the 9pm show, and there were 2 shows that night. DD still slept! We woke her up when it started. GREAT SHOW, LOVED IT!

Did the mad dash back to the bus stop, in the midst of the stampede, and waited 45 minutes to get on the 4th bus to Pop that came. There were that many people ahead of us, and probably 4 bus loads after us.

That did it. We won't be frequenting Pop again. It's a fun place, but there are SOOOO many people stayingt there that the transportation was just of nightmarish proportions for us.

The girls were kind of hyped when we got back, so DH took them to the pool for 30 minutes to cool off before bed!

Love your naked phone booth picture.

How exciting for your daughter to be in HSM - I bet she was beside herself. You guys did get a lot of pixie dust on this trip. I thought my 9 year old would really want to do HSM but she passed on it - I think she thinks she's too grown up all of a sudden.

I love your husband's tour group - I'm really glad he spoke up too. He's my hero. We had problems with the same thing at the spectro parade. We were up front so we had a good spot but they just kept stepping over usto join their group which kept growing thicker and thicker behind us until they were pushing us into the street - plus my son was sitting on the curb and a woman with the tour group, who was in a wheelchair kept bumping my son with it until my husband finally said something to her and then she moved back.

I too hated the walk to the POP bus stop sisnce it was always the farthest one - but we never had a long wait for bus. They seemed to always be there in the morning when we walked out and the lonest we waited for a bus when leaving the parks was 20 minutes.

I think Epcot worked out so well for us because we split it into 2 days. At beginning of week we did future world and the fireworks (but I missed fireworks cuz DD didn't feel well and I went back to POP with her) Kevin said they were great. Then on Saturday we got up late (our one morning to sleep in) and went to the world showcase and did kim possible through the entire world - the kids could not get enough Kim Possible - they loved it. I think me and Kevin had just as much fun plus it led me to places in the world I probably wouldn't have seen.