I'm currently hanging in the Poly Concierge Lounge, into my second Longboard Island Lager, wife and kids asleep early, so I figured I'd check in with the DDC before heading off to bed myself.
First - I thought it was interesting that my previously-winless DisDads fantasy football team not only got off the schneid while I'm here, but had the highest score for the week, by a wide margin.
The trip itself is going great. I posted a bunch of pics to my Facebook account. For interested non-Facebook users or folks with whom I'm not yet friends on FB, I've also started posting the pics to my online Gallery at
http://rittmasterfamily.com/gallery
The surprise went perfectly. I've got video, but we left the Flip at home, so I won't be able to post video until later.
We got more done on Friday afternoon at Wizarding World of Harry Potter than expected. We got in the hot, unshaded, long line for Ollivander's Wand Shop first thing. DW masterfully got The Bug into her Hogwarts robes just before it was our turn to go in, and following advice I'd read elsewhere here on the boards, I got her positioned right in front of the shopkeeper. Sure enough, she got to participate in the show, and her wand picked her. We also rode Flight of the Hippogriff (our first experience with Express Pass - very cool) and Forbidden Journey, did some shopping and got dinner at the 3 Broomsticks.
Saturday at Universal didn't go quite as well. We got up early for on-property early admission. But ONLY WWoHP is open for early admits. So it's still quite crowded. And we discovered that the doctor's measurement of The Bug's height wasn't quite accurate. she was VERY disappointed to learn that she was about an inch too short to ride Dragon Challenge. She ran into the same problem at Hulk at Universal, and chickened out on Spiderman when she heard Green Goblin's laugh echoing in the queue line. We did all ride a couple of attractions together. Squeaker loved E.T., but Bug HATED it (she didn't like being "chased"). Conversely, Bug enjoyed Jimmy Neutron, but Squeaker didn't like that his seat moved during his "show". Then we waited around for about a half hour so that Squeaker could meet Spiderman -- and when Spidey showed, Squeaker wouldn't go near him. So we left Universal about two hours earlier than planned and headed for Disney and the Poly. Basic highlights since we've been at Disney:
Sunday at Animal Kingdom - The Bug loved Expedition Everest (we rode twice), but disappointed that Kali River Rapids didn't get her wetter. She had great character interactions with Flik and Lilo & Stitch. squeaker wouldn't ride anything or go near any characters, but he soaked in his surroundings, enjoyed drums to bang on, and still had a good time.
Monday at Magic Kingdom - Dumbo finally got Squeaker on a ride. He also rode Pooh, but refused to go to Philharmagic (really a bumemer, since I wanted ro see it AND I'd gotten a bonus Fastpass with my Peter Pan Fastpass). The Bug rode just about everything, and liked each ride more than the last. Space Mountain was probably her overall favorite, but Haunted Mansion was a close second. We went back for a second ride in the dark during evening EMH. MSEP was great - I'm glad I shifted plans to see it. And Wishes was wonderful. Kids we wiped at the end of the night.
Tuesday Epcot World Showcase - slept in a bit and started late, by design. Ended up spending 6 hours at Epcot, mostly World Showcase, in the heat of the day. Poor choice. We all had a good time, but The Bug ended the day with a mild case of heat exhaustion. We only did a couple of Future World attractions - kids loved Spaceship Earth and Soarin'. Best part might have been getting the camera out just in time to capture DW sampling the Beverly.
We shuffled plans a bit again tonight. We're going back to MK tomorrow, instead of Hollywood Studios. We'll catch the Studios on Friday morning, then take a long break before going to the MK for
MNSSHP - sort of a backdoor parkhopper. Now, if this HUGE blister on the bottom of my left foot would just heal . . .
Night all! Time for me to get to bed. I've got an MK rope drop to make tomorrow morning.
In effect, this post is going to be my Pre-TR. Here goes...
to Stopher!
)
We have about as many trips identified and penciled in on the calendar, actually running out through 2017, so maybe more, but I only have 2010 and 11 identified here on the DIS.
