*ThE FiVe LeGgEd GoAt VaCaTiOn GIRLS ONLY TRIP! *8/27*THE END*

[MarieTheCat24]

You can add me to the club of people who have never done Star Tours before. I didn't realize there were that many of us!

But I really like all of your pictures. It's cool to see what it actually looks like.

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

You can add me to the club of people who have never done Star Tours before. I didn't realize there were that many of us!

But I really like all of your pictures. It's cool to see what it actually looks like.

You need to try it! I hadn't ridden it before until my senior year trip. Idk why but I just always forgot to fit it in

Thank you! I like all of the different animatrons in it but I hope the new queue has more to look at!

 

[WrightFamily06]

Awe now I know why I couldn't figure out the Pee Wee Herman deal . I have never been able to ride Star Tours due to my serve motion sickness Great pictures and details on the ride Caitlin , gave us non rides a sneak peak into the ride

I'm def puzzled on the next location also but I'm thinking maybe the Great Movie Ride or wait you guys did that already didn't u ?

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Awe now I know why I couldn't figure out the Pee Wee Herman deal . I have never been able to ride Star Tours due to my serve motion sickness Great pictures and details on the ride Caitlin , gave us non rides a sneak peak into the ride

I'm def puzzled on the next location also but I'm thinking maybe the Great Movie Ride or wait you guys did that already didn't u ?

I am sorry about your motion sickness my mom has motion sickness as well and I got her onto one ride this trip that did not make her feel good afterwards....

We already did but it is close in location to the GMR

 

[WrightFamily06]

I am sorry about your motion sickness my mom has motion sickness as well and I got her onto one ride this trip that did not make her feel good afterwards....

We already did but it is close in location to the GMR

Thanks Caitlin I knew your Mom also suffered from motion sickness , poor thing what ride did you get her on that made her feel not so hot ?

Still not sure where you are headed next but I'm sure you'll have lots of great details to give us !

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Thanks Caitlin I knew your Mom also suffered from motion sickness , poor thing what ride did you get her on that made her feel not so hot ?

Still not sure where you are headed next but I'm sure you'll have lots of great details to give us !

Gotta wait till that day in our trip I can't ruin any surprises

The next update is all my mom's so whenever she gets around to it I am sure it will have great details

 

[dawnbu40]

While Caitlin was off on her tour of a galaxy far far away, grandma and I were discussing what we wanted to do in the few hours that were left until DHS closed. She reminded me that we had not yet done her "must do" attractions. She wanted to see the Beauty and the Beast show and the Little Mermaid. She told me that she didn't want to stick around for Fantasmic because it was too cold. Does anyone see a pattern here yet?

I checked the schedule and the last B&B performance of the day was happening in about 15 minutes. As soon as Caitlin arrived home from Endor we headed over to the theater on Sunset Blvd.

We got to the show just in time but the ecv seating is WAAAYYY at the top of the theater so we didn't bother taking any pictures. Sorry! But you know the story... girl and Beast fall in love, hunky bad guy kills Beast but in the end good triumphs over evil and the girl and the Beast (who is actually a prince) fall in love and live happily ever after!

After the show we headed over toward the Little Mermaid. On the way Caitlin got a few Photopass pics taken

(as you can see by the hat Caitlin's wearing it was getting cold!)

When we got to the Little Mermaid

we saw that there was a 25 minute wait until the next show. Since we still had those TSM FP we thought we could go play that again before visting Ariel. Well grandma didn't want to do that. Sooooo I suggested she go inside and wait to be seated and we'd catch back up with her. She wasn't too thrilled with this idea but I couldn't see wasting those fast passes. So Caitlin and I did our fastest walk over to TSM and rode. Yours truly won For those of you keeping score I was now up 2 games to her 1 When we finished we had about 12 minutes until the LM was due to begin. Hmmmm what to do....go to LM with grandma or try and get in another game of TSM? I know you all know what we did! We used that last set of FP and rode again! And who do you think won that final game?




Yep! I managed to beat her again and I'm currently the reigning family champion. Not that we're competitive or anything

After that last game we rushed over to LM and made it just as they were seating the last few people. Since grandma took her ecv in it was easy to find her in the back of the theater. She didn't seem to happy with us but we all enjoyed the show. Ariel was wonderful and seemed to have her voice back (when last we saw her she was a bit well...as Randy might say "pitchy") and the show was great. As always, I teared up at the end when King Triton tells Sebastian how much he's going to miss his daughter

When the show ended we decided we were all hungry and wanted a snack. Grandma got a bucket of popcorn and Caitlin and I split a pretzel and we each got a coke or diet coke. It was much too cold to sit outside and eat so we took our snacks into the ABC Commissary to keep warm. I must say MK popcorn is just about my favorite snack ANYWHERE but the DHS popcorn was not as good! Maybe my imagination or could it be different? Has anyone else ever noticed this?

While we munched we discussed what to do next. I told Caitlin that grandma didn't want to stay for Fantasmic. Caitlin did want to stay. We hadn't seen it since 2008 and she missed it. I suggested we walk grandma to the front of the park and she could go back to POP and we'd catch the show. Grandma said she'd "just stay and watch it too". We all agreed though that since we were staying we needed to get a couple blankets. We headed over to Hollywood Blvd. and I got a hoodie for Dale that I had seen that morning.

(btw he loves it and wears it a lot )

By purchasing that I could get the 15$ throw which would hopefully keep us warm!

Caitlin was cold since she just a tee under her jacket so she got a sweatshirt for herself and immediately put it on.

(front)

(Back) (Later on in the week I bought the same one for myself in cream)

With our shopping done we decided to try out the new American Idol Experience. We figured this would allow us to try something new AND would keep us warm until Fantasmic. We have never been big Idol fans, well until this year and yes we Tim and Casey, but we loved the Idol show at DHS and highly recommend you try it out! The stage and set look like the real thing and the 3 judges, even though not the same sexes, have the idol judges "personalities".

Our show was the last preliminary before the final and we saw 2 girls and a guy perform. The first girl was really good and had a Broadway-esque voice. ( I wondered if she was a plant?) The second girl not so much but I give props to anyone who has the guts to get up and try! The 3rd contestant was adorable and had a great voice! Again I wondered "are these real people?"

(fake Ryan Seacrest and the contestants)

(pic Caitlin took, of the cutie,from the monitor)

When it came time for the audience to vote the cute guy with the great voice won. It was then time for us to head over to Fantasmic. Actually it was PAST time for us to head over there. The show was due to start in maybe 20 minutes? So we get over there and as we're headed in they announce it is filled and SRO.

I know you are thinking how could Dawn let this happen? How could Dissers think they could get a seat at Fantasmic 20minutes before showtime? That is what happens when you let the plans go and tour spontaneously. HOWEVER since we all enjoyed AIE (and it was nice and warm inside) it was worth the change of plans. Since there was to be a 2nd Fantasmic we decided to catch the Idol finale and then catch the 2nd Fantasmic.

The finale was really good! There were several really talented performers. It was pretty obvious that the 2 audience favorites were the guy we saw earlier (who it turned out is a professional singer from NY) and a roofer from Alabama that had a cute young son cheering him on. The audience took the sentimental favorite over the professional singer and the dad won. It was a nice Disney magic moment!

With the show over we headed to Fantasmic. A CM directed us to the handicap entrance. We were shocked to find out that the handicap entrance goes backstage? Waaaayyyy back stage. Like so far back we thought we were lost! It is definitely not a shortcut! When we finally got to the theater we found a seat at the top just about center. We had a great view although we froze! Even bundled up we were freezing. Who would think March in Florida would be that cold? Since we had to hold tight to our blankets we didn't take any pics. Sorry! Just before the end we got up and left because I knew grandma would have a heck of a time handling that ecv with all those crowds. We made our way out quickly and as we exited the park Caitlin took some final pics....

When we got to the Pop bus stop a bus was already there but the line was huge! The driver saw grandma and motioned for her to board,along with other wheelchairs/ecvs, first. The people in that line were giving those looks that could kill. We boarded feeling very guilty. The 3 of us got in one set of seats with Caitlin on my lap. I figured the least we could do for the others was take up as little room as possible! As our bus filled and became SRO I suddenly heard Caitlin gasp! Who do you think boarded our bus? Yep! The Idol*should have won* contestant! It turned out he was staying at Pop. He ended up standing very near us and we all complimented him and told him he should have won. He was very nice and friendly!

When we got back to Pop we were all exhausted and after watching a little tv we were sound asleep.

Up next-D23 party day!

 

[I Believe In Magic]

Great update!! Sorry it was so cold!! We always seem to need to buy a sweatshirt when we go see Fantasmic, but it's usually like 65. lol The sun goes down and you freeze. You guys had really cold weather though. We will do the AI experience, never have before but this trip we are going to try new things! But NOT Star Tours, too much motion sickness in my family!!

 

[onelilspark]

I think that's my favorite description of Beauty and the Beast ever.

My parents live in FL. There were days that they were almost as cold as we are. My Dad was not happy

 

[dawnbu40]

Great update!! Sorry it was so cold!! We always seem to need to buy a sweatshirt when we go see Fantasmic, but it's usually like 65. lol The sun goes down and you freeze. You guys had really cold weather though. We will do the AI experience, never have before but this trip we are going to try new things! But NOT Star Tours, too much motion sickness in my family!!

Thanks! It was ridiculously cold! In fact on our last day it was warmer here in Michigan than it was in Florida!

We all had jackets but they just weren't warm enough. I think the temps dropped to around 40 degrees.

I hope you enjoy AI! We thought it was a lot of fun!

I don't blame you on the Star Tours! I've never tried it myself

 

[dawnbu40]

I think that's my favorite description of Beauty and the Beast ever.

My parents live in FL. There were days that they were almost as cold as we are. My Dad was not happy

Aww thank you

The Florida temps were crazy this year! I completely understand how your dad felt!

 

[MEK]

Great update Dawn. I love all the cute things you "had to buy" because it was freezing. I am glad that you stayed to watch Fantasmic and that you found respite from the cold in American Idol. It definately is a good attraction. You had such a great day in Hollywood studios. I would have been exhausted at the end of that day.

 

[dawnbu40]

Great update Dawn. I love all the cute things you "had to buy" because it was freezing. I am glad that you stayed to watch Fantasmic and that you found respite from the cold in American Idol. It definately is a good attraction. You had such a great day in Hollywood studios. I would have been exhausted at the end of that day.

Thanks MaryEllen! I'm glad we braved the cold and stayed for Fantasmic too! We did have a long day and we wore grandma out and maybe her ecv too....

 

[MEK]

We did have a long day and we wore grandma out and maybe her ecv too....

Oh No! That doesn't sound good! Can you do that? Wear out an ECV, I mean!

 

[dawnbu40]

Oh No! That doesn't sound good! Can you do that? Wear out an ECV, I mean!

You wouldn't think so and yet..... Well let's save that for another installment

 

[thecapells]

Nice update.
We can definitely relate.
In '06 when we went in Feb, it was so cold at Fantasmic, we were under blankets.
And the aluminum seats don't help.
We had the Fantasmic Dinner Package and the CM felt so bad for us he handed us each a free hot chocolate on our way out.
But it was Fantasmic! and it was great!
What's a little frostbite?

 

[ellajeansmom]

Great updates Loved all the posters from the Muppets, those are hilarious!

I'm glad Gramma managed to get her "must-do's" and yeah for you two to get in another couple rounds of TSM while waiting for Little Mermaid (congrats Dawn ).

Ella is just starting to get into the reality shows, one of them being AI (she loves anything that has singing) so I'm sure we'll be hitting that next time, good to know it was a fun experience

Too bad it was so cold, but great that you made it for Fantasmic! I was afraid Gramma was going to force you to leave

Looking forward to more!

 

[dawnbu40]

Nice update.
We can definitely relate.
In '06 when we went in Feb, it was so cold at Fantasmic, we were under blankets.
And the aluminum seats don't help.
We had the Fantasmic Dinner Package and the CM felt so bad for us he handed us each a free hot chocolate on our way out.
But it was Fantasmic! and it was great!
What's a little frostbite?

Thanks Mike! Sorry to hear you've a similar cold experience at Fantasmic! It just seems wrong to be cold in Florida What a great CM to hand out hot chocolate!

Fantasmic is always great so it is worth freezing for

 

[dawnbu40]

Great updates Loved all the posters from the Muppets, those are hilarious!

I'm glad Gramma managed to get her "must-do's" and yeah for you two to get in another couple rounds of TSM while waiting for Little Mermaid (congrats Dawn ).

Ella is just starting to get into the reality shows, one of them being AI (she loves anything that has singing) so I'm sure we'll be hitting that next time, good to know it was a fun experience

Too bad it was so cold, but great that you made it for Fantasmic! I was afraid Gramma was going to force you to leave

Looking forward to more!

Thank you! Caitlin had a great time searching for all those posters.

I'm glad everyone got to do everything they wanted to but it was getting increasingly difficult trying to keep everyone happy

 

[thecapells]

Thanks Mike! Sorry to hear you've a similar cold experience at Fantasmic! It just seems wrong to be cold in Florida What a great CM to hand out hot chocolate!

Fantasmic is always great so it is worth freezing for

Agreed! Fantasmic is definitely worth it!