The Great & Powerful Oz and kids do Disney- Updated 09/21/08- LAST DAY!

:lmao: I had to laugh when I saw the Beverly pics, it reminded me of the first time I tried it, DS had been before & handed me a cup of that vile stuff, yuck, but it was funny.
 
It sounds like your meal was good.. We've never done the Fantasmic package because I really wasn't sure about the restaurants that were included. Do you think it was worth it to do the package? We went to Typhoon Lagoon also and we loved it. Glad to see Tiarra made it out of the storm OK. :)

i enjoyed the food and had seconds but it was just average. for the kids it was the best and if they make it to another trip then i would definitely go with them again. as for the package, the price was right ($25 pp for H&V). however, when i noticed that others could get into the regular section an hour before too and have a seat, i didn't really see the point. but not sure if they actually were there longer than an hour. i did notice that our section didn't fill up until about 30 minutes before show time and the seats were great so looking at it that way, it was a deal. i will most likely book with my mom on my birthday trip but will be trying brown derby.

:lmao: I had to laugh when I saw the Beverly pics, it reminded me of the first time I tried it, DS had been before & handed me a cup of that vile stuff, yuck, but it was funny.

YUCK! the kids kept trying to trick me and give it to me but i was too quick for them.
 
You've got me wanting to do the Fantasmic package now. How does it work with the dining plan? When I make our ADR's do I have to give them a credit card # ? Does it cost anyting extra or is it just a TS credit?
 
You've got me wanting to do the Fantasmic package now. How does it work with the dining plan? When I make our ADR's do I have to give them a credit card # ? Does it cost anyting extra or is it just a TS credit?


we weren't on the dining plan but when i booked, i still wasn't sure if we would purchase the plan so i asked anyway. i was told that H&V counted as 1 TS as well as Mama Melrose but Brown Derby was a signature dining exp. They will take a credit card just to hold the ressie but not charge it. make sure to mention that you are on the plan when you book.
 

Man! I got all excited when I saw the glow bracelet in her hair . . .
then I remembered, I JUST CUT MY HAIR!!!! HA!!!!

Love the pics . . . looking forward to more! :goodvibes
 
Man! I got all excited when I saw the glow bracelet in her hair . . .
then I remembered, I JUST CUT MY HAIR!!!! HA!!!!

Love the pics . . . looking forward to more! :goodvibes

hey...glow dreads....it could work!
 
funny but for some reason i am getting this response from people at work too. they keep telling me to adopt their kids and take them to disney. unfortunately you guys are behind 5-6 other kids already waiting for their trip. my mom said not to forget about the adults either. i treat her all the time and in fact she is doing my birthday trip with me in april 2009.

Okay since the first attempt failed:sad2: let me try another, My birthday is April 7th so how's about you,mom and ME:rolleyes1
 
Okay since the first attempt failed:sad2: let me try another, My birthday is April 7th so how's about you,mom and ME:rolleyes1

funny... boy people will try anything to get in on a trip. you do win points though for having a birthday so close.
 
Day 4 – DHS, a DIS sighting, & Disney Quest

So I stayed up pretty late the night before just trying to figure out how to get all that I wanted to get done today, done in one day. By the time I rolled out of bed, I had already decided to cancel our ADR for Boma. I was so bummed as I was really looking forward to this breakfast. I have never been for breakfast and the food porn pics on the boards had my mouth watering. Unfortunately, I was just too tired and still full from the buffet at H&V. I called and canceled and let the kids sleep in a little. They weren’t all that thrilled with having to head over to AKL anyway so the food court was fine with them. We headed there for breakfast. Chase had the French toast platter; Tiara the ham & cheese omelet with potatoes; and I had the pancake platter ($18). Nothing special but it was hot and the kids were getting tired of cereal anyway. Before heading to the park, we decided to tour the resort. Up to now we hadn’t ventured too far and it suddenly hit us that we had been there for 4 days and still hadn’t seen the big wheel! We were off to take some photos.

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yes that is chase on the ground. he was really hot and such a trooper for indulging me. we finally headed over to DHS by mid morning. And that’s when it happened! I was spotted. YES FOLKS, I AM A CELEBRITY. I was standing in line with the kids being a little annoyed by how slow the line was moving and I was tapped on the shoulder and someone said “Hey, I DIS too!” It was iluv2go2disney tapping me. I was so excited to finally meet someone. She had spotted my lime green Mickey on my backpack and stopped to say hello. So glad to have met you iluv2go2disney. Silly of us not to take a picture but I am new at this! Next time! So there is my 5 minutes of fame. I have to thank her though as it made my day and I was able to shake off the line frustration and recapture the Disney magic.

After getting in, our first stop was to grab a fast pass for RNR. Tiara of course wasn’t riding and Chase had planned on using her fast pass for a 2nd ride. I had a better plan though. Now let me go on record as saying that I can ride TOT if forced. I will ride if I am with others who want me too, but I will probably fight you most of the way. My stomach just doesn’t like it and last time I rode, it was just way too many drops for me. I love the theme of the ride and the ride queue but can definitely skip this one. I decided to accomplish this and satisfy Chase’s cravings at the same time. He really wanted to ride as he was too young last time so there was no way he wasn’t riding this time. I certainly didn’t want to hang around waiting for him so we just used Tiara’s ticket instead to get a fast pass for TOT at the same time. It was cool because he and I were able to ride RNR and then he hit TOT alone while Tiara and I went in the gift shop. Though she wasn’t riding, Tiara did pose for the pics.

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We stopped by the High School Musical Show but the kids were less interested than I thought. I got photo pass to take these photos.

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We went in search of Toy Story but just couldn’t find it. I was trying to show off by not getting a park map but when I got to the Muppets area, we just kept going in circles so we rode Muppets instead. Chase was really bored. Tiara on the other hand loved it. This old 3D show was just her speed. We got in line for Star Tours. Another ride I can do without. The jerking is just too much for me but I wanted them to experience it so we all got on. Tiara was having a hard time holding on and putting her fingers in her ears. So which did she choose???????????? That’s right, her fingers! She kept them in her ears the whole time and instead bounced all around that seat. Glad that no one was sitting next to her, as she would have been smacking them the whole ride with her elbows. I unfortunately was not that lucky. Beauty and the Beast was starting so we ran over there. I think the kids would have enjoyed it more if we had made it in before the show started but unfortunately we missed the beginning, the opening show (which I adore) and had to sit in the open area in the back with the hot sun. They couldn’t wait to leave but I made them sit through the whole thing. We attempted to hit Indiana Jones but the show was full and believe it or not, we still had plans after all this to have lunch and hit Disney quest. Finally, we stumbled across Toy Story. The fast pass was too far and the stand by line was very long but we all really wanted to ride so into the stand by line we went. The floor is painted in the first room like a candyland game board so we passed the time jumping from square to square. We had each picked 2 colors that were OUR colors and we took it all very seriously. After the board ended, we decided to continue the game and you were not allowed to step on, lean on, or touch anything that wasn’t your color. YES…WE ARE DORKS! But hey, it passed the time. Sorry to anyone watching this display. The talking/singing Mr. Potato Head was cute and I snapped some photos.

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It was finally our turn to ride. This was the cutest ride. I love the 3D effects and the interaction with the ride. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t rode yet but I can see its appeal. We will definitely try to hit this again later in the week. We were getting hungry so we stopped at Pizza Planet (3 individual pizzas and sodas - $27). We made it just inside before it started pouring down raining. Tiara was fine though because we sat far inside and she was distracted by all the video games. We waited as long as we could for the rain to slow down and put on our ponchos and headed out. Tiara of course was not happy with this plan and wanted to skip Disney quest and put quarters in the video games at pizza planet. I informed her that there was no comparison between the 2 and that we were going. She tried just about any excuse to stay inside. We got as far as the sounds dangerous show before it started pouring again. We stood under the awning for a while and finally had to head out into the rain. By the time we got to Disney quest it had stopped raining. Either I forgot or just didn’t remember, but we got off on the wrong side and had to walk all the way over to Disney quest. The kids were complaining the whole way of course. We entered Disney quest and they were so tickled by the entrance through the elevator to Disney quest. They got a really good laugh out of the genie. First on their list was the roller coaster simulator. This was at the top of Tiara’s to do list. Yes folks, I said Tiara. She had been talking about this simulator since we left home. She felt so much safer in that thing than on the actual coaster. She rode with me because she didn’t trust chase not to build his coaster with tons of loops. She agreed to allow 1 loop and 1 twist. The rest was pretty tame. Chase rode his coaster alone. As I said before, I do not do well with simulators and my stomach definitely doesn’t like it. I am one of those people who get carsick and cannot read in moving vehicles. I get so nauseous and my throat closes up. I was taking one for them though and we rode. I hated it! During the loop, the simulator goes so slow and I lifted out of my seat and was so sick by the time we got off. Tiara…………she LOVED IT! Got on again with chase and put in as many loops as they could. I concluded that she was then ready to ride the coasters. She corrected me and said, no way, the simulator was different! WHATEVER!!!!!!!!!

The kids really enjoyed the virtual gaming experiences and some of them I sat out as I was getting a major headache from the motion. I sat on a bench and chatted it up with some of the grandmas also sitting out of the rides. My favorite part of Disney quest is getting to play some of the really old games that I grew up with. Unfortunately, by this time of day, it was so crowded and we really couldn’t play much. The kids still said it was one of their favorite stops on our Disney tour and wanted to try and come here again. We walked through Pleasure Island and headed to Planet Hollywood for dinner. The wait was long and everyone was so confused as to where they were to wait. Evidently there were 2 different color tickets and that determined which level you were sitting on. Unfortunately many people, us included did not figure this out until your name was being called on the wrong floor and you missed it. We were finally seated and I needed a cold beverage. Tiara and I got smoothies and Chase a soda while we waited. The music was good but I wasn’t that crazy about the ambiance. It was loud and dark and really just a bunch of stuff stuck on the walls. The person taking photos out front came by our table and I went ahead and bought the photo package ($20 for 1- 5X7; 2 wallets; 2 key chains with wallet size pics)


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Tiara of course wanted shrimp so I talked her into the shrimp fajitas. Little did I know, she only wanted the tortillas, shrimp, and rice. She totally wasted the onions, peppers, cheese, sour cream, etc. So I watched her eat only the shrimp and thought about the $25 I had just paid for her dish. I had to keep telling myself, she is enjoying it, she is enjoying it….let it go! Chase had the cheese steak with fries (minus the onions) and I was so proud of him for trying something new. In this case, swiss cheese. Okay so I didn’t tell him that is what it was until he was halfway done but he really enjoyed his meal. I can’t even remember what I had as I didn’t like it. Some kind of fish, salmon I think over rice. It wasn’t very good. So that turned out to be a waste of $87. We headed to World of Disney to buy some souvenirs for their siblings at home and the kids couldn’t believe how big the store was. I of course bought way too much stuff. I was feeling guilty for leaving my 5 year old nephew home and bought him and the other kids tons of stuff as well as treats for me that I didn’t need but that is what vacation is all about. Buying stuff you do not need.

Whew……….what a full day. We were beat and headed back to the resort. We got icees from the food court and called it a night.

Up Next – Blizzard Beach and Hoop Dee Doo – add in a huge thunderstorm and what an adventure. I may have to sedate Tiara to make it through the day!
 
:) Great update....and I got mentioned. :cool1: I feel so special. :hippie: I was so excited to be standing in line and see that lime green mickey head. I wish I would have thought to take a picture. You were the only Dis'er I saw all week. That close-up picture of Tiara is so pretty. Guess what, we went to Disney Quest that afternoon also. My mom and I went shopping at DTD but my husband and dad took the kids. I guess I could have seen you again. :goodvibes Sorry about the bad experience at Planet Hollywood. I've never been there.
 
So I stayed up pretty late the night before just trying to figure out how to get all that I wanted to get done today, done in one day. By the time I rolled out of bed, I had already decided to cancel our ADR for Boma. Unfortunately, I was just too tired and still full from the buffet at H&V. I called and canceled and let the kids sleep in a little.
What a GREAT decision! It's so hard to cancel something you've been looking forward to, but when you're tired, YOU'RE TIRED!!!

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yes that is chase on the ground.
LOVE this pic! I'm determined to take more funny pics on my vacations!


we finally headed over to DHS by mid morning. And that’s when it happened! I was spotted. YES FOLKS, I AM A CELEBRITY. I was standing in line with the kids being a little annoyed by how slow the line was moving and I was tapped on the shoulder and someone said “Hey, I DIS too!” It was iluv2go2disney tapping me. I was so excited to finally meet someone. She had spotted my lime green Mickey on my backpack and stopped to say hello. So glad to have met you iluv2go2disney. Silly of us not to take a picture but I am new at this! Next time!

YAY!!!! I'm sooo excited for you! I LOVED the times I got spotted too! It made DISboards all the more real, and the vacation even MORE magical! :wizard:

Though she wasn’t riding, Tiara did pose for the pics.
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HA! I did the SAME thing!!! My name is GMAX, and I'm a poser!

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We went in search of Toy Story but just couldn’t find it.
I am sooo glad you mentioned this! We couldn't find it EITHER! The next time, I'm getting a park map!

We got in line for Star Tours. Another ride I can do without.
Sadly, I feel the SAME way. I NEVER have to ride that again. I really like the line though. Really cool seeing all the droids! I can also skip the backlot tour, and the Great Movie Ride. They both need to be updated!


Finally, we stumbled across Toy Story.

It was finally our turn to ride. This was the cutest ride. I love the 3D effects and the interaction with the ride.

Glad you got a chance to ride it! The line was SUPER DUPER long in June so I had to skip it :guilty: I can't wait to ride it next month! Thanks for the pics! Glad it was fun!!!

Looking forward to more!!! :wave2:
 
Great update! :)

thanks for hanging in there with us!

:) Great update....and I got mentioned. :cool1: I feel so special. :hippie: I was so excited to be standing in line and see that lime green mickey head. I wish I would have thought to take a picture. You were the only Dis'er I saw all week. That close-up picture of Tiara is so pretty. Guess what, we went to Disney Quest that afternoon also. My mom and I went shopping at DTD but my husband and dad took the kids. I guess I could have seen you again. :goodvibes Sorry about the bad experience at Planet Hollywood. I've never been there.

i love that pic of tiara too. i bought it from photo pass just for her mom. bad me though, still haven't sent it. you were the only diser i saw also. maybe we'll meet again, glad to have met you.

HA! I did the SAME thing!!! My name is GMAX, and I'm a poser!

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Looking forward to more!!! :wave2:

too funny! i am a big thrill seeker but just can't stomach rides that mess with your senses. now give me a roller coaster with tons of loops and i'm there but TOT and star tours, can't handle it. you definitely have to take the time to do toy story next vacation. this was the cutest ride. it went really quick though and unfortunately we just couldn't make it over there to ride again with the long waits. i agree about updating the great movie ride. it is still one of my must dos and i love it but the kids were like "what movie is this?" the only part they liked was the wizard of oz. totally lost on the john wayne stuff. the ride attendants aren't as good as they used to be. i noticed more up to date movie clips at the end but that was it for updates. this is my mom's favorite ride so we'll hit it in april for sure.

Can't blame a girl for trying:)
I am loving the pic's and report.

keep trying. i may give in one day!
 
Day 5 – Blizzard Beach and Hoop Dee Doo

Okay so this was supposed to be a day of 2 firsts. I have never been to blizzard beach or hoop dee doo. By the time we got to day 5 though, I was too tired to hit another water park. The kids wanted to go so I had to pull some sneaky stuff (BAD AUNT CANDY) and eventually talked them out of it. We used the time for some much needed rest and slept in this morning. We had breakfast in the room and planned to spend the morning at our resort for a change. The kids wanted to head to the hippy dippy pool this time so we headed over about 11 AM. The time was my fault really, I love lifetime movies and was watching one while getting dressed. After a while, I noticed how quiet the kids were and realized that they were totally engrossed in the movie. I had to drag them out of the room as they wanted to see the end. The kids said that they liked this pool better but I preferred the bowling pool as it wasn’t as hot or crowded over there. I did like the proximity to the food court for a cold beverage though and utilized our mugs often.

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We stopped at the food court for lunch. Chase had a meatball sandwich; Tiara the vegetable lomein; and I had the Rueben flatbread ($25). The flatbread was just okay as the sauerkraut was tangy. We grabbed icees of course and headed to the room to shower and change. We weren’t going to Hoop Dee Doo until 7 pm so I decided to spend our time that afternoon at epcot so that we could hit the monorail to MKG and then the boat to fort wilderness. Tiara wanted to wear yet another pair of uncomfortable shoes because they matched her outfit. This time I put my foot down. I was not dragging her around the park in those shoes. She fought me on a pair of white sandals as she said “they do not match!” UGGHHH! Okay, so there is white in your shirt. I finally convinced her and we headed out of the room. The skies were getting dark and she was already making excuses. We headed straight to world showcase. We went into Mexico first. The photo pass guy took some photos but I didn’t like them and he wasn’t very friendly anyway. I snapped these of us playing around.

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"the hat i got for xmas is too big...oh it's nice but my sombrero is too big!"

Chase was really amazed by the woman with the wooden carvings when you first enter the pavilion so we stood there a while. After riding their boat ride, we headed out. We headed to Norway to hit maelstrom (minus the movie of course). Tiara pestered me with lots of questions of course but she finally got on. They loved it but said the wait was too long for such a short ride.

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Okay so i didn't notice i was right under his nose....YUCK!

When we left Norway, the sky was really dark. Tiara started her little “OH NO” chant. We walked (rather briskly) --- okay we ran back towards future world. We had just made it into one of the stores right before you get to future world before the skies opened up. Probably the same store everyone gets stuck in. And boy was it a storm. I mean, lightening, thunder, strong wind gusts, and pouring rain. No one was walking anywhere. I kept a close watch on the time as I knew all of the modes of transportation we had to catch to get to hoop dee doo.

The store was packed with people trying to stay dry and the cast members had their hands full trying to keep people from sitting on the displays. Tiara followed me like a 2 year old all over that store with her nails dug into my arm as she was holding on so tight. The storm was huge and you couldn’t even see out of the windows. We waited as long as we could but we were supposed to be at hoop dee doo by 6:45 and it was already 6:20. I had not choice but to put on our ponchos and make the kids leave. Tiara was having a fit and said that she was fine with eating at the food court! HUH!!! Food court instead of hoop dee doo. I DON’T THINK SO! Okay so maybe not the coolest thing to do but I informed her of the cost of the dinner (almost $200) and she said that she had money in her bank at home. THIS KID WAS SERIOUS. She even asked to borrow my cellphone to call and ask her mother if she would give me the $200 so she didn’t have to go out in the rain. UMMMMMMM – NO! She wasn’t happy with me but we headed out anyway. I had on flip flops and quickly learned that walking in the rain on the slick walkways wouldn’t work. YES THAT WAS ME…. Walking in the cold rain puddles barefoot and singing in the rain. Just trying to keep the mood light. The kids got a laugh out of it. Well chase did anyway, Tiara was practically running to the monorail. I swear the only 2 times she moved quicker than a slug was when it was raining or it was meal time.

All joking aside, we finally made it to the monorail and jumped off at the TTC. I felt funny about no shoes and tried to walk once more in my flip flops but almost fell twice and decided to leave them off for now. Tiara was complaining about the mud on her white shoes. Now if you were paying attention, it was my idea for her to wear these shoes so it was my fault. We were lucky to catch the express MKG monorail before it pulled out. We had just missed the boat to ft wilderness so had to wait for the next one. I was getting nervous as it was already 6:45. I tried to calm down and take some photos.

We finally got to ft wilderness at 7 pm and I was freaking because we were supposed to be there early. I was hoping that it wouldn’t be an issue as the show wasn’t starting until 7:15. When we got there I was a little turned around but finally found the hall where the show was. It was pretty close to the boat dock, which was good as it was still raining a little.

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Though they had everyone arrive early, no one was being let in. We all stood, squeezed together on the hot porch until show time. We were dry luckily and Tiara was trying desperately to clean her shoes off. Thanks again to the nice woman standing there with her family who noticed Tiara’s frustration and took her towel that she was using for rain shield and wiped off Tiara’s shoes. HOW SWEET! People can be so nice some times.

We were finally let in and what terrific seats we had. We were in the middle of the stage on the floor behind 2 other tables. We loved this location and the kids quickly forgot about all our troubles of the day. They singed, laughed, and stomped their feet the whole time. They had these huge smiles pasted on their faces that never left and the ups and downs of the day made this all worth it for me.

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When we sat down, our salad and cornbread were already on the table and we were starving. I really liked both but the kids had an issue with the salad. I had gotten them to try a couple different dressings on our trip but they didn’t like this one. Also could have been because the salad was soaked in it. Our waiter brought our drinks and the show started. The food followed and was really good too. I am not one for ribs and I really do not like fried chicken. I know, sacrilege. My mom never could understand it. It’s just wet meat to me and greasy. Now, fry chicken and leave it in the fridge for a day and then give it to me cold, then I am all over it. Reminds of the picnic chicken we always had on dorney park trips in the summer with my grandparents’ church so that is the only way I will eat it. However, maybe I was hungry or it was just good but the kids and I had to get a second bucket of both the chicken and ribs. The mashed potatoes were good but none of us liked the beans.

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Dessert was good though chase didn’t like it. Loves strawberries, loves pound cake, loves whip cream………hated the dessert???? I didn’t get it but oh well, more for me and tiara. We loved the audience participation and playing the wash boards.The kids and I hummed that tune all the way back to the boat dock; for the rest of the night come to think of it. Here are some of the photos I snapped.

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Since we had to head back by boat to MKG, I figured I would take advantage and finally be one with my wishes. I only partially saw it while stuck on splash mountain. I sent my fast pass buddy to try and get fast passes to space mountain but they were all gone. Tiara didn’t care at this point though as she was still on such a hoop dee doo high. She was really glad she braved the rain and went. Wishes started and so did my singing.

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish, I wish tonight.
We’ll make a wish and do as dreamers do.

And all our wishes, Will come True…

So what the guy in front of me didn’t appreciate my vocal talents. This is how I watch wishes. It’s my vacation. LOVED IT AS ALWAYS! We joined the mass of people heading out of the park and headed back to POP (kids still singing hoop dee doo). Unfortunately, they could only at this point remember the melody and not the words so they were pretty much saying any words and putting them to the hoop dee doo melody. Can’t believe that we are actually going to be in bed at a semi-normal hour. We stopped at the food court for milk for breakfast the next day and headed to bed.

Up Next – AKG (attempt to get Tiara on Expedition Everest) and around the world at Epcot with Chase and Tiara – Pray for me!
 














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