THe It's Never Too Late to Write a Trip Report Trippie- 11/20 through 26th, 2005
- Thread starter ChrisLei
- Start date
Thanks for sharing. I was glad that your Aloha dinner was great!Just like you, I think it would be fun but have read lots of mixed reviews about it.
Thanks for reading!
I was really nervous about it once I read all the reviews, but was glad I did it. Now we are your happy go lucky type of family that does not pick apart everything with a fine tooth comb. (when it comes to planning things, yes, but enjoying something....not at all). I suppose for many who have been to Hawaii, it must pale in comparison, but this is the closest to Hawaii as we will get for now! LOL Besides we were having the time of our life in Disney!
I say if you are leaning towards it, go for it! Enjoy!
11/25/05-
Prince Donald was really NOT looking forward to this morning. Not because he had had enough of the House of the Mouse, but because he is not a morning person. Give him a perfect start to a day and it would be sleeping in till 11am. Stitch can definitely hang with him, since he enjoys sleeping in. But unfortunately thier home is balanced with 2 early birds! For Ariel and I sleeping in means wasting away a perfectly wonderful few hours that you can actually be DOING something! LOL
This morning was one of them. EXTRA MAGIC HOURS at the Magic Kingdom!Prince D and Stitch were not too happy that I scheduled for 6:15am wake up call. Knowing what we had in store Ariel and I jumped the moment we heard the phone ring. And YET AGAIN, dead silence on the other end.
I suppose we had a defective phone.
Although there were a few grunts and sighs, Prince Donald and Stitch were ready on time. We all had some bagels with cream cheese in the room and made our way to the bus stop. What a difference from earlier in the week! I think everyone was waiting at the bus stop! This was the first time we experienced a crowded bus all week. Lucky thing we managed to get on the first bus, standing room only. A sweet woman told us to sit the kids on the seat beside her and she scooped up her about 4 year old on her lap. Ariel and Stitch shared the seat, while the woman and I made small talk.
Along the way my cell phone rang...It was my brother (we'll call him Goofy, because...well, he's Goofy! LOL). Our Dad had managed to get him a comp ticket and he would be joining us. He asked what time we would be going to the park. "Um...we just arrived at the park!" He couldn't believe it. I told him to call me back when he arrived at the Magic Kingdom. He wouldn't be able to get in until regular park hours anyway. Just as I finished the call we arrived at the gates.
Perfect timing too, they were just letting us in. We headed straight to Fantasyland. It seems that it was a great idea since everyone was heading towards Tomorrowland at that moment. We walked right onto It's A Small World. Of course my Girly Girl Ariel LOVED it! What is amazing about today's extra magic Hours was the fact that we were able to get on every single Fantasyland ride before the ropes dropped for general admission! We walked right on without lines to Snow White's Scary Adventure, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, and Cinderella's Carousel. Prince Donald was beaming! This is perfect! he exclaimed.
Once we were done riding it was about time for general admission to come in. We went on line for a photo with Ariel. That was one of our longest wait that day, but it was so worth it! Our Ariel was in awe. The real Princess Ariel was awesome! She chatted with Ariel and complimented her on her beautiful hair and told her all about her dinglehopper. It was great! Ariel could have stayed there all day if you let her! LOL We left the grotto in perfect timing. Goofy was walking right towards us.
Did I mention how HOT it was yet? Yes, after the cold front that had given us unseasonably cool days, the Florida heat came upon us with a vengeance. This is what reminds me that although most of my family lives in the Sunshine State, there is no way I can handle this weather day in and day out! We mustered on over to Toontown because what is a visit to Magic Kingdom without pictures with Mickey Mouse! The lines were long! But fortunately Ariel and Stitch were entertained looking through Mickey's House and watching the cartoons playing on the television screens. Pluto was really in character, licking all of us, it was too much fun! And our Goofy was so happy to get pictures with his namesake!
When we were done in the big tent, we looked at the time and figured we could get one more ride in before our lunch in the castle. Now Stitch was so upset that he couldn't ride any of the roller coasters. But we told him today would be different. Stitch measured 35 inches at his last well visit, so guess what???? He can ride Goofy's coaster!
He was bursting with excitement! I think he bounced the whole way down the line! When we arrived at the front, the CM looked at him and said "Oh...I don't know if you are big enough..." Stitch's face ashened. THe CM placed him next to the pole, and he JUST MADE IT! We all clapped! 
And as luck would have it, we had the front cars too! He kept giggling with excitement and anticipation. The ride started and the look on his face was classic! He beamed and laughed the whole ride around! We cheered at the end of his first ever roller coaster ride. When we got off he said "I LOVE roller coasters!" Stitch was in heaven!
Since it was almost time to report to the castle, I told Prince Donald I would treat Goofy to lunch since we had one lonely counter service. We told Goofy all about the delicious lunch at Pinnochios Haus and he said sure he'd love that. I went in and got his lunch complete with a Mickey Rice KRispies treat and we made plans to meet on Main Street for the parade. He kept our bags as a way to secure us a spot on the curb.
The moment Ariel and I dreamed about was about to begin. Ever since I was a little girl I loved the castle. DUring countless trips I would see little girls go in to dine at the castle and wish that it was me. Economically it was never the right time. Which I fully understood. But this time it would be different. At age 33 my wish would come true! Not only would I be realizing my childhood dream, I would be doing it with my own little princess! Words can't express how I felt to finally be able to go through those double doors!
We went into the grand foyer and gave our name to the attendant. She greeted us and told us to go on line for a picture with Cinderella. We had Ariel take one with her first, and then all of us for a family portrait. Stitch loved the thrones and the coat of arms. We couldn't wait to go up the grand staircase. Ariel wanted to know if Jasmine was here and I asked the CM. Had our reservation been 10 minutes prior, she would have gotten a picture with Jasmine. Bummer!
We were then walked up the staircase to the dining room. It was filled with little girls dressed in thier princess finery. Ariel donned her Cinderella costume just for this lunch. I knew exactly what I was going to order. THe Major Domo's pie! I had heard rave reviews of it and it didn't disappoint! Prince D had the salmon, Ariel had the chicken fingers and Stitch was given pasta. The first princess to come over was Aurora dressed in her pink dress followed by Snow White. Belle came over and we were a bit disappointed that she was dressed in her plain blue dress. We later discovered that in Epcot she is in her gold gown. Oh well! Wendy came over next (OK, when did she become a princess????
) and the a not too friendly Fairy GodMother. We took our time eating our lunch because we wanted to make this moment in the castle last as long as we could. We were presented our pictures which of course we purchased (at the time we went the Cinderellas Gala Lunch was 1 TS credit and did not include the pictures.) Dessert came and we all loved it! Before long we were done, and it was time to bid farewell to our magical castle lunch.
We walked down Main Street and found Goofy. He secured a perfect spot along the parade route. Of course we roasted in the sun! It was really really hot! I decided to go and pick up some soft drinks for all of us to cool down while we waited. Finally the music began and we were entertained with a parade of a grand scale that only Disney can provide. Once it was over, we decided that we would go back to the room to do the dreaded packing, relax, and then wash up and get ready to go over to Uncle Disney's house for dinner.
Up Next: Time to Say Goodbye to the Mouse & Final Thoughts
Prince Donald was really NOT looking forward to this morning. Not because he had had enough of the House of the Mouse, but because he is not a morning person. Give him a perfect start to a day and it would be sleeping in till 11am. Stitch can definitely hang with him, since he enjoys sleeping in. But unfortunately thier home is balanced with 2 early birds! For Ariel and I sleeping in means wasting away a perfectly wonderful few hours that you can actually be DOING something! LOL
This morning was one of them. EXTRA MAGIC HOURS at the Magic Kingdom!Prince D and Stitch were not too happy that I scheduled for 6:15am wake up call. Knowing what we had in store Ariel and I jumped the moment we heard the phone ring. And YET AGAIN, dead silence on the other end.
I suppose we had a defective phone. Although there were a few grunts and sighs, Prince Donald and Stitch were ready on time. We all had some bagels with cream cheese in the room and made our way to the bus stop. What a difference from earlier in the week! I think everyone was waiting at the bus stop! This was the first time we experienced a crowded bus all week. Lucky thing we managed to get on the first bus, standing room only. A sweet woman told us to sit the kids on the seat beside her and she scooped up her about 4 year old on her lap. Ariel and Stitch shared the seat, while the woman and I made small talk.
Along the way my cell phone rang...It was my brother (we'll call him Goofy, because...well, he's Goofy! LOL). Our Dad had managed to get him a comp ticket and he would be joining us. He asked what time we would be going to the park. "Um...we just arrived at the park!" He couldn't believe it. I told him to call me back when he arrived at the Magic Kingdom. He wouldn't be able to get in until regular park hours anyway. Just as I finished the call we arrived at the gates.
Perfect timing too, they were just letting us in. We headed straight to Fantasyland. It seems that it was a great idea since everyone was heading towards Tomorrowland at that moment. We walked right onto It's A Small World. Of course my Girly Girl Ariel LOVED it! What is amazing about today's extra magic Hours was the fact that we were able to get on every single Fantasyland ride before the ropes dropped for general admission! We walked right on without lines to Snow White's Scary Adventure, Peter Pan's Flight, Dumbo, and Cinderella's Carousel. Prince Donald was beaming! This is perfect! he exclaimed.
Once we were done riding it was about time for general admission to come in. We went on line for a photo with Ariel. That was one of our longest wait that day, but it was so worth it! Our Ariel was in awe. The real Princess Ariel was awesome! She chatted with Ariel and complimented her on her beautiful hair and told her all about her dinglehopper. It was great! Ariel could have stayed there all day if you let her! LOL We left the grotto in perfect timing. Goofy was walking right towards us.
Did I mention how HOT it was yet? Yes, after the cold front that had given us unseasonably cool days, the Florida heat came upon us with a vengeance. This is what reminds me that although most of my family lives in the Sunshine State, there is no way I can handle this weather day in and day out! We mustered on over to Toontown because what is a visit to Magic Kingdom without pictures with Mickey Mouse! The lines were long! But fortunately Ariel and Stitch were entertained looking through Mickey's House and watching the cartoons playing on the television screens. Pluto was really in character, licking all of us, it was too much fun! And our Goofy was so happy to get pictures with his namesake!
When we were done in the big tent, we looked at the time and figured we could get one more ride in before our lunch in the castle. Now Stitch was so upset that he couldn't ride any of the roller coasters. But we told him today would be different. Stitch measured 35 inches at his last well visit, so guess what???? He can ride Goofy's coaster!
He was bursting with excitement! I think he bounced the whole way down the line! When we arrived at the front, the CM looked at him and said "Oh...I don't know if you are big enough..." Stitch's face ashened. THe CM placed him next to the pole, and he JUST MADE IT! We all clapped! And as luck would have it, we had the front cars too! He kept giggling with excitement and anticipation. The ride started and the look on his face was classic! He beamed and laughed the whole ride around! We cheered at the end of his first ever roller coaster ride. When we got off he said "I LOVE roller coasters!" Stitch was in heaven!Since it was almost time to report to the castle, I told Prince Donald I would treat Goofy to lunch since we had one lonely counter service. We told Goofy all about the delicious lunch at Pinnochios Haus and he said sure he'd love that. I went in and got his lunch complete with a Mickey Rice KRispies treat and we made plans to meet on Main Street for the parade. He kept our bags as a way to secure us a spot on the curb.
The moment Ariel and I dreamed about was about to begin. Ever since I was a little girl I loved the castle. DUring countless trips I would see little girls go in to dine at the castle and wish that it was me. Economically it was never the right time. Which I fully understood. But this time it would be different. At age 33 my wish would come true! Not only would I be realizing my childhood dream, I would be doing it with my own little princess! Words can't express how I felt to finally be able to go through those double doors!
We went into the grand foyer and gave our name to the attendant. She greeted us and told us to go on line for a picture with Cinderella. We had Ariel take one with her first, and then all of us for a family portrait. Stitch loved the thrones and the coat of arms. We couldn't wait to go up the grand staircase. Ariel wanted to know if Jasmine was here and I asked the CM. Had our reservation been 10 minutes prior, she would have gotten a picture with Jasmine. Bummer!
We were then walked up the staircase to the dining room. It was filled with little girls dressed in thier princess finery. Ariel donned her Cinderella costume just for this lunch. I knew exactly what I was going to order. THe Major Domo's pie! I had heard rave reviews of it and it didn't disappoint! Prince D had the salmon, Ariel had the chicken fingers and Stitch was given pasta. The first princess to come over was Aurora dressed in her pink dress followed by Snow White. Belle came over and we were a bit disappointed that she was dressed in her plain blue dress. We later discovered that in Epcot she is in her gold gown. Oh well! Wendy came over next (OK, when did she become a princess????
) and the a not too friendly Fairy GodMother. We took our time eating our lunch because we wanted to make this moment in the castle last as long as we could. We were presented our pictures which of course we purchased (at the time we went the Cinderellas Gala Lunch was 1 TS credit and did not include the pictures.) Dessert came and we all loved it! Before long we were done, and it was time to bid farewell to our magical castle lunch.We walked down Main Street and found Goofy. He secured a perfect spot along the parade route. Of course we roasted in the sun! It was really really hot! I decided to go and pick up some soft drinks for all of us to cool down while we waited. Finally the music began and we were entertained with a parade of a grand scale that only Disney can provide. Once it was over, we decided that we would go back to the room to do the dreaded packing, relax, and then wash up and get ready to go over to Uncle Disney's house for dinner.
Up Next: Time to Say Goodbye to the Mouse & Final Thoughts
SnoopyDancer
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2006
It sounds like you had a great time! It won't be much longer until you're there again. 
11/25-11/26/2005-
When we went back to the room, all we wanted to do was rest. So we all ended up taking a nap. We woke up with a start! Dinner at Uncle Disney's house! We scrambled about to get bathed and dressed and ready to go. Dinner was wonderful. It meant so much to spend time with Uncle & Mrs. Disney. We left at about 9:30pm promising that we would come visit again when we were in Florida and having him promise to come see us soon.
We arrived back to the Carribean Beach Resort to the somber task of packing our suit cases. This was something we didn't want to do because it meant it was over. We tackled the task and left out our traveling clothes for the next morning.
Our wake up call was for 6am. We wanted to hit the road early since we knew that this is the busiest shopping weekend of the year. Check out was painless. And we all waved goodbye to Disney with a bittersweet smile!
THE END!!!!
Final Thoughts:
- Time of the Year- The days prior to Thanksgiving are very light on visitors. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes to get on a ride!
- Extra Magic Hours- DEFINITELY worthwhile! It makes so much of a difference especially if you stick to a particular area.
- Disney Magic Your Way Plus Dining- I can not say enough positive things about this! It is definitely cost effective. It is a wonderful way to enjoy many table service restaurants that you normally may not have set money aside for.
- Dining Reservations- If you don't mind scheduling where you want to eat months in advance it definitely pays off to do this. I can not tell you how many people were turned away from the restaurants we had ressies for. Prince Donald was a definite convert. He originally thought I was nuts for making the ressies and when he saw those without them fretting as to where they were going to use their Dining Plan at, he looked over at me and said Great idea!
Fold Up Hamper- This was a great idea I got from the DIS boards. It was great to contain all the dirty clothes to one area and waiting till packing day to put them away. This way the sweaty clothes had a chance to air out instead of smelling up the suitcase.
If Something Peaks Your Interest...- Go for it. We almost took the majority's vote that Spirit of Aloha was not worthwhile.....ALMOST! We are so happy we ended up going. We had a wonderful time. Remember, what floats someones boat may not necessary float anothers.
Be Prepared- For anything! Take an emergency medicine kit and include a sleeve of saltine crackers in it. I can't stress how much this helped us out on Day 2!
Somethings We Wish We Did In Hindsight:
- Wait till the end of the trip to purchase photos.- We unfortunately purchased pics each day. By the end of the trip, we bought the equivilent of the photopass CD. We could have had ALL our photos instead of just 8.
Speaking of PhotoPass- Keep the card handy. This way instead of having 5 separate cards that can get lost, you have all your pics on one pass.
We ended up losing the card of pics we took at Toontown
Well, that's all folks. I hope you enjoyed my report. Better late than never! Hopefully you will join me as I start my pre-trippie for our next WONDERful vacation to the World!
When we went back to the room, all we wanted to do was rest. So we all ended up taking a nap. We woke up with a start! Dinner at Uncle Disney's house! We scrambled about to get bathed and dressed and ready to go. Dinner was wonderful. It meant so much to spend time with Uncle & Mrs. Disney. We left at about 9:30pm promising that we would come visit again when we were in Florida and having him promise to come see us soon.
We arrived back to the Carribean Beach Resort to the somber task of packing our suit cases. This was something we didn't want to do because it meant it was over. We tackled the task and left out our traveling clothes for the next morning.
Our wake up call was for 6am. We wanted to hit the road early since we knew that this is the busiest shopping weekend of the year. Check out was painless. And we all waved goodbye to Disney with a bittersweet smile!
THE END!!!!
Final Thoughts:
- Time of the Year- The days prior to Thanksgiving are very light on visitors. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes to get on a ride!
- Extra Magic Hours- DEFINITELY worthwhile! It makes so much of a difference especially if you stick to a particular area.
- Disney Magic Your Way Plus Dining- I can not say enough positive things about this! It is definitely cost effective. It is a wonderful way to enjoy many table service restaurants that you normally may not have set money aside for.
- Dining Reservations- If you don't mind scheduling where you want to eat months in advance it definitely pays off to do this. I can not tell you how many people were turned away from the restaurants we had ressies for. Prince Donald was a definite convert. He originally thought I was nuts for making the ressies and when he saw those without them fretting as to where they were going to use their Dining Plan at, he looked over at me and said Great idea!
Fold Up Hamper- This was a great idea I got from the DIS boards. It was great to contain all the dirty clothes to one area and waiting till packing day to put them away. This way the sweaty clothes had a chance to air out instead of smelling up the suitcase.
If Something Peaks Your Interest...- Go for it. We almost took the majority's vote that Spirit of Aloha was not worthwhile.....ALMOST! We are so happy we ended up going. We had a wonderful time. Remember, what floats someones boat may not necessary float anothers.
Be Prepared- For anything! Take an emergency medicine kit and include a sleeve of saltine crackers in it. I can't stress how much this helped us out on Day 2!
Somethings We Wish We Did In Hindsight:
- Wait till the end of the trip to purchase photos.- We unfortunately purchased pics each day. By the end of the trip, we bought the equivilent of the photopass CD. We could have had ALL our photos instead of just 8.
Speaking of PhotoPass- Keep the card handy. This way instead of having 5 separate cards that can get lost, you have all your pics on one pass.
We ended up losing the card of pics we took at Toontown
Well, that's all folks. I hope you enjoyed my report. Better late than never! Hopefully you will join me as I start my pre-trippie for our next WONDERful vacation to the World!
mlill
Tagless since 2000!<br><font color="red">Tagless,
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2000
But WISHES was a beautiful way to end the day! The song had me choked up and the pyrotechnics were incredible. As we were waiting for the bus to take us back to our resort, Prince Donald mentioned "Do you happen to know how much a land and sea vacation would run us?"
Your DH is a keeper! You guys are going to have SUCH a good time on your next trip! 
It'll be here before you know it! If your next TR is anything like this one, it's gonna be wonderful! 
Thank you for taking the time to write this TR and let us get to know you and your family. 
I'm really looking forward to reading about your cruise! Happy Planning!
-Michelle
Happy Planning!
-Michelle
Thanks so much Michelle!
I am counting down the days till our trip! I will be keeping my eye out for your next trippie as well!
Thank you for reading the report. I am so glad you enjoyed it! I can't wait to get started on my pretrippie, but I keep thinking, I am still in triple digits, maybe I should wait. LOL
Have a wonderful day!
emilyclaire
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2007
So glad you found my trip report so I could find yours! You are a very engaging writer. I'm really enjoying it!
Thank you so much! Disney is so easy to write about....especially when you absolutely love it! Can't wait to read of yours too!
Tanya90210
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 6, 2006
what a wonderful report.... I am headed over to your pretrip now 
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