The Million Word Disney Trip Report

[meanpc]

Our first day is at Magic Kingdom! We watched the opening, which I had never seen before.

How cool would it be to get to open the Magic Kingdom like this lucky family did?

Mickey shows up on the train. This was my first time seeing the new Mickey, with the eyes and mouth that move. It's so much better than when they nod their heads to simulate talking.

The only downside is that sometimes you catch images like this, where Mickey looks drunk or high or something. The mayor is one of the most expressive face characters I've seen.

Here we go!

 

[meanpc]

My wife has been planning this day out pretty carefully for over a month now. The first ride is pretty important. We want to be able to get on fast - do not want to start the day out in a huge line. It can't be scary for a 3 year old - this is her first ride at Disney ever, so we don't want her to start with a bad experience.

From left to right - Sarah, Candice and Molly, and Collin (black shirt). Sarah (pink shirt,glasses) might look a little apprehensive, because she is. She's managed to develop a fear of heights and is a little scared to get on Dumbo. Later on in the day, we get her on Splash Mountain and she loves it. On the last day of the trip, she rides Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain, twice!

Candice and Sarah riding Dumbo. You can probably tell Sarah is not having the time of her life yet.

Doesn't Collin look like he's trying to land a 747 in a storm instead of riding Dumbo?

Hard to see Molly - she's short and they require short people to sit on the inside. But there she is on her first Disney ride.

 

[meanpc]

Winnie the Pooh!

Molly with the hunny pots in the play area outside the Pooh ride.

Sarah nearly gave herself a hernia pulling on this rope!

Finally, a video of the ride.

 

[meanpc]

Molly is 3 and has never had a haircut, so Candice scheduled her first haircut at the Harmony Barbershop in the Magic Kingdom!

Molly was a little nervous at first, but the stylist disarmed her with a Minnie Mouse toy that spun and lit up. Perfect!

Molly and her stylist, Diane, after the haircut. Every first haircut gets a pair of Mickey ears.

Outside the Harmony Barbershop after the haircut.

We actually happened upon the Dapper Dans barbershop quartet performing on Mainstreet USA after leaving Harmony Barbershop.

 

[saintstickets]

Hiya neighbor! (Well, sort of. We're in South Mississippi) Just found your TR and subbing in. Great pics. I need to get a faster lens for my camera. We just returned from our trip a few weeks ago and your pics of the drive along I-10 reminded me of the longggg drive. Hope to see lots more pics and comments!

 

[meanpc]

Hiya neighbor! (Well, sort of. We're in South Mississippi) Just found your TR and subbing in. Great pics. I need to get a faster lens for my camera. We just returned from our trip a few weeks ago and your pics of the drive along I-10 reminded me of the longggg drive. Hope to see lots more pics and comments!

Thanks for checking in! Yes, that drive is bad now, but I can't imagine what it was like when you first went in 73. Or later, when the interstates were there, but the speed limit was 55.

Some people I've talked to asked why I didn't fly. We spent about $200 in fuel driving, plus I guess you have to factor in wear and tear. The airplane tickets for 5 would have been way more, plus we wouldn't have had a car when we got there.

I've done it both ways - Disney buses to the parks and POV's to the parks - POV's are way faster.

 

[meanpc]

Here's the video of Molly getting her first haircut at Harmony Barbershop

 

[meanpc]

Splash Mountain! My 9 year old daughter's favorite ride. I had a garbage bag to put my camera under for the wet parts. I took a couple of shots at the top of the big plunge.

 

[saintstickets]

I had a garbage bag to put my camera under for the wet parts.

Gallon size Zip-Loc bags are great too especially when riding Kali River Rapids in AK! I finally broke down and purchased a small waterproof camera that I take on water rides. It has worked pretty good so far especially when we went to Discovery Cove two weeks ago to swim with the Dolphins!

 

[meanpc]

Gallon size Zip-Loc bags are great too especially when riding Kali River Rapids in AK! I finally broke down and purchased a small waterproof camera that I take on water rides. It has worked pretty good so far especially when we went to Discovery Cove two weeks ago to swim with the Dolphins!

I do need to get a waterproof camera. A few years ago, not long after I bought the Canon 5dmk2 (which I sold a few months ago), we went on an excursion to some waterfalls in Jamaica. I brought the camera with me, not realizing how wet it'd be. I ended up handing the camera over to one of our guides, a Jamaican kid with a dry bag. I was a nervous wreck!

 

[meanpc]

Lunch at the Crystal Palace. Go here for the characters, because the food isn't worth it in my opinion. We did a lot of character meals on this trip - I'd like to do none on the next trip, if my wife and kids will let me get away with it. The character meals cost a ridiculous amount of money and even worse, you keep getting interrupted during your meal.

The kids DID enjoy meeting the Pooh characters at the Crystal Palace.

Waiting outside for our table.

Sarah showing off the 'Sarah' necklace she bought at the ASMu gift shop.

Tigger!

Pooh!

Eeyore!

Piglet!

 

[tralin]

We did a lot of character meals on this trip - I'd like to do none on the next trip, if my wife and kids will let me get away with it.

My DH thought he would get away with only 2 charachter meals since DD16 and DD18 wouldn't be into them. However, they see DD4 as their "acceptable" reason to keep doing them much to DH chagrin. We are doing 5 out of 8 meals as charachter meals. So which one did your family enjoy the most?

Love the photos! You have a beautiful family and these pictures are just feeding my addiction. You are making me through the roof excited for our Sept. trip.

 

[meanpc]

My DH thought he would get away with only 2 charachter meals since DD16 and DD18 wouldn't be into them. However, they see DD4 as their "acceptable" reason to keep doing them much to DH chagrin. We are doing 5 out of 8 meals as charachter meals. So which one did your family enjoy the most?

Love the photos! You have a beautiful family and these pictures are just feeding my addiction. You are making me through the roof excited for our Sept. trip.

Thanks so much for the kind words! I think the best characters were at the Crystal Palace. Even our 16 year old had to smile when Tigger grabbed a hold of him. Piglet played pranks on him too. The characters there seemed to put a lot into their role. They also spent a good bit of time at each table, not making you feel like they were in a hurry at all.

Unfortunately, the food at Crystal Palace is not the best, in my opinion. Good desserts though.

 

[meanpc]

Pirates of the Caribbean!

We went on this ride 3 or 4 times, and never had to wait. The Johnny Depp update is really good. I came out of this ride with the "Yo Ho Ho, A pirates life for me" song stuck in my head each time.

Pictures are really hard to get in this ride. I shot 28/1.8 and 85/1.8.

 

[meanpc]

I always forget how much I love the Jungle Cruise. The ride itself is pretty fun, but my favorite part is the corny humor of the captain. Our captain had me rolling the whole trip. I don't know if all the jokes are scripted, but he sold them as if he had just though of them. I love slapstick, puns and corny humor. The bad part is, I'm usually kinda slow to get jokes so my laughter is sometimes a little delayed.

Here's the captain:

How in the world did this happen? Must have been recent, the headlights are still on! Maybe we should check for survivors?

I like this elephant shot way better than the one I got at AK. Think this guy had anything to do with the overturned jeep back there?

Oh good! Those guys from the jeep are ok!

I swear, if I see one more pair of Crocs in DisneyWorld...

I'm sure they're real charmers once you get to know them.

Whoda thunk they had a drive through boat wash way out here?

 

[mbvisitor]

Love, Love, Love, Love your pictures!
A hat pic around the world is a great idea! I'm going to have to remember that one. Your kids a super duper cute...can't wait to read and see more!

 

[saintstickets]

I always forget how much I love the Jungle Cruise. The ride itself is pretty fun, but my favorite part is the corny humor of the captain. Our captain had me rolling the whole trip. I don't know if all the jokes are scripted, but he sold them as if he had just though of them. I love slapstick, puns and corny humor.

Sounds like we might be kindred spirits. Their jokes are still funny even after hearing them for the umpteenth time. You might have already been there, but if you like corny jokes, try Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Ft. Wilderness. We were there for the first time during our trip a few weeks ago and it was great!

 

[meanpc]

Love, Love, Love, Love your pictures!
A hat pic around the world is a great idea! I'm going to have to remember that one. Your kids a super duper cute...can't wait to read and see more!

Thanks so much! The shop keeper in Morocco was really eyeing us when she put on the metal headdress jewelry stuff. I will eventually make some kind of collage out of those hat photos.

Sounds like we might be kindred spirits. Their jokes are still funny even after hearing them for the umpteenth time. You might have already been there, but if you like corny jokes, try Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Ft. Wilderness. We were there for the first time during our trip a few weeks ago and it was great!

Haven't done it yet, but was asked several times if we went after we got back. We'll for sure have to go next time. We nearly stayed at Ft. Wilderness for this trip. We were going to pull our popup camper for 12 hours with 3 kids....we chickened out and stayed at ASMu instead.

 

[meanpc]

The Tiki Room....wasn't really that into this. Neither were the kids, except it seemed to hold Molly's (3y/o) attention. Hardly anyone in this attraction and the park was packed??? Maybe it's time to move something else in? Ever heard someone say their favorite attraction was The Tiki room? Me neither. I killed the boredom by trying to get some passable shots in tough light. Not to mention it was nice to get in some AC, so not a total loss.

 

[meanpc]

It's a Small World! My 3 year old daughter Molly was entranced by this ride. She was staring around wide-eyed for the duration of the ride. It is quite a spectacle the first time you see it. Unfortunately, I ended up with the IASWAA song trapped in my head for a while.

It was kind of funny, the guy sitting in front of me was making fun of the ride the entire time we were on it. His poor wife was trying to ignore him. Meanwhile, I'm sitting behind him firing off frame after frame of these dolls. I probably took around 300 shots - wonder what kind of freak he though I was?

How lucky is it that the fireworks were going off right over the sign when I went to take a picture of it? Not even planned!