The most perfect trip ever!

[praline3001]

This breakfast was very magical for Savannah and a wonderful start to our day!

After our wonderful breakfast we headed downstairs to meet up with my brother and our guide... i was crossing my fingers they found eachother and didn't have issues!!!! There wasn't any problems and they were all waiting for us when we were done! Here are a few pics of us waiting for the rope to drop

The only peeps who were at the castle were ones who finished breakfast early (though we were the first to arrive and the first to leave as we went super fast) or they had a vip guide or they knew someone that got them in special lol
The majority of the crowd was waiting up at the train station for rope drop but we were allowed to wait at the castle for rope drop..... meaning we were the first into Fantasy land! Now out of the small crowd that was waiting there were not that many small children AT ALL... mostly older people. After they sang happy birthday to my brother (as he was wearing that hat hehe) they dropped the rope and Savannah and Alex RAN, skipped and cheered as they raced to be the first in (they both wanted to be first LOL) it wasn't a selfish race but one filled with great joy and laughter!!!! As there was hardly anyone there we were able to let the kids RUN to Dumbo on their own just for the sheer joy of it! This was the closest I have felt to being a child in a VERY long time!!! It was so magical! They had bubble blowing in the air and everything was fresh and clean with the morning dew.
I love rope drop and never miss it. I am not ever in the front and we usually stick to the back and slowly walk up and take in the sites of the new morning. I love wandering up main street during rope drop. The first of the line is always pushy and shoving and running and racing and that is NOT my style. This was sooooo different as we were running and skipping from the sheer JOY of it all!!!! We weren't RACING to the first ride because we HAD to... rather because we were excited and WANTED to. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life! The only bad part is not many of our pics came out as I was too busy keeping up with the kids who were going way to fast!!! I let them as I knew how excited they were but the pics came out badly lol

I am not one of those crazy first kind of peeps but the way this particular morning was done it was WONDERFUL!!!! Nobody pushed or shoved or tried to "win"...the other families were just like us... there for the sheer joy of just being there! Everyone was laughing at Savannah and Alex as they were screaming and racing we are first we are first!!! It was really cute! I had to wipe a tear from the old eyes watching my families faces of wonder and joy.... even my brother was in awe .... my brother and I ended up holding hands and skipping the rest of the way to dumbo with our kids. We were such doofs and i am sure peeps thought we were married but it was a joy I had not shared with my brother since we were little.

Here we are first in line to ride Dumbo. They hadn't even started the ride up yet so we had to wait 2 minutes or so for them to get it up and running for the day.

I want to add that I have been to MK many times in my life ... and I have never been able to take my princess on Dumbo. The line has always been NUTS and I never wanted to stand there in the heat with grumpy people so we have always skipped it. I am so glad I waited until this 1 magical moment to ride it with her!!!! You could not ask for a prettier morning and it was special and magical for both of us to share that special moment.

As soon as we were seated in our Dumbo the nasty morning stroller nazi pushers and shovers showed up! We were nice and safe in our dumbo with a beautiful entrance into the park WITHOUT THEM RUINING IT!!!!!!!!!!
We watched them push and shove and yell their way into line... seriously there was YELLING as one family pushed ahead of another family as the family was trying to take pics but didnt want to lose their place in line.... so nasty IMO!!!! I hate watching fights and yelling at Disney!!!! Anyway... we paid them no mind and smiled as we were first and Savannah and Alex will never forget that moment as long as they live.... to run ahead through fantasy land without mom or dad holding hands or crowds pushing..... it was just like running in their own backyard!
After Dumbo we went to peter pan and then Its a small world. After that we did Winnie the pooh, the carolsel and the tea cups.... we finished off Fantasyland within the hour. It was a whirlwind of ride after ride after ride hahahahah the guide didn't give us a chance to stop and smell the roses or just enjoy the morning .... I understood WHY though so we were cool.

 

[praline3001]

We did not stand in any lines the entire hour... we were pushed right on the ride with no wait.
After finishing the rides in Fantasyland we went over to toon town. They open toontown at 10am but we were there at 9:50 and the guide walked us through. As we already saw the princesses that morning, we wanted to get a private meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie. We got our meet and greet alright!!!!! We were the only ones in toontown or in the judges tent hahahahaha
I did not take any pics of our meet and greet but the photopass guy took about 20. Minnie LOVED Savannah's dress!!!!!!!!! She took Savannah by the hands and danced around the tent with her hahaha Mickey and Minnie cut up and played around with us for 10 minutes!!!! The photopass guy got some really great shots of savannah and minnie in matching little dresses.
It was very magical for Savannah to meet the big cheese himself without waiting in line or having crowds around... she had both characters to herself.

 

[praline3001]

Now remember this is in the middle of peak season and we are in MK..... notice any crowds in my pics?!?!? NOPE NOT A ONE!!!! We were seriously loving being the only ones around.... it was like we had the park to ourselves!!! The park was opened at this point but everyone was headed to one of the mountains or Dumbo.
After Seeing the mouse, we went on Barnstormer which is Alex's fav ride.... they rode it 3 times in a row which tickled him to no end!!! I went to use the bathroom while my brother took them on it.

After finishing up in toontown we headed to the racetrack. This is where we first encountered people! There was already a line but the guide snuck my brother and Savannah up towards the front via a door. They still had to wait through the bridge overpass area but I want to say it was only a 5 minute wait... the line was already outside the que area and most likely a 60 minute wait so this was really cool. Alex and I waited in the stands and my SIL was off for a hot dog as she was hungry (eating for 2 hehe)
The guide took care of all of us as we split up in different directions. She was soooo good about this! She hunted everyone up so we didn't have to find eachother after splitting up. she loved my brothers hat as much as we did as you could NOT lose him in a crowd LOL

Afterwards we headed over to future world and rode the transit authority. This was the only ride my SIL trusted to ride being knocked up. It was fun as we were cutting up and being silly during the ride.

After we went on space mountain. The guide had us go through the fp line from here on out. I am not sure how she handled the fp thing... i know she had our tickets all day but if we wanted to ride something again we were able to spur of the moment and go through the fp line..... i didnt bother asking as i like the sheer magic of doing it lol

We then went on splash mountain twice and thunder mountain once. After splash mountain we went for lunch at LTT. I love this place for a lunch or dinner! It is dark, cool and a nice resting spot. The guide did not eat with us but went to plan more stuff for the day while we ate.

During this meal Savannah started complaining of a headache... she said her head was pounding. I had some children's tylenol in my bag so I gave her a few and crossed my fingers they would work!!!!
Oh on a side note about the guide..... whenever we left the stroller for a ride or to eat or something.... the guide always had it ready and waiting for when we exited!!! We did not have to hunt or go get the stroller the entire time... it was like valet parking for strollers hahahah
After our meal at LTT we were looking around the lobby area and thats when the big disaster happened!!!!!!!!!
I still cringe over it!!!! There was a little girl...maybe 6... who had done the full BBB thing and had on those cindy glass slippers with heels. She was standing right next to me (yup u see where this is going.....) and decided to tell everyone how tigger jumps..... and she jumped right on my broken toe.... well all the toes on that foot. She cut my big toe open and I was bleeding. She rebroke both toes who were finally just mending... the second to little toe was bent at a 90 degree angle!!!!!!!
I screamed sooo loud the entire place looked at me! The mother of the little angel jumped up and got into my face and started screaming AT ME for scaring her little angel.... how DARE I scare and make her little angel cry (big eye roll) NOTE I did not YELL at the little girl... i just screamed AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH from the pain lol
I tried to nicely (i was crying at this point) to explain to this loving mother that her angel just jumped on my broken toe ...showed her the 90 degree angle said toes were sitting at and the blood dripping off of my big toe from the heel..... she TOLD me that if i had a broken toe I SHOULD NOT BE IN THE PARKS and kept yelling at me. I tasted blood in my cheeks as I was biting them so hard as I never wanted to deck someone SO bad in my entire life!!!!!! Here is the guide with a napkin trying to help me stop the bleeding, and unwrapping the tape on my toes to see the damage and make sure it wasn't a compound fracture this time.... and this mother was screaming at me for scaring her little girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The father was much nicer .... told his wife to go outside and then apologized to me. He was concerned for me and said his daughter would get over it and that he had told her to calm down several times before.
He helped me (along with my brother) to the first aid station where we re tapped it up. The rest of my family went off to see peter pan (a fav of Alex and i didnt want them to miss it) and the guide took me to sit on the bench where we were going to watch the parade at 3pm. They rode the rides in Adventureland without me and met up with me right before the parade. The guide rushed them a little much and had them walking with melting mickey bars to the bench. lol

 

[praline3001]

when we all met back up Savannah was again complaining that her head was still pounding. She wanted to see the parade but she was hurting I could tell.
where did we sit for the parade? On the bridge at Liberty square. They had the entire bridge roped off so it was our family and 2 other families on the entire bridge!!!!!
They had benches out for us to sit on while the parade went by and all of the characters stopped and greeted ur kids!!!! the floats were maybe 12 inches from us and with no crowds the kids were able to run and dance and have fun without us holding their hands and watching the crowds!!!! It was sooo magical and again I had a teary eyed moment (even with the headach and the toes) on how special it all was.
You can see the large crowds in the background of our pics and we were soooo far away from the nasty rude peeps!!!! It was all magical without any of the nasty peeps to ruin it lol

here is a good pic where you can see the crowds...and how far away they were from us lol

We were even able to let Gabi out of her stroller when she wanted to... so she could play games with the guide and cheer the parade on!!!!!

This next pic was hysterical.... up to this point Gabi had little interest in the parade. Her fav character of ALL time is Winnie the pooh... she has pooh EVERYTHING as she goes nuts for him hahaha
She saw him on the float and I snapped this pic of her

 

[praline3001]

Capt Hook did not care for Alex's hat haha

but Peter pan loved it!

I took a bunch of pics of the parade and my brother filmed it and is mailing me the DVD. I will try and upload it when I get it in the mail....
After the parade my toe was THROBBING and all swollen.... Savannah started crying her head was pounding that bad..... so we had to say good bye to the guide. The guide gave us 60 FP's for all of the rides and was so sad savannah and I were both down for the rest of the day. I gave my brother the FP's to use with Alex, didn't want them to go to waste and he still showed up later to our room with left over Fps'.
She had a CM come and get me in a little golf cart thingie and take me back to the resort the backstage way. We went back to our room and had savannah nap. Her head got so bad she threw up =( I am not sure if it was the excitement or the heat or what but all she could do was cry it hurt so bad. I was in a lot of pain myself and just wanted to cry .... not the time to want to comfort a sick child LOL
We both curled up in the bed and fell asleep holding eachother. After we rested for several hours we ordered room service dinner and relaxed in our room the rest of the night. She was doing much better after her nap but still weak. The dinner perked her up.... the room serivce guy heard how rough we felt... i had to limp to the door to open it hahahaha he had savannah climb in bed and served her her dinner right in the bed..... fulll 4 star services with her napkin in her lap and he held out the ketchup like it was a bottle of his finest wine hahahahahahahhaha he really did it up for her dinner in bed ....even though she was in her jammies hahahahaha
this made her giggle like mad and made my heart swell to hear her giggle again.... somehow her shining face made my toes feel better hahaha
we relaxed, watched a movie and soaked in the tub. I had given my brother Savannah's room key before we left MK. That way when they were done with the parks they could come meet us back at the room. When staying in SL you need the key just to get into the building. I didn't feel like having to go downstairs to let them in ...with my toe LOL
Well he showed up to our room to say good bye ... he had a glass of cognac in his hands and a beer under his arms. My nephew has a stack of cookies on a plate. I gave him that big sister stare and he looked at me and said, WHAT? you didn't want your nephew to starve to death did you?
As I am not a drinker I took his word that it was top notch $200 bottle of cognac LOL
He said no gentleman in their right minds could pass it up little brothers... what can you do with them? They took off for the night and the cognac was a perfect ending to their perfect day LOL NOTE my SIL was doing the driving as she is knocked up LOL my brother in no way did any drinking and driving LOL


I retapped my toes and took the vicadin the doc gave me before I left for our trip and both Savannah and I passed out cold for the night!!!!

The sad thing is the guide had a whole afternoon planned for us with meet and greets with several characters. She had a ton of FP's for us too
We just could NOT do it as I was in such pain and Savannah had such a killer mirgaine. Even with all of this... this was the most magical time we have EVER had at MK~
and I have been there well over a 100 times in my life!
I know I am forgetting a million magical moments in this trip report!!! They were coming at us every second! This might have been one reason savannah's head was splitting so bad .... it might have been TOO over stimulating for her

Whatever the reason ... we were done for the day. If mom with tigger kid is reading this... THANKS I enjoyed meeting you

 

[AlienBrain]

Sounds like you had an eventful day. I am glad to hear that it was your best MK trip ever ... even with the rebroken toes a la tigger. That mom sounded like such a self consumed person. Oh well, karma will get her back some day.

 

[praline3001]

I should be clear... I was not angry with the child... she was just having fun and it was an accident!

I yelled from sheer pain... i did not yell at the little girl ....
I have kids myself... things happen to the best of us.

The mom is the one who made me so angry!!!!!!

how can you yell at someone when there is blodd gushing from their wounds

 

[Joie29]

Brook, I am only part way through your latest installment but just had to say how MUCH I am enjoying it again! Your report is making me absolutely giddy about our upcoming trip...so many great pics and you planned so many amazing things.

 

[praline3001]

Brook, I am only part way through your latest installment but just had to say how MUCH I am enjoying it again! Your report is making me absolutely giddy about our upcoming trip...so many great pics and you planned so many amazing things.

Thanks so much. Even with my toe we had the most magical time ever!!! I dont mean to dwell on the bad stuff but I thought I would try and down play some of the magic so as not to seem like I was bragging

With the VIP guides ... whatever we wanted, we got! She ran and got drinks for us while we were in shows or rides, snack... you name it! Whatever we wanted to ride was a total walk on... we never stood in any lines with her!
You have to remember we were there during the peak summer crowds!!! The mountains were 100 minute long stand by waits or longer... FP's were gone by noon. Had we not had the guide our trip would have been standing in line after line after line all day long

To me ... if I had to... I would stay at a cheaper resort (gasp I know ... as I love the GF... but I did say IF I HAD TO) and do the guide for at least MK day. She was so worth every single penny!!!

I also have never been big on the parades... I hate the pushing and shoving to get the perfect seat. I LOVE the magic at Disney but a lot of the park people really ruin the magic for me. Sorry but its true. I hate seeing families fight and argue, yelling at kids and forcing them on rides or to see characters the kids dont want to see... drives me bonkers to see overly tired kids being pushed way past their limits... even when i blew a small fortune on the guide... and she had a ton of more things in store for us.. when savannah was done we left END OF STORY..... i did not try to push my kid to do something she didnt want to.

I love rope drop!!! Not so I can run to the line and push and shove my way and trip people on the way to the rides ... I love the smell of the morning in the parks! I love seeing the new day and all the bright shining faces. I really love the magic of opening! I will slowly walk down main street in the morning, waving to the CM's along the way. I of course have to wait until the pushers and shovers make it through before I make my walk ha ha
with the guide I was able to have my entire family in fantasyland ... running skipping and jumping with excitement! It was so much fun to be first and NOT have to fight to be first... if that makes sense? We were able to enjoy it without rude peeps... and with the summer crowds there were A LOT OF rude and nasty people there.... those who make high demands on poor CM's!!!! I love the Cm's at WDW!!!! They must take happy pills each morning to deal with some of those rude peeps! LOL

EXP... we went to splash mountain our first day.... it was broken down =( so we got a fast pass and figured we would come back when it was running. There was a DAD.. yes an adult man YELLING at one of the college kid type Cm's because this was the second time splash mountian had broken down... he tried to get on the day before and it was broke and they were leaving the next day YADDA YADDA YADDA... felt bad for the guy and his sob story BUT... he was finger in the face SCREAMING at the CM in charge of the fastpass machines HAHA
The poor CM was like sorry sir but there is nothing I can do to help you. I dont work the ride and I am not sure what the problem is with it.... trying to be as nice as can be to this rude and nasty man... well the man kept yelling and screaming at this poor kid!
When he finished yelling I walked up to the CM and told him how wonderful of a job he was doing and how much we appreciate all the cm's. I swear the kid looked like he was going to cry with relief!!!!
SOOOOOOOOO remember ...many of the CM working there are just kids themselves ...away from home for the first time and well.... be kind to them. Give them a pat on the back. Let them know how nice it is for them to be there to help out! AND for goodness sakes dont be a .... well a you know what.... to them!

Getting off of my soap box now before I offend someone LOL

 

[Joie29]

Just finished--how awful that you both were in rough shape, but what an incredible day!!

I totally see your point about VIP being quite worth it at MK. I had hoped it would be a "dazzling" experience to read about...and sure seemed like it was!

Were you charged extra because your brother's family was with you? Just curious as my parents will be at WDW a few of the days we are there.

 

[praline3001]

Just finished--how awful that you both were in rough shape, but what an incredible day!!

I totally see your point about VIP being quite worth it at MK. I had hoped it would be a "dazzling" experience to read about...and sure seemed like it was!

Were you charged extra because your brother's family was with you? Just curious as my parents will be at WDW a few of the days we are there.

Charged for what? Now sure your question~
You can have up to 10 people in your group for your VIP guide... if you have more you must hire 2 guides.
They didn't stay overnight at our resort... they did visit and meet up with us in our room several times but then went home at night. There was no charge for visitors.

 

[Joie29]

Right, I wondered if you were charged extra for having more members in your party for the VIP (besides you and Savannah). I was not sure if the rate was based on a group of 2, 4, etc...You answered it with the 10 person limit. Thanks.

 

[praline3001]

Right, I wondered if you were charged extra for having more members in your party for the VIP (besides you and Savannah). I was not sure if the rate was based on a group of 2, 4, etc...You answered it with the 10 person limit. Thanks.

Ok, I wasn't sure what charge you meant. The guide was great with the whole extended family thing too!!!
We are all very different ... my brother has 2 little ones (adopted) and another one on the way. their idea of Disney was slow pace and my SIL wasnt taking chances on riding anything... not even IASW .. as it took her 12 years to get knocked up ...
Then Savannah and I are thrill rides kind of people.
The guide was able to work the entire group to make sure EVERYONE got what they wanted and had fun. The little ones did not have to sit at the exits all day waiting for us... being bored. She always made sure there was something to keep them busy while we rode the big kid rides. She was quick to take Savannah on mission space without me as I get sick on that ride.
She was able to keep up with our group as we split up going different ways several times most likely drove the poor gal nuts but she did really well!

Its really hard to take 6 people with 6 different expectations, wants and desires and fulfill them all in 1 day but that guide did it!

 

[mmmears]

I'm so sorry about your toes!

I keep reading in the GF threads about how everyone wears flip-flops to the parks, and I was wondering how! My feet always feel too "exposed" in those crowds! One time at DL I had to wear sandals b/c of all my blisters and I spent the whole day trying not to get stepped on! I cant believe it happened in a restaurant, too -- not in the crowds.

Hope the toes are feeling better now!

And still really enjoying your trip report!

BTW, if we ever do watch a parade again, the VIP tour sounds like the way to do it!

 

[Joie29]

Sounds fantastic! Really. I think I am sold. Thank you for sharing all the details!
Did you book through the GF concierge?

How is your poor foot/toes?

 

[praline3001]

I'm so sorry about your toes!

I keep reading in the GF threads about how everyone wears flip-flops to the parks, and I was wondering how! My feet always feel too "exposed" in those crowds! One time at DL I had to wear sandals b/c of all my blisters and I spent the whole day trying not to get stepped on! I cant believe it happened in a restaurant, too -- not in the crowds.

Hope the toes are feeling better now!

And still really enjoying your trip report!

BTW, if we ever do watch a parade again, the VIP tour sounds like the way to do it!

I would have much rather worn sneakers but I could not get my foot in them... my 2 toes were that swollen when we left for WDW! I packed them just in case but after the LTT disaster there was no way I was going to be able to fit in my sneakers. The new Balance slides did good and I was paranoid trying to keep my toe safe. I did use a special kind of waterproof tape that had lots of cushion to it... which helped with the minor bumps ...just not tiggers and little girls

 

[praline3001]

Sounds fantastic! Really. I think I am sold. Thank you for sharing all the details!
Did you book through the GF concierge?

How is your poor foot/toes?

The VIP guide tour office number is 407-560-4033

I did this on my own and not through conceirge.

 

[praline3001]

AS to my toes.... they are doing better. There is a large scab on my big toe still from the tigger wanna b but i will live.

I was going to go back to the doc to see about fixing the crooked toe but DH told me in order to fix it, they would rebreak it... NO THANKS

so I will forever have a reminder of my little tigger cindy friend... a crooked freaky looking toe

The swelling is gone but there is still bruising... a yellow greenish black icky bruising... not the cute purple kind

 

[vbarry]

Love your trip report B!!

Sounds like you had the time of your life and a trip I am sure Savannah will never forget!

 

[WishesQueen]

Awesome Trip Report Brook!!!

I can't believe your SIL is expecting!!! Congratulations to Everyone!!!