tink2020
Suddenly Tagless!
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2005
- Messages
- 9,937
Tuesday, March 10th
Well, today is (was) the day! The story behind the "Are you 23?" promotion was going to be announced, and we were actually on property for "the big reveal"!
Too bad some of the CMs didn't even know what it was, for at least half the day. Apparently we would have done better finding out by NOT being in the land of the mouse, because I had to call home to find out what it was all about. Talk about a let down! (Not the actual concept, which I find intriguing, but the excitement of actually finding out what it was
)
Anyway, on to what actually did happen on property that day...
At about 6am, I was wide awake and realized that the girls hadn't so much as made a peep. They didn't even have their usual 20-minute conversation at 5am! Since they were still sleeping soundly, I got up and got ready and went for a walk on the sleepy (and still cold!) boardwalk. I ate a chocolate chip croissant on a bench while I watched more motivated people than myself work out, including a group of college-aged men doing serious team training of some sort. Mmmm.... chocolate chip breakfast.
I brought my dear husband a mug of coffee like the charming wife I am, which is saying a lot considering I didn't even have the first clue how much of this or that to put in it. I hate coffee. HATE it, and he doesn't actually drink it all that often. Thus, the dilemma. He drank it though, so it was either tolerable or he is just sweet. Both are possible.
As I was walking back to the room, I saw two girls, seemingly sisters, doing carthweels on the perfectly manicured boardwalk lawn. At 7:00 in the morning. I realized how much I am looking forward to ALL of the memories we'll make on the trips to come, not just making a mad dash to ride Dumbo or experiencing Space Mountain for the first time, but just hanging out. Together.
I must admit, this was much more the speed of memory-making I had been anticipating when daydreaming about the current trip. ALL of our moods were improved when the girls didn't act like crazy babies!
So finally, after all of this about which I have rambled enough, we were ready to start our day We took a very nice stroll to the Studios, and got there about 20 minutes before the park opened.
Cast Members everywhere were begging people to audition for the American Idol Experience, but this just wasn't going to be the trip for that sort of thing! Besides, we had a long-overdue date with Buzz and Woody!
After the opening sequence, it seemed the entire crowd was headed toward Toy Story Mania. Still, thanks in large part to the remarkable set-up and efficiency on Disney's part (seriously -- SO impressed!), we had fastpasses in hand and were on after a 10-minute wait in the stand-by line. What a freaking awesome ride.
While waiting for our FP time to come up to ride again, we walked through the Journey into Narnia attraction. It was still early, so they let us go through with the stroller (shhh....) which was nice, since the girls needed a nap. They slept, I very much enjoyed the walk-through. I must admit I was a bit envious at the thought of the Pevensie children getting to shoot scenes all over the globe. Those are some seriously blessed little kiddos!
Kyle and I both took another spin on TSM (without the girls this time, as they continued napping), and I was - yet again - the more accurate of the two of us. (We'll leave it at that.)
When Elise and Avery woke up, we headed to Woody's Photo Shootin' Gallery. As is often the case, I'm impressed with the things Disney put in place to entertain us as we waited to meet Buzz and Woody.
The girls loved this meet & greet despite being hungry and crabby. Once again, thank you, Cheerios.
We headed to the Backlot Express for lunch in search of the Chicken Fingers I had talked myself into the day before, but it wouldn't open until 11:30. (Ridiculous). To pass the time, we wandered the Streets of America and enjoyed what seemed to be MUCH lighter crowds (throughout the whole park) than we had encountered on previous days! All this, to discover that the Chicken Fingers I so fondly remembered had been replaced by much less tasty Chicken Nuggets. Sorry Cassi
They were still good, but it wasn't the CS experience I had been looking forward to. To top it off, where did all the dessert choices go at all of the restaurants? Not that ANYONE needs dessert with lunch, but if I'm going to get it while on the DDP, I prefer having more than 1 option. I'm sorry, 1 option + 1 sugar-free option. 
It was also here that Elise got her first french fry! Poor Avery is just too sleepy at all the wrong times, no?
After lunch we headed over to see how the waits were for Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Thanks to Rider Swapping, we had planned to use 1 FP for each of them and get to ride both, for the first time in AGES! It had literally been years since I had ridden RNR between being there repeatedly when it was closed, then being pregnant. For this reason, it clearly took precedence. Besides, the wait was only listed at 10 minutes!
True to form on this trip (one direction or another), the listed wait time was way off. I have no idea what happened, but we waited nearly 10 minutes to take off while sitting in our limo, and waited another 10 sitting in the limo before exiting. This was in addition to a line that, in and of itself, was about 20 minutes. So nearly an hour later, I rejoined Kyle and the girls and we realized we wouldn't be able to do TOT. Kyle rode RNR (much more quickly!) and we headed back to the hotel.
Well, today is (was) the day! The story behind the "Are you 23?" promotion was going to be announced, and we were actually on property for "the big reveal"!
Too bad some of the CMs didn't even know what it was, for at least half the day. Apparently we would have done better finding out by NOT being in the land of the mouse, because I had to call home to find out what it was all about. Talk about a let down! (Not the actual concept, which I find intriguing, but the excitement of actually finding out what it was
)Anyway, on to what actually did happen on property that day...
At about 6am, I was wide awake and realized that the girls hadn't so much as made a peep. They didn't even have their usual 20-minute conversation at 5am! Since they were still sleeping soundly, I got up and got ready and went for a walk on the sleepy (and still cold!) boardwalk. I ate a chocolate chip croissant on a bench while I watched more motivated people than myself work out, including a group of college-aged men doing serious team training of some sort. Mmmm.... chocolate chip breakfast.
I brought my dear husband a mug of coffee like the charming wife I am, which is saying a lot considering I didn't even have the first clue how much of this or that to put in it. I hate coffee. HATE it, and he doesn't actually drink it all that often. Thus, the dilemma. He drank it though, so it was either tolerable or he is just sweet. Both are possible.
As I was walking back to the room, I saw two girls, seemingly sisters, doing carthweels on the perfectly manicured boardwalk lawn. At 7:00 in the morning. I realized how much I am looking forward to ALL of the memories we'll make on the trips to come, not just making a mad dash to ride Dumbo or experiencing Space Mountain for the first time, but just hanging out. Together.
I must admit, this was much more the speed of memory-making I had been anticipating when daydreaming about the current trip. ALL of our moods were improved when the girls didn't act like crazy babies!
So finally, after all of this about which I have rambled enough, we were ready to start our day
We took a very nice stroll to the Studios, and got there about 20 minutes before the park opened.
Cast Members everywhere were begging people to audition for the American Idol Experience, but this just wasn't going to be the trip for that sort of thing! Besides, we had a long-overdue date with Buzz and Woody!
After the opening sequence, it seemed the entire crowd was headed toward Toy Story Mania. Still, thanks in large part to the remarkable set-up and efficiency on Disney's part (seriously -- SO impressed!), we had fastpasses in hand and were on after a 10-minute wait in the stand-by line. What a freaking awesome ride.
While waiting for our FP time to come up to ride again, we walked through the Journey into Narnia attraction. It was still early, so they let us go through with the stroller (shhh....) which was nice, since the girls needed a nap. They slept, I very much enjoyed the walk-through. I must admit I was a bit envious at the thought of the Pevensie children getting to shoot scenes all over the globe. Those are some seriously blessed little kiddos!
Kyle and I both took another spin on TSM (without the girls this time, as they continued napping), and I was - yet again - the more accurate of the two of us. (We'll leave it at that.)
When Elise and Avery woke up, we headed to Woody's Photo Shootin' Gallery. As is often the case, I'm impressed with the things Disney put in place to entertain us as we waited to meet Buzz and Woody.
The girls loved this meet & greet despite being hungry and crabby. Once again, thank you, Cheerios.
We headed to the Backlot Express for lunch in search of the Chicken Fingers I had talked myself into the day before, but it wouldn't open until 11:30. (Ridiculous). To pass the time, we wandered the Streets of America and enjoyed what seemed to be MUCH lighter crowds (throughout the whole park) than we had encountered on previous days! All this, to discover that the Chicken Fingers I so fondly remembered had been replaced by much less tasty Chicken Nuggets. Sorry Cassi
They were still good, but it wasn't the CS experience I had been looking forward to. To top it off, where did all the dessert choices go at all of the restaurants? Not that ANYONE needs dessert with lunch, but if I'm going to get it while on the DDP, I prefer having more than 1 option. I'm sorry, 1 option + 1 sugar-free option. It was also here that Elise got her first french fry! Poor Avery is just too sleepy at all the wrong times, no?
After lunch we headed over to see how the waits were for Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Thanks to Rider Swapping, we had planned to use 1 FP for each of them and get to ride both, for the first time in AGES! It had literally been years since I had ridden RNR between being there repeatedly when it was closed, then being pregnant. For this reason, it clearly took precedence. Besides, the wait was only listed at 10 minutes!
True to form on this trip (one direction or another), the listed wait time was way off. I have no idea what happened, but we waited nearly 10 minutes to take off while sitting in our limo, and waited another 10 sitting in the limo before exiting. This was in addition to a line that, in and of itself, was about 20 minutes. So nearly an hour later, I rejoined Kyle and the girls and we realized we wouldn't be able to do TOT. Kyle rode RNR (much more quickly!) and we headed back to the hotel.
), I planned to try yet again to make it back. For whatever reason, I was completely delusional that afternoon. I thought that somehow, the busses might provide a better opportunity to do so than trying to deal with parking again. I'm not sure why I would be so ignorant....
rolleyes
). It was spectacular, even half-melted! We exited the park as most people were just heading in, and the girls napped almost the whole way. This is why we take "the long way" 
. It actually was better than we had remembered!
I'm not about to replace anything on my list of my favorite rides, but they are WAY cooler than Dumbo, for all the hype that elephant gets!
), and do a little photoshoot! 
Well, I thought, the white balcony might do? 
)
). We also talked with a very sweet family from Toronto, with whom we shared our Reserved Seating pass. It was their first trip and the boys were very excited to see it, so hopefully they were able to enjoy it as much as we usually do! 
