Katy Belle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2004
- Messages
- 4,013
Feb.25-March 2
Me-Katy 35-never been to WDW. Always, always, always have wanted to visit the mouse
DH-Scott 38- one trip to WDW, many, many moons ago.
DS-Jacob - 8 Cautious- brainy kid -looking forward to Epcot
DS-Nathan -6 Dare Devil - thinks he can fly (think concussion)- hopes to lose his first tooth at WDW and leave it under his pillow for Tinkerbell, hoping she will leave pixie dust!
DS-Matthew-4 Scaredy Cat - after viewing the Disney Trip planning video he called the Dumbo Ride "The Scary Roundy Round elephants"
We slept in until 7:30, then got everyone up and out. The original plan was to drive to WDW from TX and to bring all the breakfast stuff. When we ended up flying the plan was to just stop by a grocery store on the way to the resort. At midnight it didn't seem such a good plan, so we didn't do it. That meant we had to get breakfast somewhere, so we headed to the POR food court. It was very nice, but very busy. Jacob decided he had to have chocolate chip pancakes. Turns out that is a special order and we waited about 4 years for them to arrive. Also turns out the Jacob does not like chocoate chip pancakes, but of course we did not know that until he tried them. I also hate them, but realize its a vacation thing that everyone has to try at some point. Now, we travel a lot and there is one thing I have learned....children generally do not eat for the first 2-3 days of vacation. But for some reason this always leaves my mind and I pay for food for people who will not be eating today. Scott got some combo plate, I ordered a bagel egg sandwich and it turned out to be a croissant, which is fine, but I'm on Weight Watchers and that added a bunch of points to my breakfast, just a bit irritating. Nathan and Matthew each ate one sausage link and one bite of biscuit from their kids breakfast that they shared. Add drinks for everyone and the total was about $35. Ugh. We NEED to hit a store for some breakfast food.
Now, on to MGM. We found the bus stop and waited and waited for the bus, 4 years later it arrives, ok about 25 minutes. I am really the only one bothered by all these delays. All my boys are very happy. I am the only one who has read the Unofficial Guide and I know the importance of arriving early. At this point I'm hoping just to arrive. And, we do. Then there is the short hike to the front, delayed by a soda machine. Then the baggage search. Then we figure out how to use our tickets. This is a whole day of feeling like major newbies. It was a learning/get acquainted day. I struggled all day, but on with the report! It is now between 10:30 and 11. Now I am torn, do we head straight to the two most aggressive rides, TOT and RNR, and run the risk of scaring the kids into not trying other rides, or do we go now because if we don't we will never get on???? I have researched, I am armed with too much info. I choose to run the risk of scaring them and we head to TOT. We pick up a FastPass. We wander around trying to figure out what to do now. Ugh! I am informed, my friends at the Dis have taught me well, I shouldn't be doing this!!! We end up in a short line for WWTBAM. Short wait and in we go. We loved it! All of us! Even Matthew liked pushing buttons. Turns out we all have slow fingers, but we still loved it! Then back over and around those million little shops over to TOT. We had planned to the Baby Swap because Matthew is very much afraid of pretty much everything. Guess what! He was so afraid that he wouldn't go NEAR it! So Scott stayed at the bottom of the hill with him. He called it the Scary Motel and this was the beginning of a new name for POR, it is now the Happy Motel. He did not ever wanting us taking him to TOT to swim, or eat, or sleep, and he made sure we were all clear on that. OK, Jacob, Nathan, and I head up the hill, in the FastPass line. Then we wait, and wait and wait. 4 years later they finally announce that one of the elevators is not working and there will be a delay. Ugh. Luckily there was a nice family with DSs the same ages as mine. So we thumb wrestled, did staring contests and told rude jokes while we waited. Finally, to the front of the line. This was my first experience with how "in character" Disney CMs are! The motel man was downright creepy. Jacob is getting freaked out, remember, he's the cautious one. Nathan, the daredevil is fine. I hate elevators, but my Dear Sister In Law convinced me this was a Not to Be Missed. We all survived the ups and downs, the screams, the dark, the light, the scary. We loved it. Well, maybe not all of us. I would do it again right now given the chance, so would Nathan. We find Scott and Matthew where we left them, 50 minutes ago! Or was it 4 years?? I am feeling betrayed about the Fast Pass thing and thinking the Baby Swap thing isn't going to help us much. Scott decides to skip TOT in order to give us time to do more today. I picked up a FP for RNR before we entered TOT, but we still have a lot of time before it is time for that. Its 12:30, but the plan is to eat at Pizza Planet and we are not walking all the way over there, no time. Instead we choose and ice cream line, a 30 minute, or was it 4 years, ice cream line. I went across and got popcorn. By the time the others got to the front of the ice cream line a cart with Mickey Bars had opened, so Nathan and Matthew opted for those instead. We eat and walk around the million little shops and find characters. We got in line for Chip and DAle and had so much fun! Autograph #1. We stood in line for another character for about 10 minutes and they announced he would be taking a break at the end of this song. UGH. Off to another line, and it happened AGAIN. I am trying really hard to NOT be irritated and enjoy the moment, but I am struggling. Then we venture to Playhouse Disney. We wait in the line and eat the popcorn. That show is delightful!!!! I am feeling some better. The 4yr old,Matthew, really LOVED it. I feel better now that we did something specifically for him. Now it is time for RNR. Matthew and I wait outside Babyswap style while waiting for the boys. We got the opportunity to try out our ponchos that we had been carrying around all day! Then it stopped raining and our boys appeared. All smiles. Nathan is ready to go again, with me, but Jacob is not. When we get to the FastPass line she wants to measure him, even though he just came off the ride. He stepped up to the stick, then straightened up his little back and grew an inch! The people waiting for their FP time all cracked up. It was so cute! 49" and away we go! RNR is awesome. I really think its the best coaster I have ever ridden. Very well done Disney! Here we go again, around the million little shops. Oh wait, a parade. It is a wall of people. It is 3:00 and we have not eaten lunch! So we go around the million people and find Pizza Planet. Frankly, we loved it. It was almost empty. My boys are video-game-aholics. There was nobody in there, they were ALL at the parade. And its raining outside! The pizza was marvelous at 3. Yes, its expensive and yes, I forgot again that this is only day 1 and my kids aren't eating yet, so we threw away some pizza, but it was marvelous!
After we finish up we head outside to the HISTK playground. The CM informed us that it was closed due to being wet. UGH. So we shopped. Nathan found a Stars And Stripes Buzz LightYear. This is his 4th or 5th full sized Buzz. I guess its officially a collection now. Then we glanced back at the playground and now, 15 minutes later, its officially dry enough to open. I was thankful. The boys loved it. Matthew was scared by a large portion of it, but still enjoyed it. Nathan begged all week to return to it. Then a decision. Do we split up and some of us see The Muppet Show while the rest see the Stunt show? Jacob is protesting that he is too old for Muppets. So we decide to split, then he decides he will go to muppets because his book says its great. So off we go, get seated immediately, and LOVED it! All of us! Very well done, once again, Disney! It is now about 5:45, we have missed tons of stuff, but decide to head out. The park closes at 7, but we need to swim tonight and hit a grocery store. All kids really want to do on vacation is swim in the motel pool, right? We walk past Star Tours on our way out and decide to try it, stand by is a 10 min. wait, or so they say, it was really 4 years. Oh well. Matthew and I had a marvelous time watching a squirrel lick chocolate off the cement while waiting for our boys. The boys returned from Star Tours and really liked it! No motion sickness for Scott, so that was good news. Then to the exit, the bus came quickly and soon we were back at the Happy Motel, POR. We ate in the food court again. Once again, the wee ones are not eating, but the Nachos that DH and I had were excellent! Back to the room and a moment of panic. The message light was blinking on the phone. Two messages. I thought for sure that work was going to ruin our trip. Actually, it was two messages from POR,the happy motel, welcoming us!! whew! DH checked his e-mail, no bad news, and then ran to a grocery store to get breakfast supplies and Diet Coke to feed my addiction. I took the kids to the quiet pool that was really, really, close to our room. They had a blast. Then to bed. I layed down with Matthew. He said "I'm going to cover up my head so I won't be scared." and pulled the sheet up over his head. A minute later he's making a loud snoring noise, so I laughed, lifted the sheet and he was really asleep, snoring! I thought he was playing. That is one tired 4 year old. Oh, at the end of the day I said, "Well, we sure waited in a lot of lines today." Jacob said, "Yes Mom, but it was all worth it." Oh, he's so right! It was worth it. We truly had a wonderful day. Even with 4 year long waits and being very tired, it was magical. Little did I know, the next 4 days would be even better.
Me-Katy 35-never been to WDW. Always, always, always have wanted to visit the mouse
DH-Scott 38- one trip to WDW, many, many moons ago.
DS-Jacob - 8 Cautious- brainy kid -looking forward to Epcot
DS-Nathan -6 Dare Devil - thinks he can fly (think concussion)- hopes to lose his first tooth at WDW and leave it under his pillow for Tinkerbell, hoping she will leave pixie dust!
DS-Matthew-4 Scaredy Cat - after viewing the Disney Trip planning video he called the Dumbo Ride "The Scary Roundy Round elephants"
We slept in until 7:30, then got everyone up and out. The original plan was to drive to WDW from TX and to bring all the breakfast stuff. When we ended up flying the plan was to just stop by a grocery store on the way to the resort. At midnight it didn't seem such a good plan, so we didn't do it. That meant we had to get breakfast somewhere, so we headed to the POR food court. It was very nice, but very busy. Jacob decided he had to have chocolate chip pancakes. Turns out that is a special order and we waited about 4 years for them to arrive. Also turns out the Jacob does not like chocoate chip pancakes, but of course we did not know that until he tried them. I also hate them, but realize its a vacation thing that everyone has to try at some point. Now, we travel a lot and there is one thing I have learned....children generally do not eat for the first 2-3 days of vacation. But for some reason this always leaves my mind and I pay for food for people who will not be eating today. Scott got some combo plate, I ordered a bagel egg sandwich and it turned out to be a croissant, which is fine, but I'm on Weight Watchers and that added a bunch of points to my breakfast, just a bit irritating. Nathan and Matthew each ate one sausage link and one bite of biscuit from their kids breakfast that they shared. Add drinks for everyone and the total was about $35. Ugh. We NEED to hit a store for some breakfast food.
Now, on to MGM. We found the bus stop and waited and waited for the bus, 4 years later it arrives, ok about 25 minutes. I am really the only one bothered by all these delays. All my boys are very happy. I am the only one who has read the Unofficial Guide and I know the importance of arriving early. At this point I'm hoping just to arrive. And, we do. Then there is the short hike to the front, delayed by a soda machine. Then the baggage search. Then we figure out how to use our tickets. This is a whole day of feeling like major newbies. It was a learning/get acquainted day. I struggled all day, but on with the report! It is now between 10:30 and 11. Now I am torn, do we head straight to the two most aggressive rides, TOT and RNR, and run the risk of scaring the kids into not trying other rides, or do we go now because if we don't we will never get on???? I have researched, I am armed with too much info. I choose to run the risk of scaring them and we head to TOT. We pick up a FastPass. We wander around trying to figure out what to do now. Ugh! I am informed, my friends at the Dis have taught me well, I shouldn't be doing this!!! We end up in a short line for WWTBAM. Short wait and in we go. We loved it! All of us! Even Matthew liked pushing buttons. Turns out we all have slow fingers, but we still loved it! Then back over and around those million little shops over to TOT. We had planned to the Baby Swap because Matthew is very much afraid of pretty much everything. Guess what! He was so afraid that he wouldn't go NEAR it! So Scott stayed at the bottom of the hill with him. He called it the Scary Motel and this was the beginning of a new name for POR, it is now the Happy Motel. He did not ever wanting us taking him to TOT to swim, or eat, or sleep, and he made sure we were all clear on that. OK, Jacob, Nathan, and I head up the hill, in the FastPass line. Then we wait, and wait and wait. 4 years later they finally announce that one of the elevators is not working and there will be a delay. Ugh. Luckily there was a nice family with DSs the same ages as mine. So we thumb wrestled, did staring contests and told rude jokes while we waited. Finally, to the front of the line. This was my first experience with how "in character" Disney CMs are! The motel man was downright creepy. Jacob is getting freaked out, remember, he's the cautious one. Nathan, the daredevil is fine. I hate elevators, but my Dear Sister In Law convinced me this was a Not to Be Missed. We all survived the ups and downs, the screams, the dark, the light, the scary. We loved it. Well, maybe not all of us. I would do it again right now given the chance, so would Nathan. We find Scott and Matthew where we left them, 50 minutes ago! Or was it 4 years?? I am feeling betrayed about the Fast Pass thing and thinking the Baby Swap thing isn't going to help us much. Scott decides to skip TOT in order to give us time to do more today. I picked up a FP for RNR before we entered TOT, but we still have a lot of time before it is time for that. Its 12:30, but the plan is to eat at Pizza Planet and we are not walking all the way over there, no time. Instead we choose and ice cream line, a 30 minute, or was it 4 years, ice cream line. I went across and got popcorn. By the time the others got to the front of the ice cream line a cart with Mickey Bars had opened, so Nathan and Matthew opted for those instead. We eat and walk around the million little shops and find characters. We got in line for Chip and DAle and had so much fun! Autograph #1. We stood in line for another character for about 10 minutes and they announced he would be taking a break at the end of this song. UGH. Off to another line, and it happened AGAIN. I am trying really hard to NOT be irritated and enjoy the moment, but I am struggling. Then we venture to Playhouse Disney. We wait in the line and eat the popcorn. That show is delightful!!!! I am feeling some better. The 4yr old,Matthew, really LOVED it. I feel better now that we did something specifically for him. Now it is time for RNR. Matthew and I wait outside Babyswap style while waiting for the boys. We got the opportunity to try out our ponchos that we had been carrying around all day! Then it stopped raining and our boys appeared. All smiles. Nathan is ready to go again, with me, but Jacob is not. When we get to the FastPass line she wants to measure him, even though he just came off the ride. He stepped up to the stick, then straightened up his little back and grew an inch! The people waiting for their FP time all cracked up. It was so cute! 49" and away we go! RNR is awesome. I really think its the best coaster I have ever ridden. Very well done Disney! Here we go again, around the million little shops. Oh wait, a parade. It is a wall of people. It is 3:00 and we have not eaten lunch! So we go around the million people and find Pizza Planet. Frankly, we loved it. It was almost empty. My boys are video-game-aholics. There was nobody in there, they were ALL at the parade. And its raining outside! The pizza was marvelous at 3. Yes, its expensive and yes, I forgot again that this is only day 1 and my kids aren't eating yet, so we threw away some pizza, but it was marvelous!
After we finish up we head outside to the HISTK playground. The CM informed us that it was closed due to being wet. UGH. So we shopped. Nathan found a Stars And Stripes Buzz LightYear. This is his 4th or 5th full sized Buzz. I guess its officially a collection now. Then we glanced back at the playground and now, 15 minutes later, its officially dry enough to open. I was thankful. The boys loved it. Matthew was scared by a large portion of it, but still enjoyed it. Nathan begged all week to return to it. Then a decision. Do we split up and some of us see The Muppet Show while the rest see the Stunt show? Jacob is protesting that he is too old for Muppets. So we decide to split, then he decides he will go to muppets because his book says its great. So off we go, get seated immediately, and LOVED it! All of us! Very well done, once again, Disney! It is now about 5:45, we have missed tons of stuff, but decide to head out. The park closes at 7, but we need to swim tonight and hit a grocery store. All kids really want to do on vacation is swim in the motel pool, right? We walk past Star Tours on our way out and decide to try it, stand by is a 10 min. wait, or so they say, it was really 4 years. Oh well. Matthew and I had a marvelous time watching a squirrel lick chocolate off the cement while waiting for our boys. The boys returned from Star Tours and really liked it! No motion sickness for Scott, so that was good news. Then to the exit, the bus came quickly and soon we were back at the Happy Motel, POR. We ate in the food court again. Once again, the wee ones are not eating, but the Nachos that DH and I had were excellent! Back to the room and a moment of panic. The message light was blinking on the phone. Two messages. I thought for sure that work was going to ruin our trip. Actually, it was two messages from POR,the happy motel, welcoming us!! whew! DH checked his e-mail, no bad news, and then ran to a grocery store to get breakfast supplies and Diet Coke to feed my addiction. I took the kids to the quiet pool that was really, really, close to our room. They had a blast. Then to bed. I layed down with Matthew. He said "I'm going to cover up my head so I won't be scared." and pulled the sheet up over his head. A minute later he's making a loud snoring noise, so I laughed, lifted the sheet and he was really asleep, snoring! I thought he was playing. That is one tired 4 year old. Oh, at the end of the day I said, "Well, we sure waited in a lot of lines today." Jacob said, "Yes Mom, but it was all worth it." Oh, he's so right! It was worth it. We truly had a wonderful day. Even with 4 year long waits and being very tired, it was magical. Little did I know, the next 4 days would be even better.
