The Skeptical First-Timers made it back home, here's the TR! Completed!

[WelovMickey!]

I am totally loving your TR! Your my new favorite! We should start a thread on the Dis called "Going to Disney without our husbands and we LOVE it"

 

[Cin]

I am totally loving your TR! Your my new favorite! We should start a thread on the Dis called "Going to Disney without our husbands and we LOVE it"

:
I'm in!lmao:

 

[debrapagliasotti]

I'm curious to see a current review of the Luau. We went in Aug 2008 and enjoyed the food and the dancing, but thought the story was a bit cheesy. DH and my older kids have requested we go back to the Luau again next Dec.

 

[danimaroo]

Can I just state how much I am loving your constant updates? It always gives me something good to read when I'm surfing through the TRs! Plus, this is the first PTR I kept up with in real time and now TR I am fully keeping up with, so I've really enjoyed it!

I am sad that your husband doesn't seem to get the magic of Disney, but it's also wonderful to see your daughter really gets it! I would've totally lost it on my husband if he said the same thing to me, so I wouldn't feel too bad about that, haha. You have put so much time and effort into this trip, so you deserve to be appreciated for it!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Pre]

I am so sorry about your DH not enjoying Disney so far and his lack of pixie dust. But I'm glad he didn't get a whiskey bottle on his head! I can't wait to hear about the laau (sp? Stupid autocorrect). I did this with my parents when they helped move me away from FL. And they were only excited about taking the monorail to MK to get a bus to pop. Hopefully your DH was excited for it since it was the only other thing he wanted to do.

 

[NLD]

Hi been reading your TR and love it. You're doing a great job with it.

Had to stop lurking and say hi because of this discussion on non-Disney-loving husbands! I have one too!

We took our first family trip in 2009 and my dh was the same way as yours... little bits and pieces interested him, but on the whole, he didn't "get it." Just really not his thing.

So... count me as another one who's now developing a habit of going without him! In 2010 my sister and I went, just the two of us. This year I was in Orlando for a work conference, and dragged along a friend/colleague for MNSSHP. And in January I'm taking my dd back for her second trip, for her birthday.... along with my MIL.

That's right, I'd rather take my MIL than my dh!

(Nah really, I'm lucky to have a wonderful and sweet mother in law.)

So all that to say, if you have the Disney bug and your dh doesn't... there are ways to cope! Don't resign yourself to never going back!

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR. You've got a great "trip reporting" style.

 

[FosterA]

Subbing! Can't wait to hear more. You had me cracking up with your "grumpy hubby" comments!

I think you should try a mom/daughter Disney trip, and send the boys on a fishing trip or something. My DD & I LOVE taking our mom/daughter trips! We are going again in a few weeks for the first time at Christmas!

I really am thinking about it! I also have another option, I have 2 girlfriends that want to go around Feb so we might do that. I can't pull Allison out of school again this school year so if we do a mom/daughter we might have to do end of May. Something to think about

I was hoping that you gave an update when you guys came back. It sounds like you had a great time so far. Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip.

Glad to have ya!

Following you over from your pre-trip report! Looking forward to hear about the rest of your vacay!

Thanks for coming by

This is my favorite! I can just see the puzzled face,

I know, it was amazing to see just how clueless everybody was. Made it more fun for me! Not that I'm an expert, since I'd only been once before, but compared to my group I was very much an expert!

Oh I'm glad to hear that. I am really hoping to squeeze it in. Currently scheduled for our first night, but we'll see.

We were talking the other night about the change in hours and crowd calendars. Most of our days are now 8s, when they were originally 5 or less. So we decided the priority this trip is to see the Christmas decorations all around the World, not so much the rides (though I'm sure that will change too). But at least maybe that means we can prioritize getting over to Ft Wilderness one night.

Definately try. WE loved the campground area. I'll get to that more in the TR but this is one place Dave perked up quite a bit. REminded him of home and fishing and whatnot. If we had a camper, I'm sure he'd be fine going to Disney just to stay here.

I am totally loving your TR! Your my new favorite! We should start a thread on the Dis called "Going to Disney without our husbands and we LOVE it"

ooooooh, I like that. Maybe "my husband is a Disney -Dud so we're leaving him home!"

:
I'm in!lmao:

yay! No dud dad's allowed!

I'm curious to see a current review of the Luau. We went in Aug 2008 and enjoyed the food and the dancing, but thought the story was a bit cheesy. DH and my older kids have requested we go back to the Luau again next Dec.

Ok. I plan on updating this afternoon sometime after work so I should be able to get up to the Luau portion

Can I just state how much I am loving your constant updates? It always gives me something good to read when I'm surfing through the TRs! Plus, this is the first PTR I kept up with in real time and now TR I am fully keeping up with, so I've really enjoyed it!

I am sad that your husband doesn't seem to get the magic of Disney, but it's also wonderful to see your daughter really gets it! I would've totally lost it on my husband if he said the same thing to me, so I wouldn't feel too bad about that, haha. You have put so much time and effort into this trip, so you deserve to be appreciated for it!

Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks for sticking with my reporting
As much as I'd love to go back with David and the kids, I have a feeling that future trips will be just with friends or the kids. He said he had fun but didn't feel "magical" Allison soooooo "got it". She went crazy at Disney. Ian had a blast too but he has fun anywhere as long as there is a pool!

I am so sorry about your DH not enjoying Disney so far and his lack of pixie dust. But I'm glad he didn't get a whiskey bottle on his head! I can't wait to hear about the laau (sp? Stupid autocorrect). I did this with my parents when they helped move me away from FL. And they were only excited about taking the monorail to MK to get a bus to pop. Hopefully your DH was excited for it since it was the only other thing he wanted to do.

Nope, no pixie dust on David. I'll report all about the Luau tonight I hope! Thanks for following along!

Hi been reading your TR and love it. You're doing a great job with it.

Had to stop lurking and say hi because of this discussion on non-Disney-loving husbands! I have one too!

We took our first family trip in 2009 and my dh was the same way as yours... little bits and pieces interested him, but on the whole, he didn't "get it." Just really not his thing.

So... count me as another one who's now developing a habit of going without him! In 2010 my sister and I went, just the two of us. This year I was in Orlando for a work conference, and dragged along a friend/colleague for MNSSHP. And in January I'm taking my dd back for her second trip, for her birthday.... along with my MIL.

That's right, I'd rather take my MIL than my dh!

(Nah really, I'm lucky to have a wonderful and sweet mother in law.)

So all that to say, if you have the Disney bug and your dh doesn't... there are ways to cope! Don't resign yourself to never going back!

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR. You've got a great "trip reporting" style.

Thanks so much for reading along!!!
There's a few of us that have non-pixie dusted husbands and we've all decided that we'll just leave them at home if we go again. I don't think I can bring my mother-in-law but next trip I can do friends or Allison for sure!

 

[FosterA]

DAY 3-part 2

So I last left off with us eating lunch at Sci-fi. We all really had a good time here and I thought the food was really good. Now, remember I was starting to get congested this day so don't take my food reviews from here on out too seriously. My taste buds might have been pretty wacked too.

While we were eating, I got a text from my friends who had finally made their way to the park. I told them to go right to Toy Story and get Fastpasses. They did but they were already out! (noon on a slow week!) They then went and did ToT which was good since we already did that and I wanted everybody on the same page. We told them that when they got done with Tower, to call me and we'd meet up and continue touring around together.

Well we ended up being done with lunch before I hear from them so I figured we'd just walk around the Sci Fi area and see what was up. I noticed our Fastpasses from Toy Story said we could now pick up more fastpasses but I didn't know what to get one for. I kept checking my Lines app and Tot and Rock Coaster still didn't have waits or maybe 10 minute waits! Yay. Toy Story appeared to be only thing with a wait at this park. But...I felt like we needed to Fastpass something just because we could. Then I saw the Star Wars ride right there and we went ahead and got passes for that. The CM working there asked why we were getting them since it was only a 10 minute wait. I didn't want to do that one now though because we should be meeting up with our friends any minute. Turns out the Star Wars ride NEVER had much of a wait all day so the FP was never really necessary. I guess I just wanted one to be on the safe side.

Still hadn't heard from friends that were on Tower so we just looked around. Then we heard some music and went to check it out. It was these guys:

I thought they were really funny and good too! The kids thought it was so cool how the streets looked in this area! The band was hilarious and they grabbed some lady out of the audience and were messing with her. David is a huge musician kind of guy so I thought he would enjoy the little show. He appeared to like it but later told me he didn't think they were that good They sure made me smile though!

We then got a text from our buds who just did TOT twice (still no lines) and they were ready to meet up. I suggested the Great Movie Ride since it was close to us and figured they'd need some chill time after TOT. We all did this together and I loved it!

The kids didn't know what was what but they had huge smiles on their faces and really liked the gangster stuff! Allison loves Wizard of Oz and took this pic:

This ride was cooler than I thought it would be from what little I read about it. After we all got done with this, I figured we should go catch the Stunt Show. That was a bit of a walk to get over there and it was a little toasty at this point. Here's a pic of Allison walking with her friend which is hilarious because her friend is a year younger but like 2 feet taller!

We got over here just in time and found a decent seat. Allison and I enjoyed it but wouldn't necessarily run to see it again. Ian seemed to be really into it though. David really liked it!! yay. something else he liked. Remember though....all these things he admitted he liked, I'd say he showed mild to moderate enthusiasm. Not too much oooohing and awwwing but mild enthusiasm. Just wait til later in my report when you find out the one thing on our entire trip that he got really really into and really loved! It's kind of weird actually.

So here's a couple pics:

After the Stunt show, I checked my app and saw that Rock Coaster didn't have much of a wait (ten minutes maybe) so I told the group that we would start the hike over that way. I think this is my fave ride at the Studios. I think the theming of TOT is the best, but this is the best actual ride. I figured since Dave was so into music and really likes Aerosmith that he might get into this one too. Ian was pumped up because he'd been waiting all day for this attraction.

I gotta run, but I'll finish this up tonight I hope!

 

[204charity]

Can't wait to hear what the gang thought of RnR!!

 

[amandaluvsgoofy]

Subbing in!

I'm loving your TR! So sorry to hear your DH seemed to be underwhelmed most of the time. I don't get why some spouses aren't thrilled 100% of the time they're at Disney!

I was right there with you at Kona! I had heard nothing but wonderful things about the Tonga Toast and fully planned on ordering it. But when it came time to, I didn't want it Oh well, guess I'll need to go back!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[TotalDreamer]

Following along


I can't wait to find out what thing your DH fianlly loved

 

[joy13]

I'm really enjoying reading about this day - because we were at DHS too! We probably passed each other and didn't know it - lol! We were in line for Phineas and Ferb when it rained

And the link to my TR is in my signiture

 

[FosterA]

Can't wait to hear what the gang thought of RnR!!

Thanks for following along!

Subbing in!

I'm loving your TR! So sorry to hear your DH seemed to be underwhelmed most of the time. I don't get why some spouses aren't thrilled 100% of the time they're at Disney!

I was right there with you at Kona! I had heard nothing but wonderful things about the Tonga Toast and fully planned on ordering it. But when it came time to, I didn't want it Oh well, guess I'll need to go back!

Can't wait to read more!

Nice to have you reading along! I know, it's weird, shouldn't everybody LOVE DisneyWorld? Everytime I would nag him about not being excited, he'd just get mad and say "sorry, it's not my thing". huh??

Following along


I can't wait to find out what thing your DH fianlly loved

Thanks for reading along

I'm really enjoying reading about this day - because we were at DHS too! We probably passed each other and didn't know it - lol! We were in line for Phineas and Ferb when it rained

And the link to my TR is in my signiture

Wow, so weird that we could have totally run into each other. I wish we did! What did you think of Studios this day? I felt like there were lots of people everywhere but not real significant lines on anything except Toy Story.

 

[FosterA]

DAY 3-part 3

I forgot to mention just how happy we were when we were coming and going to the stunt show that it was November and not that hot. I personally felt like it was quite a walk to get to the show and then you have to climb up some bleachers. We went right smack in the middle of the day and it was pretty warm, I can only imagine what this place feels like in the dead of summer

As a matter of fact I think we picked a fantastic time to be in Disney this week because, like I said, we were on our 3rd day and didn't need a FP yet until this day and that was just for Toy Story! I felt like at times there were LOTS of people walking around but the attractions usually had very little, if any wait. It was kind of strange actually. Where were all these people going? If we go back one day, I'd pick this same week. Ideally I'd do Sat-Sat before Thanksgiving but on this trip we did Tues-Tues before Thanksgiving. Either way...great weather and great low crowds. The kids had to miss 4 days of school and since they just returned I'm not really sure what the repercussions are going to be for that yet. Surprisingly enough, I have not received a phone call or letter from the school which is nice (usually get a call if someone's just tardy). Also, neither kid appears to have lots of make up work. I think the teachers were laying off the work that week we missed since it was right before Thanksgiving and they didn't want to start anything big until after the break (we get the entire week of Thanksgiving off here).

Ok....so back to our day.....

I was super pumped about getting to RnR because I just love the music! Now normally I would not set foot on a ride that goes upside down but this one isn't so bad because it's dark and you can't see. I think it's more of a scared of heights and falling for me and since I can't see on this one, I somehow can manage it. So we all started heading towards it. Jack, the other dad in our group, doesn't do thrill rides really well and since his family had already forced him to do ToT, he said he was sitting this one out. We made him our pack mule and we gave him our bags and he sat outside and waited for the group. The kids wanted to ride with their friends and me and Dave went together. I just love the cue and was excited for Dave to see it. He liked that part ok and perked up quite a bit when he saw the pre-show thing. I love that pre-show! awesome! The kids were hopping all around because they were so excited. Allison was wearing her Queen shirt so thought it was cool to get a pic in front of this poster:

Once we got into the loading area and the kids saw how that thing jets off, they got even more pumped up. The only thing I thought was weird was that it felt like the other time I did this, there was music blasting in the loading area. Did I dream that up? Either way, there was no music at this time. We all got into the cars and wham! it was over. Dang, this ride is too quick and over too fast It's soooo fun too. Everybody LOVED it and we all screamed like maniacs on it. David said "that was fun" but once again, he commented on how it was too dark (like Space Mt) and he doesn't like that. I don't think it's that the darkness is scary to him but rather that it's not as "interesting" if you can't see much?? Well, I was losing my voice at this time and I'm not sure if it's from the screaming on the rides or just the cold that was getting worse, or both. check out the kids with their friends:

Sorry, but this is the point of our trip that I tried to keep myself out of photos. I was rapidly starting to feel worse and think I was even getting a fever at this point so I was feeling really gross.

Now, for some reason I thought that maybe the kids ran around and did this ride again but I can't remember for sure. Either way, I know Dave and I and my friend Erin, sat this one out.

After everybody got their RnR fix, they wanted to do ToT AGAIN since there was little wait. I had no option but to sit this one out since my head felt weird enough. Somehow Jack's kids managed to talk him into doing this again (which he hates but being a good dad.....). David didn't really want to do it again but I was sick of him so I made him take our kids. Now was my turn to be a pack mule. I got set up on a little rock planter thing and held all the cameras and such. Turns out I was in the smoking section and had smoke billowing around me most of the time But...I was sooo tired and feeling un-ergetic that I stayed put. I had some shade and I didn't feel like lugging everything around to find a better spot. So....I did take this photo of the area coming up from RnR to sort of show the crowd.

Like I said, there seemed to be plenty of people around but the lines really weren't bad at all.

Once everybody got ToT out of their system we figured it was time for a snack since we hadn't eaten since Sci Fi a few hours ago. We were trying to get towards Little Mermaid and Toy Story since our FP were now ready. Well, our family had passes but our friends did not I felt bad for them since Ian was all excited about going and his little buddy couldn't. I don't think they wanted to wait the hour wait or whatever it was at this point. Anyway...we stopped for a pretzel and frozen lemonade along the way. I had heard alot about Starring Rolls and wanted to check out the cupcakes but it just didn't happen. boo hooo!! just not enough time in the day!!

Allison saw Beauty and the Beast entrance and begged to do it but we were really short on time. Still had to get Toy Story in and Little Mermaid in too. We had that Luau to get to and that wasn't until 8 but I was confused about how early we were supposed to get there and wasn't sure how long it would take to get back, so I wanted to leave the park in plenty of time. So we passed up Beauty and the Beast and worked our way to Mermaid. Aeriel is Allison's favorite!! The boys weren't too thrilled to be going but they bucked up.

We saw this family walking and David commented on how we needed similar shirts. No kidding! Where do I get one!

There was no wait for Mermaid exactly but we did get there right when another show was in session so we had a while to hang out before we could enter. Ian was all hyper-d up since he swigged a giant coke on our snack break. He thought it would be cool to stick pressed pennies in his eye.

Creepy!!

We finally got into the show and it was really cute. Allison just loved loved it. It was fun to see her because she's such a teenager and it's nice to see her watching little girl stuff. awwwww. When the show first started, I was worried it would drag on forever but it seemed to jump pretty fast to an ending so that was nice. They boys were ok, not their favorite of course.

So after the show, we had to split up with our friends. We had passes for Toy Story that we needed to use before heading back to the Poly and we also had passes for Star Wars. They didn't have either and were planning on staying at the park much longer than us so we just sort of split up at this point. I don't think they ever got to do Toy Story but apparently they did Star Wars and a few other things this night. Anyhoo......everybody was curious what the hoopla was about with this ride since the wait was always so long. I did it once before back when I came for my weekend trip with my friend so I knew what it was all about. In all honesty, I don't get it. It's fun and different but I would NEVER stand in line forever for it. I'm also non-competetive so that might be part of it. I really don't care if I beat someone or not on this game!

Here we are in line

It seemed to still take awhile to get up to the loading area even with the Fastpasses I thought. Allison and I did one cart and Ian and David did the other. I snapped this pic of the guy facing me because he was such a cute little grandpa and he was all fired up and ready to go:

I aslo had seen a little old grandma just blasting away at one point and she was sooooo cute.

Well, once again, this ride just goes too darn quick. We all had a good time and I did whip Allison. She thought it was an awesome ride. Once we got off I asked the boys and Ian was completely pumped about it. David said it was "cool" and I didn't think he liked it that much because, as usual, he wasn't expressing alot of enthusiasm. But.....later on he told me it was his favorite ride so far!! He liked it because it was so different than anything he's done before. I asked him again yesterday and he still says it was his favorite. There is another ride coming up another day that might be tied for his fave though.

After the Toy Story thing we headed to Star Wars to use our FP. Turns out we didn't need them since there was no wait.

I gotta wrap this up but will continue this afternoon. I'll tell you about Star Wars and finally about getting back to the Poly and the Luau

 

[LaDonna]

DAY 3-part 3


As a matter of fact I think we picked a fantastic time to be in Disney this week because, like I said, we were on our 3rd day and didn't need a FP yet until this day and that was just for Toy Story! I felt like at times there were LOTS of people walking around but the attractions usually had very little, if any wait. It was kind of strange actually. Where were all these people going? If we go back one day, I'd pick this same week. Ideally I'd do Sat-Sat before Thanksgiving but on this trip we did Tues-Tues before Thanksgiving. Either way...great weather and great low crowds. The kids had to miss 4 days of school and since they just returned I'm not really sure what the repercussions are going to be for that yet. Surprisingly enough, I have not received a phone call or letter from the school which is nice (usually get a call if someone's just tardy). Also, neither kid appears to have lots of make up work. I think the teachers were laying off the work that week we missed since it was right before Thanksgiving and they didn't want to start anything big until after the break (we get the entire week of Thanksgiving off here).

We are planning on doing the exact same dates next year Tuesday thru Teusday, actually I'm torn we may do Wednesday thru Wednesday, I'm nervous about how the school will handle it, mostly worried about my daughter who will then be in 9th grade..........thinking of picking them up from school a lil' early on Tuesday and heading down there.......we also get the whole week off for Thanksgiving, i just do not want to be there for the crowds that weekend and the prices are higher too!

 

[okw19]

What a great day at HS! I am loving your TR and you have been busy with updates!
I cannot wait to hear about the luau

 

[Chicago Mo]

I totally agree! i think it is overrated.I do really like the theme of the whole toy story..
The new star tours? That was amazing!!
Love the pictures to go with your story!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Had to chime in with a few things.

I had noticed your DD Queen shirt earlier...don't know if she's a fan or just likes the shirt - but if she is - very good musical taste for a teenager!

Normally there is no music in the queue area of R'n'RC. You are supposed to be in a back alley of a recording studios waiting for the limo to take you to a concert, so there wouldn't be any music there.

I agree the ride is way to short. This is part of putting a coaster with inversions inside a building...the ride can't be very long. I also agree with your DH - since they put it in the dark, the inversions aren't very impressive. My favorite part of the ride is the launch.

And there's a very simple reason that TSMM is so popular - EVERYONE can ride it. Think about the total # of rides at DHS - ToT, RnRC, TSMM, ST and GMR. Five rides total. Two of them are purely for thrill riders and Star Tours has some limited appeal that way as well. That leaves GMR and TSMM, and regardless of what you think of GMR, it's not one that has a lot of repeatability. Since a lot of people come to Disney for the rides more than anything....TSMM draws huge crowds because of what the competition in that park is. But it's the ride that Grandma, baby Danny, Uncle Sam and teen Darla can all ride and have a ball on. You saw this reaction yourself - that coupled with there's nothing else in DHS to compete. If TSMM was in MK - it wouldn't draw nearly the crowds. (Why the one in California doesn't draw as much.) It's just an example of how badly DHS needs rides.

Also, your shot of the entrance of RnRC where you describe as "plenty of people around", that's a pretty empty shot in my view. But it is pretty typical that the number of people walking around the parks looks much worse than the number of people waiting in lines for rides. I don't know why that is true, but it is!

Enough of my rambling...it's your TR, not mine!

 

[fastergoofy]

RnR is my favorite coaster! I was so scared to go on it the first time. We ended up going on it three times in a row and now I'm kind of a coaster junkie.

FosterA: I noticed that we have almost exactly the same tastes/pace for touring the parks.

 

[Chicago Mo]

OH on Great Movie Ride... did you know there are two variations of the guide? we had the gangster last year and this year we had the western cowboy guide!! both pretty much the same but didn't know there were two! I LOVE the GMR!!! think it is totally under rated!!!