The "This trip is Great!!!" trip report (updated 12/10)
- Thread starter juligrl
- Start date
Last year, DH and I took our girls down to WDW for a free dining trip and despite the sweltering temperatures and the less-than-not-very-busy parks, we loved it! We got the brilliant idea one evening (while intoxicated by the Disney pixie dust at the Magic Kingdom) that we should get our parents to come along with us for free dining if Disney offered it again.
We got back and started selling them on a WDW vacation. This would be their chance to see Disney through the eyes of their grandchildren. But we had to wait to see if free dining was offered again since that was the deal sweetener. While we waited, my DSis and her DH proposed the idea of an Alaskan cruise to my parents which they jumped all over which would happen right smack in the middle of free dining if/when Disney offered it. On the other side of the grandparent component, my ILs were able to get into a big craft show during the dates we were looking at. It seemed as if the trip with the grandparents would not happen this year after all since other things just kept coming up. Maybe next year. Life go figure.
Then I opened my e-mail one evening to find Disney had released additional free dining dates which we qualified for and all of our schedules could work with those dates and we still wanted to go. We booked (several times for different dates but to make a longer story shorter) a trip for November 12-18 with both sets of parents. I made dining reservations and all we had to do was sit back and wait.
Yeah, right!
About a two weeks after my parents returned from their cruise (after all reservations had been made and what not) my dad took off for an indefinite amount of time to help his mother who was having some health issues. He would not be joining us on the trip.
We got back and started selling them on a WDW vacation. This would be their chance to see Disney through the eyes of their grandchildren. But we had to wait to see if free dining was offered again since that was the deal sweetener. While we waited, my DSis and her DH proposed the idea of an Alaskan cruise to my parents which they jumped all over which would happen right smack in the middle of free dining if/when Disney offered it. On the other side of the grandparent component, my ILs were able to get into a big craft show during the dates we were looking at. It seemed as if the trip with the grandparents would not happen this year after all since other things just kept coming up. Maybe next year. Life go figure.
Then I opened my e-mail one evening to find Disney had released additional free dining dates which we qualified for and all of our schedules could work with those dates and we still wanted to go. We booked (several times for different dates but to make a longer story shorter) a trip for November 12-18 with both sets of parents. I made dining reservations and all we had to do was sit back and wait.
Yeah, right!
About a two weeks after my parents returned from their cruise (after all reservations had been made and what not) my dad took off for an indefinite amount of time to help his mother who was having some health issues. He would not be joining us on the trip.
Mom came over to stay at my house the night before the flight. We like to take the first flight to Orlando we can get cause it gives us the better part of our day to spend at Disney even if we are dead tired, at least were dead tired in Disney! Around 4 a.m. Er woke me up by singing reveille. We got the girls up and were headed to the airport by 5. Our flight was at 8:30 so we had plenty of time to kill. It was on the way to the airport that Er and I realized that neither of us had packed the special Tink gifts doh! 
I thought he had them and he thought I had them. He had picked up Halloween costumes on clearance, a Jasmine costume for Jay and a new Cinderella dress for JLee. Strike 1. Fortunately, I had packed the plush characters I picked up from our Disney store when it was going out of business. I had all but Pluto and figured I could pick him up at Disney.
We flew Southwest did I mention it was DHs birthday? Of course being, the brat I can be I just had to mention that and of course the whole airplane had to sing and he had to blow out all the lights on the plane. Fun, fun! We had a very smooth flight (great cause I get airsick) and were touching down in Orlando in no time.
The cool thing about leaving Pittsburgh Airport and flying into Orlando is that both airports have people movers that were built by my dads company. My dad (D as my kids call him) builds the brains that make those cars run. My girls (okay me too) think this is really cool!
As we were checking in to Magical Express I reached into my bag looking for my cell phone and realized I had left it on the plane doh! Strike 2. I never leave anything behind so Im totally stressing over this and DH is not and thats totally making me stress more. He did remind me that its a cheap Virgin mobile phone and replacing it is a non-issue. Its not like we had a cell phone plan for it and no CC was linked to top-up the phone. Really it wasnt a big deal. After he talked me down from my ledge I was more than ready to enjoy my vacation.
When we got to Pop Century Resort there was no line at check-in. Sweet! We had a room in the 70s building room 6620, on the back side, second floor. Very close to the food court, yet very quiet awesome! My ILs were right beside us and they had an adjoining room with my mom.
Our first order of business after dumping our carry-ons in our rooms, was lunch. We were starving! My ILs met us at the hotel as we were checking in so we had our first official Disney meal together at Everything Pop. We gave Little Gree, Pa and Mom a crash course in using the counter service dining credits and ate. Jay and I had been counting down the days til tie-dyed cheesecake it was so worth the wait!
Next up: Magic Kingdom, a parade, a group, a birthday boy, 3 tired girls and Chef Mickeys.
I thought he had them and he thought I had them. He had picked up Halloween costumes on clearance, a Jasmine costume for Jay and a new Cinderella dress for JLee. Strike 1. Fortunately, I had packed the plush characters I picked up from our Disney store when it was going out of business. I had all but Pluto and figured I could pick him up at Disney.
We flew Southwest did I mention it was DHs birthday? Of course being, the brat I can be I just had to mention that and of course the whole airplane had to sing and he had to blow out all the lights on the plane. Fun, fun! We had a very smooth flight (great cause I get airsick) and were touching down in Orlando in no time.
The cool thing about leaving Pittsburgh Airport and flying into Orlando is that both airports have people movers that were built by my dads company. My dad (D as my kids call him) builds the brains that make those cars run. My girls (okay me too) think this is really cool!
As we were checking in to Magical Express I reached into my bag looking for my cell phone and realized I had left it on the plane doh!
Strike 2. I never leave anything behind so Im totally stressing over this and DH is not and thats totally making me stress more. He did remind me that its a cheap Virgin mobile phone and replacing it is a non-issue. Its not like we had a cell phone plan for it and no CC was linked to top-up the phone. Really it wasnt a big deal. After he talked me down from my ledge I was more than ready to enjoy my vacation.When we got to Pop Century Resort there was no line at check-in. Sweet! We had a room in the 70s building room 6620, on the back side, second floor. Very close to the food court, yet very quiet awesome! My ILs were right beside us and they had an adjoining room with my mom.
Our first order of business after dumping our carry-ons in our rooms, was lunch. We were starving! My ILs met us at the hotel as we were checking in so we had our first official Disney meal together at Everything Pop. We gave Little Gree, Pa and Mom a crash course in using the counter service dining credits and ate. Jay and I had been counting down the days til tie-dyed cheesecake it was so worth the wait!
Next up: Magic Kingdom, a parade, a group, a birthday boy, 3 tired girls and Chef Mickeys.
princesslily
Disney finatic
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2005
- Messages
- 409
joining in! I love the dresses!
Thanks for the compliments on the dresses. I wish I could take credit for them, but my MIL was the dress maker.After lunch we unanimously decided that we had to go to the MK so we hopped on a bus and made our way there. It was so neat seeing the Christmas décor right out front – I’ve never been there during the holidays so this was really neat for me. We grabbed a photopass and got some pictures taken then we headed under the tunnel and onto Main Street and realized that it was almost 3:00.
If you’ve ever tried to head down Main Street just before the 3:00 parade and it happens to be a busy day, you know how hard it is to push your way through the crowd. Everything I had heard about light November crowds was confirmed right in that one single moment – the circle at the train station end of Main Street was practically vacant!
We were going to see a parade! Jay joined in the pre-parade kid games on the street and the rest of us staked out a spot for the parade (with little competition).
After the parade we crossed the street to stop in Town Hall and pick up DHs birthday button. As we were on our way over, Jaycie turned around to face all of us, threw her hands up in the air and yells “This trip is great!!!”. Very cool!
After we picked up the button and waited for the rest of our group to assemble we were finally able to head down Main Street toward Fantasyland. Silly me
, I hadn’t actually looked down Main Street yet, but when I did – wow! I love Main Street at Christmas time!
We spent the rest of the afternoon in Fantasyland and I think Toontown. Just after 6:00 the grandparents decided to part from us. They had a 7:55 dinner reservation at Cap’n Jacks at Downtown Disney and they wanted to leave themselves enough time to swing by the hotel and make it to DD. That left me, DH and the girls 2 ½ hours to play until our late dinner at Chef Mickey’s. What to do? We stuck to Fantasyland, since at this point there was practically no wait for anything
(SpectroMagic was at 7 so a lot had cleared out for that). We finally convinced Jay to give PhilharMagic a try (it scared her when she was 2 – you’d think she’d forget about that by now…). She lasted maybe five minutes before DH had to take her out. Jenna on the other hand had curled herself into a tight little ball on my lap and was asleep in just as much time so we stayed. I may have dozed a bit too. After that we headed over and waited to see Ariel. Honestly, that is probably one of the best character greetings in the park. The amount of time Ariel spends with each kid is great…of course that also explains the painfully slow moving and long line.
We rode Dumbo, the Carousel, Winnie the Pooh and the Teacups and still had at least a half an hour ‘til Wishes. By this point DH was thirsty and we were all a little hungry, so we swung by Tomorrowland Terrace and got drinks
. We sat out on the patio looking towards the castle and just admired the pretty lights for a while. When we were finished, we headed out to the Tommorrowland bridge to watch Wishes. I’d never seen it from there before, but it was right under the spot where Tinkerbell flys – very cool!
After Wishes we took our time making our way out of the park with the masses – which really weren’t that many. We opted to walk to the Contemporary for our dinner. It was then that I realized that Jay hadn’t even whined once about walking that day – yeah! We got to Chef Mickey’s a little before our reservation time but they took us right in. Jenna had fallen asleep on our way over. This was becoming a theme with her as she had slept through lunch earlier that day (she ate later). We got her awake enough, and even happy enough, to eat a good dinner and have fun with the characters. We had heard from just about every Disney family we know that we had to do Chef Mickey’s, so Erik chose to dine there for his birthday. We’ve done CMs and can now mark it off the list. We actually preferred Liberty Tree Tavern with the characters to Chef Mickey’s – not saying it was bad, just a little overrated. I did like the Disco Mickey Mouse soundtrack they were playing at CMs though. Totally a blast from the past!
We stopped in a gift shop at the CR and two Cast Members sang happy birthday to my DH. Cute! Then we started the ordeal of getting back to Pop Century. We waited about 20 minutes for a bus to DD. The bus driver detoured to POFQ and POR to drop off a party with a scooter, then went to DD. We waited another 15-20 minutes for a bus back to Pop from there. It was midnight before we rolled in. The kids slept from the first bus ride ‘til we got back to Pop, where they came back to life and were ready to go!
We got them settled down and we all made it to bed not long after we got in.
Next up: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Midway Mania, Lunch with the Little Einsteins and more…
If you’ve ever tried to head down Main Street just before the 3:00 parade and it happens to be a busy day, you know how hard it is to push your way through the crowd. Everything I had heard about light November crowds was confirmed right in that one single moment – the circle at the train station end of Main Street was practically vacant!
We were going to see a parade! Jay joined in the pre-parade kid games on the street and the rest of us staked out a spot for the parade (with little competition).
After the parade we crossed the street to stop in Town Hall and pick up DHs birthday button. As we were on our way over, Jaycie turned around to face all of us, threw her hands up in the air and yells “This trip is great!!!”. Very cool!
After we picked up the button and waited for the rest of our group to assemble we were finally able to head down Main Street toward Fantasyland. Silly me
, I hadn’t actually looked down Main Street yet, but when I did – wow! I love Main Street at Christmas time!We spent the rest of the afternoon in Fantasyland and I think Toontown. Just after 6:00 the grandparents decided to part from us. They had a 7:55 dinner reservation at Cap’n Jacks at Downtown Disney and they wanted to leave themselves enough time to swing by the hotel and make it to DD. That left me, DH and the girls 2 ½ hours to play until our late dinner at Chef Mickey’s. What to do? We stuck to Fantasyland, since at this point there was practically no wait for anything
(SpectroMagic was at 7 so a lot had cleared out for that). We finally convinced Jay to give PhilharMagic a try (it scared her when she was 2 – you’d think she’d forget about that by now…). She lasted maybe five minutes before DH had to take her out. Jenna on the other hand had curled herself into a tight little ball on my lap and was asleep in just as much time so we stayed. I may have dozed a bit too. After that we headed over and waited to see Ariel. Honestly, that is probably one of the best character greetings in the park. The amount of time Ariel spends with each kid is great…of course that also explains the painfully slow moving and long line.We rode Dumbo, the Carousel, Winnie the Pooh and the Teacups and still had at least a half an hour ‘til Wishes. By this point DH was thirsty and we were all a little hungry, so we swung by Tomorrowland Terrace and got drinks
. We sat out on the patio looking towards the castle and just admired the pretty lights for a while. When we were finished, we headed out to the Tommorrowland bridge to watch Wishes. I’d never seen it from there before, but it was right under the spot where Tinkerbell flys – very cool!
After Wishes we took our time making our way out of the park with the masses – which really weren’t that many. We opted to walk to the Contemporary for our dinner. It was then that I realized that Jay hadn’t even whined once about walking that day – yeah!
We got to Chef Mickey’s a little before our reservation time but they took us right in. Jenna had fallen asleep on our way over. This was becoming a theme with her as she had slept through lunch earlier that day (she ate later). We got her awake enough, and even happy enough, to eat a good dinner and have fun with the characters. We had heard from just about every Disney family we know that we had to do Chef Mickey’s, so Erik chose to dine there for his birthday. We’ve done CMs and can now mark it off the list. We actually preferred Liberty Tree Tavern with the characters to Chef Mickey’s – not saying it was bad, just a little overrated. I did like the Disco Mickey Mouse soundtrack they were playing at CMs though. Totally a blast from the past!
We stopped in a gift shop at the CR and two Cast Members sang happy birthday to my DH. Cute! Then we started the ordeal of getting back to Pop Century. We waited about 20 minutes for a bus to DD. The bus driver detoured to POFQ and POR to drop off a party with a scooter, then went to DD. We waited another 15-20 minutes for a bus back to Pop from there. It was midnight before we rolled in. The kids slept from the first bus ride ‘til we got back to Pop, where they came back to life and were ready to go!
We got them settled down and we all made it to bed not long after we got in. Next up: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Midway Mania, Lunch with the Little Einsteins and more…
ehstrojette
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
- Messages
- 331
Your girls are too cute. I owuld have teared up if my daughter has threw her arms up in the air and said that. Hopping on board for this TR
jmskinner
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
- Messages
- 4,267
Loved what your daughter said, that is too cute. Now we know where the title comes from. You had a big first day.
Did your DH love the attention of the B-Day button? I think 40 CM's wished me Happy Birthday when I had one.
Looking forward to more!
Did your DH love the attention of the B-Day button? I think 40 CM's wished me Happy Birthday when I had one.
Looking forward to more!
Thursday morning despite our late night, we somehow all managed to be up before 8:30. Tinkerbell came (with the help of my in-laws who had remembered to bring fun little Disney stuff with them) and Jay was the first out of bed to check out their gifts. Jenna also got up when her sister did – early for her. I pawned the kids off on their grandparents…I mean, I gave the grandparents the rare opportunity to get my kids bathed and dressed in the morning, while DH and I got ready.
After giving the girls a quick bite to eat in our room and filling our mugs we were off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We had heard the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride was awesome but that FastPasses for it also went quickly so that was going to be our first stop. We reached the park just before 10 and right after we walked through the entrance to DHS and picked up a show schedule we ran into our neighbors. Couldn’t have done that if we’d planned on it! Snapped a quick picture of Jay with her friend, said goodbye and headed back to TSMM.
The standby line was 40 minutes and FastPass return was 1:30-2:30. We made a quick decision to go with the FastPasses, then we made a decision to part ways – the kids wanted to meet the characters and DH and I were good with that. The grandparents wanted to see shows and stuff, so off they went. DH, DDs and I stopped in to the new area for meeting Buzz & Woody – fun photo ops in the line!
After that we had to go over and see Playhouse Disney. They re-did it since we were there last and we loved it! Jenna was even dancing – very fun! Then we had to go meet Annie & Leo. Both my girls love the Little Einsteins – Jenna really loves Annie – as if you couldn’t tell that by their wardrobe…
While we were waiting in line they did a character switch. Annie & Leo went in and June & Quincy came out. Okay we’d take them too and we were going to be having lunch with Leo, but we still needed Annie. We figured we’d get her later. I should back up here and say Jaycie loves to draw and is really good at getting the right colors in the right places so that you can tell which character she’s drawing. A week before our trip she got the idea to draw all the characters she wanted to meet in her notebook. She did an amazing job (in my completely non-biased opinion) and all the characters had fun reactions to her artwork. She had drawn Annie, so we needed the Annie signature!
Our parents had lunch at 50s Prime Time and we had a noon lunch at Hollywood & Vine – completely for the kids. If that’s not the most chaotic character meal then I’d like to see which one is. The food was good and the kids had a ton of fun, Jenna even did the cha-cha with Leo and Jaycie did a conga line with June.
After lunch we headed back to TSMM to meet the folks and ride! The standby line was now 70 minutes, but we sped through the FastPass line and were on within 15. The ride was awesome! Jenna loved pulling the string and lobbing things at, well…things! Even Jaycie (our scardy cat) loved this ride! The ride was a hit with all age groups in our party.
After that ride we stuck together and walked through the Streets of America. I love how they’ve redone the old Al’s Toy Barn area. Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from cars are there now and it’s themed like an old Radiator Springs gas station.
After that we split up again. This time the kids went off with Big Gree and Little Gree to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and DH and I went with FIL to ride some “big-people” rides. We went on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster first at my insistence. Last time DH and I went to WDW it was closed for rehab and the time before that I was 7 months pregnant with Jenna so after an 8 year stretch without RNRC it was my first choice ride. DH and I had gone over there to pick up FPs earlier so we had those to get in and on quickly. Then we headed over to ToT which I fully intended to sit out but somehow ended up riding it for my first time ever. I loved it! I even got a pin to mark the occasion!
We were going to ride ToT for a second time and got all the way through the pre-show but realized we wouldn’t have time if we wanted to make it to the parade. We used the chicken out exit (see the thread here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2013947) and headed over to meet the grandmas and the girls for the parade. The Block party parade was a hit with our friends/neighbors who had gone down earlier this year. Our kids liked it too.
We headed back to Streets of America and stumbled upon Mike & Sully from Monsters Inc. – Jenna wanted nothing to do with them so she and the grandparents found a nice bench to sit on and waited for us to meet and greet. Then we split up again – our parents went on the Backstage Tour while Er, the kids and I went to Muppet Vision 3D.
We met up with our parents when they were done and decided what to do from there. DH, MIL & FIL were tired and done for the day. My mom wanted to see Fantasmic, as did I. The kids wanted to go back to the hotel and swim and they would have been terrified of Fantasmic anyhow so we split up again. Mom and I stayed, everyone else headed back to Pop. I got my strawberry smoothie and mom and I headed back for Fantasmic – that’s still my favorite show!
The kids got their swim and Little Gree and Pa got to play with the kids. When Fantasmic was over I warned my mom there may be a long line for the bus back to Pop – there was none. We took our time getting out of the park and walked right on to a bus. Mom got I seat and I stood. We were back to our hotel within a half hour after Fantasmic ending – amazing! We met everybody else at the Pop food court and had a late evening pizza snack, then we headed off to bed for another night of Disney dreams.
Next up: A Magic Kingdom, A Whispering Canyon, A kid-free evening, and will she or won’t she try Soarin’?
After giving the girls a quick bite to eat in our room and filling our mugs we were off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We had heard the new Toy Story Midway Mania ride was awesome but that FastPasses for it also went quickly so that was going to be our first stop. We reached the park just before 10 and right after we walked through the entrance to DHS and picked up a show schedule we ran into our neighbors. Couldn’t have done that if we’d planned on it! Snapped a quick picture of Jay with her friend, said goodbye and headed back to TSMM.
The standby line was 40 minutes and FastPass return was 1:30-2:30. We made a quick decision to go with the FastPasses, then we made a decision to part ways – the kids wanted to meet the characters and DH and I were good with that. The grandparents wanted to see shows and stuff, so off they went. DH, DDs and I stopped in to the new area for meeting Buzz & Woody – fun photo ops in the line!
After that we had to go over and see Playhouse Disney. They re-did it since we were there last and we loved it! Jenna was even dancing – very fun! Then we had to go meet Annie & Leo. Both my girls love the Little Einsteins – Jenna really loves Annie – as if you couldn’t tell that by their wardrobe…
While we were waiting in line they did a character switch. Annie & Leo went in and June & Quincy came out. Okay we’d take them too and we were going to be having lunch with Leo, but we still needed Annie. We figured we’d get her later. I should back up here and say Jaycie loves to draw and is really good at getting the right colors in the right places so that you can tell which character she’s drawing. A week before our trip she got the idea to draw all the characters she wanted to meet in her notebook. She did an amazing job (in my completely non-biased opinion) and all the characters had fun reactions to her artwork. She had drawn Annie, so we needed the Annie signature!
Our parents had lunch at 50s Prime Time and we had a noon lunch at Hollywood & Vine – completely for the kids. If that’s not the most chaotic character meal then I’d like to see which one is. The food was good and the kids had a ton of fun, Jenna even did the cha-cha with Leo and Jaycie did a conga line with June.
After lunch we headed back to TSMM to meet the folks and ride! The standby line was now 70 minutes, but we sped through the FastPass line and were on within 15. The ride was awesome! Jenna loved pulling the string and lobbing things at, well…things! Even Jaycie (our scardy cat) loved this ride! The ride was a hit with all age groups in our party.
After that ride we stuck together and walked through the Streets of America. I love how they’ve redone the old Al’s Toy Barn area. Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from cars are there now and it’s themed like an old Radiator Springs gas station.
After that we split up again. This time the kids went off with Big Gree and Little Gree to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and DH and I went with FIL to ride some “big-people” rides. We went on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster first at my insistence. Last time DH and I went to WDW it was closed for rehab and the time before that I was 7 months pregnant with Jenna so after an 8 year stretch without RNRC it was my first choice ride. DH and I had gone over there to pick up FPs earlier so we had those to get in and on quickly. Then we headed over to ToT which I fully intended to sit out but somehow ended up riding it for my first time ever. I loved it! I even got a pin to mark the occasion!
We were going to ride ToT for a second time and got all the way through the pre-show but realized we wouldn’t have time if we wanted to make it to the parade. We used the chicken out exit (see the thread here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2013947) and headed over to meet the grandmas and the girls for the parade. The Block party parade was a hit with our friends/neighbors who had gone down earlier this year. Our kids liked it too.
We headed back to Streets of America and stumbled upon Mike & Sully from Monsters Inc. – Jenna wanted nothing to do with them so she and the grandparents found a nice bench to sit on and waited for us to meet and greet. Then we split up again – our parents went on the Backstage Tour while Er, the kids and I went to Muppet Vision 3D.
We met up with our parents when they were done and decided what to do from there. DH, MIL & FIL were tired and done for the day. My mom wanted to see Fantasmic, as did I. The kids wanted to go back to the hotel and swim and they would have been terrified of Fantasmic anyhow so we split up again. Mom and I stayed, everyone else headed back to Pop. I got my strawberry smoothie and mom and I headed back for Fantasmic – that’s still my favorite show!
The kids got their swim and Little Gree and Pa got to play with the kids. When Fantasmic was over I warned my mom there may be a long line for the bus back to Pop – there was none. We took our time getting out of the park and walked right on to a bus. Mom got I seat and I stood. We were back to our hotel within a half hour after Fantasmic ending – amazing! We met everybody else at the Pop food court and had a late evening pizza snack, then we headed off to bed for another night of Disney dreams.
Next up: A Magic Kingdom, A Whispering Canyon, A kid-free evening, and will she or won’t she try Soarin’?
I don't know. My thinking is that since there was only that one showing of Fantasmic that night and the park technically closed when the show started, that those who weren't staying for it had already cleared out leaving just the people that were watching the show. Fantasmic was fairly full but not packed - no sliding all the way to the end of the row necessary. Also, nobody seemed in a rush to get out of the park when it was done. Maybe we all lingered just long enough to stagger our departure times.
Wierd but welcome happening for park closing time at Disney!lovesdumbo
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2003
- Messages
- 13,407
Loving your TR! What an awesome picture!
It's been a while, but I'm back! Darn life gets in the way of what's really important - finishing my TR!
So our next day was Friday. I think I shocked my family when they asked what the plan for the day was and I told them there was no plan.
Other than lunch at Whispering Canyon I had no definate idea of where we "needed" to be. We chose the bus less traveled (okay the bus that was there with no line) and boarded it and ended up spending a very enjoyable morning at the Magic Kingdom.
We took a nice train ride back to Frontierland. DH tried to get Jaycie to go on Big Thunder Mountain (no wait ) but she couldn't be convinced it was fun.
Jenna took a power nap
DH, MIL, FIL and I went on while mom waited with the kids. Then we headed into Adventureland. Jay freaked out about POTC before we even got there so DH opted to stay behind with her. Jenna went on though and screamed on the hill, but thought looking for all the "doggies" in the ride was fun! What an easy kid to calm down.
We hit the Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets, Tiki Birds, Swiss Family Treehouse (Jaycie's favorite) and we got to meet Jasmine & Aladdin
. Very cool thing there - one of the groups in front of us was a French speaking family. Just before they got to meet the characters, the CM went over to Aladdin & Jasmine and whispered "speak French" which of course they did when the French speaking kids came over. The kids looked surprised and thrilled! Very neat!
I had my pineapple Dole Whip!
Then we took our time heading back out of the park and up Main Street where we ran into...Daisy Duck! We missed getting Daisy's autograph on our last trip so the kids were thrilled to finally be meeting her. It was so cute!
Next, we caught the boat over to Wilderness Lodge. Jay was really excited to be going on the boat since that was one of the few things she remembered from her trip as a 2 almost 3 year old. The funny thing is I also have a very vivid memory from my first trip to Disney as a 4 year old, (we camped at Ft. Wilderness) of playing with my Mickey Mouse on a bike doll on the floor of the boat from the MK.
We did a late lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe - skillets all around, topped off with dessert - some in our party had to be rolled out of there. We then took some time to look around WL a little, then we split up. The girls went with MIL & FIL back to the hotel for a swim and a nap while Er, Mom & I headed over to Epcot for the evening.
Epcot is my mom's absolute favorite park, so of course I wanted her to get to see all the new stuff since the last time she was there ('96). We went on Spaceship Earth, which was closed for renovation when Er, the kids and I were last there - great update, long overdue. Then we went over to the Nemo ride. I love that one!
We decided that since we were kid-free and we were all interested in it, this would be the night to hit World Showcase. Normally we start on the Mexico side and work our way around clockwise. This time we decided to be rebels and start over in Canada & the UK. We also did something else we've never done at Disney before...we stopped in the Rose & Crown Pub and got ourselves a beer for our trip around the world. Fun, fun! We did hit most of the countries and most of the shops, stopped at American Adventure to see the show and continued through to Germany. At that point we turned around to head back toward Japan. DH decided that would be the perfect viewing spot to see the glow from the night-time shuttle launch they were doing that evening. Just as we picked our good spot and figured out about where to look, it started to rain - lightly at first but by the time we had seen our couple of seconds worth of orange fireball it was a downpour. We found the nearest store and forked over $8/each for Disney ponchos, then we headed up to the front of the park to meet up with ILs and the girls.
The girls with Little Gree & Pa
It was EMH's at Epcot that night so while everyone else was watching IllumiNations, we headed back to Soarin'. Jaycie had said she would go on Soarin' on our last trip - was really excited about it until she got into the room - freaked out and we had to exit. This year, her best friend went on Soarin' and loved it so Jay said she would try it to, even though she was a little nervous. We sweetened the deal by offering her a pin for riding it. Guess what.... she rode it!!! She even loved it!!! Since we had to get the child swap ticket for Jenna, Jay got to ride it twice - once with Erik, Mum and me, and once with Little Gree & Pa. Sweet!
One small observation. As we were sitting on the benches over across from the restrooms near where you enter the line from Soarin' there's a row of doors to the right. They clearly say "do not open, alarm will sound" or something like that - put simply, there is no lack of signs telling you that they do not want you using those doors. Yet in the 20+ minutes we sat waiting for ILs to come back from their ride, we must have seen more than a dozen people use those doors to exit. What's up with that?
After Soarin' we were all getting pretty tired. We did a ride on the Land and went to see the Circle of Life movie thing (don't even get me started on that!
), then we hit Spaceship Earth with the kids before heading back to the bus for the hotel. Not bad for a day without a plan. Couldn't have planned it better myself!
Next up: Animal Kingdom & Nikki.
So our next day was Friday. I think I shocked my family when they asked what the plan for the day was and I told them there was no plan.
Other than lunch at Whispering Canyon I had no definate idea of where we "needed" to be. We chose the bus less traveled (okay the bus that was there with no line) and boarded it and ended up spending a very enjoyable morning at the Magic Kingdom.
We took a nice train ride back to Frontierland. DH tried to get Jaycie to go on Big Thunder Mountain (no wait
) but she couldn't be convinced it was fun.
Jenna took a power nap
DH, MIL, FIL and I went on while mom waited with the kids. Then we headed into Adventureland. Jay freaked out about POTC before we even got there so DH opted to stay behind with her. Jenna went on though and screamed on the hill, but thought looking for all the "doggies" in the ride was fun! What an easy kid to calm down.
We hit the Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets, Tiki Birds, Swiss Family Treehouse (Jaycie's favorite) and we got to meet Jasmine & Aladdin
. Very cool thing there - one of the groups in front of us was a French speaking family. Just before they got to meet the characters, the CM went over to Aladdin & Jasmine and whispered "speak French" which of course they did when the French speaking kids came over. The kids looked surprised and thrilled! Very neat!
I had my pineapple Dole Whip!
Then we took our time heading back out of the park and up Main Street where we ran into...Daisy Duck! We missed getting Daisy's autograph on our last trip so the kids were thrilled to finally be meeting her. It was so cute!
Next, we caught the boat over to Wilderness Lodge. Jay was really excited to be going on the boat since that was one of the few things she remembered from her trip as a 2 almost 3 year old. The funny thing is I also have a very vivid memory from my first trip to Disney as a 4 year old, (we camped at Ft. Wilderness) of playing with my Mickey Mouse on a bike doll on the floor of the boat from the MK.
We did a late lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe - skillets all around, topped off with dessert - some in our party had to be rolled out of there.
We then took some time to look around WL a little, then we split up. The girls went with MIL & FIL back to the hotel for a swim and a nap while Er, Mom & I headed over to Epcot for the evening.Epcot is my mom's absolute favorite park, so of course I wanted her to get to see all the new stuff since the last time she was there ('96). We went on Spaceship Earth, which was closed for renovation when Er, the kids and I were last there - great update, long overdue.
Then we went over to the Nemo ride. I love that one!We decided that since we were kid-free and we were all interested in it, this would be the night to hit World Showcase. Normally we start on the Mexico side and work our way around clockwise. This time we decided to be rebels and start over in Canada & the UK. We also did something else we've never done at Disney before...we stopped in the Rose & Crown Pub and got ourselves a beer for our trip around the world. Fun, fun! We did hit most of the countries and most of the shops, stopped at American Adventure to see the show and continued through to Germany. At that point we turned around to head back toward Japan. DH decided that would be the perfect viewing spot to see the glow from the night-time shuttle launch they were doing that evening. Just as we picked our good spot and figured out about where to look, it started to rain - lightly at first but by the time we had seen our couple of seconds worth of orange fireball it was a downpour. We found the nearest store and forked over $8/each for Disney ponchos, then we headed up to the front of the park to meet up with ILs and the girls.
The girls with Little Gree & Pa
It was EMH's at Epcot that night so while everyone else was watching IllumiNations, we headed back to Soarin'. Jaycie had said she would go on Soarin' on our last trip - was really excited about it until she got into the room - freaked out and we had to exit. This year, her best friend went on Soarin' and loved it so Jay said she would try it to, even though she was a little nervous. We sweetened the deal by offering her a pin for riding it. Guess what.... she rode it!!! She even loved it!!! Since we had to get the child swap ticket for Jenna, Jay got to ride it twice - once with Erik, Mum and me, and once with Little Gree & Pa. Sweet!
One small observation. As we were sitting on the benches over across from the restrooms near where you enter the line from Soarin' there's a row of doors to the right. They clearly say "do not open, alarm will sound" or something like that - put simply, there is no lack of signs telling you that they do not want you using those doors. Yet in the 20+ minutes we sat waiting for ILs to come back from their ride, we must have seen more than a dozen people use those doors to exit.
What's up with that?After Soarin' we were all getting pretty tired. We did a ride on the Land and went to see the Circle of Life movie thing (don't even get me started on that!
), then we hit Spaceship Earth with the kids before heading back to the bus for the hotel. Not bad for a day without a plan. Couldn't have planned it better myself!Next up: Animal Kingdom & Nikki.
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