2belles'mom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2000
- Messages
- 406
Cast:
Christy (me), 33, Disney planner
David (DH), 33
Katja (DD), 4
Annika (DD), 18 months
Steve, my brother
Sarah, my sister-in-law
Riley, 7, my nephew
My mother
My father
MGM Early-entry
Mickey called to wake us up at 6:30. As I had yesterday, I had arranged for room service to deliver our breakfast. It arrived at 6:45âÂÂmilk, coffee, fruit, bagels, and juice. We showered, dressed and bundled the girls upâÂÂit was only 26 degrees out!!!!!! Unbelievable. We planned to meet everybody else at the MGM entrance turnstiles at 7:20, so we hurried down to the car and were on our way by 7:00.
As we pulled into the MGM parking lot (which was still fairly empty, although they plunked us a GOOD distance from the entrance) I realized that I had left our room keys/park tickets back in the hotel room!!! Oh no! David had his, but mine and KatjaâÂÂs were back at the Contemporary sitting on the dresser. Good job. We decided that rather than ruin our early-entry plans, I would take DavidâÂÂs ticket, buy a new one for Katja, and David would head back for the other tickets.
It was so cold outside thatt we did not want to stand in the cold and wait for a tram, so we jogged/ran all the way to the entrance (plus we were already running behind schedule). I only had on a short-sleeved shirt because in all of my panic over the tickets I had not retrieved my pullover from the diaper bag. As I stood in front of the CM to buy a one-day, one park ticket for Katja, he looked at me as if I was crazy and asked if I knew that it was only 14 degrees out, what with the wind chill and all. YES! YES! I said, just give me my park ticket! A minute or so later they opened the park, and we made plans to meet David in 1 hour at the Star Tours.
Our first destination was the Tower of Terror. We hustled over and walked right on. My mother took Annika to wait in the gift shopâÂÂit was far too cold to wait outside. This would be KatjaâÂÂs first time on Tower, and she was very excited. Riley was nervous, but I reassured him that this was nothing like Alien or Dinosaur. The Twilight Zone clip in the âÂÂlibraryâ spooked him a bit, but we got him calmed down before boarding the elevator. Katja was also a bit nervous after watching the clip: she did not like the lightning that zapped the family into nowhere. I told her there would not be anything like that on the ride, forgetting about that lightning that flashes when the elevator doors open. The ride was GREATâÂÂeveryone had a good time, although Katja kept asking âÂÂis it done yet? Are we done yet?â as we kept dropping, over and over. She also DID NOT like the lightning.
Next, we hit Rock-N-Roller Coaster, which is right next to Tower. We had to leave Katja with my mom and, as expected, she had a major melt-down. I am not sure how my mom won her over, but we were out of there! This was the first time for me to ride Rock-N-RollerâÂÂnow it was MY turn to get excited. Again, no lineâÂÂwe walked right on. The adventure starts as you are in a âÂÂsound studioâ (really a room watching a movie screen) watching Aerosmith rehearse. All of a sudden, their manager takes them away. To make it up they give you backstage passes to their concert, but you have to HURRY to get thereâÂÂthey ask the manager to get you super-fast, super-stretch limo. Then you leave the studio to get in the limo, which is, of course, the roller coaster. You take off like a rocket, pulling 4 gâÂÂs. Fantastic! The coaster goes through the streets of LA; you whiz by stoplights, street signs, nightscapes of LA, all while Aerosmith booms away in your ears. Afterward, we all agreed that this ride was fantasticâÂÂRiley said it was his favorite, and wanted to ride again. Steve wanted to get to Star Tours though, so I ran to gather my mom and Katja while Steve got fast-passes so Riley could ride later.
We made our way to Star Tours (David was waiting and rejoined us), and did the Baby Swap. Sarah held Annika the first time, then my mom got off, the rest of us stayed on, and Sarah got on with us. My mom was more than happy to get offâÂÂthere was no way she wanted to ride this twice! We were more than happy to (especially Riley and Katja). I have to admit, however, that I was feeling a bit queasy by the end of the 2nd ride.
Our next destination was The Great Movie Ride. It was so cold that is was actually painful to be outside. My cheeks hurt, as did my hands. But is was gorgeous and sunny, which sort of made up for it. The pre-show of TGMR scared Riley because of the scene from Alien (with Sigourney Weaver), but we managed to talk him into riding. It was very goodâÂÂthe CMs get involved and get you involved as well. Katja especially enjoyed the Wizard of Oz scenes.
We decided not to do any shows which were outside, due to the nasty temperature. Thus, I was sad that we had to miss Beauty and the Beast (maybe I was wrong, but the theater sure LOOKED like it was outside when we went by itâÂÂwas I wrong?), and the guys were disappointed that we had to skip Indiana Jones. We split up at this point, with the gals going to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and the guys going back to Rock-N-Roller Coaster (except for my Dad, who went with us). We were very happy to get inside to see the show; little Annika was saying âÂÂcold, cold, cold,â and burying her frozen face on my shoulder. I felt so bad for her! We enjoyed it, except our seats were too close (yes, too close!) to really experience a lot of the effects, and we could see the people dressed in black moving the puppets. It did not seem to bother Katja thoughâÂÂas soon as Ariel came on stage she yelled out, âÂÂHi, Ariel!âÂÂ.
By the time we got back together, everyone was getting hungry. We wandered around; nothing was open yet as it was only 10:30. We got to see a troop of green army men from Toy Story, âÂÂposingâ for an audience that had gathered around. They were very good! We finally stumbled onto a pizza place with a Buzz Lightyear theme that was open, although not yet serving. So what! We sought shelter insideâ¦BBRRRRRR! Not too long after that we were munching on pizza and drinking hot chocolate.
Then, sadly, it was time for Steve, Sarah, and Riley to head for the airport and then back to Wisconsin. Mom and Dad were scheduled to head back to Seattle the following day. We all went out to parking together to say our goodbyes (as we left we noticed that all the beautiful poinsettas they had tried valiantly to keep warmâÂÂbig heat blowers aimed on themâÂÂhad died). It was tough. I did not want to see them go!
We all loaded into the cars, and were off.
NextâÂÂKatja goes to the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party!
2belles'mom
Christy (me), 33, Disney planner
David (DH), 33
Katja (DD), 4
Annika (DD), 18 months
Steve, my brother
Sarah, my sister-in-law
Riley, 7, my nephew
My mother
My father
MGM Early-entry
Mickey called to wake us up at 6:30. As I had yesterday, I had arranged for room service to deliver our breakfast. It arrived at 6:45âÂÂmilk, coffee, fruit, bagels, and juice. We showered, dressed and bundled the girls upâÂÂit was only 26 degrees out!!!!!! Unbelievable. We planned to meet everybody else at the MGM entrance turnstiles at 7:20, so we hurried down to the car and were on our way by 7:00.
As we pulled into the MGM parking lot (which was still fairly empty, although they plunked us a GOOD distance from the entrance) I realized that I had left our room keys/park tickets back in the hotel room!!! Oh no! David had his, but mine and KatjaâÂÂs were back at the Contemporary sitting on the dresser. Good job. We decided that rather than ruin our early-entry plans, I would take DavidâÂÂs ticket, buy a new one for Katja, and David would head back for the other tickets.
It was so cold outside thatt we did not want to stand in the cold and wait for a tram, so we jogged/ran all the way to the entrance (plus we were already running behind schedule). I only had on a short-sleeved shirt because in all of my panic over the tickets I had not retrieved my pullover from the diaper bag. As I stood in front of the CM to buy a one-day, one park ticket for Katja, he looked at me as if I was crazy and asked if I knew that it was only 14 degrees out, what with the wind chill and all. YES! YES! I said, just give me my park ticket! A minute or so later they opened the park, and we made plans to meet David in 1 hour at the Star Tours.
Our first destination was the Tower of Terror. We hustled over and walked right on. My mother took Annika to wait in the gift shopâÂÂit was far too cold to wait outside. This would be KatjaâÂÂs first time on Tower, and she was very excited. Riley was nervous, but I reassured him that this was nothing like Alien or Dinosaur. The Twilight Zone clip in the âÂÂlibraryâ spooked him a bit, but we got him calmed down before boarding the elevator. Katja was also a bit nervous after watching the clip: she did not like the lightning that zapped the family into nowhere. I told her there would not be anything like that on the ride, forgetting about that lightning that flashes when the elevator doors open. The ride was GREATâÂÂeveryone had a good time, although Katja kept asking âÂÂis it done yet? Are we done yet?â as we kept dropping, over and over. She also DID NOT like the lightning.
Next, we hit Rock-N-Roller Coaster, which is right next to Tower. We had to leave Katja with my mom and, as expected, she had a major melt-down. I am not sure how my mom won her over, but we were out of there! This was the first time for me to ride Rock-N-RollerâÂÂnow it was MY turn to get excited. Again, no lineâÂÂwe walked right on. The adventure starts as you are in a âÂÂsound studioâ (really a room watching a movie screen) watching Aerosmith rehearse. All of a sudden, their manager takes them away. To make it up they give you backstage passes to their concert, but you have to HURRY to get thereâÂÂthey ask the manager to get you super-fast, super-stretch limo. Then you leave the studio to get in the limo, which is, of course, the roller coaster. You take off like a rocket, pulling 4 gâÂÂs. Fantastic! The coaster goes through the streets of LA; you whiz by stoplights, street signs, nightscapes of LA, all while Aerosmith booms away in your ears. Afterward, we all agreed that this ride was fantasticâÂÂRiley said it was his favorite, and wanted to ride again. Steve wanted to get to Star Tours though, so I ran to gather my mom and Katja while Steve got fast-passes so Riley could ride later.
We made our way to Star Tours (David was waiting and rejoined us), and did the Baby Swap. Sarah held Annika the first time, then my mom got off, the rest of us stayed on, and Sarah got on with us. My mom was more than happy to get offâÂÂthere was no way she wanted to ride this twice! We were more than happy to (especially Riley and Katja). I have to admit, however, that I was feeling a bit queasy by the end of the 2nd ride.
Our next destination was The Great Movie Ride. It was so cold that is was actually painful to be outside. My cheeks hurt, as did my hands. But is was gorgeous and sunny, which sort of made up for it. The pre-show of TGMR scared Riley because of the scene from Alien (with Sigourney Weaver), but we managed to talk him into riding. It was very goodâÂÂthe CMs get involved and get you involved as well. Katja especially enjoyed the Wizard of Oz scenes.
We decided not to do any shows which were outside, due to the nasty temperature. Thus, I was sad that we had to miss Beauty and the Beast (maybe I was wrong, but the theater sure LOOKED like it was outside when we went by itâÂÂwas I wrong?), and the guys were disappointed that we had to skip Indiana Jones. We split up at this point, with the gals going to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and the guys going back to Rock-N-Roller Coaster (except for my Dad, who went with us). We were very happy to get inside to see the show; little Annika was saying âÂÂcold, cold, cold,â and burying her frozen face on my shoulder. I felt so bad for her! We enjoyed it, except our seats were too close (yes, too close!) to really experience a lot of the effects, and we could see the people dressed in black moving the puppets. It did not seem to bother Katja thoughâÂÂas soon as Ariel came on stage she yelled out, âÂÂHi, Ariel!âÂÂ.
By the time we got back together, everyone was getting hungry. We wandered around; nothing was open yet as it was only 10:30. We got to see a troop of green army men from Toy Story, âÂÂposingâ for an audience that had gathered around. They were very good! We finally stumbled onto a pizza place with a Buzz Lightyear theme that was open, although not yet serving. So what! We sought shelter insideâ¦BBRRRRRR! Not too long after that we were munching on pizza and drinking hot chocolate.
Then, sadly, it was time for Steve, Sarah, and Riley to head for the airport and then back to Wisconsin. Mom and Dad were scheduled to head back to Seattle the following day. We all went out to parking together to say our goodbyes (as we left we noticed that all the beautiful poinsettas they had tried valiantly to keep warmâÂÂbig heat blowers aimed on themâÂÂhad died). It was tough. I did not want to see them go!
We all loaded into the cars, and were off.
NextâÂÂKatja goes to the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party!
2belles'mom
