The Ups and Downs of Labor Day weekend 2010

[annmarieda]

Nice pics. I really like the one of Zoe with Goofy. We've never done Tusker House...we've been on the bubble about it. n

I am not sure I would do it again. Zoe really loves Daisy though...so maybe. It was also SOOOOO nice to be in the park already when it opened. Course, I think there are a few dinning options that would put us in that position. The food itself wasn't bad. As I mentioned, much of the same stuff that is served later in the day (only at breakfast prices) I think we have done Tusker so much (6 times over 4 trips)...we probably won't do it on our next trip.

 

[oboedm]

Argh!I posted a long reply and lost it! Hopefully I can remember everything I was going to say...

I think you got great pics! Zoe looks so happy with the characters!

I agree with you on you assessment of the breakfast, though. The characters were rushed for us to... come to think of it, the only time we had a chance to breathe between characters was at Akershus and Ohana!

I don't understand why the Donald picture isn't included either. I would rather have them up the price of the meal.. then again, we always go on the dining plan, so it wouldn't matter to us. Others may disagree.

 

[oboedm]

Argh!I posted a long reply and lost it! Hopefully I can remember everything I was going to say...

I think you got great pics! Zoe looks so happy with the characters!

I agree with you on you assessment of the breakfast, though. The characters were rushed for us to... come to think of it, the only time we had a chance to breathe between characters was at Akershus and Ohana!

I don't understand why the Donald picture isn't included either. I would rather have them up the price of the meal.. then again, we always go on the dining plan, so it wouldn't matter to us. Others may disagree.

 

[Simba22]

OK I haven't completely caught up yet but here is what I've got so far (and I'm sorry it's so far back, I wasn't able to DIS as much in WDW as I thought I would! )

And I can't see pics from my work computer so I will wait to get 100% caught up until I get home tonight.

So I left off when it was just about time for our dinner ADR. Where did we go?

Kona!!!

One word....

AMAZING!!!

Isn't it though? I wanted to try and get to this for lunch this year but we swapped it for something else. Hopefully next year...I love going to Kona for breakfast, though!

Despite the fact we had stayed in MK rather than leave, we were running late.

Welcome to my life

By the time we were done with dinner, it was barely raining. It was however even muggier outside.

Funny how that happens....here in the NE, we pray for rain to cool things off. In Florida, the rain makes it worse

Her "treasure hunt" paid off though as she was able to find a very nice, mickey head, sterling silver ring for almost nothing. I bought a little ring for Kira too.

We did find that a lot of stuff was marked down while we were there too. It's funny though, because something would be marked down at one store but not at another.

This is definitely not the happiest place on earth. I totally understand the frustration...but the violence? And then all those angry hateful posts on youtube? I feel bad for everyone there that night. I don't know that I would have wanted to be on that bus...or the next. Disney really should get a clue from this and get some more buses going.

And I thought I had drama on my trip

Um..wow. That's horrible. I can't even imagine. And the posts after might have been just as bad, if not worse. That's part of what makes Disney so special for me, is that its a chance to get away from all of that kind of ugly-ness.

I wonder what resort the bus was going to?

I think the video description said it was going from DHS to Epcot (they are running park-to-park buses now, but I don't know if it's a temporary thing or not. I didn't even read the other people's comments, just the video was enough for me. Thankfully, I didn't see any of that while we were there!

and let me just say...I think for these being done by "professionals" many could have been a bit better

Can you believe that is ALL that was missed thus far? Next trip I am SO gonna get more pictures taken!!!

Just so you know, the PP photographers are not necessarily "professionals." Anyone can apply for the PP jobs on the Disney website and the listings say "will train." So they could be professionals, but for minumum wage, I highly doubt it. We found the same issues with ours though....we were lucky to not have too many people in our backgrounds (but I think it was overall less crowded while we were there versus when you were there), but a lot of them are blurry or there is like 8 shots that are all exactly the same.

We tried really hard to get more PP pics taken this year but they always seemed to pop up when I was already hot and sweaty or just generally not in the mood. We got a few good ones though...I just got my CD last night.

Zoe was almost perfect the entire trip. Here is her one moment where she was not on her best behavior. Having two brothers, Zoe knows how to hold her own. Unfortunately, there was a little boy who was a bit of a pill. Zoe likes to have her picture taken. Each time I would try to take her picture, he would run up and push the button on the microwave, thus blocking my line of sight and making it so I didn't get her picture. After this happened several times, she took a swing at him.


I know it's wrong to laugh but that's so funny. I don't blame her! And I would have said something to the parent after the 2nd time he got in the picture. Just something like "excuse me, I'm trying to take a picture and he keeps running in...could we just have one second so I can get a shot?"

Finally, it was time to meet Mickey. Minnie just happened to be there.

WOW! That would have been so cool to have them both at the same time! We didn't even go into Toontown this year so they probably WERE there and we just didn't get to it.

We took a quite trip on the tea cups. I don't like to ride this with my children since they are all evil and spin it way too much for my liking.

Next it was time to do the Astro Orbiter. After the Tea Cups, there was no way I was going on.

Ugh, I hate the Tea Cups! And I like the concept of Astro Orbiter but I get dizzy on that too so we usually avoid it.

I do, however, LOVE Carousel of Progress!

Amazed, they got there just in time for the next bus. We were first in line for that bus and....

....

....

WE GOT SEATS!!!!

Wow!! I'm amazed, myself!

9/6 had been such a nice day with little upset. (except for the phone incident)

I'm still baffled by that whole thing....If she tried to call you, then she obviously would see it come up on the caller ID and recognize it as "Mom" or whatever...but it's the person you JUST CALLED so why was she so confused? PLUS - she obviously KNEW it wasn't HER phone since she tried to call people in the emergency contact list...so it seems like she was TRYING to do the right thing...but then why was she so sketchy about giving it back to you right then and there?

By 5am, my mom was up and loudly was making use of the bathroom. I felt so bad for her. She was really sick.

This happened on our trip too....

I was able to pick up a little pink umbrella for Zoe. (which is in heavy use now since we are entering the rainy season here) It was uch a good deal. Only $3!!!

Wow, only $3!? That's great! I avoided the China giftshop completely because we usually spend a ton of money in there but I should have stopped in! Sounds like they had some great deals!

but first, a snapshot of this little guy. Look familiar to anyone?

Yup! We saw him when we were there too but I didn't take any pics!

We walked up to the station and took our place at the end of the line. The line started directly in front of the cm. As soon as we were the next in line, a person came up to stand to one side of the cm. I didn't think much of it at first. Then something happened. The line formed behind THAT person and they became next.

Okay, so as frustrating as that was, it was only a few people and I figured that my mom was still shopping so... I moved us to that line. It wasn't long before guess what happened??? The line formed in front of the cm again! At this point I am really a bit overheated and wonder if I have some sort of "don't stand behind me in line" look about me.

I shouldn't have...but since the center line was moving again and I was standing looking like I was in the wrong place, I moved us again. Guess what? It wasn't long before we were again next in line. Guess what happened??? A person came up to the side again and was intent on being next. I was very agitated by this point.

This left myself in front and the other person to the side. Up walked another family. I was ready to fight...but something happened.... The family lined up behind ME!!! I was so thankful, I told them how much I appreciated it. I told them how I had been up next then had to move only to be up next again and had to move again. The mother that I was speaking to was a little louder than I was about the rudeness of people as the person that jumped in line to the side finished up with her child.

As we wait for the last of the rude people in the side line to finish, the line continued to form behind me. Soon it was Zoe's turn. (well, soon is kinda not the right way to put it...more like FINALLY)

After all that, I got a picture of Zoe at the station. As you can see, there was a second station. I am not sure what made the people do that, maybe the heat melted their brains. I know mine (and my patience) were nearly gone by the time we left to view the movie.

omg this whole situation is so frustrating! I would have said something to the people cutting in front of me. Or at least asked the CM loudly where exactly the line starts.

It is just sad how a few bad apples really can influence the moment.

AMEN TO THAT!

Next stop on our trip around the world was Germany. We had Bavarian cheesecake, bratwurst and sauerkraut.

omg the bavarian cheesecake was soooo good!!

What I do remember is that a drink was spilled. Mom gets to looking at racks and tends to set things down. Zoe tends to get up out of the stroller when you are not expecting thus sending it flying backward as the weight shifts. Somehow the drink mom had been carrying was precariously sitting on a rack and the stroller hit and a full sized drink was all over the carpet. I was very embarrassed. I guess I should have been more on top of it. After all, Zoe wanted/needed to do the kidcot station and mom was on a mission with her shopping. Oh well, time to move on.

OMG that is embarassing! I'm sure they are used to that kind of stuff but I would have been mortified. How did Kira react to this?!

Next up was America. It was important to Kira to see the show, which is only aired at certain times (in my notes I put that it only had one show that day...not sure that is right). We had to wait. This was fine since it gave us not only time to do the kidcot, but to take a potty break. We did not try anything to eat cause..well...there wasn't anything unusual to try. We caught the preshow performers. (who had amazing voices)

The show itself was enjoyable, but we preferred HOP more.

We like American Adventure and HoP...I'm not sure if I like one better than the other.... But Voices of Liberty was great! I love watching them perform!

Onward to Japan....
I was tempted to pick a pearl. I think for sure next time I will have to do that!

It's fun but addicting!

So while at some stations, the cm will convert your name into their countries language...most don't have any difference. We were standing at one station (I think Germany) when a father was quite adamant that the cm write his dd's name down. The poor cm insisted that she could write the girl's name, but it would be the same as in English since they use the same alphabet and...well...it is the same name. Too funny... the poor father was so irritated.

That always cracks me up that people think just because it's another language that your name will be different...Nouns are always the same if they use the same alphabet!

 

[annmarieda]

I can't believe how long it has been since I made an update to this. I have been so busy with work and family. Add to those that I have not been feeling well...and I have barely touched my computer in the last couple weeks.

So I will get to an update soon. I have some good pictures from our last day...so I will share those as well.

Hope I haven't lost too many of you.

 

[tinacaplan]

Nope...I'm still here! Although, I somehow managed to completely miss your Tusker House update. God forbid you miss a couple days on the Dis...

Sorry you've had so much going on lately and haven't been feeling well. That's not a very fun combination.

The picture of Zoe and Goofy is incredibly cute. She is very photogenic.

I'm still looking forward to Tusker House. It is only one of many character meals we're doing. Max doesn't know about autographs yet, so... And it will be so nice to in the park before rope drop.

 

[RDarling]

Just read your report, thanks for you candid comments, I enjoy the truth!! It is not always easy to go to DW with family!!

 

[KatMark]

I'm still here...no worries. I hope you are feeling better.

 

[annmarieda]

I wasn't able to DIS as much in WDW as I thought I would!

I am amazed you got any time to dis while in the world. I never even checked my email to see the "offers" that were sent to me while on my trip.

We did find that a lot of stuff was marked down while we were there too. It's funny though, because something would be marked down at one store but not at another.

This is exactly what we found too.

Just so you know, the PP photographers are not necessarily "professionals." Anyone can apply for the PP jobs on the Disney website and the listings say "will train." So they could be professionals, but for minimum wage, I highly doubt it. We found the same issues with ours though....we were lucky to not have too many people in our backgrounds (but I think it was overall less crowded while we were there versus when you were there), but a lot of them are blurry or there is like 8 shots that are all exactly the same.

That is good to know. I like that there is someone there to take pics...but yeah...they are not always the best quality. That explains why.

This happened on our trip too....

yeah, I think it might have been the heat...or cosmic rays

I'm still baffled by that whole thing....If she tried to call you, then she obviously would see it come up on the caller ID and recognize it as "Mom" or whatever...but it's the person you JUST CALLED so why was she so confused? PLUS - she obviously KNEW it wasn't HER phone since she tried to call people in the emergency contact list...so it seems like she was TRYING to do the right thing...but then why was she so sketchy about giving it back to you right then and there?

yeah, it was a weird situation. I am not sure why she was surprised by my call. It doesn't make sense.

Speaking of weird situations that day...I totally forgot to add in another one that happened that day. As we were walking by the intersection near the HOP there was a baby in a stroller. The stroller was kinda in the middle of the walkway and it was a young infant...not a toddler. (so I would say less than a year) As I had to make a conscious effort to move around the stroller i couldn't help notice that the group of people sitting nearest the stroller could not have been related. (very dark skinned people and very light skinned baby) Looking around quickly, there did not seem to be ANYONE who could claim this child. Still, not wanting to totally assume wrong I motioned to the family to ask if the baby belonged to them. (noting that the baby did not belong to them they also said they had no clue who the baby belonged to) About the same time as I was calculating where the adults were more people were doing the same...and all at once a group of us became very concerned with why there was a baby alone in the walkway..in a very busy area of the park. Everyone started to ask.."is this your baby" as we pointed to the stroller. All who were walking by said "no". Just about the time one of us was about to push the stroller to a cm the mom (who was very agitated that we would touch the stroller) came running up and said..."excuse me, that is MY baby". All of us who had been concerned were completely dumbfounded. Really? You are mad at us? How dare we all come near your child? Hmm..maybe if you had not left your infant alone no one would have infringed on its space. I seem to remember one of the us asking this mom what they heck she was thinking leaving her child alone like that. She harrumphed and said something like how it hadn't been left alone...grandpa..dad...someone was right there watching it. (as she pointed to some person near the river boat) HOP and the riverboat are not tooo far from each other, but way to far to leave a baby at one while at the other. (not to mention in the middle of the darn walkway) So...strange situations were plenty that day.

OMG that is embarassing! I'm sure they are used to that kind of stuff but I would have been mortified. How did Kira react to this?!

ack..ya know now that we are almost three months out...I am not sure I remember. It seems to me that Kira was searching for a gift for her df...and thus was not right there. Course, I think she was also just beyond caring at that point in the trip too. Either way, I don't remember her being greatly affected by it or helping...so I assume she wasn't right there.

Nope...I'm still here! Although, I somehow managed to completely miss your Tusker House update. God forbid you miss a couple days on the Dis...

I hear ya on missing a couple of days..I may never catch up on a couple of the treads i follow!

Sorry you've had so much going on lately and haven't been feeling well. That's not a very fun combination.

thank you...but such is life, eh? I will get through it. Course, I have been thinking... last summer I was working my tail off to pay for the trip. Now that I picked up extra stores and thus hours...not sure what I am working toward. I mean...don't get me wrong. I can always use the money somewhere. I is just that sacrificing time this summer was easy to be ok with since I was going to WDW. I just have to have something to know I am working toward now.

The picture of Zoe and Goofy is incredibly cute. She is very photogenic.

That is sweet of you!

I'm still looking forward to Tusker House. It is only one of many character meals we're doing. Max doesn't know about autographs yet, so... And it will be so nice to in the park before rope drop.

I think you should totally look forward to it still. I think should we go there again...it would be for breakfast. Nice to go before the park opens...it is cheaper than dinner or lunch and most of the foods we love are still on the buffet at breakfast.

I'm still here...no worries. I hope you are feeling better.

thanks!

Just read your report, thanks for you candid comments, I enjoy the truth!! It is not always easy to go to DW with family!!

Nope, not always easy...but those memories are worth all the headaches!

 

[onescgirl]

I thought you were completely gone, glad you're still here!

 

[annmarieda]

Okay, so it has been way to long since I even put in an update. This TR should have been finished a while ago. I am so sorry for that.

Lets see... I left off on our last day. We went to Tusker for breakfast. Our day really was not planned out. Our only plan was to leisurely do what ever we had not already done...and perhaps get in some more of what we already had.

That being said, the girls really wanted to ride EE again. This meant onward to Asia from Africa. On our way, we found Balou and King Lui on the path. With no line...of course it meant we needed to stop. I am so very glad that we did because of this picture.

King Lui doesn't give autographs, but he sure is cudly don't you think???

Balou is great too though and he gives autographs

And everyone deserves a hug right? Well, at least my mom and Zoe do

After our character encounter the girls ran ahead to ride on EE. Mom and I lagged behind. We ended up shopping in the gift shop at EE while Kira and Zoe rode it two more times.

Next we went to Dinoland. We had not yet gone on this trip, so it was a must. Zoe is still too small to ride on Primevil whirl. So while Kira and I rode that, Mom and Zoe went on Triceratop Spin. Of course, Zoe loved it. I think it is funny that this is just like Dumbo (as is Aladdins magic carpets)

After a quick potty break, we noticed another couple characters. With a bit of a line but not much else to do..we decided Zoe needed those autographs.

Now was the time to ride one last ride. I had not pressured my mom to go on any major rides. Since we would be leaving soon, I thought this was the time to do so. We headed for Dinosaur. I talked her into riding it. I was hesitant..but like I said...it was our last ride. She could recover at home should she need to. Mom loved it. She screamed and oooo'd and ahhh'd and laughed the whole time. It was awesome!

After this we had time to meander. I felt it a good idea to make sure that we were a go for check out of the hotel. Remember...I forgot to do that prior to getting on the bus that morning. I ran to guest services and they made a call to Pop for me. Sure enough, everything was just fine. No need to go back to the hotel. This was great for me since I wanted to spend as much time as I had left in AK.

I met back up with mom and the girls and we all decided that a frozen drink would be a good idea. Well, Zoe had a frozen fruit bar..but frozen..THAT was what we all needed.

After we enjoyed our frozen drinks we went to Rafikis Planet watch. We tried to board the train and got scolded because our group was not all together. Someone was letting the heat get to them a bit I think.

Zoe played the scavenger hunt game on the way to the main building. I feel bad, but because of how hot it was...I really hurried her along. It was nice to escape the heat inside for a short time. We totally skipped the petting zoo since it was so hot and dusty. I just didn't want to hassle with that right before we left. Zoe didn't seem too upset by it. I think she too was hot and didn't mind.

We had just a couple more things to accomplish and then we would be leaving.

First discovery island trails.

Next lunch at Pizzafari. (I love their Italian sandwiches)

Then to watch Its tough to be a Bug. Normally, Kira hates that show and won't even go. (she has some traumatic memories from her first trip to Disneyland) She tolerated it just fine. There was a little girl behind us who was terrified and screamed the whole time. Kira could relate and just wanted to the parents to realize that the girl was scared.

Finally, we did some last minute shopping for gifts.

It was time to leave the park. We got this one last pp of all of us.

But wait..someone else was gonna join us???

We caught a buss back to Pop, retrieved our bags and picked up some snacks to go (using the remaining snack credits) and caught DME to the airport. It was so sad.

Once at the airport, we checked out the Disney Stores and got through security. After getting some drinks (thank you Starbucks) we collapsed at our gate.

Our plane was on time and we boarded without incident. (unlike on the flight down where we took the wrong seats). The flight actually had many empty seats. Some people had three to themselves and were able to stretch out. (jealous) Mom had a seat between her and her neighbor. She still made friends and talked the ear off the poor lady next to her.

When descending, we hit some pretty big turbulence and we had to climb back up for a bit. We landed safe and met the guys in baggage claim.

Hour ride in the car and we were finally home. What an amazing trip!

Next chapter:
Final thoughts and Mom goes home

 

[KatMark]

Ann, it sounds as if the last day of the trip was a HIT! I love the photos of Zoe with the characters, especially Louie. And even though I am not a Stitch fan, that picture is really good too.

And I'm so glad your mom enjoyed Dinosaur.