The "We have one whole year to wait" Now a Trip Report

[3princesses+aprince]

I just stumbled upon your TR, and it's great, your kids are awesome, and I want to read the rest of this report

I absolutely loved the videos of your surprise to the kids that you're going to Disney!

 

[Laura.bora]

So next up, was going to be the Tower of Terror. As we headed down that way, suddenly we all needed to go to the bathroom. BATHROOM BREAK! I noticed as we were there that the wait time for Tower of Terror was 30 minutes.....ummmm...sorry - not waiting that long! We grabbed those handy dandy fast passes and were on our way! We decided to go to the Playhouse Disney show next. When we got over to that area, it was 10:03 and there was NO ONE on line for the 10:30 show. Ephraim is sound asleep, so I volunteered to stay put nearby and watch the line, and Ken was going to take the kids shopping in the nearby stores. I find a shady bench right near the queue area and relax. A little while later, playhouse Disney lets out and it was like an alarm went off! People started RUNNING for this area, to get on line! I realize how FAST this line is growing, so I make a mad dash with sleeping Ephraim to the line and manage somehow to sign to Ken "Come Now". The kids run out of the store with Ken and jump in line with me. They have TV's everywhere, and they start playing tons of Playhouse Disney stuff. My kids are glued. I don't think you'd even need to bring them inside for them to be entertained now. Just plop them in front of the TV's in the queue and they'd be set! We had to wait about 15 minutes before they let us in. Not too bad. I knew this place had no seats or anything, and since Ephraim was still asleep, sitting on the ground was going to be uncomfortable,and once again, Tour Guide Mike to the rescue! I knew where to sit ahead of time incase of a situation like this! I told Ken that I would be splitting from them, and let him know where I'd be. Ken and the kids sat about 6 - 10 "people rows" back from the stage, and I sat comfortably on the bench with Ephraim. I loved this show! The girl who played Casey was very cute, bubbly, had a great voice, and the show in general was cute. It had all the favorites there, Mickey and the gang, Little Einstiens, Handy Manny. Great show! If you have little kids, don't miss this show. You know - or if you are a little kid at heart like me!

After the Playhouse Disney show, we had some time to kill before the 11:45 showing of Beauty and the Beast, so Ken decided that he would take Ephraim and Ainsley to wait for seats at Beauty and the Beast, and Nathaniel and I would go on Tower of Terror!

 

[cjackearl]

ToT? You are a much braver woman than I am! Last trip my girls were scared to even go near the building and were squished against our legs on the way to Fantasmic since it scared them to even look at it. This year Madeline wants to go on it with George, but me? Er, no thanks. Can't wait to see your reaction.

My planning is going well. 40 days today I think! Come on over and help me plan. You're only about 12 pages behind.. Just kidding, lady.

 

[Laura.bora]

Hey Christine! You need to slow that PTR down! Crzy amounts of pages! I can't keep up when I go missing for weeks on end!!

So, where were we? Oh yes, it's 11:05 and Nathaniel and I are headed to the Tower of Terror!! We go throught the Fast Pass line, and get to where you go into the small rooms where they give you the intro. There is the one guy who checks to make sure you have a fast pass, and then the guys manning the rooms. The one guy in the room motions to me and Nathaniel to hurry up and come on in, when I hear "EXCUSE ME!!!" So I turn around and it's the Fast Pass guard. "AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING???????" oh boy - this is going to be fun! Nathaniel starts to hide behind my legs at this point. I point to the guy waiting for us and say "over there".
"AND WHO SAID YOU COULD LEAVE???"
"That guy over there" I said pointing to the guy who motioned us over.
"AND WHO IS THAT GUY?????
"The guy over there who was going to let us in"
"AND WHY WOULD YOU LISTEN TO HIM????
So, now for anyone who knows me, I now let the Disney magic get a hold of me and I depart from my normal self and get into character.
"Because I like him better than you!" It is at this point where I'm pretty sure Nathaniel is peeing in his pants, for he doesn't realize yet that this is all an act. I then get ready to walk over to the door when the guy who originally called me over...shuts the door! I then look over to the line guy and yell out "Do you see what you made us do?? We missed our turn!!"
He gets all huffy and says "MISSED YOUR TURN?? OH YOU'LL MISS YOUR TURN ALL RIGHT! AND MANY MORE!! STAND OVER THERE!" and he sends us to stand over to the side and wait. The next room opens up and he starts to say to people on the line "you can go, you can go, you can go...(gives us the evil eye) AND YOU CAN WAIT." At one point the line dies down, and some people who missed this whole show come running down the line. "STOP!!!!!!!" he yells at them. "ARE YOU WITH THEM?" and he points to Nathaniel and me. These people look at us with this very confused face and answer "....noooo?" they answer.
"oh, Ok, good you can go." At this point, I start laughing so hard that I start snorting, and I know I am in for it. He gives me the raised eyebrow look and exclaims "DID YOU JUST SNORT??!!!??? EVERYONE!!! EVERYONE!!!MAY I HAVE YOU ATTENTION PLEASE?? THIS LADY RIGHT HERE IS SNORTING!!! SNORTING! THAT'S RIGHT! SNORTING!" At this point, people on the other, non fast pass line are all staring and whispering wondering why I've been singled out. I finally ask if he is ever going to let us go and he replies "When you finally let me see your fastpasses, I'll let you go!!!!" So we show them to him and he agrees to let us on the next room. At this point I finally get a good look at Nathaniel and he looks TERRIFIED! The poor kid thinks we are in major trouble and his mama has lost her mind! I try to reassure him that we were just teasing each other, but he is not so sure.

As we wind more and more through the queue, Nathaniel gets more and more nervous. I reassure him it'll be fine, nothing to worry about, it's all a make believe. And then we get on the ride, and we sit next to this full grown woman who is having a full blown panic attack on the ride, before it even starts. She crying and sobbing and saying over and over and over that she does not want to do this, why is she doing this. At this point, I am also wondering why she is doing this. The ride starts and the whole way up she is chanting "oh no oh no oh no" the elevator doors open and she screams out "OH MY GOSHHHHHHHHH" and proceeds to sob hysterically the rest of the ride....this woman is in her 30's mind you. So this pushed Nathaniel over the edge, and he NEVER EVER wants to ride this ride again (although he was very proud that he handled it better than "that lady"). But, I had a GREAT time on this ride!

 

[Laura.bora]

Turns out I'm missing my Tower of Terror pictures - you'll have to wait until tomorrow for them!

 

[Laura.bora]

The "I am so brave for going on Tower of Terror" stance.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Awww, I love the tower of terror pics, he looks so proud. Boy, he's brave, I'm still debating on whether I want to try it or not. I'm getting nervous right now just thinking about it

 

[Laura.bora]

After tower of Terror, Nathaniel and I booked it over to the Beauty and the Beast show. We had taken much longer than anticipated! We got there with just enough time to get comfortable in our seats before the show started! And it was great! I think this was the first time that Ainsley UNDERSTOOD the whole story of Beauty and the Beast...which is kind of funny, because if you go to this show without any background knowledge of the plot line, you will have no idea what is going on in the show. That was the one thing I didn't like about the Beauty and the Beast show - it really didn't make sense in how they told it. The only reason we knew what was going on was because we knew the story so well! But I digress. Ainsley is thrilled that the Beast and Belle start to fall in love, Gaston gets jealous and kills the beast. Now, Ainsley somehow missed this pivitol part in the movie, but she finally got it in the show. "Wait!? The Beast is died? Why is the Beast died?? I don't want the Beast to be died!!!" and the tears start welling up in her little eyes. And then Belle is crying over the Beasts body - I thought Ainsley might start getting hysterical on me, but she let those tears fall silently and then the grand finale when the Beast goes to his princly form, Ainsley may have been more thrilled than Belle! So the whole day, she kept bringing up how the "Beast was died, but now he's alive...kind of like Jesus." Who knew we could turn Beauty and the Beast into a bible lesson?

We sat exactly where MiKE told us to, and once again, his recommendations did not let us down! We had a GREAT view! Here are some pictures and videos from the show:

 

[cjackearl]

Wow, you did have great seats! We sat up in the nosebleed bleachers last trip, but still really liked the show. How sweet of Ainsley to equate the Beast with Jesus. I've been checking out TGM's recommendations for park days, seating for Wishes and Spectro and the other big things. Looks like its time to check out the individual rides/shows information. Oh, Happy Mothers Day!!

 

[Laura.bora]

Thank you for the Mother's day well wishes! I had a great time! We went to Lowes! I know - sounds more like a Father's Day gift! We went and priced out a bird bath and bench for my new flower garden and picked out a shepards hook (you know, the thing you pound into the ground to hang flower baskets or bird feeders on)...so that's what I did...and Ken drooled over grills and power tools!

 

[Laura.bora]

sigh - 1 year, 6 months and 15 days seems sooooooooo far away. I want to go to Disney THIS Christmas!!!

 

[Laura.bora]

After Beauty and the Beast, I start to feel a little light headed, but I decide to not eat anything yet since we'll be having lunch soon....Did I tell you I was able to get reservations for Hollywood and Vine last minute? That was the character meal the kids really wanted to go to, but when I switched around the days, they didn't have an opening on the day we were going. The night before, I called one last time and Woo hoo! I get us a reservation for lunch at 1:40!



Anyhoo - I'm light headed, I decide to ignore it and we head over to Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. The playground itself is AWESOME - but there is no where for the parents to sit and wait like in the boneyard. They need to add those somewhere.

Because there was nowhere to rest, I went from a little light headed to very lightheaded VERY fast. I found Ken and said I needed to get some food NOW. I wasn't so sure I was even going to make it out of the playground without passing out. Thankfully, as soon as you exit the playground, there is a bench and new york city nut man across the street. (Nut man as in someone who sells them, not someone who is crazy). So a little ice cream and a bag of nuts later, and I am no longer ready to drop dead in the street and we leave the bench to go find Hollywood and Vine.

We followed the map, or so we thought to H&V, but wound up at star tours instead....who put me in charge of the map???We all know if you spin me three times in my driveway that I'll be lost!!

I hand over the map and Ken gets us to Hollywood and Vine. The food here was ehh, but the character interaction here was WONDERFUL! Ephraim was asleep when we came in, so they put us in an area where we could bring the stroller and he could sleep. And sleep he did! We were right by the kitchen door, so everytime a female came in or out, the awwwwwww would come and they would pause to stare and smile. This place was VERY loud because every few minutes or so, they would have a big singing dancing fest in the middle of the restaurants filled with all our favorite playhouse Disney songs. My kids were hooked! Singing and dancing with the characters?? What is not to like!

When we had nearly finished our meal - Ephraim woke up!

Of course Leo came to say good morning!

Can you see how much it's cleared out? We were here a while!

 

[Laura.bora]

We were very affectionate with the characters after the 5th time around!

As the place cleared out, the characters let more of their personality shine through

We were finally the only customers left in the restaurant, so we decided it was time to head out! It was then that Nathaniel discovered Leo had pins!! I tried to explain to Nathaniel that I don't think they were really Leo's pins, that he just borrowed them from another cast member, but immediatly brushed me aside and squated in front of Nathaniel and started showing off his pins.

Leo made their day!

When we finally finished saying our goodbyes and our heartfilled thank yous , we walked outside to see that the Block Party Bash in progress! We ran over there to see if we could watch the show.

 

[cjackearl]

Glad to see you back! Ooh, did the kids get to trade pins with Leo? How cool!!!

 

[Laura.bora]

Oh Christine!!! 3 weeks left for you!!!!!! I am so excited for you!!!!!

So next weekend is my birthday, and do you know what my sweet wonderful hubby just told me he had been planning for my birthday?? Disney! He booked the bounce back incentive back when we were down in September (after insisting over and over and over again that we would not be coming back again that quickly) and kept it from me all this time! He was going to surprise me on my birthday so I would have time to plan.....Unfortunately, we won't be able to go this year, money is just too tight - but it really WAS the thought that counted! So he's switching our deposit to our Chirstmas 2010 trip. Sighhhhh - I love my husband!

 

[Laura.bora]

Lol - That sounds horrible - "Happy Birthday, I'm sending you to Disney....except I'm not!" I was really happy! Honest!

 

[cjackearl]

Aw Laura. What a sweet thing for hubby to do.

 

[Laura.bora]

I am the master procrastinator. It's been nearly a year, and I still haven't finished this. I am determined to finish it! It's just going to take a while!!

Ok - so I left off when the kids were trading pins with Leo!

We finished our lunch, traded pins with Leo, said goodbye to all our new friends and headed outside! We can hear tons of music and suddenly realize what it is. The Block Party Bash is going on! Woo hoo!

We take the kids over, but the crowd is still pretty thick, so there is really no way to get close enough to see.

We head to a bench for the kids to stand on so maybe they can see a bit better, but it's no use.

We were going to give up when our super hero Jason comes on over. JAson was hands down my favorite cast member of our entire trip. He just jumped right in there, and gave my kids there own little private block party bash. He had them singing and dancing and smiling ear to ear in seconds flat. It is the cast members like him who make this place the Happiest Place on Earth!

 

[Laura.bora]

I can't recall if I mentioned it or not, but we had decided during lunch that we were going to spend the whole day in the park. That's right - opening to closing. We thought that we were taking it at a slow enough pace, so we should be fine. So on we continue. We decided to go see 1 Man's Dream since we have the time. Ainsley falls asleep during the movie. After the movie, Ken takes Ainsley to the stroller while I stay with Ephraim and Nathaniel. Nathaniel LOVED watching the artists doing the cells. HE stood there for a while watching them. Art is his thing. We found out that they had a drawing class, and he REally wanted to go to that, so we wandered around for a while waiting for the class which started at 5.

We learned about how they dub the sounds into the movies.

Ephraim sat very contently under the computer desks! LOL!

We visited Wall-E.

We found out that I was most like Lady...was there ever any doubt??

Nathaniel was most like Woody.

We visited with Frozone

and after all that my head was POUNDING. So I took the kids outside and Ken took Ephraim and Nathaniel back in for the art class while I sat next to Ainsley.

After that we went down to 1st aid to grab some IB Profin, Aspirin and a soda - home made Excedrin! It didn't take long for that to kick in and on we continued. Ken wanted to go on Star Tours, so he and Nathaniel went on. Nathaniel LOVED it and asked me to go with him. We were the ONLY ONES in the room! So we were allowed to ride twice. Nathaniel was a happy camper!!

Then we went to my favorite - Muppets 3D!

I looked EVERYWHERE for the net full of jello, but could not find it. I'll have to search again next year!

On the way from Star Tours to Muppets 3D we came across the snowmen that my parents had taken our Christmas photo at all those years ago, so we grabbed a photo too!

We had a little time left so we gave the kids a choice - line up for F! or try TSMM again.

Can you guess what they picked??

NAthaniel vs. Me

Turns out we still had time for Fantasmic so we made a run for it! We were in standing room only, but we didn't mind. We honestly didn't like this show at all. We thought it was too dark and scary. So next time we know - don't bother with F! We got about half way to the exit when Ainsley said she didn't have her shoes. What do you mean you don't have your shoes?? Sure enough, we look down and she's walking around in her bare feet. So we take a little time to search in the dark for her shoes and finally find them.

The kids are WIPED by the time we are heading home.

It was actually a little chilly that night so they used my skirt as a blanket.

A Very LONG day - but a very fun day!!! For DHS I may do an all day in the park again - as long as it was at a very slow pace like we did AND we have a hotel day planned for the next day - as you'll see tomorrow - we were EXHAUSTED for our last day!!

 

[Laura.bora]

Day 10 - Our very last day!

We woke up SOOOOOOOO tired. If we learned one lesson on this trip, it was to listen to MiKE! IF it wasn't our last day, we would have opted to sleep in. But it was our last day so up we got! Once again, we decided to take the boat system over the bus system because its a much prettier way to start the day.

As you can see, we wore matching shirts that said "But I don't want to go home..." and that was our sentiments exactly!! If we didn't have a plane to catch, we would have booked a few extra days right then and there.

It was a beautiful clear cool morning. I was glad for the little extra boat ride and monorail ride. It was a much better last ride to the parks than a bus!

We saw the new Bay Lake Towers on our way over

Everytime I saw something I was snapping pictures of it thinking, "This is the last time I'm going to see this."

Before long, we were on the monorail for our very last ride to Epcot.

I was too busy taking pictures of the kids and writing postcards and so I missed the PERFECT picture. We missed rope drop, and as we make the drive around Epcot, from above is the view of the cast members escorting the Soarin' crowd in. Half of the park is still empty a line of cast members and then a sea of people behind them. So annoyed I missed that picture!!

It wasn't long before we were in the parks and we decided to say goodbye to our Disney World Friends.

Good bye Chip and Dale. We'll miss you!

I seem to have misplaced my pictures with Goofy, Pluto, Minnie and Mickey. You'll need to wait on those.

At the end of the line, we go to exit and instead we get to meet with Belle!

Ephraim was particularly taken with her!

We said our final goodbyes and were on our way.

Good bye dancing fountains.

We decided to try Space Ship Earth, because we hadn't done it yet

When I went when I was a kid, we were stuck inside by the spot where he's painting the ceiling for 20 minutes. Space ship Earth is VERY BORING when you stare at the same scene for 20 minutes. However, when the ride actually works - it's actually quite entertaining!

We finished Space ship earth and went over to Mission:Space. Ken had wanted to ride it. The kids and I waited outside watching a sky writer while Ken rode.

Heart Jesus - We do!

Who needs Mission Space when you can just spin around really fast on those concrete blocks??

Praise Jesus - We do! It's all because of Him that our trip was even possible!

Ken really enjoyed Mission:Space. Maybe next time Nathaniel will be tall enough to go and then I'll check it out. I'm such a chicken. I don't like going alone.