HmmmmmmI'm REALLY excited about wandering through the Co-op. Everyone seems to be raving about it.
oh my goodness it is that awesome....you will love it
I'd LOVE to see Yee-Haw Bob one of these trips! I haven't stayed at POR for years (was he performing then?), but I'd love to get over there and check him out sometime.
I'm not sure how long he has been around. This was our first time to see him and it was a fantastic show
Mmm, beignets.
NOM NOM NOM
Oh no on the food issue foreshadowing. Many folks seem to have issues with the dining plan becoming active at their second resort...
yeah it was pretty distracting....and creepy too. One could play a great game of I spy thoughI imagine I would like POFQ if for no other reason than I enjoy the whole Mari Gras thing. Plus the size of the resort as compared to the other Mods.
Ha yeah I could see that
Hahaha CLOWNS!!!
Stupid clowns
Hahah I love that pic of the kids totaly oblivious to your picture taking. I guess the place is interesting.
Good deal
ha...that's what you getIsn't that Olaf "sand castle" cool?? And he did just become a "Happy Snowman!" No puddles here.
Ha haand yes the sand castle was really cool. It is amazing what they can do
Hahahaha, yes! The free Olaf on a sick fans. I never did get one, but everyone was using it for just that purpose.
yes we saw them all week too at all of the parks
Ugh, there is nothing worse than doing everything right and then hitting a wall at the very end in the form of Blue Mickey. And you can't even prepare for that either because you don't know until the very last second.
yeah it was frustrating but the good thing is that if you get frustrated at Disney it typically does not last long and you get happy again really soon
Hmmm... What is this "Hat" you speak of? (too soon?)
bahahahahano sir never too soon. I say good riddance. I hated that hat and thought it was tacky....I'm glad to see it gone
OK, so I will admit... being on this side of the cliffhangers isn't quite as much fun.
Aww thank you!
boy oh boy!Honestly, I realy don't think Disney expected TSMM to be quite this popular. But they should have. When you look around the park, what real "family" rides exist? Not many. I can't wait until they expand this area.
Yes I am really excited about the possibilities of new things in the near future. This poor park really need some good ol TLC
Yup, TSMM is all about the fun.
Obviously
Wait... Tower... FINALLY!! YAY!!!
Thank you! Technology happens, what do ya do ya know? It seems frustrating at the time but it soon passes when you remember that you are at Disney and everything is going to be okay
A Family First .Tower of Terror
Several trips we have made to Disney as a family and not one of them included this ride. I had ridden myself, in the 90's, when I was 14 and it had just opened and it was awesome. A lot of years had passed since then and I was determined to get myself and some family members on this ride with me. Since Sydney was only 8 she had a pass due to her age. DH had no excuse. Cory, I had been working on for awhile. He was almost 13 and it was time for him to slay this dragon. He is the type of kid who is very unsure of things like this and it's like taking baby steps. We had graduated him up to this point and I felt that he was ready as long as he did not let his fear of the unknown get in his way. He did the same thing last December with Everest at AK. We got him pumped up, then when we approached the ride he became unsure, which lead to some major coaxing, and then he ended up loving it.
We had a plan for this year. First daddy would ride by himself and we would wait. He would give Cory his honest opinion, and if he felt that Cory would like it then he and Cory would ride together, and if that went well than Cory and I would ride. DH and DS have a really good relationship and there is a lot of trust there, so we knew this would be the way to go.
He went in and we went around to the exit by a shaded area to wait.
Daddy sent us a picture to let us know that he was being brave and was inside waiting to board.
Cory was not so sure and you can tell he was letting his fear get the best of him. This was not fun. Sydney could have cared less seeing how she had an out do to her age lol.
Eventually we got hot sitting outside and made our way in though the gift shop area and waited there. I told Cory to take notice of how everyone who was coming off the ride was happy .and safe. It is 100% mental with this kid. Soon we spotted daddy and he was laughing so hard he was almost in tears. I don't think initially that was what Cory was hoping for. But DH is so good with him. He took Cory to the side and went over every single thing that happens from the time you get in line to the ride itself explaining every little thing. Surprisingly Sydney was paying attention too and out of nowhere said "if Cory gets on then I will too" ..What? My child who up until a year ago would not get on BTMRR was offering to get on what both my kids agree is the scariest ride in all of Disney? This could be interesting.
We decided we would slay this dragon together as a family. And so we got in the now 20 minute standby line.
The game to play while waiting in line was distraction. Views like this might seem thrilling to most, but for my kiddos it can be terrifying. I was so relieved when we got inside.
I had not been in this queue since I was 14 and I had forgotten how amazingly cool it was!
We proceeded to the study/library where we watched the video and story behind the themed ride. So far so good. Things got a little not so great once we were in the boiler room and Cory started to panic a bit, but DH and I were able to reassure him that he would be okay and gave him that little extra courage he needed.
I want to add that I realize there is a fine line between giving your kiddos courage to do something new that they are unsure of and maybe a little fearful, and full our forcing them to do something they clearly do not want to do. I have seen this many times with parents forcing their little ones on a ride while they claw and scream out of fear and it breaks my heart to see that. We would never ever put our child through that, ever. Disney is a happy place people.
We told the kids they could pick where they wanted to sit and it was decided middle row. We all took our seats on the elevator and there really was no turning back now. We went through everything leading up to the drops and the kids seemed to be doing okay. Then came the drop sequence. Heaven help my poor children I think we had about 10 drops in our sequence. Sydney began screaming on number one and we just had to endure. The verdict? They hated it. We wiped away poor Sydney's tears and promised her ice cream for being such a brave 8 year old and that seemed to make the world right again for her. But Cory ..not so much. He pretty much stayed ticked off at us for a good solid 10 minutes or so.
Obviously we told them how proud we were for trying it out and we would never ask them to ride ToT again unless they wanted to. Seems that DH and I might be hitting the single rider line for at least a few more years. I was seriously so proud of both of them. And just between you and me, even though Cory obviously hated it and vows never to ride again, his Instagram told a completely different story as he boasted about the dragon he slayed . I think deep down he was proud of his bravery too.
Yes you are exactly right. And when he was telling the kids that he only went up and down a couple of times, I knew that would not necessarily be the same case when we all rode it but I kept that bit of info to myself. I could have never in my life thought that we would end up with the sequence that we did. It was so horrible for our little Sydney. At one point it started going down like it was over (at this point we had dropped several times already) and DH was telling her that it was okay and it was all over now, and then we got brought right back up again
. In the end we all survived and all a little braver now for it too
they were, and more importantly we were so proud of them. Even if it meant that Cory would not speak to us for a good 10 minutes. Goodness he was so mad at us lol! I figure one of two things will result from this experience. A) they will both eventually get the courage to ride again, maybe not until adulthood, and will remember how funny the first time was or B) they will be scarred for life and never forgive us and one day when DH and I are old they will put us in a home as revenge.Oh yes, I remember the days when I would completely psych myself out of things like ToT and any roller coaster really. It really is a fear of the unknown. When I was Cory's age, NO WAY!!! You couldn't get me on a measly flume ride. Now you can't keep me away from these things. I have plenty of friends though that still won't ride this. And then others still who are fine on coasters but terrified on ToT.
hearing you say this makes me feel so much better Rob. I know how much you like these types of rides now and so that gives me some hope for my little timid ones. Hopefully I have not scarred them too much from ToT
That's the other element (and the biggest element in my opinion) for rides like this... waiting. When you have that time to think about things it makes it so much harder. I have a friend who just won't ride stuff like this. The one time he did back in 2008 he constantly asked people in the line... "What's it like... What does it do... Completely psyching himself out. He rode, but it was the last time. In fact, he was so terrified you can barely see him in the ride photo since he was so huddled into the corner.
oh that is so sad!! your poor friendI was the same way growing up...total scaredy cat, and I am still trying to build courage to ride some things as an adult! There are certain rides (like rip rockit and hulk at universal) that I have no intention of ever riding...that's just crazy stuff, and then rides like RnRc at HS that I really want to ride but just need to build a bit more courage. Baby steps with this family that's all
Yes indeed a VERY fine line between encouraging and forcing. I've seen way too much forcing in my days and it angers me to no end. I could not agree more.
oh it makes my blood boil sometimes. And I get it too that sometimes on the outside we don't know what the situation is and it may be a child with a disorder and they are reacting to something, but you can usually tell when it's just plain old, "we spent all this money to come here and you are getting on this ride" scenario.
Aww that's too bad it didn't go quite to plan, but at the end of the day... They did it. And that can never be taken away. They should be proud.
