"This Isn't Disneyworld. . .It's Rainworld!!" our trip to WDW May 16-23, 2009

[ladybugmom]

Ok--so I'm finally starting my TR!! If you would like to check out my PTR, just click the link in my siggy!! Here we go!

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Introductions
Chapter 2: Day 1: Arrival @ the Poly
Chapter 2: Day 1: Poly/Downtown Disney
Chapter 3: DIS Meet
Chapter 4: Ally's Dance Pictures
Chapter 5: Day 2: Hollywood Studios (Part 1)
Chapter 6: Day 2: Hollywood Studios (Part 2)
Chapter 7: Day 2: Hollywood Studios (Part 3)
Chapter 8: Big News!!
Chapter 9: Photopass Photobook Vent!
Chapter 10: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 1)
Chapter 11: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 2)
Chapter 12: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 3)
Chapter 13: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 4)
Chapter 14: Photopass Pictures!!
Chapter 15: More Photopass Pictures!!
Chapter 16: Even More Photopass Pictures!!
Chapter 17: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 5)
Chapter 18: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 6)
Chapter 19: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 7)
Chapter 20: Day 3: Magic Kingdom (Part 8)
Chapter 21: Monorail Crash
Chapter 22: Day 4: Animal Kingdom (Part 1)
Chapter 23: Day 4: Animal Kingdom (Part 2)
Chapter 24: Day 4: Animal Kingdom (Part 3)/O'hana
Chapter 25: Day 4: O'hana/Poly
Chapter 26: Up & Disney On Ice Tickets!!
Chapter 27: Weekend Trip to Dallas
Chapter 28: Day 5: Epcot (Part 1)
Chapter 29: Day 5: Epcot (Part 2)
Chapter 30: Day 5: Epcot (Part 3)
Chapter 31: Bus Crash!
Chapter 32: Day 5: Epcot (Part 4)
Chapter 33: Day 5: Epcot (Part 5)
Chapter 34: Day 6: Chef Mickey's
Chapter 35: Exciting News!!
Chapter 36: Day 6: Magic Kingdom (Part 1)
Chapter 37: Day 6: Magic Kingdom (Part 2)
Chapter 38: Day 6: Magic Kingdom (Part 3)
Chapter 39: I'm 30!!!
Chapter 40: My 30th Birthday!
Chapter 41: My week--rough times, school registration, & The Wiggles
Chapter 42: Ally's 1st Day of School Scheduled!
Chapter 43: Ally's 1st Few Weeks of School
Chapter 44: Fantasyland Makeover!!!
Chapter 45: Ally's 5th Birthday!!
Chapter 46: Disney on Ice & Claire's party planning
Chapter 47: Ally's Birthday Party Photoshow
Chapter 48: Claire's Birthday Party
Chapter 49: Day 6: Magic Kingdom (Part 4)
Chapter 50: Day 6: Grand Floridian
Chapter 51: Toy Story 3D Double feature!!
Chapter 52: Vote for Claire!!
Chapter 53: No more Photopass Preorder Special/Disney on TV links!!
Chapter 54: Pumpkin Patch/Harvest Festival/Scholarship Banquet/Field Trip/AG Fashion Show!!
Chapter 55: My 1st Disney Trip!!
Chapter 56: Halloween!!
Chapter 57: Day 7: Magic Kingdom (Part 1)
Chapter 58: Day 7: Magic Kingdom (Part 2)
Chapter 59: Day 7: Magic Kingdom (Part 3)
Chapter 60: Day 7: Magic Kingdom (Part 4)
Chapter 61: Day 7: Magic Kingdom (Part 5)
Chapter 62: Day 7: Magic Kingdom (Part 6)
Chapter 63: Booked Our May Trip!!!
Chapter 64: Park Days for May Trip!
Chapter 65: Day 8: Hollywood Studios (Part 1)
Chapter 66: Day 8: Hollywood Studios (Part 2)
Chapter 67: Day 8: Hollywood Studios (Part 3)/Returning Home
Chapter 68: Trip Recap!!
Chapter 69: Ally Lost A Tooth!!
Chapter 70: Our Favorites!!
Chapter 71: "Do Again" & "To Do" Lists
Chapter 72: Our Souvenirs!!
Chapter 73: Final ADR Choices!
Chapter 74: My New PTR!


Time for introductions (for those that are just joining in)!!!

Me (Becky)--turning the big 30 on August 1st!! My family and I live in Memphis, TN (well--a suburb really). I am a former Kindergarten teacher and am now a SAHM! I enjoy blogging, bow making, theater, singing, volleyball, shopping, Alabama football (roll tide!!), Facebook (sooo addicted!) and photography. I am very active at my church where I sing solos/duets (with my dh) and sing in our Worship Choir. I am a perfectionist/OCD and was the planner of this trip (100%)! And it was so much fun!!

DH (Brent)--turning 36 in August! Brent is an engineer, Star Wars buff, and HUGE fan of the Crimson Tide (he and everyone in his family went to U of A). He coteaches our Sunday School Class, is a deacon at our church, and sings in the Worship Choir. Brent is the smartest person I know but is also down-to-earth and much more laid back than I. We met in 1996 (when he moved to TN from AL) and were married in 1999. He enjoyed every minute of our trip--even with all of the rain! (especially Star Wars Weekend)

DD (Ally)--4 1/2--a mini-me!! She looks like me and acts like me (scary!!). She will be starting Kindergarten in August and is already reading!! She loves princesses, taking dance (this is her 3rd year), American Girl dolls, drawing, reading, anything Disney, and singing in her preschool choir. She is quite the performer--this past Christmas she asked her choir director if she would be getting her own microphone for their choir performance!! Hee hee! She also loves to pretend she's Sharpay from HSM or Hannah Montana. She thrives on a schedule and when anything deviates from it--watch out! (she may be more OCD than me! YIKES!! What have I created?!?!) Her favorite princess is Ariel with Cinderella as a close 2nd!

DD (Claire)--20 mo.--and my baby!! She is a ball of energy and is my climber--she has no fear! She is also a lot louder than Ally was at this age but is much more cuddly than Ally was. She is precious!! She likes to sing along with us--I think she is going to be a soprano like me! She knows how to make anyone smile--especially if she's getting in trouble--such a stinker!! Many have asked me why we took her on this trip and I say why not?! They say, "Don't you want to wait until she's older?". I'm like--Disney isn't going anywhere--we CAN come back (and believe me--we will)! Claire loved seeing all of the characters on our trip. Her favorites are Mickey & Minnie but she also loved Eeyore and Nemo on our trip! She much prefers the stuffed characters over the "real" ones.

Here is one of my favorite pics of our family from our vacation!!

Dh and I were celebrating our 10th anniversary on this trip!! This was Ally & Claire's 1st trip!! This was my third trip--my first trip was when I was 3 years old and my 2nd trip was the Spring of 1994. I was a freshman in high school and we had a choir competion at WDW. Dh has been several times but not since 1988.

Ok--so what does my title mean?! Well since I used a quote from Ally as my PTR title I thought I'd use another Ally quote for my TR. Most of you know it pretty much rained everyday ALL day the entire week we were at WDW--right?! Well, on Monday of our trip we were in the Magic Kingdom and it was raining (again) and Ally looked over at me (in all seriousness) and said, "This isn't Disneyworld. . .it's Rainworld!" And I about lost it--it just cracked me up! That's Ally for you!

Coming up! Day 1 at WDW--our flight, ME, the Poly, Downtown Disney, and a DIS meetup!!

 

[princess&her4princes]

YAY, you started!!!!

 

[lizet313]

Celebrating



Rainworld

 

[Dancegrl624]

I'm here!

 

[ckdsnynt]

I'm in! Lovin it so far. I'm going over to scan the Dis meet pics and see if i can find you guys on the Epcot pics.

 

[Stasieki]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Becky! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[TamTab]

Yay!!! You started! Can't wait to read about your trip!

 

[ladybugmom]

Here we go!! So the night before our trip I was up late packing and just being incredibly excited about our trip!! So, needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night!! We woke up bright and early at 5:45 a.m.! Our flight was at 8:40 a.m. and we live about 30 minutes from the Memphis airport. So we got dressed, ate a quick breakfast (well I ended up eating mine in the car), and getting things packed into the car. There wasn't much traffic since it was a Saturday morning but we ended up leaving a little later than I had liked--so I was a little stressed! We arrived at the airport around 7:40ish and the check-in line was LONG! Usually we get into the Platinum Elite line with no wait--but they didn't have that available for some reason. So we waited and it didn't end up taking as long as we had anticipated. (thank goodness) Oh--and the family in front of us were headed to WDW as well!! Then we headed to the security line (which was SUPER LONG) but again, thought we could go through the Platinum Elite line. The man told us we couldn't use that line with our family?! OK--we've done it before--oh well. Another worker overheard him and told us to go down to the next terminal--that the security line was nonexistant down there. So we did and just walked back to our terminal (all the terminals in Memphis are connected). As we arrived at our gate, they were already boarding! YIKES!! But we made it and got settled into our seats! Whooo hoo!! We were on our way to WDW!!!

Ally is super-excited!!

Brent & Claire

The flight took about an hour and a half and then we landed at MCO!! I took out our ME booklet, looked at the map of the airport, and we were on our way!! We got down to the ME line and I couldn't believe how many people I saw!

But we checked in, they scanned our ME tickets, and they directed us to the Polynesian line. The line was not bad at all!

Ally waiting patiently

Brent & Claire

The line started moving again and we got excited!! But when we got to the front of the line they pulled that black rope out and said we'd be on the next bus. Oh man! Oh well--so I took a pic of the sign since we were standing right beside it!

I told Brent that it was fine--it just meant that we would get on the bus first AND get front seats!! I would be able to get a decent picture of the WDW sign!! YAY!! So about 10-15 minutes later we were boarding our bus! (I didn't get a pic of it b/c I wanted to be sure we got on first!)

on the bus

Claire and me

Claire was such a wiggleworm during the busride--she was letting her freedom go to her head!! It was quite exhausting trying to keep her still and safe!

Then I started getting excited when our driver said we were almost to the sign! I took TONS of pics to make sure I got a decent one! Here is the best I got (excuse the bugs from the bus' windshield)!

We were officially in Disney World--it was so surreal!!! I wasn't sure in what order we would be dropped off at our resort but we ended up being first!!

The entrance to the Poly (I couldn't believe we were FINALLY here!!)

We were all given leis and were warmly welcomed ("Welcome cousin!")

waterfall outside

We entered the lobby and check-in wasn't that crowded!

We ended up not having to wait at all! I was nervous wondering if we had gotten the longhouse that I had requested (Tokelau) and if we just MIGHT get an upgrade?! The cast member who checked us in was really nice. She explained everything in detail to us, gave us our anniversary and first trip pins, etc. But while she talked Claire was throwing a fit (it was way past lunchtime and she was hungry--not to mention tired!). I was so embarassed and was almost in tears myself. Finally the cast member finished up and we headed to check out our room (it was ready!!!). We DID get Tokelau!! Whoo hoo!

I knew we had a 3rd floor room but that was it--would it be garden view or mk view? We headed up the elevator and our room was the very first room on the left--so I knew we didn't get an upgrade. Oh well!! Our room was still VERY nice!!

We were surprised to see a special gift from our travel agent!!

The girls just LOVED their Minnies!!

 

[lizet313]

Love the update. Your girls look so adorable. I don't know much about the Poly but it looks beautiful. Beautiful day and great start I like all the pics

 

[ladybugmom]

Ally with our Mickey towel!!

Hey mom--check out the view!!

Our view was wonderful!! It overlooked the quiet pool! NICE!!!

So after we got settled I decided to see if we could get our Garden Grocer things delivered. So I called the front desk and they got me in touch with Bells Services. The front desk lady said, "Have a magical day!" Well Bells Services was not so magical for us! I called, gave the guy our name, and he checked and said he didn't have our things. I thought that was wierd as they were supposed to be delivered between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.! Hmm. . . so I checked my voicemail on my phone and had a message from GG saying they HAD delivered our groceries to Bells Services. Uggh!! So I called them back and the guy was really rude--not magical in the least! He said that he had just checked but he'd check again and call me right back. Well, I waited and waited and hear nothing! By that time we were all starving and wanting to go get something to eat. I didn't know what to do! Finally, there was a knock at the door and it was our stuff!! Thank goodness! Everything was accounted for and put away in our fridge. We headed straight over to Captain Cook's for some lunch!

I couldn't believe how much came with the meal plan!! We were so excited!! So we all chose what we wanted (I got the BBQ flatbread--YUM!!!) and sat down to eat. It was ready almost immediately! For dessert Brent had a Mickey ice cream bar!

After lunch we headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Downtown Disney.

Ally waiting

the monorail next to the bus stop

We waited about 15 minutes and then a bus arrived!! Once we got to Downtown Disney the first thing we did was let the girls pick Mickey ears and autograph books (since rain was in the forecast I didn't want to ruin the ones that Katie had made the girls--see PTR). Ally chose the pink and silver princess ears and I chose the red/black Minnie one for Claire. They both got their names embroidered on them! Here are some pics from our day--we just shopped and looked around.

Then we found this grassy area and let the girls run around for awhile!

Then we headed back to the Poly. We had planned to meetup with some DISers that night at the Poly beach to watch Wishes at 10 p.m. So we just watched the Electrical Parade, walked around the Poly for awhile, and let the girls play in the sand.

Brent

me and my girls

Coming up! DIS meetup at the Poly beach!!

 

[klacey1]

Fabulous! Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[ladybugmom]

So then we metup with Sara, Nichole, Michelle and their families and watched Wishes from the Poly beach!

Everyone was so nice!! It was so great to be able to meet everyone that I'd been getting to know these past few months! Here we are!!

Sara, me, Nichole, & Michelle (I look rough!! YIKES!)

So we hung out awhile and then we had to call it a night since tomorrow was our first day in the parks!! The girls fell asleep immediately!

Next up--day @ Hollywood Studios and fun with friends!!

 

[lizet313]

WOW two great updates so glad you where able to meet up with Disiers Like always your girls look adorable love the Mickey ears.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Yay! You started!

The picture of Ally with Cinderella at DTD is so cute! And the ones of the girls both sleeping all cuddled up with Minnie are adorable! Nice picture taking!

Sounds like a great first day! I'm so excited to hear about your trip and how you managed with all the rain.

I'm in and ready to get this party started!

 

[Dancegrl624]

What wonderful updates! Your girls look soo excited to be there! I can't wait to hear more.

 

[pmama]

That sounds like the perfect first day. Seemed very calm and happy. I love your DD's princess hat. I've not seen that one yet. Also, I wasn't aware this was your first trip to WDW as a family. Your organization is even more impressive.

 

[IluvXU]

Wow... a lot of updates! The girls look darling, and what a view!

 

[MaryAz]

Great start! I just love how the Poly looks! Your girls are so photogenic!! What a fun first day!!

 

[Luna_Lovegood]

Your girls are adorable. I love the Minnie outfits! And Roll Tide!