Trials, Treats & Meet'nGreets of 15th Disney BDay: May 09 * THANK YOU! 8/18/09!

[jenseib]

Love the update. Looks like a fun trip. Your brother is cracking me up. I'm sure he irritated the heck out of you though.

I don't think they would've been able to get your luggage though. Once the tags are put on them, they don't come out. they get put right into a Disney spot from the plane.

 

[MyMuse]

Love the update. Looks like a fun trip. Your brother is cracking me up. I'm sure he irritated the heck out of you though.

I don't think they would've been able to get your luggage though. Once the tags are put on them, they don't come out. they get put right into a Disney spot from the plane.

He was either really cool or completely annoying. I wish he either listened or read the itin. I am definitely not traveling with him again. I would have traveled with him now, but Jenna asked if he could come.

About the luggage, I meant not put the luggage tags on it at all. He wasn't listening at the house. He just assumes he knows everything. Oh well.

I'm updating today!

 

[MyMuse]

Day 1, Part 3

Now, we are finally off and watch the cute Magical Express video. The first stop was Riverside, so that made me happy. I was able to check right in; I was going for the “online check-in” sign, but I was waved over to another desk. The CM said it didn’t matter. I was the only one checking in, so I don’t know what happened to the other people.

I was able to change rooms from the Alligator Bayou to the Acadian House in the Magnolia section. My travel agent assured me, that she put in on my reservation. In any case, I was happy to be switched over to Acadian House, even though, it was not one of my preferred buildings, but it turned out to be great. I was getting a little worried about my CM checking me in, since I seem to be telling him what to do next, plus I was on my third set of Keys to be printed out. I also wanted my credit card number taken out of the system. I never gave permission to be in there to begin with. I also had to prod him to get the birthday buttons for Jenna (and even got a First Visit for Dominick since this is the first on-site visit). It was a bit odd. I know it is late, but still.

Ok, so that is all done. It is pretty late now, but we head to our room, Acadian House 8006, which is on the ground floor and facing a courtyard. It’s fairly easy to find, through the pool area, take a bridge, hang a left, then go right into Acadian House, then turn another left. LOL! We stop in for a moment, I don’t take pictures since it is so late, but we head back out again to go to Downtown Disney and see if the balloon is still going and get something to eat. We catch one of the last boats to DTD, it’s 10:30 now.

We get dropped off by Rainforest Café and see that the Characters in Flight balloon ride is shut down. The winds are too wild for it to operate.

Here is a rad photo of the Characters in Flight ride, I love the reflection!

So, we go to eat. Jenna chooses T-Rex and we head there to see if there are any openings. Thankfully, there is an immediate one and we sit down. We are seated right in front of the Woolly Mammoth area, which is nice, but it is a busy walk-way and seems to b a favorite picture-taking spot. So, we are in quite a few family photo albums. LOL!

T-Rex is a better version of Rainforest Café and much more expensive. Holy Buckets! Worth it to eat there once, but never again. I ordered the Pork with gnocchi, but I forget to take a picture. The pork was not laying down on the plate but standing up to carve yourself. Fancy! It took quite some time to get the food ordered and served, but the restaurant was entertaining.

Here are some T-Rex photos:

Jenna at the table, notice the dual cellphones?!

By the time, we were all done, it was midnight and everything was closed. Should have shopped a bit first, but sometimes ears do not listen. We walked around a bit and found the bus area and got in line for Riverside. I’ve never used the bus before, just the riverboat. We decided to use South Depot (front entrance to the resort), since we knew the way to the room from there and we didn’t have to fumble around in the dark. We finally get to our room at 1am and found no luggage.

Dom has a meltdown between not finding the luggage and wanting a cigarette. Argh. I don’t even want to know what he did to the front desk staff. As it turns out, the luggage was delivered to our original room and not to the room we were in, so I assume the CM didn’t communicate this to the luggage people.

Dom, thankfully, goes back out and I unpack. Jenna is sleeping, but I wake her up to change and she quickly goes back to sleep. I think I head to bed around 2:30am.

Next up: The Magical Place of All!

 

[MyMuse]

I have a very good friend that I help out whenever I can. She used to work in my office, but she got sick and she is going through a tough time. She is absolutely amazing, beautiful and never lets anything bring her down (even though it probably should).

So, one of the ways I help out is to do her & her husband's taxes and their son's. I've done this for 3 years now, I think.

The week before I left I got a package in the mail from their son, who lives and attends school in Rhode Island. He sent me a big box of Disney gifts!!! They are Disney people, so they understand why I wanted to go. He also works in a Disney store. It was lovely, but I certainly don't want them spending any monies at all. He said with his discounts, it was like he got it for free, so I felt better.

A pic of my surprise gifts:

It was a cute "Earth Day" shopping bag, coffee mug, tall glass, Mickey head pen, stickers and the Mickey notepad. I also had a "Earth" poster, but I gave that to my sister to put up in her classroom.

I loved it and loved the fact that they completely surprised me; it was like early pixie dust.

 

[MyMuse]

I forgot to add in my Pre-Arrival section, that Jenna altered my calendar to show this on the morning of leaving:

I was so glad she was so excited to go.

 

[KatGarcia]

LOL Figures the luggage wasn't there because Dom was nervous of it to begin with! T-rex looked fun tho!

and what a thoughtful gift!!!

 

[jenseib]

Great update. I've heard alot of good things about T-rex. I wish I could go for a month and try all these neat things.

 

[MyMuse]

LOL Figures the luggage wasn't there because Dom was nervous of it to begin with! T-rex looked fun tho!

and what a thoughtful gift!!!

Yeah, he was just whining a mile a minute about it. I hope he wasn't too hard on the staff. Dom sometimes is on a very high horse.

T-Rex was quite cool! It is definitely a place to try, but it is so incredibly expensive, I probably will not be back. I would like to try Raglan Road next.

Great update. I've heard alot of good things about T-rex. I wish I could go for a month and try all these neat things.

It was cool. The food took awhile, so checking out the place wasn't a problem. There is meteorite (sp?) show that is quite entertaining. It is a hyper Rainforest Cafe.

I wish I could go for more than a few days too. Maybe next time. And go solo again! All this other non-like minded people kinda brings me down.

 

[MyMuse]

Sunday, May 3rd
Day 2, Part 1

I wake up at 6:30am to get ready. I start waking up the others at 7:15am since we should be at the bus at 8am-ish to get to Magic Kingdom for rope drop.

Dom thinks he should go last since he’ll finish the quickest; I think he should go now, so he can finish and get his all important coffee. What he really wants to do is just sleep more; who is he trying to kid? argh.

Jenna gets up, showered and dressed and then Dom. We all get our collective stuff together and head out. We go to the South Depot since we know the way and I read that it is the favored bus stop to pick up the bus, plus Dom gets to hit the food court for coffee, which, of course, slows us down. Argh.

Here's her first day of little gifts:

A bus comes at 8:24am and off we go! We were able to get through bag check, entrance in time for the opening ceremony. I have never seen this before, so I’m so excited!!!

Dom & Jenna went off for refreshments; sometimes, they don’t get it. Jenna wanted her Uncle Dom on this trip, so she was attached at the hip with him. Whenever he grumbled, she grumbled.

I think it is around 8:45am or so at this point since the public announcements kept on going off.

Dom & Jenna came back in time for the ceremony. It was great fun & I loved it! I am so glad to catch it. The singing, the dancing, watching the train pull in, seeing Walt’s window….worth all the grumbling I had to endure this morning. As it turns out, they liked it too! I guess they just have to grumble to grumble.

We go through the tunnel and head for the Barber Shop since Jenna was interested in getting her hair pink. I almost missed it, I knew sort of where it was. It is not open yet and there was a meet & greet with Chip & Dale right there in front of the store.

Jenna wasn’t interested in character greeting and since I knew what was in store with characters, I didn’t want to push any greetings on her. So, we leave the Barber Shop and walk up Main Street. I point out various windows.

We went into the Bakery ‘cause Dom needed coffee & Jenna was hungry.
I didn't want anything, but the place smelled heavenly & needed photos of the place!

In the glass case while waiting online:

We notice the walk-through to Crystal Arts shop and I inquire about the glass blowing demonstration, since this is one of the things on the list. I was told shortly after 2pm, which was good for us, since we needed to leave around 2:30pm for Hollywood Studios.

We finish in the Bakery, Crystal Arts shop (we can see it more later) and locate a Photopass CM on Main Street. Yay!! He nicely takes a pic with my camera and while I’m off taking pics of the mini-statutes (I never noticed them before), Jenna gets her individual photos with Photopass. I always had them take pics of all of us and then pics by herself.

Notice their beverages? lol:

Isn't this the cutest?!:

And of course, the pic of the Castle: (notice no big crowd? Yay!)

I have to note at this point, the crowds are very low. I don’t know where people went, but they must have went to ToonTown. Good news for us!

We head for Splash Mountain and while walking there, we checked out the Liberty Tree and in Frontierland, there was a CM shoot-out. It was the CUTEST thing. I took a pic since there was no people to obscure my view.

I don't think I noticed the lanterns in the Tree before:

See the "shooter"?: (notice no crowd? Yay!)

So, we get to Splash Mountain and the standby is 10 minutes, but it was actually a walk-on. So, we go to Big Thunder to get Dom & Jenna Fastpasses since there was no way I’m going on that.

Ok, so back at Splash Mountain (which is a few feet from Big Thunder), I gird myself to go on and I did. I HATED the last drop but the ride itself was cute and I took pics of the waiting line, the themeing is just great!, but I didn’t want to take too many of the inside in case my brand spanking new camera got wet.

From queue line at Splash Mountain:

Now, I'm thinking I should do this...

Inside:

And it's finally over!

Dom sat in the front row (yikes!) with a nice know-it-all and Jenna & I got into the second row. Figures that I was nervous enough about the ride and we end up with the front rows. I think the ride photo was me screaming my head off and I got wet – twice! Argh. A little mini-splash while another canoe was going down (I assume they time it this way) and at the big drop.

Here's the photo of the ride photo, Dom is in front with the blue shirt and Jenna & I are in the back. See me screaming? and Jenna is just smiling serenely. Seriously, I'm adopted.

Dom & Jenna (henceforth as D&J) go off to Big Thunder, but do not need their Fastpasses since it is a walk-on. Whoo-hoo! It would be faster to go on without than wait to next 10 minutes or so for their FP window to open.

I go and repair myself (my hair went nuts). Thank god we took Photopass pics before I got wet. I got my souvenir penny, take a bunch of pics and whilst doing that, I completely forgot to get a a pic of the Tink outline at the exit of Big Thunder. And it was on my list too! Argh.

Saw a Riverboat come in:

Tom Sawyer Island:

Big Thunder had a 5 minute standby time:

To Come: The Haunted Not so Haunted but Very Cool Mansion...

 

[MyMuse]

Sorry, it double-posted!

 

[KatGarcia]

Great start! I love those little statues around the walt and mickey one!!! It's rough to go with people who don't always "get it" huh? Believe me , i know!

 

[MyMuse]

Just testing...pardon my dust....

 

[MyMuse]

Did you all get this announcement? Kat, you goin'???

Whoo-hooo!

Disney Pulls Out All the Whistle Stop for 40-City “Christmas Carol” Train Tour

Disney is taking its show on the road with a spectacular immersive and interactive 40-city train tour including a 3D sneak peek of film footage from the upcoming movie “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.” This family event is for guests of all ages and is free to the public.

Featuring four custom-designed vintage rail cars full of behind-the-scenes attractions; artwork, costumes and props from the film; authentic artifacts on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London; entertaining demonstrations, and fun activities, the tour will have its inaugural stop at Los Angeles’ Union Station over Memorial Day Weekend, from May 22-25.

During the next 24 weeks, the train will make 40 stops in 36 states, as it travels its way across more than 16,000 miles of track. The tour will finish at New York’s Grand Central Terminal over the weekend of October 30 - November 1.

At each stop along the way, a state-of-the-art Disney Digital 3D Theatre will be erected, where guests can get a sneak peek of “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” and see other exclusive behind-the-scenes materials from the movie. The latest details about tour stops and scheduled events are available at http://www.christmascaroltraintour.com

Starring Jim Carrey and directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” opens November 6 in theatres, in Disney Digital 3D™ and in IMAX 3D®.

 

[dawnbu40]

Did you all get this announcement? Kat, you goin'???

Whoo-hooo!

Disney Pulls Out All the Whistle Stop for 40-City “Christmas Carol” Train Tour

Disney is taking its show on the road with a spectacular immersive and interactive 40-city train tour including a 3D sneak peek of film footage from the upcoming movie “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.” This family event is for guests of all ages and is free to the public.

Featuring four custom-designed vintage rail cars full of behind-the-scenes attractions; artwork, costumes and props from the film; authentic artifacts on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London; entertaining demonstrations, and fun activities, the tour will have its inaugural stop at Los Angeles’ Union Station over Memorial Day Weekend, from May 22-25.

During the next 24 weeks, the train will make 40 stops in 36 states, as it travels its way across more than 16,000 miles of track. The tour will finish at New York’s Grand Central Terminal over the weekend of October 30 - November 1.

At each stop along the way, a state-of-the-art Disney Digital 3D Theatre will be erected, where guests can get a sneak peek of “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” and see other exclusive behind-the-scenes materials from the movie. The latest details about tour stops and scheduled events are available at http://www.christmascaroltraintour.com

Starring Jim Carrey and directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” opens November 6 in theatres, in Disney Digital 3D™ and in IMAX 3D®.

I had read that this is coming to my area and I can't wait! Looks like fun!

 

[KatGarcia]

Did you all get this announcement? Kat, you goin'???

Whoo-hooo!

Disney Pulls Out All the Whistle Stop for 40-City “Christmas Carol” Train Tour

Disney is taking its show on the road with a spectacular immersive and interactive 40-city train tour including a 3D sneak peek of film footage from the upcoming movie “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.” This family event is for guests of all ages and is free to the public.

Featuring four custom-designed vintage rail cars full of behind-the-scenes attractions; artwork, costumes and props from the film; authentic artifacts on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London; entertaining demonstrations, and fun activities, the tour will have its inaugural stop at Los Angeles’ Union Station over Memorial Day Weekend, from May 22-25.

During the next 24 weeks, the train will make 40 stops in 36 states, as it travels its way across more than 16,000 miles of track. The tour will finish at New York’s Grand Central Terminal over the weekend of October 30 - November 1.

At each stop along the way, a state-of-the-art Disney Digital 3D Theatre will be erected, where guests can get a sneak peek of “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” and see other exclusive behind-the-scenes materials from the movie. The latest details about tour stops and scheduled events are available at http://www.christmascaroltraintour.com

Starring Jim Carrey and directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” opens November 6 in theatres, in Disney Digital 3D™ and in IMAX 3D®.

OH HECK YEA!!!! We should go together if you are planning on coming into NYC!

 

[MyMuse]

I had read that this is coming to my area and I can't wait! Looks like fun!

The train will be in a few different spots around here; Albany (which is a bit too far away), Philly and 2 days at Grand Central in NYC. It definitely looks like fun.

OH HECK YEA!!!! We should go together if you are planning on coming into NYC!

I shall be there. I can't for this to come. It'll certainly give me a Disney fix! It looks so cute!

 

[MyMuse]

Day 2, Part 2

I left with finishing up Frontierland with the Splashiest and Thunderous Mountains.

After we finish with the Mountains, we walk to Adventureland. I always get confused around this area bcause I never know how to get from one Land to another. In any case, we come across some head and arm shackles and D&J have their photo taken. Now, should I leave them there?

Off to Adventureland, and we go on Haunted Mansion after we wait for Dom to shop. Again.

We find Haunted Mansion and it is a walk-on. I enjoy the CMs here and the stretching room. So funny! This time I remembered to look up at the end. All 3 of us fit into one “doom buggy” and some good photos from outside. This is one of my favorite rides.

The Mansion:

Bluebeard's Troubles....errr, Wives?

Next up is Pirates of the Caribbean and I remember to take the water pirates shot. The CM on line, was speaking in this gravelly-piratey-ish voice that both delighted us adults and semi-scared the little ones. It was a very short wait, probably not more than 10 minutes, if that. After wards, we visited the shop and Jenna tried on some hats and we lost Dom. Again.

Can you see the pirate?

Testing out the hats:

We FP Jungle Cruise for noon and decide to go into the Enchanted Tiki Room, since a show was starting. I didn’t do this last time, so I was curious. It was certainly cool in there both in temperature & décor. Cute show, but I don’t know if I would do it again.

We then head over to Aloha Isle for some Dole Whip! D&J didn’t get the sanctity of the Dole Whip and ordered Root Bar Floats inside. According to my receipt, it is now 11:36am. We sit at the nice shaded table area with the fans and rest a bit while we finish our snacks.

Thee Dole Whip:

We still had a bit of time before our Jungle Cruise FP, so we walk through Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. I do like this a lot. It has great views, it moves and doesn’t take very long. I notice something new each time I go through it. You can see the top of the Castle and I finally caught the Hidden Mickey. If you remember from yesterday morning, Jenna got the Hidden Mickey book since she was so into it when we were first planning the trip. However, she took a lower interest in it since Dom wasn’t into it, but I took up the slack.

The view of the Castle:

Hidden Mickey!

We finish and it’s off to Jungle Cruise. I just think this ride is hysterical. We had a great CM this time around too, that really makes the ride. I literally take a zillion pictures. The CM even notices J’s birthday button. After the ride, I take a couple more pics of the Adventureland scenes since, you guessed it, Dom needed to shop. Again.

Our FP:

Our boat & cruise director:

Looks real, doesn't it?

At this point, I should mention this is Jenna’s birthday trip and she asked Dom to go with us and celebrate. She is getting a bit disgruntled that he is making it into a shopping expedition for his girlfriend and her 3 kids. And, at this point, I’m getting annoyed too. Argh.

Ok, so we are back on the road again and heading for Fantasyland. We decide to eat lunch at Village Fry Shop since it has hot dogs. Everyone is in a hot dog mood. Upon walking to Fantasyland, a CM overhears us and says that the Village Frye Shop is no longer and that we could find hot dogs at Casey’s Corner at Main St. Of course, that would defeat the purpose of being in Fantasyland to go on the rest of our rides.

We go to Casey’s Corner anyway and as we approach the hub, the parade is coming around the bend and we have a front row view. Excellent! We enjoy it for a while and shake our booties. So, this detour actually added to the fun.

They are moving it and shaking it:

We get to Casey’s Corner, order our hot dogs and sit inside to eat. There is no seating inside at all, but we manage to find a table with 2 chairs, so Dom has to stand. That’s his payback for us waiting for him at every shop in Magic Kingdom.

 

[MyMuse]

Double-post! Sorry!

 

[MyMuse]

Day 2, Part 3

We ended with our hot dog lunch in Casy's Corner.....

We finish and the parade just ends and we find CMs cleaning up the trees as we walk to Fantasyland. I stop and take pics of the Castle from the side and Cinderella’s Royal Table sign. I wasn’t able to get into here, but someday. We all try to get the sword out of that darn rock.

Cleaning up:

Release Thy Sword!

I want to go to Mickey’s PhilarMagic because I think it is the best 3D show. D&J aren’t too interested (sigh – “it’s not a ride”), but I convince them to give it a shot. Jenna is a band person (she plays flute, bassoon, bells and piano), so I don’t she how she would not like it. Of course, I was right and she loved it once she saw it was themed with instruments.


PhilarMagic!

The entire stage outline had instrumnts engraved on it:

Up next is small world, so cute! That song lives in your heads for hours, days, weeks later. LOL! I take more pictures than I thought I would.

Ahhh, Venice. One of my fav cities:

How many times can you say good-bye?

Unfortunately, there was no time for Peter Pan’s Flight, which is one ride I really wanted to go on. We wanted to get to the glass blowing demonstration at the Crystal Arts Shop and then onward to Hollywood Studios for our 3:50pm ADR.

We head back to Main St and I finally see Cinderella’s Fountain. I had zero idea where it was. I as trying to remember what happens when you kneel in front of it, but I could not remember. It’s just about 2pm now and can you guess where Dom is? Yup. Again.

I go look for him in the shop next door to Cinderella’s Fountain and did catch Tinkerbelle being called. That was super cute.

After that, we head off to Main St and did see a street performer. I didn’t even know MK had them! I took a quick pic; she was advising the Photopass client how to pose for the camera.

We finally get to Crystal Arts shop and find out that the glass demonstration has moved to a later time to “around 3pm”, which will not help us since we needed to leave by 2:30pm. So, we hang in the shop and I take pics of very expensive crystal and some impressive swords. Wow, I could not believe the price tag on some of these things.

Check out that price tag!

Yes, indeedy, Mickey is King!

Swords!

We exit and I take pics of a cool window and the serene area around the Crystal Arts Shop. We stop by the Barber Shop, but it is so tiny and no one comes forward to help us, so we leave. We look into the firehouse and since Dom is a EMT, he wanted to check something out. Of course, we lost him you-know-where. Again.

Serene area right on Main St

We finally find him after using the restroom (or so he says). It’s already 2:30pm, so it’s time to go!

We exit and I completely forget to do Photopass at the floral mickey in front of the railroad. Guess we have to do that next time.

Up Next: A ferry ride, a buffet and a fantasmic show!

 

[KatGarcia]

OMG u lost Dom like 500 tomes! OY!