Liz
Make a miracle!
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 4,909
Our Family:
Me - 46, born & raised in Florida but have been gone since 1981. Love WDW, obsessive planner. Really want this trip to be nice because we're bringing a family of 1st timers! Writes trip reports with way too much detail but I just can't do it any other way!
Paul - DH 52 - Loves Disney but not as much as I do. He'd probably be happy to vacation some place else occasionally but as soon as we get home I'm planning our next trip before he has time to process what I'm doing!
Jeff - DS 17 - Raised on WDW and Disneyland and loves it all. Super friendly guy!
Laura - DD 16 - Loves WDW but doesn't handle the heat well. Gets tired easy but she has a good excuse. She had a heart transplant when she was 6 weeks old and had West Nile Virus in 2002. Doing really well though. Our sweetheart.
Our Friends:
MM - 40ish - Going to WDW for the wife & kids. Isn't really a theme park kind of guy. Really nice though.
JM - 40ish - My good friend! Been trying to get her DH to go to WDW for a couple of years now!
Mike - DS 16 - Jeff's best friend since probably Kindergarten.
Heidi - DD 13 - Laura's friend. Despite the age difference they get along great!
I got up at 6:00 and quickly got ready for the day. Did one last batch of laundry and went down to the concierge desk at 7:00 to cancel the surfing lessons. It was a different CM than I had talked to before and this guy wasn't sure he could do it. After a few minutes he thought he had it canceled and he gave me a paper showing that it was.
Paul, Laura and I headed to Magic Kingdom a little earlier than everyone else so we could get her wheelchair arranged. There were CM's along the rope line that divided the masses from the wheelchair/stroller rental area. The CM's were directing everyone away from this area and herding us all into the middle. I explained that I needed to rent a wheelchair (I didn't want to go all the way to the middle to just have to work my way back again). I was told yes, I had to move to the middle anyway so everyone could "enter the park". Sometimes you gotta make your own rules! I thought this was dumb so I made a courtesy effort and took a few steps toward the middle but I wasn't going all the way in.
After the park opening ceremony, getting the wheelchair, and meeting up with the rest of our group we headed to Fantasyland and Dumbo. We didn't get there fast enough but the line didn't look too long. I'm a kid at heart and really love Dumbo, but the line was going incredibly slow. After a quick discussion we decided to cut our losses and abandon the line. A CM was close by so I asked how we could exit the line. She said there was no way to exit without waiting in line till we reached the ride, then we were free to leave! Ha! Apparently this was just going to be our day for making our own rules! We undid the line rope and made a fast exit. No one said a word to us. Ridiculous!
We rode Winnie the Pooh and then I went to Tomorrowland to get FP for Space Mountain while everyone else rode Snow White. I didn't mind missing that one. It's pretty lame. We were going to meet at the Tea Cups.
I was delayed with trouble at the Space Mountain FP machines. I put in one ticket and no FP came back out. I moved to another machine, put the same ticket in and got one of those receipts saying I already had a FP and couldn't get another one! No way! Usually they have a CM monitoring the machines but there wasn't one anywhere. I went in the gift shop to ask if there was a CM who could handle a problem at the FP machines and he said I'd have to find a CM running the ride. Oh geez. Someone else had the exact same problem I did and the machine hadn't given him a FP ticket either. The CM who came to solve the problem said we could present this "not a valid FP ticket" at the FP line and it would be accepted when we explained what happened. I was extremely doubtful but he said it would be fine. Uh huh.
Due to my delay, when I got to the Teacups some of our group were already riding it. Since I like this ride (I love spinning rides!) we went on it again!
We were trying to find things to do while waiting for the FP time so we went on Small World again. Our reputation for boisterous singing from the other night must have preceded us because we were given a boat all to ourselves! Now the Small World boats have six seats. All eight of us were put in the first two rows and the other four rows of the boat were totally empty!!! We must have been quite a sight! I hope people didn't think we requested that close seating arrangement!!! Hilarious!!! By the time we realized no one else was boarding our boat we were on our way and didn't dare get up and move (flashbacks from the Jungle Cruise!)
We headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz. Most of us had low scores. I think we were all tired or something!
I rode my new favorite ride (Tomorrowland Transit Authority) while everyone else went on Space Mountain. I was anxious to see if the "not valid" FP was accepted. Poor JM ended up with it and of course she was stopped. She was trying to explain what happened and why she was attempting to enter the FP line with this bogus ticket. They said she had to step aside and talk to a supervisor or something. Finally somebody said "are you with them" pointing at everybody else. When she said yes they said just go. JM had the very back seat of the rocket and it gave her a headache from all the shaking and bumping around.
After Space Mountain we walked to Toon Town. On our way we encountered another one of those huge bugs!. Gross! Jeff kicked it (ewwwwwwwwwww) which totally freaked me out!!!
At Toon Town we temporarily abandoned the wheelchair and rode the train around to Frontierland. Everyone (but me) rode Splash. Laura was hungry so when she was on the "log" I bought her some fries to eat when she got off. We all rode Big Thunder Mountain and then walked over to Jungle Cruise. We hadn't exactly rode it under ideal circumstances last time so we wanted to do it again! This time we had a really funny boat captain (a girl) who said it was her last day. We thought that was part of her spiel. We shared our cruise with a family who was led by one of those Disney guides in the plaid vests. When we got off I over heard the family ask him if it really was her last day and he said yes. He also said she was his very favorite of all the Jungle Cruise captains!
Our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time. MM, JM and Heidi walked over to ride Cinderella's Carousel before meeting the rest of us at Cosmic Rays. After lunch Paul walked back to the Toon Town Train Station to retrieve our waiting wheelchair. After picking up Laura, the rest of us met back at the front of Magic Kingdom.
Our plan was to spend the afternoon at Animal Kingdom and we really wanted to make it there in time for the last Flights of Wonder show. We could have taken the Animal Kingdom bus but we hadn't ridden the monorail yet so we took our chances and hopped on the one heading to the resorts. I think the boys would have been happy to stay on the monorail all day and sleep! We stayed on through stops at the Contemporary, TTC, Polynesian and finally exited at the Grand Floridian. It was the first time for all of us to enter this resort. We quickly found out the name "grand" truly fits. Wow!
No time to look around though. Downstairs we went and outside to the bus pick up. Immediately as we walked up the Animal Kingdom bus arrived. Sometimes we have dang good luck! After stopping at Blizzard Beach we arrived at AK.
It was very hot! JM and I got in line for Flights of Wonder while everyone else rode Kali River Rapids. We hoped they'd all get good and wet to cool off. We were enjoying the misty spraying machines by the line to get in the bird show.
After the show everyone else went on Kali again while JM and I went to the Lion King, stopping for an ice cream along the way! When we were seated in Lion King, we saved some seats for everyone and hoped they'd make it before we got the "no saving seats" signal. They made it just in time, being slowed down by the 4:00 parade! But everyone enjoyed seeing the show and sitting in the air conditioning for a little while!
When we came out of the Lion King show, Laura's wheelchair was no where to be found! We asked a CM, who said it wouldn't have been moved from the area we were looking in. Well luckily we weren't staying much longer and Laura was holding up fairly well. We would have gotten her a replacement if she really was miserable. Besides losing the wheelchair, I also lost my rain poncho that was sitting in the seat! It was one I brought back to WDW from a prior trip, one of the yellow ones that said "100 Years of Magic" on it. Darn it all!
We walked over to Dinosaur. All the kids and Paul rode it. Then the kids, JM and I rode Triceratops Spin! Now there's a fun ride! Wahoo!!! Made up for not riding Dumbo!!! All the kids rode Primeval Whirl - - once the prior day was enough for all the adults!
It was almost park closing time and JM and I had yet to ride Kali. So all eight of us walked over to Asia and took a ride on the rapids! As we were approaching the loading area they kept making announcements that a storm was approaching and the ride could be shut down at any time. We were able to ride but I was chastised by my kids for wearing a rain poncho (not the 100 Years of Magic one obviously!) but I have ridden Kali before and gotten off as wet as if I had jumped into a swimming pool! That is not an enjoyable feeling!
The rain was coming and the park was closing fairly soon so we headed for the bus. The two trails would have to wait for our next visit. Didn't get to see either one this time.
Back at Pop we ate in the food court. Several of us got Shrimp Lo-Mein. It was a ton of food and we could have easily shared. It didn't sit well with my stomach and I felt yucky afterward. There was nothing wrong with the food because everyone else who ate it was perfectly fine.
After dinner JM and I double checked with Concierge again to make sure the surfing lessons were canceled (they were). We also asked if they were able to print Southwest boarding passes for us in the morning (they could!)
My brain wanted to go back to MGM for the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic or to Magic Kingdom to see Wishes again, but my body had different plans. Laura and I both took showers and went to bed, even though it was only like 9:15 PM.
JM got most of her packing done tonight in preparation for tomorrow morning's departure. I'd done most of my packing earlier this morning when I was up doing laundry.
Tonight the boys hung out by the pool (a favorite activity of theirs) until they were dragged in to bed.
Part 11 - Whispering Canyon Cafe & boating at the Polynesian before our sad departure!
Me - 46, born & raised in Florida but have been gone since 1981. Love WDW, obsessive planner. Really want this trip to be nice because we're bringing a family of 1st timers! Writes trip reports with way too much detail but I just can't do it any other way!
Paul - DH 52 - Loves Disney but not as much as I do. He'd probably be happy to vacation some place else occasionally but as soon as we get home I'm planning our next trip before he has time to process what I'm doing!
Jeff - DS 17 - Raised on WDW and Disneyland and loves it all. Super friendly guy!
Laura - DD 16 - Loves WDW but doesn't handle the heat well. Gets tired easy but she has a good excuse. She had a heart transplant when she was 6 weeks old and had West Nile Virus in 2002. Doing really well though. Our sweetheart.
Our Friends:
MM - 40ish - Going to WDW for the wife & kids. Isn't really a theme park kind of guy. Really nice though.
JM - 40ish - My good friend! Been trying to get her DH to go to WDW for a couple of years now!
Mike - DS 16 - Jeff's best friend since probably Kindergarten.
Heidi - DD 13 - Laura's friend. Despite the age difference they get along great!
I got up at 6:00 and quickly got ready for the day. Did one last batch of laundry and went down to the concierge desk at 7:00 to cancel the surfing lessons. It was a different CM than I had talked to before and this guy wasn't sure he could do it. After a few minutes he thought he had it canceled and he gave me a paper showing that it was.
Paul, Laura and I headed to Magic Kingdom a little earlier than everyone else so we could get her wheelchair arranged. There were CM's along the rope line that divided the masses from the wheelchair/stroller rental area. The CM's were directing everyone away from this area and herding us all into the middle. I explained that I needed to rent a wheelchair (I didn't want to go all the way to the middle to just have to work my way back again). I was told yes, I had to move to the middle anyway so everyone could "enter the park". Sometimes you gotta make your own rules! I thought this was dumb so I made a courtesy effort and took a few steps toward the middle but I wasn't going all the way in.
After the park opening ceremony, getting the wheelchair, and meeting up with the rest of our group we headed to Fantasyland and Dumbo. We didn't get there fast enough but the line didn't look too long. I'm a kid at heart and really love Dumbo, but the line was going incredibly slow. After a quick discussion we decided to cut our losses and abandon the line. A CM was close by so I asked how we could exit the line. She said there was no way to exit without waiting in line till we reached the ride, then we were free to leave! Ha! Apparently this was just going to be our day for making our own rules! We undid the line rope and made a fast exit. No one said a word to us. Ridiculous!
We rode Winnie the Pooh and then I went to Tomorrowland to get FP for Space Mountain while everyone else rode Snow White. I didn't mind missing that one. It's pretty lame. We were going to meet at the Tea Cups.
I was delayed with trouble at the Space Mountain FP machines. I put in one ticket and no FP came back out. I moved to another machine, put the same ticket in and got one of those receipts saying I already had a FP and couldn't get another one! No way! Usually they have a CM monitoring the machines but there wasn't one anywhere. I went in the gift shop to ask if there was a CM who could handle a problem at the FP machines and he said I'd have to find a CM running the ride. Oh geez. Someone else had the exact same problem I did and the machine hadn't given him a FP ticket either. The CM who came to solve the problem said we could present this "not a valid FP ticket" at the FP line and it would be accepted when we explained what happened. I was extremely doubtful but he said it would be fine. Uh huh.
Due to my delay, when I got to the Teacups some of our group were already riding it. Since I like this ride (I love spinning rides!) we went on it again!
We were trying to find things to do while waiting for the FP time so we went on Small World again. Our reputation for boisterous singing from the other night must have preceded us because we were given a boat all to ourselves! Now the Small World boats have six seats. All eight of us were put in the first two rows and the other four rows of the boat were totally empty!!! We must have been quite a sight! I hope people didn't think we requested that close seating arrangement!!! Hilarious!!! By the time we realized no one else was boarding our boat we were on our way and didn't dare get up and move (flashbacks from the Jungle Cruise!)
We headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz. Most of us had low scores. I think we were all tired or something!
I rode my new favorite ride (Tomorrowland Transit Authority) while everyone else went on Space Mountain. I was anxious to see if the "not valid" FP was accepted. Poor JM ended up with it and of course she was stopped. She was trying to explain what happened and why she was attempting to enter the FP line with this bogus ticket. They said she had to step aside and talk to a supervisor or something. Finally somebody said "are you with them" pointing at everybody else. When she said yes they said just go. JM had the very back seat of the rocket and it gave her a headache from all the shaking and bumping around.
After Space Mountain we walked to Toon Town. On our way we encountered another one of those huge bugs!. Gross! Jeff kicked it (ewwwwwwwwwww) which totally freaked me out!!!
At Toon Town we temporarily abandoned the wheelchair and rode the train around to Frontierland. Everyone (but me) rode Splash. Laura was hungry so when she was on the "log" I bought her some fries to eat when she got off. We all rode Big Thunder Mountain and then walked over to Jungle Cruise. We hadn't exactly rode it under ideal circumstances last time so we wanted to do it again! This time we had a really funny boat captain (a girl) who said it was her last day. We thought that was part of her spiel. We shared our cruise with a family who was led by one of those Disney guides in the plaid vests. When we got off I over heard the family ask him if it really was her last day and he said yes. He also said she was his very favorite of all the Jungle Cruise captains!
Our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time. MM, JM and Heidi walked over to ride Cinderella's Carousel before meeting the rest of us at Cosmic Rays. After lunch Paul walked back to the Toon Town Train Station to retrieve our waiting wheelchair. After picking up Laura, the rest of us met back at the front of Magic Kingdom.
Our plan was to spend the afternoon at Animal Kingdom and we really wanted to make it there in time for the last Flights of Wonder show. We could have taken the Animal Kingdom bus but we hadn't ridden the monorail yet so we took our chances and hopped on the one heading to the resorts. I think the boys would have been happy to stay on the monorail all day and sleep! We stayed on through stops at the Contemporary, TTC, Polynesian and finally exited at the Grand Floridian. It was the first time for all of us to enter this resort. We quickly found out the name "grand" truly fits. Wow!
No time to look around though. Downstairs we went and outside to the bus pick up. Immediately as we walked up the Animal Kingdom bus arrived. Sometimes we have dang good luck! After stopping at Blizzard Beach we arrived at AK.
It was very hot! JM and I got in line for Flights of Wonder while everyone else rode Kali River Rapids. We hoped they'd all get good and wet to cool off. We were enjoying the misty spraying machines by the line to get in the bird show.
After the show everyone else went on Kali again while JM and I went to the Lion King, stopping for an ice cream along the way! When we were seated in Lion King, we saved some seats for everyone and hoped they'd make it before we got the "no saving seats" signal. They made it just in time, being slowed down by the 4:00 parade! But everyone enjoyed seeing the show and sitting in the air conditioning for a little while!
When we came out of the Lion King show, Laura's wheelchair was no where to be found! We asked a CM, who said it wouldn't have been moved from the area we were looking in. Well luckily we weren't staying much longer and Laura was holding up fairly well. We would have gotten her a replacement if she really was miserable. Besides losing the wheelchair, I also lost my rain poncho that was sitting in the seat! It was one I brought back to WDW from a prior trip, one of the yellow ones that said "100 Years of Magic" on it. Darn it all!
We walked over to Dinosaur. All the kids and Paul rode it. Then the kids, JM and I rode Triceratops Spin! Now there's a fun ride! Wahoo!!! Made up for not riding Dumbo!!! All the kids rode Primeval Whirl - - once the prior day was enough for all the adults!
It was almost park closing time and JM and I had yet to ride Kali. So all eight of us walked over to Asia and took a ride on the rapids! As we were approaching the loading area they kept making announcements that a storm was approaching and the ride could be shut down at any time. We were able to ride but I was chastised by my kids for wearing a rain poncho (not the 100 Years of Magic one obviously!) but I have ridden Kali before and gotten off as wet as if I had jumped into a swimming pool! That is not an enjoyable feeling!
The rain was coming and the park was closing fairly soon so we headed for the bus. The two trails would have to wait for our next visit. Didn't get to see either one this time.
Back at Pop we ate in the food court. Several of us got Shrimp Lo-Mein. It was a ton of food and we could have easily shared. It didn't sit well with my stomach and I felt yucky afterward. There was nothing wrong with the food because everyone else who ate it was perfectly fine.
After dinner JM and I double checked with Concierge again to make sure the surfing lessons were canceled (they were). We also asked if they were able to print Southwest boarding passes for us in the morning (they could!)
My brain wanted to go back to MGM for the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic or to Magic Kingdom to see Wishes again, but my body had different plans. Laura and I both took showers and went to bed, even though it was only like 9:15 PM.
JM got most of her packing done tonight in preparation for tomorrow morning's departure. I'd done most of my packing earlier this morning when I was up doing laundry.
Tonight the boys hung out by the pool (a favorite activity of theirs) until they were dragged in to bed.
Part 11 - Whispering Canyon Cafe & boating at the Polynesian before our sad departure!
