Unexpected News! Discovering you’re Expecting while at Disney World-- A June 2014 trip report

[BellaBaby]

WHAT AWESOME NEWS TO GET AT WDW!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I can't wait to hear the name and see a pic!! Back to read now….

 

[patches07]

Congratulations wishes do come true !!!

 

[disneyfam]

right

I know right! I was saying to my husband ummm they sell condoms on property why not tests? Well just glad you had one!!

 

[PrincessJo]

I have just had a yucky couple of days and came here to read some trip reports because they always lift my spirits between visits to WDW. Boy did this make me smile big! Congratulations! What a great story so far.

My son and hubby also prefer counter service and we LOVE collecting pins. I can't wait to see more pics of the pins you picked up!

 

[lilmape]

Following along! Congratulations on your exciting news!

5) We don’t care for Dole Whips. But we are all about frozen lemonade slushies. The places to get them are Cheshire Cafe across from Mad Tea Party, Fife and Drum at the American Adventure, and Anaheim Produce on Sunset Boulevard.

We didn't care for the dole whips either. They were ok, but not mind blowing like we thought they would be.

Okay, well there’s no wait for the Enchanted Tiki Room… We can spontaneously get on that attraction instead!

LOVE the Tiki Room!

 

[vacantsea]

a fan, since it’s noisy in the room at night. We usually bring our own fan from home, but again, luggage restraints.

I bought a Dohm sound machine last year for this, because I absolutely need white noise to sleep and hotels are the worst without it. It's fairly small and packs easily, but it has big fan sound. I only use it on vacation since we have an air purifier that does the trick at home. One of the best vacation investments I've made!

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Following. I too work in education, love pins, counter service meals, and will be experiencing a value resort for the first time for the next trip (normally do moderates). Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

Like I said before, we love All Star Movies and Art of Animation specifically because of the characters. They are a lot of fun to stay at. My brother and his girlfriend stayed at Coronado last December and they didn't think it was all that magical, so sometimes the more expensive resorts aren't always the best for everybody. I would love to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter one day though.

Congrats! I will be following along!

Thanks! Glad to have you aboard.

WHAT AWESOME NEWS TO GET AT WDW!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I can't wait to hear the name and see a pic!! Back to read now….

It was crazy getting the news at WDW! Changed everything!

Congratulations wishes do come true !!!

Thank you! It was magical finding out at WDW.

I know right! I was saying to my husband ummm they sell condoms on property why not tests? Well just glad you had one!!

It's funny because she was down to her last test. She brought it on vacation mostly just because... and she peed on it not thinking anything about it. We were close to seeking fertility treatment.

I have just had a yucky couple of days and came here to read some trip reports because they always lift my spirits between visits to WDW. Boy did this make me smile big! Congratulations! What a great story so far.

My son and hubby also prefer counter service and we LOVE collecting pins. I can't wait to see more pics of the pins you picked up!

We're probably done collecting pins for a while though now!

Following along! Congratulations on your exciting news!

We didn't care for the dole whips either. They were ok, but not mind blowing like we thought they would be.

LOVE the Tiki Room!

Thanks! The Tiki Room has grown on me. This, and Country Bears, which I used to hate...

I bought a Dohm sound machine last year for this, because I absolutely need white noise to sleep and hotels are the worst without it. It's fairly small and packs easily, but it has big fan sound. I only use it on vacation since we have an air purifier that does the trick at home. One of the best vacation investments I've made!

We have a pretty good fan at home but we couldn't bring it with us this time because we were flying. The fan we ended up buying was Mickey fan for a stroller. It ate A LOT of batteries. But now we have a fan for our stroller. This ended up being the first thing we sort of bought for our baby.

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Day 3 - June 16, 2014
PART ONE: EPCOT

So we slept in, obviously, since we hadn’t gotten back until 3:00 am from Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. There was no way we were going to do a whole lot on this day, which we had planned to spend at Epcot, mostly in Future World. Our FastPass+s weren’t until later in the day, and our major priority for Day 3 was our dinner reservation at the Garden Grill. Eating a home-style meal while getting to meet Mickey, Pluto and the chipmunks is always a priority for us on our trip. This is one of our favorite restaurants.

Here’s the view from our hotel room that morning:

As Ashley was getting ready, I decided to look at the pins we’d bought so far, both at the Frontierland Trading Post and then at Downtown Disney.

Here are some of my favorites.
Donald, because he's awesome (and has been awesome since 1934 apparently):

These adorable TNBC pins:

D23 pins. Dumbo is my favorite movie. You pull up on these and they turn to color, it's really neat:

Ashley is a SpectroMagic fangirl. She mourns its loss anyway she can, including by buying pins which include tiny pieces of fabric from the actual costumes:

WAIT A MINUTE… Something ain’t right about that pink fairy’s eyeball…

Its eyeball is not colored in... grrr... thank you China for making these.

Anyway, after having lunch at the hotel, we drove to Epcot. Not a surprise that it was “Epcot Hot” today.

We parked the car and got on the tram.

Tram selfie:

Here we are in front of Spaceship Earth. Because we are meeting Chip and Dale at Garden Grill, I'm wearing my CnD Rescue Rangers shirt. Theme song goes like this: "Ch ch ch chip and Dale...!" Hopefully some of you remember that show.

Spaceship Earth selfie:

The first place Ashley wanted to go was the (outdoor, *sigh*) pin hut that’s located near the big fountain, and see if they’d exchange the defective Sleeping Beauty pink fairy pin. They didn’t have any of the pink ones, though, of course… just the blue and green ones. Oh well, maybe later.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we then decided to go into Innoventions for some air conditioning… and our free Chase Visa picture.

Again, since we had Memory Maker, we decided to do as many picture opportunities as we could. This was a VIP meet and greet if you have the Disney Chase Visa, where you get a free print that you can pick up at the end of the day at the camera shop near Spaceship Earth. The characters are a mystery though… you never know who you’re going to meet. It ended up being Minnie and her faithful partner... Pluto. Kind of an odd couple: like Mickey had to go into work that day or something… Pluto was sweet though, and Minnie really loved Ashley’s Frozen nails.

Minnie and Pluto checking out Ashley's nails:

Okay so you already know that we love the PeopleMover. What’s another ‘lame’ ride we can’t help but go on over and over again? That’s right… Living with the Land! We even had a FP+ for it. The standby line wasn’t too bad for it though. Sometimes it can be a bit of a wait, if that mob that’s always standing outside Soarin’ starts to get antsy.

Not so hidden Mickey:

Tomatoes suspended in midair:

Big melons:

Still on the right side of Future World, we made our way to Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

It's so rainbowy:

Ashley really likes this ride, but she’d never been to Epcot in the 90s when Dreamfinder still existed, and the exhibits were all on the second floor; including that trippy rainbow tunnel. Journey Into Imagination is kind of lacking in imagination nowadays… But there’s *never* a wait to get on it.

Afterwards, some wonderful giant clouds were looming overhead. I hope this doesn’t mess with our Test Track FP+...

Test Track is closed...

We weren’t going to worry about that though. Ellen’s Energy Adventure was about to start, and we’re always sure to arrive for the pre-show, since Ellen yells at you for being late if you walk in and the pre-show has already begun. You don’t want to be late for Ellen’s dream:

Luckily Test Track was reopened, and we were still within our FastPass window.

I really like what they’ve done with Test Track. They’ve made it more interactive by having you design your own vehicle, which you get to “take” with you throughout the experience on your Magic Band. It still kind of doesn’t make sense how you ‘compete’ with the other people in your car as to who has the best-designed car, but overall it’s kind of fun. Nothing like Radiator Springs Racer at California Adventure though… that one might just be the best Disney movie-themed ride ever created… Fingers crossed they find room for it at Hollywood Studios one day.

It’s so funny overhearing conversations while in line. There was a lady trying to explain to a kid that was with her what Fantasmic was all about, since the kid hadn’t seen it yet and she was basically trying to sell it to him. She described it as being like “a magic show with lightning.” Gosh that sounds awesome, doesn’t it…? Like something you might find at Universal, maybe...

Here’s the vehicle we designed...

And our ride photo…

Only bad part about this ride is your hair is never the same afterwards.

After Test Track we decided to get our pictures taken with all the display cars. Ashley had the pictures emailed to herself but I can't locate them now. Oh well. It was fun to do anyway.

Our third and final FP+ for the day was for Mission Space, but we decided to skip it. We usually ride the less-intense version anyway, but neither of us was in the mood to go on it. Instead, we made our way back to the other side of Future World, and with a little bit of time left before our dinner reservation, we went on Finding Nemo. As per usual, the empty queue took longer to walk through than the ride itself lasts… Anybody else miss Seabase Alpha? Anybody *remember* Seabase Alpha? I remember that being one of the coolest things at Epcot.

One thing that is really awesome though is the mural outside:

In the old The Living Seas attraction, you could view the oceanlife without the CGI characters glued on top of them:

Anyway, after this, it was time to head back to the Land for our reservation at Garden Grill for supper! We would get to meet Farmer Mickey, Pluto (even though we'd already met him earlier in the day) and my favorite, the Chipmunks!

To be continued..

 

[Christine43]

Congratulations! I sang Baby Mine from Dumbo to all my children when they were little and it holds a wonderful place in my heart, still makes me cry! I wanted to tell you that Toys R Us has a stuffed Dumbo that plays Baby Mine and it's lovely. Looking forward to the rest of the trip report

 

[PrincessJo]

The Nightmare Itty Bitty pins are SO CUTE!!!
Hubby and I love the People Mover too. It's the perfect place to sit and enjoy a relaxing ride before you're back on your feet again. When we were there this past November it was pouring, so where did we go for a break from the rain??? The People Mover!!

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Congratulations! I sang Baby Mine from Dumbo to all my children when they were little and it holds a wonderful place in my heart, still makes me cry! I wanted to tell you that Toys R Us has a stuffed Dumbo that plays Baby Mine and it's lovely. Looking forward to the rest of the trip report

We already have a few different stuffed Dumbos... don't think we have the one that plays Baby Mine though, so we'll have to look for that one!

The Nightmare Itty Bitty pins are SO CUTE!!!
Hubby and I love the People Mover too. It's the perfect place to sit and enjoy a relaxing ride before you're back on your feet again. When we were there this past November it was pouring, so where did we go for a break from the rain??? The People Mover!!

The PeopleMover isn't just a relaxing break; I really do enjoy looking all over Tomorrowland and you can see a nice view of the castle too from it. Disneyland used to have one too but they gutted it in the late 90s.

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Day 3 - June 16, 2014
PART TWO: EPCOT

So off we went, back to The Land for our dinner reservation at the Garden Grill, which is one of our favorite restaurants at WDW:

I’d noticed that they’d put up these big partitions around the front of the restaurant. Originally I was worried that it was because the restaurant no longer revolved, and the partitions were so that people who were stuck sitting in those tables wouldn’t have to stare out into nothingness. But I think the partitions are just so that people wandering by can’t loiter. The restaurant still revolves like it always does.

Dinner selfie:

Here are some pictures with the gang we met while eating. I was wearing one of my Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers shirts, which I made a point of showing to the chipmunks.

First up was Dale:

Then Pluto:

Next Farmer Mickey (who didn’t try to steal my wife this time):

Finally Chip:

The restaurant revolves and you get to see some interesting murals. The best part of course is when you get to actually see part of the Living With the Land attraction. I always love the cute little farm house. Sometimes I wish I could live in it:

Once dinner was finished, there was just a little bit of time left before the park closed. We hadn’t planned on going into World Showcase, but Ashley’s favorite shop in all of Epcot is Mitsukoshi in Japan. She usually buys a lot of stuff from there, especially presents for her sister Katee, the Pokemon and anime fan, who always cat-sits our fur-baby Annabelle for us when we’re on vacation. The park was about to close / Illuminations was about to happen, so we had to hurry. We stopped by France for a few romantic evening shots, though, first, since the sun was setting:

Eventually we arrived in Japan. We were only in Mitsukoshi for about 30 minutes. We could hear Illuminations exploding from outside while we were finishing up.

There is always so much colorful stuff in Japan:

Ashley went to check out, and the person in front of her left her cell phone so Ashley had to run and track that person down. That could have been a disaster since the Cast Members had already locked the shop doors from the outside, since the park was now closed. Anyway, it was her good deed for the day.

We followed the Illuminations mob out of the park. I think the longest line we stood in for that day was to get our free Disney Chase Visa picture at the camera store across from Spaceship Earth. Ashley was really really tired. We probably shouldn’t have walked all the way into World Showcase, and instead we should have saved that for another day. But when Ashley gets her mind set on buying something, you can’t stand in her way!

Luckily we’d be going to Hollywood Studios the next day. Way less walking, at least!

To be continued...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Congratulations! How fun to find out at Disney World!

Livingvall your chacter meets (even if you got the backup A&E). Definitely remember Chip N Dale's Rescue Rangers (when there's danger) so great shirt!

 

[BellaBaby]

We are trying Garden Grill for the first time on our upcoming trip. Glad to hear you really enjoy it!!

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Congratulations! How fun to find out at Disney World!

Livingvall your chacter meets (even if you got the backup A&E). Definitely remember Chip N Dale's Rescue Rangers (when there's danger) so great shirt!

I think we met more characters on this trip than on any previous trip!

We are trying Garden Grill for the first time on our upcoming trip. Glad to hear you really enjoy it!!

I hope you enjoy Garden Grill! It's a lot of fun to meet the characters as the restaurant revolves around Living with the Land.

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Day 4 - June 17, 2014
PART ONE - HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Off to Disney Hollywood Studios for Day 4! We were both really looking forward to spending the day at a park where you don’t have to walk so much! I love Epcot, but… “Epcot Hot”=not fun!

We were up and at it earlier than the previous day, because we wanted to have lunch at Pizza Planet. That’s a place we always have to visit at least once during our trip. Our major FastPass+ for the day was for the early showing of Fantasmic. Fantasmic is my favorite attraction at Walt Disney World. I am very *very* obsessed with Fantasmic. I should let you know that right now. Fantamsic Fan Boy, right here. There have been times that we have been at the front of the line to get into Fantasmic so we can get a seat in the middle. There have been times that we have saved seats for other people for several hours before Fantasmic started, so that we would all be able to enjoy it together. I guess for every hardcore Disney fan, there is one thing that has to just be perfect no matter what the circumstances, and for me it’s Fantasmic. If Mickey isn’t standing at the top of the mountain during the finale, (because they won’t put him up there if there’s lightning in the area), I cry because my day is ruined. I can live with just about anything going wrong on my Walt Disney World trip, except Fantasmic has to be at its the best or I’m not a happy camper.

Alright, so we had FP+s for the early showing. That’s good, because that means we don’t have to show up 2 hours before it starts to get a good seat. So we can relax today! Yay!

Here we are at Disney Hollywood Studios:

Here we are on Hollywood Blvd:

We also got our picture taken with Stitch, sort of…

Here’s one last picture of the Hat that no longer exists…

First up, as already mentioned, Pizza Planet for lunch:

Afterwards, we stopped by the Christmas shop that’s right next to Pizza Planet. Ashley couldn’t resist doing this:

And then we just decided to wander around the Streets of America. We’ve been on all the rides a bunch of times, but one thing we’d never done at DHS was meet any of the Pixar characters. And since we had Memory Maker, we figured what the heck. We met Lightning and Mater first. There was barely a line:

Then we wandered towards the Backlot Tour to meet Mike and Sulley. Monsters Inc./University is my favorite of the Pixar offerings. In 2013, we were at Magic Kingdom when it was open for 24 hours and we met Mike and Sulley in their Monsters University outfits.

About a ten minute wait to meet these two.

I was wearing my Monsters University shirt that day. Mike liked it. Sulley just wanted to hold his hand in front of my face:

It was the heat of the day and instead of walking any further, we just needed to sit down so we went on the Backlot Tour… Can you say desperate?

Backlot selfie:

The Walt plane decked out for Planes Fire & Rescue:

Ashley, pregnant and getting over her respiratory infection, just wanted to take it easy. No rides. One thing she really likes doing is drawing characters at the Animation Academy at the Animation Courtyard.

So we just decided to spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out there. We drew Pluto (for which I got to keep the artist’s picture), Mickey Mouse, Russell from Up, and then we were disappointed to draw Rapunzel. Basically we wanted to draw Olaf, Anna, or Elsa from Frozen. They sometimes let the crowd vote, but nobody wanted to draw the Frozen guys. What’s up with that? I thought everybody loved Frozen...

Speaking of 'frozen,' time for one of these…

Frozen Lemonade break. They sell them at Anaheim Produce, but we sat at a bench near the Voyage of the Little Mermaid to drink them. Our other two FP+s for the day were VOTLM, and ToT. Voyage of the Little Mermaid, it turns out, is something you really, really don’t need a FastPass+ for. All it does is gets you in the waiting area before anybody else, but it doesn’t get you a better seat or anything once they load the theater. Oh well. Live and learn.

Giant Ursula scares the pants off of me:

Even though we’d just had a frozen lemonade break, it was really time for supper. We decided not to use our Tower of Terror FP+s because we were both hungry and Ashley didn’t want to walk all the way back to Sunset Blvd. We really love Tower of Terror, but we could go on it another time. We’d never been to the Backlot Express before, but I’d read on here it’s where you can get free refills. Ashley always had this idea that Backlot Express was that outdoor, non-air conditioned restaurant located by the Backlot Tour. Backlot Express, it turns out, is next to Indiana Jones, and it has tons of indoor, air conditioned seating. Why we’d never gone to this place before is beyond me. Hardly anybody was in there! We took our time eating and drinking many refills of pop, and just chilling out.

Afterwards, we wandered towards Sunset Blvd, because it was almost time for our FP+ window for being seated for Fantasmic. Our window was from 8:25 to 8:40. We still had time to get on the Great Movie Ride first:

Afterwards, we stopped at the restroom, and that’s when I first overheard on the intercom telling us that “Tonight’s showing of Fantasmic is standing room only.” Oh well, that’s not a problem. We had an FP+ for it! In fact, we were so dedicated to using an FP+ for Fantasmic that we wasted our opportunity to use 3 FPs earlier in the day and then get extra ones. We’re hardcore!

And then, the Fantasmic Nightmare occurred…

To be continued...

 

[BellaBaby]

Oh no…bad foreshadowing!!

We love Pizza Planet for lunch also!! Thanks for the tip on Backlot Express! I don't think we've ever been there; and free refills…awesome!!

 

[cindianne320]

Oh no! Rain in the area or too many people... We'll find out! It sounds to me like when Tinkerbell doesn't jump during Wishes. I have the worst luck with that. In June, I was so happy it wasn't storming BUT then a balloon got tangled in her wire, so she STILL didn't jump!

We love Backlot Express- glad you tried it out. We like when they are doing the Jedi Training Camp and can watch from there.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

sounds like a fun day and I love the picture of you holding up the "thumbs up" while you are kissing.

I am a big Fantasmic! fan as well - just so much "Disney feels" in one spot - especially the Steamboat Willie part. Looking forward to seeing the Disneyland version later this year when we head out west.

I don't like the sound of that foreshadowing though

 

[Dumbo In Wonderland]

Oh no…bad foreshadowing!!

We love Pizza Planet for lunch also!! Thanks for the tip on Backlot Express! I don't think we've ever been there; and free refills…awesome!!

As I mentioned already, we always thought Backlot Express was by the Backlot! Crazy that we'd think that, huh? We never look at the guide map anymore... silly us.

Oh no! Rain in the area or too many people... We'll find out! It sounds to me like when Tinkerbell doesn't jump during Wishes. I have the worst luck with that. In June, I was so happy it wasn't storming BUT then a balloon got tangled in her wire, so she STILL didn't jump!

We love Backlot Express- glad you tried it out. We like when they are doing the Jedi Training Camp and can watch from there.

Wishes isn't the same if Tink doesn't jump, you're absolutely right!

sounds like a fun day and I love the picture of you holding up the "thumbs up" while you are kissing.

I am a big Fantasmic! fan as well - just so much "Disney feels" in one spot - especially the Steamboat Willie part. Looking forward to seeing the Disneyland version later this year when we head out west.

I don't like the sound of that foreshadowing though

I've seen the Disneyland version of Fantasmic a long time ago, like mid 1990s when it first started. It's a little strange how it's done right there in New Orleans Square on the water by Tom Sawyer Island. You pretty much have to stand for it if I recall correctly. World of Color at Cali Adventure is pretty awesome too--you do have to stand for that though, but it's worth it.