Who we are:
DH- 25 (had his b-day while on our trip), hard-working hubby and daddy and all around great guy. Hasn't been to Disney in 10 years.
DS- 2, a little ball of energy, loves Mickey Mouse (was Mickey for Halloween). This is his first trip.
DMil- 48, wonderful grandma coming along to help out with DS. Last trip was in '99.
Me- 24, stay at home mommy and main trip planner (I bought so many guidebooks that DH thought I was nuts
). Never been to Disney.
Thursday, May 2nd
MAGIC KINGDOM DAY 2, RAIN FOREST CAFE, AND FANTASMIC
Today was DH's birthday! He woke up to a decorated hotel room with streamers, balloons, and birthday signs. There was also pancakes with candles on them and birthday cards. He was really shocked that I had pulled off such a surprise. Little did he know, I had been up until 2:00 a.m. the night before getting it all ready
! We took the ferry over to Magic Kingdom and were through the gates about 9:30 a.m. First stop was city hall to get DH a birthday button. He got a lot of Happy Birthdays all day. We headed straight for Toon Town to wait for the 10:00 a.m. opening. There were lots of other people with the same idea. The Mad Hatter and Alice were at the rope. They chose a girl named Allison to open Toon Town for the day. She and her family got a private tour a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. She must have been so excited! When the rope dropped, people started sprinting into Toon Town. The rest of us, who were just walking, kept asking eachother "why are they running?" It was kind of funny to see them all running to get into this little kid's place. You would have thought they were giving away $ to the winners . Anyway, our first stop was to see Pluto in Minnie's yard. There was only a very short line. We then took the tour of Minnie's house. I really enjoyed Toon Town a lot. There are so many nice little details. We went to the judge's tent and saw Minnie, Chip and Dale. Chip had a lot of fun with DS following him and playing with him. The lines for the other sets of characters were very long so we skipped them. DS played in the little playground for a while. We poked around Mickey's house but skipped meeting him because the line was quite long. We left Toon Town to begin our tour of Tomorrowland. DS and DH did the race cars while I ran to get DH a fastpass for Space Mountain. DS looked so cute in the race car. You could barely see his little head over the top of the car. We had time before Space Mtn., so DH and DMil went into Alien Encounter while I waited with DS. Once DH's Space Mtn. FP time started, I went over get a fast pass for all of us for Buzz Lightyear. DMil declared Alien Encounter gross when they came out. We browsed around in Mickey's Star Traders a bit and I bought a magnet memo holder for our fridge. Then DH went on Space Mountain. During this time, DS's Mickey balloon somehow got off it's string. He didn't cry which surprised me but he did keep asking where his balloon went. "Up in the Sky?" he kept asking. We split a couple of hot dogs between the four of us and then hit Buzz Lightyear. It was only so-so. I think I liked Men in Black at Universal better. Buzz was also the only ride to look really worn down. The paint was chipping very bad. I do like the way you can spin it, though. After Buzz, we went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We all liked this- especially peeking in on Space Mountain. No one was interested in Astro Orbiter, so we moved on to Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise we had missed yesterday. We caught a glimpse of Cinderella's Surprise Celebration on our walk over. DH ran ahead and grabbed us fast passes for Jungle Cruise. We had time, so we got to go on Pirates of the Carribean again (yay !). I just love that ride. DH and I also got to look at the Treehouse. Then it was time for Jungle Cruise. It was fun but I was glad we had used fast passes to skip the long stand-by line. DS liked the Tarantula in the box that jumps at you in the waiting area. We were done with our to-do list so we said farewell to the Magic Kingdom and headed for Downtown Disney and Rain Forest Cafe. We didn't have a PS (don't know if they accept them here?) so the plan was to get there around 3:00 p.m. for an early dinner before the crowd. We arrived right about 3:00 and were seated immediately with no problem. The place was empty. DS had fallen fast asleep in his stroller so we just wheeled him up to the table and let him sleep. It was a really hot day, so we all got a nice refreshing drink. DH and DMil went for the alcoholic ones that came in souvenier glasses. DH had a rum runner while DMil went with the spiked lemonade. I had a frozen raspberry lemonade. When DMil ordered her drink she said, "I'll have the spiked lemonade and three big glasses of water" meaning a glass of water for each of us. The waiter looked perplexed because of the way she said it. He thought she wanted all that water just for herself. We quickly explained and had a good laugh. Boy, she must have looked thirsty ! I just loved my lemonade -- it hit the spot! DH and DMil liked thier drinks too. For dinner, DH and I both chose a steak. I had the tree-top fillet which came with a grilled portabello mushroom and garlic mashed potatoes. It was delicious. DH went for the New York strip steak and DMil had ribs. DS woke up while we were eating and had a few fries. The atmosphere in the restaurant really gave him a lot to look at. I liked it too. For dessert, we all split a volcano, which was brownies and ice cream. We had mentioned DH's birthday to our waiter and he brought out candles on the volcano for him. The bill came and it was $126.00 before tip. Yikes!! It seemed that DH and DMil's drinks were 13.00 each and so was the the volcano. It was more than we expected but it was a great dinner and we would go back again. Just next time, we would skip the drinks. Tonight was the night that DH and I were going to see Fantasmic so we dropped DS and DMil off at the hotel and headed for MGM. We bought some popcorn and got in the line for Fantasmic around 7:15 p.m. We got great seats in the Pocahontas section right in the middle. We ate our popcorn and waited for 8:30 p.m. I was beginning to wonder whether this show was going to be worth all of this waiting. I thought nothing could be worth an hour's wait. Well, let me tell you, I was wrong !! This show was great -- worth the price of admission to the park by itself. I was completely mesmerized by it. I can't say enough good things about it. You can tell I liked it since I named my trip report after it ! We taped the entire show on the cam corder and I can't wait to see how it came out. When Fantasmic was done, we sat back and let all of the people clear out. We relaxed and talked for about a half an hour and then left the theater. We stopped in some shops on our way out and admired how pretty MGM was all lit up. We really took our time leaving and didn't get back to the hotel until almost 11:00 p.m. Hopefully, it was a memorable birthday for DH. The highlight for me was definately Fantasmic. If we go with DS on our next trip, I would take advantage of the Fantasmic Dinner Package to cut the waiting down. I went to sleep excited to see Epcot the next day.
DH- 25 (had his b-day while on our trip), hard-working hubby and daddy and all around great guy. Hasn't been to Disney in 10 years.
DS- 2, a little ball of energy, loves Mickey Mouse (was Mickey for Halloween). This is his first trip.
DMil- 48, wonderful grandma coming along to help out with DS. Last trip was in '99.
Me- 24, stay at home mommy and main trip planner (I bought so many guidebooks that DH thought I was nuts
). Never been to Disney.Thursday, May 2nd
MAGIC KINGDOM DAY 2, RAIN FOREST CAFE, AND FANTASMIC
Today was DH's birthday! He woke up to a decorated hotel room with streamers, balloons, and birthday signs. There was also pancakes with candles on them and birthday cards. He was really shocked that I had pulled off such a surprise. Little did he know, I had been up until 2:00 a.m. the night before getting it all ready
! We took the ferry over to Magic Kingdom and were through the gates about 9:30 a.m. First stop was city hall to get DH a birthday button. He got a lot of Happy Birthdays all day. We headed straight for Toon Town to wait for the 10:00 a.m. opening. There were lots of other people with the same idea. The Mad Hatter and Alice were at the rope. They chose a girl named Allison to open Toon Town for the day. She and her family got a private tour a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. She must have been so excited! When the rope dropped, people started sprinting into Toon Town. The rest of us, who were just walking, kept asking eachother "why are they running?" It was kind of funny to see them all running to get into this little kid's place. You would have thought they were giving away $ to the winners . Anyway, our first stop was to see Pluto in Minnie's yard. There was only a very short line. We then took the tour of Minnie's house. I really enjoyed Toon Town a lot. There are so many nice little details. We went to the judge's tent and saw Minnie, Chip and Dale. Chip had a lot of fun with DS following him and playing with him. The lines for the other sets of characters were very long so we skipped them. DS played in the little playground for a while. We poked around Mickey's house but skipped meeting him because the line was quite long. We left Toon Town to begin our tour of Tomorrowland. DS and DH did the race cars while I ran to get DH a fastpass for Space Mountain. DS looked so cute in the race car. You could barely see his little head over the top of the car. We had time before Space Mtn., so DH and DMil went into Alien Encounter while I waited with DS. Once DH's Space Mtn. FP time started, I went over get a fast pass for all of us for Buzz Lightyear. DMil declared Alien Encounter gross when they came out. We browsed around in Mickey's Star Traders a bit and I bought a magnet memo holder for our fridge. Then DH went on Space Mountain. During this time, DS's Mickey balloon somehow got off it's string. He didn't cry which surprised me but he did keep asking where his balloon went. "Up in the Sky?" he kept asking. We split a couple of hot dogs between the four of us and then hit Buzz Lightyear. It was only so-so. I think I liked Men in Black at Universal better. Buzz was also the only ride to look really worn down. The paint was chipping very bad. I do like the way you can spin it, though. After Buzz, we went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We all liked this- especially peeking in on Space Mountain. No one was interested in Astro Orbiter, so we moved on to Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise we had missed yesterday. We caught a glimpse of Cinderella's Surprise Celebration on our walk over. DH ran ahead and grabbed us fast passes for Jungle Cruise. We had time, so we got to go on Pirates of the Carribean again (yay !). I just love that ride. DH and I also got to look at the Treehouse. Then it was time for Jungle Cruise. It was fun but I was glad we had used fast passes to skip the long stand-by line. DS liked the Tarantula in the box that jumps at you in the waiting area. We were done with our to-do list so we said farewell to the Magic Kingdom and headed for Downtown Disney and Rain Forest Cafe. We didn't have a PS (don't know if they accept them here?) so the plan was to get there around 3:00 p.m. for an early dinner before the crowd. We arrived right about 3:00 and were seated immediately with no problem. The place was empty. DS had fallen fast asleep in his stroller so we just wheeled him up to the table and let him sleep. It was a really hot day, so we all got a nice refreshing drink. DH and DMil went for the alcoholic ones that came in souvenier glasses. DH had a rum runner while DMil went with the spiked lemonade. I had a frozen raspberry lemonade. When DMil ordered her drink she said, "I'll have the spiked lemonade and three big glasses of water" meaning a glass of water for each of us. The waiter looked perplexed because of the way she said it. He thought she wanted all that water just for herself. We quickly explained and had a good laugh. Boy, she must have looked thirsty ! I just loved my lemonade -- it hit the spot! DH and DMil liked thier drinks too. For dinner, DH and I both chose a steak. I had the tree-top fillet which came with a grilled portabello mushroom and garlic mashed potatoes. It was delicious. DH went for the New York strip steak and DMil had ribs. DS woke up while we were eating and had a few fries. The atmosphere in the restaurant really gave him a lot to look at. I liked it too. For dessert, we all split a volcano, which was brownies and ice cream. We had mentioned DH's birthday to our waiter and he brought out candles on the volcano for him. The bill came and it was $126.00 before tip. Yikes!! It seemed that DH and DMil's drinks were 13.00 each and so was the the volcano. It was more than we expected but it was a great dinner and we would go back again. Just next time, we would skip the drinks. Tonight was the night that DH and I were going to see Fantasmic so we dropped DS and DMil off at the hotel and headed for MGM. We bought some popcorn and got in the line for Fantasmic around 7:15 p.m. We got great seats in the Pocahontas section right in the middle. We ate our popcorn and waited for 8:30 p.m. I was beginning to wonder whether this show was going to be worth all of this waiting. I thought nothing could be worth an hour's wait. Well, let me tell you, I was wrong !! This show was great -- worth the price of admission to the park by itself. I was completely mesmerized by it. I can't say enough good things about it. You can tell I liked it since I named my trip report after it ! We taped the entire show on the cam corder and I can't wait to see how it came out. When Fantasmic was done, we sat back and let all of the people clear out. We relaxed and talked for about a half an hour and then left the theater. We stopped in some shops on our way out and admired how pretty MGM was all lit up. We really took our time leaving and didn't get back to the hotel until almost 11:00 p.m. Hopefully, it was a memorable birthday for DH. The highlight for me was definately Fantasmic. If we go with DS on our next trip, I would take advantage of the Fantasmic Dinner Package to cut the waiting down. I went to sleep excited to see Epcot the next day.
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