HaleyB
I am not a robot
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2003
- Messages
- 6,912
We came, we saw, we conquered, part the fourth. MK and CRT among other things..
But first: A link to part three...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=596661
Recap of the cast:
Me-30 something- Disney Addict and general goof ball.
Steve, also 30 something. Also has goof ball tendicies.
Ryan- 17. Dork in the best sense of the word. He just got a 35/36 on the ACT. Yes I am bragging. He is scary smart, must be a recessive gene.
Max-9. Likes to be told how much he looks like Harry Potter. And he looks a lot like Harry Potter...
Sophia-6. She has all the men wrapped around her little finger. I dont understand how she can be so bold and demanding at home and so meek and mousey out in the world. I wish some of that bold would come out on the play ground. She gets picked on a lot.
So are there yet?
Yes. I am going to give a brief overview of the next two days. Well, brief is a relative term.
Day two of the drive was much like day one, only with a stop at the Florida welcome center for some OJ and maps. HIFS. We spent our first two nights here. They gave us so many coupons for free food at check in we ended up giving some away. We slept. We ate so-so breakfast foods. We went on an epic quest to find a cable for my camera. Dad and Ryan went to Disney Quest (they liked it). Kids and I spent a few hours in the pool (we liked it). Then at around 5 pm I drove over to DTD and got the guys and we went over to the Beach Club resort for dinner, We took a nice stroll around the boardwalk and then took the boat back across to the Beach Club. Okay so I was lost. It was a nice walk. The boat ride was fun. Beaches and Cream is behind the pool at the Beach Club, not at the Boardwalk... So it is 6:30 and we want to eat at Beaches and Cream. So does the rest of the world. There will be a slight wait for a table. Slight 40 minute wait. Well we figure it will take us 40 minutes to find somewhere else to eat anyway so we stick it out. By the time we sit down we are pretty famished. My husband looks at me like I am insane when I suggest we split a meal. So much for that plan. I have Q&C vouchers and the waiter is less than thrilled, maybe it has nothing to do with the Q&Cs. He should go work somewhere else. Well he did get my son a dairy free ice cream so he is not all bad. The food was really good and the ice cream was wonderful. We couldnt finish any of the three desserts we split. Back to HIFS and to bed. Mom has plans for the morning!
---> Tu-June 1st-Pop- PS for CRT at 9:40, tour MK all day. Leave by 6pm to unpack and reserve energy! Maybe swim.
Now that looks pretty good on paper, but it involves checking out of HIFS (express, thank goodness), loading our stuff up (how could we have used so much stuff in two nights?), finding Pop Century (who ever said just follow the signs forgot to mention the part where the signs are too late if you happen to guess wrong about which lane you should be in), check in at Pop, drop or bags off, and take a bus to MK, then we need to find Cinderella's Royal Table. All before 9:40.
So we get up at 6:45. This is cutting it a little close but we are about to stage an 8 day invasion and we cant risk losing too much sleep. Not even for Cindy. So we manage to make it to Pop Century by 7:45. There is no check in line. Our room is not ready, so they switch us to one that is. Cool. It is already past 8. I make an executive decision here. Steve will drop off our bags at the room. Ryan will help him. I will entertain the kids a while and meet them at the bus stop ASAP. This should be much faster than dragging the kids up to the room. All goes well and we are all at the bus stop by 8:30 and a bus is pulling up. Now that is what I call magic on demand. It is not an early entry morning at MK so it turns out there are a few other people wanting to get into the MK at 9 am. It takes awhile to get through the backpack inspection. We make it through the turnstile around 20 after. I send the boys off to Tomorrowland, Sophia and I have a date with a Princess. So we rush down (up?) Main Street towards the Castle. Just like everyone else. Boy, there are a lot of people here. The front of the Castle is blocked off for the Castle forecourt show so we have to walk around to get to CRT. We still make it there by 9:35 and check in. The waiting room is about half full. Sophia changes into her pink princess dress and we get in line for the Fairy God Mother. People keep getting called just as they get to the front of the line. The seaters will not let them see the Fairy Godmother. They tell them they have to go up right away or they will lose their table. That seems a bit unDisney to me. I prepare my sweetie for this possibility. No need. We make it all the way to the Fairy Godmother with out being called. Hmm, that is strange- those people getting called up right now got here at least 15 minutes after us... I start to look around. The waiting room is packed and all the people that got here around the same time as us have been seated a long time ago. So we wait. About six more groups go in. I decide I better make sure we are on the list. I find an older lady who is a CM and very nicely say pardon me, we have been here over 40 minutes, can you check on when we might get called? She looks at me like I just asked her to take her clothing off. She snaps You will get called when it is your turn and she turns around. I am getting mad. However I am not going to let this be ruined for my daughter. So I fight the impulse to give that lady a piece of my mind. We are called up to a table about 15 minutes later. It is 11, one hour and fifteen minutes past or PS time. The food was better than I expected. However it is now near the end of the breakfast for the day and the Princesses are rushed. They hardly say a word to us. They dont even let me switch cameras (I have both my 35 mm and my digital with me). Still Sophia looks pleased, I guess this is okay. We finish up and change Sophia back into park clothing. We go outside and wait by the fountain for the boys (cell phones are great). While we wait I ask her if she liked breakfast. She hesitates, and says yes, but we dont need to go back next year. Exactly what I was thinking, sort of.
Next year. This is the first of a series of comments by my daughter about our next trip or next year when we go to WDW. We dont really plan on going next year. I love WDW and would love to go every year, BUT both sets of Grandparents and three Uncles and two Aunts live in Southern California. We moved the only (at the time) grand kids thousands of miles away. We feel somewhat obligated to visit at least every other year. So next year the plan is to go to California, and of course we will visit Disneyland. But we really have no set plans to return to WDW soon. My oldest starts college in a year...
So what were the boys up to while we waited and waited and ate? That will be part 5, this is way too long already.
Ya know, Ive always wanted to write a novel...
_______________________________________________
So did you notice the counter? If I can get DH on board with a Christmas trip to CA maybe we can go to WDW next year after all....
But first: A link to part three...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=596661
Recap of the cast:
Me-30 something- Disney Addict and general goof ball.
Steve, also 30 something. Also has goof ball tendicies.
Ryan- 17. Dork in the best sense of the word. He just got a 35/36 on the ACT. Yes I am bragging. He is scary smart, must be a recessive gene.
Max-9. Likes to be told how much he looks like Harry Potter. And he looks a lot like Harry Potter...
Sophia-6. She has all the men wrapped around her little finger. I dont understand how she can be so bold and demanding at home and so meek and mousey out in the world. I wish some of that bold would come out on the play ground. She gets picked on a lot.
So are there yet?
Yes. I am going to give a brief overview of the next two days. Well, brief is a relative term.
Day two of the drive was much like day one, only with a stop at the Florida welcome center for some OJ and maps. HIFS. We spent our first two nights here. They gave us so many coupons for free food at check in we ended up giving some away. We slept. We ate so-so breakfast foods. We went on an epic quest to find a cable for my camera. Dad and Ryan went to Disney Quest (they liked it). Kids and I spent a few hours in the pool (we liked it). Then at around 5 pm I drove over to DTD and got the guys and we went over to the Beach Club resort for dinner, We took a nice stroll around the boardwalk and then took the boat back across to the Beach Club. Okay so I was lost. It was a nice walk. The boat ride was fun. Beaches and Cream is behind the pool at the Beach Club, not at the Boardwalk... So it is 6:30 and we want to eat at Beaches and Cream. So does the rest of the world. There will be a slight wait for a table. Slight 40 minute wait. Well we figure it will take us 40 minutes to find somewhere else to eat anyway so we stick it out. By the time we sit down we are pretty famished. My husband looks at me like I am insane when I suggest we split a meal. So much for that plan. I have Q&C vouchers and the waiter is less than thrilled, maybe it has nothing to do with the Q&Cs. He should go work somewhere else. Well he did get my son a dairy free ice cream so he is not all bad. The food was really good and the ice cream was wonderful. We couldnt finish any of the three desserts we split. Back to HIFS and to bed. Mom has plans for the morning!
---> Tu-June 1st-Pop- PS for CRT at 9:40, tour MK all day. Leave by 6pm to unpack and reserve energy! Maybe swim.
Now that looks pretty good on paper, but it involves checking out of HIFS (express, thank goodness), loading our stuff up (how could we have used so much stuff in two nights?), finding Pop Century (who ever said just follow the signs forgot to mention the part where the signs are too late if you happen to guess wrong about which lane you should be in), check in at Pop, drop or bags off, and take a bus to MK, then we need to find Cinderella's Royal Table. All before 9:40.
So we get up at 6:45. This is cutting it a little close but we are about to stage an 8 day invasion and we cant risk losing too much sleep. Not even for Cindy. So we manage to make it to Pop Century by 7:45. There is no check in line. Our room is not ready, so they switch us to one that is. Cool. It is already past 8. I make an executive decision here. Steve will drop off our bags at the room. Ryan will help him. I will entertain the kids a while and meet them at the bus stop ASAP. This should be much faster than dragging the kids up to the room. All goes well and we are all at the bus stop by 8:30 and a bus is pulling up. Now that is what I call magic on demand. It is not an early entry morning at MK so it turns out there are a few other people wanting to get into the MK at 9 am. It takes awhile to get through the backpack inspection. We make it through the turnstile around 20 after. I send the boys off to Tomorrowland, Sophia and I have a date with a Princess. So we rush down (up?) Main Street towards the Castle. Just like everyone else. Boy, there are a lot of people here. The front of the Castle is blocked off for the Castle forecourt show so we have to walk around to get to CRT. We still make it there by 9:35 and check in. The waiting room is about half full. Sophia changes into her pink princess dress and we get in line for the Fairy God Mother. People keep getting called just as they get to the front of the line. The seaters will not let them see the Fairy Godmother. They tell them they have to go up right away or they will lose their table. That seems a bit unDisney to me. I prepare my sweetie for this possibility. No need. We make it all the way to the Fairy Godmother with out being called. Hmm, that is strange- those people getting called up right now got here at least 15 minutes after us... I start to look around. The waiting room is packed and all the people that got here around the same time as us have been seated a long time ago. So we wait. About six more groups go in. I decide I better make sure we are on the list. I find an older lady who is a CM and very nicely say pardon me, we have been here over 40 minutes, can you check on when we might get called? She looks at me like I just asked her to take her clothing off. She snaps You will get called when it is your turn and she turns around. I am getting mad. However I am not going to let this be ruined for my daughter. So I fight the impulse to give that lady a piece of my mind. We are called up to a table about 15 minutes later. It is 11, one hour and fifteen minutes past or PS time. The food was better than I expected. However it is now near the end of the breakfast for the day and the Princesses are rushed. They hardly say a word to us. They dont even let me switch cameras (I have both my 35 mm and my digital with me). Still Sophia looks pleased, I guess this is okay. We finish up and change Sophia back into park clothing. We go outside and wait by the fountain for the boys (cell phones are great). While we wait I ask her if she liked breakfast. She hesitates, and says yes, but we dont need to go back next year. Exactly what I was thinking, sort of.
Next year. This is the first of a series of comments by my daughter about our next trip or next year when we go to WDW. We dont really plan on going next year. I love WDW and would love to go every year, BUT both sets of Grandparents and three Uncles and two Aunts live in Southern California. We moved the only (at the time) grand kids thousands of miles away. We feel somewhat obligated to visit at least every other year. So next year the plan is to go to California, and of course we will visit Disneyland. But we really have no set plans to return to WDW soon. My oldest starts college in a year...
So what were the boys up to while we waited and waited and ate? That will be part 5, this is way too long already.
Ya know, Ive always wanted to write a novel...
_______________________________________________
So did you notice the counter? If I can get DH on board with a Christmas trip to CA maybe we can go to WDW next year after all....
