RVGal
Whaaa?
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2005
- Messages
- 3,806
I'm splitting this Trip Report between the US & WDW boards because we alternated parks. If you want to read the Pre-trip setup and Day 1 report, it's on the US boards: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1473969
Even though we had a late night on Sunday (for us), it was up and at 'em early (for us) on Monday. We had 9:25am ADR for breakfast at the CP with Pooh & Friends. I have not stayed offsite in SO many years that I didn't even begin to know how to estimate travel times, so we checked with the conceirge at the Cypress Harbour lobby. He was so incredibly nice and got to know us by name (we did have to ask for directions to the Pirate Dinner, Publix, Target, and for the closest Chinese restaurant that would make lo mein noodles for DS2 to snack on in our room... so maybe that had something to do with it
). He told us that we should probably give ourselves an hour and a half, just to be on the safe side. We aimed for leaving our hotel by 8am at the latest. We wound up leaving at 8:15. It's just so hard to get everyone rounded up... socks and shoes on little feet... last minute potty breaks... all those roadblocks. Sigh. We drove to MK and sailed right through the parking process, caught a tram to the TTC, made another bathroom break (small children have small bladders), rode the ferryboat, went through the body/cavity search (just kidding), scanned our old tickets, hoofed it down Main St, and checked in at the CP... at 9:15. That's right. One hour EXACTLY from leaving our room to check in at the restaurant. 
We got our pager and sat down to wait for a table. While waiting, we got to see the singers/dancers doing the rope drop celebration. Pretty cool. We are generally not early risers, so the only times I've ever seen the morning opening performance is when we've had ADR that forced us to be there. 
I have done several character meals over the years, but this was our first experience at the CP. I was leery of a "buffet" character breakfast. How could that possibly work? Our pager went off and we went to the front door, where we were greeted and shown to our table. Immediately, our two boys started exclaiming, "Pooh!" "Piglet!" You could see them walking around the room.
We sat at our table for a minute or so and then our waiter came to greet us. "Hi, my name is Jack and I'll be taking care of you today. First, let me tell you that there is no set time limit on how long you linger at your table. I'm a firm believer in making sure you get whatever time you want to eat and whatever time you want with the characters." Bless you, Jack. I already feel better. He took our drink orders and then explained the different food stations. Whole fruit, cold cereals, and pastries... cut fruit, yogurts... hot foods (bacon, sausage, grits, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, hash browns, breakfast lasagne, and tons more)... and a specialty egg/omlette making station. Well, we certainly won't be leaving hungry! He also took the time to make sure we understood that ALL of the characters would stop by our table. He wasn't kidding. They have that process down to a science. All of the characters work the room in a pattern... obviously tied to the pattern that tables are filled. In the time it took us to eat our meal, we had met, hugged, and photographed all four characters (Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore & Tigger)... plus the kids got to join in a parade around the room when the characters put on a little show. Gotta give Disney credit. We never felt rushed, we had a great meal, Jack kept up with our beverage needs and cleared away the endless stream of dirty plates, and we got the character experience we were looking for. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Oh, I almost forgot to share the pics...
By the time we finished with our meal, it was getting to be "that time". The time when everyone floods into the parks. Well, we knew when we booked our vacation around Memorial Day, we'd probably be facing some major crowds. As long as it isn't elbow to elbow and an hour or more wait for every ride, we can deal. DS5 was desperate to ride Buzz Lightyear, so we decided to head that way, but circle through Fantasyland first and pick up FPs for one of those rides. We got FPs for Pooh and kept going. The wait for Buzz was only 10 min.
I rode with DS5, who was very proud of his 29000 score, and DH rode with DS2. Before we offloaded, I spun around and got a pic of DH and DS2.
Our FP times for Pooh were still a few minutes away, so DH took DS5 to ride the Indy Speedway cars. DS5 is a budding race fan, so he really got a kick out driving. When they met back up with us, DS5 pointed behind me and said he wanted a picture with Stitch. They had Buzz Lightyear and Stitch standing near the COP.
It was time for our FP Pooh ride, so we headed over to the madness that is always Fantasyland. Thank heavens for FPs. We had less than a 5 min wait to climb into our honeypot (or, should I say, hunnypot?). DS5 has always loved this ride, but DS2 was not impressed. Well, he was fine until we started bouncing along with Tigger. For some reason, he didn't like the motion and he wanted OUT. He loves Pooh, handled the character breakfast like a champ (which I was worried that the big characters would scare him), and now he's fussing on the beautiful, fun Pooh ride (which I thought he would love). Go figure. After we got off the ride, we decided to let the boys burn off some steam at the Pooh Playground.
They had a fun time, but it didn't take too long for them to get hot and sweaty. We waded through the throngs of people waiting in line to get pictures with Pooh or Tigger (didn't need to do that thanks to breakfast
) and headed around the way to grab FPs for Peter Pan. It just isn't a visit to the MK without "C'mon everybody, here we GOOOOO..." 
After grabbing new FPs, we headed across the way for... sigh... it's a small world. I skipped this ride for many, MANY years before having little ones. At least I can enjoy how much they enjoy it. I just wish that song wouldn't stay circling around in my head for days/weeks/months after. Our boats got stacked up in the last room waiting for offloading, so a snapped a pic of DS2s facinated face.
We had time before our FP, so we rode the Carrousel and Dumbo, then I sent DH and DS5 off to do the Teacups. I do NOT ride anything that spins like that. After that, we still had a little time to kill, so the guys took a rest with a little refreshment.
After we got out the buckets and hosed the kids down (Okay, it only took about 20 wipes to clean them up...
), we were ready for PP. It is always a trip down memory lane. I'm glad my kids and DH are willing to indulge me.
DS2 started nodding off and DS5 asked if we could go back to the hotel for a swim, so we headed for the exits. DS2 fell asleep the minute the Tram started moving...
... DS5 is showing off the present he picked out for his cousin (my niece) who just graduated from high school.
We spent a relaxing afternoon at the resort pools and made sure we got the little guys settled in for an early bedtime. Tired guys make for cranky guys and we didn't want that!
Tommorrow we sleep in a litte and head to Universal IOA...
The saga continues with Day 3 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1475341
Even though we had a late night on Sunday (for us), it was up and at 'em early (for us) on Monday. We had 9:25am ADR for breakfast at the CP with Pooh & Friends. I have not stayed offsite in SO many years that I didn't even begin to know how to estimate travel times, so we checked with the conceirge at the Cypress Harbour lobby. He was so incredibly nice and got to know us by name (we did have to ask for directions to the Pirate Dinner, Publix, Target, and for the closest Chinese restaurant that would make lo mein noodles for DS2 to snack on in our room... so maybe that had something to do with it
). He told us that we should probably give ourselves an hour and a half, just to be on the safe side. We aimed for leaving our hotel by 8am at the latest. We wound up leaving at 8:15. It's just so hard to get everyone rounded up... socks and shoes on little feet... last minute potty breaks... all those roadblocks. Sigh. We drove to MK and sailed right through the parking process, caught a tram to the TTC, made another bathroom break (small children have small bladders), rode the ferryboat, went through the body/cavity search (just kidding), scanned our old tickets, hoofed it down Main St, and checked in at the CP... at 9:15. That's right. One hour EXACTLY from leaving our room to check in at the restaurant. We got our pager and sat down to wait for a table. While waiting, we got to see the singers/dancers doing the rope drop celebration. Pretty cool. We are generally not early risers, so the only times I've ever seen the morning opening performance is when we've had ADR that forced us to be there. I have done several character meals over the years, but this was our first experience at the CP. I was leery of a "buffet" character breakfast. How could that possibly work? Our pager went off and we went to the front door, where we were greeted and shown to our table. Immediately, our two boys started exclaiming, "Pooh!" "Piglet!" You could see them walking around the room.
We sat at our table for a minute or so and then our waiter came to greet us. "Hi, my name is Jack and I'll be taking care of you today. First, let me tell you that there is no set time limit on how long you linger at your table. I'm a firm believer in making sure you get whatever time you want to eat and whatever time you want with the characters." Bless you, Jack. I already feel better. He took our drink orders and then explained the different food stations. Whole fruit, cold cereals, and pastries... cut fruit, yogurts... hot foods (bacon, sausage, grits, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, hash browns, breakfast lasagne, and tons more)... and a specialty egg/omlette making station. Well, we certainly won't be leaving hungry! He also took the time to make sure we understood that ALL of the characters would stop by our table. He wasn't kidding. They have that process down to a science. All of the characters work the room in a pattern... obviously tied to the pattern that tables are filled. In the time it took us to eat our meal, we had met, hugged, and photographed all four characters (Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore & Tigger)... plus the kids got to join in a parade around the room when the characters put on a little show. Gotta give Disney credit. We never felt rushed, we had a great meal, Jack kept up with our beverage needs and cleared away the endless stream of dirty plates, and we got the character experience we were looking for. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Oh, I almost forgot to share the pics...
By the time we finished with our meal, it was getting to be "that time". The time when everyone floods into the parks. Well, we knew when we booked our vacation around Memorial Day, we'd probably be facing some major crowds. As long as it isn't elbow to elbow and an hour or more wait for every ride, we can deal. DS5 was desperate to ride Buzz Lightyear, so we decided to head that way, but circle through Fantasyland first and pick up FPs for one of those rides. We got FPs for Pooh and kept going. The wait for Buzz was only 10 min.
I rode with DS5, who was very proud of his 29000 score, and DH rode with DS2. Before we offloaded, I spun around and got a pic of DH and DS2.
Our FP times for Pooh were still a few minutes away, so DH took DS5 to ride the Indy Speedway cars. DS5 is a budding race fan, so he really got a kick out driving. When they met back up with us, DS5 pointed behind me and said he wanted a picture with Stitch. They had Buzz Lightyear and Stitch standing near the COP.
It was time for our FP Pooh ride, so we headed over to the madness that is always Fantasyland. Thank heavens for FPs. We had less than a 5 min wait to climb into our honeypot (or, should I say, hunnypot?). DS5 has always loved this ride, but DS2 was not impressed. Well, he was fine until we started bouncing along with Tigger. For some reason, he didn't like the motion and he wanted OUT. He loves Pooh, handled the character breakfast like a champ (which I was worried that the big characters would scare him), and now he's fussing on the beautiful, fun Pooh ride (which I thought he would love). Go figure. After we got off the ride, we decided to let the boys burn off some steam at the Pooh Playground.
They had a fun time, but it didn't take too long for them to get hot and sweaty. We waded through the throngs of people waiting in line to get pictures with Pooh or Tigger (didn't need to do that thanks to breakfast
) and headed around the way to grab FPs for Peter Pan. It just isn't a visit to the MK without "C'mon everybody, here we GOOOOO..." After grabbing new FPs, we headed across the way for... sigh... it's a small world. I skipped this ride for many, MANY years before having little ones. At least I can enjoy how much they enjoy it. I just wish that song wouldn't stay circling around in my head for days/weeks/months after. Our boats got stacked up in the last room waiting for offloading, so a snapped a pic of DS2s facinated face.
We had time before our FP, so we rode the Carrousel and Dumbo, then I sent DH and DS5 off to do the Teacups. I do NOT ride anything that spins like that. After that, we still had a little time to kill, so the guys took a rest with a little refreshment.
After we got out the buckets and hosed the kids down (Okay, it only took about 20 wipes to clean them up...
), we were ready for PP. It is always a trip down memory lane. I'm glad my kids and DH are willing to indulge me. DS2 started nodding off and DS5 asked if we could go back to the hotel for a swim, so we headed for the exits. DS2 fell asleep the minute the Tram started moving...
... DS5 is showing off the present he picked out for his cousin (my niece) who just graduated from high school.
We spent a relaxing afternoon at the resort pools and made sure we got the little guys settled in for an early bedtime. Tired guys make for cranky guys and we didn't want that!
Tommorrow we sleep in a litte and head to Universal IOA...
The saga continues with Day 3 here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1475341
