We've got this Rider Swap thing DOWN! - July 2012 TR/ 3/21/15 Final Update COMPLETE

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Once we finished up at Harmony Barber, The Bear Family called and they were waiting for us right below the train station! We only had about an hour and a half before our lunch ADR at Crystal Palace so we wanted to make the most of our time with them.

First things first...


Photo0531FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr


Photo0541FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Photopass in front of Cinderella's Castle!

We had The Bears get their own Photopass card and told them to get as many photos as they wanted throughout the day. I took a pic of the back of their card with my phone (which I did with ALL our PP cards!) so I could add it to our account when I got home. Can I say how much I LOVE Photopass? I really do!! We ended up with 2 CDs and 683 photos on this trip! Of course some of those were duplicates where I added borders, etc. but still at $14.95 per download, that's $10,210.85 worth of photos!! I am fully aware that this is completely laughable. NOBODY's going to pay that much for photos! Not even (most) wedding photographers cost that much! However, I will ALWAYS pre-purchase the Photopass+ package.... or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days... MemoryMaker, right? Anyhow, I know there are all sorts of opinions on this but if you're asking ME, I'd say its worth it!!

So what do you do with three kiddos under 6? More Dumbo of course! On our way back to Storybook Circus, I asked MB if they did Dumbo the last time they were there... No. Did they do Winnie the Pooh?.... No. Pirates of the Caribbean?... No. JUNGLE CRUISE????.... NO! What did they DO? Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.
Seriously. That's all she could remember that they did! No wonder they weren't all that excited after their first trip! We were going to change that! We got back in the standby line at Dumbo for the second time that day and it was a few minutes before the kids were playing in the Big Top once again. This time there was a Photopass Photographer inside taking pictures of the kids playing! He spent a ton of time taking pictures of the girls playing together with GL's Mickey stuffy.


Photo0617FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr


Photo0615FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr


Photo0559FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr


Photo0578FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr


Photo0593FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr


Photo0632FourBySix by laurenkp80, on Flickr

About 10 minutes later our pager was going off and it was time to fly with an elephant! This time Josh & Eric rode together


IMG_2944 by laurenkp80, on Flickr


IMG_2950 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

And I rode with Ev.


IMG_2952 by laurenkp80, on Flickr


IMG_2946 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Can you tell she loves spinners?? Lol! After Dumbo we had time for one more ride before we had to check in at Crystal Palace. We let Josh choose and he picked Pirates of the Caribbean! The Bears loved both rides and we wished we could have spent more time together but unfortunately it was time to part ways. We had our last lunch in the Magic Kingdom before our sad flight home. We gave them our "good-all-day" FastPass to Winnie the Pooh and told them to have a blast with the rest of their day!

By the time we checked in at Crystal Palace Ev was already asleep in her stroller. It had been a busy morning! She didn't even wake up as we were being seated. The hostess bringing us to our seat made note and switched us from a tabletop to a booth so she could lay down and sleep. It was incredibly nice of her!


IMG_2954 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

We had some time before the characters reached our table so we took turns going to the buffet. Eric & Josh went first. Josh loaded his plate with mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and grapes. (surprise surprise!) And I honestly can't tell what Eric got, except maybe cheesecake? From the looks of his empty plate, I guess it was good!


IMG_2955 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Then I went up to get my plate. I wasn't feeling very hungry so I remember it was kind of hard to find something that sounded good. Coincidentally, what appealed to me was the grilled salmon. Strange because, I don't usually eat fish! (I almost never ate fish until I was pregnant with Ev, then I craved it all the time. After I had her I have a better taste for it but I still don't eat it very often.) So I got the grilled salmon, lots of fresh fruit, salad, chicken nuggets and a roll with cold cuts to make a mini sandwich.


IMG_2956 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

While I was at the buffet, Eyore came around. Ev was still sleeping.

IMG_2957 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Next was Tigger and Ev had finally woken up but hadn't really "woken up" if you know what I mean.

IMG_2958 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Then Piglet followed close behind.

IMG_2959 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Last to come around was Pooh. Ev was finally feeling awake enough to say hi!


IMG_2960 by laurenkp80, on Flickr


IMG_2962 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Crystal Palace was fun but I have to say, I MUCH preferred breakfast! Maybe it was the heat (it was the hottest it had ever been on our trip that day. Over 100 degrees!), maybe the super early morning, or maybe I was just sick of buffets but for some reason, I just couldn't get into the lunch food here. It also could have been that it just wasn't that good. I would go as far to say that I would rather eat at ANY counter service restaurant before I went back here for lunch. I'd be back for breakfast in a heartbeat, though!

Once we had met all our Hundred Acre Wood friends it was time to head out but we still had a couple stops to make before we left the Magic Kingdom for good!!

Continued in the next post..

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

While away, my mother-in-law had been taking care of our cats back home and we wanted to get her at thank you gift. Before we even left, Eric says: "You know what she'd like? One of those silhouettes of the kids!" This was hilarious because I really wanted to get this done and I thought Eric was going to think it was kinda dumb. I had been scheming how to pitch it to him when he came up with the idea himself!

The silhouettes on Main Street are totally sweet. The ladies who do them sit there and cut them free-hand! Its just a kick to watch them. They really are artists! They have you sit so they are facing your profile while they cut it out on the spot. No pencil markings or anything! We did a double profile within a profile. They have the bigger kid (or adult) go first then cut the littler kid out of the larger profile. So Josh went first.


IMG_2964 by laurenkp80, on Flickr


IMG_2965 by laurenkp80, on Flickr


IMG_2966 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

Ev was next. Let me tell ya, these ladies are PROS! They know when they're dealing with a squirrelly toddler so they're equipped with Mickey Mouse books. Ev sat on my lap and I held the book out at my eye level to make her look straight ahead at the pictures. This worked like a charm! The lady was super fast too so she was finished by the time I finished the book.

Not only that but its probably one of the best "deals" in the Magic Kingdom. (Besides Harmony Barber, of course ) The silhouette itself is $8 and it includes an additional copy! You can opt for an oval frame, which we did, for $7.95. So we paid $24 for two really cool souvenirs and gave one to MIL and kept one for ourselves!

When we were done with that, these guys had stopped at the end of the alley so we stayed to watch


IMG_2969 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

If you remember, Eric is a HS Band teacher so this was fun for us.


IMG_2970 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

I had ONE last thing I needed to do before we left! While the band was finishing up their show, I ran into one of the stores because I still hadn't purchased my Christmas ornament yet!! I always get a Christmas ornament from every family vacation. I love unpacking them every year and remembering our vacations together as we're putting up the tree. I ended up with a Nemo Ear Hat ornament since Nemo had such an impact on our trip this year. (Remember: the numerous rides on Nemo & Friends, our funny moment with Crush, and finally our favorite Finding Nemo, the Musical in Animal Kingdom) It is such a cute ornament! Unfortunately, both ears broke off during our flight home but I was able to superglue them back on and you can't really tell the difference. I love superglue.... I'm an amazing supergluer.

By that time it was definitely time to head out. We had about an hour and a half before we had to be back at CBR to catch the ME home so we figured we were cutting it a little close but still good to go. Weellllll... After about 30 minutes of sitting at the bus stop outside the Magic Kingdom we started to get a little antsy. We saw bus after bus go by but NONE for CBR!


IMG_2972 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

We waited... and waited... and waited...


IMG_2973 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

An hour went by and now we were pretty nervous. Eric called the front desk at CBR and asked what would happen if we missed our Magical Express?


IMG_2971 by laurenkp80, on Flickr

The manager on duty told him not to worry and to just come to the front desk when we got there. FINALLY a CBR bus pulled in and we were back at CBR about 10 minutes after our ME bus had pulled away. We went to the front desk and explained what had happened. We got a mild scolding - the manager told us "We really don't recommend going to a park on departure day" but he was very nice and called a cab for us. Which they PAID FOR!! Yup, totally our bad but they still made up for it with the best customer service you could ever ask for! The only bad part was that I was running extremely low on cash. I had not anticipated needing to use Bell Service since they had transferred our carry on luggage over there when we missed the Magical Express. I only had enough cash for the suggested tip for the Magical Express driver! Since I now had to tip the cab driver, I had to make the most embarrassing decision of the trip. So when Bell Service offered to help me with my bags, I declined saying I could do it myself. This poor gentleman probably didn't understand and insisted even after I protested that really, I wanted to do it myself. He went so far as to take the bags from my hands! Well of course, after I thanked him... and he waited... I knew he wanted a tip... but if I had split the tip, it would have seemed like I was stiffing the cab driver! He just kind of looked down at the ground and walked away. I was mortified! Oh well. I hope it didn't ruin his day.

The cab ride to the airport was uneventful. We had done pre-boarding check in with Southwest and since we did the luggage check at the resort that morning (THAT's why I was up so early!! I remembered when I read that in Jenny's TR!!) all we had to do was walk right in and go through security. Easy peasy! We got through and ate dinner at McDonalds, then boarded our flight home. The really weird part about flying all the way from the East Coast to the West Coast is that we left Orlando at 5:30 and landed in Washington at 7:45! As we climbed into our own beds that night it was weird to think that just that we had woken up that morning in Disney World. Just that very afternoon we were eating lunch with Pooh in the Magic Kingdom. And our sweet boy still, literally, had pixie dust in his hair!

It was a MAGICAL trip! So perfect in so many ways! I am still pinching myself that we're now planning our next trip for this winter! So much to look forward to... celebrating New Year's Eve, cousin time, sharing more rides together as a family (since Ev is big enough now!). I'm really looking forward to NO STROLLER and NO DIAPERS! I hope this next trip will live up to this last one because it was completely amazing.

Thanks for following along! Come "visit me" over on my new PTR, I need all the help I can get! lol!

-Lauren

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm also a big fan of Photopass. It's so nice to have everyone in the pictures!

I'm glad you were around to show Eric's sister and her family how to tour MK! Don't get me wrong, I actually really like the Swiss Robinson Treehouse, but I can't imagine a trip without Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, the Jungle Cruise, or Pirates.

Those silhouettes are amazing, aren't they? Anika and I had one done back in 2005. I know I certainly couldn't do that with a pencil, let alone with only a scissors!

I'm so glad you were able to get back to your resort - sometimes waiting for the bus is exasperating! How nice of your resort to get you to the airport! That's too bad about the bell services guy! Don't worry, such a situation has happened to all of us!

Wow, a shout out in a TR! It's too bad it's about airline check-in for the way home (boo for having to leave Disney World! ), but I'm glad I could help you remember!

What a great trip report - I'm so glad you finished it! I can't wait for the next one!

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

I'm also a big fan of Photopass. It's so nice to have everyone in the pictures!

I'm glad you were around to show Eric's sister and her family how to tour MK! Don't get me wrong, I actually really like the Swiss Robinson Treehouse, but I can't imagine a trip without Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, the Jungle Cruise, or Pirates.

Those silhouettes are amazing, aren't they? Anika and I had one done back in 2005. I know I certainly couldn't do that with a pencil, let alone with only a scissors!

I'm so glad you were able to get back to your resort - sometimes waiting for the bus is exasperating! How nice of your resort to get you to the airport! That's too bad about the bell services guy! Don't worry, such a situation has happened to all of us!

Wow, a shout out in a TR! It's too bad it's about airline check-in for the way home (boo for having to leave Disney World! ), but I'm glad I could help you remember!

What a great trip report - I'm so glad you finished it! I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks!! And for the inspiration to finish it!! I'm so glad I got my butt in gear and just did it. We should start a club or something... I think the "I Take 2.5 Years to Complete a TR Club" has a nice ring to it!

I'm totally with you on the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse! I love it too, in fact I found out that you can rent the movie on Amazon Prime so I'm adding it to the list so Josh & Ev will be able to put it in context when we visit in January. But ya. You can't JUST do the Treehouse!

You & Anika should totally do your silhouette again! Give it to your parents as a silly little throwback!