What exactly DID you do at Disney? May 2011 TR (TR link pg 44)

[Chaitali]

Just stumbled across your trip report and enjoyed reading about your trip We were at Disney World around the same time but unfortunately after the Pixar weekend, which looked like a lot of fun. We stayed at POR but went over to the AKL for dinner one evening and I can see why you love it! I'm hoping to be able to stay there at some point. Off to read your dining reviews now I love being able to re-live Disney World through other people's trip reports!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I agree about the not putting stuff off "till the end of the trip". I do that all the time with the same results.

I can understand your dilemma, on the one hand you want to spend your vacation with your family on the other hand in order to do some of the stuff you want to do it would require leaving them behind.

 

[amandaw]

You got some really good pictures! That drink & dessert you had at 'Ohana both look delicious! I don't blame you for getting the drink! In fact, I could use one of them right about now!

 

[KatMark]

Sorry Caitlin was still being "unhappy." Your pictures around the WL are very pretty.

 

[EveDallas]

Just wondering.. is Eve Dallas your name?

No, it is the name of the main character in my favorite book series.

 

[jenbear123]

Lesson learned: never say you will do something later in the trip. You probably won’t and then you will just be mad that you missed it.

Amen to that sista! There have been so many times where I'll see something I want to buy or something I want to do and I'll say to myself "I'll do it later." or "I'll get that later on" Almost EVERY time I've done that, the item is either not there anymore or I just don't get a chance to do it. Trips only last so long so you gotta do it at that very moment!

I'm sorry to hear you didn't get over to MK for EMH. At least WL gave you some nice scenery.

 

[bouncycat]

There's never enough time for everything is there? We learned that too!!! But, luckily for us, we can go back and try again, Amanda missed getting a few things, like the R2D2 popcorn bucket, so we got it for her, and will mail it to her.

We're heading over tomorrow for SWW again, been there every weekend!! LOL Tomorrow they're giving out lanyards for passholders. I'll take pictures, no worries!! We've been having laptop trouble, DH put our pictures on the external hard drive so he could wipe the laptop, and now just gotta get them off that thing, put them on the desktop and upload them to photopass. Easy, right?? HAHA NOT! That way I can get my TR started! LOL I'll post a link. I should just start one ongoing for our many adventures!!

LOVED all the WL pictures, that week ya'll were here we had that last cool front come thru, and it was kinda cool in the evenings and mornings, I remember that very well.

 

[tinacaplan]

You absolutely should have done EMHs on your own. I've done it and I'll do it again! And someday Max will be old enough and we'll all do it together. WL looks really pretty. You got some nice shots.

 

[ksl5f123]

I got behind, so now I am all caught up!

You took so many great pictures of the WL. Would you believe that aside from a few pics of our room, I never took any!?! I think every time we walked through the doors, somebody needed to go potty so it was always a race to our room and never a relaxing walk where I could get some pictures.

That was one quick breakfast at Ohana!

I can't imagine riding Test Track 3 times in a row. Actually, I have never been on it, but there are very few rides I can do 3 times in a row.

Anyway, it was not even 11 and Caitlin got a nice, big chocolate chip cookie from Sunshine Seasons. This is where I started to figure out her plan. She knows I let her eat badly at Disney. She figured if she didn’t eat breakfast she could have Doritos or ice cream whenever she was hungry.

Smart girl! I could see my 5yo trying something like that.

I love the Cars 2 backdrop. We are counting down the days until that movie is released. DS2 just can't wait!

The picture of Remy and Emile is so cute. I am so sad you didn't get to meet them.

I wasn't that impressed by the Napoleon either, but my DH really liked it.

I agree with Caitlin. It was a very boring day. Next trip I am not going to worry about what everyone else wants to do so much. I should have just headed over to EMH by myself but I really wanted to go with DH and Caitlin on our last night. Lesson learned: never say you will do something later in the trip. You probably won’t and then you will just be mad that you missed it.

Awww. I am so sorry that you had a disappointing day. It is tough to leave your family behind, but even more difficult to have put so much work into trip planning only to have it turn into a couple of good meals and a lot of pool time.

 

[pinkxray]

Just stumbled across your trip report and enjoyed reading about your trip We were at Disney World around the same time but unfortunately after the Pixar weekend, which looked like a lot of fun. We stayed at POR but went over to the AKL for dinner one evening and I can see why you love it! I'm hoping to be able to stay there at some point. Off to read your dining reviews now I love being able to re-live Disney World through other people's trip reports!

I have to head over to your trip report. I love reading about how different Disney vacations can be.

We stayed at POR last year and I loved it. I loved the grounds and the river. I can't wait to see how the rooms turn out.

I agree about the not putting stuff off "till the end of the trip". I do that all the time with the same results.

I can understand your dilemma, on the one hand you want to spend your vacation with your family on the other hand in order to do some of the stuff you want to do it would require leaving them behind.

I try to blame DH for not doing anything, but I tended to put stuff off until the last weekend. Once that weekend came it was like a billion degrees and I was just tired.

I really tried to just go with the flow and try not to split up but I'm not a big pool fan. I like to relax in the pool maybe once a day, not skip everything else to spend the whole day there.

You got some really good pictures! That drink & dessert you had at 'Ohana both look delicious! I don't blame you for getting the drink! In fact, I could use one of them right about now!

They were both so good. I think I actually liked the drink better than the dessert.

Sorry Caitlin was still being "unhappy." Your pictures around the WL are very pretty.

She was pretty grunpy everytime she didn't get her way. She seemed to get better once she realized she wasn't going to be calling all the shots.

No, it is the name of the main character in my favorite book series.

Ha! I knew it. I love Eve Dallas. I am reading Treachery in Death right now

Amen to that sista! There have been so many times where I'll see something I want to buy or something I want to do and I'll say to myself "I'll do it later." or "I'll get that later on" Almost EVERY time I've done that, the item is either not there anymore or I just don't get a chance to do it. Trips only last so long so you gotta do it at that very moment!

I'm sorry to hear you didn't get over to MK for EMH. At least WL gave you some nice scenery.

I kept putting everything off b/c I knew we had another MK night and with our BC days we would have easy access to DHS and Epcot. Too bad we also had easy access to SAB

I am very glad I spent the extra money to stay at some nices places. As much as I missed the park time, I enjoyed the time at the resorts b/c they are all so pretty with so much to do.

There's never enough time for everything is there? We learned that too!!! But, luckily for us, we can go back and try again, Amanda missed getting a few things, like the R2D2 popcorn bucket, so we got it for her, and will mail it to her.

We're heading over tomorrow for SWW again, been there every weekend!! LOL Tomorrow they're giving out lanyards for passholders. I'll take pictures, no worries!! We've been having laptop trouble, DH put our pictures on the external hard drive so he could wipe the laptop, and now just gotta get them off that thing, put them on the desktop and upload them to photopass. Easy, right?? HAHA NOT! That way I can get my TR started! LOL I'll post a link. I should just start one ongoing for our many adventures!!

LOVED all the WL pictures, that week ya'll were here we had that last cool front come thru, and it was kinda cool in the evenings and mornings, I remember that very well.

There is never enough time to do everything. That is why I love going back. I think each trip can be a bit different, but DH just feels like he is doing the same thing each time.

I am waiting very patiently for your trip report. I can't wait to hear how you like the Treehouses.

I loved the weather during the day early in the week, but the nights got pretty chilly. The hot tubs were packed at the main pool and only a few kids were in the pool. Caitlin would have glady stayed in the pool but it was too cold for me.

You absolutely should have done EMHs on your own. I've done it and I'll do it again! And someday Max will be old enough and we'll all do it together. WL looks really pretty. You got some nice shots.

I got behind, so now I am all caught up!

You took so many great pictures of the WL. Would you believe that aside from a few pics of our room, I never took any!?! I think every time we walked through the doors, somebody needed to go potty so it was always a race to our room and never a relaxing walk where I could get some pictures.

That was one quick breakfast at Ohana!

I can't imagine riding Test Track 3 times in a row. Actually, I have never been on it, but there are very few rides I can do 3 times in a row.



Smart girl! I could see my 5yo trying something like that.

I love the Cars 2 backdrop. We are counting down the days until that movie is released. DS2 just can't wait!

The picture of Remy and Emile is so cute. I am so sad you didn't get to meet them.

I wasn't that impressed by the Napoleon either, but my DH really liked it.



Awww. I am so sorry that you had a disappointing day. It is tough to leave your family behind, but even more difficult to have put so much work into trip planning only to have it turn into a couple of good meals and a lot of pool time.

 

[anl]

Enjoying your TR. Love that you stayed at so many places...what fun.

Maybe you should do a girls-only-must-LOVE-Disney trip!!

 

[crostorfer]

Awww, Diane, everytime I read an update I feel worse for you. I wish we could have found one another at the Poly when you ate there, my daughter and I would have adopted you and you could have gone to EMH with us. We went but were freezing, riding Splash Mountain was not the best choice that night. We felt like popsicles.

Reading your TR just reaffirms for me what a good decision it is for me just to travel with my daughter. If it helps at all Aaron would be WAY worse than your husband when it comes to rushing and complaining. Disney isn't for everyone, and it definately wouldn't be for him. That's ok, it keeps it cheaper just the two of us and it's definately relaxing not having to worry if someone else is having a good time.

 

[pinkxray]

Enjoying your TR. Love that you stayed at so many places...what fun.

Maybe you should do a girls-only-must-LOVE-Disney trip!!

I thought it was pretty cool moving every few days. It was like a whole new vacation.

I think a girls only trip sounds great. DH said I could do a solo trip whenever, but when I mentioned Caitlin and I might try to go together next year he was like "You want to take a vacation without me?" Um, you just got done saying you didn't want to go back He drives me crazy sometimes.

Awww, Diane, everytime I read an update I feel worse for you. I wish we could have found one another at the Poly when you ate there, my daughter and I would have adopted you and you could have gone to EMH with us. We went but were freezing, riding Splash Mountain was not the best choice that night. We felt like popsicles.

Reading your TR just reaffirms for me what a good decision it is for me just to travel with my daughter. If it helps at all Aaron would be WAY worse than your husband when it comes to rushing and complaining. Disney isn't for everyone, and it definately wouldn't be for him. That's ok, it keeps it cheaper just the two of us and it's definately relaxing not having to worry if someone else is having a good time.

Don't feel too bad. It was frustrating at times but there were some very good times. I have learned that DH is just not a Disney person. He doesn't like the rides or shows, but can tolerate small doses.

We had a lot of fun at Universal and Discovery Cove. Plus we actually got to spend time at all of the resorts we stayed at. A little too much time, but what are you going to do? And it couldn't have been that bad b/c I might have found my way over to the disney site to price a weekend in Feb

I see your tickers are in limbo I hate that unknown feeling. Right now we are hoping to add to the family but who knows when that will actually happen. DH wants to do the relaxed approach to it (shocking, right?) which could take forever. I have been thinking about training for the Princess Half Marathon this year and booking everything as late as possible. Then, if we do get pregnant at least I am healthier. Who knows? I hate not having an idea of what will happen.

 

[lbuzz52]

I came back from the first trip swearing that I would go on my own in the future to do the things I wanted to do. Of course I didn't because I was too afraid I'd miss something.
As for dh, I tried to get him involved in minor ways. I asked him what he wanted to do and aske him where he wanted to eat. He kept saying I don't care. I just decided that I wasn't going to worry about if he was bored because he had a chance to add his own opinions.
I love your idea of a mommy daughter trip and hope to do one of those myself

 

[All7OfUs]

I totally agree with you about doing something right away if you want to; you're right, it likely won't get done later. That goes for shopping, riding a ride, seeing a character, etc.....

Good lesson learned!

 

[crostorfer]

I see your tickers are in limbo I hate that unknown feeling. Right now we are hoping to add to the family but who knows when that will actually happen. DH wants to do the relaxed approach to it (shocking, right?) which could take forever. I have been thinking about training for the Princess Half Marathon this year and booking everything as late as possible. Then, if we do get pregnant at least I am healthier. Who knows? I hate not having an idea of what will happen.

I'm sending you good vibes to add a little one as soon as you are ready to!

I was planning on going back in late November to see the Christmas stuff, but at the moment, the airfare is horrific and the military discounts for after October 1st aren't announced yet, so I have no idea what the room will cost me. So that idea is kind of nixed.

Then, I thought that maybe it might be worth it to take a quick just three or four day trip down to Los Angeles to check out Disneyland at Halloween. (Love Halloween, it's our favorite time of year.) I was thinking, it has to be cheaper, right? WRONG. The airfare is only $99, but the cheapest on site hotel at Disneyland is $315 a night without a discount. Still, for only three nights I thought I could probably swing it. But then I find out Disneyland doesn't offer a dining plan like WDW. And then I did some digging and found out that DL doesn't do a Halloween parade and your party ticket doesn't get you in any earlier to the park, both huge downfalls. Add to it the fewer number and later start dates of their parties and I was left willing to settle, but a less excited. The total for three nights, plus park tickets, airfare, and add into it the cost of food out of pocket and I was close to $2000 total. Not exactly cheap.

So just for kicks, I looked at airfare to Orlando at the end of September. Imagine my surprise to find it is also $99. So I dig farther. The military discount is still in tact until October 1st, and I get 30% off of a value, which makes 4 nights at the Pop like $268 for me. We want to go to Universal to do Harry Potter again, so if we take a day there, we would only need 2 day park tickets at Disney. I asked Kass if she had her choice of one park, one day, what would she like? Typhoon Lagoon. $41 a piece to get in, half the cost of a one day/one park ticket. I get military discounted tickets to MNSSHP, so it's a total of like $85 for the two of us, and we get in at 4pm, so we don't need a park ticket that day. Long story short, I can stay 4 nights at WDW in Orlando, total with airfare, all tickets, and the quick service dining plan for $1300. I'm jumping on that.

My husband says I can't go on any more trips until my car is paid off, LOL, so I'm going to do that over the next couple months and then say "Surprise babe! I'm going back to Disney!" LOL.

 

[bouncycat]

Hey Pink!! Got my TR started, check the link in my siggie! I hope you're having a great weekend!!!

 

[pinkxray]

I'm sending you good vibes to add a little one as soon as you are ready to!

I was planning on going back in late November to see the Christmas stuff, but at the moment, the airfare is horrific and the military discounts for after October 1st aren't announced yet, so I have no idea what the room will cost me. So that idea is kind of nixed.

Then, I thought that maybe it might be worth it to take a quick just three or four day trip down to Los Angeles to check out Disneyland at Halloween. (Love Halloween, it's our favorite time of year.) I was thinking, it has to be cheaper, right? WRONG. The airfare is only $99, but the cheapest on site hotel at Disneyland is $315 a night without a discount. Still, for only three nights I thought I could probably swing it. But then I find out Disneyland doesn't offer a dining plan like WDW. And then I did some digging and found out that DL doesn't do a Halloween parade and your party ticket doesn't get you in any earlier to the park, both huge downfalls. Add to it the fewer number and later start dates of their parties and I was left willing to settle, but a less excited. The total for three nights, plus park tickets, airfare, and add into it the cost of food out of pocket and I was close to $2000 total. Not exactly cheap.

So just for kicks, I looked at airfare to Orlando at the end of September. Imagine my surprise to find it is also $99. So I dig farther. The military discount is still in tact until October 1st, and I get 30% off of a value, which makes 4 nights at the Pop like $268 for me. We want to go to Universal to do Harry Potter again, so if we take a day there, we would only need 2 day park tickets at Disney. I asked Kass if she had her choice of one park, one day, what would she like? Typhoon Lagoon. $41 a piece to get in, half the cost of a one day/one park ticket. I get military discounted tickets to MNSSHP, so it's a total of like $85 for the two of us, and we get in at 4pm, so we don't need a park ticket that day. Long story short, I can stay 4 nights at WDW in Orlando, total with airfare, all tickets, and the quick service dining plan for $1300. I'm jumping on that.

My husband says I can't go on any more trips until my car is paid off, LOL, so I'm going to do that over the next couple months and then say "Surprise babe! I'm going back to Disney!" LOL.

I might have said something to DH about not booking another trip until my car loan and everything else is paid off and I have a good amount of the trip saved for. It was a pain in the you know what picking up extra shifts to save for this trip. Of course now I regret saying that to him b/c whenever I price out another trip I just think "well, if I pick up an extra shift 2 a month we can stay here and do that" Hopefully he'll forget all about that soon.

September seems like a great time to go. Is that when you went last year. I remember seeing Kassidy in her Halloween costume last year. I really want to go in Oct and Dec. at some point. I guess I just need to realize that I don't have to do it all now. As much as I want to go back I did make an agreement with DH that if we went back this year I wouldn't mention it for 2 years. (I might have said 3)

That stinks that DL didn't work out. It must be so much easier to get there for you.

Hey Pink!! Got my TR started, check the link in my siggie! I hope you're having a great weekend!!!

Yay! You finally started

 

[pinkxray]

Yay! It’s finally our Magic Kingdom day. I LOVE Magic Kingdom. I would say that it is my favorite park. I am sure Epcot would come close but I have never really had the time to really explore Epcot.

I think that I was very fair on the other days about going with the flow and doing what the others wanted. Not today. Today was my day. We were staying at MK and we were going to rides some rides, darn it!!

I had a hard time deciding whether to do Crystal Palace at 8 to see the empty park or CRT at 9:20 to see the opening show that we had never seen. I had intended to be out late the night before at MK EMH so I figured we could sleep in a bit if I picked CRT.

I was up pretty early this moring. I think around 5:30. This was early in the trip so I decided to do something that should not be done on vacation.

I went to the gym

When I arrived there were 2 people working out but as soon as I was set up on my treadmill they were gone. I did my 30 minutes on the treadmill and felt very proud of myself for actually exercising on vacation. I was happy there was no one there b/c I was going to take some pictures, but as soon as I stepped off, two more people came in. If I was someone who actually used the gym more I would be sure to go very early, b/c whenever I walked by later there were always people in there.

I made my way back to the room and it was still pretty early so I grabbed some dirty laundry and headed to the laundry room.

Another place you want to hit early to beat the crowds.

While the laundry was running I took a shower and got dressed. It was still before 7 so I couldn’t go to Roaring Forks quite yet to get my coffee. I decided to wander around and take some pictures around the villas and WL. I forget which pictures I have posted so I won’t post all of them again.
After a nice stroll around WL it was finally 7 and RF would be open. I headed over there and grabbed some coffee and took a few pictures there.

I thought Roaring Fork was okay since we never really used it for anything other than a snack between meals, but it did look very busy during meal times. I really wish they could have a deluxe resort with more of a value/moderate type food court.

After grabbing my coffee I headed back to the laundry room to dry the clothes. Once I got back to the room everyone was starting to wake up. Everyone got ready and it was still a bit too early to head over to MK. We had a breakfast ADR at 9:25(?) and I wanted to be at MK to see the opening show. We finished getting ready, watched some tv and grabbed the laundry.
DH decided that although we would have breakfast soon, he was hungry now. We headed to RF to grab a breakfast platter to eat while waiting for the boat. Once we got there the line was very long so DH decided to just wait until CRT to eat.

I was so excited to take the boat to MK. You always hear people who stay at WL talk about how they love taking the boat to MK and how convient it is.

I don’t remember how long it took for the boat to arrive but it seemed to take forever. Once you are on the boat the actual ride over is pretty quick, but just standing on the boat dock waiting for the boat once was enough for me. Next time we will just take the bus.
We parked ourselves in a good spot for the opening show and waited. We have never seen the opening show and I was very excited to see it. I was sure that Caitlin would like it b/c there would be a big group of characters who came on the train.

She didn’t really seem to impressed. She seemed more interested in looking at the MK map than watching the show. I don’t have any pictures b/c I recorded the show on the Kodak Playsport. What has Caitlin been watching lately? The opening show at MK! Why couldn’t she watch it while we were there. I have also caught her singing the song a few times too.
We were finally in MK and we had a little time before breakfast. I had envisioned us slowly making our way up Main Street. Maybe getting a photopass picture in front of the castle before the heat made us look too bad, stopping and taking my own pictures of the castle. Nope there were no pictures. DH and DD wanted to make a dash to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain before breakfast.


I am pretty sure I took this picture while walking. The one good thing about the Sony camera I bought is that it had an anti blur function. It actually took some good shots while I was walking, which was nice since no one ever wanted to stop.

After riding Space Mountain with no wait we headed over to CRT. We checked in and were brought in immediately to meet Cinderella. Caitlin had her picture taken but I don’t have my photopass CD yet.

Our server brought out the breads and fruit along with beverages.

We could see the princesses already circulating about the room. Caitlin was a little sad that Jasmine wasn’t there and that they were all the same princesses she had seen last year. She doesn’t understand why Rapunzel can’t be there. She loves Tangled but didn’t like the way the Rapunzel meet and greet was set up.

There are only a few options at CRT and Caitlin doesn’t like any of the items offered. She did end up eating a few French toast sticks but I don’t think she was very happy about it. She didn’t want any syrup on her when she had her picture taken with a princess so she would take small bites and wipe her face off every time a princess was around.

We were out of there pretty quickly. I liked the whole experience a bit better last year. Last year the princesses weren’t out yet so they would make an announcement for each princess when she arrived. Caitlin was very excited listening to them and wondering who it would be. I don’t know if they do this at the 8am breakfast or not. Plus I think even though it is only a year later Caitlin is older and not that into princesses. She still said she wanted to meet them and it seemed like she was excited when they came around, but she didn’t have that same look in her as last year. I doubt we will return. If we ever have another little girl we will go to Akerhus instead unless she really wants to BBB and CRT, then I think I would book the 8am breakfast or first dinner slot.
Here she is last year meeting Jasmine.

I will definitely have to start off our next kid a bit younger at Disney. I was very surprised at how different Caitlin was between being 5 and now being 6.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The gym! On vacation! Good for you! I had planned to hit the gym but that never happened for various reasons.