"What?! You were RELAXED at Disney? NO WAY!"

[Lesprivate]

Joining in! Great start on you trip report can't wait to hear more.

 

[ILuvWishes!]

Have a question about your DD's autograph book because it is adorable! Did you buy that somewhere or make it?

Thank you for asking this question! I was just about to do the same.

Thanks for posting the link. I usually make the autograph books, but yours looks great!

 

[lindsmom]

Another question on your Autograph book ... did it take long to put together? I can't decide whether to make one or just buy it when we get there. I keep thinking with the time and money to make one it would be just as easy to buy one. Did you find that or were you happy to have the home-made one?

All together, it really didn't take too long. Choosing the paper for each character took the longest, because DD is a wee bit OCD about things ("um.... blue... no!...yellow-no!....pink..... yes...pink... wait!" ). I had copied and pasted the 6" size designs into word documents before, so we just printed one page at a time. I suppose if you're really organized, you could put the papers in order of your word document and print the whole stack at once.

I let DD cut the pages until her hands got tired. You could certainly help with that, as I did. Then the gluing only took less than an hour - we staggered autograph page - blank page so we can put in her photos w/ each character on the facing page. Then make sure you stand the book up to dry, with the pages sort of fanned apart so they don't stick together.

I really liked the homemade book, as the characters seemed to pay a bit more attention to them - some of them looked at the cover and greeted Lindsay by name - and I've heard stories of "rival" characters writing notes on others' pages (i.e. peter pan and capt. hook) although we didn't encounter that.

HTH!

 

[lindsmom]

Oh count me in! You are off to a great start. And don't worry about "yelling" at Pluto. I, too, tend to talk a little loud when talking to fur characters.

-Becca-

Joining in! Great start on you trip report can't wait to hear more.

Hi! Thanks for joining!

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Can't Wait To Read About Your Whole Trip! I'm Glad Your Dd Was Ok With The Characters!
Oh And I'm Glad You Have Alot Of Pictures To Post, When We Go, Not Until April 09, It Will Be Our First Time.

 

[julezdisney]

Lovin' it!

 

[lindsmom]

Our first full day – how would my planning work out?!

Okay, so here was our plan (we were NOT going commando – as a side note, fans of “Friends” will have another connection with that phrase ):

Get to Epcot before rope drop (9:00). Get DD’s first visit pin. Fly to Soarin’ (pun intended) then zoom over to Test Track for FP’s. Then go to Norway for Princess ADR at 10:10.

Did this work?

Well, in one word, YES…

We left Cypress Harbour, and I timed it… getting in the car at CH to walking through turnstiles at Epcot was 20 minutes. Not bad. We parked in Amaze – and we were rather proud of ourselves! I should have taken a picture of the spot. We went through the bag check and scanned our tickets for the first time, then…

We Were There!

Wow… what a cool feeling. But not too much time to savor the moment… hold on! Is that a Photopass photog? Well, not now…. theDis told me they would be EVERYWHERE. We’ve got a (minor) schedule. We zipped over to guest relations (just past the golf ball on the left) and were the third people waiting. The two in front of us were looking for dinner reservations. Are you kidding me? Dude! Where were you 180 days ago?! C’mon…. people…. So we got DD her pin, which she was pleased to wear for the next three days.

The Run For Soarin'


Then we joined the small mob waiting for the drop at Innoventions to go to Soarin’. Okay. We can do this. Only about 100 people in front of us. Countdown from ten… three… two… one… and…. inch forward. Again. Again. Suddenly the crowd, at one simultaneous moment, has all learned the art of speedwalking… we’re swinging our hips, one foot on the ground at all times for fear of a running penalty…. we’re closer…. there’s the Land… and OH NO! DH has stepped on and flatted my daughter’s shoe! Aaaaaaaahhh….. Nooooooooo….. As we move to the side out of courtesy and for fear of our lives, we put on DD’s shoe, trying not to panic. About a thousand people move by us. Sigh. I could see the wait times increasing exponentially. Well, we’ll try anyway. Back in the race… Okay, so we made it to Soarin’ and the posted wait time was only 20 minutes. (For the record, anyone who hasn’t done this yet, before the park OPENS the wait for Soarin’ is 20 minutes. Hm.)

After poor DD threw a shoe in our Epcot Derby, we recovered. Rest of the morning went as planned. After a WONDERFUL Soarin’ experience (it’s possibly my favorite now), we passed Test Track on our way to Norway, grabbed the first FP’s we’ve ever gotten – no problem – and continued to our late breakfast. You may notice that’s how we did our meals. While we certainly had the option to wake early and have breakfast at our villa, we’re not morning people. And we’re on vacation, darnit! So we gave DD a small something in the morning (fruit / ½ bowl of cereal) to hold her till a late breakfast, then we snacked @ lunch and had a big early dinner. And DH and I aren’t huge breakfast people, so it was more brunch – ish for us.

PSB @ Norway was very nice. It was DD’s first experience with the “face” characters, and once again she was nervous at first. Ironically, the face characters were tougher for her to handle because they SPOKE to her, and my sweet DD has not seen any of the Disney movies all the way through because she is TERRIFIED of them. So Mulan was asking about hot tea and her cricket, while Jasmine was discussing Abu the troublemaker and whether DD wanted to visit Agrabah. I wish I had the look in DD’s face – somewhere between utter confusion and sheer terror. This is close - Oh well. She also posed with the princesses very nicely and was polite in asking for autographs.

Here is DD, getting excited and nervous about the princesses coming around - I love the look on her face:

Also, DD had made pins at home for Snow White and Cinderella; she got to give Snowy hers that morning:

(btw, when did Mary Poppins become a princess?)

After breakfast, we were right at Norway, so we rode the Maelstrom – QUITE a bit over – hyped, if you ask me, then our FP’s were up for Test Track so we headed back that way. I was a little concerned for DD (remember, a bit of a ride wimp), but we figured we’d push her off the dock and see how she’d swim. She did just fine and was hooting and waving her arms on the fast part! We were very proud of her. She decided it was tons of fun, except for the braking part which I understand – I think I got a bit of whiplash there…

It was only about noontime, but we had decided one rule before we arrived – every day (except one you’ll see later), we would return to our room for a swim and a nap. So we stopped in MouseGears for my potato head full of Disney pieces, then headed to our Amaze – ing parking spot for the quick return trip to CH.
continued...

 

[lindsmom]

...In the afternoon…

We began the second half of our day after DD enjoyed a 1 ½ hour nap (had to work to wake her!), returning to Epcot at 4:00. Needless to say, we weren’t parked in Amaze. I think it was something like “Don’t even think of walking from here.” We went straight to the Seas, where a CM had given us insider info that morning that “after 4:00, the crowds diminish by the hour”. We were sold, and sure enough, there was a 5 minute wait for the clamshells (aka. Nemo – my opinion, a bit of a snore – we didn’t see any real fish in the aquariums, and the story seemed like they were working pretty hard for it), then we popped into Crush – again, 5 minute wait. Cool. Crush was a RIOT! Started a little slow, but whomever does Crush is VERY clever - Highly recommended!

Then we took a journey around the world – starting @ Canada, counter – clockwise. We got some great pix, making sure to get at least one picture of DD in each country for a post trip scrapbook project with her (found scrapbooking stickers from nearly every country at A.C. Moore – pretty neat).
I won't subject you to ALL of the pix, just a couple:

I love this scene in France - it looks like someone's coming back any second to finish the painting:

In Germany, DD is a GIANT! (I realize these aren't in correct order - sorry)

At Morrocco, we stopped for our early dinner (maybe just 5:00) and got wraps from Tangierine café. Yum. Oh, and in France I had gotten a Grey Goose lemon slush. Double yum.

At Japan, DD and I picked pearls, and chose settings for our stunning 7 mm winners.

DD spotted a hidden mickey on the back of the oyster tank... it was tough to get the picture, but I think you can see it:

The settings were going to take about half an hour, so we continued through the world. The F&G concert was going on – the guy from Jefferson Starship – and so it was kind of cool, singing and dancing through America. Oh! Here’s where I should make mention of the overwhelming pleasure we took from the fact we had “blown” three hours and taken naps – we’re halfway around the lake, about as far from the main entrance as one can get, and all around us are kids ages five and under, and you could see they were just fried. Red, sweaty faces, tears streaming down their cheeks, parents are just DONE. I know, I’ve been there… and it was in that moment (and there was one of those moments every day of our trip) when DH and I fully appreciated the fact that DD was skipping along, singing, holding our hands, eager to move to the next activity. Phew. That three hours of downtime, for OUR FAMILY, was so worth it. Thanks DIS!

We stopped at the refreshment outpost where DD got some ice cream, and I zipped back to Japan to pick up the settings – then I took the autograph book to China and asked a lovely CM to write in DD’s book:

DD thought this was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and she really wanted to get other countries to write in her book. But the “interesting” writing of Japan and Morrocco were WAY BACK THERE, so we stopped in Italy to satisfy her for the moment. After a ride on the Caballeros in Mexico (I thought that was still a snore – adding the animation just made it seem like a sell – out. I can see how it would interest kids much more – and it did interest DD – but it obviously doesn’t add anything cultural, or really even politically correct ), it was time for illuminations. We weren’t near a GOOD spot, but we made the choice to be near the exit. So we stood at the Showcase Plaza, DD was up on DH’s shoulders and she LOVED the fireworks. We left before the grand finale, but watched as we walked toward the golf ball. We made it onto the tram before the huge rush, and were back at CH before 10:00. A successful day.

Would tomorrow’s Animal Kingdom / DHS day go off as well? Is it possible to have two great days in a row? Hmmmm….

 

[ampc3]

just found your TR I love your sense of humor! we would get along great...

can't wait to read more!

 

[julezdisney]

This is the first trip report I've ever read and I'm really enjoying it! I love how clear you're giving your schedule-it's really helping me to organize my thoughts into how I want to do our upcoming trip in DL in Oct!! This is great!

 

[dreamer17555]

The Soarin rush is always so insane. I think it is the biggest crowd of any of the parks. It freaks me out to be honest.

And good for you taking a break. Those rest breaks make everyone SO much happier!

Can't wait to hear more!

-Becca-

 

[Rebecuberduber]

Love it! You are so funny. Thanks for sharing your trip!! I will definitely be back for more.

 

[PISCESANGEL]

Great so far!

 

[kathleen27]

Your daughter is adorable.

Glad she warmed up to the Characters at Chef Mickey's.

Wonderful that you had a nice relaxing trip to Disney!
Glad that the mid day nap worked out well.

Great tr so far.

We fly SW out of Prov as well. Love that direct flight!
We live close enough not to have to stay over though.

 

[buffy0214]

Great report.

Love the shoe thing. It reminded me of something similar that happened to us. My hubby was carrying our DD on his shoulders at the MK rope drop and she kept losing her shoe, too. I ended up just grabbing them and running behind during our dumbo dash My DD is also more afraid of the face characters She likes the ones that don't expect her to talk back.

 

[rebecca06261]

still waiting for an update *wink wink nudge nudge*

 

[lindsmom]

still waiting for an update *wink wink nudge nudge*

So sorry! I know! I know! Keep on me, please... I need the nudge

Drama happening in my neighborhood; I plan to get the next day posted tomorrow! Thanks for bearing with me everyone!

 

[susanmbankston]

Just joined in. Loving it so far.

 

[Jrabbit910]

Joining in on the fun! Your family is adorable and it looks like your DD is having a blast! I totally know what you mean about driving around disney, we just got back as well and all I have to say is THANK GOD for those Disney signs!!!

 

[ampc3]

oh I love neighborhood drama.. J/k hope it isn't anything to serious..

looking forward to an update too..