Where has all of the magic gone? Our November 2015 Trip

[BridgetR3]

We had decided to take this fall "off" after going twice a year for the last couple of years to Disney World. We were going to wait a little longer until some of the projects were finished and just see everything next year. THEN, they announce that this is the last year for the Osborne lights and immediately, within minutes, I'm on the phone with DH, booking a trip! There is NO way we could miss the last year of the lights.

We surprised the kids with the trip in the week before we left. DH tried to get a video of it but the kids ran around screaming and the video is a blurry mess.

Well, let's start back at the beginning with our characters......

Me - teacher by day/Disney planner and travel agent by night - I LOVE Disney! As a child, I was never able to experience the "magic" that is Disney. My first trip as an adult sealed the deal for me and I've been addicted ever since.

My favorites
Movie - Little Mermaid
Character - Mrs. Incredible
Park - Magic Kingdom
Resort - ANY!! (As long as I'm home....)

DH - He is just as addicted as I am and works hard to pay for my obsession. He has been found watching Wishes on Youtube when he's really lonesome for home.

His favorites
Character - Grumpy
Park - Magic Kingdom
Resort - Wilderness Lodge

DS1 - Such a great kid and so very smart! He wants to be an engineer when he is older so we hope that maybe one day he could be an Imagineer! He is known to walk around the house singing ride songs, movie songs, anything Disney.

His favorites
Character - Buzz and Woody
Park - Magic Kingdom
Resort - Beach Club or Caribbean Beach

DS2 - A total Disney fanatic. He LOVES all things Disney and Disney World. He actually cried the night we told him that it was the last year for the lights because "they are so beautiful, Mom, and we will never see them again".

His favorites
Character - Stitch
Ride - Anything fast and loud
Movie - (as of this minute......) Invisible Sisters or Descendants


Stay tuned for more on our last minute trip of a lifetime!!

 

[BridgetR3]

You know, throughout our trip I tried to think of a title for my trip report. I had a few different choices -

* That's a Wrap (although that would be stealing it from WDW)
* OMG, that kid stole my money
* Thanksgiving with the Crazies
* Where has all the magic gone?

I almost chose "OMG, that kid stole my money" because honestly it has made a big difference in us but in the end on our second to last day of the trip some things happened that made me choose "Where has all the magic gone?". I can honestly say that we have NEVER experienced Disney like we saw it last week and will probably never experience it that way again (if I can help it) but in the end, we enjoyed our trip. The weather was GORGEOUS; the crowds were HORRENDOUS; the lights were MAGICAL. Now on with the show....

We left early on Monday morning (the Monday during Thanksgiving week) for our surprise trip. The boys had known about the trip for just about a week ahead of time. We were all so excited to get to Disney. Somehow we magically made our 12.5 hour car ride into a 15 hour car ride but eventually we were there and ahh, it was amazing!! Except it wasn't Disney.....

It was close but not quite! Our room for the night was at the Holiday Inn on SR535 which is REALLY close to DTD...oh sorry, Disney Springs. In fact, we could see the Holiday Inn DTD from our room window. When we originally planned this trip, we weren't sure how much we would be able to save at the last minute so to save a little money we booked our first night offsite since we knew it would be late when we got there. HOWEVER, this was a really cool hotel for those people who can not (or do not want to) afford to stay on site.

They had a nice pool with a kid's splash area, JUMBO chess and checkers set pool side and a movie room showing Disney movies. They are a Disney good neighbor hotel and everyone we met was very polite!

The boys decided that we needed to play a game of chess.

Right next to it they had a checkers set as well.

Notice how the ground is a bit wet? Well the kid's splash area button was pressed by some random kid on the way to their room and voila.....

...the whole thing comes to life. This would not normally be a bad thing but this.....

Yep, it's 40 degrees and we are outside playing with water squirting on us! I definitely hope we don't get sick!!

After a while, they finally finished their game and we went inside to sleep as we had a big day tomorrow!! Checking in at our Disney hotel and our first park day!

 

[cantoine]

Following along! Love the life size games, we play them all the time with our kids at or local park. Can't wait to read along

 

[BridgetR3]

Following along! Love the life size games, we play them all the time with our kids at or local park. Can't wait to read along

Thanks for reading along!! We had never seen any before so they were pretty excited to play!!

 

[BridgetR3]

We were up rather early on our first morning. After all, who has time to sleep while at Disney!?!?!?!? So we packed our bags and headed off to check in to Port Orleans French Quarter for our first park day.

I knew from previous weeks that this would likely be our best Magic Kingdom day since it was still early in the week for Thanksgiving. Touring Plans had it as a 6 which I thought was totally absurd since it was after all Thanksgiving week but I figured these crowds would likely be the lowest we would see.

And we were off....next stop, DISNEY!!

I don't have a pic of the sign as I was driving. #Disneyfail

It only took us about 5 minutes or so to arrive at Port Orleans. I was surprised that I no longer have to show ID to enter. The guard simply scanned my magic band and sent us on our way.

After all of our magic band troubles during the summer, we decided to check in even though I had already completed the online check in. The CM who attended to us was very matter of fact in telling me that we were already checked in and that there was NO way our room would be ready now. I explained to her that I was not interested in going to the room, that I was only interested in check to make sure our magic bands work. She stated that she was going to give me the papers they give to people who check in even though I really wasn't supposed to get them since I had checked in online. As we left the line, DH looked at me in shock as we have never encountered a CM like that before. I chalked it up to us arriving right after a Magical Express bus and her being busy. (She NEVER did check our bands to make sure they worked so we are hoping that they will get us into the park.)

Next on the agenda was breakfast.... I'm not sure exactly what we ordered but I do remember that we paid cash for it as we didn't have enough quick service credits for the whole week and I find lunch/dinner to be a better use than breakfast.

This was DH's plate and although POFQ doesn't have a bounty platter, this looks very similar.

I had the kids' plate and loved the eggs and waffle. The peach was not quite ripe enough for me and I'm not a huge fan of hash browns.

Our family tradition is to visit Magic Kingdom on our very first day and ride PeopleMover as our very first ride. Why? I don't really know. It's what we did many years ago on our first trip and it's what my boys demand of us every single trip now.

After breakfast, we were off to enjoy Magic Kingdom. It was so nice to see the Christmas tree up already!

Oh those gorgeous blue skies!

I love the larger than life ornaments on all of Disney's trees and how they change the ornaments for the different parks/resorts.

I took a couple more pics on our walk down Main Street.

I know that we are a bit later than park opening but those crowds already.....it's quite a bit more crowded than I was hoping for!

After capturing the photos, we turned right at Tomorrowland Terrace to get to PeopleMover.

We walked right onto the moving platform and were on the ride in no time.

At this point, the boys decide that THIS is the year for riding Astro Orbiter. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before.

One of our first fast passes of the trip will allow us to be part of the biggest spectacle in racing. I just can't wait!

After riding PeopleMover, we begin to look for our next ride but everything in Tomorrowland has a LONG wait so we decided to move on. We'll be back later for our fastpass but for now, let's go to New Fantasyland.

 

[deannaf87]

Joining in! Sounds like this trip report will be fun

 

[Stargazer9]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about it!!

 

[BridgetR3]

Joining in! Sounds like this trip report will be fun

I see that you were at Disney in November as well! Will you be writing a TR about your trip? I'll go over and follow yours!

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about it!!

Thanks for reading along! It should be an interesting read!

 

[BridgetR3]

After getting off the PeopleMover, we headed over to New Fantasyland to see what we could do.

Not sure exactly when/where I took this photo but it is from this time on my camera and it was kind of cool so I figured I would share it.

Seven Dwarf Mine Train was quite a long wait and honestly I won't wait very long for it even though we really enjoy it simply because the ride is so short. We had fast passes on our other two Magic Kingdom days so we skipped it.

Our boys LOVE the Dumbo queue now that it's a playground. Even my 13 year old still likes to play in it so even though Dumbo had a 20 minute wait, they decided it was worth it because we could play!

They played by running around and I played with my camera settings. It only took 7 tries for me to get a decent picture of the cannon.......

.....and a not so decent pic of the ceiling! lol....

Better except for the elephant's bottom! Oh well!!

By this time our buzzer was going off and it certainly wasn't 20 minutes but the wait from here to the actual ride was most of our wait.

I LOVE the water feature at the bottom of Dumbo. I could stand there and photograph it all day long. The pictures may not be pretty but you will see them!

Check out those blue skies!! We have never had such beautiful weather on a fall trip before!

And we are off!!

Poor DH!! I have a great photo of the back of their heads!

I snapped this pic of Barnstormer as we whirled around.

We also took an obligatory selfie as we whizzed around.

After riding Dumbo, the boys and I got in line for Barnstormer (Dh doesn't ride it). We rode around one quick trip and were on our way back to use our fast pass for Tomorrowland Speedway.

....but first, a sideways picture of 7D! Turning it sideways makes me a better photographer right!?!?!?

We saw the Tea Cups and of course the boys had to stop and spin for a minute!

I love how the mouse peeks out of the tea pot! I'm a HUGE tea pot fan.

They chose different tea cups but my youngest didn't want to spin too fast and my oldest wanted to go really fast. This changed by the end of the week when they both wanted to go as fast as they could. lol....NOT ME!

And finally we are REALLY going use our fast pass!!!

Holy smokes, Batman!! Check that line!!! Thankfully we had a fast pass and went right through!

I tried to get some good photos but this was the only one I was successful at getting because well......

DH was driving and I was a giggling mess with all the craziness!!! At one point, he turned his steering wheel as far to the right as possible to try to keep the car from banging against the metal rail but no such luck! We just laughed away!

Never a truer statement than this! YES we were a spectacle to see!

Our hoodlums.....I mean kiddos in front of us!

So where do you go in Tomorrowland to enjoy a GREAT ride?!?!?

To Stitch of course!!! Got you didn't I? You see, DS2 LOVES Stitch!

Unfortunately, we let him escape to enjoy chili dogs in Floreeeeda. Oh well better luck next time!

We also visited Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor at this point but we walked up as they were letting the show in so no pics from me.

Our last ride before lunch was Space Mountain. We had fast passes for it and even though I don't ride it, I decided to walk through the queue with the boys.

I had never been in this queue before. It was really neat to see all of it.

After this, I decided that I needed to do this for all of the rides that I don't ride! Oh yeah, I also thought all of the moving platforms were cool. Yep, we go to Disney so I can use moving platforms! Hey people, it's country come to town okay!??!?!


Up next, LUNCH!!!

 

[disneyguy4life]

I can't wait to hear more. To bad about the CM. There will always be a few of them. I look forward to hearing more.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

Sounds like a lot of fun....

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining in - though your thread title has me worried

Glad you enjoyed the hotel you stayed in the first night (well, other than the water effects in 40 degree weather!)

My goodness that CM! I mean, I get that people have off days, etc. but try to be civil - we're living in a society here! I mean, you can't be the first person who wanted to double check their magic bands

It's nice to have a tradition like you do of riding the peoplemover first. Yeah, those crowds are not very appealing - though, seems like it is showing the benefits of FP+ as you are still able to get on a decent number of rides

That's a great picture of you and DH on the speedway!

 

[BridgetR3]

Joining in - though your thread title has me worried

Glad you enjoyed the hotel you stayed in the first night (well, other than the water effects in 40 degree weather!)

My goodness that CM! I mean, I get that people have off days, etc. but try to be civil - we're living in a society here! I mean, you can't be the first person who wanted to double check their magic bands

It's nice to have a tradition like you do of riding the peoplemover first. Yeah, those crowds are not very appealing - though, seems like it is showing the benefits of FP+ as you are still able to get on a decent number of rides

That's a great picture of you and DH on the speedway!

Thank you for joining along!!

In her defense the CM's had it ROUGH while we were there.

We did get a lot done on that day but not so much later in the week. It's our first trip ever where most of our MK rides/shows were one and done for the week. Waiting 10-20 minutes for the bathroom was ridiculous on some days but we knew it would be crowded.

Thanks! We were having a fantastic time being bounced from side to side in our poor little race car.

 

[BridgetR3]

I can't wait to hear more. To bad about the CM. There will always be a few of them. I look forward to hearing more.

After seeing the crowds and their craziness, I kind of understood a frazzled CM although they are not normally like that.

I'll post more this weekend!

Sounds like a lot of fun....

It was definitely an experience!

 

[BridgetR3]

After the boys had a quick ride through space on Space Mountain, we decided to have lunch. Another must do for us is eating at Cosmic Rays. I LOVE their rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. It is easily my favorite counter service meal in all of Disney!

It took us a little while to actually find a table because it was about 12:30 and unfortunately everyone else in the World was hungry as well. Finally we found a table in the room with Sonny so I sat DS2 down and ran to help carry the order.

As I met DH I realized that he only had 3 meals......wait what?!?!? There are four of us. How do you only have 3 meals? He swears that he understood that DS2 was going to just eat with me. DS2 was VERY adamant that he wanted his own meal so back into those long lines I went to grab another lunch!

Finally, crisis averted, I sat down and was able to eat. Like a good DIS family, they remembered to take food pictures for me!!

My favorite Disney counter service meal

Sideways burger picture

Adult chicken nuggets


After lunch and a potty break, the boys decided that they wanted to ride more rides but.....photobucket is being a brat and it's taken 40 minutes to get these few pics on here. I'll be back later with a longer post! Hurray for being off for 2 weeks for Christmas break!!!

 

[adudeinblue]

I think that selfie between you and your husband should now be your introduction for all your many more future TR/PTR! It's cute and silly and captured the moment perfectly!

Can't wait to read more from your family!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Reading along!

I just got back from a trip to WDW, was there just over a week after you were and I also found the parks to be a wee bit crowded.

by the end of the week when they both wanted to go as fast as they could. lol....NOT ME!

I totally agree with you on this! I used to love spinning ultra fast in the tea cups but now it just makes me sick. My brothers on the other hand are like little kids and love to spin just like your boys.

 

[ariane37]

Joining in! We were in the World 11/20-11/28 so I'm interested to read the similarities/differences in our trips We had lots of fun (and I hope you did, too!) but it was far from our "best" Disney trip. However, it wasn't our first time there and I don't expect it'll be our last, and every trip can't be perfect . Can't wait to read more-maybe we crossed paths somewhere!

 

[BridgetR3]

I think that selfie between you and your husband should now be your introduction for all your many more future TR/PTR! It's cute and silly and captured the moment perfectly!

Can't wait to read more from your family!

lol....Thanks!! We had way too much fun on those silly cars!! I'm back and posting another segment today!

Reading along!

I just got back from a trip to WDW, was there just over a week after you were and I also found the parks to be a wee bit crowded.



I totally agree with you on this! I used to love spinning ultra fast in the tea cups but now it just makes me sick. My brothers on the other hand are like little kids and love to spin just like your boys.

It was too crowded honestly for us. We love Disney and we usually don't mind the crowds but our saying QUICKLY became .....these people do go home sometime soon right?!?!?!?

Joining in! We were in the World 11/20-11/28 so I'm interested to read the similarities/differences in our trips We had lots of fun (and I hope you did, too!) but it was far from our "best" Disney trip. However, it wasn't our first time there and I don't expect it'll be our last, and every trip can't be perfect . Can't wait to read more-maybe we crossed paths somewhere!

We did find magic and fun on the trip but you may have to wait a little while for that because it was almost the last day. Luckily it wasn't our first trip or it may have been our last but we do have some fun memories from it!

 

[BridgetR3]

Right before lunch, we had met up with a brand new friend of my oldest DS's from school. They are in some of the same clubs but had only just met thanks to a common love of Disney and a trip during the same week! She was going to meet Drizella, her favorite Disney character so we joined them on a meet and greet. This little girl seriously loves Drizella, as in they meet her EVERY time she's available. Whew, we are not that into characters but this was a fun one!!

The young girl gave my oldest to Drizella and my youngest to Anastasia as suitors.

I wish I had noticed that my oldest had zipped his jacket all the way up in Cosmic Ray's because it was cold but with all the silliness I didn't notice until the pics came through.

This is definitely a meet and greet that my boys loved. Those ladies are hilarious.

They asked where there rings are and the guys decided that in May we are bringing them sucker ring pops to propose. Of course, neither of my guys was the least bit phased by their antics and even played along quite a bit.

After saying good-bye to our new school friend and our new Disney friends, we headed out to see a little more of Magic Kingdom while waiting for our room to be ready.

Having already used our first two fastpasses before lunch and with the third fastpass being Wishes, we had no quick lines at this point and crowds were CRAZY!!! Now I will not ever give up a Wishes fastpass for a ride. I know that some people do not care for it but for us, at the end of a long day, to be able to sit (Or sometimes stand) on the grass in an open area without smashing in like sardines to see our favorite show is totally worth it.

We checked a few different places and being a mid-afternoon during Thanksgiving week, EVERYTHING was crazy long so we decided to finish something we always start but never get to finish.

A couple of times we have finished one or two of the Pirates quest but have never stopped to do all of them because it's usually WAY too hot to stay out that long. We decided this was the perfect time to complete the entire series! Sometimes I followed along and sometimes I found a nice little section of rock to sit on.

SPOILER ALERT - Here are a few of the surprises that happen on the quest....

These "guys" scared the crud out of me. They "shoot" you with forceful air. lol.....I'm sure if there was a video of me reacting to them, we could possibly win money from America's Funniest Home Videos.

So finally we finished helping Perry save the world from Doofensmirtz....oh wrong missions......we finally found all of the treasure and in reward received a text that our room was ready!! YAY!! That's an awesome prize!

A crowd picture as we head to the front

Before long, we were out of the crowds and on a bus headed back to the resort. A closer inspection of the map revealed that we were in building 4 which was great because it's close to the bus stops.

Soon we were "home" and unpacking....

My people do not believe in waiting for me to take pictures before they go in and get comfortable so they are in my pictures. I'm fairly certain that youngest DS is already watching the safety videos with Timon and Pumba. He LOVES those!

Nope, it looks like he was still looking for them on the TV.

The only time our vanity was ever clean the whole week.....

I love Port Orleans French Quarter. It's a VERY small resort with a very southern feel to it. It is by far my favorite moderate but unfortunately it does not often get included in the promotions.

The wrought iron decor around the resort is so pretty.

I think we had a garden view but I'm not sure. (We didn't pay for one as far as I know.)

After unpacking, we decided to have dinner and head back to Magic Kingdom. I also love that Port Orleans French Quarter serves homestyle food for dinner.

We picked up our meals and filled our drinks without any trouble and sat down to eat.

DS had salmon of course. This is his absolute favorite meal no matter where in the real world we are. He loves salmon.

Sorry for the awesome blurry photo.

I had fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

Not sure why I have a close up of mac and cheese but my guys do love their mac and cheese.

They have typical desserts like brownies and cookies but why choose that when you can choose beignets or an ice cream sandwich.

The decor is a bit scary but the food makes up for it.

Soon we were finished eating and on our way back to MK for the evening!