~!Who knew you could relax in Disney?~Mother/Daughter Tr~5/2 May Trip Plans Days 5-8

[Space Command]

Love the trip report ... where was this cute poli-sci babe who loves Disney back when I was in college?

 

[YukiPhnx]

Love the trip report ... where was this cute poli-sci babe who loves Disney back when I was in college?

Oooh, looks like Caitlin's got an admirer!

 

[I Believe In Magic]

Happy belated Caitlin!! Glad to hear your special day was so much fun!!
Your family (and you of course) take the best pictures!! You are all very photogenic!!
Can't wait to hear more! We are enjoying your trip as much as you did!! lol

 

[Krisscot]

Just joining!! All caught up! What fun! We just got back too but my daughter needs to be a bit older to help me write our tr. But one day!

 

[dawnbu40]

Happy belated Caitlin!! Glad to hear your special day was so much fun!!
Your family (and you of course) take the best pictures!! You are all very photogenic!!
Can't wait to hear more! We are enjoying your trip as much as you did!! lol

Thank you

I'm so glad you're enjoying our TR. We're having fun sharing it

 

[dawnbu40]

Just joining!! All caught up! What fun! We just got back too but my daughter needs to be a bit older to help me write our tr. But one day!

Thank you for joining us. This is the 3rd TR we've written together and we enjoy making it a joint project. I hope you and your daughter get to do the same when she's older

 

[Fastpaks]

First Happy Belated Birthday! Beautiful family. You know I always knew the Eiffel Tower was in France, but it didn't dawn on me until I got home that it was there in Disney.

 

[dawnbu40]

First Happy Belated Birthday! Beautiful family. You know I always knew the Eiffel Tower was in France, but it didn't dawn on me until I got home that it was there in Disney.

Thank you The first time I visited Epcot I didn't even notice the Eiffel Tower. I love how it's just sort of a subtle detail in the landscape

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great photopass pictures...you guys are a good lookin bunch

I love getting some pictures every year at the same spot....it's amazing as everyone gets a year older how different they can be!

 

[dawnbu40]

Great photopass pictures...you guys are a good lookin bunch

I love getting some pictures every year at the same spot....it's amazing as everyone gets a year older how different they can be!

Aww thank you

I know both Caitlin and Jasmine have grown up visiting Disney and it is fun to look through all the changes. Of course, I'd rather look at how they've aged rather than how I have

 

[dawnbu40]

Tuesday, August 31st...
Caitlin was again the first one up and she was out the door and headed to the Boardwalk gym by 6:30. Yes, that girl is a workout junkie.

I got up when she left and started a pot of coffee for Dale. By the time it was finished he was awake and we took the coffee and a Coke for me, along with muffins that were in our Garden Grocer order, out to our little patio. This was the second morning Dale had his coffee out there and he absolutely loved it! Sitting outside and seeing the resort looking so peaceful was a wonderful way to begin the day!


After our breakfast we got ready for the day and then watched a little tv. By 8:30 we walked down to the Boardwalk dock and took the boat to DHS. On the way over our driver (what do you call the boat guy?) announced that Toy Story Mania was reopened and everyone cheered. This confused us since we had ridden the day before but apparently shortly after we rode, it was closed down again.

We got to DHS in plenty of time for rope drop and cut through the shops on the right hand side of the street and made it pretty close to the front of the line up. Score!

We decided that Dale and I would do the walk-on while Caitlin got the 3 of us fast passes and then she'd ride RNRC and we'd all meet back up.

Then "IT" happened.... An announcement was made that turned the rope drop line from a bunch of normal vacationers into a crazed mob. At rope drop it was announced that "TSM was reopened" and the crowd went insane. Instead of everyone following the CMS over to Pixar, there was a free for all and people started running.....picture the running of the bulls in Pamplona or maybe that scene from the Lion King where Mufasa gets trampled. It was nuts! At that moment all I could think of was..if someone visited the United States for the first time at this moment what would they think of us? Ugly Americans indeed!

In the midst of the turmoil Dale looked at me and said "let's not do this" and I was totally with him! We instead decided to visit some old friends who were standing near Mickey's hat...

While we were visiting with the ducks, Caitlin was being bullied at the FP machine. It turned out two 40something women cut in line in front of her and when she spoke up to them they yelled at her and told her to deal with it.
After her FP mess, she texted us and we told her we were in line for Stitch. She joined us and meeting up with her favorite alien helped alleviate the stress she had just encountered....

We then decided to make our way over to RNRC so Dale and Caitlin could ride. On the way we happened to pass "Starring Rolls" and decided that despite the early hour, we needed a snack break and just happened to have some snack credits that needed spending.

Caitlin and I shared this yummy little number

while Dale had this

We all loved our snacks and felt renewed after our tasty treats and conversation. We were then off to the RNRC. As luck would have it there was no wait and I took pictures and roamed the shop while they toured with Aerosmith.
My view....

How cute are these Steven Tyler-esque Mickey's?

Their view...

My rock stars home from their tour...

While they were on RNRC they decided their next destination should be a journey to Endor so we headed off in that direction. Along the way we cut through a 1940's Victory Garden...

I just love all the theming touches that Disney adds at all it's parks!

On our way to their Star Tour we passed the Tv Hall of Fame and stopped to pay tribute to a few of our favorite celebrities...

Everybody's favorite Golden Girl

Walt Disney

Continued in next post....

 

[dawnbu40]

Soon we arrived at Star Tours where this wonderful sight greeted us...

Isn't it great when you are able to walk on?!

By the time they returned to Earth our fast pass window had opened so we headed off to Toy Story Mania! Now if you have read past TR's with us you know we all absolutely love TSM! On our May 2009 trip we rode a record setting 8 times! This time however, we were greatly disappointed with TSM. It had just re-opened from a lengthy rehab and was still not working properly. The ride stopped several times and was really jerky. Big disappointment!

For our final stop of the morning we decided to try and see if we could meet Lotso. The day before the line had been too long but on this day we lucked out and only had a few families in front of us! All 3 of us loved the queue! It really looks like you're in the Day Care Center complete with "windows" to gaze out and tons of children's artwork. It is an adorable area!

After a short wait, it was our turn to meet the bear. As we rounded the corner Lotso stretched out his arms to hug us. Knowing the awful way he treated Woody, Buzz and the gang we weren't going to be easily swayed by this bear's hugs and strawberry scent. We asked him if he was nice now and why he was mean to everyone. He sort of shrugged and gave a thumbs up sign to say he was good now. That was good enough for us and there were hugs all around. Then the whole thing turned very funny as he pointed at the different characters in his backdrop giving thumbs up EXCEPT for Rex. Instead he moved his hand across his throat like he wanted to chop Rex's head off. Maybe we just have dark senses of humor but we cracked up and thought this was hilarious. Our laughter was positive reinforcement for him and he kept it up and we had a good laugh. We then got some pictures with our new friend...

It was one of the most fun character meets we had that trip and we were really glad we stopped!

It was now nearing lunch time and we had an adr at Epcot so we began making our way to the front of the park. Before we left though Caitlin stopped in Sid's and took some pictures of the memorabilia

We then left DHS and boarded a boat bound for Epcot where we enjoyed a wonderful meal at.............well I'll let Caitlin share that with you

 

[nessz79]

Yay for an update! Can't wait to hear where you ate!

Lots looked like fun .

 

[pinkxray]

Love the update! I can't wait to find out where you ate.

I thought the whole Lotso area was great. They did such a great job with Sunnyside.

I can't believe the drama at the TSM fastpass machine. Poor Caitlin.

 

[Missyrose]

Great update! Isn't all the TSM craziness just, well, crazy? People just pushing and yelling at the FP machines. It's a great ride, but geez, people act like you get $1 million at the end!

Can't wait to hear where you guys ate

 

[meeko_33785]

What a horrible rope drop experience. Poor Caitlin! At least you guys got to have some fun with the characters.

Sounds like you had a great Lotso experience. I'm glad that you all got to see him.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wow, bullying for a fastpass?! Some people really need to get a life! Sorry Caitlin had to put up with that.

Holy cow, that cupcake looks so good. I have got to get over to that bakery when we go!

Yay for meeting Lotso! I still can't get over how adorable his wait area is.

So which picture did you buy...Justin Bieber or Zac Efron? haha

 

[thecapells]

Great update.

But I can't believe you didn't beat up Lotso when you saw him!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great update Dawn!

Just the thought of making coffee and sitting outside at WDW put a smile on my face....next summer that will be us

I cannot believe those women did that to Caitlin....bullies at 40....isn't that nice....and we wonder why kids turn out the way they do.....Caitlin took the high road...good for her Makes me crazy though

Love the pictures with Lotso...so happy you got to finally meet up with him!

 

[dawnbu40]

Yay for an update! Can't wait to hear where you ate!

Lots looked like fun .

The upcoming lunch ended up being one of our favorites. The food was very good and the atmopshere was a lot of fun...

We did have a lot of fun with Lotso

Love the update! I can't wait to find out where you ate.

I thought the whole Lotso area was great. They did such a great job with Sunnyside.

I can't believe the drama at the TSM fastpass machine. Poor Caitlin.

Thank you

I think the Sunnyside area is the best they've done in theming that queue. Very cute!

DHS rope drop and grabbing those TSM fast passes seems to bring our the worst in people

Great update! Isn't all the TSM craziness just, well, crazy? People just pushing and yelling at the FP machines. It's a great ride, but geez, people act like you get $1 million at the end!

Can't wait to hear where you guys ate

Thank you. This was the worst we'd ever seen it at DHS, I guess because the ride had been done, but people were just awful.

Hopefully, Caitlin will have time to do an update sometime this weekend since she has almost a week off school