Who Turned on the Heat?! Our sweaty 2 weeks in May! Final Thoughts.

[GreatBiscuit]

Finally got caught up. Sounds like a nifty day in Epcot. I'm glad you'll get to do another trip. One good thing about this summer is that we'll have 4 days with my parents there and 4 days with just us. Loved all the photos BTW. You wound up getting some mighty nifty shots. Sorry to hear about the illuminations letdown, but at least you'll soon get a do-over. Looking forward to hearing how it all ends! And hearing how it all begins for the next trip.

 

[jackieleanne]

I love your trip report and photos your little girl is just adorable, the pictures of her reactions nearly had me in floods of tears and its brilliant that she's enjoyed everything she's been on.

 

[MagicShell]

I really enjoyed looking through your pictures. The one with Madeline, Mickey, and Pluto was very cute. I like your idea of spending the whole time in Magic Kingdom. My 13 year old daughter would probably not go for that though. She loves the Tower of Terror.

 

[Jenjulia]

hahaha that secret didn't last long did it? Have you seen the thread about Disney nights? I think it's on the family board. YOu should check it out!

lol. Yes, their mom has a problem with secrets sometimes. I saw those. They look really fun. I think we are going to plan some of them. We're going to UP on Saturday afternoon for a matinee. I need to think of some ideas to go with that.

I'm eagerly awaiting another day report on here. I love how excited M was and can't wait to see more pics. I hope that our pics turn out as good as yours!!

 

[chicagoshannon]

Finally got caught up. Sounds like a nifty day in Epcot. I'm glad you'll get to do another trip. One good thing about this summer is that we'll have 4 days with my parents there and 4 days with just us. Loved all the photos BTW. You wound up getting some mighty nifty shots. Sorry to hear about the illuminations letdown, but at least you'll soon get a do-over. Looking forward to hearing how it all ends! And hearing how it all begins for the next trip.

that will be nice that you'll have part of your time without your parents. Although I dont' think it will matter as much since you're staying on property.

I love your trip report and photos your little girl is just adorable, the pictures of her reactions nearly had me in floods of tears and its brilliant that she's enjoyed everything she's been on.

Thanks! I still tear up everytime I see those pictures.

I really enjoyed looking through your pictures. The one with Madeline, Mickey, and Pluto was very cute. I like your idea of spending the whole time in Magic Kingdom. My 13 year old daughter would probably not go for that though. She loves the Tower of Terror.

yeah I'm not sure Eric will go for all 4 days in the Magic Kingdom but we'll do 2 for sure. I'm debating about the Halloween party now. Eric thinks Madeline is too young so we'll see.

lol. Yes, their mom has a problem with secrets sometimes. I saw those. They look really fun. I think we are going to plan some of them. We're going to UP on Saturday afternoon for a matinee. I need to think of some ideas to go with that.

I'm eagerly awaiting another day report on here. I love how excited M was and can't wait to see more pics. I hope that our pics turn out as good as yours!!

We bought Ratatouille the other day and have a free ($7.50) ticket to UP. I guess we'll be taking in a Matinee at some point too. If I lived in LA I could go to a free showing of it for being a D23 member.

Another update coming in a moment. I took the day off yesterday cause i needed to paint the bathroom.

 

[PookieB]

hmm that's a tough one. If you think your daughter will fall asleep at all I'd bring the regular stroller. I think it'd be much more comfortable for her. Now if she were 2 instead of 1 I'd say umbrella but you have so much more stuff to carry around with a 1 year old then 2 year old.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'll start with a quick synopsis of day 6. We planned to sleep in today. I'm sure Madeline was up though. My dad slept til 11am I think. While he was sleeping we played potato heads and ponies. Eric and I also watched the previous nights episode of Lost on the computer. We also drove down 192 and ate lunch at Chic-fil-a. Then it was naptime and after that we went swimming of course!

I only mention this day because this was the day that Eric checked his work email. I don't like him to do this because it can ruin a trip. When we were on our honeymoon he found out that a ton of his coworkers including his dad were laid off. His dad had wanted to retire so he volunteered thus saving someone else's job I(possibly Eric's) So we werent' 100% sure that Eric would have a job to go back to. Everything turned out fine but I know it was on his mind the rest of our honeymoon. ANYWAY, I hear "OH MY or Holy Cow" something to that affect. Eric's company didn't give any raises this year and recently took away most of their 401K matching. I didn't like hearing those words. Turns out he got an email saying he was bumped up to 5 weeks of vaction. He's been with the company for 11 years now. At 10 years he got 1, yes 1, extra day of vacation bumping it up to 3 weeks and 1 day. lol He would get another week at like 16 years or something. THis was a fantastic surprise. So with almost half a year behind us we get 2 extra weeks to do something. What should that be? When should I broach the subject of another trip?

Moving on to MGM.
We got there nice and early as usual. We were 2nd in line at one of the turnstiles. I took some pictures while we waited

then they let us in and we got to wait a bit longer

I was pretty close to the rope but couldn't run ahead because everyone wanted to stay together today.
We saw the opening show. It was kind of lame.

We then headed in with the masses. I wanted to push the stroller but my mom insisted. So we of course get stuck behind one of those massive double jogging strollers and the guy decides he needs to just stop. Gotta love that. So we eventually make it and the FP line is HUGE! We decided to ride and fast pass afterward. GREAT decision! The line is really neat and it moved very fast.

I wanted Madeline to stand there but she refused and the line was moving so I just took the picture. I could feel the people behind us getting mad.

we got all the way to those stairs before we stopped.

our final score. I was red, Eric was blue. This is definitely a game you need to ride once for practice. Both of our scores improved greatly on our next ride.

After the ride mom took Madeline to the bathroom while I got in line for fast passes. The line was pretty long but moved very quickly. The cm in the line I was in happened to just be handing them out. SCORE! Now we could use our tickets for RNR fast passes immediately! Mom and Madeline were still in the bathroom so I sent the boys off to Tower of Terror since neither of us wanted to ride. After they were done we took a leisurely walk over there.

We found a photopass guy.

cont'd.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I then got FP's for RNR and went to the bathroom. We headed toward the TOT gift shop to wait for the guys. Madeline conned us into getting her a Mickey Mouse head bracelet.
We had these taken after their ride

It was almost time for the 10:30 show of Playhouse Disney so we headed over there.

There was more of a line then I expected but we made it in.
Madeline loved it! She danced and cheered.

you can see her new bracelet in that one.

FYI for all of you that don't want to sit on the floor there are a couple of benches in the back along the walls. My dad sat there.

We headed to The Little Mermaid but the show had just started or something so we'd come back to that. Little did we know what a pain trying to see that show would be (no fastpasses this day).

So we headed for a ride into the movies.

We walked right into the little screening room before the ride and had to wait 1 cycle. I was a little nervous about this ride. Madeline did great though. She clung to my arm a bit during parts of the ride but wasnt' scared at all of the gangster scene. I dont' blame her cause the CM wasn't very convincing. lol

Our ride through the movies was done. Would we make it to the Little Mermaid show???

 

[my2disneyboys]

I love Madeline's face during the playhouse disney show. So cute!! I scored higher than Wayne on TSM so of course I teased him about that one... but he did have Owen with him.

 

[Dylan_&_Blake's_mom]

great new update. I am getting soo excited to see this park for the first time. Madeline, of course, is absolutely adorable in these pics again.

 

[lisalonglash]

Great update! How cool to get FPs handed to you instead of having to use your KTTW card! Congrats to your dh for scoring some extra vacation time - awesome! Madeline's new bracelet is adorable, just like Madeline!

 

[KathyRN137]

So refreshing to take a day off from the parks!

Congrats on the extra week of vacation time!! Wonder how you're going to want to spend it???


Kathy

 

[wlwilliams9]

Great update! Emily has the same bracelet! She got it last year! I love watching their reactions at the Playhouse Disney show. It brings me to tears everytime!

TSM is such a great ride! I can't wait to go back and ride again! I rode with Emily and she scored 8900ish and I scored 121000ish! She loved it! Wait until you see my Space Ranger Spin score!!!

 

[Jenjulia]

M looks so cute at the Playhouse Disney show. She looks so much like you, the profile pic is so cute!! I love the new bracelet. New pretties are always well worn and loved in this house.


Extra vacation time is awesome. I'm so sorry that his work has been so stressful this year. I hear you on the checking email during vacation. Craig always had his cell phone ringing when we were on vacation/holidays. Very frustrating! Hopefully he won't bring it with when you go back in Oct.

Do you like D23? Do you feel you got "bang" for your "buck?"

 

[chicagoshannon]

I love Madeline's face during the playhouse disney show. So cute!! I scored higher than Wayne on TSM so of course I teased him about that one... but he did have Owen with him.

Eric scored higher then me both times but the first time I had the camera out and Madeline hanging on me. The 2nd time my score greatly improved!

great new update. I am getting soo excited to see this park for the first time. Madeline, of course, is absolutely adorable in these pics again.

Thanks. The park is a nice one for walking around and sitting down. Most of the things for kids are shows.

Great update! How cool to get FPs handed to you instead of having to use your KTTW card! Congrats to your dh for scoring some extra vacation time - awesome! Madeline's new bracelet is adorable, just like Madeline!

yes it was very nice! I hope that happens again next time.

So refreshing to take a day off from the parks!

Congrats on the extra week of vacation time!! Wonder how you're going to want to spend it???


Kathy

haha yeah I wonder

Great update! Emily has the same bracelet! She got it last year! I love watching their reactions at the Playhouse Disney show. It brings me to tears everytime!

TSM is such a great ride! I can't wait to go back and ride again! I rode with Emily and she scored 8900ish and I scored 121000ish! She loved it! Wait until you see my Space Ranger Spin score!!!

Madeline loves the bracelet. She wears it around everyday. Madeline didn't have her own gun this time but I think I'll let her next time. Eric can ride by himself. lol Dont' even talk about Buzz. I suck at that one. I can never tell where I'm aiming.

M looks so cute at the Playhouse Disney show. She looks so much like you, the profile pic is so cute!! I love the new bracelet. New pretties are always well worn and loved in this house.


Extra vacation time is awesome. I'm so sorry that his work has been so stressful this year. I hear you on the checking email during vacation. Craig always had his cell phone ringing when we were on vacation/holidays. Very frustrating! Hopefully he won't bring it with when you go back in Oct.

Do you like D23? Do you feel you got "bang" for your "buck?"

I think D23 is worth it. We get special opportunities although so far they've all been in CA. lol The magazine that comes is really nice and so far has come with a free gift each time.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Out ride into the movies ended just in time to see The Little Mermaid... or so we thought. We practically ran over there but they had already closed the doors. It must have been full because there was still 5 minutes before show time. So we decided to get lunch instead. We walked back over toward TGMR and saw a special lady. So we had to stop

Then we headed to lunch. I forget the name but we all agreed on the place by Honey I shrunk the kids playground. We got lucky and Madeline didn't see it. I had originally planned for her to play there but it was WAY too hot. Maybe next time.

After lunch we headed to the Muppets.

Madeline enjoyed the show. She stayed awake which I was a bit surprised since it was getting toward nap time.
When the show was over we headed to Lights, Motor, Action stunt show. I think there was only 1 show today at 1pm. It was about 5-10 minutes before showtime. This was a HORRIBLE walk! They let you in and they you have to walk all the way to the opposite side of the stadium. THEN we had to walk up a million stairs. By the time we got to the seats I was so annoyed. I didn't want to see this show in the first place but my dad loves stunt shows so we saw it. ( I did't mind it was my idea to see it) Although on this day I think he wouldn't have minded skipping it.

Madeline was so close to falling asleep during this show. She was on my lap and was making me VERY hot. I couldnt' wait to get out of there. We left and had to walk the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way around again. We put her in her stroller hoping she'd fall asleep. We decided it was time for Star Tours.

It was pretty much a walk on. My dad, Eric and I went on. I wish they'd update the movie. On our honeymoon we had one of those pictures made in the gift shop. We thought maybe we'd do it again but when we got off the ride the store was a madhouse so we skipped it. Something to try in October I guess.

We spotted the Jedi Training show starting. Eric wanted to watch. He was SO wishing he was a little boy at this point. He said he's going to get Madeline up there when she's old enough. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Eric's face but I didn't. Just imagine Madeline's face when she saw that train pull up at MK on the first day but on Eric. lol

While Eric was watching Madeline and I think grandpa had a snack. It was about time for another Mermaid show so we headed in that direction.

Too bad it wasn't for another 45 minutes or so. Would we EVER see this show? Instead we decided now would be a good time to use our FP's for TSM. Off we go. No pictures this time. I wanted to concentrate on the game.

When that was done we headed back to TLM and got in. YAY It was still a little bit before the show but at least we were in the building in the A/C! Madeline absolutely loved this show too.

We were about done for the day but had FP's for RNR burning a hole in out pockets so off in that direction we went. On the way we noticed Beauty and the Beast was going to start in just a few minutes. I had wanted to see it so we stopped.

We really enjoyed it and Belle became Madeline's new favorite princess.

Off to RNR we went.

I always look so weird in those ride pictures.

We then headed out of the park but I wanted a picture first. We got to the photopass person and Madeline was just about sleeping but I really wanted the picture so we took her out of the stroller. lol

THen we left. It was about 5pm. We stopped at Perkins for supper. Madeline was not a happy camper. I think we went swimming when we got back to the condo. Then it was bath and bed!

Next up: Saturday May 9th Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. haha

 

[MaryAz]

Cute pics and a great update!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Awww! The sleeping pictures are adorable.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Great updates! Loved all the pics as usual. You guys actually got quite a bit dont in one day. I'm kind of dreading the Toy Story mayhem this summer. Not sure we'll make it to a rope drop or not, but I DO plan a nightime EMH so hopefully we can get on then without a 2 hour wait time. If not, I may have to grab everyone's park passes and do a solo run to the FP machine. (IF you can use a pass at the FP machine that has not been through the turnstiles yet.) Hmmm....maybe I oughta post that one on the parks board. I'm rambling aren't I? I would LOVE to see an updated Star Tours as long as they didn't pull a figment and totally mess it up. The stunt car show in the sun also has me a bit nervous this summer. We'll have our mister fans, but I'm thinking it may be a skipper.

Well, gotta run! Looking forward to more updates.

OH and good show on the Perkins dinner. That's the one thing I'll miss this summer.

 

[my2disneyboys]

great pictures! I also love the pics of Madeline sleeping. Poor baby!!!
I thought the muppet show was cute. I also really didnt care for the long walk or being crammed in those benches watching the stunt show- we had gone in 07 and I had told Wayne this time- NO way was I going back.