Will I be Herding Cats Again?* **** COMPLETED *****

[jillyb]

Hooray for Pop Pop!!! Seing them dancing brought tears to my eyes. That is just so sweet!!

The cake looks FABULOUS!! And I swear the earless, noseless and eyeless Minnie looks just like Ms. Piggy!!!!

 

[DisneyJo]

How funny that your DS only came out from under the table to pose with Cinderella

How sweet of Pop pop to dance with Katie

What a pain you had to keep asking for the cake but wow it was gorgeous, I love the white chocolate Minnie Mouse and how funny what Katie did to her

 

[faerieprincess]

And I swear the earless, noseless and eyeless Minnie looks just like Ms. Piggy!!!!

Whoa, it so does!!!

 

[mom2mek]

Hooray for Pop Pop!!! Seing them dancing brought tears to my eyes. That is just so sweet!!

The cake looks FABULOUS!! And I swear the earless, noseless and eyeless Minnie looks just like Ms. Piggy!!!!

Thanks Jill! It was a special moment for her! I just love him and all that he does for my kids!

That is so true about Miss Piggy! It soooo does!!

How funny that your DS only came out from under the table to pose with Cinderella

How sweet of Pop pop to dance with Katie

What a pain you had to keep asking for the cake but wow it was gorgeous, I love the white chocolate Minnie Mouse and how funny what Katie did to her

Thanks Jo! There DID seem to be some sort of lack of communication regarding the cake, but I was very pleased with how it turned out. I probably wouldn't get it again at a place like 1900 PF, just because you already are eating dessert with the buffet, so you just don't eat much of the cake. Would definitely get more of your $ worth at a menu-type restaurant! I knew that going in, but it's where we were having her birthday dinner, so I didn't think I had a choice. Hindsight being 20/20....I would have been just fine to have gotten ONLY the Minnie Mouse! If they would have let me!

Whoa, it so does!!!

I know! So funny!

Sara

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Nice update Sara! Great pictures as usual. Glad to see some of Michael!

Love the picture of Emily with her cookie! Yum!

What a super sweet pop pop the kids have. Did you get video of the dancing. Very, very sweet!

That cake looks great! Did it taste as good as it looks?

 

[mom2mek]

Nice update Sara! Great pictures as usual. Glad to see some of Michael!

Love the picture of Emily with her cookie! Yum!

What a super sweet pop pop the kids have. Did you get video of the dancing. Very, very sweet!

That cake looks great! Did it taste as good as it looks?

Thanks Michelle! The pictures of Michael were a little few and far between at Park Fare!

I'm not sure if we have video of Pop Pop dancing with Katie - I'll have to check (not that I can post it or anything....ugh... ) I just love that he did that for her! He is so wonderful and is such a great Pop Pop!

The cake was very good, but honestly with all the other desserts at PF, it didn't really get eaten! We took it back to the house with us but I don't think we touched it again. If I had to do it over, I would have just gotten the Minnie - if they allow that! That was all Katie wanted, and the rest of us were fine with the goodies off of the buffet!

Sara

 

[kaysmommie]

Very nice updates. Sorry about your waitress. We haven't ever had good service here yet. My Dh really liked the food here. I thought it was just okay. breakfast is great though! I love the pictures of Michael hiding under the table from Lady Tremaine. The girls look like they enjoyed seeing the characters. i love the ones of Katie dancing with her grandpa, so sweet. the cake looks great too! Was it good? i ask because we might have dinner there again May and I might order a cake there since I hear GF has a great bakery. We will do Chef Mickey's on Thomas' actual Bday (he doesn't like Princesses at all) though and have a small cake there as well. I'm sad I missed Spectro but I had a fever, the kids rode some rides and then we left before the spectro was over . I will have to enjoy your pics instead.

 

[mom2mek]

Very nice updates. Sorry about your waitress. We haven't ever had good service here yet. My Dh really liked the food here. I thought it was just okay. breakfast is great though! I love the pictures of Michael hiding under the table from Lady Tremaine. The girls look like they enjoyed seeing the characters. i love the ones of Katie dancing with her grandpa, so sweet. the cake looks great too! Was it good? i ask because we might have dinner there again May and I might order a cake there since I hear GF has a great bakery. We will do Chef Mickey's on Thomas' actual Bday (he doesn't like Princesses at all) though and have a small cake there as well. I'm sad I missed Spectro but I had a fever, the kids rode some rides and then we left before the spectro was over . I will have to enjoy your pics instead.

Hi Nichole! Yeah, I would really like to try PF for breakfast one time. I would love to meet Mary Poppins as we have never seen her in the parks (other than during Spectro). Pop Pop dancing with Katie in the middle of the restaurant was so sweet! He is a great Pop Pop! The cake was very good, but I would only get a cake that is of that size if you were eating at a "menu" restaurant because we just weren't that hungry for the cake, ya know? I knew that it was buffet, but I really wanted her to have a cake, but in hindsight, the little "castle" cake that you can get at the GF (or even just the chocolate minnie) would have been plenty for Katie. And then the rest of us would have just enjoyed the awesome desserts on the buffet. They have those new small celebration cakes (princess treasure box and pirate treasure box) that you can get. There are some pics of them on the birthday cake thread. They are small, but cute!

Spectro is coming up...sadly not a whole lot of pics came out. But I do have a few!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom

Part 9 (yes I said 9) - LAST PART OF THE DAY!!!!

As we were leaving the restaurant, Emily decided she wanted to change out of her Cinderella dress. Katie, despite her very "un-princess" like destruction of her chocolate Minnie Mouse, was still going strong as a princess, and did not want to take hers off!

We changed Emily, climbed on board the monorail, and were back at the Magic Kingdom in no time. Unfortunately, due to our delays at Park Fare waiting for the guys to arrive, along with our delay in getting the cake delivered to the table...we were running a wee bit behind for getting to Spectro. I had originally figured we would be finished with dinner by 6:30 or so, putting us back at the MK in plenty of time to get up Main St and find a spot near Liberty Square. I even foolishly thought we would have time to take a ride on Peter Pan with our FPs from earlier! Ha!

Instead, here is what really happened....we got to the MK around 7:15 and the flagpole area and Main St in general were mobbed with people! I still debated walking up Main St to go to Liberty Square but after seeing the crowds, I knew we would be like salmon swimming upstream.

I was a little nervous about how long it might take the 8 of us and the double stroller to make it up Main St and get to Liberty Square and figured that by the time we did, all the good spots would be gone anyway and then we would be REALLY out of luck. So, we scoped out the flagpole area and realized that would be our best bet. We parked the stroller over by City Hall right where they were roping it off for the people to continue to walk through to exit the park, and then we headed over to the flag pole side of the street and found some seats right up by the rope facing the train station.


It was horribly uncomfortable, but the kids had a good view of all the floats. I didn't particularly care for the spot too much because the area that was roped off for people to cross, was constantly flooded with people being waved through by the CMs in between all the floats. Kind of took away from the "magic" of that amazing parade. But I was just glad to be sitting and watching it! FINALLY!!!

When the music started, I got positively giddy! There is just nowhere except Disney World where you can see such an amazing and beautiful parade! It just makes my heart fill up just thinking about it!

Unfortunately, most of our pics just didn't work. Shawn didn't have his tripod and with our position it was really hard to get things from a good angle. I'll share some of them with you anyway!

You go, Ostrich! Great fankick!

I do kind of like this one...how the kids are in focus and the lights are all blurry...

Katie got some special attention from the characters...Mary Poppins in particular came up and talked to her for a little while!

After the parade was over, we regrouped, grabbed the stroller and were going to head out to leave. I knew we had rope drop planned in the morning for the Studios, and I thought it was probably best to get going.

HOWEVER....I was overruled by all 3 kids AND their Dad who all just wanted ONE MORE RIDE!!!! Going against my better judgement, I gave in, and we headed up Main St for a ride on Buzz with the FPs I had picked up earlier that day.

As we were rounding the corner near Tony's, the CMs opened up the "backstage" area for people trying to go back up Main St. Woo-hoo! (Now if any of you read my November trip report, you know that this happened to us on that trip, and I was kind of unhappy about it - sort of stole the magic away from the park you know...to see all the "normal" stuff back there).

However, I quickly got over that when I knew we needed to get up Main St quickly, ride the ride, and get the heck out of dodge before Wishes started! So I tried to distract my kids from all the "normalcy" we were experiencing backstage (LOL) and we made it up to Tomorrowland in short order!

Soon we were on our way to battling Zurg! Shawn and Michael rode together, I rode with Emily, Katie rode with my mom, and my MIL rode with Pop-Pop! The pics are really blurry, but here is the one of Michael and Shawn anyway....

After the ride, we took a few pictures of our prisoners...

And then we knew that it was indeed time to go! On our way out, the backstage area was open again, so we took advantage of it and scooted on out of the park.

Wishes was just about ready to start, and we saw the scariest looking crowds lined up all the way to the flagpole to watch Wishes. It was unbelievable the number of people that were crammed in the middle of the street, and as we left, I tried to look up Main St even further but it was just wall to wall people. No way would I have ever wanted to have been in that crowd! We boarded the monorail and watched some of the fireworks and the Electric Water Pageant on our ride back to the TTA - so pretty!

On our way home, everyone was in a fabulous mood and we were all belly-laughing over something (I think we might have been talking about Katie and her Minnie Mouse cake). Shawn captured the moment with a few pictures that I think sum up our evening! Here is one...

Overall, it was a wonderful way to celebrate my baby girl's 4th birthday! Very magical indeed.

(only thing missing is I didn't get that group shot in front of the castle in our matching red shirts...ugh...oh well....maybe next time)


Up next....Rope Drop at Hollywood Studios....Fun? Hmmm.....

Sara

 

[ariel2007]

Sounds like a really great day for you all and a very magical day for Katie. I bet it will be one birthday she will never forget. You made it really special, not just for her but for Emily and Micheal too. The girls look so cute all done up, and I love all their pictures. And the cake was great, a shame it took so long to come.

 

[Poohtigeey]

So I'm reading the update with the cake, driving myself crazy wondering why I thought I had seen these. Then I figured it out. Duh. You showed us the video in December. Whew, I'm not loosing my mind. These are so fabulous. From what I've read and experienced 1900 Park Fare are not known for their wonderful wait staff. Sounds like you had a great time anyway and you captured both Cinderella AND Prince Charming mid sentence which is always a flattering shot! Your step dad is so wonderful! What a sweetie for dancing with Katie. I love Spectro and I'm glad you had a chance to see it. I especially love the picture of pole dancing Emily with Zurg!

 

[mom2mek]

Sounds like a really great day for you all and a very magical day for Katie. I bet it will be one birthday she will never forget. You made it really special, not just for her but for Emily and Micheal too. The girls look so cute all done up, and I love all their pictures. And the cake was great, a shame it took so long to come.

Thanks for reading! It was a very magical day for Katie!

So I'm reading the update with the cake, driving myself crazy wondering why I thought I had seen these. Then I figured it out. Duh. You showed us the video in December. Whew, I'm not loosing my mind. These are so fabulous. From what I've read and experienced 1900 Park Fare are not known for their wonderful wait staff. Sounds like you had a great time anyway and you captured both Cinderella AND Prince Charming mid sentence which is always a flattering shot! Your step dad is so wonderful! What a sweetie for dancing with Katie. I love Spectro and I'm glad you had a chance to see it. I especially love the picture of pole dancing Emily with Zurg!

LOL! No Monica, you are not losing it! At least not about seeing the cake!

My little pole dancer! She has such a future, no?

Sara

 

[kaysmommie]

Loved the parade pics and the pictures of the kids with Zurg. At that time we were probably riding buzz and then TTA and then we got out of there too. Main St was just packed after Spectro ended . Sounds like katie had a wonderful Birthday. You have been updating so fast lately, are you trying to finish? Looking forward to your HS day.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Another great update Sara! I thought it all looked familiar too.

Isn't Spectro just the best?! I never get sick of that parade and I just love the music. In fact, I got the CD on our girls trip and listened to it on my whole drive home. The whole 10 minute song over and over and over.

I've never been directed to that backstage area - anything interesting there?

 

[mom2mek]

Loved the parade pics and the pictures of the kids with Zurg. At that time we were probably riding buzz and then TTA and then we got out of there too. Main St was just packed after Spectro ended . Sounds like katie had a wonderful Birthday. You have been updating so fast lately, are you trying to finish? Looking forward to your HS day.

Wasn't it just awful that night? I think that whole "night in between two party nights" really brought the people out, hmm? Thing is...I knew it was gonna be bad, but even so, just hated that many people! I am trying to update a little bit quicker now that the holidays are over! I am soooo slow to write....gotta pick up the pace!

Another great update Sara! I thought it all looked familiar too.

Isn't Spectro just the best?! I never get sick of that parade and I just love the music. In fact, I got the CD on our girls trip and listened to it on my whole drive home. The whole 10 minute song over and over and over.

I've never been directed to that backstage area - anything interesting there?

I love Spectro Michelle! You just can't find anywhere else (well, maybe Disneyland...LOL) that has anything that even compares to it! Hmmm...backstage area....cast members signs, cars, other boring "real world" stuff!

Sara

 

[KathyRN137]

.....Still here......only on Day 2.......but, still here!!!!

Kathy

 

[DisneyJo]

Wow I never knew they let guests go back stage, I did it all the time on my trip and we were told definitely no photos etc, how could they moniter that type of thing with so many people And as you say it takes away some of the magic!

Sounds like a lovely end to a beautiful day

 

[whogirl'smom]

Ok, all caught up--this week was Muffins for Moms/Donuts for Dads at school and guess who chaired the committee? Anyway loved all the pics from 1900 Park Fare, the girls just looked adorable matching Cinderella! We had great characters there, too, but the food was blech. Breakfast was wonderful, though, and I'd like to go back for that. I think I made a meal on mashed potatoes the night we were there!

We saw Spectro for the first time in Oct. and it is fabulous!

 

[mom2mek]

.....Still here......only on Day 2.......but, still here!!!!

Kathy

Glad I haven't scared you away yet Kathy! I've got to go get caught up on your report - you are rolling right along with that thing!

Wow I never knew they let guests go back stage, I did it all the time on my trip and we were told definitely no photos etc, how could they moniter that type of thing with so many people And as you say it takes away some of the magic!

Sounds like a lovely end to a beautiful day

That's true Jo! No one we were with tried to take any pics, but I but I don't recall anyone saying anything to us about not taking any! Of course, there are CMs standing there every 10 ft so one of them would probably say something if they saw it happening! I was upset last year when we went that way (on our last day, as we were leaving...instead of a leisurely stroll down Main St, I was following my grumpy husband and BIL as they rushed towards the exit for some unknown reason...grrr....Shawn apologized the next day ) so that's probably what contributed to my loathing of it. Then I read someone's TR about it and how it was kind of neat to see some of what makes Disney work, blah blah blah....and I felt better about it! Half-glass full kind of attitude about it this time!

Ok, all caught up--this week was Muffins for Moms/Donuts for Dads at school and guess who chaired the committee? Anyway loved all the pics from 1900 Park Fare, the girls just looked adorable matching Cinderella! We had great characters there, too, but the food was blech. Breakfast was wonderful, though, and I'd like to go back for that. I think I made a meal on mashed potatoes the night we were there!

We saw Spectro for the first time in Oct. and it is fabulous!

LOL on the mashed potatoes thing! It's weird though, because in reading the different menus on allears, I actually find more things at 1900 PF's menu that sound delicious, but maybe we had a new chef or something...it just wasn't terrific to me! I would love to try breakfast there once though! You can't mess up breakfast!

LOVE SPECTRO!!!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 5 - Disney Hollywood Studios (October 12th)
Part 1 - Divide and Conquer

We were up and rolling out the door of the house by 8:20 this morning in hopes of getting to the Studios in plenty of time to get FPs for TSM with an early return time. My goal today was to get at least 2 rides on TSM as I knew it would be a family favorite!

We got to the Studios in no time and were parked by 8:30! We were in one of those parking spots that is really too close to warrant a parking lot tram ride, but far enough away that you are hating that you are walking that much so early in the morning. By the time we arrived, the lines were not short. They weren't horrible, just not what I was expecting for 20 minutes before park opening.

We got through security, picked up a few maps, and I reviewed the operational "divide and conquer" plan with everyone:

Team A - Shawn, MIL, Pop Pop, and Michael were headed to RnRC to ride. Hopefully Michael will make the 48" mark and get to ride it for the first time!

Team B - Me - weasel my way up as close to the internal rope drop as I could go without making any people mad, and high-tail it to TSM for our first set of FPs!

Team C - Grandmommy, Katie, and Emily - leisurely stroll down Hollywood Blvd towards the Great Movie Ride to meet up with me.

Ok, everyone had their assigned duties and around 8:55 we were let through the turnstiles and split up to divide and conquer. I went to the left, the rest of them went to the right.

I managed to get myself pretty close to the internal rope, maybe 4 or 5 people back, and I didn't have to cut in front of anyone or try to act like I was looking for someone as I squeezed in between people. LOL! It was actually pretty open as far as gaps in the crowd, and since I was alone, I just was able to slide on up! As we waited, the crowd behind me started to grow......

Yup....kinda crazy!

(If you look really close, all the way to the left, you can see my step-dad's yellow ball cap - that's where the rest of the crew was!)

Here's the shot looking in front of me...I was right next to the shop on the left hand side...I can't for the life of me remember the name now...

There was no opening show. They just dropped the rope and everyone dashed towards TSM in a somewhat controlled chaos! No one was running, but I've got to say...my legs hurt something terrible from doing that fast walk, you know... where you are just on the cusp of starting to jog? It was a workout! When I arrived to the FP machines, I was about 4 or 5 people back. Phew - time to catch my breath! I started talking to the lady in front of me, who said she had been there the day before and all the TSM fastpasses were gone by 11:00!

I retrieved the 8 fastpasses with a return time of 9:50! Woo-hoo! Score! Now the plan was to get another set right at 9:50 so that we would be guaranteed two rides! I felt my workout was well worth it! I was very glad that I didn't have my mom and the girls try to come with me in an attempt to ride it standby. I really would not have enjoyed battling with those crowds, or walking at that pace, with kids in tow. If you have someone who can go get the FPs for TSM, while the others use rope drop to ride RNRC or ToT standby, it really worked out nicely!

I left the crazy Pixar area to meet up with Team C (Mom and the girls) near the hat. We were planning on riding the Great Movie Ride next while we waited for the other group to finish up on RNRC. When I made it to the hat, I saw mom and the girls shopping in the pin store. I delivered the good news about our return time, and Mom got in line to purchase the pins she was getting for the girls. There was an older lady checking out who was buying a whole bunch of those pin books and having them all delivered to her resort. The CM doing the checking out was working excruciatingly slowly....and he kept saying "I'm almost done...I'll be right with you", meanwhile talking to the lady about every single person she was buying the dang books for....getting her to fill in about 3 of those forms, etc, etc, etc....Eventually Mom, noticing my growing tension, put the pins back and we left. She said "I can get those later on today, let's go!" Um, yeah...thank you!

We walked right into Great Movie Ride and got in line where the pre-show was already underway. When they let us in, they put us in the 1st row right next to the guide. The ride was fine, I really enjoyed certain parts of it, but had to kind of shield Katie and Emily from the scary parts! None of us had been on it before, so we enjoyed it, and well....now we don't have to do it again! (I actually really loved some of the scenes though)!

Back at Team A - Shawn, MIL, Pop Pop, and Michael headed down Sunset Blvd at rope drop to ride RNRC standby. Shawn said there were a lot more people than they expected headed in the RNRC direction - considering the huge masses that flooded towards TSM.

When they got down to RNRC, Michael made the cut - he was tall enough, so they headed in, waited about 10 minutes, and Michael LOVED IT!!!! I'm talking LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT!!!! Shawn took some pictures of them outside the ride, after they finished up!

It sure was a beautiful day!

After their ride, they did some shopping (surprise) for a ride pin, but Shawn totally forgot about getting their ride picture...or even just a redneck version of the ride picture. Grrr....Michael's first ride and I have nothing to show for it!

After the ride, the shopping, and a bathroom break, they were making their way back up towards the hat to meet the rest of us.

Coming up....Toy Story Midway Mania!!!!! What will the return time be 50 minutes after rope drop????


Sara