You're never too old for a family trip! Trip Report! UPDATED! LAST CHAPTER!!

[amy2girls]

Love your pictures

 

[disneyaddicted]

Epcot sounded great, I loved all the pics especially the doctored ones, that's cool. Those would be so awesome in a scrapbook.
So coral reef did do a little somthing for the birthday peeps. That was neat. I am looking forward to more of your TR.

 

[Nicole786]

Alarm woke me up at 6AM again. This time I sprung out of bed faster than usual because we had ADRs at Chef Mickey’s for 7:40. I woke Michael up and let David sleep for a little while longer. While Dr. Shower for an hour was in the shower, I got up and meticulously straightened my hair until Michael was out and I could properly get ready. At 7AM the phone rang. It was my mom raring to go!

We decided to avoid Disney transportation because we would have to take the MK bus to the transportation center, and then first take the monorail to the CR. It would tack on precious time. When I stepped outside, my hair immediately reacted to the moisture that was in the air, and rebelled against my straightening iron. Thanks, hair. We piled into the car, and we were off to the CR! We parked the car all day at the contemporary for $10 and the first thing I thought to myself when I walked in was “This hotel is better than me”

We rode the elevator through the breathtaking hotel, and reached Chef Mickey’s. We waited about 8 minutes (opted against the photo) and took our seats in the birthday section!

When it was my turn to get food, I knew wanted to try everything, but in a nice orderly fashion. BWAH! Yeah, right. As I’m trying to grab as much bacon as humanly possible, I’m juggling the plate of waffles and pancakes. I’m also trying to maneuver myself so my weight is shifted to the right side of my body, so my left arm can reach out and grab syrup. I must have looked really attractive in those moments! Next, i planned a course of action: I had watched Unwrapped way too many times to NOT go in search of sprinkles for my waffles. I found myself in front of the children’s section of the buffet, behind a line of, well, children. I might have looked stupid with my two plates of just bacon and waffles/pancakes, but oh well, when in rome. I’m standing there waiting when in the corner of my eye I see the characters in our section. PLUTO! I raced back to the table, played it cool and waited patiently for my turn with them! In those moments, I’m five years old again. I can’t wait to bring my future children here so I can shove them out of the way.

I never made a return trip to the buffet because the characters were constantly in our section. We really lucked out because there wasn’t a moment where the room didn’t have a character in it. I was really eager to see Mickey, who didn't take long to get to our table!

Throughout the entire meal, we saw every character there was! The only character I didn’t see immediately was Goofy, who came to the table while I was at the buffet. But he made a return trip like 10 minutes later! We were in the awesome section! Minnie came over and kissed David on the cheek. I love how the characters verbalize “birthday” they point to the pin and jump up and down clapping. It’s such a kick!

The best part was when they brought over cupcakes for David and Mom, announced the birthday, and did the napkin thing! Even the boys participated!

We were done with Chef Mickey’s by 8:30! I was shocked! I really wasn’t expecting to make it to MK by park opening, but after the 10 minute walk we made it before the opening ceremonies!

Do you see the sky? Them fightin clouds. We were ready to fight back, but would the weather make us lose the battle? Next chapter: Magic Kingdom!


OT, I noticed that theres a fairly large difference in one TR to the other. On one hand, a TR will have 20 different replies between each segment, while the other will have just a few. I was curious to know why you think that is? What makes a TR something special?

Granted, i realize i'm fairly new to the boards, so i don't have a lot of personal friends but at first I thought this TR was going well. Now i'm not too sure i'll continue it. It was fun to have something to scrapbook, but I can do that offline, and it ruins motivation when it seems no one is reading. I'm not pleading for comments, i'm actually really curious what everyone thought of this matter?

 

[Nicole786]

Bueller?

 

[timandlesley]

Hi Nicole,
Sorry I didn't post right away after reading. Great day, loved the Chef Mickey pics, you are doing a great job with the report and I am truly enjoying it, can't wait to read more.
Lesley

 

[swkmom]

Okay, normally I don't comment on trip reports but I want you to keep writing!! I have truly enjoyed your reports and your pictures. The arguement between your Dad and David at Coral Reef over the chicken had me cracking up...my brother is just as picky about his food!

 

[happyindisney]

I think the reason for lots of posts compared to not so many posts is because a lot of us are "Lurkers". I love to read the trip reports, but with two kids, I can read more if I am not replying!! Please keep writing, I am really enjoying your trip report!!!

 

[Nicole786]

Hi Nicole,
Sorry I didn't post right away after reading. Great day, loved the Chef Mickey pics, you are doing a great job with the report and I am truly enjoying it, can't wait to read more.
Lesley

Thanks so much Lesley How is Tim coming along with his photoshop art?

Okay, normally I don't comment on trip reports but I want you to keep writing!! I have truly enjoyed your reports and your pictures. The arguement between your Dad and David at Coral Reef over the chicken had me cracking up...my brother is just as picky about his food!

Thanks so much, i feel honored! My brothers a nutjob, really lol, i hope he grows out of it!

I think the reason for lots of posts compared to not so many posts is because a lot of us are "Lurkers". I love to read the trip reports, but with two kids, I can read more if I am not replying!! Please keep writing, I am really enjoying your trip report!!!

Thanks for the perspective. I've decided to continue on with the TR and see how it goes

 

[Nicole786]

The first thing we did when we got to Main Street, was go to City Hall to check out dining availability. We didn’t have a dinner ADR that night, and since we were in such close proximity, I really wanted to go to the WL and eat at the Whispering Canyon Café! We walked right up and were told that they had one reservation available for that night (SCORE! ) and that it was at 6:20. 6:20? That would mean missing Spectro Magic at 8 , but probably making it back in time for Wishes at 9. It took a couple of minutes, but we decided to take the ADR and cancel it later if we decided against it. Yay! Finally I get to go to the WL (I was so pumped if only because of timandlesley’s TR from last year) and WCC!

We continued on our way and decided to go to Space Mountain first and get that out of the way. As we approached, a member of the dream squad came to me, and I got all bubbly inside! Unfortunately, it wasn’t a stay in the castle or a dream fastpass, but she gave me a pair of those special tinkerbell pins, and I knew I had to save one to give to a deserving person!

Back towards Space Mountain, David chickened out (although prior to the actual trip, he swore he was gonna go on it) He “wasn’t in the mood” for it right now, so Dad, me, and Michael went on it and loved it of course. There was actually a slight wait (about 10 minutes or so) and it concerned me for the day ahead.

Next up, we went over to Buzz Lightyear. Nobody really wanted to sit by themselves, so I forfeited my gun, and sat in the middle to “steer” Although, I didn’t actually steer because I was too busy videotaping lol so my crewmates got pissed. Michael beat David by a landslide!

I knew the camera was coming, so I smiled lol

Doesn’t Mom looked thrilled to be there? She says this is her game face.

So after Buzz Lightyear, we decided to leave Tomorrowland. We headed over to Fantasyland and the first ride we rode was a walk-on Winnie the Pooh. This was so cute! I loved the tigger part, although I’m not sure I would have felt the same way about it if I had to wait for it.

Next up was PhillharMagic. 5 minute wait. I loved PhillharMagic!! It was the cutest thing! My favorite movies are Disney movies (Mary Poppins is my all time favorite movie in general) So it was fun to go through them.

Next was Snow White, which incidentally broke down in the middle and they turned on the lights for about 5 minutes. After that, we walked on to It’s a Small World.

We wrapped up Fantasyland with Peter Pan, which I loved! I haven’t been on Peter Pan since I’m about 9 years old, and I loved it!! It was my favorite ride in that area of the park!

Before we headed to Toontown, we took a small bathroom break, while we waited, dad and I napped, Michael plotted a course of action:

“Who dare disturb my slumber?!” Oh, toontown! Yay! We headed over to toontown, it was around 10:45. Our plan was to take the train over to Frontierland, but first, we decided to stop by Minnie’s house and see what she was up to. Still baking that cake, I see. Mickey’s house we’ll have to do another time.

Next we went to the shop to see if we could find some sweatshirts. The temps right now were around 60, but the dark clouds that were looming ahead, foreshadowed what was to come. The wind didn’t help things either. Even though this store was on the larger side, it didn’t have a good selection of adult sized sweatshirts, so I used the opportunity to buy a sparkly Belle pin and my mom found the Disney jibbitz for our crocs! She got me a mickey mouse that I still wear today.

We made it to the train, right as it was pulling up! We hopped on board and headed for frontierland!

Once in Frontierland, I was upset to realize it was too cold to brave Splash Mountain. Here’s a little but of a sidenote: Splash Mountain is one of my favorite rides. When we came last year, I didn’t get to ride it because the line was around 90 minutes long. I was pumped to return this year, because I knew I’d get to ride it, if it was the last thing I did. I wanted to ride it in spite of the weather, but nobody wanted to come with me, so I decided since we’d be at the magic kingdom another day I could do it then. Okay, so I had a tiny meltdown, but I was exhausted and lack of cooperation really gets to me.

Dad and I headed over to ride BTMR (Another one we missed last year) Michael decided to sit this one out, but in a surprising move, we were able to convince Mr Chicken on! Yes folks, David rode this ride. After the non-wait (we walked on, AGAIN!) David LOVED IT!!! He absolutely loved it!! Did he ever go to Space Mountain? I guess you’ll have to read and find out. I loved it of course, Dad loved it. But I loved it when I was four also haha. Mom and Michael meanwhile, bought Popcorn that went to the birds in the sitting area.

I got some Ice Cream which really cheered me up from my lack of Splash Mountain, and we continued our adventures towards Jack Sparrow!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS RIDE!! IT was my absolute favorite as a kid, and it still is! This was the first line we had to wait in all day! It was around 45 minutes long (which was really more like 30) but well worth it! We got the front row, and we enjoyed every minute of it! I love when we're about to drop how David holds on like a baby.

We realized we wanted to get to Hall of Presidents by 2:20 for the parade, but it was only about 12:15 so we walked over to HM. On the line outside, we were “pleasantly” in the company of a high school band. These were the type of kids that try too hard to be different, and ‘be themselves’ and try to be funny around their friends, so we were treated to many different broadway songs as we waited out the 20 minutes. Oh brother, wheres the FP when you need it? Once inside, the same kids used the opportunity to "scream" inside the room and the little kids got scared. THIS IS MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE. You wanna be funny? Be funny in other ways, don't scare little kids.

When we were done we still had time left to get to HOP, so we decided to head back towards Main Street so I could get a sweatshirt. We had plenty of time so we slowed our pace and went in and out of the sweet shops, claiming what we wanted for later. We stopped for this traiditional photo

(note the sky)

So everyone and their mom had the same idea we had when it came to the sweatshirt thing, so it took a lot longer than anticipated. I ended up buying a grey mickey sweatshirt, while everyone else decided to stick it out. Except Mom, who my dad wanted to share a sweatshirt with (despite the fact that he was wearing a windbreaker) and hated every sweatshirt she picked out. Poor mom. When we walked out it was already 2:15, so we decided to stay put.

On Main Street?? Isn’t it crowded?? I KNOW! But it wasn't! It wasn’t crowded at all! Mom was in her 5 year old glory because all the years we’ve been to Disney not once have we had the opportunity for front row SITTING ACTION!

It was super-dee-duper! Except for one minor thing. At this point we were cold, tired, hungry and just in an awful mood so we were snapping at eachother. “Why do you get to sit in the middle? "IF you would have just LET ME get the damn sweatshirt" DO YOU WANT MY WINDBREAKER? I’m Tiiiired! I’m freezing! Where is this damn parade??” Dad was also starting to not feel well (OH NO!) so I volunteerd with Michael and David in tow to go in search of something light to settle our hunger.

4 hot dogs, a carton of hot dog nuggets, 3 french fries, and 3 cokes later, our moods were uplifted. It’s amazing what a little food can do.

This photo was taken at 2:44, and notice how empty it was. Off-season at its best! We were in a prime area, right in front of the gift shop on Main Street!

So what happened at exactly 3:02. “Is that? Is that? Is that rain?” SUDDEN. DOWNPOUR.. Great, way to “rain on our parade” (haha, I crack myself up ) Mom was so upset that her excitement was shortlived because it rushed us underneath the shelter from the shop. It slowed down about 10 minutes later so mom and I were the only fools out near the sidewalk. I had a hood and mom had spirit. She waited this long to be first in line for a parade, she wasn’t gonna waste it! No pics of the parade because the camera lens kept getting wet. But lets just say we loved it I liked the walt in the beginning! And mom was happy she stuck it out in the rain.

After the parade we weren’t sure what to do. As you can see, we pretty much did all we wanted to do, so should we leave??? We did have those ADRs for WCC, should we cancel and just go park hopping? Dad wasn't feeling well so maybe we should go to the resort for an afternoon nap? Hmm, lots of choices, I wonder what we did!!

Stay tuned next time for the next installment, to find out where the weather has taken us!


And thank you to all who comment. It’s the motivation that drives the new chapters, because even though I know people view, I always run to my mailbox to see if I get comments, it’s the best part. So thank you!
[/Violin]

 

[timandlesley]

Thanks so much Lesley How is Tim coming along with his photoshop art?

Nicole, you have no idea , he's been totally obsessed with it since you sent the directions, he loves it and is doing quite well actually. Thanks for the detailed instructions.
Lesley

 

[timandlesley]

Nicole,
LOVE this installment. Man, you have me wanting to go in offseason, wish I could, can't believe how empty Main street was for the parade, unreal. I feel so sorry for you guys that it started raining right before it started.that happened to us our first year at MGM, the kids were so excited for the parade and it started pouring (we had prime seats too, but in June we had to fight for them and had been there an hour waiting) and it was cancelled, screaming kids and lots of tears later we exited the park without a parade, that stunk, so I understand your let down here.
Can't wait to see if you make it to WCC and if you liked it, I was honored to be mentioned It's amazing how a trip report can reach so many people and influence their plans, kind of cool really.
I am sorry you didn't get to do Splash Mountain, especially after waiting for it for so long, I hope your next MK day will show you on the ride. I agree with the Haunted Mansion kid, that would have ticked me off because it would have been my kids crying and being scared when those kids did that.
Well, great installment, can't wait for more.
Lesley

 

[sherrynjoe]

Nicole...I am often a lurker mom too...but wanted you to know that I love your report

 

[princessjv]

We rode the elevator through the breathtaking hotel, and reached Chef Mickey’s. We waited about 8 minutes (opted against the photo) and took our seats in the birthday section!

I should do this next time...it is never a good picture...
edited... oups... miss quoted...i'm new at this you know. I meant to quote you skipped the picture....

When it was my turn to get food, I knew wanted to try everything, but in a nice orderly fashion. BWAH! Yeah, right. As I’m trying to grab as much bacon as humanly possible, I’m juggling the plate of waffles and pancakes. I’m also trying to maneuver myself so my weight is shifted to the right side of my body, so my left arm can reach out and grab syrup. I must have looked really attractive in those moments! Next, i planned a course of action: I had watched Unwrapped way too many times to NOT go in search of sprinkles for my waffles. I found myself in front of the children’s section of the buffet, behind a line of, well, children. I might have looked stupid with my two plates of just bacon and waffles/pancakes, but oh well, when in rome. I’m standing there waiting when in the corner of my eye I see the characters in our section. PLUTO! I raced back to the table, played it cool and waited patiently for my turn with them! In those moments, I’m five years old again. I can’t wait to bring my future children here so I can shove them out of the way.

I never made a return trip to the buffet because the characters were constantly in our section. We really lucked out because there wasn’t a moment where the room didn’t have a character in it. I was really eager to see Mickey, who didn't take long to get to our table!

Did they have the yummy dessert buffet for breakfast? What is withthe sprinkles? I missed it...

Throughout the entire meal, we saw every character there was! The only character I didn’t see immediately was Goofy, who came to the table while I was at the buffet. But he made a return trip like 10 minutes later! We were in the awesome section! Minnie came over and kissed David on the cheek. I love how the characters verbalize “birthday” they point to the pin and jump up and down clapping. It’s such a kick!

You really got to sit in a b-day area? COOL!

 

[princessjv]

Now I'm all caught up. Sorry about the rain on your parade. But you got NO crowds! I LOVE OFF SEASON!

p.s. I like the interaction with readers too. It is nice to know people are reading and enjoying it...cause it sure is super fun to recount the momories, oh I mean memories....hehehe!

 

[KimAshton]

Eeekkk I love this TR Nicole.

Ok whoever fed the duck needs to be strangled. Cause when I was there the duck was a little too friendly. LOL. I had to lift my feet up cause they almost ran into it. LOL.

 

[swkmom]

Off season looks great...wish we could do it but I don't like taking the kids out of school. I love your trip report! Waiting semi-patiently for your next installment!

 

[Nicole786]

Nicole, you have no idea , he's been totally obsessed with it since you sent the directions, he loves it and is doing quite well actually. Thanks for the detailed instructions.
Lesley

Nicole,
LOVE this installment. Man, you have me wanting to go in offseason, wish I could, can't believe how empty Main street was for the parade, unreal. I feel so sorry for you guys that it started raining right before it started.that happened to us our first year at MGM, the kids were so excited for the parade and it started pouring (we had prime seats too, but in June we had to fight for them and had been there an hour waiting) and it was cancelled, screaming kids and lots of tears later we exited the park without a parade, that stunk, so I understand your let down here.
Can't wait to see if you make it to WCC and if you liked it, I was honored to be mentioned It's amazing how a trip report can reach so many people and influence their plans, kind of cool really.
I am sorry you didn't get to do Splash Mountain, especially after waiting for it for so long, I hope your next MK day will show you on the ride. I agree with the Haunted Mansion kid, that would have ticked me off because it would have been my kids crying and being scared when those kids did that.
Well, great installment, can't wait for more.
Lesley

We couldn't believe how empty it was either! (And i was SO stressing your Hall of Presidents tip haha) But it all worked out!

 

[Nicole786]

Nicole...I am often a lurker mom too...but wanted you to know that I love your report

Thanks for coming out of lurkdom just to say that!

 

[Nicole786]

I should do this next time...it is never a good picture...
edited... oups... miss quoted...i'm new at this you know. I meant to quote you skipped the picture....



Did they have the yummy dessert buffet for breakfast? What is withthe sprinkles? I missed it...



You really got to sit in a b-day area? COOL!

If we had to take a picture that early in the morning after being up at all hours of the night it wouldn't have been pretty lol We really got to sit right in the birthday area! The way the trip was going I really didn't think the one restaurant i didn't stress about would be the one we lucked out in the most!!

 

[Nicole786]

Eeekkk I love this TR Nicole.

Ok whoever fed the duck needs to be strangled. Cause when I was there the duck was a little too friendly. LOL. I had to lift my feet up cause they almost ran into it. LOL.

HAHA! Thanks Kim, i'm looking at your pics now! where is your TR??