You've Got a Friend in Me:TINKGURL & XOKTENOX's Adventures in WDW~UPDATE: 6/9 p.74

[MeMom]

I've been on a stuck monorail before, too. They were resetting something, they said. I was okay for that few minutes, but I didn't like it a bit. If I could have opened a window, it would have been a lot better. Maybe we should start carrying hammers with us on our monorail trips to knock out a window in case we get stuck.

I was thinking about the character interaction. Some are so much better than others, but none of the characters should be flying by. This is a big deal to kids and to the adults who are watching them. They should all stop and be involved in making a 'magical moment' for each family. Some are going to go above and beyond, which is wonderful, but no meet with a Disney character should be sub-par. You and I go often, so if one character experience isn't great, we know we have another time next trip, but that's not so for people who do that one trip in a lifetime thing. It is really not hard for a human being in a costume who is being paid to visit with families and make a big deal over their kids to do just that. If I ever run Disney World, I will make a point to stress that to my CM's.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Great update! The sunrise picture is gorgeous!

 

[tinkgurl]

I've been on a stuck monorail before, too. They were resetting something, they said. I was okay for that few minutes, but I didn't like it a bit. If I could have opened a window, it would have been a lot better. Maybe we should start carrying hammers with us on our monorail trips to knock out a window in case we get stuck.

I was thinking about the character interaction. Some are so much better than others, but none of the characters should be flying by. This is a big deal to kids and to the adults who are watching them. They should all stop and be involved in making a 'magical moment' for each family. Some are going to go above and beyond, which is wonderful, but no meet with a Disney character should be sub-par. You and I go often, so if one character experience isn't great, we know we have another time next trip, but that's not so for people who do that one trip in a lifetime thing. It is really not hard for a human being in a costume who is being paid to visit with families and make a big deal over their kids to do just that. If I ever run Disney World, I will make a point to stress that to my CM's.

You should run WDW!

I agree, it was just a little upsetting to not have a good character experience because this was grandma and grandpa's last trip ever.

Great update! The sunrise picture is gorgeous!

Thanks girl!

 

[xoktenox]

I literally have TWO minutes right now to check in quick and let everyone know I got my laptop back! 10 days and $200 later Anyway, it's over and done with, no use complaining about it. I can promise you all that I will be back on Monday the latest to give my update for the morning that Tink just finished. That's the day we finally leave and get to WDW!! I'm sure most of you remember the bridal shower pictures I posted at the beginning of the TR. Well, that cousin is getting married tomorrow! Today is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner so that's why I need to jump in the shower and get ready like, right now So if I have time tonight I will get in an update (that's what I'm hoping for, I've missed everyone!!) but if not I will be back Monday. Then we can get this thing really moving

Oh and aren't Tinks updates so great? I finally found a way to get on the DIS at work banana but the pictures don't show. I told her that her writing is so good, I don't even need the pictures! Although I do love to go back and look at them, especially considering the Little Guy is so adorable!!

 

[MeMom]

I finally found a way to get on the DIS at work banana but the pictures don't show. I told her that her writing is so good, I don't even need the pictures! Although I do love to go back and look at them, especially considering the Little Guy is so adorable!!

That's the way it is at school - no pictures. I always look forward to seeing them when I get home. It's a nice treat at the end of the day. I'll be glad when you are all 'connected' again!

 

[MeMom]

You should run WDW!

I agree, it was just a little upsetting to not have a good character experience because this was grandma and grandpa's last trip ever.

Then maybe I could afford to go more often!

It makes me sad to hear that it was their last trip.
Is that for sure? Maybe they can go again someday when you take your little one.

 

[LilAnn]

I absolutely love the photo of LG and Piglet - where it almost looks like Piglet is totally engulfing him. So cute. Love all the pics of Fi and LG too. They are so cute together.

 

[Cat0727]

The pic of Little Guy and Piglet is so cute. I also like the one of him being your sister's makeup artist!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

OMG. Those pictures of your view are amazing. I especially love the sunrise picture. It's so pretty!!

Ugh. Being stuck on the monorail would be a nightmare. I would have been majorly freaking out.

I'm laughing so hard at the Daddy-Long Legs Birds. That is a perfect name for those horrible white monsters.

Love the pics of the Little Guy with Piglet. He looks so happy! It's so cute!

 

[michael's mom]

I literally have TWO minutes right now to check in quick and let everyone know I got my laptop back! 10 days and $200 later Anyway, it's over and done with, no use complaining about it. I can promise you all that I will be back on Monday the latest to give my update for the morning that Tink just finished. That's the day we finally leave and get to WDW!! I'm sure most of you remember the bridal shower pictures I posted at the beginning of the TR. Well, that cousin is getting married tomorrow! Today is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner so that's why I need to jump in the shower and get ready like, right now So if I have time tonight I will get in an update (that's what I'm hoping for, I've missed everyone!!) but if not I will be back Monday. Then we can get this thing really moving

Oh and aren't Tinks updates so great? I finally found a way to get on the DIS at work banana but the pictures don't show. I told her that her writing is so good, I don't even need the pictures! Although I do love to go back and look at them, especially considering the Little Guy is so adorable!!

YAY for having the laptop back! It is so terrible to be w/o a computer once you get so accustomed to having one! I hope you had a blast at the rehearsal and that the wedding is a great one! Looking forward to your update I think it's kind of neat that while Tink was starting her vacation you were doing the bridal shower and now, just as your about to start your vacation (at least in the TR) you're headed to the wedding

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Your pictures of the view from your room are amazing! You have me so excited! DH And I are staying at BLT next month! 3 nights in a lake view room and 3 in a MK view room! I'm an early riser so I can't wait to see that sunrise!

We got stuck on the Monorail once! It was awful because I wasn't feeling so well that morning! I just wanted off the darn thing!

The pictures from CP are sooooo cute!!!!! I love the hugs!

Can't wait to hear about the big meet!

 

[__disneygirl]

Yay I'm finally all caught up!! I love this TR so much. I know I keep saying it but Little Guy is just too adorable and it's so fun to read about you experiencing WDW through his eyes. That pic of your fiance and him going down the slide made me smile so big!! It sounds cheesy but moments like that are what life is all about, it's really true

And the pics of him with the characters!!! I'm dying! I so badly wanna bring my little cousins and see their reactions. I have a whole bunch of them though... a 4 month old boy, 1 year old girl, 5 year old girl, 6 year old girl, 10 year old girl, and 17 year old twins! LOL! That would be quite a trip.

As I've said before you are SO good with Little Guy and so is your fiance!!

Can't wait to read about meeting Kristen! I so badly want all the girls on my TR and I to somehow be at WDW at the same time... we would have such a party!

 

[princess_momma]

Thanks girl!

You think of Andy's room too?! Okay, now I know I'm not alone! haha

Oh my gosh, it was horrible not being able to ride it last year!

I can't wait to hear about the George story!

Aw..I do make you cry a lot. I'm sorry.

I do think of Andy's room!! I really want to do Landon's room like that one day!! I like Andy's room when it had clouds like that over the room with stars after he moved.

And don't apologize for making me cry. Lotso's a hugger and I'm a crier. Just the way it is!!

I love the updates!! Isn't it the best going with a little prince too?! I'm loving his first trip. I cannot wait until Landon is old enough to really understand it and talk about it and all that! The little guy is too stinkin' cute!!

 

[tinkgurl]

Oh and aren't Tinks updates so great? I finally found a way to get on the DIS at work banana but the pictures don't show. I told her that her writing is so good, I don't even need the pictures! Although I do love to go back and look at them, especially considering the Little Guy is so adorable!!

Aw thanks girl!

Then maybe I could afford to go more often!

It makes me sad to hear that it was their last trip.
Is that for sure? Maybe they can go again someday when you take your little one.

lol You'd be there ALL the time!

It is for sure they won't be back. Our goodbyes with them when they left was SO hard!

I absolutely love the photo of LG and Piglet - where it almost looks like Piglet is totally engulfing him. So cute. Love all the pics of Fi and LG too. They are so cute together.

Thanks! I love all those pics too. We captured moments at the right time!

The pic of Little Guy and Piglet is so cute. I also like the one of him being your sister's makeup artist!

Haha, he was such a good helper.

OMG. Those pictures of your view are amazing. I especially love the sunrise picture. It's so pretty!!

Ugh. Being stuck on the monorail would be a nightmare. I would have been majorly freaking out.

I'm laughing so hard at the Daddy-Long Legs Birds. That is a perfect name for those horrible white monsters.

Love the pics of the Little Guy with Piglet. He looks so happy! It's so cute!

Aw thanks! Perfect sunrise views!

haha I love his name for the birds too.

I think it's kind of neat that while Tink was starting her vacation you were doing the bridal shower and now, just as your about to start your vacation (at least in the TR) you're headed to the wedding

That is so funny!

Your pictures of the view from your room are amazing! You have me so excited! DH And I are staying at BLT next month! 3 nights in a lake view room and 3 in a MK view room! I'm an early riser so I can't wait to see that sunrise!

We got stuck on the Monorail once! It was awful because I wasn't feeling so well that morning! I just wanted off the darn thing!

The pictures from CP are sooooo cute!!!!! I love the hugs!

Can't wait to hear about the big meet!

That is so exciting! Have lots of fun!

Ugh, I hate getting stuck on the monorail!

Yay I'm finally all caught up!! I love this TR so much. I know I keep saying it but Little Guy is just too adorable and it's so fun to read about you experiencing WDW through his eyes. That pic of your fiance and him going down the slide made me smile so big!! It sounds cheesy but moments like that are what life is all about, it's really true

And the pics of him with the characters!!! I'm dying! I so badly wanna bring my little cousins and see their reactions. I have a whole bunch of them though... a 4 month old boy, 1 year old girl, 5 year old girl, 6 year old girl, 10 year old girl, and 17 year old twins! LOL! That would be quite a trip.

As I've said before you are SO good with Little Guy and so is your fiance!!

Can't wait to read about meeting Kristen! I so badly want all the girls on my TR and I to somehow be at WDW at the same time... we would have such a party!

Aw thanks disneygirlfriend! I'm so glad I can share all my memories with all you guys that are reading.

Wow, you have a lot of cousins!

Thanks so much. He is the light of my life.

That would be so fun!

I do think of Andy's room!! I really want to do Landon's room like that one day!! I like Andy's room when it had clouds like that over the room with stars after he moved.

And don't apologize for making me cry. Lotso's a hugger and I'm a crier. Just the way it is!!

I love the updates!! Isn't it the best going with a little prince too?! I'm loving his first trip. I cannot wait until Landon is old enough to really understand it and talk about it and all that! The little guy is too stinkin' cute!!

Landon's room would look so cute!

Little Guy still talks about WDW to this day!

 

[vamassey1]

Beautiful sunrise pictures!

I'm so sorry you missed the opening show. I know you wanted to share it with your family after seeing it in the spring. I hope you made it back there later in the trip.

Peter Pan is a family favorite and yes it is too short.

We've never done breakfast at CP just dinner. The character interaction was just okay. Piglet was Danielle's favorite too. She's more their size.

Kristen I'm glad you got your laptop back. Being without a computer is awful. It's one thing to not get on it due to time restraints but some thing totally different when you don't have it at all.

Looking forward to your meet.

 

[xoktenox]

Ok, so it was finally the day...the big day...the day we got to leave for our favorite place on Earth, Walt Disney World! I had last left off, way back when, telling you all how I slept pretty badly and so did Chris. But finally, it was 5 am! I got up, washed my face and brushed my teeth, throwing all my last minute toiletries like my toothbrush and deoderant into my suitcase. As I think I mentioned before, Southwest lets each passenger check 2 bags each for free which worked out so great, especially for me who tends to have a problem keeping one bag under the 50 lb weight limit. When I was ready to go my mom and I got my suitcases in the car. She was driving Chris and I to the airport before she went to work that morning. We headed over to get Chris (he lives less than 5 mintues away from me) and once his suitcases were packed into the car, we were off! The airport is a small, local airport which only took us 20 mins to get to. I was obviously FREAKING out at this point! So we pull up to the drop off area so we can do our curbside check in and I realize I forgot to but the DME tags on our bags! Luckily I had a folder of things that Dawn (punkin413) had sent to us since she was our travel agent (best travel agent ever, btw). I open up the folder and realize we only have 2 DME tags. I'm sitting there thinking, "This can't be right. I know I asked Dawn for 2 extra tags. HOW COULD I LET THIS HAPPEN?!" I was so mad at myself. Then it clicked that I asked Dawn for 2 extra luggage tags...she sent me 2 extra plastic tags that have the castle on the back and are to label your luggage, not DME tags. Total misunderstanding because I wasn't clear when I told her we needed extra! I'm still annoyed at myself for this, over a month later lol Anyway we just came to the conclusion we'd have to go get 2 of the bags from baggage claim once our plane landed. We breezed through security but were actually kind of surprised at the number of people at the small airport at 6:30 on a Tuesday morning. They had 3 TSA people there checking IDs though so it went quickly. After we were through we went and headed towards our gate. Our typical tradition though is that we stop in one of the shops once we're through security to get some magazines for the plane and then we read them throughout the week too. By the time we leave to go home, there's new trash magazines out with new trashy celebrity stories for the plane ride home haha You can tell in this first picture that Chris knows my intense picture taking is already beginning haha He looks thrilled!

Proud to be from NY...but can't wait to leave haha

Once we got our magazines we still had some time so we got on line to grab some bagels and juice.
Food porn begins! I have pictures of almost everything we ate

Then we waited patiently for it to be our time to board. Tink and I started texting, obviously OVERJOYED to know that in less than 6 hours we would FINALLY be getting to meet! She sent me the lovely picture of the sunrise outside of her CR balcony that she posted in her last update.

Finally it was time! We boarded quickly and were in group A so we got good seats.
What an attractive man...haha

Inquisitive

We took off right on time!

We landed earlier than planned, 10am! Chris and I got off that plane as fast as we could and practically ran down to baggage claim. We were so nervous that by the time we got our 2 bags and made it down to DME, it'd be a madhouse. While I ran over to the baggage carousel, Chris used the bathroom. Well we had some major pixie dust going on because before he even finished his business, our bag had come and I was waiting for him so I could run into use the bathroom and change into some shorts. I did that very speedy and we were off to DME! We went down the elevator and as we got closer to DME I was seriously freaking out that we were gonna see a huge sea of people. We got close enough and I finally saw this...

EMPTY! I nearly cried of joy. Chris and I were seriously SOOOO shocked. Of course we walked right up to the CM, she scanned our booklet and we walked right up to the front of the line. We were sure that now since we'd gotten so lucky we'd have to wait forever to get on a bus. WRONG again! Within 5 mins we were on the bus and pulling out of MCO! It was only 10:45, still earlier than we had expected! At this point I was texting Tink our play by play. "Ok we're on the ME bus!" "Leaving MCO!" You get the idea. She was trying to enjoy her time at Crystal Palace so I was probably annoying her! haha

 

[xoktenox]

continued from last post...

I can see it...

OMG

We're freakin here!

We made it to Pop!!!!

It was about 11:15 at this point. My whole body was tingling I think because I was so excited. I coudln't stop smiling, that was for sure. Dawn had done online checkin for us which worked out so well. The Pop lobby was bustling but not crowded at all.

The CM who checked us in (whose name I don't remember) was pretty good. The main thing I was so excited about was that we had gotten in the building I had hoped, 50's Lady building, 4th floor! We were room 1440. I also got a birthday button for myself when we checked in. After we got our packet, we went over to bell services and picked up "Nemo" our mini fridge we got from a swap. For anyone who read my first TR last April, I had bad luck with the fridge swap that time. I am happy to report that this time it worked wonderfully! At this point we are rushing though because I am sooooo anxoius to get to the MK to meet up with Tink! We have a CM help us get our 2 bags and fridge to our room. Quickly we unpack the box and plug the fridge in so we could throw our water bottles in there to start getting cool. We knew we'd be needing them! At this point, Tink told me that some of her family was ready to go back to the CR to swim and relax but she and her Fiance decided they were going to wait for us to grab lunch in the MK! Chris and I threw on some more deoderant (haha) and ran out the door to get to the bus stop! I did get one Pop shot on the way out...

That's where I'm going to stop for the night! Coming up next is: THE BIG MEET!!!!

 

[tinkgurl]

Beautiful sunrise pictures!

I'm so sorry you missed the opening show. I know you wanted to share it with your family after seeing it in the spring. I hope you made it back there later in the trip.

Peter Pan is a family favorite and yes it is too short.

We've never done breakfast at CP just dinner. The character interaction was just okay. Piglet was Danielle's favorite too. She's more their size.

Kristen I'm glad you got your laptop back. Being without a computer is awful. It's one thing to not get on it due to time restraints but some thing totally different when you don't have it at all.

Looking forward to your meet.

Thanks!

It amazes me how long the PP line always is!

I don't think we'll be going back to CP anytime soon.

Kristen- you already know I liked the update. All I have to say after seeing those pics- I MISS YOU GUYS!

 

[vamassey1]

Kristen you're finally there!

Loved all the self portraits. I can just see the excitement. Good DME mojo, no line. Great shots of entering POP. I love all the bright colors.

Can't wait for the update when you get to MK.

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

I can't believe you are going to leave us hanging right before your big meet! Oh well I've seen the picture on facebook so I'll just have to wait a little longer to hear about it.