TikiGoddess
07-13-2007, 09:21 PM
Cast of Characters:
TikiG, 34, planner and dreamer of WDW vacations
DH, 39, “Tim”, ex-CM who understand my Disney obsession
DD4, “Julie” lover of Dinosaurs
DD2, “Katie”, lover of mermaids and Prince Eric
Sunday, July 8:
On Sunday morning we got up early and left for Disney at about 7:10am. We started to see the signs for Disney at about 8:50am. Our original plan was to go to AK in the morning, go to the hotel to check in, take a nap, and then head to MGM for the evening. As we’re talking in the car we realize that the kids can’t wait until Tuesday to go to the Magic Kingdom, so in a split second we change our minds and head towards the MK.
We decided to park at the WL, and since we’re at the WL, we might as well check in! So we pulled up to the door, had bell services take our bags, and went to the registration desk. The CM told us our room wasn’t ready, and then told us, “Oh, by the way, you’ve been upgraded to courtyard view.” We had booked a standard view -- Yay! After a quick potty break we headed down to the boat dock and got to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom at about 9:50am. I was fretting about missing the best hour in the park but I really shouldn’t have been… the park really wasn’t that crowded for another two hours. We secured a locker and then went off to Fantasyland. Peter Pan was our first ride, and Katie absolutely loved it! We pretend to be Peter Pan and Capt. Hook all the time at home and she was enthralled by the ride. We promised to go on it again later and headed over to the Carousel. I was looking for Cinderella’s horse (the one with the golden ribbon on the tail) when I found something even better. Mary Poppins (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2798.jpg)was riding! A gentlemen seated near her graciously gave up his horse so my girls could ride next to her. Katie wanted to know where Bert was, and Mary said, “Oh, he’s off doing chalk drawings or cleaning chimneys, something silly like that”. We also asked her if she would be racing the horses today and she said it was too busy today and she didn’t want to run anyone over. The girls were tickled pink to be riding with Mary Poppins!
We headed over to Dumbo then. Surprisingly there was only a 2 minute wait – and this was at 10:20 or so! Katie loved our next ride – Pooh --- she especially like bouncing with Tigger. She sat on my lap for the entire ride and it was great fun watching her smile and react to the characters. She did want to know where Christopher Robin was – the only place we could find him was in the large ‘pages’ in the loading area. He is nowhere to be found in the actual ride, not even in the final party scene.
Snow White was next, just because there was no line. The girls aren’t that familiar with the story but Tim said we might as well try it. Both of the girls were scared by the trees and the witch. Enough of that – we headed over to Tomorrowland to do Buzz, Julie’s absolute favorite ride. We fastpassed it and got on the Wedway Peoplemover for a trip around Tomorrowland. When we got off there was still time until our FP became valid, so we got on Buzz standby since the wait was only 5 minutes or so. Right before we got to the cars we had another surprise! A Dream Team member was standing there giving out silver YOAMD mouse ears! We each got a pair and wore them proudly on and off throughout the day. I also got my best score of the trip – 437,000, and was the highest scorer in the family for the trip. That’s not exactly fair though since my husband was sitting in a car with my 2 yr old spinning the car whenever she wanted to. I did it with her and ended up with a score of 2000 or so!
We rode Buzz with our FPs (and our Mickey ears!) and then headed over to Casey’s for lunch. We bought drinks and ate our lunch that we had brought. The girls heard the castle show while we were eating and wanted to know what was going on. We promised to see it another day. After dancing around outside to the ragtime piano player we headed over to Adventureland. The Tiki Room show was just about to begin so we went in and enjoyed the air conditioning (have I mentioned that it was hot and sunny? Nice high pressure system sitting right on top of Orlando…). The show was loud. I don’t know if it was where we were sitting, but Iago’s voice was just overpowering. We all would have enjoyed it more if we didn’t have our hands over our ears. This was a theme in our vacation – loud attractions. Why is it necessary to have the volume up so loud?
We took at look at the 30 min wait for Pirates and decided it was time to go back to the resort. I had been calling to see if our room was ready and so far we had had no luck. We rode the boat over to the resort and as we docked, we had luck! Our room, 3019, was ready just in time for naps. Our room overlooked the pool area (ttp://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2878.jpg)and was in the wing between Roaring Fork and the boat dock (in this pic (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2866.jpg)our room is the one with the pink and white towels on the balcony). We got the girls settled down for a nap and called bell services to bring up the bags. They said someone would be there in 10-15 minutes. Well, an hour later I was sitting out in the hallway reading a magazine still waiting for bell services. I finally called down again and they came about 10 minutes after that. That was the only hiccup in our visit to the WL – everything else was just wonderful. The staff was accommodating and the rooms were clean.
We roused the girls and had dinner at Roaring Fork. The girls had chicken nuggets, I had a hamburger (actually, it was a hockey puck with bread), and Tim had the apple chicken salad. We drove over to the Studios and parked in the front. Our first mission was to meet the stars of Ratatouille, and they were going to be in the Animation building until 6:20. It was 6:10 as we walked up to the building and a nice CM actually led us right to the meet and greet where we waited perhaps two minutes. The girls offered both of the rats some pretend cheese (which they ate quickly) and we got some great pictures (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2809.jpg). I loved this movie – my only complaint is that I didn’t find a stuffed Remy to bring home, not much merchandise in the parks! We then headed over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. My Katie is a big Ariel fan. She sat with my husband and he said one of the highlights of the trip was watching and listening to her during this show. We all liked it. I don’t tend to see it every trip and when I do I marvel at what a great production it is. Julie loved the bubbles coming down and Katie’s favorite part was the giant Ursula puppet.
After that, Tim wanted to take Julie on Star Tours, so Katie and I went to play in the HISTK playground. We had been here before when the kids were smaller and they had had a great time. Well, this time was a little different. Katie loved the tunnels and slides but crawling after her and not losing her was quite the feat for me! Plus it was about 6:30 and the heat of the day had settled into the playground and not moved. It was SWELTERING in there, and coupled with all the activity of chasing a two year old, I was the hottest I had been all trip. Thankfully my husband and Julie showed up and we left for cooler parts.
More in next message... sorry this is so long!
TikiG, 34, planner and dreamer of WDW vacations
DH, 39, “Tim”, ex-CM who understand my Disney obsession
DD4, “Julie” lover of Dinosaurs
DD2, “Katie”, lover of mermaids and Prince Eric
Sunday, July 8:
On Sunday morning we got up early and left for Disney at about 7:10am. We started to see the signs for Disney at about 8:50am. Our original plan was to go to AK in the morning, go to the hotel to check in, take a nap, and then head to MGM for the evening. As we’re talking in the car we realize that the kids can’t wait until Tuesday to go to the Magic Kingdom, so in a split second we change our minds and head towards the MK.
We decided to park at the WL, and since we’re at the WL, we might as well check in! So we pulled up to the door, had bell services take our bags, and went to the registration desk. The CM told us our room wasn’t ready, and then told us, “Oh, by the way, you’ve been upgraded to courtyard view.” We had booked a standard view -- Yay! After a quick potty break we headed down to the boat dock and got to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom at about 9:50am. I was fretting about missing the best hour in the park but I really shouldn’t have been… the park really wasn’t that crowded for another two hours. We secured a locker and then went off to Fantasyland. Peter Pan was our first ride, and Katie absolutely loved it! We pretend to be Peter Pan and Capt. Hook all the time at home and she was enthralled by the ride. We promised to go on it again later and headed over to the Carousel. I was looking for Cinderella’s horse (the one with the golden ribbon on the tail) when I found something even better. Mary Poppins (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2798.jpg)was riding! A gentlemen seated near her graciously gave up his horse so my girls could ride next to her. Katie wanted to know where Bert was, and Mary said, “Oh, he’s off doing chalk drawings or cleaning chimneys, something silly like that”. We also asked her if she would be racing the horses today and she said it was too busy today and she didn’t want to run anyone over. The girls were tickled pink to be riding with Mary Poppins!
We headed over to Dumbo then. Surprisingly there was only a 2 minute wait – and this was at 10:20 or so! Katie loved our next ride – Pooh --- she especially like bouncing with Tigger. She sat on my lap for the entire ride and it was great fun watching her smile and react to the characters. She did want to know where Christopher Robin was – the only place we could find him was in the large ‘pages’ in the loading area. He is nowhere to be found in the actual ride, not even in the final party scene.
Snow White was next, just because there was no line. The girls aren’t that familiar with the story but Tim said we might as well try it. Both of the girls were scared by the trees and the witch. Enough of that – we headed over to Tomorrowland to do Buzz, Julie’s absolute favorite ride. We fastpassed it and got on the Wedway Peoplemover for a trip around Tomorrowland. When we got off there was still time until our FP became valid, so we got on Buzz standby since the wait was only 5 minutes or so. Right before we got to the cars we had another surprise! A Dream Team member was standing there giving out silver YOAMD mouse ears! We each got a pair and wore them proudly on and off throughout the day. I also got my best score of the trip – 437,000, and was the highest scorer in the family for the trip. That’s not exactly fair though since my husband was sitting in a car with my 2 yr old spinning the car whenever she wanted to. I did it with her and ended up with a score of 2000 or so!
We rode Buzz with our FPs (and our Mickey ears!) and then headed over to Casey’s for lunch. We bought drinks and ate our lunch that we had brought. The girls heard the castle show while we were eating and wanted to know what was going on. We promised to see it another day. After dancing around outside to the ragtime piano player we headed over to Adventureland. The Tiki Room show was just about to begin so we went in and enjoyed the air conditioning (have I mentioned that it was hot and sunny? Nice high pressure system sitting right on top of Orlando…). The show was loud. I don’t know if it was where we were sitting, but Iago’s voice was just overpowering. We all would have enjoyed it more if we didn’t have our hands over our ears. This was a theme in our vacation – loud attractions. Why is it necessary to have the volume up so loud?
We took at look at the 30 min wait for Pirates and decided it was time to go back to the resort. I had been calling to see if our room was ready and so far we had had no luck. We rode the boat over to the resort and as we docked, we had luck! Our room, 3019, was ready just in time for naps. Our room overlooked the pool area (ttp://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2878.jpg)and was in the wing between Roaring Fork and the boat dock (in this pic (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2866.jpg)our room is the one with the pink and white towels on the balcony). We got the girls settled down for a nap and called bell services to bring up the bags. They said someone would be there in 10-15 minutes. Well, an hour later I was sitting out in the hallway reading a magazine still waiting for bell services. I finally called down again and they came about 10 minutes after that. That was the only hiccup in our visit to the WL – everything else was just wonderful. The staff was accommodating and the rooms were clean.
We roused the girls and had dinner at Roaring Fork. The girls had chicken nuggets, I had a hamburger (actually, it was a hockey puck with bread), and Tim had the apple chicken salad. We drove over to the Studios and parked in the front. Our first mission was to meet the stars of Ratatouille, and they were going to be in the Animation building until 6:20. It was 6:10 as we walked up to the building and a nice CM actually led us right to the meet and greet where we waited perhaps two minutes. The girls offered both of the rats some pretend cheese (which they ate quickly) and we got some great pictures (http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/songster02/DSCN2809.jpg). I loved this movie – my only complaint is that I didn’t find a stuffed Remy to bring home, not much merchandise in the parks! We then headed over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. My Katie is a big Ariel fan. She sat with my husband and he said one of the highlights of the trip was watching and listening to her during this show. We all liked it. I don’t tend to see it every trip and when I do I marvel at what a great production it is. Julie loved the bubbles coming down and Katie’s favorite part was the giant Ursula puppet.
After that, Tim wanted to take Julie on Star Tours, so Katie and I went to play in the HISTK playground. We had been here before when the kids were smaller and they had had a great time. Well, this time was a little different. Katie loved the tunnels and slides but crawling after her and not losing her was quite the feat for me! Plus it was about 6:30 and the heat of the day had settled into the playground and not moved. It was SWELTERING in there, and coupled with all the activity of chasing a two year old, I was the hottest I had been all trip. Thankfully my husband and Julie showed up and we left for cooler parts.
More in next message... sorry this is so long!