buzznwoodysmom
03-23-2011, 03:49 PM
This was a special trip for my turning 9 year old son. He's the only one in our family that hadn't yet been able to have a birthday in WDW.
Cast:
Me-Denise
DH-Kevin
DS-Collin 11
DS-Landon (birthday boy) turning 9
DM-Sheila
Resorts:
Wilderness Lodge 7 nights
Animal Kingdom Lodge 2 nights
Sunday, March 6
Today was our MK day. We were up and headed to the boat dock a little behind time, as usual. The line for the boat to MK was not long at all and in no time we were taking the relaxing boat ride to my favorite park! There were no grumpy people on this boat, thank goodness! We arrived at MK and went right in. We are all really loving getting to the parks a bit after the morning rush. It’s such an easier, more pleasant start to the day.
We headed straight for Space Mountain, after grabbing fastpasses for Buzz. The wait for Space Mt. was only 20 minutes and it went very fast. We then enjoyed Carousel of Progress and the People Mover. It was then time for our fastpasses for Buzz. I didn’t win, the boys all beat me. The boys wanted to ride Space Mt. again later so we got fastpasses and the boys stumbled upon PUSH the talking trashcan. We’ve heard of PUSH, but have never had the pleasure of actually seeing him/it. The boys thought it was a hoot and they were following him, or should I say chasing him. It was very funny and I’m glad to say we’ve finally seen PUSH! We were right near Cosmic Ray’s and since Collin wanted ribs for lunch we figured we may as well beat the lunch crowds and grab something to eat now. After lunch we headed to one of the shops in Tomorrowland where we ran into PUSH again. This time he was trying to get through a door, saying silly things to try and make the door open. After our encounter with what the boys thought the new coolest thing in the park was we headed for Adventure Land.
In Adventure land the boys were really passing up and deciding to skip all sorts of things, Jungle Cruise, too long of a wait; tree house, didn’t feel like doing it; tiki room, closed. Finally we get to Pirates and I was going to have to disown my children if they were going to think about skipping this ride. Hahaha! Of course they wanted to ride so mom was very happy! Then we headed to Frontier Land and grabbed fastpasses for BTMRR, then took the boat over to Tom Sawyer Island. My kids will never get tired of this part of the park. They’ve been there tons of times, yet they still enjoy exploring the caves, bridges, and forts. After our time spent on the island it was almost time for BTMRR, so we grabbed frozen lemonades, ice cream and pop corn. After our snacks we had fun on the “wildest ride in the wilderness”.
At this point Landon was begging to do the pirate makeover again. This would be his third time and tried as I may to change his mind, he really wanted to do it. I decided that I should let him since in a few years he may never want to do something like this again. We arrived at the podium and were told that they were all booked for the rest of the afternoon. Landon was visibly upset and the CM said “Well since it’s his birthday (birthday button) let me see if I can pull some strings”. She came back out in less than a minute with two thumbs up! We were called in shortly after and they were asking him which pirates he had for his makeovers before. So we told them about the pirates and Landon remembered one of them had a birthday the day before Landon’s. We couldn’t believe it when that’s who ended up doing the makeover! He had a ton of fun with his 3rd transformation into a pirate and we were on our way with a happy little boy!
By this time it was getting close to time for us to head to the Polynesian for our dinner at Kona with my SIL and her crew. We headed for the monorail and noticed we were earlier than we thought so we waited and got off at the GF just to shop around, and for me to smell one of my favorite smells in all of WDW, the Grand Floridian Lobby! I love that smell so much! After roaming around a bit we decided to walk to the Poly instead of taking the monorail since it was such a beautiful day out! Anytime I’m walking near sand I have a tendency to kick my shoes off and walk in the sand. I love the way the sand feels under my feet. As soon as my kids saw the sand flip flops went flying and they were asking if they could walk to the Poly in the sand. My mom, who hates sand, said they are definitely their momma’s kids! I ended up joining them in the sand for part of the walk and we were at the Poly just in time for dinner. Not even 2 minutes after we met up with my SIL upstairs the buzzer was going off. We had a wonderful meal. I love, love, love the bread and butter here. It’s good enough by itself to make us want to go back to Kona again and again. We had a table of 10 and went through 6 loaves of bread. We would have asked for more, but we were too embarrassed to ask. Kevin had the Teriyaki New York Strip Steak. I had the 3 course meal so we could share the appetizer and dessert. The appetizer was a coconut shrimp curry soup. It was just OK. Kevin also ordered crab cakes that were great. I had a shrimp noodle dish that was good, but way too much. And for dessert I think we had a key lime dessert, but I don’t see that on any of the menus, so maybe it was something else. But I remember it was great. I’m a dessert person so dessert is always great if you ask me!
After dinner we headed back to MK. Landon and Kevin used their fastpasses for Splash, while my mom, Collin, and I waited for them on the porch of the kitchen store by Haunted Mansion. At that time HM was down for technical difficulties. Just as Kevin and Landon walked up the ride was reopened so we were able to walk right on. Next we made our way to Fantasy Land.
The line for Peter Pan, of course, was way long so we got fastpasses. We rode IASW then walked right into Philharmagic. Then Landon starts asking if we can please take the makeup off his face. It was “bothering” him. What a waste of time and money! It was just about time for Wishes and I really wanted to make sure we were able to see the new castle show before Wishes. We ended up with an excellent spot right behind the hub, centered with the castle. This is my favorite spot to watch Wishes. The new castle show blew me away! I wouldn’t have even bothered with it, but I’ve heard good reviews so thought we should see for ourselves. This show is a must see! It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed something new in WDW this much. I hope Disney keeps this around for a while. I felt it added so much to the nighttime entertainment lineup at MK. Wishes started right after and it was as great as ever. This is my favorite nighttime entertainment in all of WDW!
After Wishes Kevin and Collin were ready to head back to the room. Landon wanted to ride Peter Pan, but he didn’t want to wait in a 40 minute line, and also didn’t want to wait till 10:15 for our fastpasses. So it was decided that we’d all had enough for the day and we headed out the park. NEVER AGAIN will I ever leave immediately following Wishes! There were so many people trying to exit that the crowd was just not moving. We ended up being escorted behind the Plaza Restaurant (I think) and it was neat to see behind the scenes, but very odd to be walking with so many people in that area. I kind of wish I hadn’t seen how boring and normal it looks behind the scenes. As we exited the park we headed to the very long line for the boat back to WL. After waiting in line for a while Kevin and the boys decided to walk to the Contemporary and take the boat to WL from there. My mom has rented a scooter on our last few trips, but hadn’t rented one yet on this trip and she really didn’t think she could take that long walk to the CR, so I staying in line with her at MK. The kids kept calling me to tell me where they were and they were so sure they were going to beat us back to WL. We ended up on a boat and back at WL before a boat even arrived at CR!
Up next – DHS!
Cast:
Me-Denise
DH-Kevin
DS-Collin 11
DS-Landon (birthday boy) turning 9
DM-Sheila
Resorts:
Wilderness Lodge 7 nights
Animal Kingdom Lodge 2 nights
Sunday, March 6
Today was our MK day. We were up and headed to the boat dock a little behind time, as usual. The line for the boat to MK was not long at all and in no time we were taking the relaxing boat ride to my favorite park! There were no grumpy people on this boat, thank goodness! We arrived at MK and went right in. We are all really loving getting to the parks a bit after the morning rush. It’s such an easier, more pleasant start to the day.
We headed straight for Space Mountain, after grabbing fastpasses for Buzz. The wait for Space Mt. was only 20 minutes and it went very fast. We then enjoyed Carousel of Progress and the People Mover. It was then time for our fastpasses for Buzz. I didn’t win, the boys all beat me. The boys wanted to ride Space Mt. again later so we got fastpasses and the boys stumbled upon PUSH the talking trashcan. We’ve heard of PUSH, but have never had the pleasure of actually seeing him/it. The boys thought it was a hoot and they were following him, or should I say chasing him. It was very funny and I’m glad to say we’ve finally seen PUSH! We were right near Cosmic Ray’s and since Collin wanted ribs for lunch we figured we may as well beat the lunch crowds and grab something to eat now. After lunch we headed to one of the shops in Tomorrowland where we ran into PUSH again. This time he was trying to get through a door, saying silly things to try and make the door open. After our encounter with what the boys thought the new coolest thing in the park was we headed for Adventure Land.
In Adventure land the boys were really passing up and deciding to skip all sorts of things, Jungle Cruise, too long of a wait; tree house, didn’t feel like doing it; tiki room, closed. Finally we get to Pirates and I was going to have to disown my children if they were going to think about skipping this ride. Hahaha! Of course they wanted to ride so mom was very happy! Then we headed to Frontier Land and grabbed fastpasses for BTMRR, then took the boat over to Tom Sawyer Island. My kids will never get tired of this part of the park. They’ve been there tons of times, yet they still enjoy exploring the caves, bridges, and forts. After our time spent on the island it was almost time for BTMRR, so we grabbed frozen lemonades, ice cream and pop corn. After our snacks we had fun on the “wildest ride in the wilderness”.
At this point Landon was begging to do the pirate makeover again. This would be his third time and tried as I may to change his mind, he really wanted to do it. I decided that I should let him since in a few years he may never want to do something like this again. We arrived at the podium and were told that they were all booked for the rest of the afternoon. Landon was visibly upset and the CM said “Well since it’s his birthday (birthday button) let me see if I can pull some strings”. She came back out in less than a minute with two thumbs up! We were called in shortly after and they were asking him which pirates he had for his makeovers before. So we told them about the pirates and Landon remembered one of them had a birthday the day before Landon’s. We couldn’t believe it when that’s who ended up doing the makeover! He had a ton of fun with his 3rd transformation into a pirate and we were on our way with a happy little boy!
By this time it was getting close to time for us to head to the Polynesian for our dinner at Kona with my SIL and her crew. We headed for the monorail and noticed we were earlier than we thought so we waited and got off at the GF just to shop around, and for me to smell one of my favorite smells in all of WDW, the Grand Floridian Lobby! I love that smell so much! After roaming around a bit we decided to walk to the Poly instead of taking the monorail since it was such a beautiful day out! Anytime I’m walking near sand I have a tendency to kick my shoes off and walk in the sand. I love the way the sand feels under my feet. As soon as my kids saw the sand flip flops went flying and they were asking if they could walk to the Poly in the sand. My mom, who hates sand, said they are definitely their momma’s kids! I ended up joining them in the sand for part of the walk and we were at the Poly just in time for dinner. Not even 2 minutes after we met up with my SIL upstairs the buzzer was going off. We had a wonderful meal. I love, love, love the bread and butter here. It’s good enough by itself to make us want to go back to Kona again and again. We had a table of 10 and went through 6 loaves of bread. We would have asked for more, but we were too embarrassed to ask. Kevin had the Teriyaki New York Strip Steak. I had the 3 course meal so we could share the appetizer and dessert. The appetizer was a coconut shrimp curry soup. It was just OK. Kevin also ordered crab cakes that were great. I had a shrimp noodle dish that was good, but way too much. And for dessert I think we had a key lime dessert, but I don’t see that on any of the menus, so maybe it was something else. But I remember it was great. I’m a dessert person so dessert is always great if you ask me!
After dinner we headed back to MK. Landon and Kevin used their fastpasses for Splash, while my mom, Collin, and I waited for them on the porch of the kitchen store by Haunted Mansion. At that time HM was down for technical difficulties. Just as Kevin and Landon walked up the ride was reopened so we were able to walk right on. Next we made our way to Fantasy Land.
The line for Peter Pan, of course, was way long so we got fastpasses. We rode IASW then walked right into Philharmagic. Then Landon starts asking if we can please take the makeup off his face. It was “bothering” him. What a waste of time and money! It was just about time for Wishes and I really wanted to make sure we were able to see the new castle show before Wishes. We ended up with an excellent spot right behind the hub, centered with the castle. This is my favorite spot to watch Wishes. The new castle show blew me away! I wouldn’t have even bothered with it, but I’ve heard good reviews so thought we should see for ourselves. This show is a must see! It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed something new in WDW this much. I hope Disney keeps this around for a while. I felt it added so much to the nighttime entertainment lineup at MK. Wishes started right after and it was as great as ever. This is my favorite nighttime entertainment in all of WDW!
After Wishes Kevin and Collin were ready to head back to the room. Landon wanted to ride Peter Pan, but he didn’t want to wait in a 40 minute line, and also didn’t want to wait till 10:15 for our fastpasses. So it was decided that we’d all had enough for the day and we headed out the park. NEVER AGAIN will I ever leave immediately following Wishes! There were so many people trying to exit that the crowd was just not moving. We ended up being escorted behind the Plaza Restaurant (I think) and it was neat to see behind the scenes, but very odd to be walking with so many people in that area. I kind of wish I hadn’t seen how boring and normal it looks behind the scenes. As we exited the park we headed to the very long line for the boat back to WL. After waiting in line for a while Kevin and the boys decided to walk to the Contemporary and take the boat to WL from there. My mom has rented a scooter on our last few trips, but hadn’t rented one yet on this trip and she really didn’t think she could take that long walk to the CR, so I staying in line with her at MK. The kids kept calling me to tell me where they were and they were so sure they were going to beat us back to WL. We ended up on a boat and back at WL before a boat even arrived at CR!
Up next – DHS!