Jennifer_and_Chris
10-31-2011, 03:49 PM
5:30 am - I had Mickey and Stitch wake me up earlier today. MK is open at 8am for everyone and it is our last day.
5:50 am – I actually get out of bed. I babysit the coffee maker, get ready and get the rest of the bumps on a log in my room ready.
8:15am ish – We are through the gates. It’s nearly empty down main street. Sun is shining so bright. What a wonderful morning in MK. As we walk around the hub, we take a few pictures and Pluto walks out just in front of us! We get in line and 2 people later, we get Pluto’s picture and autograph with the girls. But, wait, Pluto will not let me leave without a smooch and a picture with me alone because it’s my birthday! He loves me. While we were meeting with Pluto, the Main Street dancers were coming around the HUB and stopped right in front of the station to do their little number. Isabel wanted to stay and watch so, we stayed and she was dancing with them.
We take pictures in front of the Castle in a few different spots. One of these pictures has to be good enough for our Christmas card. Once I have exhausted my family’s patience with Photopass pictures, we venture off into Adventure Land. There is not a single person in Adventure Land. A CM is directing us to the doors right after the bridge to Adventure Land to meet Tink and friends… no waiting! So, we get in line since Tink is on our must find list. There are 2 people in front of us and we get around the corner and meet Terence first. (We were hoping for Rosetta and/or Silvermist) He’s very animated and I think the girls were intimidated by a male face character. But, they are polite and smile and answer questions. There was a lot of nodding from the girls. I have no idea what he was saying to them. Then the girls meet Tink. She is dressed in the “winter” costume from the 2nd Tinkerbell movie. She’s got the boots, jacket and hat. She is also very animated and in character. I don’t think the girls were ready for that yet so they were pretty quiet. But, lots of head nodding from them.
After that quick 5 minute meet, we head over to Aladdin’s carpets. But, who is that on the side? It’s Aladdin and Jasmine all alone waiting for someone to meet. So we run over and they are great with the girls. So much costume and nothing to do! Aladdin asked how we got there, by foot, monorail, boat or camel. Again, girls nod and giggle. He asks if they have a camel at home. I tell him that the camel in Michigan are called deer. The family behind us must have been from Michigan because the mom said, yeah the Michigan camel are everywhere. After taking a picture with Aladdin and Jasmine in their winter coats (we are still laughing that everyone is in coats), we go over to Aladdin’s carpets. Only about 4-5 carpets were taken on our turn around. At the end of our turn, the CM announced that if we wanted to ride again, we didn’t need to get out, just stay put and the ride would begin immediately. I don’t think anyone got out. So, we rode again, and again. It was awesome! The kids really began to wake up after this good fortune.
We park the strollers by POTC and Natalie sees the hair wrap station opening up. This is the one “thing” that they picked to do. Natalie and Isabel can hardly walk over but, the CM isn’t ready to open yet. So, we promise to stop after our pirate ship ride. And within 10 minutes, we are back out from POTC and signing the girls up for their turn at hair wrap. There was already a little girl getting her hair wrapped and this gave the girls time to pick out the beads and thread. Natalie chose pink, purple, white and turquoise. Isabel chose pink, red, purple and white. This took about 15 minutes each girl and so we waited for awhile. But, the girls waited so patiently. While they are getting their hair done, we notice that the crowds are picking up. We also notice that Tortuga Tavern is open. We have been trying to eat at this place since we’ve been coming here. And that is where we will be eating lunch! By the time the girls are done, it’s about 11am. We head over to HM to see about the wait and it’s already 30 minutes. No thanks. We go back to Tortuga Tavern and have lunch early. It’s getting rather crowded so, we are happy that we eat early. See dining review coming soon for food details….
After our lunch we make our way over to Tom Sawyer Island. This is the first time we’ve done TSI since 2003. The kids TOTALLY love this island. All the nooks and crannies to this place is just heaven to the girls. The fort was tops for them! After a long exploration of the island, which the girls really needed the “down” time, we went back to check out the HM wait and it was now 35 minutes. So, we go on the Liberty Belle that was boarding at that moment. I don’t think we did this since 2003 either. Once our leisurely trip is over, we check the standby line for HM which is still longer than we want to wait. We walk through the restrooms that connect to Adventureland and I pick up a Dole Whip to share with the kids. Boy, that taste much better than I remember them!
We cut through to Liberty Square to try and find Princess Tiana and fairly quickly we see the line against the stone wall by the gazebo. For anyone on the hunt for Princess Tiana, she does her meet at the Gazebo behind the Christmas store in Liberty square. You are literally looking at the backside of all the stores going from Liberty Square to the bridge to the hub in front of the castle. So, we line up and Isabel is about a hair away from a meltdown. Since Tom Sawyers Island, she has asked for her stroller because she wants a nap. We just haven’t gotten around to POTC to get the stroller so, we pushed her to the point of meltdown. She starts to get unruly and after 1 warning that we would leave (Princess Tiana was already out and we had about a dozen or more people in front of us) if she didn’t act with good manners, it was a full, fall on the floor meltdown. This was the first and only WDW meltdown. So, Natalie and Chris stay to meet Princess Tiana and Isabel and I take her meltdown back to the stroller at POTC. She was very angry at me but, I’m not having it. She’s standing next to all the strollers crying to all in her path but, her eyes are closed and she’s starting to stumble like a drunk. I give her about another minute or two before I know that she’ll be open to getting in the stroller and sleep. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she lets me lead her into the stroller. I give her my sweatshirt to use as a blanket. I turn around and see Chris and Natalie coming towards us. By the time they get to me, Isabel is sleeping. While I’ll never admit it to her, her public meltdown was our fault since she asked for her stroller long ago and we pushed her. To all the parents out there, if your child asks for a nap, give them the opportunity to nap. While Isabel’s meltdown was fairly tame, she just basically stood next to the stroller crying, not screaming or hitting or punching or on the dirty ground rolling around in mystery liquid, it was preventable.
While Isabel is sleeping away, we take the kids in strollers over to Fantasy Land to see if there is anything with a short wait. It’s pretty crowded chaos in Fantasy Land so we start walking towards Tomorrowland. Natalie asks to ride the Tea Cups so, I park it on the side and stay with a sleeping Isabel while Natalie and Chris ride. Then I take a ride with Natalie (she’s really making out with some one on one time with us while Isabel has been napping). We head over to Buzz. By this time, Isabel is awake. We walk onto the ride. When we get out of there, I declare that I want to ride TTA. That’s usually one of the first things we do and I haven’t done it yet. So, we ride. And this begins the end to our good fortune.
While riding the TTA, we pass through the tunnel where we pass Space Mountain and all the lights are on. We can see everything but, I can’t get my camera out fast enough… I think I got a really blurry shot of Space Mountain and it’s secrets. That should have prepared us for what is about to happen. Our train stops and it’s announced that the ride is temporarily down, remain seated and all that good stuff. The kids declare that they are hungry. (of course!) So, they eat whatever snacks we have in the backpack. And then the wind changes. And we get lungs full of smoke. Our train stops right on top of the smoking area to the right of Space Mountain. Great. Everyone on the tram is covering their mouths, us included. About 20 minutes later, we are still getting full of second hand smoke and a CM walking on the track passes us. Please remain seated. Fine. About another 5 minutes later, the train behind us is walking passed us. So, another couple of CM’s come by and open the doors for us to walk the track back. I’m just about sweating bullets at this point. My fear of heights and falling through rails, stairs, etc is coming to life. But, I have to hold it in for the kids. We walk over where Buzz Lightyear is doing his meet and greet and he salutes us and waves. That was a highlight. We are led single file to the Carousel of Progress building and through a secret door. At the bottom of the stairs, a CM is handing out what I call the golden fastpass. We are able to use these passes to get to the front of the line of any attration for the day. Too bad its about 5pm already.
5:50 am – I actually get out of bed. I babysit the coffee maker, get ready and get the rest of the bumps on a log in my room ready.
8:15am ish – We are through the gates. It’s nearly empty down main street. Sun is shining so bright. What a wonderful morning in MK. As we walk around the hub, we take a few pictures and Pluto walks out just in front of us! We get in line and 2 people later, we get Pluto’s picture and autograph with the girls. But, wait, Pluto will not let me leave without a smooch and a picture with me alone because it’s my birthday! He loves me. While we were meeting with Pluto, the Main Street dancers were coming around the HUB and stopped right in front of the station to do their little number. Isabel wanted to stay and watch so, we stayed and she was dancing with them.
We take pictures in front of the Castle in a few different spots. One of these pictures has to be good enough for our Christmas card. Once I have exhausted my family’s patience with Photopass pictures, we venture off into Adventure Land. There is not a single person in Adventure Land. A CM is directing us to the doors right after the bridge to Adventure Land to meet Tink and friends… no waiting! So, we get in line since Tink is on our must find list. There are 2 people in front of us and we get around the corner and meet Terence first. (We were hoping for Rosetta and/or Silvermist) He’s very animated and I think the girls were intimidated by a male face character. But, they are polite and smile and answer questions. There was a lot of nodding from the girls. I have no idea what he was saying to them. Then the girls meet Tink. She is dressed in the “winter” costume from the 2nd Tinkerbell movie. She’s got the boots, jacket and hat. She is also very animated and in character. I don’t think the girls were ready for that yet so they were pretty quiet. But, lots of head nodding from them.
After that quick 5 minute meet, we head over to Aladdin’s carpets. But, who is that on the side? It’s Aladdin and Jasmine all alone waiting for someone to meet. So we run over and they are great with the girls. So much costume and nothing to do! Aladdin asked how we got there, by foot, monorail, boat or camel. Again, girls nod and giggle. He asks if they have a camel at home. I tell him that the camel in Michigan are called deer. The family behind us must have been from Michigan because the mom said, yeah the Michigan camel are everywhere. After taking a picture with Aladdin and Jasmine in their winter coats (we are still laughing that everyone is in coats), we go over to Aladdin’s carpets. Only about 4-5 carpets were taken on our turn around. At the end of our turn, the CM announced that if we wanted to ride again, we didn’t need to get out, just stay put and the ride would begin immediately. I don’t think anyone got out. So, we rode again, and again. It was awesome! The kids really began to wake up after this good fortune.
We park the strollers by POTC and Natalie sees the hair wrap station opening up. This is the one “thing” that they picked to do. Natalie and Isabel can hardly walk over but, the CM isn’t ready to open yet. So, we promise to stop after our pirate ship ride. And within 10 minutes, we are back out from POTC and signing the girls up for their turn at hair wrap. There was already a little girl getting her hair wrapped and this gave the girls time to pick out the beads and thread. Natalie chose pink, purple, white and turquoise. Isabel chose pink, red, purple and white. This took about 15 minutes each girl and so we waited for awhile. But, the girls waited so patiently. While they are getting their hair done, we notice that the crowds are picking up. We also notice that Tortuga Tavern is open. We have been trying to eat at this place since we’ve been coming here. And that is where we will be eating lunch! By the time the girls are done, it’s about 11am. We head over to HM to see about the wait and it’s already 30 minutes. No thanks. We go back to Tortuga Tavern and have lunch early. It’s getting rather crowded so, we are happy that we eat early. See dining review coming soon for food details….
After our lunch we make our way over to Tom Sawyer Island. This is the first time we’ve done TSI since 2003. The kids TOTALLY love this island. All the nooks and crannies to this place is just heaven to the girls. The fort was tops for them! After a long exploration of the island, which the girls really needed the “down” time, we went back to check out the HM wait and it was now 35 minutes. So, we go on the Liberty Belle that was boarding at that moment. I don’t think we did this since 2003 either. Once our leisurely trip is over, we check the standby line for HM which is still longer than we want to wait. We walk through the restrooms that connect to Adventureland and I pick up a Dole Whip to share with the kids. Boy, that taste much better than I remember them!
We cut through to Liberty Square to try and find Princess Tiana and fairly quickly we see the line against the stone wall by the gazebo. For anyone on the hunt for Princess Tiana, she does her meet at the Gazebo behind the Christmas store in Liberty square. You are literally looking at the backside of all the stores going from Liberty Square to the bridge to the hub in front of the castle. So, we line up and Isabel is about a hair away from a meltdown. Since Tom Sawyers Island, she has asked for her stroller because she wants a nap. We just haven’t gotten around to POTC to get the stroller so, we pushed her to the point of meltdown. She starts to get unruly and after 1 warning that we would leave (Princess Tiana was already out and we had about a dozen or more people in front of us) if she didn’t act with good manners, it was a full, fall on the floor meltdown. This was the first and only WDW meltdown. So, Natalie and Chris stay to meet Princess Tiana and Isabel and I take her meltdown back to the stroller at POTC. She was very angry at me but, I’m not having it. She’s standing next to all the strollers crying to all in her path but, her eyes are closed and she’s starting to stumble like a drunk. I give her about another minute or two before I know that she’ll be open to getting in the stroller and sleep. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she lets me lead her into the stroller. I give her my sweatshirt to use as a blanket. I turn around and see Chris and Natalie coming towards us. By the time they get to me, Isabel is sleeping. While I’ll never admit it to her, her public meltdown was our fault since she asked for her stroller long ago and we pushed her. To all the parents out there, if your child asks for a nap, give them the opportunity to nap. While Isabel’s meltdown was fairly tame, she just basically stood next to the stroller crying, not screaming or hitting or punching or on the dirty ground rolling around in mystery liquid, it was preventable.
While Isabel is sleeping away, we take the kids in strollers over to Fantasy Land to see if there is anything with a short wait. It’s pretty crowded chaos in Fantasy Land so we start walking towards Tomorrowland. Natalie asks to ride the Tea Cups so, I park it on the side and stay with a sleeping Isabel while Natalie and Chris ride. Then I take a ride with Natalie (she’s really making out with some one on one time with us while Isabel has been napping). We head over to Buzz. By this time, Isabel is awake. We walk onto the ride. When we get out of there, I declare that I want to ride TTA. That’s usually one of the first things we do and I haven’t done it yet. So, we ride. And this begins the end to our good fortune.
While riding the TTA, we pass through the tunnel where we pass Space Mountain and all the lights are on. We can see everything but, I can’t get my camera out fast enough… I think I got a really blurry shot of Space Mountain and it’s secrets. That should have prepared us for what is about to happen. Our train stops and it’s announced that the ride is temporarily down, remain seated and all that good stuff. The kids declare that they are hungry. (of course!) So, they eat whatever snacks we have in the backpack. And then the wind changes. And we get lungs full of smoke. Our train stops right on top of the smoking area to the right of Space Mountain. Great. Everyone on the tram is covering their mouths, us included. About 20 minutes later, we are still getting full of second hand smoke and a CM walking on the track passes us. Please remain seated. Fine. About another 5 minutes later, the train behind us is walking passed us. So, another couple of CM’s come by and open the doors for us to walk the track back. I’m just about sweating bullets at this point. My fear of heights and falling through rails, stairs, etc is coming to life. But, I have to hold it in for the kids. We walk over where Buzz Lightyear is doing his meet and greet and he salutes us and waves. That was a highlight. We are led single file to the Carousel of Progress building and through a secret door. At the bottom of the stairs, a CM is handing out what I call the golden fastpass. We are able to use these passes to get to the front of the line of any attration for the day. Too bad its about 5pm already.