IloveJack
12-16-2013, 11:20 AM
Me, Susan, 33, obsessive planner, 8th trip
DH, David, 28, along for the ride, 6th trip
ODD, Sammie, 5, has begged to return for 18 months, 4th trip
YDD, Lily, 2, thinks WDW is the castle, 2nd trip
DS, Joey, 6 mo, 1st trip
Tuesday, December 2, 2013
I was awake when the alarm went off. DS doesn't seem to like sleeping in someone else's bed. It was rather hard to wake the DDs; they like their beauty sleep, and although they'd slept most of the drive, and had a nap yesterday, they both were awake all through EMH. Once we told them they could wear their new Sophia dresses, they were up pretty quickly, though. It was Pop-tarts for breakfast, and we were out the door to DHS.
We never had to wait long for a bus (other than leaving tonight), and we were in the park shortly after it opened at 9:00. We headed straight to ToT, which ODD had been begging to ride since our last trip, when she was deemed to small (as in weight, not height). We were hoping to ride before everyone got their TSM FPs and returned, and it worked. The stand-by line was 5 minutes long. ODD clung to DH the entire ride, and then begged to not ride it with me. I promised I wouldn't make her, so I kept the rider switch, and we moved on. She did call our pretend daughter, though, and told her she rode it. We stopped for a PP pic to commemorate her first ride, and she got the magical Chip pic also.
We headed on over to see Woody and Buzz before the line got long, although it was already at 40 mins. There was a group of three ladies behind us, sans kids, and one of them asked to take a picture of my toes. I'd painted all the little ones red, and the big ones were the "Mickey icon" (kind of a french tip using red/black with the two white buttons in the red). She wasn't embarrassed at all to ask for the pic. Ha!
We saw Woody and Buzz and had great interaction, but the PP photog was busy talking and missed a lot of it. This happened more than once, and as I'd pre-purchased the cd, I was planning to not drag my camera out at every stop. Oh well.
We then went to Animation to see who we could see, but as our ADRs were for 30 mins later, we weren't able to see more than one character, so we got in the shortest line, which happened to be Minnie. She was the only character of the trip that was in a hurry to move on from seeing our kids, which is ironic, as hers was the shortest line. We saw another Minnie later, so it didn't make a huge difference, but it was noted by me. Normally, Minnie is extra friendly, especially with little, little kids. Not so much today.
Lunch was at 50s Prime Time, and this place never disappoints. We will continue making ADRs here. Everyone cleaned their plates, including our eat-like-a-bird DDs. We even had dessert. Uncle Dale was a wonderful waiter, deeming DS "Skippy" right off the bat, and making comments like "No chewing on the table, Skippy." and "Skippy, quiet it down over there, we're talking." He fed one bite to YDD when she decided a nap was more important than lunch, but then she finished eating herself. He had a lot of fun running between tables, and making us all feel like we knew each other. We even took a picture of him with "Skippy" and ODD at the end, and he hammed it up in the pic.
By the way, DH and I had the fried chicken with extra mashed potatoes. The DDs split the penne pasta, and we all had drinks. DH and I each had a shake and the DDs split a DIY sundae at the end. Total with tip was $78. No dining plan needed!
We headed straight to Sophia, as we had promised not to miss her. While I waited in line, the DDs saw Jake, too. Why does Sophia have a head? There's not much interaction, as she can barely see. But when ODD said she liked her amulet, she mimed that she liked their dresses.
Then back over to Animation to see Ralph and Vanelope. The DDs pretty much ignored Ralph, other than for a hug. I wonder if he gets all the boy visitors, and she the girls. Since we seemed to be on a character scavenger hunt, we went to see Mike and Sulley next. I like the new Monsters U overlay, and it was a nice change from the pics we got last year.
The DDs were begging to get out of the stroller and run around, so DH took them to the HISTK playground, while I took DS for some lunch. When we left the playground, I saw Santa Goofy, so we got in line there. It was a little hard to think Christmas in 80 degree weather and shorts, but we tried our best. DS really liked Goofy, and I had to pry him away.
It was time for our FPs at Star Tours. I sat outside, feeding DS and letting YDD nap while ODD and DH rode. Then we switched and I rode with ODD. She was a little scared of the ride, but she did great. We got the Wookie world, and it made her smile to "run over" Chewbacca. Some guys behind us were really hoping to be the spy, but some girl was chosen. So everytime that C3PO said anything about the spy being a man, they corrected him. It was quite funny.
ODD had been begging for a pair of ears with the "scarves hanging down" all day. We thought she meant the bride ears, so we put her off. She insisted though, so as we walked by the hat, we stopped to look. She showed us the ears, the glittery-headband-type, with the pastel tulle hanging down the back. We explained and explained and explained that she wouldn't be able to get anything else later, to which she agreed and we bought them.
Still wanting to do stuff for the kids, we went back to Disney Junior on Stage. We walked up just as they were shutting the doors, but got in the back of the room. Some little girl was running all over us the whole time; I don't know where her parents were, but we saw them later. She actually grabbed ODD's wrist when she tried to pick up some dubloons, and snatched them away. So when she came over to us and tried to steal away the few that ODD had gotten, from right in front of DH, he grabbed them and told her to go on. She'd already stepped on our fingers, and knocked YDD out of her way during the dancing part. We were ready to go when the show was over.
ODD had decided she was ready to try ToT again, so she rode with me this time. She was fine during the beginning of the ride, but once the drop was about to happen, she buried her face in my leg. The drop sequence was the best I've ever had. We dropped 5-6 times, and I never touched the seat the entire time. It was definitely ramped up from the past. However, I heard screaming and couldn't figure out where it was coming from, then finally realized it was ODD. It was a terrified scream, and I could feel her heart beating in my leg. I told DH no more of that ride for her till she grew up some. I don't want her having a panic attack or worse in DHS! We still had FPs though, and DH wanted to ride again, so I bought the DDs Mickey lollipops, and we sat outside and pin traded while waiting.
We had done just about everything we wanted, except TSM for which I had FPs later, so we headed to see Phineas and Ferb. Afterwards, ODD confessed that she'd kissed Phineas, so DH (jokingly) gave her a speech about being too young to kiss boys.
We shielded our eyes from the Osbourne lights as we walked back to TSM, not wanting to ruin the view later. We enjoyed TSM, and YDD was somehow able to score 600, even though she never moved the gun, only pulled the string. DH had the highest score in the car, and was just 20,000 off the highest score for the day.
It was finally time for the Osbourne lights. Wow! I'd seen this in 2001, back when it was on the backlot tour, but this was so much better. I ate up my camera's battery videoing the dancing lights. We looked for all the hidden Mickeys and found the black cat (and the red pig, what's that from?).
We tried to get a PP pic outside the park in front of the tree, but the PP photog's equipment wasn't working. This became a bit of a theme. If the magic band system glitches at all, their cameras won't work. We weren't in a hurry, though, so we dug out our camera and she took a picture with it.
We had to wait through three busses, but it was worth it to sit down for the ride. I'm not sure why ASM was so much fuller than the other two AS, unless it was due to Pop Warner coming in soon.
We got a pizza and breadsticks from the food court, and bought three kids' cups to get drinks while we waited. For three of those cups, with four fills each, it was only $3.83; much cheaper than a mug or even the bigger cups. Our entire meal was $27 for the pizza, breadsticks, and cups. We ate in our room, watching Disney Junior, and got in the bed "early" at 10:30. The alarm was set for 6:45.
DH, David, 28, along for the ride, 6th trip
ODD, Sammie, 5, has begged to return for 18 months, 4th trip
YDD, Lily, 2, thinks WDW is the castle, 2nd trip
DS, Joey, 6 mo, 1st trip
Tuesday, December 2, 2013
I was awake when the alarm went off. DS doesn't seem to like sleeping in someone else's bed. It was rather hard to wake the DDs; they like their beauty sleep, and although they'd slept most of the drive, and had a nap yesterday, they both were awake all through EMH. Once we told them they could wear their new Sophia dresses, they were up pretty quickly, though. It was Pop-tarts for breakfast, and we were out the door to DHS.
We never had to wait long for a bus (other than leaving tonight), and we were in the park shortly after it opened at 9:00. We headed straight to ToT, which ODD had been begging to ride since our last trip, when she was deemed to small (as in weight, not height). We were hoping to ride before everyone got their TSM FPs and returned, and it worked. The stand-by line was 5 minutes long. ODD clung to DH the entire ride, and then begged to not ride it with me. I promised I wouldn't make her, so I kept the rider switch, and we moved on. She did call our pretend daughter, though, and told her she rode it. We stopped for a PP pic to commemorate her first ride, and she got the magical Chip pic also.
We headed on over to see Woody and Buzz before the line got long, although it was already at 40 mins. There was a group of three ladies behind us, sans kids, and one of them asked to take a picture of my toes. I'd painted all the little ones red, and the big ones were the "Mickey icon" (kind of a french tip using red/black with the two white buttons in the red). She wasn't embarrassed at all to ask for the pic. Ha!
We saw Woody and Buzz and had great interaction, but the PP photog was busy talking and missed a lot of it. This happened more than once, and as I'd pre-purchased the cd, I was planning to not drag my camera out at every stop. Oh well.
We then went to Animation to see who we could see, but as our ADRs were for 30 mins later, we weren't able to see more than one character, so we got in the shortest line, which happened to be Minnie. She was the only character of the trip that was in a hurry to move on from seeing our kids, which is ironic, as hers was the shortest line. We saw another Minnie later, so it didn't make a huge difference, but it was noted by me. Normally, Minnie is extra friendly, especially with little, little kids. Not so much today.
Lunch was at 50s Prime Time, and this place never disappoints. We will continue making ADRs here. Everyone cleaned their plates, including our eat-like-a-bird DDs. We even had dessert. Uncle Dale was a wonderful waiter, deeming DS "Skippy" right off the bat, and making comments like "No chewing on the table, Skippy." and "Skippy, quiet it down over there, we're talking." He fed one bite to YDD when she decided a nap was more important than lunch, but then she finished eating herself. He had a lot of fun running between tables, and making us all feel like we knew each other. We even took a picture of him with "Skippy" and ODD at the end, and he hammed it up in the pic.
By the way, DH and I had the fried chicken with extra mashed potatoes. The DDs split the penne pasta, and we all had drinks. DH and I each had a shake and the DDs split a DIY sundae at the end. Total with tip was $78. No dining plan needed!
We headed straight to Sophia, as we had promised not to miss her. While I waited in line, the DDs saw Jake, too. Why does Sophia have a head? There's not much interaction, as she can barely see. But when ODD said she liked her amulet, she mimed that she liked their dresses.
Then back over to Animation to see Ralph and Vanelope. The DDs pretty much ignored Ralph, other than for a hug. I wonder if he gets all the boy visitors, and she the girls. Since we seemed to be on a character scavenger hunt, we went to see Mike and Sulley next. I like the new Monsters U overlay, and it was a nice change from the pics we got last year.
The DDs were begging to get out of the stroller and run around, so DH took them to the HISTK playground, while I took DS for some lunch. When we left the playground, I saw Santa Goofy, so we got in line there. It was a little hard to think Christmas in 80 degree weather and shorts, but we tried our best. DS really liked Goofy, and I had to pry him away.
It was time for our FPs at Star Tours. I sat outside, feeding DS and letting YDD nap while ODD and DH rode. Then we switched and I rode with ODD. She was a little scared of the ride, but she did great. We got the Wookie world, and it made her smile to "run over" Chewbacca. Some guys behind us were really hoping to be the spy, but some girl was chosen. So everytime that C3PO said anything about the spy being a man, they corrected him. It was quite funny.
ODD had been begging for a pair of ears with the "scarves hanging down" all day. We thought she meant the bride ears, so we put her off. She insisted though, so as we walked by the hat, we stopped to look. She showed us the ears, the glittery-headband-type, with the pastel tulle hanging down the back. We explained and explained and explained that she wouldn't be able to get anything else later, to which she agreed and we bought them.
Still wanting to do stuff for the kids, we went back to Disney Junior on Stage. We walked up just as they were shutting the doors, but got in the back of the room. Some little girl was running all over us the whole time; I don't know where her parents were, but we saw them later. She actually grabbed ODD's wrist when she tried to pick up some dubloons, and snatched them away. So when she came over to us and tried to steal away the few that ODD had gotten, from right in front of DH, he grabbed them and told her to go on. She'd already stepped on our fingers, and knocked YDD out of her way during the dancing part. We were ready to go when the show was over.
ODD had decided she was ready to try ToT again, so she rode with me this time. She was fine during the beginning of the ride, but once the drop was about to happen, she buried her face in my leg. The drop sequence was the best I've ever had. We dropped 5-6 times, and I never touched the seat the entire time. It was definitely ramped up from the past. However, I heard screaming and couldn't figure out where it was coming from, then finally realized it was ODD. It was a terrified scream, and I could feel her heart beating in my leg. I told DH no more of that ride for her till she grew up some. I don't want her having a panic attack or worse in DHS! We still had FPs though, and DH wanted to ride again, so I bought the DDs Mickey lollipops, and we sat outside and pin traded while waiting.
We had done just about everything we wanted, except TSM for which I had FPs later, so we headed to see Phineas and Ferb. Afterwards, ODD confessed that she'd kissed Phineas, so DH (jokingly) gave her a speech about being too young to kiss boys.
We shielded our eyes from the Osbourne lights as we walked back to TSM, not wanting to ruin the view later. We enjoyed TSM, and YDD was somehow able to score 600, even though she never moved the gun, only pulled the string. DH had the highest score in the car, and was just 20,000 off the highest score for the day.
It was finally time for the Osbourne lights. Wow! I'd seen this in 2001, back when it was on the backlot tour, but this was so much better. I ate up my camera's battery videoing the dancing lights. We looked for all the hidden Mickeys and found the black cat (and the red pig, what's that from?).
We tried to get a PP pic outside the park in front of the tree, but the PP photog's equipment wasn't working. This became a bit of a theme. If the magic band system glitches at all, their cameras won't work. We weren't in a hurry, though, so we dug out our camera and she took a picture with it.
We had to wait through three busses, but it was worth it to sit down for the ride. I'm not sure why ASM was so much fuller than the other two AS, unless it was due to Pop Warner coming in soon.
We got a pizza and breadsticks from the food court, and bought three kids' cups to get drinks while we waited. For three of those cups, with four fills each, it was only $3.83; much cheaper than a mug or even the bigger cups. Our entire meal was $27 for the pizza, breadsticks, and cups. We ate in our room, watching Disney Junior, and got in the bed "early" at 10:30. The alarm was set for 6:45.