DATES: Nov 26-Dec 3
WHO: Karen (36), trip planner
Brian (35), earned the money for the trip
Emily (8), waiting for first ride on ToT and RnRC
Noah (4), waiting for Peter Pan's Flight and Buzz Lightyear
Halle (2), not sure what she wants to do
Joel (2.5 mo), along for the ride
HOTEL: Courtyard at LBV and Shades of Green
Day 5
Wednesday, Nov 29: Up bright and early for 7:30 PS at Olivia's. Kids loved getting to see Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Halle was especially delighted to see them, but still not ready for them to get too close. The food was OK... this was a plated breakfast, so there wasn't much variety. We probably will not do this one again. One nice thing about such an early PS (first seating of the day) is that we saw all the characters in about 30 minutes or so.
After breakfast, went to MK and headed straight for Tomorrowland. Got FPs for Buzz Lightyear then Emily and I did Alien Encounter. What a laugh! I don't think I'll be doing that one again. Once we got done with that, it was time for our FP to Buzz. We all rode that one and everyone liked it.
Headed over to Fantasyland next. So much less crowded than last time! You could actually see the pavement . Practically walked right on to the carrousel. All the kids loved that. Then we did Peter Pan; this was something Noah had been asking to do for a while. Next up was the Lion King show. Only part I don't like about that one is the standing room only wait. It is murder on the back when you have to hold a baby or toddler!
Next up... lunch at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. One of Brian's coworkers was attending a conference at the Wyndham Palace and wanted to meet up with us, so we met her at Rainforest at 1pm. We had 1:30 PS, but they were able to seat us a little sooner. Food was good; we picked up her lunch as well, so it was a little over $100 for all of us. Wish we had realized then that our season passes would have gotten us a discount on the meal!!
We discovered that little tidbit when we went to the 12 Days of Disney store and bought some Christmas things. We found a tree topper for our tree (14 years of marriage and we've never had a star or anything for the top of our tree), plus a WDW 2000 ornament. When we checked out, the cashier asked us if we had a pass and told us about the discount. This got me to reading the ticket sleeve; we even get room discounts!!! That should help immensely, since we are going to try to go back next fall for Joel's first birthday and don't want to stay at SOG again.
Bought a throw at Disney at Home; we were looking for something warm to take to MVMCP the next night, in case it proved to be a little chilly for the baby or the other kids. We also found a birthstone Mickey ring and a necklace for Emily at World of Disney.
Took a short rest in the car while I nursed the baby then we headed to Epcot around 6:30. Walked right in to HISTA. Again, I hate the SRO!!! Joel wanted to nurse and the CM there wouldn't let anyone sit down, even though the room wasn't crowded. Nursing standing up is not easy or comfortable. Anyhow, the kids liked the show; Em says it was her favorite thing in Epcot. We went to the Land and did Circle of Life and the Listen to the Land ride and then headed back to our room and ordered room service. We just did burgers... they were pretty good.
Tomorrow: Animal Kingdom and MVMCP.
Day 6
Thursday, Nov. 30: Today we have 8:10 PS at Ohana for breakfast. We were a bit disappointed in the meal, since it was a plated breakfast. Brian is really the only scrambled egg eater in the family, so plated breakfasts with scrambled eggs leave the rest of us wanting more. There also was no bacon, just some ham that for some reason was cold. There was also sausage links, but I am the only one in the family who eats them, I and I didn't really care for these. The characters were great, though. Several kept coming back to see Joel.
Drove to AK... arrived around 10:30. I dunno, we just weren't thrilled with this place. Wasn't "Disney" to us. I didn't like the layout of the place... just too much walking to get to anything worth doing; too spread out! We ended up doing the safari first. It was enjoyable; nice getting to see some animals up close. Then Brian and the 3 oldest did Pangani trails while I sat in the shade and nursed the baby. I met an older couple from a town just 15--20 miles away from us while I was doing that. It truly is a small world!
Next we stopped for some frosted lemonade and pretzels and just people-watched for a few minutes. Then we started making our way back to the front of the park. We were going to try to see "It's Tough to Be a Bug," but somehow walked past it on the way back out and didn't feel like trying to turn around and find it again. We did run into Terk near one of the temporary tatto places and the kids got autographs and pictures. Emily and Noah each got a tattoo, too.
Best part of this park was running into characters on the way out. Saw Rafiki, Donald, Pluto, and Mickey. Mickey was great about making people wait their turn. We had several kids AND adults try to worm their way up to him while he was signing our books and getting ready for pictures. He practically had to push some out of the way so we wouldn't have them in the picture; they were getting right up next to him!
I don't know if I will even bother with AK again. If they would get some transportation around the park so you could get from one place to another without having to backtrack and walk all over the place maybe I'd like it better.
We had 4:15 PS at Crystal Palace (tried for later but couldn't get it), so went to Grand Floridian and valet parked, then monorailed to MK. The food was OK, best part for kids was the peanut butter sandwich fixings . The characters were good. Halle was warming up to them, but still not totally comfortable with them.
Headed back to our room to rest (hah) and change clothes before MVMCP. We parked at the Poly and caught the monorail from there. Manomanoman... it was PACKED. The express monorail was closed, so all the people from TTC were on it.. Finally got to Main Street around 8pm and got a seat for the 9pm parade in front of City Hall. Halle loved the parade... she laughed her head off at it! It has to be one of the best parades Disney does.
After the parade, we headed up towards the castle for the 10pm fireworks. Halle fell asleep in the stroller along the way. We ended up by the information board. The fireworks were great... loved how they surrounded us near the end. Saw the space shuttle, too.
Our camera battery died just before the fireworks, so we couldn't take pictures. It was 10:30 and Noah was really tired. Emily could have lasted a lot longer, but since we didn't have a way to transport Noah if he fell asleep, we decided to go on back to the room. Guess we really didn't get our money's worth from this.... We'll probably not do another MVMCP until our kids are a lot older.
Tomorrow: Chef Mickey's!!
Karen
1988: offsite
1994: CBR
1997: Poly
2000: SOG
WHO: Karen (36), trip planner
Brian (35), earned the money for the trip
Emily (8), waiting for first ride on ToT and RnRC
Noah (4), waiting for Peter Pan's Flight and Buzz Lightyear
Halle (2), not sure what she wants to do
Joel (2.5 mo), along for the ride
HOTEL: Courtyard at LBV and Shades of Green
Day 5
Wednesday, Nov 29: Up bright and early for 7:30 PS at Olivia's. Kids loved getting to see Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Halle was especially delighted to see them, but still not ready for them to get too close. The food was OK... this was a plated breakfast, so there wasn't much variety. We probably will not do this one again. One nice thing about such an early PS (first seating of the day) is that we saw all the characters in about 30 minutes or so.
After breakfast, went to MK and headed straight for Tomorrowland. Got FPs for Buzz Lightyear then Emily and I did Alien Encounter. What a laugh! I don't think I'll be doing that one again. Once we got done with that, it was time for our FP to Buzz. We all rode that one and everyone liked it.
Headed over to Fantasyland next. So much less crowded than last time! You could actually see the pavement . Practically walked right on to the carrousel. All the kids loved that. Then we did Peter Pan; this was something Noah had been asking to do for a while. Next up was the Lion King show. Only part I don't like about that one is the standing room only wait. It is murder on the back when you have to hold a baby or toddler!
Next up... lunch at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. One of Brian's coworkers was attending a conference at the Wyndham Palace and wanted to meet up with us, so we met her at Rainforest at 1pm. We had 1:30 PS, but they were able to seat us a little sooner. Food was good; we picked up her lunch as well, so it was a little over $100 for all of us. Wish we had realized then that our season passes would have gotten us a discount on the meal!!
We discovered that little tidbit when we went to the 12 Days of Disney store and bought some Christmas things. We found a tree topper for our tree (14 years of marriage and we've never had a star or anything for the top of our tree), plus a WDW 2000 ornament. When we checked out, the cashier asked us if we had a pass and told us about the discount. This got me to reading the ticket sleeve; we even get room discounts!!! That should help immensely, since we are going to try to go back next fall for Joel's first birthday and don't want to stay at SOG again.
Bought a throw at Disney at Home; we were looking for something warm to take to MVMCP the next night, in case it proved to be a little chilly for the baby or the other kids. We also found a birthstone Mickey ring and a necklace for Emily at World of Disney.
Took a short rest in the car while I nursed the baby then we headed to Epcot around 6:30. Walked right in to HISTA. Again, I hate the SRO!!! Joel wanted to nurse and the CM there wouldn't let anyone sit down, even though the room wasn't crowded. Nursing standing up is not easy or comfortable. Anyhow, the kids liked the show; Em says it was her favorite thing in Epcot. We went to the Land and did Circle of Life and the Listen to the Land ride and then headed back to our room and ordered room service. We just did burgers... they were pretty good.
Tomorrow: Animal Kingdom and MVMCP.
Day 6
Thursday, Nov. 30: Today we have 8:10 PS at Ohana for breakfast. We were a bit disappointed in the meal, since it was a plated breakfast. Brian is really the only scrambled egg eater in the family, so plated breakfasts with scrambled eggs leave the rest of us wanting more. There also was no bacon, just some ham that for some reason was cold. There was also sausage links, but I am the only one in the family who eats them, I and I didn't really care for these. The characters were great, though. Several kept coming back to see Joel.
Drove to AK... arrived around 10:30. I dunno, we just weren't thrilled with this place. Wasn't "Disney" to us. I didn't like the layout of the place... just too much walking to get to anything worth doing; too spread out! We ended up doing the safari first. It was enjoyable; nice getting to see some animals up close. Then Brian and the 3 oldest did Pangani trails while I sat in the shade and nursed the baby. I met an older couple from a town just 15--20 miles away from us while I was doing that. It truly is a small world!
Next we stopped for some frosted lemonade and pretzels and just people-watched for a few minutes. Then we started making our way back to the front of the park. We were going to try to see "It's Tough to Be a Bug," but somehow walked past it on the way back out and didn't feel like trying to turn around and find it again. We did run into Terk near one of the temporary tatto places and the kids got autographs and pictures. Emily and Noah each got a tattoo, too.
Best part of this park was running into characters on the way out. Saw Rafiki, Donald, Pluto, and Mickey. Mickey was great about making people wait their turn. We had several kids AND adults try to worm their way up to him while he was signing our books and getting ready for pictures. He practically had to push some out of the way so we wouldn't have them in the picture; they were getting right up next to him!
I don't know if I will even bother with AK again. If they would get some transportation around the park so you could get from one place to another without having to backtrack and walk all over the place maybe I'd like it better.
We had 4:15 PS at Crystal Palace (tried for later but couldn't get it), so went to Grand Floridian and valet parked, then monorailed to MK. The food was OK, best part for kids was the peanut butter sandwich fixings . The characters were good. Halle was warming up to them, but still not totally comfortable with them.
Headed back to our room to rest (hah) and change clothes before MVMCP. We parked at the Poly and caught the monorail from there. Manomanoman... it was PACKED. The express monorail was closed, so all the people from TTC were on it.. Finally got to Main Street around 8pm and got a seat for the 9pm parade in front of City Hall. Halle loved the parade... she laughed her head off at it! It has to be one of the best parades Disney does.
After the parade, we headed up towards the castle for the 10pm fireworks. Halle fell asleep in the stroller along the way. We ended up by the information board. The fireworks were great... loved how they surrounded us near the end. Saw the space shuttle, too.
Our camera battery died just before the fireworks, so we couldn't take pictures. It was 10:30 and Noah was really tired. Emily could have lasted a lot longer, but since we didn't have a way to transport Noah if he fell asleep, we decided to go on back to the room. Guess we really didn't get our money's worth from this.... We'll probably not do another MVMCP until our kids are a lot older.
Tomorrow: Chef Mickey's!!
Karen
1988: offsite
1994: CBR
1997: Poly
2000: SOG
