You are welcome to find me on Facebook. I post my items usually each night. Kind of keeps me on track. But I find people then "steal" some of my ideas. If you want to find me, I am Ariella Saucier on Facebook.

That must have been so scary in the rain! And I totally know how that 2 minutes felt like 2 hours!


I just friend requested you - I'm Kim Smith:).
 
We missed the muppet show in Epcot, I would have liked to see it! I looked dead inside on all of my Spaceship Earth photos too. :)

We tried to get into Casey's before the fireworks. I think it must have been last January. It was our first WDW trip, and we weren't sure what to expect, but crowds were nothing and we were able to hit almost everything in MK in one day, between short lines and additional FPs. But I swear, everyone in the park that day must have been in Casey's! I know we gave up, but I don't remember what we ended up doing instead.

I love the picture of the girls in bed. Signs of a good vacation :)
 
I am not sure what the person loading us was thinking but this is how we ended up...

Me and Morgan in one car...



And Gwen with some strangers... I don't know, I thought it was hilarious...

I know-its so annoying! On our second time, they directed my sister to the back of the front car and me to the front of the back car, so our photos would have ended up separate. It got even weirder because there was a snafu and when I looked up I realized it wasn't my sister in the car in front, and she somehow got put in the next car! The CM had gotten totally mixed up with the people loading. But for your ride, it makes even less sense with a party of 3 including 2 kids! And leaving an empty seat in the second car!

You guys also accomplished a lot during EMH! We ended up riding Astro Orbitor and Peoplemover, but lines seemed to be longer, so we didn't bother with anything else. I think it was a symptom of people trying to maximize time since the parks had been closed, as well as earlier closing times and Halloween parties so often!
 


Is Morgan asleep with Goldfish in hand? My kind of girl :) Snack til you drop!
Ha! yes! Morgan had her hand in the goldfish bag. And Gwen didn't even change out of her clothes. The pics for tomorrow morning, I noticed that she was still in her Elsa T-shirt.

PS Just sent you a friend request on FB! :)
I think I just accepted.

Glad you all enjoyed the fireworks! Sounds like you made great use of EMH, I'm glad you could convince the girls to stay and go on more rides! :)
Ha. Does that make me a good mom or a bad mom?

I love the picture of the girls in bed. Signs of a good vacation :)
Exactly!

late but here for the show! Love the tink gifts and 40 for 40!
Thanks! And Welcome!!!:welcome:

The CM had gotten totally mixed up with the people loading. But for your ride, it makes even less sense with a party of 3 including 2 kids! And leaving an empty seat in the second car!
Honestly, I don't know how they do it. I would lose count all the time. I would def be the worst at that job! But Space Mountain isnt' that hard! You count to 6!
 
You were just like I would be: let's just do one more ride! Come on, it'll be fun! :rotfl:
And it was, but with my kids there is a very fine line. And I was pushing the limit with Pirates...

I definitely liked the HEA dessert party with garden plaza viewing. It was nice to relax and grab some desserts in Tomorrowland Terrace. Then we were able to walk over to the plaza about 5 minutes before the show, found a back railing spot and leaned against it, with no one in front of us! I will likely do it again in March, so I’d definitely recommend it!
Thanks! I am thinking about it... It is almost $250 for us, which is a lot and this particual trip is to be on the cheap side, I might have to wait till next time. maybe we will skip the fireworks and just hit some rides this time.

I'll admit it wasn't my favourite, though I did like it. But now the more I listen to the soundtrack at home or watch videos the more I find it's growing on me, so I'm interested to see how I like it when we go back!
I think people who REALLY loved Wishes are slow to come around. But we only saw Wishes once or twice so we were completely attached to it. ya know? Plus I personally like the projections, you can't get that with your local fireworks.

I can't imagine not liking Pirates, too...weird! Is she scared of it, or just doesn't like it?
I think she is half scared/half just doesn't like it. She doesn't like Haunted Mansion either. And I kind of accept that one, even if it is an awesome ride... Andy even got a Hatbox TShirt and Gwen won't let hime wear it.
 
I think people who REALLY loved Wishes are slow to come around. But we only saw Wishes once or twice so we were completely attached to it. ya know? Plus I personally like the projections, you can't get that with your local fireworks.

I think this is a really good point! Seems to be true for most people.

Andy even got a Hatbox TShirt and Gwen won't let hime wear it.

:laughing:
 


Looks like a nice evening in MK even with a little hangry mixed in there... could have gone much worse in that regard.

I love some Casey's and it is ideal for waiting for fireworks or evening parades. Sadly, approximately 10,000 other people always have that same idea too. As for there being no pretzels on Main Street... I've always thought that they should have more places available along there to get snacks. I know space is very limited, but when you're sitting there waiting for something to start, you're kind of captive. Maybe you want a pretzel... why are there none there? I mean it isn't like they wouldn't sell a few hundred of them for people to snack on for the fireworks show.
 
Once we got in the park, around 6:45-ish, there was already people milling around waiting for the fireworks. So, we decided to just find a spot to watch. Man I miss the fastness area for fireworks. I know they use them for the dessert party, but I didn't want to spring for it plus I had a feeling we wouldn't really be hungry.
I miss it too! That is about the only time we were able to see it from the front of the castle. Casey has zero tolerance for waiting and could care less about fireworks in general, so we didn't even get to see HEA on our trip

37183716650_624718a20b_z.jpg

And Gwen with some strangers... I don't know, I thought it was hilarious...
I was wondering where Gwen was in the pic of your and Morgan. It doesn't look like she is enjoying her new family very much :P

Awesome picture! Glad you enjoyed despite the heat. We'll get there one of these days....

37183762800_7a6958e2fc_z.jpg


The last couple times I didn't feel so good after riding on the tea cups. But Morgan said it didn't count if I didn't ride towards the 40 attractions for turning 40. So, i went on and survived.
The bravery you showed for your 40 attractions :P

What a perfect place to eat it!

37409929662_c71a4e438f_z.jpg


It was a good night but another late night for the ladies. I was worried about how they were going to handle it tomorrow. We had a FULL day planned at Animal Kingdom and just didn't know how they were going to make it. But that will have to be another post!
What troopers!!!! I don't think mine could hang that long
 
Man ALIVE!!!! This was the worst idea EVER. It was so busy in there it was stupid. And I don't understand why they are so slow there! I should have walked across the park and did something else. It had to of been faster. But I got a mac n cheese hot dog and some fries for us all to split. Morgan wanted a soft pretzel but they don't sell any on main street that I know of. And by the time I got the food Main Street was PACKED!!!!
I seriously hate going in there because it's always like that. I guess that's what you get being the only QS in the hub area.

All of this recounting these events, is seriously making me consider booking the dessert party for our Feb trip! Thoughts? Is it worth it?
After my experience in Nov we are definitely doing it. It is worth it for me just not to have to deal with the crowds, the desserts are a bonus. But everyone's "worth it" is different, but that's my two cents.

The last couple times I didn't feel so good after riding on the tea cups. But Morgan said it didn't count if I didn't ride towards the 40 attractions for turning 40. So, i went on and survived.
:rotfl2:Love the guilt trip
 
Sorry I've missed so any of your updates, but I'm all caught up again now!

It was SUPER tame, so I am not sure, next time we might need to try the orange side.
When I rode the Orange "more intense mission" I thought who in the world gets sick on this? But when I rode it again I got a little sick. I think you should not ride on an empty stomach, because that's what I was like the second time. Just a tip for next time. ;)
They didn't give us any grief about being late, so that was good.
That's nice. Stuff happens that people can't control. They really couldn't be too strict about that stuff. I appreciate that about Disney.

After our yummy loooong lunch, we were ready to get doing something. And first up was shopping in the Japan store down below us. We have grown to love this store. I wanted to get a Totoro Plush for my sister's little boy. She loves Totoro and bought my girls the movies.
I love Totoro. That store is soooooo tempting.
It was NOT a snack credit though. But def worth getting.
You macaron looks so good. I'm sure it was worth it!

And Gwen with some strangers... I don't know, I thought it was hilarious...
LOL. That makes no sense the way they sat you!

No pictures of the who. Spoiler Alert... The flowers sing... It was great as always. We headed out, and I basically begged the girls to do just ONE more ride... Ha... Shouldn't it be the other way around.
I'm like that with my husband any time we are at an amusement park. I'm sure I'll be the same way with my kids!
 
Day Three: Animal Kingdom!

We had another late night, the night before. So, again, we tried to let the girls sleep in a bit. Which equalled them waking up at 8:00 am. Which AGAIN for my girls is sooo late! They are almost always up at 6:00 am sharp!

37409930372_1b022cbda2_z.jpg

They woke up and promptly checked out what Tink left them. Notice Gwen is still in her clothes from the night before. She didn't want to put on her PJ's and we just let her crawl into bed.

Morgan reading the note. Again super tired but not quite as hung over looking today. Probably because she slept till 8.

Today, was Snack Shirts!!!! I was excited to wear my Snacks Shirt. And the buttons. I gave myself the Dole Ship button but some how I ended up with Mickey Waffles Pin. :(

I am pretty sure we skipped breakfast at Roaring Fork before heading out. As we didn't make it down to the buses until 9:00-ish. It was rough getting them ready, particularly Gwen. She was a HOT mess. I turned to Andy at one point, and started to say, "I know you don't want to hear this..." And before I could finish, he said "I think we need to get a stroller today." THANK GOD, he was on board. We had a full day planned today, and there was no way the girls were going to make it the entire day. When we got down to the buses, there was a ton of people waiting when we got there. And I kind of figured that was a good sign that a bus would be coming soon..


Gwen made some pressed pennies while we waited. And waited and waited...

A bunch of busses for a bunch of other places came and went. We debated taking an uber over. And we kept holding out. And finally we decided to just call an uber. We waited maybe 5 minutes for an uber to show up. And off we went. I kept waiting for our bus to show up while we were waiting for the uber. And low and behold one showed up as we were pulling away.

But we were already ahead of the bus since we didn't have to wait for everyone to be loaded in and all that. EXCEPT.... Our Uber driver wasn't paying attention and ended up getting into the regular parking lot. At this point, I just wanted to be in the park. So we got out and waited for the tram... A first for us! It wasn't too bad, just annoying after all the waiting we already did. But we were FINALLY at the front of the park at 10:30!!!

By now, I was really questioning this plan of late nights and getting to the parks later.

After making it through the lines, we stopped and got a stroller. It didn't take too long but again, I just wanted to get moving. I got a double stroller figuring it would give them a little more room. Well, Morgan hopped in and she practically took up all the space! Ha. They agreed to take turns, and Gwen got first dips, as she NEEDED it!

But thankfully, by 10:45 we were doing this!




Morgan really wanted to start over on her stickers, now that Pandora was in the book. So, we promised to get new books. So we stopped and got re-initiated. (Not sure what Andy is doing in this pic but...)

After that we continued on towards the tree of life!


Got a few pics in front of the tree of course!



Another attempt at a selfie, a little better but still not great.

Andy wanted to get some iced coffee and water. So, he headed into the Starbucks while the girls hit the first Wilderness Explorer Stop!
Flamingos!



This guy was really great. Really engaging with the girls. He was impressed that the girls knew the answer to why the Flamingos were pink. I was kind of standing to the side, letting the girls do there thing with him. And he did keep looking for me, like I was going to just leave them there or something. :confused3

After we were done, Andy was still inside the Starbucks, so the girls and I sat down in the shade and waited. I had packed snacks for the day, so I took some out for the girls. Andy came out and we let the girls chill and eat there snack. We of course had to have a bathroom break as well. And then we got ready to finally do some exploring!

I had heard that the trails around the tree were opened. So, we decided to check them out a bit. Which was fun, but there isn't too much to see. Other than checking out the carvings up close which was pretty cool.


After exploring at bit, we finally made our way towards Africa!


It was about 11:10 by now and we had a fastness to ride Kali River Rapids at 11:35. And we were HOT, so we were looking forward to actually getting wet! The girls spotted another Wilderness Explorer Station. So, they stopped to check it out.

It was a music themed stop.

And the girls had fun playing the drums, even if no one was around. But I think I finally told the girls to ask the lady working at the merchant stand, and sure enough she had the needed stickers!

While the girls did that, I spotted something of interest to me!!! Spiked Dole Whip!!! So, while they did that, I got in line to get us a cold refreshment. I got one regular and one spiked with rum!

I have to say... It was just ok.. I mean it was good but I think I prefer a float with pineapple juice. I mean I won't complain... It was good but just not the thing I was dreaming about later.


The cold though REALLY hit the spot with the heat and gave us a good little burst of sugar to keep going.

We continued onto Kali River Rapids, and that is where I think I am going to stop for now!
 
Last edited:
Your snack shirts are so cute!! Jimmy loved doing the Wilderness Explorer stops when we were there!! I wish they gave out a WE pin or something at the end if you completed the whole book--it's sort of anti-climactic to finish and just be done.

Sad the spiked Dole Whip wasn't as exciting as it sounded! I was SUPER excited last year when I discovered the spiked frozen cokes at Epcot....after I had already paid for a regular one. I'll be hitting that up again this year with the right order this time!!
 
Ugh, it's so annoying when you just want to be at a park and you have to hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. But you got there, and it sounds like a great start to your time at AK! :thumbsup2
 
Hello Everyone! I am going to try and get another post in today. I had originally hoped to get this trip report done before we headed back down but I at this pace, I don't think that is going to happen.

You were just like I would be: let's just do one more ride! Come on, it'll be fun! :rotfl:
I know, I really wanted to take advantage of the lack of crowds.

As for there being no pretzels on Main Street... I've always thought that they should have more places available along there to get snacks. I know space is very limited, but when you're sitting there waiting for something to start, you're kind of captive.
Seriously, how do they not have a cart?
Joining in :wave:
Welcome!!!! :welcome:

I miss it too! That is about the only time we were able to see it from the front of the castle. Casey has zero tolerance for waiting and could care less about fireworks in general, so we didn't even get to see HEA on our trip
I remember how everyone said it was a waste of a fastness but it was like gold to us. I am hoping our trip in Feb, that the crowds will at least be a bit less. But who knows.

I was wondering where Gwen was in the pic of your and Morgan. It doesn't look like she is enjoying her new family very much :P
I don't think she agrees with the fashion sense of the boy. :D

The bravery you showed for your 40 attractions :P
Sometimes you just got to be brave! ;)

After my experience in Nov we are definitely doing it. It is worth it for me just not to have to deal with the crowds, the desserts are a bonus. But everyone's "worth it" is different, but that's my two cents.
I think it will be worth us doing at some point. Our next trip is to be on the "cheap", so we will have to skip it this time. But I def think I will consider it for the time after that.
:rotfl2:Love the guilt trip
I guess she learned from someone how to guilt trip people...... Not sure where....

But when I rode it again I got a little sick. I think you should not ride on an empty stomach, because that's what I was like the second time. Just a tip for next time. ;)
Good to Know!

I love Totoro. That store is soooooo tempting.
That store is basically an attraction for our family.

You macaron looks so good. I'm sure it was worth it!
It was! And it is one of the items that I am looking forward to having again.

I'm like that with my husband any time we are at an amusement park. I'm sure I'll be the same way with my kids!
It is truly all about balance with kids. You want to get the most out of your trip but you push them too far and you will ruin the next day.

Jimmy loved doing the Wilderness Explorer stops when we were there!! I wish they gave out a WE pin or something at the end if you completed the whole book--it's sort of anti-climactic to finish and just be done.
That is an awesome idea!

Sad the spiked Dole Whip wasn't as exciting as it sounded! I was SUPER excited last year when I discovered the spiked frozen cokes at Epcot....after I had already paid for a regular one. I'll be hitting that up again this year with the right order this time!!
I am glad I am not the only one who was just meh about the spiked dole whip. I dod want to try the spiked frozen cokes next time! You will have to tell me how they are!

Ugh, it's so annoying when you just want to be at a park and you have to hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. But you got there, and it sounds like a great start to your time at AK! :thumbsup2
It really was mostly me being impatient.
 
I kept waiting for our bus to show up while we were waiting for the uber. And low and behold one showed up as we were pulling away.
This has happened to us a few times. We finally decide to call a taxi when waiting and waiting for a bus, and as we get in our bus pulls up :faint: But yeah in general I think you'd still get to the park faster than if you were on the bus.

EXCEPT.... Our Uber driver wasn't paying attention and ended up getting into the regular parking lot. At this point, I just wanted to be in the park. So we got out and waited for the tram... A first for us!
Hey, at least you didn't drive past the Gaylord Palms :laughing:

Hello Everyone! I am going to try and get another post in today. I had originally hoped to get this trip report done before we headed back down but I at this pace, I don't think that is going to happen.
Come on in and join the club! I tried to get both my reports done before Steve and I went down in Nov. Now I'm just hoping to have them down before our March trip :sad2:
 
Day Three: A new Favorite Ride

So, I left off with us heading towards our first ride of the day! We made our way over to Kali River Rapids. We had never made it on this ride, Gwen was too short to ride our first trip and it was down for refurbishment a couple of the other times. So, we were excited for something new!

I have to say, it is a little chaotic over in that area. People trying to put stuff in lockers, people coming off all wet! I guess it is what it is. But I kind felt like we weren't in Disney for a minute. I don't know.

Anyway, I think we got in line right at the opening of our fastness window. And in we went.


I really liked this que. Everyone talks about the que for Everest, but I think Kali's River Rapids is really nice as well. Maybe not as in depth but just as beautiful.





Gwen did not like the masks.


Gwen wanted this chandler for her bedroom. It really was beaut
iful.


I took a ton of pics in the que. I really liked all of it.

We didn't have to wait too long before we were getting on the ride. When we got on the raft, there was some discussion on who was to sit next to who and we all ended up shifting down one.


Up we went!


And looking back down!


Morgan not so sure about being do high up. I think she took her glasses off to not get them wet. So, not sure she could tell exactly how high up we were.


A momma/Gwen selfie before the ride really got going.


This beginning part, I get why it is there, but it is kind of boring and the girls just did not get it...


But then the real fun began!




If you can't tell, the girls LOVED this ride!


And maybe I was not loving it as much as them.


Gwen was just loving this ride!

As we were getting to that big drop where you get the most wet. The raft is kind of turning and turning and everyone in the raft are trying to decide who going to be that person... It ended up being another family that got REALLY wet. I did get one good one.

Here we are before we got off. Not too bad.




After we got off, Gwen immediately proclaimed that, THAT was the best ride ever! And of course wanted to go on it again, but the wait was kind of long. So, I told her I would try and get fast passes for it when we came back later in the week. She wasn't totally on board with it but accepted it.

We found our stroller, took a bathroom break. And broke out the cooling rags that I had purchased for the trip. It was hot!!!! Gwen was not happy that we weren't riding again.


But we headed to explore the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I believe the baby tiger had just been born and I was curious if we would actually see the Tiger. We hadn't done this yet either. Last time we had done the other one with the Gorilla, so I wanted to give it a try.

IMG_9840 by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

IMG_9841 by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr
As we wondered around and explored, I noticed these doors. Not sure if it was because of the hurricane or what, but it was clearly a new door leading into the tiger area.


I loved this painting of the tiger.

Sadly, the momma tiger was with the baby cub, so only the daddy tiger was out, and he was being a bit elusive this day.


But all wasn't lost. They got to another Wilderness Explorer sticker while on the trek.



We didn't take too many pictures. I think we were getting hot and hungry!

We left that area, and headed back towards our lunch location. On our way, we saw this!


We were just following along behind him. And there was only 1 family waiting to meet him, so we got in line! He was a new character to meet!


It all happened so fast. I was putting my stuff down when Morgan started to head up. Andy snapped this pic and next thing I know, Morgan is hiding behind me and refusing to go up and take a pic. I have no idea what happened but both of the girls refused to take the pic.


So, Andy and I took the pic instead. And this is sadly, the best pic we got...

The whole interaction probably took 5 minutes total. And we were back to heading towards lunch. Which I think we all needed!

I am going to leave it here, next up another first for us!
 
Last edited:

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top