You are NOT 5 Until You Eat Cake in the Castle *UPDATE 9-2-14 *COMPLETE

[DopeyDonald]

First I feel the need to give you some background for this trip. We normally go in September and have been once at Christmas, but this time of year was a first for us.
I'm lazy and didn't want to type all this again, so I copied and pasted from my pre-trip report that I didn't finish.... I promise that I will finish this, however and that I will not pretend to ever do a PTR again.
The Dates for our trip were as follows:
Drive to Minneapolis on Saturday, Feb 22nd. Fly from MSP to MCO on Sunday, Feb 23rd. Return home on Monday, March 3rd. We were booked in at the Fort Wilderness Cabins with the Free Dining promo.

My name is Emily. This is going to be a very special trip for our family. Our last annual trip in September didn't quite go as planned and this is going to be our, in your face, you cant get US down, make up trip.

You see, on our trip in September, which by the way, was supposed to be THE GREATEST TRIP EVER!!! (my first mistake was calling it that lol), my littlest daughter, Cassidy (4 almost 5) got very sick.

We thought she had the stomach flu. After 36 hrs of throwing up and one in-room Dr. Visit, we took her to the E.R. We assumed she was just dehydrated and needed some I.V. fluids. A CT Scan revealed she had a 15cm mass in her abdomen. After an ambulance ride and an overnight stay at Florida Childrens for her, myself and my husband, we flew home to Minneapolis to seek treatment. My other kiddos and my parents stayed in Florida to finish out our vacation.

In Minneapolis, it was found that she has a very rare condition called Lymphatic Malformation. It is a congenital birth defect of sorts. The condition itself is benign, but complications can arise in the locale of the cystic masses. Hers is/was located in her abdomen. She had a successful (for now) surgery in September and is recovering very well. This is something that can return and be a bother or become more serious. If you would like to read more about our saga I did write a trip report about our experience. It's called the Short But Not Sweet Trip Report. It is linked in my signature.

Pretty much from the moment we left Florida, we were determined that we would get my Cassidy back. This was her 5th birthday trip. The kid is lucky enough to have spent her 2nd, 3rd, and 4th birthday at WDW. This was supposed to be extra special since she was turning 5. We had her actual birthday meal with cake planned for Cinderellas Royal Table. We had Pirates League appointments for all 5 of us to become Jack and his Skeleton Crew for the MNSSHP planned. We had Teas and Lunches with Imagineers and all kinds of amazing things to do. We began our trip on a Thursday and she was sick by Sunday. We did get many fun things accomplished, but still had so many yet to do.

I struggle with the feelings we have regarding this. Cassidys health and well being is so much more important than any vacation could ever be to us. We were focused solely on her and her surgery and recovery. In fact for quite a few weeks I was angry at Disney World lol. I got a bad feeling every time I so much as thought about it. I especially couldn't picture staying at VWL ever again. It's where her illness stared and where I spent 2 days with a throwing up kid.

That being said, the success of her surgery was so amazing and she is doing so well. Our hospital bills were much lower than anticipated also, due to my husbands amazing insurance policy. We started kicking around heading back to finish what we started. I know most of those who are reading this will understand. WDW is so much more to us than a theme park. Sure we love the rides and the characters and the million things to do. But its more than that.

For those days there are no phones, emails, IPods. No more Daddy being gone all week for work. No more exhausted, frustrated mommy from Daddy being gone all week at work. Its just us. And we kinda like each other. Disney is our time to remember that. And we sorely missed it. Especially now, after all that we went through in September.

Also, while my daughters condition is well and stable now, its possible that she could have a flare at any time. This is probably the negativity in my mommy personality coming out I'm sure, but we just don't' know. From what little is known about this condition, she more than likely WILL deal with it again at some point in her life. So we are going to LIVE every day and make all the awesome memories that we can. She very well likely could be just fine for a long, long time, but a Disney Trip will never be regretted! Lol. She is also taking some heavy duty meds right now that have some long term worries, so again, were gonna get while the getting is good.

Here is a pic to show just what she had in her tiny body and how successful the surgery was. Large Areas of White = BAD.

So the above is the reason for our trip, next up I will introduce you to my amazing family. One that, thank goodness, is just as Disney Crazy as I am.

Chapter Links
INTRODUCTIONS
TRAVEL DAY ONE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND
TRAVEL DAY TWO SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD
SWIMMING, DINNER AND EMH AT MK SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD
ANIMAL KINGDOM MORNING AND AFTERNOON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH
BBB AND DINNER AT AKERSHUS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH
MK MORNING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH
CRT CASSIDY'S BDAY CELEBRATION TUESDAY NIGHT, FEBRUARY 25TH
OHANA'S BREAKFAST WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 26TH
EPCOT EVENING & NANA ARRIVES WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26TH
DTD FOR LUNCH AND SHOPPING THURSDAY LATE MORNING, FEBRUARY 27TH
ANIMAL KINGDOM AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY 27TH
1900 PARK FARE DINNER, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27TH
1900 PF DINNER CONTINUED
HOLLYWOOD & VINE BREAKFAST WITH DOC, FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 28TH
DHS AFTERNOON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH
BOG DINNER/EPCOT FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28TH
PIRATES LEAGUE SATURDAY MORNING MARCH 1ST
EPCOT AFTERNOON/EVENING MARCH 1ST
EPCOT EVENING & SWIMMING MARCH 1ST
LAZY MORNING & EPCOT MORNING AFTERNOON SUNDAY MARCH 2ND
AFTERNOON ADVENTURES AND TEA MARCH 2ND
CHEF MICKEY'S LATE DINNER AND EMH AT MK MARCH 2ND
DEPARTURE DAY LUNCH WITH AN IMAGINEER AND AIRPORT

VIDEO FOR THE FEB/MARCH TRIP

Pre-Trip Report Sidebars
PRE TRIP REPORT RAMBLINGS: DAY 1-4
PRE TRIP REPORT RAMBLINGS: DAY 5-9

4 DAYS TO GO AND A CASSIDY MEDICAL UPDATE

 

[DopeyDonald]

Again, I'm copying this from my PTR. I am going to take advantage of whatever makes me successful in finishing this thing!

Introductions:

Me – Emily. I am a stay at home mom. I home-school our 3 kiddos. Some important facts about me include: I LOVE Donald. My kids kind of think I can be Donald. I also like Dopey. A very wise CM once told me that it was OK, even necessary, for every one to have 2 absolute favorite characters. You need them to balance each other out. An angel and a devil on your shoulder so to speak. Donald and Dopey fit that bill perfectly!

Here is a pic from our September 2011 trip that sums up how I feel about Donald.

I literally told my 2 girls that waited in a stifling hot 20 minute line with me – stand to the side when we get up there – you can meet Mulan after this, but this one is ALL about me. LOL. I still haven’t met Dopey yet (other than at a MNSSHP with all the other dwarfs.). I can’t wait for the day I see him out with Snow White. I’m sure I will shove her to the side for some Dopey pics. LOL

Here is a pic of me with my DH in all of my Dopey glory.

Speaking of DH: He is a Territory Manager for a company that services and supplies convenience stores. He is on the road – A LOT. His favorite characters are Goofy and Grumpy. I had to convince him that our trip in 2010 was going to be fun – we’d been together to WDW in 2000 so he was familiar with WDW, but couldn’t figure out how we were going to pass 8 days. Fast forward to this trip and he’s begging me to add days on to it. He LOVES it as much as I do and it really is his happy place.

Here is DH last year as a Pirate - he did Pirate's League with DS for the MNSSHP.

Next is my DS – Wyatt. He is 11 and if possible, he loves Disney more than DH and I. He is going to be a vet at Animal Kingdom someday (according to him). His biggest concern with that is whether or not he’ll be able to ride EE on his lunch break. His characters are Mickey and Stitch. In fact, we just got a new yellow lab pup and his name is Stitch. Walt is his hero and he has written a paper or two in school about him. I hope his love continues throughout his life. We were lucky enough to score a Dining with an Imagineer reservation for this trip for DH and him for this trip.

And of course a picture of Stitch

Don't let his sleepy innocence fool you. His badness level is unusually high for someone of his size. LOL

Then there’s my DD – Annie. She is 8 and is my girly girl. She loves Minnie Mouse and Jasmine. She loves spending time one on one at Disney. Being stuck in the middle at home a lot, we make sure to schedule some Annie time at WDW. Her and I usually do a Tea together (this year Cassidy will be coming with her blessing). Her and DH usually do something special also. This trip they will be doing a Fireworks Dessert Party.

Here is a pic of Annie with her fave server at WCC. She fell in love with Billie in September - she wanted Billie to adopt her and Billie was more than willing - lol. We were scheduled to have dinner there one more time to see her but that unfortunately didn't happen.

Last but not least is DD – Cassidy. She is 5. She is my baby. I will probably carry that kid until her feet drag on the floor, like a little girl clutching a dolly. It’s an agreement we both have. She doesn’t mind and neither do I. She has a million favorite characters – I really do believe she loves them all. She doesn’t like rides with drops. Or Dinosaur. Or Pirates. It can be a challenge to get her to try new things, but we try not to push her.

Here she is at the 1900 PF Dinner the night she got sick. I LOVE that dinner! The SS's are so funny - we always have a great time there.

Also here is poor Cassidy on our trip in 2011. THAT trip she spent in a full leg cast! She broke her femur about 2 weeks before we left.

So there you have it. That’s us.

Also joining us on this trip was my mother. She flew in on Wednesday the 26th and stayed until we left on Monday, the 3rd. You can see her in our Park Fare picture above. She loves Disney too, but not nearly as much as we do. I think she thinks we're a bit weird and obsessed. But, Whatever.

 

[DopeyDonald]

Travel Day Part One:

We live about 3.5 hrs away from the MSP airport – sometimes we drive down the morning of our flight and sometimes we drive down the night before. This time our flight was at 7:10am – we chose to drive down the night before. SW only offers a non-stop between MSP and MCO once a day and even then only during certain parts of the year….if you are reading this SW – you need more non-stop flights between MSP and MCO!!!

Our intentions were to take care of some last minute business (bringing the dogs to the kennel, cleaning out the fridge, going to the Post office to let them know we’d not be picking up our mail, etc. We wanted to be on the road by 1pm or so…. Yeah……. Not so much.

I did have the dogs dropped off by 10am – so that went as planned. Then I got home cleaned out the fridge and took out the garbage. I loaded up the car and we were ready to go! Well, 4 of us were. My husband was taking FOREVER finishing up his last minute work items, so from about noon until 5pm the kids and I sat there and waited….tapping our feet and looking at our watches. *sigh. Oh well, a daddy who finishes his work is a happier daddy on the trip!

So around 5:30pm we were finally ready to hop in the car and go. Here are a few pics from us in the car – my son always gets to ride shot gun – it’s a Disney tradition. The girls in the middle row and mom stuck in the way back – lol.
Here is Cassidy - ready to get in the car and GO!

Ok everybody, Here we gooooooooooo

The drive was uneventful , but slow – we’d had some freezing rain and some of the stretches were a bit icy still. We arrived down in the Minneapolis area around 8:30pm and decided to go to eat before checking in. We went to a Fuddruckers (burgers and malts) near our hotel. It was really good. We used to have one where we lived, but it closed many years ago, so it’s always a treat. We all had burgers except my son who wanted to try a chicken sandwich as he doesn’t like hamburger (weirdo). I told him to get the crispy chicken as opposed to the grilled but he didn’t listen…..lol and he didn’t like it….. lol Oh well, there was plenty of fries, malts and cookies to fill him up.

Wyatt and Annie are trying to eat a bit healthier - they both gave up pop and candy for their new years resolutions and have stuck to it thus far. Of course it’s worth about $300 to each of them as I told them I would give them $100 for the no pop and $50 for the no candy and my mom said she’d match it if they make it a whole year – lol. We actually felt bad for them with the trip and told them it would be a “free time” and wouldn’t count against them if they wanted to have pop and candy on vacation, but both declined and said that, no they wanted to stick it out. So DH and Cassie were the only ones who got to use the cool pop machines that allowed you to add any flavor you wanted to a ton of different pops.

So after dining at Fuddruckers we checked into our room for the night – it was a 1 bedroom suite at a Residence Inn. We stay there every time we can – for $99 bucks a night it’s a great deal. We have very different personalities when it comes to sleeping and getting up, so any time we can get 2 separate sleeping areas the better.
Here are some room pics:
This is the separate living room. It had a sleeper sofa, a TV and a full, albeit small kitchen.

This is a pic from the doorway to the bedroom with 2 queen beds. This room also had a TV.

Finally here is a pic showing the bathroom in regards to location near the bedroom. It was a VERY tiny bathroom, like the kind where you cannot sit down until you shut the door - lol, but it works.

We all got ready for bed and organized our bags for the morning. The kids and I are NOT morning people so anything to speed it along helps. We got to bed fairly early and every one slept good – except me. I had a very hard time getting to sleep and finally drifted off about midnight. I woke up at 2 am super hot and feeling weird. I felt a bit sick to be honest and was very worried about how the morning was going to go. I have a bit of anxiety and it’s especially noticeable while traveling. I was able to calm back down and get some more sleep and until DH got me up around 4 – UGH.

 

[DopeyDonald]

I apologize for lack of pics in this update, but I packed my big camera in a checked bag and since we used ME for our luggage, I didn't even have my camera with me.

After my Dh got me up at the awful hour of 4am, I woke up for a few minutes, got myself ready, then packed my laptop up after checking our flight status.

Next we got the kids ready – they had slept in their clothes, so it was just shoes and coats and brushing of teeth and got everyone out the door by 5ish. Short drive to the airport, and got the car parked in short term parking. My Dh has a friend from work, who always comes and picks up our car for us so we don’t have to pay for parking.

We rented a Smart Carte, got into the airport and breezed thru checking our bags. We had a bit of a wait at security but were able to go thru the special line where you don’t have to take your shoes off or your laptops out? No idea why…

We made it thru security and found our gate – just was going to get settled in, go potty, get some water etc, when we see that our flight is boarding already!!!! I had been on the stick and gotten us in the A group so yay, but AHHHHHH, they were boarding the people with wheel chairs and who need extra assistance etc. So I RAN like the wind to take Cassie to the bathroom, grabbed a quick water and still made it to board with the A group! I love it when it works out like this, I HATE waiting at the airport – give me too much time to think about things – Only bad thing was, I didn’t get to take any airport pics.

We got pretty decent seats – we took the first full row we could find – the girls and I in one row and my DH and Wyatt in the other. It was a full flight so they got a seat mate, but it was a nice guy who talked just the right amount – .

We took off early, and landed early after an uneventful flight. We had decided that we were going to eat at Chick-Fil-A before leaving MCO– we normally are in a hurry to get to the resort and never stop to eat and usually regret it as we are ready to kill each other by the time we finally get food. Also, DH and Wyatt were taking Magical Express so we didn’t have to worry about our bags.

We were SO excited to finally try Chick-Fil-A, we hustled our butts over there and CLOSED  We had no idea they were closed on Sunday – we were sad, but totally resect them for being closed. SO….McD’s it was. We were all in a good mood after eating and ready to get going.

The boys and Cassie were going to take Magical Express, while the girls and I were going to pick up the rental van. We did this for 2 reasons. One being, so we could eat in the airport and not worry about our luggage and two, the boys missed ME. We hadn’t taken it since we discovered that we loved renting a car. We also seem to get into a “discussion” on the way – I am a terrible backseat driver and my husband is directionally challenged. This worked out awesome and we’ve already decided it’s the way it will be from now on. Bonus: Annie and I could stop at Super Target on the way and not listen to anyone whine.

This however, meant my husband would have to check in – he’s never done this before – how would he do?? He did well, except he did NOT listen to me when I told him to be sure to designate our MasterCard for room charges. But that’s a story for later.

So Annie and I picked up the van and headed for Super Target. We picked up some bottled water, yogurt, fruit and a couple of pizzas. We had the dining plan this trip so we didn’t buy too much. But Cassidy needs yogurt to take her medicine and I knew we needed some water.

After a quick trip into Target we headed to find our cabin. They had also picked up the golf cart we’d rented. We called to find out our cabin number and after driving around the entirety of Fort Wilderness, we finally found it – lol. It was the first left turn after leaving the main area. Our loop was the first one. And our cabin one of the closest to the loop entrance (it was actually near the “end” of the loop, but there were a few times late at night we chanced it and went the wrong way on the one way so we didn’t have to drive the whole loop.)

It was an AMAZING location. There was a bus stop just a few feet from our cabin and the quiet pool was within walking distance. Not that we ever rode a bus or walked to the pool, but we COULD have.

I unloaded the groceries and got settled, while DH took the kids tooling around on the golf cart. I swear, that golf cart was a huge part of my children’s vacation! When they got back it was around 3:30-4pm. It wasn’t the warmest out, but we’re from MN and my kids love to swim, so off to the quiet pool we went.

Up next: Our vacation finally starts!!

 

[DopeyDonald]

Here's a few pics from swimming:
Look at those pasty white MN bodies!

Funny story while we were swimming.....We have this thing we do where someone (usually me who has the video camera) says "DANCE" and the rest break out into dancing. So I yelled POOL DANCE and DH and the big kids went crazy - I was laughing and videoing...until I noticed that Cassidy was struggling in the water - DH had been standing with her but had to break into dance and kind of forgot about her I guess. Nice. I quickly pointed out to DH that Cassie was struggling (she was only about 6 inches from him - ) and he quickly grabbed her.

We only swam for a little bit as it was pretty chilly and we had a dinner to get ready for. We were going to Chef Mickey’s at 7:30. Yay! It was going to be our first time there – actually Wyatt and Dh had breakfast there once, but our first time for dinner and as a family. We figured it was the perfect way to kick off our Disney Trip.

We got back to the cabin, some showered, some just changed. I wanted everyone to wear our character T-shirts that night. I had actually bought them for our Sept trip, but we never got to wear them. We piled into the van for the drive to the Contemporary. It was EMH at the MK that night so we planned on walking over after our dinner. This decision came into play later in the trip regarding our tickets. We had purchased 7 day PH for our trip thinking we wouldn’t be going to a park on our first night.

We checked in for our dinner about 7:15 and waited until about 7:45 to be sat down. It was still pretty busy.

Here is a pic of Cassie waiting:

We took our fam pic with the Mickey Statue – Cassidy was a grump as usual. She is a pretty happy kid EXCEPT when it comes to having her pic taken – she hates it! Lol

Any how after a short wait, we got the best seat in the house! We were lead to the back of the restaurant and right next to the bank of huge windows. WE COULD SEE THE CASTLE!!! It was awesome. Halfway thru our meal Wishes started too, so that was amazing as well.

The food at Chef Mickeys was fine. No real complaints. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was pretty darn good for my picky family. We left there very full. This was our first character meal of the trip and it seemed to set a theme for all the other meals too. And not necessarily a good one. We’ve done many character meals in the past, but never as many as this trip.

The characters seemed in SUCH a hurry. Minnie barely slowed down for a pic and the rest weren’t much better. My kids aren’t super outgoing, so the characters may just pick up on that, but this time it seemed that there was barely time to get a pic of all 3, let alone individual ones. My youngest is the baby of the family and a bit spoiled, so she was really put off by this – she wanted a pic of JUST her with most of the characters, so I finally had to start speaking up and almost grab them to keep them there so I could let them know we wanted another pic.

This is more of an observation than a complaint, but we did notice it the rest of the week at pretty much every character meal we went to. Now this is our 6th trip and my kids have met the characters many times, so they were OK with this, but if we had been first time visitors or was expecting more from the characters I would have been a bit more upset or forceful in trying to get them to spend a bit more time.
Here are a few pics from dinner:
The kids and Donald: Cassie is mad because she doesn't want Wyatt and Annie in the pic with her -

Here's my main man and I - I did speak up with this guy and insist upon a pic with him!

The Goof and DH and I.

Speedy Minnie and the kids.

But moving on, after dinner we headed over to EMH at the MK. We got there about 9:15 or so. We didn’t want to stay too long, but definitely needed to get our MK fix. Our first stop was the tea cups. This is our family’s tradition – Daddy and the kids on the tea cups. Mommy can’t even look at them – lol.

Here's our first Tea Cup pics of the trip

After spinning and having a grand old time, we separated – Dh and big kids to Space Mountain and Cassie and I to Buzz and the People Mover. I was so excited that the people mover was open for our trip – I had read somewhere that this was going to be closed for refurbishment while we were there. Either the site or myself had the dates wrong or else Disney changed them. But Yay!!! I LOVE the people mover. Nothing says Disney like the PM. Especially at night.

After a spin or two on the People Mover we met back up with the rest of the fam and shopped our way out. We stopped at the Confectionary for some treats- Ear Hat brownies for the kids, Choc covered Pineapple for me and a piece of fudge for Dh. I Love the dining plan and it’s snack credits!

We got back to the room around 11:30 and Dh crashed right away. He slept on the murphy bed while the kids and I took the bedroom. He goes to bed early and gets up EARLY, so this worked out great for us. That way he could putz on his work computer and drink his coffee while the rest of us sleep in.
It was a wonderful first Disney Day.

Up next Our first full day...will we break tradition?

 

[DopeyDonald]

This morning we slept in! Well 4 of us did anyway. Dh was up early working on his computer. He worked a whole lot more than I wanted him to this trip, which translated into him not waking us up until 9ish each day – sometimes later!

Now, I know I could have tried to set the alarm, but really, does ANYONE know how to set those Disney alarm clocks?? I can never figure them out.

Back to this morning. The kids and I woke up around 9:30 – we were tired from our VERY long travel day and EMH. We normally hit MK on our first full day, but since we went there for EMH the night before, we decided to break tradition.

Touring plans said that Mon is usually a busy MK day anyway and we’d be visiting MK A LOT more during our week, so we all agreed on Animal Kingdom.

The kids had a yogurt or a waffle and that was our breakfast.
I quick hopped on MDE and changed our fp+ to Animal Kingdom. I’m not really sure what to think about fp+. Normally, we go in September and never need fp at all, so this was kind of nice. In our 5 prev trips we have never ridden TSM for this very reason. We are just not rope drop kind of people, nor are we "wait in anything longer than 15 min" people, so that ruled out ever riding TSM – lol. So I did like that aspect of fp+. I actually found the app pretty easy to use and I don’t even have a smart phone. I tried to do most of it on my laptop in the morning before we left and then make any changes from my Ipod touch in the parks. It wasn’t perfect and there were a few times when I couldn’t get it to work, but surprisingly it came thru for me most times.

Back on track –again . So, I made a Dinosaur fp+ for 1pm, a Safari fp+ for a time of 2pm, and an Expedition Everest for 3pm (for the big kids and Dh).

We got to the park around 11:30 – just enough time to eat lunch at Flame Tree before our 1pm Dinosaur fp. The boys and Annie took the bus and Cassie and I drove. Why they took the bus is beyond me – they actually like bus rides I guess? I hate them and avoid them like the plague. We parked in quite possibly the furthest spot and hoofed it, rather than the tram. I just HATE folding the stroller up for those things and will walk in most scenarios. Our bands gave us no trouble at the gate and there was pretty much no line. We met the fam inside the gates and were on our way.

The name of the game this trip was to stop and smell the roses. Appreciate every minute and just slow down and enjoy. So we stopped on the bridge for a photopass.

We headed straight to Flame Tree and the boys ordered while the girls and I got a seat. It was fairly empty and there were tons of open tables so we grabbed a couple of small tables over looking Everest. Not a bad lunch view at all.

The Girls while we were looking for a table – I love this area:

our awesome lunch view

I was trying to eat a bit healthier, so I got the SW Chicken Salad – it was OK. The chicken was super tender and pretty good, but the dressing was lacking any real flavor. It got old pretty quick. Annie and Cassie both got the kids hot dog meal and DH and Wyatt both got the chicken. I ate a few servings of the beans and maybe a coleslaw to supplement my salad and no one went hungry. We like the Flame Tree, but will probably try Yak and Yeti next time.

After lunch we had a quick photo session at the Everest over look and then we were off to Dinosaur.

Ahhhhh Dinosaur. You either love it or you hate it. Cassidy *thinks* she loves it, but let me tell you she does not. So she finally got smart and chickened out in line. Then we have Wyatt. Wyatt KNOWS he HATES Dinosaur, but makes himself ride it once a trip. It’s tradition. We do not make him, nor did we ever, but I’ll admit, I do love the pics we get from him off this ride. It’s always the same – fetal position with his hands over his ears. This year was not different

Here he is making the long walk into the ride building

While they rode Dinosaur, Cassie and I headed over to get her face painted. She LOVES getting her face painted and usually does multiple times a trip. Sadly, this ended up being our only time this trip. She chose Tinkerbell.

After getting her face all done up we headed over to wait for the rest of the fam. On our way back what did we see a sign for???!!! Safari Donald!!!! So we hopped in the non-existant line and in no time we were seeing my fave duck. I love that guy! He was pretty interactive – sometimes I’m not sure what Donald thinks of me – I usually put the kids to the side and run up to give him a hug – lol. This time was no different. I did let her in with me for a few pics though

After Safari Donald we just hung out in Chester and Hesters and waited. Shortly the fam showed up. They had some trouble with getting the pic – my DH wasn’t sure if we had MM or not, so I’m not sure what he told them - they finally got it straightened out. But sadly those pics never made it on my account. Soooooo, poor Wyatt was doomed to ride again.

After Dinosaur, Cassie was getting antsy to ride something, so Dh and the kids rode Triceratops Spin. She loves that ride. They got on after about 3 cycles I suppose.

After that we headed over towards the Safari. It was almost time for our fp. We were still early for it, so we decided to do the Pangani trail to kill some time. We hadn’t done that since our first trip in 2010. It was great. We really enjoyed it. The hippos weren’t out in the tank viewing area, so that was a bummer.
Waiting to see if we could find any hippos

The Gorillas weren’t very active in the window viewing area either, but one very large male was sitting on the hill just munching his lettuce on the viewing area after you leave the glass area.

We watched him for quite a while. Then moving along the trail we saw another one on the opposite side SLEEPING. Man that guy was OUT.

By then, it was time for our fp+, so we hurried up and finished the rest of the trail. The wait for the Safari ended up being pretty short so we probably didn’t even need our fp+ but used it anyway and it was a walk on.
Gotta be honest, we’ve had better safari’s. It was the middle of the day and fairly hot, so the animals were all pretty low key. It was still a good time and fun to do as a family. We tend to split up a lot since Cassie and I don’t do any big rides.

After the Safari, we took our time and explored some of the Tree of Life Trails.

While on the trails, we happened across Pocahontas. This was the one character interaction that stood out during the whole trip. She was GREAT.
She took her time with each guest and was just so sweet. My poor Annie – she got up to see Pocahontas – she was SO excited to meet her – and she got a little tounge-tied. Pocahontas asked her where she was from and she just froze. She looked at me like a deer in the head lights. It reminded me of that Good Luck Charlie episode when Bob is on TV and he just freezes. –

She made some kind of UGHHHOHHHHHHH sound so I quick helped her out….Let me tell you though, that became the running joke for the whole vacation, poor girl. We’d just look at someone later on and go, “so where you from?” We are so mean.

Then it was Cassie’s turn and they chatted it up like old friends. Cassie was Pocahontas for Halloween this past year so she was excited to tell her that. We got some great PP pics from this encounter.

I don’t know if my dh is channeling Vanna White here or what he is doing -

After Pocahontas we wandered over to Bugs Life where Cassie refused to go in. Her reason – "I don’t like the smell of the Stinky bug." *sigh. So we decided to wait till Nana got there so we didn’t split up again. We just kind of wandered around taking in the sights until it was time for the kids and Dh’s Everest fp+.

At this point, it was getting close to 3 so since Cassie and I weren’t riding, we decided to leave. She had a BBB apt at DTD at 6:10 and I wanted to give her a bath and get her ready. (I think that’s why they took the bus – so they would have the golf cart waiting for them at the bus depot since they knew they would be taking the bus back.)

Up Next - a magical night

 

[DopeyDonald]

So Cassie and I headed out but had time to stop and take some awesome pp pics outside the gates. Here is where I shake my head. You see after Cassie and I did this, I quick called Wyatt and told him to be sure to do it as he loves Stitch. When they stopped on their way out the pp person told them that they can only do magic shots inside the gates. Ummmmm, ok. No big deal but NOT TRUE!

Cassie and I are headed back to the cabins to get ready to get all prettied up. I was able to get her an appointment at BBB at the last minute. It had been booked solid in the weeks leading up to our trip but I was able to snag one while waiting in line for the rental car of all places…. Then I was able to get a reservation for Akershus at 8:10pm after – PERFECT.

So we got back to the cabin by 3:45 or so and I wanted to be on our way by 5. So we had a quick bath and shower and hopped right back in the car to head to DTD.

Here she is sitting on the steps of the cabin getting ready to head to DTD. The outfit she has on is the same one that Annie wore to her first BBB apt when she was 5

I scored a great parking spot and we were checking in at 5:30 for our 6:10 appt. I figured we’d be cutting it close but not too close for our 8:10pm reservation. Boy, was I wrong – . BBB was packed! She picked out her dress – she was undecided until the last minute, but finally went with Belle.

They called us back around 6:20 and had her change. Then we sat and waited and waited and waited. I was starting to sweat now. It was about 6:50 when they finally called her to get in the chair.

Here she is pre-hair

Beginning the VERY long bun process

I was biting my nails the whole time. Man that bun takes a long time. She had the sweetest FGIT though. I was constantly in touch with DH and big kids and they were hanging out in Epcot by this point and just waiting for us to get there. I think they did the Land boat ride and other wise just shopped around.

So at 7:30 I really started to sweat – she had just finished her hair and was doing her make up and nails.

Finally it was time for pixie dust – yay.

Presenting Princess Cassie Belle

The FGIT really was so sweet. I was talking to Cassie about how we would stop and get her the Belle shoes on the way or else after we ate and the FGIT dropped her stuff and ran over and grabbed her some from the rack - She said that she couldn’t possibly let a princess go to dinner without her pretty shoes.

At this point it’s about 7:40. I quick paid, Cassidy took 900 hrs to sign her name in the book, we dropped a tip in the wishing well and we were off. We were in the car and pulling out at 7:49 for our 8:10 reservation in EPCOT.

You guys, WE MADE IT. I Rock. I hit all the right lights, pulled into the Epcot lot and they were letting people park up front since it was so close to park closing. I threw that girl in her stroller and we took off. I RAN. Breezed thru bag check and the gates and just kept going.

At this point DH and the kids were in the check in line at the front of the line and just kept letting people go in front of them until we got there.

We headed in for our picture right away. I have to say this felt SO rushed. They rushed us over, grabbed our bags and had us pose so quickly. We did get 2 pics since we had a party of 5, so we did a fam pic and then let Cassidy take one alone since she was dressed as Belle.

I got this vibe over and over again from CM’s this trip – rush, rush, rush, hurry up. And I have to say I didn’t like it much. I’m not sure if this is becoming the new norm or if it’s more laid back in September when we go. Not enough to put a damper on things, but enough to notice.

So we got settled into our table and had a very nice server. It was our first time here so she explained how the cold buffet worked and helped us decide on what to order.

DH and the girls and I all got the meatballs and Wyatt went with the pork chop. We all really liked our food. The cold buffet was good also. The kids LOVED the bread. I didn’t taste it to see what made it so special, but they each had a few rolls with cheese.

During the meal the characters came around. Now I usually like face characters a bit better, as they can speak. Again, I’m sorry to report they just fell flat for me. Just seemed to be in a rush and so impersonal. We’ve had such great interaction in the past, so it was a bit of a bummer. Now I’m not sure if our late dining times had anything to do with this and they were just tired or what. It was certainly still a good time and the girls were very excited to meet them so all was well.

Cassidy and Cinderella

Annie and Cinderella

The Girls and Snow White

Wyatt managed to avoid all contact with the princesses but as not to leave him out here is a pic of him in his hat that he bought from China. I’m not sure why he wanted one so badly, but that was one of his must buys. I will give him credit, he was responsible for getting it home and he did!

After our meal, the park was closed so we headed out. The big kids and DH were wanting to head back right away, but Cassie and I wanted to shop in Mousegears a bit. Cassidy hemmed and hawed while we were in there over which stuffed animal to buy. She really wanted a stuffed piglet but also kept coming back to "baby" Marie. She finally decided on Marie, but on the way to the car she confided to me she really wanted it to give to Annie Annie has a white kitty that lives at Nana's house, so Annie really likes Marie. I LOVE when things like that happen. Cassidy ended up being envious of Marie later on that night, however, and I ended up buying her one of her own the next day

On the way to the car I had the bright idea that we should head to DTD to Goofy’s to pick up some treats for everyone. Man; I love those snack credits! Plus I knew that parking on a Monday night late at DTD would be easy. And I was right. We got a front row spot. I LOVE LOVE LOVE DTD at night. I was really wishing that I had encouraged the others to come with us. The trees were all lit up and they had that good music playing. I could have stayed there all night.

So we browsed just a bit on our way to Goofy’s. We took Cassie’s pic with the Pooh bench and watched the Rainforest Café volano erupt.

Cassie and Pooh

It was a lovely evening and I was so missing the rest of the fam – or at least my big kids. DH is such an early to bedder. But I didn’t let it get me down for long – We chose our treats at Goofy’s - pretty much the same as from the confectionary the night before – Ear Hat Brownies for the kids, Choc pineapple for me, but this time DH wanted a cookie. So we got our treats and headed back to the cabin.

Dh was sleeping already by the time we got back, so the kids and I ate our treats while we watched some TV and were sleeping my midnight or so.

I leave you with a pic of Cassidy enjoying her treat with a Capri Sun – the big question is…will her hair survive until the big day tomorrow? Tomorrow (Tuesday) is when she would be officially 5 yrs old! Granted, she actually turned 5 in September, but we told her that she wouldn’t be 5 until she got that birthday cake she’d been waiting 6 mos for.

Day 2 was a smashing success.

 

[DopeyDonald]

If anyone wants to say hi that would be great! If not that's OK too. I'm a huge lurker myself, so I understand . Just want to say Thanks for Reading if you make it this far in the report....

 

[wrestlingchick26]

I'm reading along. I read your previous trip report of the not so great trip so I was excited to find your new report.

 

[DopeyDonald]

I'm reading along. I read your previous trip report of the not so great trip so I was excited to find your new report.

Thanks for saying hi! I told myself I wasn't going to worry if I had readers or not, but I guess I did worry a bit -

So HI - Thanks for reading along.

 

[Kitten<3Duck]

I'm reading! I'm really enjoying your report.

 

[DopeyDonald]

I'm reading! I'm really enjoying your report.

Awesome - welcome I see that you are another Donald Fan. He is the greatest, I just wish I could find more merchandise in the women's section - I'm tired of the gigantically huge manly shirts!

 

[Kitten<3Duck]

Awesome - welcome I see that you are another Donald Fan. He is the greatest, I just wish I could find more merchandise in the women's section - I'm tired of the gigantically huge manly shirts!

If you go to zazzle.com they have a legit, official Disney section with tons of Donald designs. (In fact, you can also access it on the Disney Store website, but the selection is more limited for some reason). http://www.zazzle.com/disney/womens+clothing?cg=196698570304498644 It isn't just white t-shirts, either, which is great.

 

[BOG Obsessed]

"I got this vibe over and over again from CM’s this trip – rush, rush, rush, hurry up."


Following along on your TR. So many updates to catch up on.
We had our first DW trip during Christmas week, and I felt the exact same thing at the character meals. Felt like 'autograph, picture, move on', my DD4 loved it regardless, but I felt we had more interaction at Fairytale Hall then at CRT or Akershus. The breakfast at Akershus was so good we'll still be going back, but don't think we'll be returning to CRT at 2 credits.

Thanks for your sharing your trip experience, hopefully it made up for the last one.

 

[DopeyDonald]

"I got this vibe over and over again from CM’s this trip – rush, rush, rush, hurry up."


Following along on your TR. So many updates to catch up on.
We had our first DW trip during Christmas week, and I felt the exact same thing at the character meals. Felt like 'autograph, picture, move on', my DD4 loved it regardless, but I felt we had more interaction at Fairytale Hall then at CRT or Akershus. The breakfast at Akershus was so good we'll still be going back, but don't think we'll be returning to CRT at 2 credits.

Thanks for your sharing your trip experience, hopefully it made up for the last one.

Hi - thanks for following along. Yes, I really have no desire to do more than one character meal this next trip. We usually get SO much better interaction with the characters in the park. We will for surely do the 1900 PF dinner - I can't get enough of the step-sisters. We also will HAVE to do the Hollywood and Vine breakfast again as Doc is now there, but other than that I think we need a break.

 

[Claki]

Great report so far. Ready for more updates! I hope we get to stay in a cabin some day!

 

[DopeyDonald]

Here we are at my favorite day of the whole trip. Cassidy’s “birthday”. I was able to snag a reservation to CRT for this day a few weeks before our trip and also called to reserve the “Royal Highness Package” for the kids. More on this awesomeness later

The day started slowly again, with my husband working and the kids and I sleeping We had a small breakfast of yogurt and waffles in the room and got going around 10am. The big kids and DH took the golf cart to the boat dock and Cassidy and I drove. Cassidy and I drove because there is no way our big jogger was fitting on the golf cart along with all of us and our park bags.

Even splitting up, we all managed to get to the gates at nearly the same time. We met up and decided to take some horrible PP pics in front of the train station. This was a terrible idea – that sun was BRUTAL at this time of day! I could tell instantly that it wasn’t going to work but that PP photographer wasn’t going to let us go without trying to get a good one. It was miserable! Lol

Here’s the little gem – We’ve got squinters – and then there’s me. And my DORKY sunglasses. My husband HATES these – he says that it looks like I just had cataract surgery – But I can’t help it. I really need to get prescription sunglasses, but I’d probably lose those and I'm too cheap. Oh well, at least I can see.

We made our way up Main Street, deciding what to do for the day. We had some fp+ for the afternoon - Tomorrowland Speeday, Big Thunder for the big kids and DH – Little Mermaid for Cassidy and I, Space Mountain for the big kids and DH and Buzz for Cassidy and I. But first we were hungry.
We decided to slowly make our way over to Cosmic Ray’s where we had decided on having lunch. We browsed in the Emporium for a while as it was VERY hot and sunny this day – yay – and DH had forgotten his hat. He wanted a new Grumpy one, but never did find one he ended up liking. This is where and when we ended up picking up another baby Marie for Cassidy – you will see Baby Marie in many pics to come – lol.

After shopping our way down main street, we headed over the bridge into Tomorrow Land. This is my favorite spot in the park, if not all of Disney World. *happy sigh, I just love it. We headed to the People Mover for a spin around the together. After the People Mover we headed over to the COP. It was my DH and Wyatt’s first time to see this. They loved it – and of course we sang “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” the rest of the trip.

By now we were getting pretty hungry so we headed over to Cosmic Rays. On the way of course, we saw that the Tea Cups only had a 5 minute wait, so the big kids and DH hopped on that first…always a good idea to ride that BEFORE lunch – While they were on the Tea Cups, I went to scope out Cosmic Rays – it was VERY busy – yikes.

When the fam got off the TC, Wyatt, DH and Annie decided that they wanted a hot dog at the Lunching Pad. Cassidy and I headed into Cosmic Rays and ordered. I had the rotisserie chicken meal and Cassidy had the kids chicken nuggets meal. We got our trays and began the quest to find a seat. It was BUSY. We finally gave up and headed outside to sit on a ledge near the outdoor tables. This ended up working out just fine.

We had just sat down to eat, when here come Annie and DH. It seems that they didn’t like the menu at the lunching pad so they wanted to get some Cosmic Rays. They went in to order and shortly after Wyatt came walking up with his Chili Dog. He joined Cassidy and I. We were actually done by the time DH and Annie came out with their food, so we gave them our spots and headed over to Mickey’s Star Traders to browse while they finished.

Once everyone was done eating, we decided to head to the carousel. This is another fave of my kiddos. There is just nothing like riding a carousel in the middle of the Magic Kingdom!

While they did that I worked on tweaking our fast passes a bit. I hadn’t planned on Dumbo having much of a wait, but when we checked after eating it was 45 mins! So while the fam was on the carousel, I changed our Tomorrow Land Speeday FP to a Dumbo FP. This was awesome and one of many times this new system worked in our favor.

I love carousel pics – they always turn out so good:

After hopping off the carousel, it was time to try and pull the sword out of the stone – unfortunately, we had no one among us fit to be a king. We’ve only pulled it out once in 7 trips. On our very first trip- Wyatt tried SO hard to pull it out - no go. Annie stepped up and pulled it right out. So Wyatt thinking he could for surely do it, hopped back up – no go. Annie tried again, pulled right out. By this time Wyatt was desperate - he tried SO hard, but nope. Annie stepped up and yet again pulled it out. It was AMAZING. Then a cast member came up and presented her with a keepsake sword.

After finding no member of royalty among us, it was time to head to our Dumbo FP. While I waited while they rode, I checked out the rest of Story Book Circus. We’ve been over there before, but had never REALLY looked around. I found where Pete’s Silly Sideshow was and made a mental note to stop back there soon (never happened) Then, I just sat on a bench soaking up the beautiful sun and just being happy to be back in our happy place.

Finally, it was time for their ride and I was able to get a few good pics:

I can never get a good pic of Cassidy in Dumbo – that girl likes to fly high, she refuses to come low for a pic!

There you can see her just a bit

Let’s go – onto the next thing!

After Dumbo, it was time for the big kids and DH to head to their fp for BTMRR and Cassidy and I to go see the Little Mermaid. We split up and Cassidy and I headed to go see Ariel. With our fp it was a walk on and in no time we were going under the sea. I love this ride

After Ariel we decided to head over towards the other side of the park to meet up with the crew. As we were walking by the HM, we saw it only had a 5 min wait. For some reason Cassidy really wanted to ride – she normally doesn’t like this ride. So we headed in. She LOVED it – I’ll bet we rode it 5 more times this trip! Crazy kid. She’s weird like that – her fave show right now is reruns of Goosebumps.

After the HM, we got a call that the rest of the fam was done with BTMRR and we decided to meet in Adventureland and have a snack and ride the Magic Carpets.

We met by the Swiss Family Tree house and decided to go on up – we’d never done this before. WOW – that is a lot of stairs! All that climbing made us hungry and we decided a snack was in order. Citrus Swirls for Annie and I (YUM – my FAVE snack at Disney besides the choc covered pineapple), a vanilla/choc twist for Cassidy and a Dole Whip for Wyatt. DH didn’t want anything, but he did bring Wyatt some water while he waited in the longest line EVER for his Dole Whip. He also found a hat at the little kiosk near Aloha Isle.

AHHHHHH, YUM!

Waiting for Wyatt to finish his dole whip

After cooling off and enjoying our treats, the kids and Dh rode the carpets. We really love this ride too, our family (minus me) can apparently never get enough of going in circles.

We checked the line for the Jungle Cruise after everyone had enough spinning, but the wait was more than 30 mins, so no go for us. We had places to be – namely, our next fp+. We headed over to Tomorrow Land again and parted ways at Buzz. We decided that after our rides each group would just head back to the Cabins to get ready for dinner.

Cassidy and I hopped right on as DH and big kids went on to Space. We had another great ride on Buzz and when we were done we hopped right on the People Mover again.

We had so much fun on this. I showed her the “no dancing” sign and she thought it was SOOOOOO funny and of course proceeded to dance.

We were just getting ready to leave tomorrow land when we saw that Stitch only had a 5 min wait. I have not done this since it was refurbed into Stitch, so when Cassie said she wanted to try it, I said sure. We *kind* of liked it?! It wasn’t awful, Cassie got a bit scared, but nothing horrible.

At this point, it was about 3:30-4pm and we really needed to get going if we were going to make it back to the cabins to freshen up and get ready for dinner.

I remembered one more stop we needed to make though and it was a bit of a backtrack. We needed to swing by the BBB in the Castle to see if they would give me a few bobby pins. I, like a schmuck, didn’t pack any and her hair was in desperate need of a few. When we got there they were not only happy to give me some, but they sprinkled her with lots more pixie dust too!

After that, we headed out, but not before taking some cute Tinkerbell pics on Main Street. These particular pics always kill me because they tell them to open their mouths and look down at their hands, and it always appear to me that they want to eat Tinkerbell –

You can see what a hot mess her hair is getting to be….

It seems like the other guys stopped for photopass on their way out too!

Nice hand placement Wy…

There. That’s better.

After stopping for the pics, we headed out, walked to our car – no trams for me – and drove back to the cabin for some prettying up!

Up next – the long awaited dinner!

 

[DopeyDonald]

Great report so far. Ready for more updates! I hope we get to stay in a cabin some day!

Thanks!
We really enjoyed the cabins. It's a different experience for sure, very laid back, but a great time. No complaints!

 

[DopeyDonald]

If you go to zazzle.com they have a legit, official Disney section with tons of Donald designs. (In fact, you can also access it on the Disney Store website, but the selection is more limited for some reason). http://www.zazzle.com/disney/womens+clothing?cg=196698570304498644 It isn't just white t-shirts, either, which is great.

Thanks! I can't wait to check it out. One can never have to many Donald T-Shirts.

 

[annie170]

I read your previous trip report and am very happy Cassidy is doing well. It's great that your family was able to make it back and am looking forward to reading more.