5 kids, 7 grandchildren, 50 years of marriage & One Amazing Cruise on the Dream!

joanna71985 · Jul 6, 2011

Great TR so far! Can't wait to see the rest

erstwo said:
The penguins were up when we entered. Aren't they supposed to be hidden??

Yes...yes they are

HouCuseChickie · Jul 6, 2011

I think that first room w/the sunken bed would make most of us insist on a new room. It's kind of sad to see that they even have a room with a bed like that. At least you were able to get a new room.

OK-that TSMM story is CRAZY INSANE!!!!! It's bad enough to rush the line like that, but to do that to a child?!?!?!

:fork: Now I'm going to be watching our backs for psychos the next time we ride it! :lookaroun

Funny about the Speedway...not my fave, but the kids are such huge fans of it.

BTW- LOVE that blue and red polka dot dress your daugther is wearing!!!

Reminds me of something I've been considering for DD2.

Can't wait to read more!!! :wave:

erstwo · Jul 6, 2011

derelicte19 said:
Loving this TR so far!! What a GREAT way to spend a 50th anniversary, with all the family involved!!! Big family trips can be really fun sometimes!! (Other times.... ugh, so stressful!! lol)

Well, I can honestly say - this one was a little of both!

BUT it will be a trip we will remember for a lifetime. And I don't think we will remember any of the stress - just the fun!

disneygirl1 said:
Awesome start can't wait to hear more about your trip! We sail on the Dream in April, so I am anxiously awaiting that part!

I can seriously NOT believe what happened when you were in line for TSMM!!! What the heck? That is just crazy!

I can't wait to get to the Dream part - it was awesome.
Isn't that bizarre? I would love to know what caused it all, but alas, I guess I never will.

:king:

joanna71985 said:
Great TR so far! Can't wait to see the rest

Yes...yes they are

Thank you & I knew it! I had only ever been to Muppets on my last family trip in December and I knew I remembered them coming up out of the orchestra pit. Thanks for helping me not feel so crazy.

I have another question for you Miss Joanna - we've only ridden The Great Movie ride once in March. It's a long story, but when we were boarding someone asked us, "Gangster or Bandit" and we didn't know what they were talking about. I told my husband the other night that I bet that meant that there was another 'scene' that involved the gangster set instead of the Western set. Is that correct? If so, can you request to ride on a 'gangster' if you've already seen a bandit? Just wondering.

HouCuseChickie said:
I think that first room w/the sunken bed would make most of us insist on a new room. It's kind of sad to see that they even have a room with a bed like that. At least you were able to get a new room.

OK-that TSMM story is CRAZY INSANE!!!!! It's bad enough to rush the line like that, but to do that to a child?!?!?! :fork: Now I'm going to be watching our backs for psychos the next time we ride it!

Funny about the Speedway...not my fave, but the kids are such huge fans of it.

BTW- LOVE that blue and red polka dot dress your daugther is wearing!!! Reminds me of something I've been considering for DD2.

Can't wait to read more!!!

That bed was crazy. My husband said it must have been a very large person who slept on it last, but honestly, even if someone weighed 600 lbs, they would have to sleep on that bed for 2 years before it got that smooshed. I have no idea how it came to be in that room, but I wish the Mousekeeper would have reported it. Maybe they did and they just didn't have time to switch it before we checked in?

That was one crazy scenario for sure. The next one was worse - but only for me.

Thank you very much! That top is the Robbins Top by Hannah Kate - a wonderful trunk show company run by some lovely ladies in Birmingham, Alabama. My daughter has on the matching shorts underneath, but you can't really see them. Not sure if they still offer that exact fabric, but they always have some fantastic fabrics to choose from - let me know if you need more info, I think I *might* actually know the hostess in Houston - she's an Alabama transplant.

erstwo · Jul 6, 2011

We were on our way to MCO to pick up my husband in the rain. And boy was it ever raining. My kids reminded me about halfway there that they still hadn't eaten lunch. We had left early, so I pulled into the drive through thinking we had time to spare. I hadn't even ordered when my husband texted that his flight had arrived 30 minutes early!

Soon we were pulling up to the airport and my kids were squealing with happiness over seeing their Daddy again. So sweet. Except, wait........ I had been schelping them through the parks all by myself for the last day and a half - where were MY squeals of excitement? :lol: Stinkers.

The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down in rushing, rising rivlets........

We decided it best to head back to Pop, put all of my husbands things in the room and then take a bus back to MK to meet up with his family. The rain was relentless, so we took our time in the room and watched a show on the Disney channel, showed Daddy all the fun stuff we'd bought, etc. We were all actually feeling a little chilly, so we poncho-ed up and headed to the food court for an afternoon snack and a spot of tea (or hot chocolate, depending on your age and/ or caffeine tolerance.)

My daughter had a Mickey chocolate dipped rice krispy treat and I had a cherry pastry.
Yummo! And it was so relaxing just sitting there in the afternoon with the rain drizzling outside.

Eventually, we decided that we had best go see what the fam was up to, and we hopped on the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

Still raining - can you find her in there?

Oh, hello there Mr. Dino!

HollyBelle · Jul 6, 2011

Loving your trip report, Erin! That picture of your son and his Dino all strapped in and ready to go for a spin on the Speedway is absolutely adorable!

I can't wait to hear all about your Dream experience!

erstwo · Jul 6, 2011

Obligatory photo:

Oh WAIT honey. You forgot to mention that I LOOK LIKE A BUMBLE BEE.

Thanks so much. Having my back and all. :lol:

On the way down Main Street my husband and son decided we needed to stop in at the Bakery.

Poor lonely, heart shaped cinnamon roll. Do you want us to take you home?

Okay.

Now, this is a better:

We called the family and they were almost 100% completed with their touring!

Awesome! I guess the rain really cleared people out and they were able to go on ride after ride. They were getting off of Pirates and headed to use their fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise.

We decided to wait for them at the Hub. Just in time for the parade/ dance party!

HouCuseChickie · Jul 6, 2011

erstwo said:
Thank you very much! That top is the Robbins Top by Hannah Kate - a wonderful trunk show company run by some lovely ladies in Birmingham, Alabama. My daughter has on the matching shorts underneath, but you can't really see them. Not sure if they still offer that exact fabric, but they always have some fantastic fabrics to choose from - let me know if you need more info, I think I *might* actually know the hostess in Houston - she's an Alabama transplant.

This is the dress I was looking at for DD2

So the color palettes are comparable. Everyone keeps telling me that I don't need to buy her another dress

, especially since she'll be back in uniforms 5-days a week after this trip, but I keep thinking I want her in something like this for my belated bday dinner...just not sure if I want this "exact" dress. I've given myself until July 20th to decide...so I'll keep you posted. Thanks! :wave:

erstwo · Jul 6, 2011

I love how in this parade, the characters get off the floats and dance with you.

By the time the cousins joined us the parade was leaving. We were headed for Rapunzel to see if she was still meeting and greeting. But first a restroom stop (seriously, my son is the only boy, so with 6 little girls, the bathroom stops are endless) and my Miss Priss demanded a photo with the pretty fountain:

Then it was on to the Teacups:

And Dumbo:

Dinner was at Cosmic Ray's and afterward my son found out that the Tomorrowland shop next door sold the item I had told him the previous day he would 'have to ask your Dad first' about - build your own light saber. Daddy was a - okay with it, so he set about assembling the perfect double light saber:

And then it was back to the races:

Funny thing. This time they decided that my son was NOT tall enough to ride alone! So weird because earlier that morning they had cleared him and he was wearing the exact same shoes. :shrug: This time it didn't matter though since my husband was with us, he could ride with my son, but my son was very disappointed. I guess that's just the way it goes. The way he's growing he'll be well above the mark before we head back in October, so I'm not too worried about it.

joanna71985 · Jul 6, 2011

erstwo said:
Thank you & I knew it! I had only ever been to Muppets on my last family trip in December and I knew I remembered them coming up out of the orchestra pit. Thanks for helping me not feel so crazy.

I have another question for you Miss Joanna - we've only ridden The Great Movie ride once in March. It's a long story, but when we were boarding someone asked us, "Gangster or Bandit" and we didn't know what they were talking about. I told my husband the other night that I bet that meant that there was another 'scene' that involved the gangster set instead of the Western set. Is that correct? If so, can you request to ride on a 'gangster' if you've already seen a bandit? Just wondering.

Believe me, you are defininitely not crazy

Oh yes! Most guests request the western show (as it doesn't run as often/much as the gangster show), but I have had guests request seeing the gangster show. That is not a problem at all

erstwo · Jul 6, 2011

By this time it was almost time for the Main Street Electrical Parade. Now, we've seen MSEP enough that we could possibly skip it, but it was a first for the nieces and I think that every little girl needs to see those light up princess dresses and ladies dancing under the canopies, so we rushed to Frontierland to grab a viewing spot.

Frontierland was already packed, so no pictures because I had at least one of my nieces on my shoulders the entire parade.

After the parade, we headed toward the Hub to grab a viewing spot for Wishes.

It was sooooo hard to even get to the Hub. People were stopping and blocking the walkways watching that "Memories" show/ Castle projection thingy. CM's were trying to move people across the bridge to Liberty Square, but no one was moving. Finally we made it to the Hub and just when it looked like our view would be blocked the entire time by a tree

I spied an open spot near the middle front of the Castle. :sohappy:

The hard part was getting there. I turned to my husband and his family and told them to follow me single file. It was hard work, but I got all 15 of us there! And Wishes was incredible as always!

After Wishes, the rest of the family said Goodnight to us and headed back to their hotels to pack for the next day. My son wanted one last ride on Big Thunder Mountain, so he and my husband headed off and I decided to stay in the Hub and wait for them.

I looked down and saw that my daughter was almost asleep in her stroller, so I found a seat on the edge of the middle planter around the Partners statue. I had a nice chat with a nice older lady who was touring with a good friend. She said that she hated to admit it, but this might be her last visit to WDW. She said she was just getting too old to keep up with all of the walking, standing in line, etc. We sat there looking at the Castle together and she started tearing up and I started tearing up and I was about to suggest a scooter to her when her friend showed up and we had some nice introductions and said our goodnights.

So there I sat in the rather quiet Hub, surrounded by happy people holding their sleeping children, newlyweds taking pictures of themselves in front of the Castle, and just a lovely moment in general. Then the second "Magic, Memories, and You" show started and I teared up again! :cry:

:lol:

I was feeling a little silly about all my sniffing, and my husband texted that he expected to be at the front gates in about 15 minutes, so I started slowly making my way up Main Street, mostly stopping to watch the show.

******* And now Ladies and Gentlemen******* For the Second Totally Weird and Completely Crazy thing to Happen to Me This Trip*********

When I got to the end of Main Street I stood off to the left (if you are facing the Castle) side of the little 'flag pole hub' in front of the Train Station. I'm standing there misty eyed and all of the sudden I hear yelling on my right so loud, it's as if the guy is yelling right in my ear.

In reality, the man is about 2 people to my right. But he is yelling loudly and in the meanest voice possible at a woman probably 1/4 his size nearly right in front of him. This was one large, mean looking dude. To be fair, the woman he was yelling at was tiny and petite, but she was one of those ladies who doesn't back down. When someone yelled at me like that, I would have probably walked away from him as fast as I could, but not this lady.

From what I could gather in my startled state, the woman had taken a picture with her camera of the Magic, Memories & You show on the castle (totally normal thing to do) and the man was completely enraged because of the flash on her camera. In totally un family friendly language he told her take her camera and shove it. She, in turn, turned to him and told him in a firm voice that if he didn't like her flash, he could move.

She then raised up her camera and took another picture.

At that point the man GRABBED HER ARM and tried to forcibly TAKE the camera OUT OF HER HANDS! twisting her arm in what must have been a painful way in the process.

Now the woman's husband is in the man's face, all the time the man is yelling in the most hateful voice you have ever heard the most awful things I have ever heard at WDW. People are running to get Cast Members, I am about to cry it is so awful. The first Cast Member to arrive is a Photopass person and the guy continues to yell at him.

I tell a Cast Member who says they have called security. The whole time I never see anyone who looks like a manager. Park guests are holding the man back. I finally just leave because it is so awful and I just want to get away from it.

I start crying as I walk out the exit gates. (Obviously, I'm a bit of a cry baby! Ha!) But this was really just the worst way to end a day at WDW. And that man....... he was just so mean. There is no camera situation in the 'world' that deserves that much hate and that kind of language. Obviously the man has other issues, so I will once again refer you to my open letter to all crazy people.

I've seen enough. You all can stay home now. K, crazy people? Thanks so much.

*******THE END to my Second Totally Weird and Completely Crazy Thing that Happened to Me at WDW This Trip**********

ETA - My husband and son joined me at the bus stop to Pop and we had a quiet ride 'home' where we fell into bed exhausted. Up next: A quick trip to DHS!

erstwo · Jul 6, 2011

HollyBelle said:
Loving your trip report, Erin! That picture of your son and his Dino all strapped in and ready to go for a spin on the Speedway is absolutely adorable!

I can't wait to hear all about your Dream experience!

Thank you so much Holly!

I'm excited to write about the Dream. It really was a true 'so worth it, even if only once in a lifetime' type thing!

HouCuseChickie said:
This is the dress I was looking at for DD2

So the color palettes are comparable. Everyone keeps telling me that I don't need to buy her another dress , especially since she'll be back in uniforms 5-days a week after this trip, but I keep thinking I want her in something like this for my belated bday dinner...just not sure if I want this "exact" dress. I've given myself until July 20th to decide...so I'll keep you posted. Thanks! :wave:

Very cute! I am of the very firm opinion that they are only little once and one can never have too many dresses. They have the rest of their lives to wear jeans, right?

joanna71985 said:
Believe me, you are defininitely not crazy

Oh yes! Most guests request the western show (as it doesn't run as often/much as the gangster show), but I have had guests request seeing the gangster show. That is not a problem at all

Well, I feel very lucky then to have seen the western show! We were so surprised when the actor came out! We had no idea it would be interactive. Made it even more magical in a way.

WDW_Emily · Jul 7, 2011

I'm loving your trip report! Your son with his dino is adorable and the way your daughter poses for photos is precious.

But WOW you definitely had some interesting people in the parks when you went. I have never heard/ seen anything like either one of your stories. Not a fun way to end either day at the parks

patricia27 · Jul 7, 2011

Happy?

It`s supposed to be the happiest place on earth !!
What a horrible experience and frightening too.
I hope security dealt with the guy.
You never know what baggage people come with.
He could have had a tiring day with his family and had
to stay longer in the park than he wanted BUT that is
no excuse for the way he behaved!!

joanna71985 · Jul 7, 2011

erstwo said:
Well, I feel very lucky then to have seen the western show! We were so surprised when the actor came out! We had no idea it would be interactive. Made it even more magical in a way.

I'm glad you like it! It is a very fun role

erstwo · Jul 7, 2011

CrazyEm said:
I'm loving your trip report! Your son with his dino is adorable and the way your daughter poses for photos is precious.

But WOW you definitely had some interesting people in the parks when you went. I have never heard/ seen anything like either one of your stories. Not a fun way to end either day at the parks

Thank you!

It really was so bizarre. In all our trips to the parks in the past 3 or so years, I've never once seen anything like what I saw twice on this last trip. So I'd have to say the chances of running into a crazy person at WDW are very low - I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - twice. :dazzle:

The good news is the first guy didn't really ruin our night - just startled us. But that second guy made me sad.

But I quickly recovered - the Dream was just a day away!

patricia27 said:
It`s supposed to be the happiest place on earth !!
What a horrible experience and frightening too.
I hope security dealt with the guy.
You never know what baggage people come with.
He could have had a tiring day with his family and had
to stay longer in the park than he wanted BUT that is
no excuse for the way he behaved!!

Those were my thoughts exactly! Looking back, I feel so silly that I cried about it - I'm hoping that my excuses of already being misty eyed are good ones!

I really hope security got him too - I have no doubt he was tired, but I feel like he should have gone back to the hotel/ car well before he hit the point of that kind of behavior. :king:

joanna71985 said:
I'm glad you like it! It is a very fun role

Love it!

erstwo · Jul 7, 2011

Thursday, June 30 - The day before the big departure!

This morning - my husband was with us! :sohappy: So when I sat straight up in the bed at 6:30ish, I laced up my running shoes and took off on a run around Pop. I love the 2 or 3 facts about running (like the year of the first NYC marathon) on the decades signs on the walking path around the lake at Pop. I feel like those Disney Imagineers had to know that people would be using it for exercise, and planned the facts accordingly.

You could really see how well the new Art of Animation Resort is coming along across the lake! There is color going up on the walls of the buildings and it looks fantastic. I felt like an iphone photo wouldn't do it justice, so I decided to come back later and snap a quick pic with the Nikon. Sadly, I never remembered to do that, so I don't have any pictures to share. But have no fear! It looks great!

I DID however snap a pic of this fantastic window I passed:

They had a special page/ decoration for everyone of their ADR's! Blackthidot - is that you??

(Just kidding

)
What's more American than 4th of July and Mickey Mouse?

erstwo · Jul 7, 2011

When I finished my run, I peeked into our room only to find my whole family was still asleep. I had my room key with me (of course) and briefly considered going to breakfast by myself, but decided I needed to get into the shower if we were ever going to accomplish all our goals and still get to Cape Canveral by dinner time.

Once I got out of the shower everyone was up. I had about 5 days worth of laundry to wash at this point. All the clothes we had worn at the lake and all of the clothes we had worn at the parks needed to be washed and pressed before we left on the Dream the next morning.

So I sent the family off to the food court in hopes of starting 2 loads of laundry, but no luck. A nice, apologetic family from Argentina got there just before me and they had tied up every washer.

I could have checked the other laundry rooms (I only went to the one nearest us in the 50's section) but at this point, I knew we would be late getting to dinner with my in-laws, so I decided to skip it in hopes the hotel we would be staying at that night would have laundry facilities. I figured at worst, I could wash my clothes on the cruise ship (not the best scenario - but at least our undies would be clean! :lol

So I packed up the last few things, ate the breakfast my husband brought back from the food court and we packed up the car and headed off to Hollywood Studios.

My son was DYING to show his Dad the new Star Tours, so our only plan on arrival was to get in the park, let them ride Star Tours and then get out. I planned to take my daughter to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid if we had time.

Tram time!

You may remember the picture I posted of the bag line at 9:30 am at DHS from two days before - Tuesday. Even with those crowds, all day on Tuesday, Star Tours had between a 10 minute and 30 minute wait. I figured today would be no different.

We were through the park gates by about 11:10. My daughter and I headed toward the Animation Courtyard only to discover the stand by line for VoLM was for the 12:40 show. The plan was to be on the road by 1:00, and I assumed my husband and son would be texting that they were getting off the ride any minute, so we passed on the show. We did a little shopping:

And then because we still hadn't heard from my husband AND because we were trying not to sweat to death (we had a nice dinner with family that night, and we would have no time to shower again) we headed into One Man's Dream.

My daughter and I were both fascinated with this little model that Walt built. I don't think I'd ever seen it before - it must have been put out recently. That place always makes me wonder how many fantastic things WDW has of Walt's that are in storage. I hope there is a team of people taking very good care of those things!

After taking my daughter's picture in front of every. single. castle model, we went outside to find a new way to cool off. I had seen these frozen drinks across from the TSMM queue on Tuesday. We never got a chance to get one, so I was on a mission to get one now!

My daughter and I found a bench in the shade outside the TSMM building and enjoyed some time just people watching. It really was so totally relaxing. The place was BUSY, BUSY. By now my husband had texted that the stand by line had said 40 minutes, but they had been in line for over an hour and were not quite inside the building yet.

We texted a plan to meet at Pizza Planet (we had been on Tuesday, but my husband had never been and he really wanted to check it out), so my daughter and I set off to find Daisy and Donald near the hat before our lunch date.

erstwo · Jul 7, 2011

When we got to the Hat, I could see people sitting on the ground waiting for the next show, so of course, no characters were out.

We still had a few minutes before lunch, so I decided we should check out the little shop to the left of the Sci Fi Diner - I can't remember what it is called - The Writer's Stop maybe?? But it is delightful! It's like a mini book store with coffee and leather couches and even books and CD's for sale! If you are ever needing a break at DHS, I highly recommend grabbing a couch or a bar table at this location!

After a few minutes we left and walked around a bit more. See you soon Disney Cruise Line!

And finally, the boys were off the ride and it was time for Pizza Planet!

The place was PACKED. We waited for, no joke, 45 minutes while my husband placed our order and got our food. My husband said he had never seen such hustle behind a CS counter. He said even the managers were running around at full speed trying to meet the customer demand. It was just a super-d-duper busy day at DHS!

Waiting on Daddy:

erstwo · Jul 7, 2011

We left DHS much later than we wanted. I think we wanted to be in our car by 1:00, but it ended up being closer to 2.

We still had to stop by a local office so my husband could sign some contracts for business going on back home, make a stop at Wal Mart and get to Cape Canaveral before 5!

It was going to be tight, but somehow we managed to do it. I rained all afternoon and on our drive to the Cape, it poured. But finally we arrived at our 'night before the cruise' hotel - the Radisson. It was fantastic! Thank you so much for the recommendation Tammy!

We arrived right at 5, so we had to go straight to our family dinner. I think I've mentioned it before, but my mother in law is German. Her brother's widow (her sister in law) moved from Germany to South Florida years ago and her brother's daughter was also visiting her mom. So we had them all over to the restaurant at the hotel for dinner. They gave us a private room, which was very nice, but I have to say that the food was rather unimpressive. It was a good solid meal, but nothing to write home about. I tell you this in case some of you chose to stay at the Radisson before your cruise and want to know what the restaurant is like. There are also many places you can walk to from the hotel that are probably a little cheaper.

After dinner, we checked out the pools:

and the room:

This place was very nice. I highly recommend it! The only place you can stay that is closer to the dock for the Dream is the Country Inn & Suites (also very nice) just a little up the road from the Radisson.

I did a little laundry while the kids and husband did a little swimming and then we all went to bed - soooooooooooo excited for the Disney Dream the next morning!!!!! :sohappy::sohappy::sohappy:

tink65 · Jul 7, 2011

Great trip report so far! I can't believe the 2nd guy with the ladies camera! It's amazing how people act. Wonder what ended up happening to him? Hope he was banned from the parks.....

Can't wait to hear about the Disney Dream! We went on the Carnival Dream in March 2010 and also stayed at the Radison for the night prior to the cruise. Used their drop off & pick up shuttle service for our cruise! Couldn't have been nicer!

Can't wait to read more!

5 kids, 7 grandchildren, 50 years of marriage & One Amazing Cruise on the Dream!

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