A Private Dance with Cinderella... Our Surprise Trip Jan 2011

A Private Dance with Cinderella... Our Surprise Trip Jan 2011 (Completed 7/18!)

Exhibit A: Your Letter Confirming Your Reservation At The Nuthouse

Dear Sir/Madam:

This letter confirms your willingness to enter the strange, yet enticing world of the ramblings of the amateur writer known in the Disney community as BigTex71. Please sign the guest log (by replying in this thread) and let it be known that you waive all your rights to a normal trip report. By acknowledging your willingness to continue down this dangerous path, I cannot be held responsible for any sudden outbursts of laughter or rashes on your scalp due to the head-scratching some of my keyboard-induced quirkiness may induce.

Consider yourself warned.

Possibly Sincerely,
BigTex71

 

[BigTex71]

I received an email from DW today at work. She had something special planned for our upcoming couples-only trip for me that she wanted to surprise me with, but decided she needed to spill the beans to see if if was something I would like to do. She booked the new Queen Victoria's Room at Victoria & Albert's for us!!! She said she knew it wasn't the Chef's Table (from my 'bucket list'), so she wanted to be sure I wouldn't be disappointed. (Chef's Table gets booked up fast.)

Woo hoo!!! I had to tell her how NOT disappointed I was!

Wow, I got myself a real keeper!

 

[BigTex71]

Chapter 9: Around the World in 80 Parsecs

February 3, 2011 – Day 7 (Epcot Day)

If you are going to Walt Disney World during the summer (or any crowded season), do not follow what we did this day at Epcot. We just happened to be there during the slower season and this was a park that was recommended to be at on this particular day – meaning it was predicted to have low crowds compared to the other parks. The fact that it was the lowest predicted crowds of the 4 parks, and it was the slow season – this was a match made in Valinor, as you will see.

We decided to sleep in a little this day, after stuffing ourselves silly the night before at ‘Ohana. The extra rest was much needed and much appreciated. We ended up getting to the Epcot parking lot around 10:30am (the park opened at 9am this day) and we parked in the second full row from the front of the parking lot! Talk about a slow day at Epcot! We entered the park and did the unthinkable – we went straight to Spaceship Earth. Yes, we did not go straight to Soarin’ for FastPasses, nor to Test Track. Spaceship Earth. The trap for the unknowing. The filter for those not well-versed in Disney park touring knowledge. I felt ‘dirty’ in some way going to the tourist trap straight from the gates. But I knew it wouldn’t really matter that much since the park was not very busy – and the rest of the family wanted to do it first, so we did.

After Spaceship Earth we got back into my comfort zone and went to get Fast Passes for Soarin’. Then DS and I went over to Test Track while DW and DM took DD for some character meets. DS is a little timid when it comes to just about any ride that goes more than 10 mph and/or is a ‘dark ride’. So it took plenty of convincing to get him to try Test Track. I had to ensure him that it was not a roller coaster and it was not scary at all. Finally, after bribing him with something (I think it was two vinylmations), I was able to get him to try the ride.

I am happy to announce that Test Track is now his favorite ride in all of Disney World. It was like him rubbing it in my face that he managed to weasel a couple vinylmations to ride his favorite ride. Sneaky. He is my son, though, so it should be expected. :lmao:

We then went over to ride Mission Space (during my convincing to ride Test Track, I explained to DS that since he rides Mission Space – Test Track would be a piece of cake.) I was surprised that he would ride this and not Test Track before. Here is DS semi-nervously waiting to board our spacecraft.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle…
The girls were having fun with some character Meet n Greets. DD got to meet Mulan, and she gave her a ‘souvenir’:

We all met up over at the Land Pavilion to ride Soarin’ with our Fast Passes, then went over to catch the Turtle Talk with Crush show and found Nemo several times (no waiting…walk on.) By now it was getting close to our late lunch ADR at Biergarten, so we walked over to the Friendship Boat dock near Mexico to take the boat across the lagoon to Germany.

My whole family (including mom) loves German food, so this was a big hit. We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the music and fun of the show. Here is a pic of mom and me inside the Beirgarten:

When we finished lunch, we decided to finish up the kids’ Epcot passports – so we went to all the countries we didn’t get to the first day. One of those countries was France – and DD got to interact with Beast for a while:

We visited the American Pavilion and were able to see the Voices of Liberty for the first time. WOW, they are amazing! I got choked up listening to their powerful performances. I can’t believe I had never seen them before, and now it will be a must-see for our upcoming trips. We stayed and saw The American Adventure (also for the first time.) This was pretty good, but the pre-show was so much better that I felt a little let down by the end of the show. It is hard to follow the Voices of Liberty.

Here we are at the American Adventure Pavilion:

We then rode the indoor water ride in the Mexico pavilion several times:

Followed by several rides of the Maelstrom at the Norway Pavilion(I love that ride.) These rides at Mexico and Norway were walk-on, hence the reason we rode each several times. The kids really loved them. And I loved smelling that perfume in Norway- so much so that I bought some for DWs birthday. Just smelling her wearing that takes me to a happy place.

Another first for us: IllumiNations. This is an awesome display. The great thing about seeing this on this night – the park was not crowded at all, so we walked up to a great viewing spot a couple minutes before the show started. We watched from in front of the Germany area. I was blown away – this is my favorite fireworks show in The World now.

After IllumiNations, we made our way out of the park and a short walk to the minivan from the gates of the park. Nice. Overall, this was one of my favorite days of the trip.

 

[BigTex71]

Oh, also - our April couples-only trip was canceled due to DW's dad had to have a triple bypass that week. So we changed our plans to a family trip at the end of July.

 

[Sarabell]

yaay!! well, I hope your DW's dad is ok, but a family trip is so much fun and you're such a beautiful family. and seriously, I can't get enough of your DD. She is sooo adorable!! and I love DS's pin collection! and the martching shirts, the tye die one is my fav!

great TR, keep more coming please :sohappy:

 

[mamamouse]

awe I'm sorry to hear that,but at least it's not too long before you'll be there again.I'm truely loving the humour in this report!!! also I subscribed to ur youtube so I can check out vids as u post them in the future!!i'm not onlty a disneyaholic but a youtube aholic aswell!!!

 

[BigTex71]

FIL is doing well. His surgeon said everything went well and he has a strong heart. The prognosis is very good. The good thing about it all was that this was caught at a regular checkup when he failed his stress test. That sure beats an ambulance and emergency surgery.

Thank you for the kind words Sarabell and mamamouse. :wave:

 

[mamamouse]

so happy to hear things are looking up ,can't wait to read more ,you have a cute family! I too am looking forward to the day I get in a non kid trip,but mostly beacause I want top people watch n journal n take pictures and I'd so be lying if i didn;t add shopping to the mix lol

FIL is doing well. His surgeon said everything went well and he has a strong heart. The prognosis is very good. The good thing about it all was that this was caught at a regular checkup when he failed his stress test. That sure beats an ambulance and emergency surgery.

Thank you for the kind words Sarabell and mamamouse. :wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Loving this TR so far! In exactly 2 weeks, I will be at EPCOT!! After reading about your day at EPCOT, I'm even more excited(if that's even possible! Lol) can't wait to read more!!!:wave:

 

[BigTex71]

Loving this TR so far! In exactly 2 weeks, I will be at EPCOT!! After reading about your day at EPCOT, I'm even more excited(if that's even possible! Lol) can't wait to read more!!!:wave:

Thank you and I hope you have a great trip!

Prepping pictures for next chapter tonight (I hope).

 

[cathyy]

Great Trip report!! What an excellent way to surprise the kids!! I might have to try and do something similar when we go back next winter.

The kids are to cute!! My 6 year old LOVED test track, it is one of her favorite rides.

 

[lebeau]

Fun trip report. Cute kids!

 

[BigTex71]

Great Trip report!! What an excellent way to surprise the kids!! I might have to try and do something similar when we go back next winter.

The kids are to cute!! My 6 year old LOVED test track, it is one of her favorite rides.

Thank you!

Fun trip report. Cute kids!

thanks

 

[dixiegirl]

The video of your daughter dancing with Cinderella in Absolutly precious! Cherish that video..Goes by way to fast!!! I miss my girls at that age!!!

 

[jenseib]

Love the updates. For some reason I never get the email notifications...even though I have it set to recieve them. So then I forget and get behind! :lookaroun I love how empty the parks are!

 

[BigTex71]

Love the updates. For some reason I never get the email notifications...even though I have it set to recieve them. So then I forget and get behind! :lookaroun I love how empty the parks are!

Thanks. Well, just give me your email address and I'll let you know when they are updated. :ROFLOL:

 

[BigTex71]

Chapter 10: Allergic to Tower of Terror?

February 4, 2011 – Day 8 (DHS Day)

After the late night at Epcot and arriving back at the condo around 11pm the night before, we decided to sleep in a little and do yet another relaxed day. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, this is the optimal time to go to The World because the crowds are so low and the weather is so great. So showing up late (by which I mean any time after rope drop) at a park has not posed any problems crowd-wise. These parks were like a Kansas City Royals game crowd – sparse.

We arrived at DHS around 9:45am and I went to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Midway Mania while the rest of the crew went to Starring Rolls Café for breakfast. On my way back from getting the fast Passes, I was stopped by a member of the TourGuideMike forums – username Chocted - who recognized me (WOW, I got recognized at a Disney park from an online forum member – how cool is that?) She was raving about the crowd levels and how they had already rode TSMM, and RnRC, and were heading back to TSMM to use their Fast Passes for the second ride – they hit rope drop and were going crazy hitting the big rides (this is another example of how a good Touring Plan and making Rope Drop can really help make your days in the park special.) Was I a little jealous? Of course I was! If I had my way, we would be at each park 30 minutes prior to opening. But, as I said before, these crowds didn’t demand rope drop to still get a lot done in the park.

After breakfast we saw Chip and Dale and let DD get her autograph book signed.

Next, it was off to Tower of Terror for my first-ever ride on it. I had the opportunity several times before, but I have this thing about drops and negative G-forces – I am allergic to them just like I am allergic to pain and bad luck. Luckily, nearly every thrill ride in the World does not have any big drops. Well, Splash Mountain has a few – but I can deal with that. But I was a nervous about ToT because these are not just drops per se- the ‘drops’ actually go faster than gravity pulling on you, so I wasn’t sure how my ‘allergies’ would react to that. It turns out that I kind of liked it. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that I knew the drops were controlled and ‘forced’ to be faster than gravity or what, but I will definitely be riding that one again on our next visit – although I wasn’t ready to ride it again immediately after we finished it.

After I conquered my fear of ToT, we went over to ride one of my favorites – Rock’n Roller Coaster. I LOVE that ride! We tried to talk DS into riding it and he actually stood in line with us up until he got inside and saw the coaster do its 0-60 launch. I could see skid marks on the ground from his shoes burning rubber to get the heck outta there. At least he thought about it. Maybe I can get him to try it next time.

We then split up and DM, DS, and I went to ride the Backlot Tour while DW took DD to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Here is the canyon scene from the backlot:

We then met up over at the playground to let DD play some more. She really loved that playground! I think that may have been her favorite thing at The World this trip.

It was nearing lunch time, so we walked over to Sci-Fi Dine-In to see if we might be able to get a walk-up reservation. The kids had fun outside the diner while waiting for a table:

We were seated within a few minutes and the kids liked watching the old B-movie clips during lunch. I had the ribs – not too bad, but not worth the money. Overall, it was nice – but I prefer the 50s Prime Time Café because the food and service are much better over there. But I would do lunch at Sci-Fi again if I split an entrée and dessert with DW. Otherwise, I don’t find it worth the money.

By the time we finished lunch, it was after our minimum time to use our Fast Passes for TSMM. So we walked over to Pixar Place and rode one of the greatest rides in Walt Disney World. I could ride that ride 20 times straight and not get tired of it. Well, who are we kidding – NOBODY could actually ride that 20 times straight because of the crowds waiting to ride it. Even with the park crowd levels really low, TSMM standby times were still over 60 minutes by the afternoon.

We decided to go watch the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular next. DD was getting tired, so DW took her to a shaded area outside the stunt show for her to rest in her stroller. After the show was over we went back to ride Rock’n Roller Coaster one last time for this trip.

Since DD was so tired, we felt it was a good time to leave the park. Since it actually got up into the 80s on this day we thought we would check out the pool at the condo. Wait, we didn’t bring any bathing suits with us because we thought it wouldn’t be warm enough to swim on this trip. Luckily for us we had a rental vehicle. A quick trip to Target solved that problem. Now that we had our swimsuits we went back to the condo and changed into them so we could relax at the pool area. The pool there was really nice and we had a great time unwinding down there.

The sun was starting to set and I took a few pictures before heading back to the condo to change into some clothes for dinner.

We changed clothes and went to eat at a local non-Disney place (gasp!) We went to Giordano’s for some pizza. It was really good – I recommend that place for those of you with a vehicle. The pizza has a really good crust and is more of a Brooklyn style pizza, but with a thicker crust. Mmmm.

After dinner we went back to the condo to watch TV, unwind, and prepare for our last full park day at Magic Kingdom the next day.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

So excited to this TR back! I thought it had gone the way of a Jim Hill multi-part story!

 

[Bri1121]

I love this trip report!! I love your shirts!! My favorite is the tye died ones!! Where did you get those???? I want them!

Glad DD was ok and love that she got to dance with Cinderella! We are celebrating my daughters 7th bday and will be taking her to the BBB that day and to dinner with Cinderella! So excited, we already ordered the cake!

Loved the part about Ohana too! You are to funny. We are eating there for dinner for the first time this upcoming trip! Its a pretty early dinner reservations so I will make sure we just snack at lunch!

Love all the pics! You guys make me so excited for our upcoming trip!

We are also going this July/August. 100 days! Its going to be Hot!

I am also happy that you guys stayed off site - just so I can get that idea out of our heads. My inlaws have some timeshare and we can get a 5 star hotel for the week right outside Disney for $300. I think staying in Disney is part of the fun though so we are staying on site!

I have to say though my favorite part was the surprise!! Awesome!! We are also surprising the kids. We are not saying one word about Disney at all. We are actually driving- unless plane tickets drop before the trip- and just telling them we are going on a road trip! I can not wait. I will be you waking up every hour!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks. Well, just give me your email address and I'll let you know when they are updated. :ROFLOL:

OK!it's...... :lol:

Actually I have found where they are going...to my dang junk folder. I thought I had them in my safe folder list, but I guess not.

Great update.
I would love to go in Jnauary, but I can't conince MY DH that it is a good time to go.

 

[MKN]

February 2, 2011 – Day 6 (Magic Kingdom Day)


I also like the fact that you can eat your breakfast and be out of there and waiting in the ‘hub’ for the ropes to drop to the different lands when the park officially opens. For those of you who have never done this (or an early CRT breakfast) – you are actually inside the park before rope drop, but you cannot get beyond the hub area by the castle, because they have actual rope barriers to keep you from going into the different lands (ie. Adventureland, Fantasyland, etc.) The trick to eating and being out at the ropes before they drop is to ask for your check as soon as your server brings out your drinks. This gets the process started to get your bill paid for. Since it is a buffet, it is easy for your server to get that for you – and they know the way it works (they know you are no Doofenshmirtz if you request this early.) Pay it immediately when they bring it out and then you can finish up eating and meeting characters and then casually stroll out the door just before 9am. Most people eat and then ask for the check, and then by the time it gets settled it is past 9am. And now you know… and knowing is half the battle. Goooooooo Joe! (obscure reference from my childhood.)

HI!! Fantastic trip report Your kids are too cute! I wanted to thank you for the early ADR tip. We're planning on the 8am ressie for both CRT & CP on our Nov trip. Have you done CRT 1st thing? Can you actually make it to rope drop, even with the whole picture with Cinderella process? I posted this question on the Dining forum, but no one had actually done the early CRT. Thanks so much, and I look forward to reading more