Poncho Up, Find a Plug and Keep On Havin' Fun Trip Report

Hello, everybody! I guess I’ll start my report. Just to recap from my pre-trip report, I’m Jennifer. My hubby is Lance and two boys are Cameron and Wyatt. Our trip started on Wednesday, June 5th, the last day of school, and we got back on Thursday, June 13th.



I guess I’ll start on Tuesday the 4th. Although I normally get to bed before 10p, I was up ‘til 11 and woke up on the 5th at 3a. My mind wouldn’t calm down. So, we dropped Annabelle off at the Happy Mailman, got the kids off to school and ran a couple last minute errands.

Lance and I packed and ended up needing our really large suitcase and a normal sized suitcase, making sure our super duper sized suitcase was less than 50 lbs. without forgetting anything (ha!). We cleaned, since our neighbor was cat sitting, and left the house to pick up the boys 2.5 hours before the final bell. They were OK missing out on their last little bit of class time. We picked up our older son lunch and made it to the FastPark lot.

We got to the airport, through security and waited for the plane.


Our flight was good


but a little turbulent on the way down.

We got our bags and headed to Magical Express. We quickly got on our bus. Coronado Springs was the first stop – whooo hooo! We were checked in by a CM from France (I kept getting him to talk.) and were placed in Casitas. We wanted to be near the Dig Site and were relocated to Ranchos 7A.



Since it was past dinner time, we dropped off our bags and walked back for a chicken caesar wrap for me, hot dogs for the boys and a burger for Lance at Café Rix (no pics).

We mulled over our plans with the tropical storm and decided to make a final decision in the morning when we saw what they expected the effects to be.

I hope the pictures look OK and are sized well and hope you enjoy reading.

 

[bethymouse]

Awesome! Keep em comin!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Awesome! Keep em comin!

Will do.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Before I continue in the morning, I'm not a gifted photographer, so please be kind.

My title encompasses a lot of recurring themes of our trip. (1) We carried ponchos with us the whole time. (2) I'm in a facebook June DisneyWorld trip group, so I was constantly checking the My Disney Experience app for wait times, posting in the group or reading other posts. Needless to say, whenever we stopped somewhere, I looked for an outlet to charge up the phone, usually during a meal. Depending on how you look at it(fortunately or unfortunately), most of the time in lines, we didn't stay in one place long enough to plug in. (3) All in all, we had a fantastic trip. I could give you a long list of what we didn't get done, but we LOVED so much of our trip. I can't wait to share it with y'all.

 

[Zipadeelady]

I'm in! And your pictures are perfect.

 

[disney1077]

Your picture are great. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

By the way, our room was as nice as I expected – the colors, the sliding doors to the vanity area, the little mickey on the green runner on the comforter – everything.



I woke up (again at 3ish) from a nightmare that I woke up and missed rope drop (shudders). I fell back to sleep. We woke up on June 6th to rain. The forecast was rain. The radar showed two bands of rain from t.s. Andrea but not a lot of high winds, so we were on for MK. We left the room at 7:25am. An MK bus showed up in three minutes, and we were at the gates at 8am.

It was a.m. EMH for MK.


We hit Tomorrowland first: fastpasses for Space Mountain since the line was out the building and played Buzz first. Cameron’s first score was


while mine was


We won't discuss any subsequent scores. It's better that way. Although, Lance did max out his score, too. Once.

Since the original line leveled off, we rode Space Mountain. Although we were worried Wyatt would freak out, he loved it!!! He didn’t want to ride it again, but he loved it. Lance and Cameron used two of the fastpasses, but Cam didn’t want to go again. He said he bumped his head on the headrest during said ride. We moved on to the Laugh Floor which was a hit


and Stitch’s Great Escape (don’t judge…my kids like it).

We moved on to Fantasyland, hitting my beloved Pooh (The interactive honey screens were really neat.)


and waited in line for Pan. It was lunchtime, so we ducked into Pinocchio’s for pizza. I thought I took pics of our pizzas, but I guess I messed up again. Lance and I split the BBQ chicken pizza. Not too bad. I noticed quite late into our lunch that an open table had a plug nearby, so I borrowed it until a family claimed the table. They completely understood the necessity of the plug.

We rode it’s a small world, Lance’s favorite.


Lance ran for fastpasses to BTMRR before we all experienced the Haunted Mansion. Surprisingly enough, the boys loved it, too, although Cameron thought the attic scene was a little creepy.

We got to BTMRR.


Everything was fine until about half way through, the rain came. We had nowhere to go while the rain pelted at high speed. I couldn’t help but laugh. So, what next? Splash Mountain, of course. Why the heck not? The ponchos were already on.



We made our way around Adventureland and the rain stopped – Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets and The Tiki Room.



It was parade time, and the boys had a wonderful encounter with Foulfellow and Gideon. They played with and hugged Cam and Wyatt. Love the Magic!

Then it was time for a Dole Whip and a swirl. By the time we found a place to sit down, not near the smokers, they were melting too fast to get good pictures.

We took a spin in a tea cup, then onto Dumbo and the Barnstormer. Doubling back, we totally walked onto Under the Sea with Ariel. No 20 minute wait time like the app said. The queue was awesome. Loved the hermit crab screens. Nobody within at least two clams on either side, I took a couple of pics.



With a little help from a nice CM, we found the hidden Oswald and only had a 30ish minute wait for Storytime with Belle.


We saw Mickey’s Philharmagic was about to start, so we rushed in and found good seats.

Heading back to Tomorrowland, we caught Carousel of Progress and saw another hidden Mickey.


We made our way to Cosmic Ray’s for dinner. Lance had the pulled pork while Cameron and I split a bacon cheeseburger. Wyatt had his pb&j. While we were inside, the rains came again. Lucked out on that one.


We hadn’t ridden on the Speedway nor Transit Authority, so those were next. More hits with the boys.





I had to see Country Bear Jamboree, so off we went. Our last event was the Main Street Electrical Parade in front of City Hall.



As we were leaving, we caught a glimpse of the Water Pagent but didn’t camp out to watch. The bus didn’t take too long but we were trying to pace ourselves. I hadn’t really done a good job of incorporating bus waits and travel times into our schedules. We stayed out later than I thought we would, but it seemed we did that most nights. No ill effects, though. The boys were troopers the whole vacation.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

I'm in! And your pictures are perfect.

Your picture are great. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

Thank you, both!

 

[journ116]

Yay! I've been waiting to read some June 2013 TR's!

My family and I tried to make it to MK for a.m. EMH, but alas, we woke up a bit late, got to our bus depot by 8:15 a.m., had a full bus load, and didn't get into MK until 8:45 a.m.. I'm gonna have to sift thru more pictures more closely on that day to see if I see y'all! And, I am quite impressed that you stayed at MK all day!!! Kinda wished we would've...

 

[King Panda 77]

Awesome report can't wait to hear more

 

[Zman-ks]

Awesome report! Love all the pics!

 

[Ariel484]

Hi Jennifer! Great report so far...your boys are so cute! I'm sorry you got rained on so much. I know how frustrating that can get after awhile. GREAT picture of the Ursula AA from the Mermaid ride!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Friday, June 7th

On to EPCOT with a morning EMH. Our bus wait was quite short, again, and it was sunny! I don’t think it rained all day.

First off was Soarin’ after obtaining Fastpasses for it.




Our scent sprayers didn’t work very well except for the orange groves, but the boys loved it. I don’t have a fear of heights, just a fear of falling from heights, so I held on to the arm rests, as usual.

I forgot to grab a bar before heading out, so we stopped off at Sunshine Seasons for a raisin bagel and a banana.


We walked onto Livin’ with the Land and made our way to visit with the remnants of Figment. When he was four, Cameron loved playing on the music-making squares. This time, he spent about 30 seconds and was done. Oh, well.


We were right on time for Captain EO. Lance hadn’t seen it before, so it was a must. We chuckled at the 80s hair, dancing and clothes, and the boys got to see video of a younger George Lucas. They played with the jumping water.


Back to Soarin’ for use of the Fastpasses and on to Nemo. They learned a bit about eels from the CM.


Lunch at Coral Reef was great. I found a plug nearby to charge the phone a bit. Lance had the mahi mahi, I had the chicken caesar salad, and the boys had mac & cheese.



We were seated at the very left table. It was a limited view, but we had visitors.


Our server was great – gave us time but not delinquent. We had to have the Chocolate Wave for dessert, and yes @derelicte19, it was amazing. Thanks for the suggestion, D!


Wyatt was nicely surprised with the Coral Reef Brownie and the Nemo chocolate decorative piece.



Off to Mission:Space (green side) – the boys loved it. We got Fastpasses for TestTrack with a 4:30pm return time.

We hit the Chase Disney Visa Card meet and greet – Goofy and Minnie – then on to the Great Piggy Bank Adventure. It was fun.

We caught Chip and Dale outside the Character Spot and got autographs since we missed them on our last trip.


Back to Mission: Space! We swapped assignments each time we went back. We backtracked to Spaceship Earth. Just to say we did it, we went to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. Cameron like Bill Nye, so he really enjoyed it.

Time to use the Test Track Fastpasses. I liked the retheming better than I thought I would, but the ride was very jerky. That was not so fun.

We walked around World Showcase. The boys had fish & chips at Yorkshire, and Lance and I had dinner (chicken and lamb shawarma platter) at Tangierine Café. Major mmmmmmmm factor. Lance had a beer with dinner.


I went back to France for a glass of wine – the Beaujolais. I love saying that word. Beaujolais.

We tried to get into the Werther’s store. OMG, that’s where all the people were! Darn it! So we went into the other shops to look around then made our way over to the miniature trains. So cute!! Lance and I joked about how the Germans were trying to make a Japanese movie but using a black lizard in their minature train village.


Had to do Maelstrom and find a few hidden mickeys.


We tried to get into Kringla, but it was a lost cause, too. So, we just got Mickey bars outside. A little piece of ice cream goodness.


We probably did Mission: Space again, but the last attraction we did was Turtle Time with Crush. Big mistake. The boys really weren’t interested, and it seemed we waited forever for it to start. None of the kids asked good questions, and I think the CMs saw the show tanking (no pun intended). Dory came for a visit and called a whale. The whale smooshed Crush against the tank wall, so we had to tell the whale to go away. Yada, yada, yada, and it was over. Illuminations started on our way out, but I had to stop off at the photo store to get our complimentary Disney Visa picture. By the time we got to the bus stop, a long line had already formed. It took a third bus for us to get on. We were out (again) later than I had hoped. The next day was Star Wars Weekend, so we needed lots of sleep to be up early.

 

[disneysince71]

I love it Jennifer Thank you for sharing! Pics are perfect!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Yay! I've been waiting to read some June 2013 TR's!

My family and I tried to make it to MK for a.m. EMH, but alas, we woke up a bit late, got to our bus depot by 8:15 a.m., had a full bus load, and didn't get into MK until 8:45 a.m.. I'm gonna have to sift thru more pictures more closely on that day to see if I see y'all! And, I am quite impressed that you stayed at MK all day!!! Kinda wished we would've...

Hey, Sara! I always had an ear out listening for "Eliza!"

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Awesome report can't wait to hear more

Awesome report! Love all the pics!

Hi Jennifer! Great report so far...your boys are so cute! I'm sorry you got rained on so much. I know how frustrating that can get after awhile. GREAT picture of the Ursula AA from the Mermaid ride!

I love it Jennifer Thank you for sharing! Pics are perfect!

Thanks, all! Shannon, the rain was OK, well, so far. Saturday, the 8th was a different story. We just didn't let it bother us. Like I said, I only used the flash since there was no one near us to bother. I loved how the Imagineers got Ursula to move so fluidly.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Our server was great – gave us time but not delinquent. We had to have the Chocolate Wave for dessert, and yes @derelicte19, it was amazing. Thanks for the suggestion, D!

I haven't had a chance to read all the report yet, but I did see this! I'm glad you liked it! It's oh so good! This picture has me craving it right now.... Guess I'll have to settle for some M&Ms

 

[journ116]

Hey, Sara! I always had an ear out listening for "Eliza!"

hahahahahaha!! and believe me, between myself, my DH, and even Chloe, "Eliza" was yelled out a lot! I was tempted to yell out people's avatar names, but my DH told me that if I did, he'd, "Check into another room...in another resort." ah well!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

First off...LOVE this picture...


And I will repeat it with you...BEAUJOLAIS!!! OK, I think I kind of screamed it, but that's not such a bad thing when drinking is involved.

I was looking at your score on Buzz and I'll be honest, you'd beat me. I'm awful! I think I even asked for advice on here one time...didn't help.

I know there were other things I wanted to comment on...but now I can't remember. Oh well, can't wait to read more!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

I haven't had a chance to read all the report yet, but I did see this! I'm glad you liked it! It's oh so good! This picture has me craving it right now.... Guess I'll have to settle for some M&Ms

So sorry, Darolyn. I need to find the recipe and attempt to make it.

hahahahahaha!! and believe me, between myself, my DH, and even Chloe, "Eliza" was yelled out a lot! I was tempted to yell out people's avatar names, but my DH told me that if I did, he'd, "Check into another room...in another resort." ah well!

LOL!! I know I sounded like a broken record how many times I told the boys to get their hands off the walls, give people around us their personal space, etc. I'm going to have to look through our pics for y'all, too.