Trip Report The Power of Meema 2014

The Power of Meema Trip.

When: Sept 20 - Sept27 (or 9/28 thanks to the moron in Chicago who tried to burn down the control tower and kill himself which kept us in Orlando).

Where: Pop Century

Number of bags: 8 plus five carry-ons. We all had at least four pair of shoes each (thanks to one woman…….. and a father and two teenagers who are sneaker-geeks). LOL

Pics: There will be lots but none of our food. I’m not a big fan of taking pics of my food sorry. There will be a lot of us....I love my wife and kids.

Notes: The forecast for this trip involved a lot of rain so we knew it was going to be very different from what we’ve been accustomed to. I’ve gone to WDW 5x prior to this trip and it’s rained a total of 2 days before this one. However……remember “The Power of Meema”.

Cast of this trip is Me (Bill-43), DW Meagan (33), DS Steven (16) and DS Nicholas (13…yes 13). She is my kids' step-Mom and they love her to death.......and so do I. We traveled as well with my best friend (Steve) and his gf (M) with whom we had dinner or breakfast with virtually every night. There were some parts with them but we had mostly separate experiences.

One quick thing….. Meema is the name both of my kids called my late Mom who died early last year. So many things have happened over the past 20 months since she passed that we feel she’s given us “some help”…lol We were picked in August 2013 to be family of the day in Yankees Stadium (in our first trip since she died and she was a huge Yankees fan) and were upgraded to the Delta SkyBox suite for the game. So many things like this and we always say “thank you Meema” and smile. My trip to WDW with my best friend 5 weeks after she died had some incredible weather to which we insist she had some doing. We miss her so much every day and this trip had many “power of Meema” moments as you will see. She loved her family so much….especially my kids. Ok….wipe away the tears and type….on with the show. I was thinking of some funny and clever names for this trip but decided to stick with what I did because of the number of times we felt my Mom around us. I’m not a faith based or afterlife person but……

This is my first trip since Feb ‘13 (w/ Steve), Meagan’s first since Nov ’13 (with her Mom and sister) and the boys’ first since Oct ‘11. What’s really funny is my youngest son was the shortest in 2011 and is now the tallest in 2014. (see below) My how things have changed huh?

OCTOBER 2011

SEPTEMBER 2014

Steve and M flew down on the 20th early in the day but we waited til the afternoon to fly out @ 3:15 from Albany, NY. We had a late lunch at a nice café in the airport since we knew we would be eating dinner around 9. Also, since we were taking the kids out of school for the week, their trip included having to do homework on the plane, in the airport and during some downtime at the resort (part of the price for a WDW trip).

Also, my son with a great photo bomb.

We actually arrived @ MCO a little early around 6:00 to have our first ride…the tram! LOL It was raining fairly hard when we landed which gave us some concern but onto the Magical Express. A 30 minute wait on the DME at the airport stunk a little but what are ya going to do.

While most of the little things don’t faze me as much as many on the boards here, I’m disappointed in the lame video they play now….I really miss the other cheesy one with the man’s voice saying “welcome aboard Disney’s Magical Express…”. It doesn’t “get the juices flowin” on the way to the resort like the old one did IMO.

After a small hiccup at the online check in and with the Magic Bands on our wrists, we dropped our carry-ons in our room and off we went to MK!!!!! Oh…..remember the rain I mentioned when we landed??? It stopped the second we arrived at Pop!!! That would be far from the only time this happened.
We had fastpasses @ MK for Splash, Space and SDMT that night but because of the DME delay and the small hiccup upon check in, we ended up missing our Splash FP because we didn’t arrive in MK til around 8:15 (it was from 7:00-8:00). I knew it was going to be close but chose it anyways but it wasn’t that big of a deal. WE WERE BACK IN WDW!!!!!

Upon our arrival and texting with our friends on the way to MK, we decided to go right to SDMT for our FP+ (8:15-9:15) and then meet them for dinner. Pics could wait a little bit and we casually strolled up Main St enjoying the view, the smells, the sounds and the incredible sea of humanity!!! ? I thought September was supposed to be slow….uhhhh….NOPE!!! Holy crap is was busy and our friends said it was mobbed all day.

Nothing beats the Castle on arrival night.

We all really like SDMT but definitely felt it was short.

Awesome way to start the trip though! We then headed over to Peco’s Bills to meet our friends for dinner. This was my first time there and really enjoyed it. While I’m not the biggest fan of MSEP, it was pretty cool to have it pass right by us during dinner.

next up....pt 2

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

ARRIVAL NIGHT....CONCLUSION

Our plan for the evening was be very relaxed and to get acclimated and absorb everything so that’s what we did. After Peco’s Bill’s, all six of us went over towards Tomorrowland as we all had FP+ for Space Mountain.

My wife doesn’t do Space Mountain so as the five of us went on Space, she did Carousel of Progress since it was the last night it would be open during our trip due to its refurb.

Our friends headed to FL for their SDMT FP+ and for A&E so we decided to casually stroll around Tomorrowland. We went on TTA, took some pics, got a snack and had some really fun pics on the bridge on the way to the hub before we headed into Fantasyland through the Castle.

Thank goodness my kids don't mind their picture being taken.

The woman taking our pics thought it would be funny for the teenagers to be kissing their parents.

Did I tell you my son can shoot fireworks from his head????

The rain had continued to hold off but the threat and the late hour really thinned out the crowds even though the late magic hours had MK open til 1:00.

I, along with the kids, hadn’t been on Journey of the Little Mermaid so we decided to ride that with all of its 10 minute wait. It’s cute but certainly not worth the normal long wait times. Fantasyland as a whole was virtually empty as we walked over to the Carousel. I wanted the 4 of us to ride it together on arrival night.

It was approaching midnight so we decided to head out and were able to exit through the Castle which is something we haven’t been able to do during our trips since 2009 (not sure why….). Oh….did I mentioned while the ground was still wet, it didn’t rain a drop the entire night once we arrived.

COMING UP......DAY 2

 

[FlaggNL]

I'm following! Great start! Thanks for sharing!

 

[LisaBelle]

Great start to your report. Love the photo of the boys kissing the parents. So priceless!

 

[LizC]

Loving the report so far! Thanks for sharing.

 

[stevehousse]

Sounds like u guys had fun! Following along...

 

[Courtney6682]

Love it...your kids are adorable! They are obviously good kids

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 2…….ANIMAL KINGDOM AND DTD

We awoke to the sun shining and it was hot already when we left the resort fairly early and arrived @ AK around 8:45 and the lines to get in were really long. It was crazy.

I added this tip in another thread but I can’t give this tip enough. We had heard about the heat this time of year in WDW and something that I found while coming back playing competitive tennis during this summer and it’s that dri-fit shirts would be a HUGE help to combat the heat in WDW and I was right! I only wore 1 actual t-shirt the entire trip and it was the night we arrived since I knew it would be dark. My wife wore sleeveless most of the trip and my oldest wore t-shirt material twice.

After we got through the line it was off to Kilaminjaro Safaris with the obligatory pics in front of the tree. The walls up everywhere in AK definitely takes away a little….damnit it hurts my pictures!!! LOL I’m just kidding about that. It does aesthetically create a huge eyesore around the park but it’s for a long term positive change for AK.

I continually am very fond of KS although I do miss the “script”……it added something for me. The “collapsing” bridge effect was working nicely I might add. I took several pics but I think everyone has seen a billion pics of the giraffes so I chose not to post them….lol

We did the part of the Pangani Trail that was open seeing the gorillas out in full force more than I’ve ever seen them. Then headed out of Africa and began the trek over to Asia. (see what I did there….lol)

We had FP+ for Everest @ 10:30 so we headed over to get our first of many trips (during our vacation) to face the Yeti (or disco with him). First we took a detour over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek to try and see the tigers which are my oldest son’s favorite animal. There was only one visible and she was sleeping. I struck up a conversation with a CM regarding the tigers and she said they are down to only 3 (due to age and sickness due to age). She told me two of the remaining three do not like the heat very much so they don’t come outside as often. It was sad but we understood as that happens.

I do however love the trek wiith the temple structures and the general atmosphere. Steven was bummed but understood and we’d come back to see if they were out later once the shade covered more area.

On to EE!!!
Everest is in my top 3 of WDW attractions so we rode it three times (1 with our FP+ and two walk ons). Ever since my kids first trip in 2007, I always like to take pics of them looking towards me. I find them cute even now as they are teenagers. They think I’m insane to have my phone out during the ride (which I am) but it’s for good pictures!!! LOL Anything for a good picture.

My wife doesn’t do EE so she went over to Yak & Yeti to get Mango Pie (she had it in Nov 2013 and said it was the greatest dessert ever). After our 2nd ride I texted her to find out where she was and told us to meet her over there since they don’t open til 11. So we all went over to relish the mango pie……it is really good. Our server Tony was from the Bay Area so we talked football and was really cool. He is however a Saints fan so he and my wife talked New Orleans football. Another great CM experience.

We then headed over for our 3rd EE. I am not one of those wishful people or unrealistic but I’m telling you….the Yeti did have some movement. Steve and both my kids all thought the wrist and hand moved as did I. It appeared to move all 3x we rode it that day.

The teenage boys were getting hungry (shocking right?). We split up from our friends and went to Flame Tree which we all really enjoy and the food is tasty with decent portions (which helps with teenage boys). It was really hot so we all got water for dessert and water for our drink so Steven and I carried our food to the table…..two trays. One with all food, one with 8 bottles of water. If you go on the dining plan, some restaurants will substitute water for your dessert. We’re very cognizant of the heat and hydration so we utilized that often. Although 2 teenage boys want dessert often too….lol

After lunch, we had some time before our Dinosaur FP+ so we went to the carnival section of Dinoland. It was cute and we play a couple of games but damn, it’s expensive. We did Primeval Whirl, shopped a little and then went on Dinosaur. With the exception of my oldest son, we all really enjoy it. I particularly like it a lot. Steven hates it for some reason.

While exiting Dinosaur, it dawned on us that we forgot about FotLK. Not really sure how but we did. We all love it….especially my kids. The only thing that stunk was we had FP+ for Kali @ 3:45 so we had to walk all the way over to Africa and then back to Asia….and the sun was out and it was hot….it was Africa hot (referencing the movie Biloxi Blues).

We all got water before getting in line and a snack.

After FotLK, our friends met us and we all went on Kali and thanks to my oldest son, whom I got to sit next to, jinxed us and he and I were the ones to go down backwards and get soaked. Thanks to my wife’s idea of bring our flip flops to change into before the ride. I HATE getting my feet wet. I don’t care about any other part of me but my feet is a negative. We changed back into our sneakers and headed back to the resort to change for dinner.

Our friends stayed to visit some characters and we went back to Pop for a wardrobe change and then to Rainforest in DTD for dinner. I know there is one there but we also wanted to shop some. Dinner was good but the service was pretty slow but we weren’t in a hurry and then shopped a little afterwards. It was a fairly early night as we arrived back to Pop @ 9:30ish. Went into the arcade and gift shop for a little bit and a game of ping pong.
NEXT UP…….MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!!

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

Great start, lovely family. Sorry about the dude in Chicago, those of us in the area weren't too happy with him either.

Kali is all about the weight distribution, I learned this on the Pop-Eye ride at that other park. My dad would always sit next to someone tiny, never an adult. He never got wet. Two adults next to each other moves the weight and causes you to go down the hills backwards. Especially two good sized adults - my mom and I joked it as the fault of our rears!

Thank you. We always felt that way too but that definitely wasn't the case this time as we were next to two empty seats and we were not the two heaviest on the raft. I blame Steven!!! LOL

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

Love it...your kids are adorable! They are obviously good kids

Thank you. They are good kids although they are teenagers (headaches almost everyday). LOL It's a big plus to have kids who don't think they are "too cool for the room".

 

[Courtney6682]

Thank you. They are good kids although they are teenagers (headaches almost everyday). LOL It's a big plus to have kids who don't think they are "too cool for the room".

Exaclty what I was thinking ...I have 14 yr old daughter so i know how they can be

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

Great start to your report. Love the photo of the boys kissing the parents. So priceless!

Thanks......it was funnier I think due to the age of our kids. They were good sports playing along although I think my oldest son wanted to kiss the Photopass girl instead of me.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 3……MAGIC KINGDOM!!!

Magic Kingdom is hands down my favorite park. I love the rest of WDW but to me nothing beats the welcome music on the bus, the walk up to the main entrance, up and through the train station and onto Main Street USA.
Doing this on a gorgeous sunny morning is the best but a cloudy morning is a close 2nd….lol It was another day of 60% chance of rain throughout the day however……

We got out to the front of Pop and took some fun pics while waiting for our friends.

SINCE MY WIFE WAS BORN N 1981.....

Then it was off to the MK for the welcome show. It is something we all absolutely love. It almost as if we plan on the MK being open 30 minutes early to make sure we are pretty much up front.

Walking under the train station into Town Square to look up Main St in the morning with my family is probably the most special part of our WDW vacation. I know…sounds pretty damn dorky from a 44 yr old man who loves sports but……oh well.

Our friends headed into the shops after we did pictures so we had our pics taken on Main St prior to doing our normal path of left into Adventureland. It’s our favorite thing we’ve learned because the sea of humanity virtually disappears after walking up Main St to the hub. See the below pic:
Where did everyone go?????

The two pictures above this happened less than 5 minutes apart.....like I said, where did everyone go?!?!?! I love going left.

This is a tradition pic we’ve done for each of the boys’ trips as a “see how they are growing up”. We have them stand in the same position too. It’s amazing the difference over the years.

After a summer making a comeback playing tennis quite a bit, my knees took a beating and there “a lot going on” in my right knee heading into this trip so something like Swiss Family Treehouse was going to be bypassed (turns out it was the only thing I had to skip as they held up pretty well thanks to ice and ibuprofen every day).

We were the last ones on the first Jungle Cruise ship of the day and we knew right away it was going to be a little different. Our skipper Jason was fantastic!!!! He ad-libbed throughout the journey and we had lots of Disney veterans aboard which made for an awesome time. Everyone was actually laughing out loud including my teenage kids with some of the “extra” jokes he was making. We particularly liked the joke he used after firing the gun when he said look at the person next to you as “everyone looks better after two shots”. Ba-dum-bum

Up next was PotC but errr (nor arrggghhh)…….it was down for an unknown reason. We looked around the gift shop for a few mintues to see if opened but it didn’t so we did The Flying Carpets of Aladdin (something we never did before because it was always under refurb each trip prior).

We then headed to Frontierland for Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. My wife got her coffee when the boys and I did BTMRR. When my wife saw on the MDE app that Lady Tremaine was in FL, she and Nicholas went to try and see her as my wife had a pic from 2013 she wanted to see if she could get signed but she wasn't anywhere to be found. They were bummed because it was hot out. While they did that, Steven and I did Thunder two more times before our friends met us for Splash Mountain. Splash looked awesome…..I wish we did it a second time but the wait time was always high and we wanted to use our FP+ for others.

When we got off Splash, my wife saw that Pirates was up so we walked over to Pirates as our friends did Thunder as we’d meet up with them in the afternoon for our Space FP+. PotC looked great including the Blackbeard mist effect….which I thought looked way better than any other time I’ve seen it.

After a restroom break, we went towards Liberty Square. My wife made up these ”small signs” for some of our friends' special events that were going on while we were there (anniversary, new baby, etc…) and she wanted to have a picture of a character holding them so we had Chip N Dale hold them (she then posted them on FB so they could see them). It was cute but the characters were right in the sun so my kids did the Frontierland Shootin Arcade since it was in the shade.

Kids will be kids....

next....DAY 3 continued.........

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 3 CONTINUED………

With the sun being out, the heat was pretty intense so we stopped at the Liberty Square market to get a snack and water while waiting for Hall of Presidents to start. Haunted Mansion was at 40 minutes so we skipped it for now.

The boys wanted ice cream while my wife and I had fruit….lol

We all love HoP but for some reason my youngest son particularly loves it. It’s something a teenager likes that educational so no argument by me…lol

When we exited HoP and strolled through the Christmas store, Haunted Mansion’s wait time somehow dropped to 10 minutes so we went over to do that before having lunch. We all love Haunted Mansion and I thought it looked spectacular.

We wanted to try something different this trip for lunch and went to Pinocchio’s Village Haus. We liked it a lot and I especially liked the Mediterranean salad….very refreshing on a hot day. It’s sooooo damn hectic and crazy in there though…not the most relaxing meal we had during our trip but a break nonetheless.

One thing my wife and I began to do during our trip in 2009 with her family, continued to do in 2011 with my boys and will always do on every trip we go on is: when are finished with our counter service meal, before getting up we always look for a family (with kids) walking around looking for a table, flag them down and give them our table. It something we like to teach the boys about….kindness, courteousness and “spreading the magic”. We found a nice couple from Florida with two young kids wandering and I went to get them. They were so appreciative and genuinely happy that it made our day. It was so nice to see them smile and tell their kids to say thank you….something we teach our kids too.

After lunch we did our FP+ for Peter Pan, It’s a Small Word and then went for our FP+ for SDMT but……..nope. It was down and would remain that way virtually the rest of the day.

Nicholas and Meagan went on Mad Hatter’s Tea Party since neither Steven nor I do spinning rides. This was around 1:30 and I got a random phone call from a number I recognized. It was my oldest son’s school asking why he wasn’t there….huh? Wednesday of the previous week, I sent him in with a note letting them know and all of his teachers knew and assigned him homework for the upcoming week so it was kind of funny. There I am, walking around that area of FL talking to the attendance office letting them know…..nope, he won’t be in this week. LOL

We strolled around the newer areas of FL and Storybook Circus, got more water and then saw Lady Tremaine was out so we hustled over but they closed the line!!! NOOOO. We told the CM what we were looking to do and she was so nice. She said meet her over by the door next to Pooh and she will take the picture in the back and have her sign it and bring it back out to us. Ten minutes later…that’s exactly what happened.

My youngest son, Nicholas, loves Winnie the Pooh and even at 13 he still wanted to do the ride. We are generally line snobs and don’t like to wait in long lines…….just our preference. We think that’s what FP are for and we like to move on and go back if we want. It was 30 minutes and that’s our threshold. Grabbed another round of water and in the queue we went. The noise in that queue is a killer with all the interactive stuff…ugh. The stuff is cool and both of my kids were mesmerized by the honey wall…..lol Two teenagers standing and playing on that wall was funny as hell.. Ahh…..Disney

Then off to Tomorrowland as our FP+ for Space (3:45-4:45) was approaching. Clouds were thickening but we were not worried….we had Meema! LOL

We met our friends for Space and while we went on Space, my wife decided to take a ride on TTA and went crazy with selfies!! LOL

Dumb enough to take my phone out on Space Mountain.

A very pretty TTA selfie by my wife if I must say......

I am fortunate to have “out-kicked” my coverage right? (No....this was not hijacked)

After Space, we split and would meet up for dinner. The boys and I met Meagan in the Space gift shop and then did Buzz Lightyear again. Steven and Meagan beat me and Nicholas this round…..we’ll get revenge!!!

We got picked on Monsters Inc……..ugh. I’m not big being center of attention….whereas my wife loves it. It was a lot of fun though as the “comedian” asked my wife who she was here with and she saind husband and step-sons. When they showed me and the kids…..the guy said….”those are big steps”. Great memories.

Stitch up next and Steven loves Stitch. We are in the minority of people who like SGE but the effects were all kind of messed up it seemed. Of all the things that was off was we got the chili-dog affect TWICE! Damn it was nasty the second time worse than the first.

It was time to start heading to dinner at ‘Ohana for our 6:30 ADR. I wanted to shop a little down Main St and have enough time to get the monorail. We left the emporium and it was around 5:45 and we were all tired so instead of doing anything else we decided to hop on the monorail and take it around completely and then a little more to the Poly.

PICS ON THE WAY TO THE MONORAIL

next......DAY 3 conclusion

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 3 Conclusion.....

Remember the title of this???? As the Photopass person took the last pic in front of the train station….it started to drizzle so we headed fairly briskly to the monorail and as we got under the “awning’ going up the ramp….the rain started coming down steady. Thanks Meema came from all of us….lol Stayed dry again which is good because I love my dry shoes. Speaking of shoes.....these are my unmatched favorites....lol Nike Air Fingertrap Max.

‘Ohana. What else can u say? It’s spectacular. One cool thing was when we were seated, it was the exact same table that we sat in 2011 (with Meagan and the boys). The kids thought it was awesome. Whatever amuses them is fine. Steve and I ate dinner here in Feb ’13 (my first time for dinner there) and I knew we all has to come here for this trip. It’s now the favorite restaurant on property for all the men.

When our server Carlos came over, we knew right away this was going to be one hell of meal and a great time. He was the best server we’ve ever had in any restaurant on property ever. My kids particularly loved him due to the fact that he never stopped bringing food!!! LMAO The looks on their faces when he brought things over…….priceless. I told them how it worked for dinner as we only had breakfast there previously but it didn’t sink in until they saw the grill and the giant skewers…..lol Nicholas actually got his autograph! The amount of food my teenage boys consumed that night was staggering. We generally don’t let them gorge themselves and eat to excess but this was different. Their Mom, my current wife and I have struggled with our weight and the kids are prone to it as well so we have to teach them “discipline” but it was WDW and incredible food. LOL

It was now time to wobble back to MK (way too damn full….) for the remainder of the night for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes and anything else we wanted.

The rain had continued and it was raining pretty hard when we arrived back at MK so we donned our ponchos. It was 8:00 and Steve suggested we watch everything from the train station which now seemed to be a very good idea so we had them on for about 3 minutes. I thought an hour prior would be fine but it was already fairly packed in there but we stood behind the tables on the top with a great view down Main St.

I still prefer watching everything from the hub but it was nice….especially since it was raining. The rain slowed quite a bit during Wishes and turned to a light drizzle when it ended. We kept our ponchos on and all six of us went to Haunted Mansion. Thanks Meema.

When we walked into Haunted, the CM was very much “in character” and Steve was messing with her trying to get her to break and there was this stare down. It was very entertaining and ended with her lowering her head and walking away from him and walking around the room and settled directly behind Nicholas (I knew but he didn’t). She settled there just as the lights go out with the thunder and lightning effect so when the lights came back on, she was standing almost right in front of him. Obviously people look up to see the ceiling so he never saw her. When the lights came back on, she was staring at him with an incredibly dark, menacing look never making a sound. He was scared less and it was great. That scarred him for the rest of the trip….he always made sure no one was ever behind him, especially on ToT and HM. LOL He laughs about now….but with still some trepidation in his voice. Her name was Addison and did a job well done! Bravo.
The rain had still only continued as a very light drizzle. We still had a free FP+ since SDMT was down the entire time during our window earlier in the day and since it was back up and it was 9:57 we went over to use it. Our friends went to hit up Space before leaving and we went to SDMT. We were the very last people allowed in line right at 10:00…..thanks to Manny. The green light on Mickey’s face let us end the night in a very magical way.

My wife "roller coastering" as she says.......she jokes she even "woo-hoo'd"....LOL

It stopped raining completely (thanks Meema) and we casually strolled out after a long and full day. It was one of the best days I’ve ever had in MK. We did so much and still had some nice quiet time, some family time and time as a group.

UP NEXT….DHS AND RAIN…….AND RAIN……AND RAIN ON TUESDAY NIGHT

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 4….DHS

This day was forecasted for rain the majority of the day from late morning on and but us we got lucky we didn’t get stuck in it until later in the day. Thanks Meema!!

Our shirts were a little bright…..more mine than anyone’s but….lol

They make me look good.

Fastpass + certainly makes arriving at DHS a much more relaxing experience nowadays. Not having to deal with “the herd” heading to TSMM is great. We arrived between 8:30-8:45 and the lines were already pretty long but we made our way through and headed directly to Sunset Blvd towards RnR and ToT. Well……the boys and I were headed to those attractions while my wife walked with us but she was more concerned with her coffee from the Tower of Terror coffee cart….lol

My wife doesn’t do either of DHS’s thrill rides so she checks Facebook and has her coffee while the boys and I ride both but have to start with RnR. I use that as a “warm up” for Tower….lol

We had a great front row ride (we definitely prefer the front). The parent in me gave up the front for the first ride to the boys so I sat right behind them.

Then our first ride on Tower was up next. We have ridden this well over 15 times over the years but we are still terrified before the first drop.

After Tower there was a hiccup in the trip for about an hour. I use that term simply because what happened isn't necessary to discuss here but it did affect the day and I reference it later as well.

Right before that happened, an awesome roving Photopass photographer grabbed us and took some of the best pics of our trip.

I love this “magic” photo with Steven. We’ve never seen this one.

This picture is classic, not because of the scared faces but of Nicholas (on the right) and his lame scared face and hands. LOL

After the hiccup, we took another ride through the streets of L.A. with our “surprise” backstage passes on RnR. Awesome attraction as a whole although I would prefer RUSH music instead but....lol

Then it was over to Pixar Place for our TSMM FP+ (10:40-11:40)

We ventured into One Man’s Dream on the way. It is one of Meagan’s favorite attractions on property. She loves history; especially of Walt Disney.

Toy Story Midway Mania is a family favorite and this time the kids wanted to take on me and Meagan. HA!!! We kicked their butts….lol

In the queue, we were stopped in an area that had the puzzle pieces on the floor and realized my kids were standing on the ones that matched their outfit colors….lol Completely coincidental.

After TSMM, the boys were getting hungry (there’s a shocker) so we decided to go to one of our favorites….Backlot Express. As we were approaching the restaurant, we could tell the rain was coming. We went inside and while my wife and Steven found a table, Nicholas and I ordered and waited for our food (I love the Southwest Salad there). When Nicholas and I set the food and drinks down, the rain came down and came down hard!!!! We were near the entrance and watched as people either came in or walked past us and they were drenched. As we wrapped up lunch……it stopped raining!!! Thanks Meema.

NEXT UP...DAY 4 CONCLUSION

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 4 .......CONTINUED

It was Star Tours time. The boys and I rode once together, they did one ride together and then Steven and I rode it. Meagan shopped at the Christmas store and then hung out and checked FB while we rode it. First time was with FP and then it was a walk on each of the next two times.

After the 3rd trip, we had a water stop as the sun came out and it was HOT!!! It was time for MuppetVision 3D. Another family favorite and didn’t disappoint.

The rain started a little bit and kept us from Lights, Motors, Action! Thank you!!! LOL While my kids wanted to do it, my wife and I have seen it so many times that we were hoping it wasn’t going to run. Not sure if it did, but we used the rain to tell the boys that it didn't.

Steven and Nicholas wanted to check out Pizza Planet so we walked back over there and explored. We thought it was cute, played a game of air hockey and then Steven said he wanted to do Star Tours again. It was a walk on so no biggie. The rest of us chilled, waiting for him.

He emerged and we headed over towards Animation Courtyard to see Sorcerer Mickey!!

Due to the hiccups earlier, we had less time than we hoped so we had to postpone seeing Voyage of the Little Mermaid and pictures in front of the Hat til Wednesday but it happens. VoTLM was a specific request by my wife so that was important.

We did however have an afternoon FP+ for ToT so we ALL went thru the queue and Meagan took a different elevator down with a CM. She does not do Tower but went in with us so we could stay together and I’ve told her about the queue and pre-show and wanted her to see it.

When we got off, my wife told us she hooked us up with RnR FP+ in about 45 minutes…..SWEET!!!! There is a FP+ kiosk right next to the entrance to RnR so she used her time well!!! LOL

Beauty and the Beast live was about to start and that;s another request by my wife so off we went.

On our way to BatB Live a funny story was heard by Meagan and the boys. Some guy was telling his wife that”

Man: We have to get our picture taken

Woman: Where?

Man: In front of the hat. Mickey’s hat….uhhh….Mickey sorcerer hat.

We got snacks and a drink and headed into Beauty and the Beast Live. As we walked in to sit down…..down came the rain again!!!!! Hard again too!!! We were sitting nice and dry! Well…..with the exception Nicholas who said he had to go to the bathroom….putz. He donned his poncho, went to the bathroom and came back just as it started. My wife loves BatB Live on Stage and the boys even like it too.

The rain had virtually stopped by the end so we barely got wet on the way to RnR. Meagan went thru this as well with us and exited by the door right before the load area. She thought it was cool and we had an entertaining pre-show.

Some moron was taking flash pics in “the studio”…..or trying to thru the glass which is obviously pointless. The CM kept trying to tell him to stop from her position in the back of the room but he wasn’t listening (or didn’t understand as none of us thought he spoke English). It was comical and he took one right before the door opened and it blinded everyone!!! She said “now that no one can see, trust me when I tell you that you did get backstage passes”. Everyone was laughing but the idiot that being made fun of.

Upon exiting RnR, it was POURING!!!! Even my Mom couldn’t stop this rain!! LOL We all got our ponchos on and swam to 50’s Primetime Café.

We met our friends for Steve’s birthday @ 50’s Primetime and unfortunately it was extremely underwhelming. Our server seemed more intent on his "lines" than being spontaneous and fun. The food was “good” but not what any of us had hoped. It was definitely the least favorite meal of the week.

When dinner was over, the rain had actually intensified so all six of us decided to return to the resort. We walked to the bus stop and the ponchos were basically useless in that rain. Crazy how hard it was raining and it didn’t stop for hours.

We arrived at Pop around 7:30ish and had to walk to our rooms. We all changed into dry clothes and the boys worked on homework…lucky them right??

We were watching the news later that night and certain parts of Central Florida in Osceola County got 8” of rain!!! Lake Buena Vista got 4.5 inches of rain. A short night before an off day is not a bad thing.

 

[FlaggNL]

Nice TR! Keep on posting

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

DAY 5…….OFF DAY!!!!! (kind of)

Our usual plan for our trips include an off day and will always include one when we do our usual 8 day stay. IMO, it’s a necessity to have a day to not have to get up for a bus, a park or anything. We generally get up whenever, one or two of us will go down to the food court and get two breakfast platters and bring them back to the room.

On Wednesday of our trip…..this is exactly what we did. I am generally up first, especially with 2 teenage boys….lol Sleeping in for me is 8:00am but getting up and having to get ready to leave is one thing but waking up, turning on the TV and relaxing for a bit is another. I went to the food court around 8:30, got the platters, filled our mugs and brought it back to the room.

Our original plan was for time at the resort, go to DTD to shop and dinner and then who knows. However, due to the weather and other things on Tuesday, a stop (or two) @ DHS had to be part of it but it still turned out to be uber relaxing.

We had breakfast on the bed watching Stacy’s Must Do’s (wish that could be every morning). We went down to the bowling pin pool sometime between 9:00-9:30, swam there for a little bit and then went to the Hippy Dippy Pool.

Steven was whining the water was cold......it was colder than the bowling pin pool but they were being soft.

We swam there for a little while and then the boys decided to play ping pong. They have the regular ping pong table and then there is a four section multi-colored one. The boys asked us to play on the four person one and we liked it so much we may buy one for the house!! LOL

We had a blast but we were getting hungry and it was somewhat around lunchtime so we decided to get lunch at the food court @ Pop. We actually all got something from a different section….it was quite comical.

After showers and a wardrobe change, we headed over to DHS for pictures in front of the hat and for VotLM. On the bus to DHS, I set up FP+ for VotLM, something that we didn’t use and for Fantasmic! It got rained out the night before and there were two showings so I fastpassed the 2nd showing. Yes, we were going to DTD to shop and eat and back to DHS, but surprisingly it was never stressful…….almost.

These pictures turned out to be some of our favorites on the entire trip. We all felt so relaxed and refreshed which is probably why they came out so good. We took a billion pics even though it was really frieking hot!!!! It wasn’t supposed to be sunny so I left my sunglasses in the resort….ugh.

After a multitude of pictures, it was off to see Ariel. My wife was very happy we got to see it.

I'm now the shortest.....lol

On the way out to the busses, we stopped to have pictures in front of Olaf’s sandcastle.

We took the bus to Pop (since it’s the closest resort) and as we pulled up, a bus to DTD was waiting for us…..well, we thought so. We were in DTD within 35 minutes of leaving DHS….not bad huh?? LOL

We shopped for a few hours and spent way too much money. While we were in the Christmas Shoppe, there was a Photopass person in the back taking pictures in front of the “fireplace”. We’ve never seen it and she asked us if we wanted pictures…..YES PLEASE!!!! We are having those held for us on the MDE site so we can add the Christmas borders and use them as Christmas cards!

Stopped at the toy store on the way to WoD and bought a puzzle. The Disney Parks Monopoly II edition is one of our favorite games to play as a family so we had to get our picture taken here. A nice CM offered to take our picture.

Once Upon a Toy selfie....

After spending more $$ in WoD finding some cool stuff, we began the trek to the West Side for our dinner reservations @ House of Blues. We stopped at some of the shops on the way over including the soccer store and my kids bought a replica World Cup ball. Odd thing to buy in WDW right?

We were pretty psyched about this reservation….it was Nicholas’ choice prior to our trip. It did not disappoint at all!!!! We had the jalapeno corn bread as we waited for our friends and it was spectacular! Dinner ended later than we originally expected so we had to get a cab to DHS for Fantasmic. We began what felt like a 26.2 mile walk to the area near WoD where the car service is.

We arrived at DHS around 9:10 and our FP+ ended at 9:15. We rushed over only to find that the ampitheatre was barely 2/3 full. My wife said we will only come to the second showings going forward!!! LOL We had great seats in the Pocahontas section for our favorite show. We all thought Fantasmic looked better than we’ve ever seen it. All effects were working to perfection and the lights were bright. “Some imagination huh?”

DHS was closed so we took the bus back to the resort and the kids and Meagan went to the arcade while I picked up our numerous bags of merch in the gift shop. We hung out in the arcade for a little while, played some ping pong, got a snack and a drink and played some more ping pong.

While it may seem like a lot, it never felt that way. A pretty successful day if I do say so myself.

TOMORROW….EPCOT!!!!!

 

[mrdrift]

Nice trip report, especially when the family can come together at a magical place. The photos are really nice to go along with the report. Following along.