Trip Report We're Not Stopping... Just Keep Hopping! A September 2015 Trip Report

And so... we are back. How is it that the wait for Disney is so long and exciting and then in a blink of an eye, it’s over? :cry:

I am so glad we were able to take this trip. It was a difficult year and we really needed some magic and fantasy to “reboot” our lives. We were in Disney from September 11th - 21st and stayed at French Quarters.

For those of you who do not know us...

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Me - Mary / Mom (The Disney Fanatic)

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Ross / Dad / Grumpy (Although he had an identity crisis this trip and thought he was Cinderella.)

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Julia / Sissy - My now teenage Mouseketeer

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Hope / “The Hopester” My 6 year old princess - diagnosed with Severe Autism and Sensory Integration Disorder.

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If you want to check out our past adventures:

September 2013 Trip
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/completed-this-is-autism-when-you-add-a-little-pixie-dust.873100/

September 2014 Trip
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/honey-i-blew-up-the-magic-band-completed.892800/


Even though we are all in Post Disney Depression, at least I can re-live the memories!

Ready or not... Here we go!
 

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disneypearl

Well-Known Member
So cool about Hope getting that Magical Moment! Did you frame that and hang it up at home? I also am a fan of the Must Do's but unfortunately do not have it memorized. I do admit to watching it on YouTube when I am missing being at WDW. Julia did great on conquering the TOT! That is a fantastic ride and is a definitely a Must Do!
 

Mom@disney

Well-Known Member
What an awesome opportunity for Hope to open the doors for Disney Jr! And for Julia to conquer her fears of TOT! I haven't been on it since the first time I went years ago...both me and my youngest (who was 4at that time ) swear we will never ride it again,lol. I love the idea of a princess dress everyday...if I could, I would :)
 

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So cool about Hope getting that Magical Moment! Did you frame that and hang it up at home? I also am a fan of the Must Do's but unfortunately do not have it memorized. I do admit to watching it on YouTube when I am missing being at WDW. Julia did great on conquering the TOT! That is a fantastic ride and is a definitely a Must Do!


We put the certificate in the back of her autograph book - she goes through it every day! Yes - I'm happy for Julia. I can tell she was really proud of herself!
 

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What an awesome opportunity for Hope to open the doors for Disney Jr! And for Julia to conquer her fears of TOT! I haven't been on it since the first time I went years ago...both me and my youngest (who was 4at that time ) swear we will never ride it again,lol. I love the idea of a princess dress everyday...if I could, I would :)


It was so awesome! Julia actually corrected me and reminded me that she was 5 when she first rode TOT. I wish we had purchased that picture! Her face was priceless - but that was before we bought the Photopass and it was like $20.

Thanks for reading!
 

Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Continued...

We walked across to Voyage Of The Little Mermail. I love this one - I really hope they don’t do away with it. I remember it was being built during our honeymoon in 1992.

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We all enjoyed it and then made our way to TSMM. When we got there, the FastPass line was out of control - and there didn’t seem t be any standby line. It was very weird. We waited a little longer than I remember - nothing too terrible, like I said, it was just really strange.


Of course, even with a longer wait, it is so worth it!

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I thought this couple was so cute! The husband was checking out the gun trying to figure out how to play while his wife was just sitting back relaxing. Of course Ross thought I was nuts for taking a picture of strangers.

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I lost to Ross who had the highest score in our car.

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We headed for Play & Dine for our lunch reservation. If it wasn’t for the characters, we wouldn’t bother eating here. The food is fine - I actually like the food, but it’s the wait to be seated. I know there is always somewhat of a wait for your table, but Play & Dine is always the WORST. What does Ellen Griswald say? “With each day brings new hope...”

So Julia and I checked in and got a pager while Ross, in anticipation of them running late, took his time coming over with Hope. So we waited...and waited...

Ross took Hope on a photo shoot.

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Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Continued...

After 20 minutes I walked up to podium and asked if they knew how much longer. I could see Hope was getting a little anxious to go in. He looked a little annoyed and told me to come back and ask in 10 minutes. When I went back, he was basically doing his best to ignore me so I asked another CM who walked over with some pagers. She looked on her computer and then looked a little puzzled. I felt my stomach turn - that puzzling look can be disastrous! She said they didn’t even move my name inside - wasn’t sure what that meant exactly. She said to give her a minute. By now, Hope and Ross actually walked inside the restaurant. Hope was looking at the big backdrop when you first enter the restaurant. Ross was getting annoyed of course. And I think we were all at the verge when someone finally called our name.


We were seated right in the front near the buffet and this is where I would like to say that everything was great from this point forward. I would like to say that... but I can not. Because the truth is, it just kept going downhill.

Our waitress was OK at best. She seemed rushed and scattered. The chef came out and took me along the buffet. He seemed just as rushed as our waitress. The only ones who did not seem in a rush were the characters ... but they were nowhere to be found! There were no characters on our side of the restaurant. Now I understand they work in a rotation, but seriously, we were there for almost an hour and they were yet to come to our side of the restaurant. At one point, we asked the waitress when they would come over to our side. She was very short with us and said they take about an hour and fifteen minutes to go in a complete rotation. I don't think she realized how long we had been there.

Hope was in her glory. Every so often, the characters and a CM would do a sing along and dance at the front of the dining room. In past years, we would not have even thought to release her to take part. But I felt she really has come a long way this year, and I thought she would be able to participate without being disruptive so I told her she could go. Of course Ross and I were an arms length away. But she did great and she had a great time! We were there long enough to see four or five shows.




The food was good and all of us filled our bellies. Ross kept filling his belly beyond capacity because we waited so long for the characters to come. Finally, I think the waitress wanted us to leave and realized we still hadn’t seen the characters. So our friends finally started to come over...

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It was hard to pry Hope away from Sofia!

We almost left without seeing Jake because he was still MIA and we really needed to leave! But Ross was staying. His reasoning was that we pay for the characters so why not? As long as we weren't having any meltdowns it wasn’t hurting. Then at last...


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Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Continued...

After a LONG lunch we headed back out for adventure. I was so excited to see this!

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I can’t wait for the move to come out. Star Wars is my favorite movie! I think Star Wars & Disney is an awesome partnership!

We went back on TSMM the standby line was back and again and the Fast Pass line was moving like it usually does. I got the high score in the car this time!

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Daddy giving Julia some advice!

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Then we separated. I went with Julia and Ross went with Hope. It also stared to POUR! Julia and I did Star Tours 2 times. First with our fast pass and then we just walked on with a 10 minute wait. As we were on line to board the ship, I noticed the doors were not opening. The pre-show movie played twice - which clearly signaled to me something was wrong. All of a sudden, A CM instructed everyone to form a line and follow him. So we all formed a parade line and walked to a different simulator!

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I love this ride - and would have liked to take a little more time to check out the gift shop but Julia is not too interested so we headed out.

I was so excited to ride this...

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I asked for a magic shot with Darth Vader - but the CM said she didn’t have it.

We thought about seeing the Muppets but I got a text from Ross who asked me if I knew that Hope wanted to meet Sofia. Umm... no... didn’t we just see Sofia at lunch? Apparently, Hope wanted to meet the characters and told Ross exactly that, “Meet Sofia!” Who would have thought?

So Julia and I walked over to the Animation Courtyard to meet up with them. The rain had let up a bit. We stopped for a few pics.

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I love this one!

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Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Continued...

Julia got a treat while we waited.

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Julia & I saw this sign and got so sad that the animation class was no more... I hope they bring it back in some way.

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Hope had Ross wait for Jake, Doc & Sofia. Ross HATES to wait in character lines - but he was a good daddy and did it with a smile! Get ready for a ton of pics!

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I think Hope was so excited to see Sofia, she couldn't even look at the camera. I think she was just fascinated with her!

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Figment Forever

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Amazing TR! How was the food at H&V? THNX


Thanks so much! The food was really good. We used to have breakfast here and did not like that as much as lunch. I feel that there is less of an assortment at H&V as compared to other buffets - but it is all yummy and VERY fresh. I really liked the salmon and pork roast. I just didn't have the gravy because that wasn't GF. The chef said the only desserts that were GF were the cheesecake and ice cream. Later in the meal, I was confused as to why he didn't say the chocolate covered fruit was GF as well - but I didn't ask because the service was so bad - I really didn't think I would get an answer. He did not offer to bring out anything special for me - but I really didn't need anything so that was no big deal.
 

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