Trip Report Barely Squeaking By - A Family & Fun Filled September Trip Report

Well, y'all. It's 9 days to go time and this morning I'm thinking there is no way I'm going to get it all done, so what do I do? Post a Trip Report of course! (I'm thinking this is kind of like having tons of work to do and then getting on Twitter or FB, etc. - Let's just delay a little longer!)

I am a long time WDWmagic lurker and somewhat poster. I love this site, love the regulars, and of course - love Disney! Earlier this year we decided to once again become WDW AP holder's following our February Trip:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...now-get-in-the-car-tr-a-one-day-bonus.861819/

and knowing we'd be returning this September with my most of my family. We took most of the summer 'off' from WDW aside from one fabulous trip at the beginning of June where we were able to stay in one of the Coronado Springs business class rooms. Wish I'd written a TR on *that* trip. It was awesome! If you ever get a chance to stay at Coronado Springs, upgrade to business class. It's totally worth it.

Well. Thinking we'd avoid all the heat and crowds of the dead middle of summer in south Florida, we journeyed far and wide this summer:


And while I wouldn't change one thing - we saw some of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen - it turned out the joke was on us,


because there were some decidedly un- summery days at WDW this summer! Not sure about Orlando, but here at home, we had the coolest summer on record in 135 years!!! Wowzers! That's pretty amazing for the deep South.

Of course, now that we're headed down in September, the summer temps have arrived. Ha! This trip will be my entire family, minus my brother and his girlfriend this time. We will miss them. It's been 3 years since we were in WDW together. Here we are in 2010:

Yes. We're a little nutty. But that just makes it more fun!
So much more to come. There will be food and fun. Rides and fireworks and of course.......

Lots of matching outfits!
Thanks for reading!

 

[erstwo]

Hey All! I tried to start updating last night, but my computer and Photobucket were giving me fits, so I'm going to try to type this all out quickly - hoping for the best!- and then reply to all the comments soon. Thank you for all your kind comments!

Saturday, September 14 - Day 1!

WooHoo! We were so excited! The day dawned sunny and cool. Probably the first cool morning we'd had in over a month or two (we had a weirdly cool summer as I mentioned above ) It was starting to feel like fall and we were headed to WDW and MNSSHP! Yay!

We got dressed, packed up the car, and were ready to go in less than an hour. Woo!

We had to say a sad goodbye to my husband who had postponed his flight until Tuesday to finish some work at home. We were sad to leave him, and he was sad to see us go, but we knew the days would fly by!




And we were off!



We were flying out of Atlanta again. We arrived at the awesome Peachy Parking (love those Groupons!) a little over 2 hours before our flight (right on time in my book. )


With two kids and tons of stuff, I sweated my way through security - why don't they turn up the AC in the security line??? Don't they know?? - and once we were through, the kids made a bee line for the closest candy.



What did I do with my money Mom??? "Well, I'm not sure. Maybe if you had left your giant blanket at home, as I suggested it wouldn't be so hard to find your wallet?" (I told my kids they could bring what they wanted, but they had to carry it through the airport themselves. It was unbelievable to me how much stuff they crammed into their 'carry on and personal item' ha!)


We had time for a nice lunch. Unfortunately, we passed all the good places to eat and ended up at a not so good restaurant. But it did have a nice view of the planes, so the kids were happy!


The flight was delayed by about an hour. Some sort of mechanical problem. The pilot was very apologetic and told everyone on board that was over 21 that drinks were 'on him' . Once we were off the ground, the flight was smooth and uneventful and we even made up some time in the air.


The kids and I sat next to the nicest couple from Palm Beach, who had been cruising Europe for 7 weeks! I have decided I will like retirement.

Before we knew it, we were off the plane and onto this familiar sight:

 

[erstwo]

Next Stop - Magical Express! It was interesting to see how My Magic + has already made it to Magical Express. They had the 'tap and go' Mickey all ready to go to meet arriving WDW visitors. My Magic + really is going to be an information bonanza for Disney. They'll know how many flights are on time, etc. Maybe even be able to tell how many minutes it takes each guest to walk from their gate to the ME counters! Amazing!

We just had our plain old paper tickets, so they scanned those and I alerted them to the fact that my husband would be delayed by a few days and we were off to our line! One thing that I was sad about - no more hotel names labeling the lines. Now it's just numbers. :-(


We were right up front. Which always means we'll be waiting a while for others to join us.

It's okay though. The new? (are they new?) TVs were great for keeping the kids occupied.



We were on the bus soon enough - front row baby! And the aforementioned Dino sticker was procured:


It was a perfect, beautiful evening!

 

[erstwo]

We didn't check in online, but check in was still a breeze!

I spoke to my sister and my parents. They had arrived around lunch time and were already at the Magic Kingdom. They had 6:45 dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace. I'd hoped (before the flight delay) that we'd be able to join them for dinner, but we walked into our room to put our luggage away at 6:30, so I knew there was no way.

Now, y'all are going to have to excuse the fuzzy photos. I am not a photographer, but I have a basic photographer's camera, which means I spent money on something I don't know how to use. Sorry!




We were starving, and there was no Crystal Palace for us, so we stopped by the Pop Food Court on the way to the MK.


For the life of me, I can't remember what we ate, but I do remember Pop has added a really cool ice cream area on the gift shop end of the food court and it is fantastic! Milkshakes, sundaes, etc. And of course, knowing the dining plan, I asked if we could have one of those as dessert and the answer was -absolutely! Yay!

We were in a hurry to get to the MK though, so we took our ice cream to go.


When we arrived at the MK, it was a perfect night! It was just so exciting to be there.


I know this is hard to believe, but the pictures do get better.


My family had finished dinner and had already seen most of New Fantasyland, so we met them in the Castle hub to find a spot for Wishes!

 

[erstwo]

Wishes! Starlight, starbright, first star I see tonight...........





After Wishes, we decided to set up a spot for the MSEP. We watched the 'castle show' (what's it called again?) while we were waiting.
(Now this is a cell phone pic)


But this is not - sigh.


But this is!


And this and this (well, you get the idea. )






After the parade, the MK was closed, so we made our way down Main Street and toward the busses!

I forgot to post this earlier, for some reason, my son brought things to do on the bus this trip? This night he was really into reading his Hidden Mickey book via flashlight. Too funny!


And that was Day 1! Much more to come!

 

[LuLaSue]

YAY!! Looks and reads great! give us more!

 

[erstwo]

Can't wait to read all about it! And especially can't wait to see your daughters outfits! They're always so super cute!!

Looks like you posted that pic on DME on the 14, so our trips overlapped by 1 day! We left on the 15th.

Thank you! The outfits weren't as over the top this time. My mom wasn't really able to make anything for them, so we mostly stuck to matching tshirts.

That is great! How was it arriving home on a Sunday? I've never been brave enough to stay the extra day after a week long trip. I really need that day to recover!

More please!

More coming! Thanks for reading!

Looks like a great time so far. Enjoying following along.

Thank you! It was great! Thanks for reading!

I just found this and you're already home! I can't wait to read all about it!

That seems to be the way it goes with these Disney trips - over before you know it! Ha! Aren't you supposed to be cruising with all the girls from WDW magic???

Can't wait to read you TR!!

Thank you for reading!

 

[LizC]

Thanks for sharing with us. Love the matching t-shirts!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

That seems to be the way it goes with these Disney trips - over before you know it! Ha! Aren't you supposed to be cruising with all the girls from WDW magic???

We're back too, lol!! A bazillion trip reports to come I'm sure!

 

[erstwo]

YAY!! Looks and reads great! give us more!

Thank you! More to come!

Thanks for sharing with us. Love the matching t-shirts!

Thank you for reading! Thanks!

We're back too, lol!! A bazillion trip reports to come I'm sure!

Wait. If you're back, where's the Trip Report??? I've only been waiting for this TR for about a year and a half! Ha! What, do you have something more important, like unpacking? to do?

I love, love your daughter's shoes! Great TR, can't wait for more.

Thank you - Target! More to come!

 

[erstwo]

Day 2 - Sunday

Now, I can't remember how it got so late, so quickly the night before, but we weren't 'home' and in bed until midnight on Day 1. (I guess MK was open until 11? Maybe there were 2 MSEP that night? I'm not really sure because we didn't arrive at MK until almost 9.) No matter the cause, we were all tired and decided to sleep in on Day 2.

This had kind of been the plan all along. When planning for this trip, we'd decided to spend 2 days in Epcot and selected the 'late arrival' touring plan for both days. Our ADR's for Epcot seemed a little backwards - Day 1's ADR was in World Showcase and Day 2's ADR was in Future World. I was worried that my family wouldn't want to tour the World Showcase first (after all, all the 'notable' rides are in Future World) but they were totally okay with WS first, so we were off to the World Showcase!

They day was already nice and hot by the time we arrived at the bus stop around 10.


My poor family. Our first trip in December 2010 it was freezing - lows in the 30's! at night. This trip we were burning up!


A little Uno on the bus


When we arrived at Epcot, I needed to combine some photopass cards (needed to put my family's 'crane free' castle photos from the day before onto our Photopass Plus card)

so I sent them on Spaceship Earth while I visited the Photo Stop.

The line inside the Photo Stop was short, so I had time to sit on a bench and enjoy the view. I love moments like this at WDW. So relaxing!




I face timed the hubby so he could share the moment. Love that free in park wifi!


This little guy was chirping away over my shoulder:

 

[erstwo]

Once everyone else exited SE, we headed toward World Showcase. I wasn't sure in which direction they wanted to begin, but it turned out that we let our hunger decide. Mexican was what everyone wanted for lunch, so we turned left and headed for Mexico!

So yummy! (Sorry, no pics of meals, but we all got the popsicles for dessert. They were only okay. We tried lime, mango, and watermelon. All were a little too sweet for our tastes, and we're a sugar loving family!)





After lunch we wanted some AC, so we headed into the Mexican pavilion for a little time with Donald:




And then we colored:


My parents really enjoyed the exhibits in the foyer of the Mexican pavilion.


We spent a little more time with Donald outside:

 

[erstwo]

We moved along to Norway.






And then to China:



It looked like it was going to rain any minute and it was absolutely sweltering, so we decided to get an early seat to see the Chinese acrobats - who had moved inside due to the impending rain.






The show was amazing as always. I really don't know how any of them do the amazing things they do!


And then we were off to See Reflections of China!


Some of us took that 'no sitting on the handrails' thing seriously and just sat on the floor instead.


Much more to come! Yummy snacks in Germany! Dinner in France!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Late to the party! But yes our trips overlapped by a day! We were in MK that night you guys were there too except we left right after the fireworks. Can't wait to hear about the rest!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

So odd about the DME hotel names...we flew in just a few days after you guys and they were all there. Still, they didn't mean a darn thing since they lumped all of us onto the same bus due to the late hour. Oh well. Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[Mrs.Skellington]

We were there on the 14th and stayed at Pop. The 14th we were at MK but I left kind of early. Maybe at 1045.

 

[erstwo]

Late to the party! But yes our trips overlapped by a day! We were in MK that night you guys were there too except we left right after the fireworks. Can't wait to hear about the rest!

Oh that is cool! A near miss! Thank you for reading!

So odd about the DME hotel names...we flew in just a few days after you guys and they were all there. Still, they didn't mean a darn thing since they lumped all of us onto the same bus due to the late hour. Oh well. Can't wait to read more!!!

Well, then - maybe they were there! I just saw numbers a la - 14/15 with arrows pointing to the left for '14' and right for '15'. And they gave us a line number, not a hotel named line.

Thanks! I hope to post more soon! It's been a crazy week. And now I"m having Photopass troubles. So bothersome! But - first world problems right???? "Oh, you won't believe the hassle I'm having getting my professional photos together from my latest WDW trip." - doesn't seem to fly as a 'real' problem.

We were there on the 14th and stayed at Pop. The 14th we were at MK but I left kind of early. Maybe at 1045.

Cool! Another near miss! Unless you saw us on the bus? We were hard to miss - scooter and all!

 

[Raven66]

Enjoying it all! Sorry the hubby had to push his trip back. But, you are way better then me, I would have been taking pictures of everything and texting them to him just for him to text back how mean I am.

 

[erstwo]

Enjoying it all! Sorry the hubby had to push his trip back. But, you are way better then me, I would have been taking pictures of everything and texting them to him just for him to text back how mean I am.

Ha! Well there was a little of that, but mostly facetiming and letting him know how much we missed him!

 

[erstwo]

It's been crazy, crazy. But I've got a few minutes tonight. My dad's knee surgery (the whole reason he needed a scooter on our trip) is tomorrow, so I have to go to bed on time so I can be there early to sit with my mom (she has some issues finding her car, with unfamiliar places like the hospital, etc. due to early onset) But I'm determined to crank out a post! Ha!

When we left China it was still a little drizzly, but by the time we made it across 'no man's land bridge' to Germany, it was nice out. Almost cool after the hot afternoon. We explored Germany. We were a little hungry and not sure if we'd make it to France without a snack, so we sacrificed and got a few treats in the caramel shop.



Everyone helped out.



And I guess Marie fell out of the stroller. Whoops!



I guess we picked her up, because we still have her at the house. So no worries.

We moved on to Italy. I believe my mom and my sister shopped while the kids colored. This guy's name was Michelangelo - like the painter - and he kept telling kids that, and they kept staring blankly back at him. I just told my daughter Michelangelo was the famous painter laying on the scaffolding on SSE.


So nice to sit at a table in Italy in that little set back and relax and people watch!




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[erstwo]

The big kids had been begging to go to Japan, mostly because of my son. My son has a sweet friend who loves Japanese aneme (sp?) and my son loves to visit Japan, tour the museum and shop in all of the candy. The rest of us stopped to watch 'the' candy lady:


Others have said it, but I'll say it too - I have NO IDEA what she is saying. Every. Time. She could literally be telling all of us off and I don't think a single person in the crowd would know it.



We shopped in the gift shop


Lucky owls always make it home as presents for classmates:


and then we were on our way.

One thing about traveling with 10 people, 4 of them kids. You see pretty much every bathroom. Here's some of the crew waiting:


Our dinner at Chefs de France was rather early. 5pm I think? They broke the news to us right away at that Sunday was Remy's night off in the dining room. But good news! The rest of the meal was amazing!



Now here's one of my (limited) interactions with NextGen/ MM+, etc. this trip. You go to a TS restaurant. Your server brings out this iPhone in 'the world's largest case' and you either tap your band or slide your card (KTTW only - cc's still have to go back to the back with your server) up front before you even order your meal. Now let's keep in mind that we probably sat down to eat at around 5 - we didn't leave until almost 8! 8! And this was a trend. I told someone the other day (fellow WDW lover) that I estimate we lost 4 to 5 hours of park time waiting (additional minutes - more minutes than usual) on our bill at TS restaurants. The first night I thought the guy was just new. By the end of the second night, I knew what the problem was - the new system. I have never waited so long for a bill at WDW than we did this trip! Nuts!









I know this doesn't look that great, but it was so yummy!



After dinner, my sister decided to return to the hotel with her crew. My parents, my kids and I kicked around the idea of staying for Illuminations, but we were tired and we didn't want to fight the after the fireworks crowd again, so we headed for the front gates via the UK. A few minutes in the gift shops there and we were headed for the gates!
Up next - Future World!