BRD's Daughter's surprise trip

Day 0
Today is arrival day. Work went crazy and I almost was late going to get my wife and daughter. No issue at the end of the day, but a lot of stress. We met our daughter at her school and gave her the invitation package that we created for her. As expected, the reaction was not YouTube worthy. The reaction went over about as well as a fart in church. She recently created this dramatic issue about flying. Well, once we took off, it was the best thing in the world. Go figure.

We land at MCO 15 minutes early, walk straight to DME and get right on a bus. We are the second stop after POFQ. Check in was relatively smooth. We listen to Yeehaa Bob for a few minutes and then walk to our room to put down our backpacks. My daughter is exploring the room: firework pictures, princess pictures, and looking around. She opened the refrigerator cabinet and about 10 roaches go scurrying about. I killed what I could. I called the front desk. They said they would send an exterminator. I explained that it was unacceptable and we wanted a new room (This was 10PM). Ed, the person helping me with this was extremely accommodating. He looked for a room replacement in Oak Manor but only had a few handicap rooms. He said they needed them for guests coming in soon. No big deal on my end at this point. He gave us a corner room in Pantierre right next to the bridge on the river. I told him I was not looking for an upgrade and he insisted. It is an extremely short walk to the main building, very scenic and pristine.

We walked back to the main building to see some more of Bob. We were only there for about 30 minutes. It is already an hour past my daughter's bed time, she is noticeably tired, and a little cranky. She did love the kid interaction with Bob and participated in all of the ones we were there for. Close to 11PM, we head back to the room. She wants to stay up later, but only lasts 2 minutes on the bed. It is now almost 5AM and I am closing out a days worth of work. Weather looks good to go to Typhoon Lagoon for the day.

More to come...
 
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Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
BigRedDad said:
Day 0
Today is arrival day. Work went crazy and I almost was late going to get my wife and daughter. No issue at the end of the day, but a lot of stress. We met our daughter at her school and gave her the invitation package that we created for her. As expected, the reaction was not YouTube worthy. The reaction went over about as well as a fart in church. She recently created this dramatic issue about flying. Well, once we took off, it was the best thing in the world. Go figure.

We land at MCO 15 minutes early, walk straight to DME and get right on a bus. We are the second stop after POFQ. Check in was relatively smooth. We listen to Yeehaa Bob for a few minutes and then walk to our room to put down our backpacks. My daughter is exploring the room: firework pictures, princess pictures, and looking around. She opened the refrigerator cabinet and about 10 roaches go scurrying about. I killed what I could. I called the front desk. They said they would send an exterminator. I explained that it was unacceptable and we wanted a new room (This was 10PM). Ed, the person helping me with this was extremely accommodating. He looked for a room replacement in Oak Manor but only had a few handicap rooms. He said they needed them for guests coming in soon. No big deal on my end at this point. He gave us a corner room in Pantierre right next to the bridge on the river. I told him I was not looking for an upgrade and he insisted. It is an extremely short walk to the main building, very scenic and pristine.

We walked back to the main building to see some more of Bob. We were only there for about 30 minutes. It is already an hour past my daughter's bed time, she is noticeably tired, and a little cranky. She did love the kid interaction with Bob and participated in all of the ones we were there for. Close to 11PM, we head back to the room. She wants to stay up later, but only lasts 2 minutes on the bed. It is now almost 5AM and I am closing out a days worth of work. Weather looks good to go to Typhoon Lagoon for the day.

More to come...
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Congrats on a safe arrival! Hope all goes well for a magical trip!
 
Z

Zman-ks

Well-Known Member
Hope you have a wonderful trip! :)
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BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1
New room is fine. I lived in FL and know all about them. Just did not want to have to deal with it at 10PM.

Weather was perfect for Typhoon Lagoon. We spent about 5 hours there and walked on everything. We never encountered a line anywhere. The bad news about that is my old legs, back are sore from all the barefoot walking, up and down stairs, and all of that which goes with a waterpark. All of the rides were a blast. We must have done Crush and Gusher 30 times (more work out than I needed).

We got back to POR at about 3PM. I had to rest for a bit and hoped my daughter would crash. That didn't happen. We went to the pool for the pool games and dance party. My normally reluctant daughter danced away with the CM hosting in and had the time of her life. Of course, I left the camera in the other backpack and didn't film it or get pictures. After the pool games, it was off to the room to clean up. It looked like my daughter would crash again, but no. We shower and head to the QS for dinner. Excellent choices, no lines, and very good carved food.

We mosey around the store, play in the arcade a bit, and take a seat at River Roost for Yeeha Bob. Since it is his last night for a week, it was pretty crowded. We got a table near the front. We could only stay until 10PM because my daughter almost fell asleep on the table.

Great day and night. Daughter just learned about Hidden Mickeys, so we had to buy the book. Hidden Mickeys will be a new adventure during this trip.
 
BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2: Disney Hollywood Studios
Daughter wanted to go to DHS today. We head out for a bus at about 8AM. Bus gets there about 20 minutes later and we are off. I was expecting to be behind a massive pack of people, but we are about 4th in line at the entrance. This is a good sign. We get in and start our walk to the Rope Drop Show. Well, no rope, no show. I wasn't expecting this. No crowds running to TSMM. We get FPs for 9:30AM return. We walk right on for the first ride, walk right on for the second ride and it is only 9:15 AM. Two rides on TSMM in 15 minutes is insane. We mosey on over and I talk my daughter into ToT. That didn't go as well as planned, but she was a trooper. She will not go on it again this trip :(. We head back to TSMM and use our FPs. That is 3 rides on TSMM and 1 on ToT in 45 minutes. That is just nuts in my opinion.

We make our way over to the other side of the park for Star Tours, Muppets, meet P&F. P&F were the best. They actually played with my daughter for a couple of minutes. Part of it was because she had Perry attached to our backpack. It was too cute. After some shopping and pin trading, she got hungry. We tried our like at Sci Fi and believe it or not, we got right in (about 5 minute wait). I was surprised she behaved so well in the dark restaurant, but the glow cube Sprite, funny movies (her words), and just sitting for a bit made it great.

We lost the time on our FPs back to Star Tours, but no big deal. We walk out and Mulch, something, and Shears were playing. We watched them for a bit and continued towards the back. She saw Lightning McQueen and Mater. We had to get pictures with them. Then to Monsters Inc for Sully and Mike. We spent some time at the store so she could get her Sully and we could close out all of those pressed pennies on the list as well. Finally back to Animation Courtyard for a few characters, Disney Jr, and Little Mermaid.

At the characters inside the Animation area, I saw the best autograph book and just had to buy it. I talked with the woman and it is not for sale. She made it. Grrrrr....it was the best one I have ever seen and I have a junky one that was given to us. I am trying to see if I can find a Kinko's store some where here to have it printed and delivered :)

My daughter was a trooper today. We went for 10 hours in the park and she never slowed down until the end. I was so proud of her. The only downside is that I think it is going to cost us tomorrow. I think it will be a 1PM day at MK, nap, and back around 5PM.
 
BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3
Today was my daughter's appt at BBB in the MK @ 8AM. We get to the park with no issues, wait in a few little lines to get in, and off to her Fairy Godmother in training. It was an excellent experience and I once there my daughter really got into it. She is definitely not a girly girl and was reluctant to go when I told her about it. She loved it.

As the park opened, we went to the expanded Fantasyland. We walk right into Belle, do Ariel's Grotto, use FPs for Under the Sea, and 10:30AM lunch at Be Our Guest. The expansion is nice, but in my opinion, drastically over-hyped. WDW desperately needs to complete the expansion and begin immediate work on further expansion and upkeep. The news here the night before is the Mayor mistakenly blurted out that Universal is expanding WWoHP. My opinion of FLE is that there are great detail in it, it is well done, but extremely small.

Its about 11:15 so we head over to Dumbo. My wife and daughter went on it and the line looked like it was about 15 minutes long. I go get FPs and my wife and daughter are no where to be found. I then find out there is a playground inside the tent. So, my daughter is in there playing for about 30 minutes. No big deal because she had a blast. It is just that I did not know it was there. We received Special Fast Passes from Dumbo for Mickey's Philharmagic. I thought it was something random that we received, but no. Everyone getting FPs at that time were getting them. We head over to the Tea Cups, walk onto Philharmagic, and then run into crowds headed to the HM. The park is SLAM PACKED. I do not know the crowd number, but what ever it is, it is too high for my liking. We wait about 30 minutes to get on HM, head over to Aladdin and PotC. Shortly after those 30 minute waits, the parade starts. We watch that and rides/attractions are done for us. I cannot handle the crowds, the wind was brutal, and daughter was tired.

We do a little pin trading and quick shopping. We catch the bus back to POR. My college roommates were in town going to a concert at House of Blues. My wife and daughter head to the room to rest since it is about 5PM. As we leave the bus stop, I ignore the DtD bus and head to the boat. Get there only to find that the boat is not running due to the wind and waves. I head back to catch the next bus. I meet my friends for only about 30 minutes because they need to get in to the concert. It was fun seeing them, even briefly. I head back to POR with little wait for a bus. Get back with my wife and daughter both sound asleep at 8PM. I wake my wife up and she needs her insulin shot. She goes to test her blood and her glucometer is gone...ugg!!! She uses her old one that is not very accurate and then we are tearing up the room looking for it. Only place it could be is at MK. She calls down there and sure enough she left it there. It was at Lost and Found which was closed. Not sure why with the park open until midnight. But, because of the medical need, L&F took it somewhere like City Hall for her to run over to get. I am not sure what time she got back because I was asleep.

Tomorrow...AK. With DHS having early EMH and AK open until 8PM, it is the best option. We want to see AK at night.
 
tiaragirl

tiaragirl

Well-Known Member
This is a great little update "as it happens"! Sorry about the incident the first day, but it's looking like it was handled magically and you took it like a champ! Your daughter sounds like quite the trooper.. how old is she? Looking forward to the end :)
 
BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
tiaragirl said:
Your daughter sounds like quite the trooper.. how old is she? Looking forward to the end :)
Click to expand...
She is 7

Day 4
Today was Animal Kingdom. It opens at 9AM, so wife and daughter could sleep in a little. We get to the bus stop at 8AM, at the park about 8:30AM, and at rope drop. We were on the first Safari vehicle. Some days are better than others for this. It was cold, so some animals were not out as much. The best part was that the leopards were out on the rocks staring and looking around. The male and female lions were both out as well.

We make our way over to EE. My wife and I each take a turn on it. Daughter is not willing to try it this trip. After we each ride, we leave my wife there with the FPs to enjoy it before it gets too crowded. Daughter and I go to Dinoland. This turns out to be her favorite part. We ride Primeval Whirl and Triceratops a couple of times, play a few carnival games, hit Dinosaur and pics with Goofy and Pluto. The highlight here was a little boy from Make A Wish. He had tubes on his body and nose. He was taken right up to them. His expression and happiness was incredible. He played with them for about 5 minutes and not one person complained a bit. The other highlight at Goofy and Pluto was Steve. He is a CM from NY. He and I talked while my wife and daughter were in line. He had a million one-liners for everyone. Some people didn't get them or know he had said anything. He also took pics with their camera when they wanted to all be in the picture. He would also snap random pics of other people with their camera as they were going up to Goofy and Pluto. Great CM. We later saw him driving one of the vehicles in parade, waved to him, and he threw back another 1-liner to me. Very funny.

We start the Kids Discovery Center near Dinoland and make our way around the world pin trading, taking in the street shows in each country and work through the KDC areas. We watch the parade, catch Lion King, have dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Wife called it a day at 6PM and my daughter and I head out to see AK at night. So much different and very nice. We spend most of our time in Dinoland playing games, walking on Primeval Whirl and Triceratops. My daughter traded pins like crazy here. She got more to her sets and started 2 new sets: Bowling Pin Villains and one we were told just started and not easy to find. This set is the Disney Princess Ear Hat set. I have been trying to find them on the internet, but cannot. I may have to post a picture on pinpics to get more help.

It was a great day at AK. My daughter went for 12 hours with no complaints other than wanting to play carnival games more: 4 wins out of 10 tickets is not bad. Crowds were excellent and what I am comfortable dealing with. These are the crowd levels I come to Disney to be around.

Next day (today actually) is DHS. Lots of pin trading, TSMM, RnRC (now my wife is here), and more ToT.
 
BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 - DHS
We are off to DHS at 8AM for a 9AM opening. We get there and are first in line at one of the entrances. The lady told us that the park was opening early, but not sure how early. It opened at 8:40AM. We were the first on TSMM. I am not sure of the direction of the crowds any more, but I see a lot going to Jedi Academy. We walk on TSMM twice with no wait and have FPs in hand. After riding twice, we go to RnR and ToT. My daughter asks why she has to wait and I explain it would go much faster if she would just try them. No way of convincing her. My wife and I ride each one once. Then, off to use our FP for TSMM.

This is a more relaxed paced day. My daughter is noticeably tired and just wants to trade pins with not too much walking. We had planned on a long afternoon rest and then back to DHS around 5PM. We trade pins, shop, watch the street shows, and then head back to the resort at about noon. My daughter remembered that there was fishing at the resort, so we go try that. I do not recommend this at all. It might have been too cold, but we did not get a single bite. Even the CM working it got a little upset because my daughter snagged the hook and it broke off. I told him to give me a hook and I would put it on. It was just attitude from someone that was not necessary. We have lunch at the resort after and my daughter takes a huge nap.

We head back to DHS at about 5:30. While going back, we see that pretty much everything ends by 6PM except the rides. There are no characters, no street shows, or anything. Most rides have 1+ hour waits by now. We do Star Tours 4x with no wait. I love the ride, but there has to be a way to get more variety. We pretty much got the same 3 things over and over and over. With ~50 different versions, you would expect more than 3 of them with 15 rides. With little there for my daughter to do, we head out to DtD. We take a cab because the time to go to a resort and then over is too time consuming. We spend about 2 hours there shopping, pin trading, grabbing a bite, and just looking around.

Overall it was a good day. If I had planned a little better, we would have seen there is little for my daughter at DHS at night time.

Next day, MK. Hoping for lower crowds. We need to leave by 1PM for my wife to catch DME and me to get on a call for work.
 
BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 MK
This was my wife's last day, so we had to leave early. We hit the MK to go to all the rides we missed the first time and do some that we needed to again. It was a mad rush around Tomorrowland. My wife road SM twice and got FPs. My daughter and I went on Buzz 4x. When my wife joined us, Buzz broke down. When it reset, both my 999,999 were gone :(

We head over to the Teacups, Dumbo, Pooh, and then to Frontierland so my wife can ride BTMRR a couple times before we go. My daughter and I trade pins. My wife and I trade spots so I can ride it. We meander through the park trading pins and relaxing. It is about 12:30 and we need to start making our way to the bus stop. As we are coming up, we can see the bus as it pulls away. No big deal another one will be there in 20 minutes or so (it is now 12:45PM wife's DME is at 2PM). Well, there are about 50 people in line and 3 at POFQ. I said to myself, we should just walk from POFQ and hop on that bus. Nope. 3 more POFQ buses come in the next 30 minutes to carry only 3-7 people. Well, a bus finally shows up at about 1:30. We make it back barely for DME, but this is a recurring theme for POR at the MK. No buses, long lines, all while POFQ has no one there and plenty of buses.

I have to work this afternoon, so it is play time at the pool for my daughter. I had a spot next to the pool, she played the pool games, and I thought she would be worn out by 4PM for a nap. Nope, didn't happen. We head back to the MK for the night activities. We mostly walked onto all of the rides my daughter enjoys. It is 7:15 with Wishes at 8PM. My daughter wants to ride the Peoplemover. No big deal, it is a 10-15 minute ride with no line. We get on, it stops ~100 feet into it. Nothing other than the general announcement. All of a sudden, we see Medical bringing up a stretcher. Wishes is about to start and they are doing nothing. They were letting other people off and just looking at us. Well, the person they took off looked like they died. The people in the car in front of us had a 5 year that had to go. The CMs did nothing to help and they told them it is either get them off or he is peeing off the edge onto people below. CMs did nothing still. The 8 of them just got over the edge of the car and walked off themselves. Everyone else around us did the same thing. This was after 30 minutes sitting there. We barely make it off with a CM saying we aren't allowed to do it. Guess what? No one would have to if they just did something.

We barely are able to watch Wishes, but do make it by going with the other ~100 people that the CMs could have cared less about. I know, "safety". But when you are only about 100 feet away and the CMs are walking by every minute, it is obvious that intelligent adults can do the same and mind their children. After Wishes, we head back to Dumbo and Goofy. We walk on both for about an hour and that is about it for the night. It is around 9:30 and we are headed back to the bus stop. Remember the theme. There are about 150 people in line for POR and about 5 for POFQ. My daughter is almost asleep and no way for me to carry her. Going to POFQ was out. We wait as we watch 2 POFQ buses leave nearly empty while no bus for POR. It is insanely ridiculous. We finally get back to POR at about 10:45.

Other than the buses, the day was excellent.
 
BigRedDad

BigRedDad

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 7
Another MK day to do everything my daughter wanted that we missed. Only because the crowd calendar called for it to be low crowds and it was. Plus, we only have about 4 hours for the park on our last day and heading to AK that day.

Today we decide it is a character day. We are first to see Merida, then walking to the Tea Cups, we were just behind Alice and White Rabbit for pictures. Wish I knew they were looking for someone to go on the Tea Cups with. If I had known, I would not have gone to the line and up with Alice so daughter could ride with them because they couldn't find anyone quickly. Oh well, live and learn. We ride the Tea Cups, Dumbo, and Barnstormer. We try to meet Lady Tremane and the stepsisters but the were done. On the way to the Fairies, we run into Princess Tiana with no line. My daughter talks with her for about 5 minutes and it was so much fun for her since we are in a Royal Room at POR. We head to the Fairies which took about 30 minutes. She spent her time with Rosetta and Tink. We go to ride the Flying Carpets, but Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie are there. The line is closed, but a quick schmoozing with the CM and she is let in. We ride the Magic Carpets and PotC after. Our FPs for Pooh are ready so we head back that way. After Pooh, my daughter is noticeably tired, but doesn't want to go back to the resort. I come up with a brilliant idea. We had not seen Mickey or the Princesses. So, we head down Main St. We see Scoop and talk to him for about 5 minutes. My daughter asked him if he was trading pins and he told us to meet him after 1PM. We head for the FPs so we can take a break indoors, out of the wind, and relax the feet. This is exactly what she needed. She watched Lady and the Tramp, when our time for Mickey was up, we did that. We relaxed some more. We realize it is after 1PM and FPs for the Princesses are not for another 45 minutes. So, we head out to trade with Scoop. My daughter patiently waits in line. When she gets up to Scoop, he definitely remembers her and calls her by name. They talk and trade. Then, Scoop pulls a pin out of his pocket, actually signs, dates, and draws on it. Its a very special pin and I have great pics of the entire scene.

We head back to the Princesses and get pictures there. Wanting to relax just a little longer, we try to get into Crystal Palace. We were told to be back at 2:30 and they would get us in. It was a no go for 2:30, but we were taken in at 3:15. Another great rest for an hour that my daughter needed. She gets to meet Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger. Not much else for characters this late other than Ariel. We get hers later at night. We do a few rides, watch a few shows, and make the rest of the evening fun. My daughter wants to see Wishes again so we plan that being the last thing we do. Well, she gets weepy because we do not do Stitch, so we walk right over and do it. As we are walking out, we watch the projection show on the Castle.

Off to the bus at about 9:15PM. Same story, buses for POFQ with no one there and none for 100+ waiting at POR. The bus system is horrible for the MK and the MK only for POR. We get on a bus at 9:45, back at about 10, and in the room at about 10:15,

It was an excellent day. Only negative is the bus system. Tomorrow, AK for about 4 hours and then back for DME.
 

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