Trip Report Completed Lebeau Family 2014 Disney World Trip Report

lebeau · Jun 10, 2014

Goofnut1980 said:
Would this be called a "magic" shot? baahahaahahah

btw.. I wish they would fix the fountain. The front mug hasnt spit water in a long time! grrrr its a very simple $200 fix.

I think the industry term is "money shot". Ahem. Anyway.

I hadn't noticed the issue with the front mug. When we were there, they were filming something for ABC News in front of the fountain. Probably related to 7 Dwarfs Mine Train opening. Anyway, we weren't allowed near the fountain.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

StarBurst said:
wow, great TR so far

im staying at POR for 1st time in sept. looks impressive.

cute kids

Thanks.

The first time we stayed at POR, I was on the fence. But after this stay, I really appreciate it. It's a really wonderful resort. If only the bus service were better, I would have no complaints at all.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

After we finished our ride through the movies, we headed over to the check in for the Feel the Force Premium Package for our reserved viewing area. I had read very mixed reviews of the package after the first Star Wars Weekend. So much so that I considered cancelling our reservation. The feedback I got was that the parade viewing area was too small to accommodate the number of guests who were allowed to purchase the package. So I was advised to arrive early.

We arrived at least an hour before the parade. To my dismay, there was already a very long line to enter the roped-in area. I am not sure what the purpose of a reserved viewing spot is if you still have to show up more than an hour early in order to hold your viewing spot. But that was how things played out.

Part of the problem is that the motorcade route is very short. It only goes from the park entrance to the hat in the middle of the park. So you can’t rope off much space without closing out a lot of guests who did not buy the package. Ideally, everyone who paid for a reserved spot would be able to stand directly along the parade route with a completely unobstructed view. Instead, the reserved spot was rectangular with very little room along the actual parade route.

Inside the ropes, there was a drink cart and an ice cream cart. Guests who bought the package could get as many bottled waters, soft drinks and ice cream bars as they wanted. All of us grabbed a water and a Mickey Bar. Josie, who hadn’t had a big breakfast, went back for seconds on the ice cream.

The prime parade viewing area along the ropes was further divided. First, there was a section for guests in wheelchairs and scooters. These guests were also allowed to bring in their family members. Then there was a section for children. The children had to sit alone. I understand that the minute you allow adults into the kid section, you run the risk of a child not being able to see. But several children were too timid to sit apart from their parents. So they couldn’t see the parade anyway.

To make matters worse, there were not enough cast members on hand to monitor the situation. We witnessed people slipping under the ropes. The cast members did nothing to prevent this. Since family members were allowed in the wheelchair section, everyone decided it was fair game and just crowded right in. Then a new guest would show up in a wheelchair and everyone had to shuffle around. This resulted in adults spilling over into the kids area anyway. If you left your spot to grab a snack or take a kid for a potty break (as I did), you could expect someone to take your spot. Even though Mindy was holding my spot for me, people just crowded in.

As the parade progressed, people pushed themselves forward further and further. Long story short, it was every man for himself. Disney promised us a reserved viewing spot. They never said you would actually be able to see the parade from the reserved spot.

Before the trip, I made an effort to introduce the girls to a few of the Star Wars characters. For the most part, they weren’t interested. However, they did take a liking to ewoks or as they call them “yub yub bears”. Fortunately, the girls could see the ewoks from the relatively unobscured children’s area. This was the best shot I could get from where I was standing.

I had a little better luck getting a shot of Chewbacca. The fact that he is 6 feet tall helps. Chewie got the crowd roaring.

Hey look! It’s some alien chick I have never heard of blocking my view of R2-D2!

There he is. And believe it or not I didn’t even have to knock anyone over to get this shot. By this point, I had been pushed into the back of the kid’s area which actually improved my view of the parade.

Apparently this clone guy has a name and fans of the Clone Wars cartoon show know what it is.

C-3PO was not in the parade. But if you look closely, you can see he made his way on stage. Also, check out the girl in the hand-made Star Wars dress! We saw a lot more of this sort of thing than I ever imagined. Over the course of the day, I came to realize that even though I have always considered myself a Star Wars fan, there are millions of people who love Star Wars way more than I ever did. And some of them have lost their minds.

Here is the first Star Wars “celebrity” of the day. Taylor Gray voices one of the characters on the new Star Wars Rebels cartoon. The show hasn’t started yet, so the poor guy got an exceptionally lukewarm reception. Mindy later told me she felt bad for him. If he does Star Wars Weekend next year when people know who he is, I have no doubt the fans will go nuts.

Here is one of the new characters from the new Rebels show. She has a name. But I don’t remember it. So let’s call her Purple Hair Girl. I know nothing about Purple Hair Girl other than the fact that she walks like a runway model.

Here is Purple Hair Girl’s backside. She is accompanied by her good friend, Blue Hair Guy.

They were followed by a cute little robot I’m going to call Not R2-D2.

Here is “celebrity” guest #2, Ray Park aka Darth Maul, Toad from the first X-Men movie and Snake Eyes (I think) from one or more of the GI Joe movies.

He was followed by Darth Maul.

And here is the big star of the day, John Ratzenberger aka Cliff Clavin ofCheers. He’s also the only voice actor to appear in every single Pixar release and he played a rebel soldier inEmpire Strikes Back. Yep, I saw the side of Cliff Clavin’s head. Totally worth $50.

Finally, our hosts James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein arrived. They are voice actors on the cancelled Clone Wars cartoon. I was only able to snap a picture of Taylor.

After the parade finished, all the characters and celebrities gathered on stage for a brief show. James Arnold Taylor ran through a list of the activities for the day and there was a brief display of daytime pyro.

Wow! Great shot of all the characters, right? Well, I didn’t take it. As part of the package, we all got a little swag bag. It contained postcard-sized “autographed” pictures of all the “celebrity” guests and a Photopass card with a pictures of Star Wars characters. You would have thought all the pictures would be ones like this one; pictures from the parks. But no. Most of the pictures were shot in a studio and Photoshopped within an inch of their lives.

Based on the parade portion of the festivities, the Feel the Force Package was a bust. All my money had bought me was a lousy viewing spot for the parade, a bottled water and a Mickey bar. Fortunately, there was still the fireworks portion of the package which was much more promising.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

After the parade, we ran into a few of the characters we had barely glimpsed from our viewing spot. Here’s Chewie and the ewoks making their way to their meet and greet where guests will wait about an hour to take a picture with them. Yep, Star Wars fans be crazy.

A little later, we passed a kiosk that was selling Star Wars merchandise. Mindy became very excited. Seriously. She was positively animated because she saw tiny little stuffed ewoks. There was no other course of action than to immediately buy them for the girls. Mindy continued pushing the stroller while I purchased the yub yub bears. Then she took them from me and had them peek over the edge of the stroller. When the girls saw them, they squealed with delight.

We told the girls that this was their reward for braving the Tower of Terror. I think we were both carrying some guilt over how that played out.

Before we left for our afternoon break, we had one final FastPass. So we headed back to Toy Story Mania. When we arrived, we saw some Green Army Men working the crowd.

This time, I rode with Josie while Mindy rode with Kara. The end result was the same. I continued my Toy Story Mania domination. I remain undefeated for yet another year.

Having defended my title twice in one day, we headed back to the resort for our afternoon break.

As promised, I took the girls to the resort’s main pool, Old Man Island. The pool is shaped like a swimmin’ hole with an island in the middle. The island is loaded with junk that I guess is supposed to have floated down the river. The resort has an exceptionally elaborate back story that was developed by Disney Imagineers. I know Old Man Island is part of that story, but I haven’t bothered to familiarize myself with it.

The pool also has a water slide which the girls enjoyed. Kara insisted on using the slide on her own over and over again. There are also kids’ activities being conducted by cast members. These ranged from water bingo to dance parties. Certain activities included minor prizes. My girls weren’t overly interested in the activities, but sometimes joined in if one of them caught their attention.

After about 90 minutes in the pool, Josie decided it was time to try out the hot tub. It was one of her better ideas. The hot tub felt great after a day and a half on my feet. Josie tired of it sooner than I did. She spotted a pair of hammocks and decided they were more her speed. So she lounged in the hammocks while Kara and I hung out in the hot tub. Soon, Kara joined her sister in the hammocks. Not long after that, it was time for us to head back to the room.

On the way back, Kara got into a snit about the way her beach towel was wrapped around her. No matter what I did, I could not wrap the towel to her satisfaction. She walked back to the room with a pouty lip plastered on her face. She was tired and really needed a nap. Seems that water slide wore her out.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

One of the things we wanted to do at Hollywood Studios was to see Sophia the First and the Disney Jr. Live Show. It was one of the few attractions that was actually Kara’s speed. The show stops running at 4:30, so we would have to cut our afternoon break a little short in order to return in time to see it. Everyone agreed it was worth it. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Hollywood Studios, it was overcast and threatening to thunderstorm at any minute.

We had dinner reservations in an hour at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. My thought was to get into an indoor activity where we could kill time for an hour, avoid any potential storms and then make our way to dinner. I thought the Disney Jr. show and nearby Animation Building would fit the bill nicely. But Mindy was driving the stroller and went a different route. She wanted to stick close to the 50s Prime Time Cafe in case the rain started.

With my original plan scrapped, we couldn’t come up with an alternative. I suggested Star Tours as it was relatively close to the 50s Prime Time Cafe. But that didn’t gain any traction with the kids. So we just kind of wandered into Muppetvision 3-D.

During the pre-show, I sat down on the floor with Kara. She fell asleep on me. When she gets super tired, she tends to take little catnaps which recharge her batteries. So I let her sleep through the pre-show and most of the movie. She came to life when the bubbles started filling the theater. When she awoke, the grumpiness was gone.

After the movie, we made our way back to the 50′s Prime Time Cafe. On our way there, we were hit by a few fat raindrops. The storm was coming. We had fireworks and the outdoor dessert party later that night. So I hoped the storm would play out while we ate and we would have clear skies for the evening festivities.

The storm brought crowds to the restaurant check-in. Anyone who had a reservation anywhere near this time decided to check in all at once. I heard a few people without reservations trying to get a table as well. They were out of luck. One guy was very unhappy about it and started shouting that there was nowhere in the park for his family to eat. (Not true as you can always eat at a counter service restaurant.) Fortunately, we had reservations and were seated quickly.

Regular readers know that the 50s Prime Time Cafe is a Disney tradition for our family. It’s the first table service restaurant we ever ate at and we have eaten there every trip since. Every experience has been different but all of them have been positive. I have read reviews of people having negative experiences at the 50′s PTC, but it had never happened to us. Until now.

When we were seated, the waiter came around and asked if we were on the dining plan. I confirmed that we were. He went to scan my magic band as they had at every table service meal so far. But there was a problem. My wrist was bare. My magic band was missing. Panic set in. Where had I lost it? I obviously had it when we entered the park because I needed it to get in. I decided to head back to the lobby to see if I could find it. No luck.

I returned to the table to find the waiter still sitting there. He hadn’t taken any orders. He was waiting on me to find my magic band. Since the only attraction we had experienced since entering the park for the evening was Muppetvision, I figured it must have fallen off my wrist there. Probably while Kara was sleeping on me. I wasn’t about to run back to Muppetvision in the rain to find out. So I suggested the waiter scan someone else’s magic band. For whatever reason, Mindy’s didn’t take. But when he scanned one of the kid’s bands, we were in business.

I decided to order my usual which is the pot roast. Mindy went with the fried chicken. The girls each ordered mac and cheese. The kids’ meals are supposed to come with an appetizer, but our waiter didn’t seem to realize that. Josie always gets a salad and Kara always gets the chicken noodle soup. The waiter said it would cost extra. I commented that we have eaten here several times in the past and that the kid’s appetizers have always been included. Our waiter shrugged indifferently. Josie decided she didn’t need a salad, but Mindy ordered the soup for Kara. I grumbled that if the waiter was dumb enough to charge me for the soup, it was coming out of his tip. And I meant it.

The food came out with the drinks. We hadn’t waited even a minute. Amazing, right? Well, not so much. It was very obvious that the kitchen was not preparing the food to order. They were just mass producing the entrees and sticking them under heating lamps until someone ordered them. My plate was extremely hot to the touch. The gravy had developed a bit of a skin. It had clearly been under a heating lamp for quite a while.

I tasted the food and fortunately it was still delicious. So I didn’t worry about the fact that it was not made to order. For the most part, everyone enjoyed their meals. Mindy didn’t care for the collard greens that came as a side with her chicken. She made a mental note to substitute something else for the greens next time she ordered the dish.

Josie cleaned her plate which is rare for her. She wanted me to take a picture to document the event. She always cleans her plate at the 50s Prime Time cafe because she is afraid of getting a hard time for not doing so. The teenage girl at the table next to us was not so lucky. Our waiter gave her a hard time about having her cell phone out at the dinner table. He made her put it away to the delight of the rest of her family. But the girl didn’t take to the ribbing at all. When she left veggies on her plate, the waiter fed them to her like a child which entertained her family immensely and mortified her.

I am going to dump on our waiter quite a bit because frankly, he was terrible as a waiter. We actually saw him running around. But he never seemed to be doing anything. We didn’t get drink refills for nearly an hour and neither did the table next to us. The guys just seemed lost. Having said that, I have to give him credit where credit is due. He did a good job playing up the part. When we did see him, he was usually entertaining. You could almost excuse his short-comings as a waiter based on the fact they are supposed to give you a hard time at the 50s Prime Time Cafe.

When it came time to order dessert, Mindy went with her usual s’mores. I typically order the Dad’s Brownie Sundae. But the thing is huge and we had a dessert party to attend in a couple of hours. So I decided to try the Boston Cream Parfait. I was happy with the choice and would make it again. The kids got the sundaes that come with the kids’ meals. These are identical to the ones we had at Boatwright’s on the first night of our trip.

While we were eating dessert, our waiter came around again to verify we were on the dining plan. I confirmed that was the case. He came by a little later with his scanner and asked me if the information it displayed was for us. The scanner had the name of another family that was staying at the Art of Animation Resort. I told him that was not us. He fiddled with the device until my name came up, I confirmed that was me.

We finished dessert and waited for our bill. Mindy took the kids for potty breaks while we waited. Our waiter came by again to ask if we were on the dining plan. I had a bad feeling about where this was headed. I confirmed for the third time that we were on the dining plan. Finally, he came back with our bill. I searched it for Kara’s soup. He didn’t charge us for the soup but I am willing to bet that was an oversight on his part.

The bills at Disney World table service restaurants conveniently provide tip recommendations. They give you the bill total and then a breakdown of 18% and 20%. Typically, I start with 20% and adjust up or down from there. In this case, I just gave the guy 18% which I thought was still pretty generous all things considered.
Turns out, we weren’t done yet. He was having problems processing our payment. At one point, he rescanned our magic bands and muttered about how much he hated the new system. He was clearly as frustrated as I was. I made a note to check out my credit card and dining plan balances later on. I was pretty sure something had gone wrong.

Despite the lackluster service, we were all happy with our meals and would not hesitate to return to the 50s Prime Time Cafe again.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

As we left the restaurant, I was pleased to see that the storm had passed. Also, the staff at the restaurant had covered our stroller with garbage bags to keep it dry. The skies were clear. Now all I had to do was locate my missing magic band. We started walking towards Muppetvision.

When we got to Muppetvision, the cast member there confirmed that they had found a blue magic band with my name on it. Unfortunately, they had already taken it to the Lost and Found which was at Guest Services at the front of the park. I figured we could let the girls play at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground while I crossed the park to claim my magic band. Mindy wasn’t confident she could find the playground on her own, so I walked with them until we could see the sign.

Along the way, we passed the leaky fire hydrant on the Streets of America. The girls decided they wanted to play in it. These are the kinds of things you just have to make time for when you come across them.

Once we saw the sign for the playground, I turned around and made my way to Guest Services. I later found out that the playground closed two minutes after we got there. So the kids didn’t get to play. Instead, they waited around to meet some clone troopers who were doing meet and greets in the area. Then the clone troopers went on a break. The cast member with the clone troopers told the girls to wait where they were and they could be the first ones to meet the troopers when they got back from their break.

Fortunately for me, Guest Services had my magic band as expected. I had to answer a bunch of questions and fill out a form before they would return it to me. Totally understandable. I wouldn’t have wanted them to give it to the wrong guy.

When I met up with the girls, they told me about the closed playground and the clone troopers. I was surprised that they had wanted to meet with the clone troopers at all. Apparently, they thought I would be impressed. The clone troopers returned from their break shortly after I arrived. But it was mass hysteria. They were mobbed by kids. The girls – who had been promised they would get to meet them as soon as they returned – decided they didn’t want to deal with the crowd. So we just left.

At this point, we had a couple hours to kill before the fireworks started. But most of the attractions were shutting down. We just happened to walk past James Arnold Taylor’s show,Obi-Wan and Beyond, as it was getting ready to start. We figured, why not? I knew Taylor did a lot of cartoon voices and the kids liked cartoons. I figured the show might hold their interest.

Taylor puts on a very energetic show. He began the show by running through the audience. As I was sitting on an aisle, he ran right past me. The show covers much of Taylor’s life story. He talks about listening to old radio shows on cassette as a kid and how that inspired him to be a voice actor. He described what it was like to be a voice actor and how he pitches his voice to do different characters. The highlight of the show is when he runs through dozens of voices and impressions at a rapid pace.

Taylor ends the show on an inspirational note. He talks about the day when he lost his voice. Apparently, he bought a new house that had a black mold infestation. This caused him health problems that he deals with to this day. He was told by doctors that he had to change careers. But obviously, he’s still working. Later, he and his wife adopted a baby from China. He discovered that their adopted daughter was born on the same day he lost his voice. This realization profoundly affected him because he says that one of the best things and one of the worst things that ever happened to him happened on the same day.

At this point, the screens filled with inspirational quotes about overcoming challenges. I have to admit, I found this segment of the show to be just a wee bit self-important. Obviously, Taylor has overcome some obstacles in life. But he’s a voice actor, not Ghandi. If the audience shared my reservations, they didn’t show it. As soon as the show ended, the audience gave Taylor a thunderous standing ovation. We enjoyed the show as a way to pass an hour. But I wouldn’t want to sit through it again.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

After the show, we decided to check out the dessert party. There was still about an hour before the fireworks display. But DJ Lobot was on the stage playing dance music. It was a party atmosphere. So we decided to just hang out and enjoy the party.

The parade portion of the Feel the Force Package was largely a wasted opportunity. But the fireworks portion fared better. There were all-you-care to eat desserts which were delicious. The desserts included miniature versions of the popular Darth Vader and Yoda cupcakes.

The Darth Vader cupcakes are chocolate with peanut butter frosting. The Yoda cupcakes are also chocolate but with a hazelnut frosting and candy crucnhies. Both were good. But among our group, the Vader cupcakes were the winners. For my money, the mini-carrot cake beat them both.

In addition to the desserts, there were more ice cream bars and drinks. The evening drinks included alcoholic options. I am not a drinker, but I decided to sample a drink called the Jedi Mind Trick. Mindy ordered one called The Force. The Force was strong. As was the Jedi Mind Trick. Again, not being a drinker I switched to bottled water.

Inside the ropes, there were several tables set up. No chairs, just small round tables where you could place your drinks and desserts. I had read reports that previous groups had been willing to share the tables so everyone could use them. That was not the case on the night we attended. The first groups to enter the roped area had laid claim to tables by covering them with their stuff. Then they left their tables to enjoy the party. The end result was that most of the tables went unused for most of the party.

If you weren’t lucky enough to claim a table, you had a few choices. You could approach a group when they were at their table and ask to share. You could just go ahead and use a table in spite of the fact it was covered with someone else’s stuff. Or you could fend for yourself without a table. We opted for the last option. There wasn’t a lot of space on the ground to spread out without getting stepped on. So we temporarily set up camp on top of a garbage can.

This annoyed a guest at a nearby table who wanted to throw something away. He reached around me and threw his napkin in the trash while muttering something. The garbage can shook and my Jedi Mind Trick slid off. Naturally, it landed right on me. This is when I cleaned myself off and switched to bottled water. I quickly ate the four desserts I had selected and decided it wasn’t worth the effort going back for more.
So the dessert party was also a bit of a mixed bag. Had I been more assertive in securing a table or if there had been more tables provided, the experience could have been vastly improved. However, the girls had a great time dancing and the fireworks were pretty spectacular.

Would I buy the Feel the Force Package again? Absolutely not. But I might recommend it to others. If you are the type who would wait two hours to secure a place to watch the parade, you will get a better, less crowded viewing area with the package than without. If you enjoy alcoholic beverages, you can easily make up your money here as the drinks are quite expensive when purchased individually. There is value to be had in the package. But for my money, it fell short of what was advertised.

After the fireworks, we had two choices. There was a 10:30 showing of Fantasmic or we could head home. We were all pretty exhausted, so no on wanted to go see Fantasmic. Of course we knew that meant dealing with a crowded bus station. Sure enough, the bus station was a mad house. The first bus pulled up. It took 15-20 minutes to load up all the scooters. Then the bus pulled away and the line had barely moved. Another bus pulled up almost immediately. Another 15-20 minutes to load up scooters and that bus loaded up and pulled away. Finally, we were able to board the third bus that arrived to take us back to our resort.

lebeau · Jun 11, 2014

StarBurst said:
good to hear..
the rate was too good not to book when i did.
i like the fact i can do the boat back and forth to DTD

Later in the trip report, I have a bit on the boat to DTD including pictures of the view along the way. It's not the most efficient way to get to and from DTD. Especially with all the construction going on. But it is much more relaxing than the buses. It's a nice alternative to have available.

mrdrift · Jun 11, 2014

Great report, great information on the Feel the Force package. Sounds like they are selling to many spots just to make extra money from the event. My friends did the package last week and said the same thing that you have. Me personally, I would have cleared off a table so the kids had a place to set there desserts and eat.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

mrdrift said:
Great report, great information on the Feel the Force package. Sounds like they are selling to many spots just to make extra money from the event. My friends did the package last week and said the same thing that you have. Me personally, I would have cleared off a table so the kids had a place to set there desserts and eat.

Here's my understanding on what happened with th Feel the Force Packages. First, Disney offered the VIP experience for $600/day (if I am not mistaken). Those expensive packages apparently didn't sell as well as Disney would have liked. Because a couple of weeks later, they started offering th Feel the Force package which was basically the parade and fireworks components of the VIP package sold a la carte. For $50/person, Disney would fill up th empty space at th reserved VIP viewing areas. Ofcourse, you have to sell lot more $50 ticket than you o $600 tickets if you want to hit your revenue goal. But yeah, bottom line is they sold more spots than they actually had.

I probably should have been more assertive with the tables. But no one was espcially interested in th desserts anyway after our big dinner a couple of hours ago. The girls spent most of their time dancing. The problem was, the only time someone was at their table so you could politely ask to share is when they were actually using it. The rest of the time, the tables were unoccupied and covered in other people's stuff. I didn't feel right moving their stuff without asking permission. At th end of the day, I could have done more, but I didn't feel like it was worth it. I also don't feel like Disney shoul put guests in that position where they have to feel uncomfortable in order to take advantge of what they paid for.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

The next morning was another big day for us. We were going to be meeting up with some of Mindy’s friends. Mindy had made friends with a co-worker named Janelle while training for a job several years ago. Since that time, Mindy and Janelle kept in touch. She and her husband Larry began sending package to our kids for every holiday. Seriously, you name it. We haven’t gotten an Arbor Day package yet, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to get one.

Since Larry and Janelle live in Florida, we had never met. But the girls wanted to meet their benefactors. So since we were going to be in the area, they decided to spend a day with us at the Magic Kingdom. Rather than try to meet us at the park, they agreed to meet us at the Port Orleans lobby. Then we would all ride the bus to the park together.

The plan was for me to go to the lobby to get them a parking pass and then meet them when they arrived. The girls would take the extra time to get ready. I was able to get the parking pass from the castmember at the lobby easily. She showed all the enthusiasm I expect from a castmember in that position (in contrast to the girl who checked us in). So we were off to a good start.

Then I got a phone call from Larry. He was waiting in the parking lot directly opposite the bus station. Perfect! That should be easy to find. Even for me. I’m really bad at directions. I wandered out into the parking lot and I saw no sign of Larry and Janelle. I called back for more information. Larry described what he was looking at. He said he saw a lot of construction. I knew immediately what had happened. They were at the lobby for Port Orleans French Quarter. We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

It should be noted that this was probably largely our fault. Larry had sent us the address to confirm before we met up. I suspect we confirmed the wrong address. Fortunately, Larry is better with directions than I am. They were able to find their way to Port Orleans Riverside. The girls arrived shortly afterwards and we were all introduced.

Our new friendship was about to face a trial by fire. Namely, the Disney buses. The bus stop was mobbed already. We watched several buses for each of the other three parks come and go. Finally, two Magic Kingdom buses pulled up. The first one started loading scooters. As always, this is a 10-15 minute process. While this was going on, the second bus started loading passengers from the back of the line. This meant that guests who had just arrived were being boarded first.

Eventually, the first bus started loading too. It loaded from the front of the line. Both buses soon filled up leaving those of us in the middle of the line stranded. One guest who was stranded with us became frustrated and asked the second bus driver why he loaded from the back of the line. The bus driver responded that he was just helping out. He assured us that Disney was aware of the situation and another bus would be along soon. It was not especially comforting. But those of us who were left behind bonded over our mutual frustration.

Fortunately, a third bus did pull up less than five minutes later. And since there weren’t many of us left, we ended up with a less crowded bus as a reward for our wait. Larry and I still ended up standing. But I think all the girls got to sit down.

We didn’t have any FastPasses until later in the day, so we were basically winging it in the morning. Mindy wanted to head to Frontierland first thing. So that is where we went. Along the way, she became distracted by the Haunted Mansion. So we decided to ride that instead. Kara protested immediately. I asked a castmember if they could do a child swap for the Mansion and they said they could not because their was no height restriction.

Larry offered to take Kara to the Tea Cups instead. Kara quickly agreed and off they went. As soon as Josie saw an out, she decided to jump on board. She wanted to ride the Tea Cups too. I didn’t want Larry to have to take both girls by himself, so I offered to come along. Mindy and Janelle stayed to ride the Haunted Mansion while Larry and I went to Fantasyland to ride the Tea Cups.

Along the way, Larry repeatedly asked the girls not to “spin him crazy”. He did so in such a way that encouraged the girls to do exactly that. They thought the idea of making Larry and me sick was an excellent one.

Kara expressed her desire to board a pink tea-cup. As soon as we were able, Larry bolted for the nearest pink tea-cup. Come hell or high water, he was going to get Kara her first choice.

We all boarded our pink tea-cup and the girls immediately set about spinning us crazy. And laughing hysterically as they did so.

I have ridden the Tea Cups with both girls before. And I know the limits of their spinning ability. Let me just say that they have never made me feel ill on the ride before. But this time, with Larry’s mad assistance, I think I turned a little green in the gills. The girls loved it as you can see from the picture. Since I didn’t actually get sick, I was okay. But next time, I’m riding the Mansion instead!

As I regained my senses, I saw Alice and the White Rabbit approaching the exit to the ride. Kara in particular really likes Alice in Wonderland. Since we have never met these characters before, I wanted to get in line. We headed right from the exit to the meet and greet. It turns out we made it just in time. The cast member who handles Alice and the Rabbit turned away every guest who approached after us.

This didn’t stop people from begging and pleading. While we waited, we heard every story imaginable. “Please, for the birthday girl!” One mom just told her kids to run up to the characters certain that the castmember would be unable to turn them away. The castmember politely told everyone to return in 20 minutes when there would be another set.

When our we finally got our chance, Alice started going on about roses are green and violets are purple. She asked the girls if that was right expecting the girls to correct them. The girls either didn’t know the rhyme or got tongue-tied again. Eventually, the White Rabbit helped correct Alice about the colors of flowers. We got our pictures and autographs just as Mindy and Janelle returned from the Haunted Mansion.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

Next, we decided to return to Gaston’s Tavern. The girls were hungry and cinnamon rolls sounded like they would hit the spot. When we visited Gaston’s Tavern on our first day, the main man was a no-show. So I was excited to see him hanging out in the courtyard today. I told everyone else to go get their food and I would wait in line for Gaston.

The line was a bit on the long side. But Gaston was so funny, I didn’t mind waiting at all. He kept telling people that it was their pleasure to meet him or that this was the highlight of their lives. He kept the entire crowd in stitches. At one point, he met with a guest who clearly had some kind of disability. Gaston walked with the guest into the Tavern and they hung out in their for a while before Gaston came strolling back out. Very cool.

Of all the meet and greets we had planned, Josie was looking forward to Gaston the most. I had prepared her to show Gaston her muscles. When it came time to meet him, she didn’t say a word. She just flashed her bicep. Gaston was not impressed.

He demonstrated how it was done. Then he waited for Josie to speak. She didn’t. So he cleared his throat and asked if he could help her. She didn’t respond so he did it again. Finally, she asked him to sign her autograph book.

He responded with, “Will you sign my autograph book what?” Josie asked again this time adding a “please”. Gaston was pleased with her manners.

He said we need to have manners. Otherwise, we were nothing but savage beasts. And no one wants to be beastly.

Once he was done signing autographs, he walked over to me and handed me both girls’ books. He then held out the pen at arm’s length and dropped it on top of the books in a dismissive gesture. He told Mindy that Belle could sign on the page above his signature. When we looked at the page, he had left a blank followed by a heart and then his name so that it read “_____ Loves Gaston”. We would later present this page to Belle.

Finally, Gaston started positioning Josie’s hands above her head. Once they were in position, he rested his bicep on her hands and thanked her for holding his muscles. Then he turned to the crowd and said, “See that smile? Those pink cheeks? That’s what it looks like when girls fall in love with me. You’re never too young to fall in love with Gaston.”

It turns out, Josie didn’t fall in love with Gaston. She’s mad at him still. But Mindy and I thought he was a highlight of the trip.

After the meet and greet, I joined the others who were eating outside. Sure enough, there were uneaten cinnamon rolls. I didn’t bother ordering my own food because I figured I could fill up on leftovers. Once we had all had our fill, we picked up and moved on.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

Our first FastPass of the day was for Peter Pan’s Flight. We had a little time to kill, so we repeated Small World and Mickey’s Philharmagic. At first, Kara resisted Peter Pan’s Flight. But eventually, she agreed to ride with Larry and Janelle.

After our flight through Neverland, we headed to Frontierland. Originally, we had planned to have lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus before leaving Fantasyland. But thanks to our late breakfast, no one was hungry. So we decided to kill some time with the Country Bears.

Larry had mentioned that it was one of his favorite attractions. The girls had never seen the show before. I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid. Mindy had never seen it either. Everyone enjoyed the Country Bears Jamboree, but Mindy commented that the best part for her was watching Larry and Janelle crack up.

After the show was over, we still had about an hour before the return time for our FastPasses. Josie said she was getting hungry, so we decided to grab some lunch. Pecos Bill’s was close by. But it was mobbed and there was nothing on the menu that Josie liked. We didn’t want to cross all the way back to Fantasyland, so we settled for Columbia Harbor House.

I had long wanted to eat at Columbia Harbor House. But the smell of fish put Mindy off. So we had never eaten there. I had read enough about it to know that the upstairs typically had more seating. And sure enough, there were lots of empty tables up there.

I ordered the lobster roll with came with chips. I’m not a big fan of chips, so I shared them with the kids. The sandwich was delicious and filling. Josie got macaroni and cheese which she didn’t care for. I tasted it and it was very good. With Josie, it’s like flipping a coin. On another day at another time, she probably would have licked her plate clean. But I can’t really blame her for being sick of mac and cheese. A vegetarian eating off the kid’s menu doesn’t have a lot of choices.

Mindy and Kara both got chicken nuggets. Janelle ordered a salad and Larry got fish and chips. Everyone else enjoyed their meals. Josie, who was hungry in the first place, ate off of everyone else’s plates. There were grapes, apple slices, french fries and my chips (which she also didn’t like). For dessert, Mindy got a chocolate cake which Josie happily ate. I got the seasonal blueberry cobbler which was a tasty finish to my meal. Larry and Janelle weren’t on the meal plan. But due to an error, they ended up with a cobbler as well.

We all enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere upstairs at Columbia Harbor House. Eventually, I checked the time and was surprised to see we only had 15 minutes left on our FastPass window. So we decided to hurry over to Big Thunder Mountain before our window expired. I knew, theoretically, that we were supposed to have a grace period to arrive late. But I had also heard of castmembers refusing to admit people during the grace period. I didn’t want to take any chances.

No sooner did we arrive at the entrance than we heard them announce that the ride had closed. The skies were overcast and apparently there was thunder somewhere in a ten-mile radius. So Disney was shutting down all the outdoor rides. Our FastPass was replaced with a FastPass that was good all day and could be redeemed at one of six attractions including Big Thunder. So we weren’t too let down.

Since Splash and Big Thunder were closed, we decided to make our way to Pirates of the Caribbean. Everyone else in Frontierland and Adventureland had the same idea. The standby line was posted at 25 minutes, but it seemed to be growing by the minute. We could have used our FastPass to skip the line. But with the storm approaching, we weren’t in any hurry. The idea was to be inside when the storm hit so we waited in the standby line.

Kara wasn’t too sure about Pirates. The line was dark and scary. There was a drop. She was not a fan. To keep her mind off the things she didn’t like, I told both girls they would score triple points if they could find all three Captain Jack Sparrow’s. This occupied both girls through the ride despite the fact Mindy pointed him out every single time.

When exited the ride, the storm had passed. Skies were clear blue. We thought about doubling back to Frontierland to use our FastPasses, but it was just about time for the parade. We took the kids for potty breaks just in case. Any time you expect Kara to sit still for 20 minutes or more, it’s a good idea to squeeze in a potty break just to be on the safe side. Then we made our way to the hub for the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

Our experience for this parade was very different from our experience with the Star Wars Weekend Motorcade. For that parade, we paid upwards of $50 per person and arrived an hour early and we still couldn’t get a good view of the parade. For Festival of Fantasy, we had free FastPasses. We showed up five minutes before the start time and still got perfect views.

I have heard some people say that they would not waste FastPasses on a parade over a ride. For Festival of Fantasy, I would make an exception. Since it is a new parade, it draws huge crowds. As the best parade on property, it is definitely worth seeing. This was a blazing hot summer afternoon and we saved ourselves a blistering wait in the sun without sacrificing our few of a wonderful show.

The Festival of Fantasy Parade is a celebration of New Fantasyland. Just about everything in Fantasyland is represented in some way in the parade. And just about everything in the parade can be found somewhere in Fantasyland. It just so happens that this is a recipe for including some of Disney’s most popular characters on eye-popping new floats.

The floats have more kinetic energy than most parade floats at Disney World. That’s basically a fancy way of saying that things move. On the princess float that leads the parade, the princesses and their princes stand on rotating platforms. The downside of this is that it can be hard to get a really good view of your favorite princess as the platform rotates the other way.

The most popular princesses in the parade are Anna and Elsa from Frozen. These characters were actually a last-minute addition to the show. Originally, this float was going to feature Aurora. But given the popularity of Frozen, the decision was made to pull Sleeping Beauty and replace her with the latest Disney princesses. The wait times for the Frozen meet and greet are so long that there is a sign in front reminding guests that the characters can also be seen in this parade. When the platform rotated from Tiana to the Frozen characters, every single adult in the parade viewing area raised a camera or device and snapped a picture.

Next up was the Tangled float. To transition between the two, the mime from the Snuggly Duckling pranced around with some colorfully attired parade dancers.

The Tangled float features quite a bit of motion. It is shaped like a viking boat with Rapunzel front and center. Behind her are swinging weapons. Flynn Ryder and various thugs from the Snuggly Duckling ride on these dangling axes.

Here’s a shot mid-swing for all you Eugene fans out there.

Here is a side view that shows the attention to detail in this parade. There is just so much to see. Rapunzel’s hair winds its way through the entire float. There are swords, barrells and of course frying pans. Flynn’s nemesis, Maximus, is riding opposite him on the swinging axe.

Next up was Ariel in a float inspired by the Under the Sea number. I am going to go ahead and say that this float is more interesting than the corresponding scene from the Little Mermaid ride it represents in Fantasyland.

Sebastian leads the way in a fish-drawn conch shell.

Following the Little Mermaid was a very elaborate Peter Pan float. At the front of the float is a giant Skull Rock.

There is a rainbow behind Skull Rock. Sitting atop the rainbow is a flying Jolly Roger manned by Peter Pan and Wendy.

Beneath the rainbow, that old codfish Captain Hook dangles on a swinging anchor.

On the opposite end of the rainbow, Tinkerbell sits atop a flower.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

Celtic dancers signal the arrival of the Brave float.

Princess Merida rides atop a giant set of bagpipes.

Her bear brothers can be seen at various points on the float. There is also an archery target and a plate of the cookies that turned her brothers into bears.

The fairies from Sleeping Beauty glided into view followed by Prince Philip.

The Prince battled some scary-looking stilt-walkers while Maleficent approached in dragon form.

This crow got up close and personal with the crowd.

Meanwhile, Prince Philip faced off against the giant mechanical dragon.

I was positioned at the entrance to Liberty Square. This is a terrific place to view Festival of Fantasy because you can watch the floats as they approach. It gave me maximum dragon time.

The fire-breathing dragon is easily one of the highlights of the parade.

I think this one may have singed the castle.

Next came the stars of Disney’s newest ride, the seven dwarfs.

They were doing their silly dance with Snow White.

The Mad Hatter was in the mix representing the Mad Tea Party.

The next float is a bit of a mashup. A very festive-looking Monstro leads the way.

Pinocchio rides atop the giant whale while Figaro plays in the background.

The float includes circus elements as well as dancing animals from Fantasia. I think these are supposed to be the dolls from It’s a Small World. And Dumbo rides on Monstro’s tail.

One of the chipmunks, not sure which one, walked up to Josie and got her nose.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

Bringing up the rear of the parade were Mickey and Minnie in a hot air balloon flanked by hippos from Fantasia.

The Festival of Fantasy Parade was absolutely a winner. The one shortcoming was the music. I can’t say that it was bad. It just didn’t stick with me. Perhaps with repeat viewings, the music will become a favorite. But given that this parade runs in the middle of the afternoon when we tend to be outside of the parks, repeat viewings are unlikely.

lebeau · Jun 12, 2014

StarBurst said:
pretty fun trip report!

Thanks. We had a pretty fun time.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

As much as we enjoyed the parade, it was also brutally hot. Our feet were starting to ache. So we wanted to get in some air conditioning and off our feet as soon as possible.

The obvious solution since we were already on the border of Adventureland was the Enchanted Tiki Room. Like the Country Bears, the kids had never seen this show. I hadn’t seen it since I was little. From what I was getting, Larry and Janelle had a fondness for old school Disney. So this seemed like a perfect fit.
Reactions to the show were about as expected. The girls didn’t have a strong opinion one way or another. They liked sitting down in the air conditioning. That was the primary appeal for them.

Kara had been wanting to ride the Magic Carpets. Earlier, we had put off her request because the line was long and the heat was brutal. But by this point, there was virtually no wait. Having gotten out of the heat for a serenade from the Tiki Birds, we were ready to brave the Adventureland spinner.

After that, Larry suggested the Jungle Cruise. The wait wasn’t too, too bad. And it was in the shade. So we agreed to queue up.

This was our second cruise of the trip and this one was much better than the first. The skippers used about 80% of the same material. But our second skipper’s delivery was better. Everyone chuckled throughout the ride.

Having exhausted Adventureland, we considered returning to Frontierland to redeem our FastPasses on Splash or Big Thunder. But the skies were overcast and there was talk that the outdoor rides were about to be closed again. We didn’t want to walk all the way over there only to be turned away again. So we decided to go to Tomorrowland instead.

The Monsters Inc Laugh Floor seemed like just the thing. It was indoors so it wouldn’t be closed if the storms rolled in. Plus, it was air-conditioned and we could sit down. Just what the doctor ordered.
The show was funny as always. Mindy was disappointed because neither of our girls were picked to participate. The first time we saw the show, Josie was selected to be Boo. So Mindy just expects the girls t be in the show every time. They were actually seen on the screen quite a bit because we were sitting behind someone who was chosen. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Mindy. She wants her kids in the spotlight. She was also mildly annoyed that the show no longer retold the story from the first Monsters Inc. movie. This eliminated the role of Boo which decreases the chances of our girls being picked to be in the show. Therefore, it was a bad change in her mind.

We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations, so we decided to visit attractions that would keep us off our feet and wouldn’t involve a long wait. Fortunately, there were a couple of attractions in Tomorrowland that fit the bill. First up was the Peoplemover. Kara was leery of riding pretty much any ride after her experience on the Tower of Terror. So I promised her that the Peoplemover was not scary at all. She agreed to ride under the condition that she sit between Larry and Janelle.

Turns out, the Peoplemover proved much scarier than I remembered. The pitch black portions of the ride didn’t just scare the kids. Mindy’s claustrophobia kicked in. So Peoplemover joins Spaceship Earth on the list of rides that we must never ride again.

We thought about redeeming our FastPasses from earlier in the day at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. But after the frights of the Peoplemover, rides were pretty much out of the question. We saw Buzz near the entrance, but Kara wasn’t interested in non-princess meet and greets either. Not that I wanted to wait in that line. No, the obvious next step was to introduce the girls to the Carousel of Progress.

We had some technical difficulties with the rotating theater during our show. So Mindy was on edge. I assured her that despite the fact the theater rotated, the exits still worked. On the whole, she was not a fan. She turned to me very early on and commented that the narrator was “a jerk”. Well, yeah, he is. Josie, on the other hand, was fascinated with the rotating theater and enjoyed the show.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

Finally, it was time to check in for dinner. We were all beat, but more than one person commented that I was clearly the most tired of all. I was dragging. I couldn’t wait to have dinner and bring our day to a close.

When we checked in, we were given a pager. Everyone decided to take another potty break while we waited to be seated. As soon as they entered the restroom, the pager started blinking. I was told that we would have to wait for everyone to regroup before we could be seated. So I waited. When everyone was done, I approached the front desk about being seated. Apparently, they no longer had anyone to seat us. So we waited some more. Eventually, we were seated.

Crystal Palace is a buffet. It’s also a character meal featuring the characters from Winnie the Pooh. Due to Mindy’s extreme dislike of Winnie the Pooh, we have never eaten here. In fact, we have never met any of these characters prior to this trip.

The food was surprisingly good for a buffet. As frequently happens when we are on the dining plan, I wasn’t especially hungry. But I did enjoy the beef with horseradish sauce and a creamy corn chowder. Everyone found something they liked including our picky eater. That’s the appeal of the buffet set-up.

The characters came around quickly. The interactions were nothing special. They signed the autograph book and posed for pictures. That was about it.

At the end of the meal, we had a clash of wills. Mindy was determined to pick up the tab. Larry was equally determined not to allow it. Mindy decided to conspire with the waiter to get the bill without Larry noticing. This meant we couldn’t really discuss the details of the bill at the table. There seemed to be some confusion over the use of the dining plan once again. Our waiter came back to our table again and asked me to fill out the bill a second time. I noticed something didn’t look right, but between being tired and being sneaky, I didn’t drag it out any further.

I won’t keep you in suspense. Our last two table service meals were not rung up correctly. Apparently, waiters are having some problems with the new system incorporating magic bands into the dining plan. I had to stop by the concierge desk the next morning to sort everything out.

Our dinner was over in time for us to exit the park before the parade started. This allowed us to beat the post-parade rush at the bus stops. To get Mindy back for her sneakiness with the dinner bill, Larry snuck some money to the girls to use at the gift shop. Sneakiness begets more sneakiness.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

We were at the halfway point of our trip and we had hit the wall. Even I knew we couldn’t keep up this pace any longer. Our original plans called for a full day at Epcot followed by two full days at the Magic Kingdom before we left. But we had seen and done most of what we wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom already. There was no way we could fill two more days at the Magic Kingdom.

So it was time to re-evaluate our plans. Dinner for tomorrow was at Akershus. So that day was more or less locked in at Epcot. Our FastPasses were all scheduled for morning, but it was a simple matter to move them to the afternoon. Dinner the next day was at Chef Mickey’s. The intent was to catch a monorail from the Magic Kingdom to dinner. However, we could do pretty much the same thing from Epcot. So the new plan was to schedule two half days at Epcot.

Instead of setting an alarm, we were going to sleep in. We would eat breakfast either at Port Orleans French Quarter or Downtown Disney. Then we would shop. I never seem to build enough shopping time into the schedule according to Mindy and the girls. Eventually, we would make our way to Epcot for dinner.

This plan made me slightly nervous. We had done something similar in 2010 and it didn’t turn out well. In fact, it was the worst day we have ever had at Disney World. I won’t rehash the whole ordeal. But long story short, we got caught in a rainstorm at Epcot and ended up being charged a cancellation fee when we couldn’t make it to dinner at Akershus. All the elements were in place for another disaster including dinner reservations at Akershus and a weather forecast that included thunderstorms.

The next morning, I checked my credit card activity on-line. Sure enough, our waiter at Crystal Palace had charged the entire meal to my credit card instead of redeeming table service credits. I couldn’t really blame him because our secrecy had created some confusion. So I went to the concierge desk to straighten things out. They refunded my credit card for four of the six meals and redeemed the correct number of table service credits. Then they handed me a print-out of our remaining credits.

I thanked them and reviewed the print-out as I walked away. Something jumped out at me. We had 6 remaining adult table service credits and only 5 remaining child credits. Unless one of the kids went out and had a table service meal by themselves, that couldn’t be right. So I turned around and explained all this to the concierge. Sure enough, the waiter at the 50′s Prime Time Cafe had charged my account with someone else’s meal. Apparently, someone staying at the Art of Animation Resort received the benefit of an extra table service meal. The concierge cleared it all up for me.

With that out of the way, we were free to head to Downtown Disney. Mindy received a text from Janelle saying how much they enjoyed meeting us yesterday. She said they wished they could see us again today. So we invited them to meet us at Wolfgang Puck’s Express.

When we arrived, we realized that they had walked to the wrong Wolfgang Puck’s. It seems like every time we tried to meet them, we picked a spot with two locations. We killed some time.

I took this picture thinking it would make a nice Christmas card. I have since been informed that you can’t have kids in shorts on a Christmas card.

Once Upon a Toy had not opened yet much to the girls’ chagrin. They had money burning a hole in their pockets.

I told them they could play in the fountain as long as they didn’t get soaked.

Sometimes, the simple things are the most fun.

Once we met up with Larry and Janelle, we headed to Wolfgang Puck Express for breakfast. I had the breakfast pizza which was every bit as good as the regular pizzas that Wolfgang Puck is famous for. The waiter suggested some hot sauce which was an excellent addition. Mindy and Kara got traditional breakfasts with eggs, meats and potatoes. Josie ordered chocolate chip waffles which she loved.

After breakfast, the stores were open. So we went shopping for souvenirs we didn’t really need. I’m told it’s what tourists do.

For a moment, Josie turned to the dark side of the force. But only for a moment.

Finally, we found the Holy Grail. Frozen toys! This was the first time we had seen Frozen toys all trip. Occasionally, we would find a book or a t-shirt. But they couldn’t keep the toys on the shelves. Each doll was $20 which was the amount the girls had received from Larry and Janelle. There was a brief debate over who would get Anna and who would get Elsa (they both wanted Elsa) but they eventually agreed to share. Surprisingly, they have done so.

We bought a couple of other souvenirs for friends and family back home. We also bought Josie a second autograph book as the one she had selected was almost full already. Since some of the gifts were breakable, we opted to have them shipped back to our room. That way, if anything happened to them, it would be Disney’s fault and not ours.

We hung on to the Anna and Elsa dolls so there girls could play with them on the way back to the resort.

Trip Report *Completed* Lebeau Family 2014 Disney World Trip Report

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Trip Report Completed Lebeau Family 2014 Disney World Trip Report