Highs and Lows in Disney: My Mouseketeer's Second trip to the World (1/18 - 1/30)

Well, I’m writing another trip report. This trip has had so many highs and lows (and I mean that in many ways).

Anyhow, this trip involved many more players than our last trip.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=357959

First of all it’s myself, my DH and our 17 month old, Anastasia. We also went down at the same time as my in-laws, and DH’s two brothers and their wives, as well as my Mom, so it was really a full house.

Without any further ado…

Sunday January 18th

We left way early for the airport because we were paranoid that there would be traffic left over from Obama’s entourage as they followed him to the capital, but there was nothing. DH’s brother got there a full hour after us and we all got on the plane just fine. They amused Anastasia for us right up till when we took off.

She was wearing her airplane shirt again, and again we got many comments on how cute it was. Anastasia made a friend in the airport… a little girl wearing a bandanna was drawing with markers and we got to talking with her. Anastasia wandered off and I said goodbye… well, a few minutes later she tracked us down and said that she wanted Anastasia to have her picture. It wasn’t till we arrived at the Orlando airport and saw the greeter for that family did I draw the line between her head scarf and why she was going to Disney. She was on her Make-a-Wish trip L I nearly cried. But I smiled at them, thanked her for the picture and wished her a fun time in Disney.

The flight itself was interesting. Thank goodness there was an extra seat open for Anastasia. She sat in the carseat the whole plane ride. No explosive poo, no giant meltdowns. My bag of toys kept her involved for a while, as did my extensive bag of snacks. The only problems weren’t really her fault. First of all, I totally forgot about the whole pressure difference thing when I handed her the sippy cup of Pediasure to drink (which I totally snuck by security by putting it in a baby bottle…hehehe) When I pushed back the top closure to release the straw the liquid rushed up and out creating a little fountain that drenched Marc. Poor thing was just covered in Pediasure.


Uncle Taylor and Aunt Sarah

Secondly my borrowed laptop totally bummed out on us and wouldn’t play Finding Nemo for Anastasia. We finally got it running on Marc’s laptop, but not after much consternation and getting up to get stuff out of the overhead compartment.

After we touched down, we got our bags, I changed a diaper, and we stood in a horribly long rental car line. And then we were on our way

 

[DisneyBunny]

Monday, January 26

This morning was our first day at the Studios this trip. There’s just not as much for a toddler to do there. But we were spending the day with the cousins, so it made it fun.

We got there right at opening and made a beeline for Fastpasses for Toy Story. I managed to secure them for the three adults in our party, but unfortunately DH’s brother and family got cut off by a zillion Brazilian tour groups and got Fastpasses for sometime during the kid’s naptime. Fooey. Well, there went going on the ride as a big group.

Once we extricated ourselves from the mob in Pixar-land, we meandered around in front of the hat, and saw Minnie! The two cousins were hard up for some character attention. I also think Anastasia was a bit jealous of cousin Simon being there. She’s used to getting all the love for herself. Girl’s got to learn to share!

"Mommy, what's he doing with Minnie?"

"You go over there..."

"I love Minnie..."

"Finally! Some Minnie time!"

We got in line for the first show of Playhouse Disney on stage, and Anastasia was thankfully kept interested by the video monitors of Ooh and Aah in the queue. It wasn’t crowded at all inside the theater, and we weren’t once told to scoot up so that we’re bumping into someone else’s back in front of us. We’ll definitely hit the first showing again! Sadly, we were in the defective section, as we got neither bubbles or leaves showered down on us, much to Anastasia’s disappointment. But otherwise she loved the show. She even sat through the entire thing, unlike when we saw it in September. All three kids enjoyed themselves a lot (despite how they look in this pic:

"Mommy, sit DOWN, you're embarrassing me!"

After the show we meandered around to see if we could get into Star Tours, but with a 40 minute wait, it wasn’t worth while. Finally our group’s fastpass time was up, and we all headed back to the craziness near the queue. It was determined that myself, my mom and my nephew Ben were to ride the ride, while the rest stayed out with the little ones. It was a lot of fun.

While we were inside, the girl got to meet the soldiers from Toy Story. I was told that it was cute. These pics are from SIL.


"Who are you?? And where's your FACE??"

giving high fives

"Okay, I like you..."

After we regrouped, it was determined that it would not work out to let the others ride, so we all headed our separate ways back to get lunch and give the little ones a nap.

 

[DisneyBunny]

After lunch, my mom and I headed back to the Studios while Anastasia took her nap. DH was going to meet up with us for dinner, until then Mom and I were on our own! Woo! Adult rides!

We got right back in line for Toy Story, and Mom improved her score. I did not.


Mom's new favorite ride

On the way in, I saw this. Anyone know what it stands for? I was trying to figure out if it was a Futurama reference. Not sure.

Anyways, we then headed over to Tower of Terror, which had a MUCH shorter line than it did when we were there in the morning. We walked on twice in a row.

After this, we headed back towards the entrance to leave, but we were stopped by the mobs of people waiting for the Block Party Bash. So we decided to check it out, since this would be my only chance the whole trip to see a parade.

It was cute. But otherwise, I kinda miss the cars parade. I was a little unsure how “interactive” it would be… I dunno. I guess I was expecting more involvement from the crowd. We were right near the Monsters Inc section. After a while, we had had enough and meandered through the shops to get to the exit. While I was leaving I saw this:

Is he cool or what? I would have much preferred the Bugs Life section.. how cool! I love stiltwalkers.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Mom and I took the boat to Epcot, enjoying the scenery along the way. We headed back to the entrance of Epcot to meet up with DH and the girl. We HAD to ride Figment and Nemo of course!


I snapped this on our way back through the rose garden. I think the girl has me trained. Now I'm starting to stop and sniff the flowers! :lol:

The best of a dozen shots of Anastasia in a clamshell over the course of the trip.. this one turned out the best. :brick:

After those two rides, we headed to Japan for dinner in Tokyo Dining. YUM. Oh my… so much goodness. We decided it would be cheaper to order a few different kinds of sushi rather than a combo platter off of the menu. This was a pricey dinner, but SO worth it. We all left stuffed.

Getting chopstick lessons from Daddy

Spicy Philly roll. Pure goodness.

Awesome volcano roll

I totally forget what kind of roll this was... all I know is that it had a ton of Wasabi and was pure yumminess. There was almost a full ounce of tobiko on top of it!

Afterwards we all waddled down towards the car, for a good night's rest.

 

[Nicole220]

Oh! You're back with the TR...yay! Love it.

 

[Ellen Ripley]

awesome report!

 

[DisneyBunny]

I figure I had better finish this today. We leave for Disney on Saturday and I refuse to have two open trip reports! So here we go! It’s going to be a bit abbreviated, but I’m finishing it!

Tuesday, January 27th

Off to the Magic Kingdom today! We asked for the front seats in the monorail. Anastasia looooved this. Much preferable to riding in the regular parts of the monorail with all the peons. She was especially happy to see all the monorails coming up next to us. She even started using a new “word” – “Mo-wai” which we took to mean monorail.

"Here it comes!"

Waving to the people going by

We saw the opening show and headed to Fantasyland for our normal tour of rides – Peter Pan, Small World etc…

"What's this ribbon thingy?"

Then we headed over to Adventureland for the first time in the trip to see the Tiki Birds. She recognized the song, and liked the first half of the show, but it wore on a bit too long for her.

Da birds! Da birds!

We rode on Pirates and got stuck in the longest backup I’ve ever seen. All the way back to the beginning of the burning town scene. It was fun for a while, but we all started to get antsy, especially the toddler. The people sitting behind us kept taking flash pictures to kill time, and I kept asking them to stop. They ignored me. sigh.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b...GrVi2bNQe3nwI/cC/f=0/ps=50/r=0/rx=550/ry=400/

 

[DisneyBunny]

Finally we unloaded and headed out. I bought the girl a small rubber duck that was a pirate Donald. It resides in our bathtub now.

A Jack sighting!

We wandered around after we finally got off and headed towards tomorrowland… I got a new personal best score on Buzz.

Stopped to smell more roses…

And listened to the Dapper Dans for a bit. We then all headed back to the room for lunch and her nap. Afterwards, Mom and I headed back to the Magic Kingdom for some time to ourselves.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Mom and I headed for tomorrowland again, for a quick ride on Space Mountain, and then a relaxing tour on the TTA…

Except that as we cruised past Space Mountain, on our way to the Carousel of Progress we stopped. Just stopped. I was happy. Gave us a chance to people watch for a bit. I figured it would be up and about in a few minutes.

Which soon stretched into almost 25 minutes. We thanked our lucky stars that we didn’t have Anastasia with us. I would have been clawing at the walls if I had to explain to her why we weren’t getting up and doing anything. Still we relaxed. We watched the masses of people from Brazil swarm around under us. I was so glad we stopped where we did. I felt soooo bad for all those people I know were stuck on Space Mountain in the dark with nothing to look at to occupy their time. Goodness. I’m a decent waiter, but that would have tested my limits.

After telling us about a hundred million times not to stand up because the ride could continue any moment, I finally saw someone walking the rails. They were rounding us up to evacuate us all. Yay! I’ve always wanted to be evaced off of a ride. Even if it’s just the TTA, I was thrilled. Sadly I think I was in the minority, as most of the people we encountered were kinda ticked off at having lost a half hour of their day sitting on the TTA.


Hello lady!

oooh! they're evacing!

Finally coming for us!

We were led the entire route along the CoP and Buzz, and finally down some stairs that let us out by the Noodle Station. We were given a free Fastpass for any ride for our troubles. I kept mine as a souvenir.

At this point it was getting late, so we headed down to the bus terminal to catch a ride to the Yacht and Beach Clubs for our dinner in the Cape May Café. That bus also took forever to come, and we just made it to our reservation in time.

This was the only pic I managed to take. Why is it that all the cupcakes on Disney property look so yummy, and end up being so dry and disappointing? But whatever was in the chocolate tear drop thing made up for it. Soooo good.

We headed out of Epcot and got in one more ride on Soarin. Then called it a night.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Wednesday, January 28th

Off to Epcot this morning!

Back to the Character Connection for some fuzzy love.


Cuddles with Pluto

Kisses for Minnie

She just wanted to rest her little head on Donald's bill...

Sharing a "Yay" moment with Goofy

Then back to ride “Mo!” again. She actually has a set of these books at home. I think she thought they were all hers.

"I'll take this one, and this one..."

We headed back early this day because it was finally warm enough to go swimming! Yay! We suited up and pool hopped to Sararoga’s pool. Love that zero entry area. It felt SO strange to be in the pool when we were wearing coats and hats only a few days before.

Splash splash splash

Getting a few last uses out of this bathing suit before she grows out of it! yay!

We all dried off and headed back for lunch and a nap. Then DH and I headed to the parks for some much needed adult time, while Mom stayed with the girl while she napped.

I finally got the top score on Buzz! Turns out that DH didn’t know that you could hit the same target more than once… he had been shooting at a different one each time for all these years. It’s not like I’ve been keeping that a secret or anything. I thought everyone knew! Guess not.

We hit quite a few rides, but I was too busy hiving fun to snap pictures. Then we picked up Mom and the girl, and headed over to Ft. Wilderness for dinner. It had gotten cooler as the day wore on, and it looked like it might rain. So we ditched the boat ride from Wilderness Lodge and decided to give the bus system in Ft. Wilderness a try. I had no idea it was such a big place! Fascinating to see all the RVs and cabins though. I had never been there before.

After we ate, we played on the little playground a bit, and visited (but dared not pet) the horses. Then it was time to catch the bus back to the car, and end another day.

 

[nibblesandbits]

I love those pics of Anya in the beginning of the MK day...she's looking so adorable in her dress!

 

[DisneyBunny]

Thursday, January 29th

Our last day in the parks. We headed to AK this morning. Sadly the speakers weren’t working on the into show, so the characters just smiled and waved.

Mom and I hustled over to Everest, and then went on Dinosaur and ITTBAB, while DH and Anastasia visited with characters and went on a walking trail.

Kisses for Eeyore

posing with Tigger

We all met up to see the first showing of the day of the Nemo Musical. This was one of the moments I had been waiting the whole trip for. She’s been listening to the Nemo soundtrack in the car as often as I can stand to hear it, and watching the opening number on Youtube every other day since we got back from our trip in September, so I knew I wanted her to see it. It runs a little long for her attention span, but I was willing to risk it. Mom and I found seats and Dh waited outside with her until they did last call. Then he found us, and the music began.

She got SO excited. Her eyes were as big as saucers. She knew this! She remembered! And most importantly she lasted the WHOLE show. All 20 some minutes of it. Wow. She did get a little fidgety at a few points where it gets slow in the show, but soon a big number brought her back in. I almost cried. So touching.

Dark, but you can see how captivated she was

As Anastasia sings it "Buuu Worrr"

When it was over we gave them a lot of clapping.

Then we hustled over to catch the next show of Festival of the Lion King. Sadly, we got separated from DH and Anastasia and ended up sitting in different sections of the theater. I was watching her from across the room as she slowly disintegrated. She couldn’t take it anymore, and DH had to get her out. Just too much sitting for one morning, I guess.

We called it a day and headed back for naps and lunch.

 

[DisneyBunny]

After lunch it started to rain. A lot. Mom decided she’d rather stay and pack a bit, so DH and the girl and I headed back to Epcot to meet up with the Mermaid and visit some more characters.

We had to ride Nemo again, of course, and get her picture with Bruce.

Then it was off to the UK for Mary Poppins, Alice and Pooh and Friends. Sadly she wanted nothing to do with any of them. Couldn’t care less about Alice and Mary, and even her beloved Pooh.

"I'm tired and wet, Mommy..."

We finally met up with the Mermaid and his charges in Morocco. Strangely enough, she looooved Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie. She doesn’t have the first clue who they are, but she fell right into his lap. She admired Jasmine’s sparkly outfit and bonked Genie on the nose a few times.

Big hugs for Aladdin

hanging out in his lap

making herself at home with her new family

I believe she was showing them how she knew where her fingers were..

At this point we all looked and felt like drowned rats. We made our way back to the hotel for one last sleep.

 

[DisneyBunny]

We all got up early the next morning, headed off to Epcot for one final ride on Nemo, then back out again. It’s becoming something of a tradition at this point.

Then off to the airport. Thankfully she slept most of the flight home. :sohappy:



So that’s it! It’s done!

And just in time for the next one! :hammer:

Sorry for taking so long with this one. Thank you all for sticking with me. :wave:

 

[DisneyBunny]

I love those pics of Anya in the beginning of the MK day...she's looking so adorable in her dress!

that's actually her birthday dress. It's got little Mickey's all over it. I guess I should be happy she's such a peanut and still gets to wear last summer's clothes!

 

[nibblesandbits]

that's actually her birthday dress. It's got little Mickey's all over it. I guess I should be happy she's such a peanut and still gets to wear last summer's clothes!

Oh! I see that now! So cute!!!

 

[joanna71985]

"I love Minnie..."

giving high fives

"Okay, I like you..."

Adorable!! She looks so cute with the characters.

This picture is adorable!!

We finally met up with the Mermaid and his charges in Morocco. Strangely enough, she looooved Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie. She doesn’t have the first clue who they are, but she fell right into his lap. She admired Jasmine’s sparkly outfit and bonked Genie on the nose a few times.

Big hugs for Aladdin

hanging out in his lap

making herself at home with her new family

I believe she was showing them how she knew where her fingers were..

The Aladdin pictures are so cute!! She looks right at home on Aladdin's lap.

 

[Steve-B]

wow - WDW in September, January and March? Will you adopt me, please?

We just won't tell the wife and kids . . . er - my wife and kids.

 

[DisneyBunny]

wow - WDW in September, January and March? Will you adopt me, please?

We just won't tell the wife and kids . . . er - my wife and kids.

Uhhh... yeah.

it's been a very fortunate year. After this next trip we're going on a long dry spell for a while. It's just the way the cards landed this year. :shrug:

 

[SoHkJerry]

Really good TR looks like you've had a great trip love the pictures ! :wave:

 

[joanna71985]

Hey Bunny, how long are you going to be in FL for this time? And do you know what you'll be doing? Maybe it could be possible to meet up.