Let Them Eat CAKE!!! Trip Report

bmarkelon · Aug 24, 2011

Oh my goodness gracious! Your princesses are so sweet. I just got chills and a little misty eyed watching your video. "Thank you Mommy! Thank-you." Sweetest thing ever. I am enjoying your TR....I hope to get one going on our own trip. We just got back too. And you are so right, about that walkway to the Magic Kingdom. We were at BLT and I have a hard time thinking about ever staying anywhere else!

Ariel484 · Aug 24, 2011

HouCuseChickie said:
...DH accused me of taking pics of EVERYTHING as I snapped pics of him, and water and trains while still in the Pensacola area...

I'm guessing your husband has never written a trip report before??? :lol:

And wow, that is a nice Super 8 motel...sheesh!

HouCuseChickie said:
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(ahhhh- there's our little ham)

OMG...LOVE this picture! Too cute!

Oh, and the one of Kendall looking at the castle...the one with Eeyore...aw heck, they're all great! :sohappy:

PartOfYourWorld · Aug 24, 2011

The video was just priceless

They are adorable!

Love the picture of Kendall just reflecting on the castle!

Can't wait to read the rest!

PolynesianPrincess · Aug 24, 2011

Kendall posing is sooooo super cute!!

What a little ham she is! Reminds me of myself at that age haha

CP is one of our favorite character meals.. Nothing like going into an empty (well, mostly empty) MK before the big crowds hit!

tink65 · Aug 24, 2011

Oh my goodness! Kendall & Sammie are adorable. Can't wait to read more! Thanks so much for sharing!

Sarabell · Aug 24, 2011

I LOVED the video!! your girls are soo adorable! I can´t wait to read more!

BTW we´re staying at the super 8 where you stayed. We´ll be there for 4 nights after our WDW resort stay to go to the other theme parks in Orlando. I hope you had a good experience there cause I´ve read the reviews on the place and that´s why I booked there. We will just need a clean place to sleep and leave our baggage, we´ll be in the parks all day.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

fractal said:
OK - that video is ridiculously awesome! Your daughters are adorable. Looking forward to more!

Thanks! Everybody thought I was nuts for taking it this far, but I totally think it was worth it! And at least I can pull up the vid at work if I need a pick me up!

worldtraveler said:
Loved the video, and the pictures along the whole trip. I'm staying around for the rest of the TR.

Thanks! There will definitely be more! Thanks for reading!:wave:

sweetpee_1993 said:
Yay! There's Pensacola! **sigh** I wish we could live there.

Awesome video! Love it! The girls are so sweet! I love the excitement. "Disney AGAIN!" Totally goes down in history! Full-on classic there!

Love the confetti-head family!

I really wish we could have stopped in Pensacola...I think we would have had a lot of fun at the museum and everything we we could see from the road was so pretty.

I guess it was at least an excited "again." Definitely one of those moments I'm so thankful I caught on video.

And it won't be the last of the confetti heads!:lol: That should be our new last name!

bmarkelon said:
Oh my goodness gracious! Your princesses are so sweet. I just got chills and a little misty eyed watching your video. "Thank you Mommy! Thank-you." Sweetest thing ever. I am enjoying your TR....I hope to get one going on our own trip. We just got back too. And you are so right, about that walkway to the Magic Kingdom. We were at BLT and I have a hard time thinking about ever staying anywhere else!

Thank you! I'm now so glad I planned the surprise like this and made sure to tape it. She's be thanking us left and right most of the trip. Funny- one of the days it hit me that you guys were at BLT and that we might even be waiting for the bus or monorail at the same time. Can't wait to read more of your report!

Ariel484 said:
I'm guessing your husband has never written a trip report before??? :lol:

And wow, that is a nice Super 8 motel...sheesh!

OMG...LOVE this picture! Too cute!

Oh, and the one of Kendall looking at the castle...the one with Eeyore...aw heck, they're all great! :sohappy:

Nope- he's never written a report. By the last night of the trip, DH was finally on board with photos. :lol:

I was looking at other things in the area that cost twice as much or more, but the Super 8's ratings were better than things like the Holiday Inn- so we took a chance on it.

Thanks! I just turn into a picture nut with these things. I feel like I'm on piicture overload with the TR, but the reality is that I took over 2,000 pictures!

PartOfYourWorld said:
The video was just priceless They are adorable!

Love the picture of Kendall just reflecting on the castle!

Can't wait to read the rest!

Thanks! I'm still so glad I went through with the whole video plan. I should be posting more after kiddo bed time tonight.

derelicte19 said:
Kendall posing is sooooo super cute!! What a little ham she is! Reminds me of myself at that age haha

CP is one of our favorite character meals.. Nothing like going into an empty (well, mostly empty) MK before the big crowds hit!

She is becoming quite the camera hog, but I'm sure you can agree that it's also a blast that way!

This makes 2x in a row with great CP experiences. I think it's going to become a "must do" for us every trip.

tink65 said:
Oh my goodness! Kendall & Sammie are adorable. Can't wait to read more! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks! There will definitely be more tonight after I get these girlies in bed!

Sarabell said:
I LOVED the video!! your girls are soo adorable! I can´t wait to read more!

BTW we´re staying at the super 8 where you stayed. We´ll be there for 4 nights after our WDW resort stay to go to the other theme parks in Orlando. I hope you had a good experience there cause I´ve read the reviews on the place and that´s why I booked there. We will just need a clean place to sleep and leave our baggage, we´ll be in the parks all day.

Thanks!!! I selected it b/c of the reviews and price comparison to things in the area with comparable reviews. It's still a motel and anything too exciting, but I'd stay there again if we needed an affordable stay for a shorter period of time. It also had good a/c! I'll be posting more after the girls are in bed.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

It was getting late and the park was now open- so we were pretty eager to go out and explore. We still hadn't seen Piglet, but the girls were both willing to sacrifice that to get out in the park. Our server, who was super sweet, wanted to make sure we got Piglet in before leaving. Piglet was out our table in a couple of minutes...

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(our fabulous server off to the left)

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(Piglet coming down to their level)

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(not sure what Piglet did here, but clearly it was a hoot)

... and we were ready to go ---and then the server realized we hadn't gotten our bday cupcakes yet. The kids were bouncing off the wall by this point, so I declined cake (SHOCKING), but we did get birthday cards from the characters. I'm pretty sure this is the only time all trip we declined any kind of cake!

So bye-bye for now Winnie the Pooh (or as K calls him...Winnie and the Pooh – or Sammie who says he's Winnie-a-Pooh)...it was fun!

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I was really hoping to try the whole- start in Adventureland strategy- and thankfully, Kendall wanted PotC as the first ride of her bday trip...so we were good. I was shocked that it scared the girls a bit this time...they loved every second of it last time. It was still enjoyable and with no wait- it's really hard to beat it.

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After PotC, we headed over to the Tiki Room. All of the reports said it would be opening on August 15th, but I was hoping for a soft opening on August 14th. Sadly, this is what we found when we checked it out. We made our way back there 3x that morning and DH overheard a cast member telling some other guests that they were planning on a soft opening, but that nobody had been fully trained on the attraction.

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What's really sad, from all I've read- it sounds like the soft opening really did take place later that day … we were right there- RIGHT THERE! And we missed it!!! The girls LOVE dancing to the original Tiki Room music, so I know this would have been a HUGE hit. Oh well- I guess there's always next time- plus the girls probably would have disrupted the show singing along and doing their Tiki bird dancing- so maybe it was for the best at this point...but it still makes me sad.

The girls wanted to ride the Magic Carpets, and while I really didn't want to – DH had a brilliant point... there was no wait for the carpets and the ride is similar enough to Dumbo (which almost always has a wait as most of us know all too well) that we might satisfy all of their spinning ride needs right now. So, I snapped pics all around us as we waited for the ride in progress to end.

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(we all adored the "spitting" camels)

HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

OK- who am I kidding... I was really into snapping more Tiki area inspired pics and the treehouse.

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I kind of like how the lamp and clouds sort of feel like a genie may be coming out of it.

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Speaking of Genie- I don't know why, but I guess I never really noticed that there were genies all over the center of the ride.

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While we were flying on our carpet, we spotted Jasmine and Aladdin. Jasmine is Sammie's new fave, but the line was so long already that we told her we'd probably see her later. Too bad this didn't happen.

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(he looks soooooo excited to ride this!)

Oh well, it was on to Frontierland so that Kendall could experience two of the three mountains for the first time. We fastpassed BTMRR and were hoping to get on to Splash quickly since there appeared to be very little line...

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...turns out that was because the ride was temporarily closed. We had some time before BTMRR, so we went over to the Haunted Mansion...after dragging this one off the slide (I said rides-- not slides!).

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The girls HATED this back in December, but they love Grim Grinning Ghosts and Kendall had been telling everyone that she'd like this ride by the time she's 7 or 8 or maybe even sooner. I really wanted to see the new queue and hitchhiking ghost scene- so we managed to convince the girls to ride. Had the girls not started to to realize that the ghosts are just playing and started referring to them as the “ghosteez”- I might have avoided it...although it was still a tough sell. You can see Kendall's initial reaction...

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

The queue is very cool as is the new scene. I had my head vaporized. Kendall also didn't think it was as scary this time.

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(cat noise on this one is a total crack up!)

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The part that cracked me up...Kendall thought the intro to Grim Grinning Ghosts sounded like a girl running away from the ghosts and swore up and down that she saw something like that in the ride. She turned to me during the ride and yelled “you're right mommy, there's no lady running away.” She even came out of it this time liking a few parts.

It was now fastpass time for BTMRR...I had 3, but DH decided he'd rather explore with Sammie vs. doing rider swap. So, Kendall and I made the way to her first mountain. I can't recall what standby was at the time, but it was certainly MUCH longer than the 5 min it took us to get through the fastpass line. For months she'd been telling people about riding Goofy's Barnstormer, but now it was time for her first big girl coaster.

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She was a riot! The entire time she giggled and shrieked- telling me how much she loved this ride and thanking me profusely for the trip...just think of her thank you's in the video...multiply it by 10 and amplify the volume considerably. At the end she said that was sooooo much better than the Goofy ride. This is good news for me b/c it sounds like a I have a future coaster buddy!!!

We called DH, but he was over on Tom Sawyer Island with Sammie … so we waited in line to meet a "Duck" (it was a short line and a GREAT duck). Donald took a break just as we got to the front of the line...so I snapped some pics while Kendall made a new friend.

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Donald was only gone for about 5 minutes- if that- and it was Kendall's turn!!!

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(kissies!!!)

While I know others were pretty hot at this point in the day, we were still feeling fairly cool- BUT it had to be roasting to be a character out in the park in August. Soooo- huge props to Donald for being so great and lovey with K.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

DH was still in transit with Sammie, so we did some shopping. I think she's trying to tell me she wants a new hat.

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We met up with DH – I was hoping he'd take more pics, but he had the video camera and didn't realize it had a snapshot mode, so I was left with one little vid...not even exciting enough to post. Kendall looked up and saw Brer Rabbit...

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...and reminded me that we needed to ride this.

We walked over to Splash to get some fastpasses since it was now open, but Kendall didn't want to wait. I tried to explain to her that we could do something else and come back and ride Splash with little to no wait, but she wanted to get on line pronto. So, DH and I split off again and K and I waited. The wait time was listed at 15min when we got in line, but everyone was rushing the line since it just opened so it wound up being more like 45 minutes. We saw Jessie and Woody as we waited...I even offered to go over and meet them and then come back and use our fastpasses, but she just wasn't having it. I think this was also fueled by the fact that CMs kept measuring her to make sure she was tall enough- i.e. constant confirmation that she's a big girl. So we waited and I had no camera because I didn't want it to get wet. I was not happy, but sometimes keeping the peace is the goal.

We finally rode and while she enjoyed it, the drops and water were all secondary features for her. So, it didn't get quite the response as BTMRR.

While we waited, DH took Sammie on the carpets again and did a few other little things (this is when he'd check back twice on the Tiki Room). He had the camera, but I got 2 whopping pics- that's it...and clearly something involving strollers. The girls can get very bossy, so maybe she was enforcing proper stroller parking?

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(don't worry, DH didn't permit her to actually move anyone's stroller)

After this we ventured into Fanstasyland. The line for Peter Pan was obscene and the Fastpass return time was pretty late, so we we opted for the Happiest Cruise that ever Sailed.

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I really love those numbers- I think I'd like to incorporate that concept into a room in our house or maybe a wall hanging.

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***Side note- I still don't understand why so many people get freaked out by this ride or say they hate it. It's not a ride I want to get stuck on (did one time as a kid and the music was in my head for weeks), but I think it's so sweet and whimsical and it's hard not to think about Walt when you ride.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

We took a glance over at the queue to Neverland, but Peter Pan was still insane, so we went to Philharmagic. As we got on line, a family came in behind us not knowing what it was. They abruptly left when I told them it was a 4D style movie...their loss. I seriously thought I'd never seen this, but after sitting through the show- I know I've seen it before. The question is when? Oh well. There was no wait and the girls really loved it. I can never see 3D things well- maybe it's my contacts, but the girls were reaching out and reacting like things were jumping off the screen at them. They also want these for their rooms...I guess it sort of fits with Kendall's décor.

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It was now time for me to work on the next surprise. DH took the girls over to the carousel while I went over to Castle Couture (and of course, no pics from him). I was hoping to add the sequined bag to Kendall's Cinderella costume and the sequined rainbow shoes to Sammie's Ariel costume. I was sad to see that the bag quality has declined since December and the shoes I was counting on are no longer offered. The bag is no longer covered in sequins - looks more like something from Walmart and the shoes now have glued on glitter and a big jewel- reminiscent of shoes we've seen at Target. I couldn't find anything else Cindy that I liked, so I bought the bag. I settled on the crown for Ariel since those shoes were a far cry from the ones offered a few months ago. Just to see the difference...check out the Ariel bag from December next to the Cinderella bag from August.

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All of the merch like this had been changed, but the prices naturally hadn't. I asked the CM behind the counter about it, but all she could tell me was that I could make an exchange if I found something I liked better. Oh well- not her fault.

It took me forever to check out, but I eventually met up with DH and the girls. They explored Fantasyland a bit after the carousel, and while the line for Dumbo was too long, the girls asked to go on Snow White. Mind you...Kendall made me promise back in December to never take her on that ride again. I guess DH told them that it would be going away at some point and this would likely be their last chance to ride it. Not only did we ride it- nobody was scared and everyone kind of liked it. I also got a pic of FLE and some other pics in the area in the process (no shocker there).

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(ok, not really in the Snow White ride, but in the area...I still can't believe I never noticed the gems before)

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We shopped a bit before heading out of the park for nap time.

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(I told her no on these...mean mommY!)

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And of course I had to get a few castle area pics before leaving this part of Fantasyland...

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 24, 2011

I should have bought balloons at this point since I promised, and would ultimately forget...

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....but the girls were zonked out.

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This is where I realized renting a stroller was a blessing. Neither kid sleeps in our double (have a sit n stand at home that we used last trip), but clearly they both were comfy enough to snooze in the rental.

At least neither had a clue that we'd be returning here for dinner...

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(yay- more surprises!!!)

***I think this is where I'm going to call it a day for posting. We're all pretty sleep deprived with school starting :snore::snore::snore::snore: and I have lunches to make. :slurp: Yay me!

Thanks for reading! :wave:

Neverland Girl · Aug 24, 2011

I love all of your pics of the little details around the park. Oh, and your oldest daughter is soo adorable!

fractal · Aug 24, 2011

Loving the pics! Especially this one.

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You are going to cherish the pictures and this report in the years ahead. Our first family trip was in 2000 and we took about 20 pictures. It's still hard for me to fathom.

Raven66 · Aug 25, 2011

Loving the trip report. Can't wait to read more. And your daughters are so adorable.

usd2bmd · Aug 25, 2011

I am loving the TR so far. Especially the comments about DH and the lack of photos from him. My husband still doesn't quite understand my desire to take photos (and we've been to WDW about 7 times). an't wait to read more:sohappy:

bmarkelon · Aug 25, 2011

Uggh, we have that Joovy too which nobody has ever napped in! We looked into a stroller rental too late for this trip and there were no cozier doubles left.

I agree with you about Small World, it's my DD6's favorite attraction, always has been. I bought her the tee shirt and pin on this trip. I do the same thing on that, Tiki (the newly refurbished one) and Carousel of Progress...sit there thinking of Walt and how truly amazing he was.

PolynesianPrincess · Aug 25, 2011

Loving all the pics of the girls!! My sister and Mom give me flack for always taking so many pictures when we're on vacation and honestly I never take as many as I'd like!

So exciting that Kendall loved BTMR and Splash

mamamouse · Aug 25, 2011

I always love reading trip reports,and it gets me really excited,however I can really relate to yours because I've got 2 young girls also,and as I read it n see the smiles I get more anxious for our upcoming trip:sohappy:

Let Them Eat CAKE!!! Trip Report

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