My Mouseketeer's Surprise Trip- AKA: "She's been to Disney HOW many times?"-9/28-10/8

We’re back home from the world, and while I’m kinda sad to be home, I’m okay with it. Really. Anyways, though it’s time to get this Trip Report started!

The players: Me, my wonderful DH, Marc, and my 2 year old Anastasia (25 months old, to be exact)

A little background. This trip was SO not supposed to happen. We went last September. We went in January. We went in March (never got around to finishing that TR, but I’ll finish this one if it takes me till 2010!), not to mention we've got a trip planned for this coming January. so we had already had our Disney allotment for a while. It wasn’t in the ever tightening budget. Anastasia was starting preschool. Lots of reasons not to go.

So back in August, one of our dear members went on a trip with a view of the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary. Every day I’d check their trip report and then tell Marc all about it… “Look how much fun they’re having!” “Awww! Look at that picture!” and so forth. Not really meaning to sound like I was wishing to go, (I was really really happy this certain person was there and having a great time!)

But my Marc… I REALLY should know better by now. Turns out that he had contacted our DVC rep and added on enough points to cover a quick trip this September (in addition to a few we had banked). He had all these grand plans about how to surprise me. He actually changed the mailing address on our account so all the paperwork went to his parents’ house. He was going to either tell me the week before we left, or (this was his favorite) get me out of the house for the day, steal my packing lists off my computer and get us all packed and ready to go. Then he’d wake me up at 5 AM and tell me we were headed to Disney!

All this was going on unknown to me…. Until one day I got a letter in the mail from the DVC about “Welcome Home! More points blah blah blah…” Uh… More points? We didn’t get more points. I called Marc, but he was in meetings all day. Then I called the DVC and asked why I was getting this letter. They told me that their records show that we had purchased XY points and were scheduled to go in September. Uh… and I quote “And I see here on my notes that it was supposed to be a surprise.”


Yeah.

Oops.

When Marc called back, he was livid. How could they spoil the surprise!?! All the other paperwork had been arriving at his parents’ house, why did this one get mailed back to our address? He called back to complain, but nothing came of it, other than my spoiled surprise.

So, even though it decimated our savings, we were going to Disney! He was happy as a kid to be going. He works REALLY long hours, and doesn’t get much quality time with Anastasia. So I let it go, and we were soon in packing mode!

 

[DisneySam]

^ I seriously jumped back when I scrolled down to the frog post. I couldn't even quote it. :lol:

Loving the TR! I'm so glad you guys had a great trip!

 

[HollyBelle]

I always love Anastasia's trip reports! She's especially adorable with the bangs and pig tails. I can't wait to read more.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Bummer about the spoiled surprise!! I guess it wasn't entirely spoiled...just didn't happen at the planned time. It was still a surprise right?

Anastasia has grown so much since your last trip report! Cute!

 

[maggiegrace1]

Oh she is so adorable!..

 

[LovingDisney]

She is the cutest little thing. Look forward to reading more.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Wednesday, September 30th

Marc had a work crisis to attend to, so Anastasia and I were on our own for a part of the morning. We headed to the Magic Kingdom via bus, which was kinda nice since we skipped the whole tram/monorail experience for once.

We got there right at the tail end of opening and made a beeline for Dumbo. She was VERY excited this time. We had been on it before on prior trips, but this time she really “got” the concept and was very excited to ride.

Waiting patiently to ride

Getting ready to take off!

Riding with the wind in her hair

Love the view

When that was over, I tried to get her to go on Peter Pan’s Flight with me, but she threw a fit because Small World was right across the way and we needed to be going on that right then. So, I indulged her, and we did again. Then I finally convinced her to go on Peter Pan’s Flight. It was okay, and did have Tinkerbell in it, but still not Small World in her mind.

"Eh. Not enough singing."

I asked her what she wanted to do next. Small World, of course. Then after that, I asked if she wanted to ride the Horses. “Horsey ride!” she cried and ran off to get in line. LOVED the carousel. Such a simple ride, and even as an adult, I’m really coming to appreciate the simple magic of going around in Fantasyland, watching it go by in a blur, seeing the castle in the background.

My smiley girl

 

[DisneyBunny]

At this point Marc joined us, and we all decided to try a few “new” rides on Anastasia. She was super excited to go on the teacups as soon as she saw them (Anastasia loves tea parties) and thankfully there was little wait. Marc sat this one out, and Anastasia and I rode together. We saw Alice get on another teacup on the same ride with us! Very cool. So I was content to just sit there and let the ride twirl us around… but Anastasia is too smart for her own good. She figured out, all on her own, that if you spin the wheel in the center, you go faster! So she was twirling us around in no time. Ugh. Thankfully a 2 year old cannot twirl very fast yet, but I fear my days of being able to ride the teacups with her are numbered.


Looking at the Mouse popping out of the teapot

"Hey! What does this thing do??"

"Wheeeeeee!"

Then we tried out another “new” ride - the Indy Speedway. She looked kinda interested in the cars, and we JUST made the height cut off for her to ride at all. I rode in front, and Marc and Anastasia rode behind me. Marc said that she thought it was fun at first, but it is SO hard to steer those things, and the poor girl wasn’t even tall enough to see over the dashboard!

Waiting to ride.

Got to buckle up!

Where did she go? Talk about your women drivers :lol:

"Get me out of this thing!"

 

[DisneyBunny]

After that we wandered back to Fantasyland, and rode Pooh, which was nice and she recognized “The Pooh Song!” from our Disney CD. We also rode Snow White, and for some reason she knew who she was. Huh. I don’t recall ever introducing her to Snow White, so I guess she picked it up while we were down there. She wasn’t too scared, but dang that’s a scary ride! I keep forgetting after each trip, and then I ride again and am reminded about how dark and spooky it is. :brick:

Then another ride on the Carousel. Had to let Daddy see her ride it, of course!

Then we took in the Haunted Mansion, where she did get a little intimidated by the stretching room, but otherwise took the rest of the ride in stride. It’s interesting watching her become more aware of what’s going on around her. When we took her on this a year ago, she was laughing hysterically at some parts because she found them funny – like the ghosts popping up in the graveyard – but now she’s a little older and a little more cautious.

We watched a little bit of the castle show, and then tried to get a family shot in front of the castle.

Anyways, we headed slowly back to the villa for lunch and a nap for the girl. I got in some reading on the balcony. Love that balcony. I wish I could relax like that back home!


How I spent a good couple of hours

The view... ahhh...

 

[DisneyBunny]

After everyone was recharged, we headed to Epcot for dinner at the 9 Dragons. Marc and I both got the 3 course meals, with the Wonton Soup for an appetizer. Anastasia got her own soup, and ate it all up!

"Mmmm!"

Straws are an AWESOME way to eat soup. Much less mess!

Marc got sweet and sour pork. I snuck a taste, and it was very good! The green noodles under it were so flavorful! I wish I had gotten that instead of what I did –

The Honey sesame chicken. WAY too much honey. I felt like I was eating McDonald’s chicken nuggets drenched in honey. They were flavorful, but way too sweet.

For dessert we both had the Red Bean Ice Cream, and I got a candle on mine because our server noticed my birthday button! I also got a card with “Happy Birthday” in Chinese on it.

 

[DisneyBunny]

We wandered around in the shops for a while, and Anastasia had a blast playing with all the toys.

The puppets were a hit

I *almost* bought her this parasol. She had so much fun with it. Maybe next time...

Woo! Go Poland! (although I'm not paying $4 something for one pierogi!)

Then it was off for what would become an obligatory visit to see Tigger and Pooh. Although this time, she had to go potty RIGHT before we got to see them. So I whisked her off and by the time I got back, they had gone on break. Of course there was no dragging her away at that point, especially since she had SEEN them, so we had to wait for them to return before we could leave the park for the evening. :hammer: Anastasia got to bed a full half hour late that evening because of it! Oh well. She usually goes down to sleep fairly easily when we’re in Disney. Thank goodness!

Day 4 coming soon!

 

[PotteryGal]

Where did she go? Talk about your women drivers :lol:

Heehee....LOVE this one - cannot see her at all. We have never done Indy Speedway, which is just fine with me. Zero appeal. And I understand about spinning the tea cups; what made it nice for us was the kiddos rode by themselves and I got to ride with hubby. So they could spin away and we could take it much slower. :lol:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Oh my goodness that is so cute!! I wouldn't have been able to resist buying that for her. Although I kwym, how long would it have lasted? Not long probably.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Heehee....LOVE this one - cannot see her at all. We have never done Indy Speedway, which is just fine with me. Zero appeal. And I understand about spinning the tea cups; what made it nice for us was the kiddos rode by themselves and I got to ride with hubby. So they could spin away and we could take it much slower. :lol:

Sounds like a plan! I'll pawn her off on Abby and let them go to town. :lol:

Oh my goodness that is so cute!! I wouldn't have been able to resist buying that for her. Although I kwym, how long would it have lasted? Not long probably.

It was tough to keep it nice just for the short time she was playing with it. I was trying to avoid "you break it, you buy it!"... if they weren't made of practically PAPER, I would SO have bought it. Thankfully I was with her for this... if Daddy had seen her with it, we would have been $15 poorer :lol:

 

[DisneyBunny]

Thursday, October 1st

This was my birthday! So happy to be spending it in the World. We headed off to the Animal Kingdom that morning. I headed off with the crowd to go to Everest, while Marc took Anastasia off to see Pooh and friends. We met up outside the safari and rode that together.

It went a lot better than it did the last time we rode it. She really knows her animals now, and had a good time pointing out the ones she recognized. Obviously I’m slacking as a parent because I haven’t taught my child what Thompson’s Gazelles look like, but I’m working on it! It still wasn’t her favoritest ride ever, but she did get a lot more out of it this time, especially now that she’s got some patience for this kind of thing.

"Oooh! It's a... it's a ... thingy!"

Giraffe!

She LOVED the elephants

Unfortunately the line for the safari was on the long side, so we were cutting it close to get to the morning’s first show of Nemo. We hoofed it across the park, but at 15 minutes from showtime, they were only admitting through the back doors and the bottom section of seats was roped off. We turned right around and headed for DinoLand. There was no way she could enjoy her beloved Nemo from the nosebleed section.

We rode Triceratop Spin, which she loved, especially since she “drove” the dinosaur with the joystick. We then headed into the Boneyard for her to run off some energy.

Of course, what did she immediately spy as soon as we were through the gate? The giant twisty two-story slide. So we all trooped off to the top of the cargo net, and sent her down. Unfortunately we were both standing up there before we sent her down the slide. Oops. We had a parent “DUH!” moment when we realized that we just sent our daughter down the slide with neither a parent to catch her or watch her after she gets off. And of course, the shortest distance between two points, in this case, is a giant twisty tube slide. So down we both went, realizing all the way down that these things are SO not designed for adult use. Ouch! She was fine, and was hanging out by the bottom of the slide when we got down. It was only 15-10 seconds when we weren’t with her, but you can never be too careful!!!!
She went down some of the more “tame” slides, but I do think she’s already a bit spoiled by the bigger ones.

Then we headed over to the sand pit area. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun place, but it’s a concussion or knocked tooth waiting to happen. It’s freaking HARD to walk around on the sand to begin with, not to mention the partially buried dino bones just under the surface. I was tripping left and right trying to keep up with her. It’s not really for the younger audience, I suppose.

Anyways, after that, we headed back across the park in the ungodly heat to ride the ChooChoo train to the Affection section. Ugh. The train ride was the best part of the whole experience.

It was hot. The animals wanted NO part of being with people, and it looked like they had just been fed. Not to mention it was freaking crowded. So we had hordes of people leaning on the ropes trying to pet the goats. Every once in a while a goat would leave one roped-off area and head to the other. Then the masses would fall upon the poor thing. “Goat!!!” and fifty hands would be all over it trying to lavish it with affection and un-needed brushings.

Llama llama, mad at mama

"Come out and play!!"

 

[DisneyBunny]

We headed inside where she found some crayons and made herself at home coloring a Halloween picture. Doesn’t take much to make her happy sometimes.

At this point we were all hungry, so we headed back to the room for lunch. Anastasia sported my birthday cake hat for me on our way out. I can’t believe I didn’t actually get a picture of myself wearing it on my birthday, but oh well! That happens when you’re the family photographer I guess!

After lunch, I headed over to Epcot by myself while Anastasia took her nap. I wanted to get out and have some me-time on my birthday. I got to ride in the single-riders line on Test Track, which had an interesting breakdown mid-ride. We slowed down almost to a stop while going around the acceleration hills, and when we came down the hill to the truck collision, the lights were already on the truck. Then we stopped completely next to the truck and stood there for 10 minutes or so. Just when I was getting my hopes up for an e-vac, no luck. We started off again. Fooey.

I wandered around in Mousegears for a bit, trying to find something spend my hard-earned birthday gift card on. I came up with nothing that was special enough, and then headed over to the F&WF pavilion in the old WOL building. Sniff. I still miss that place.

Looked pretty good, for my un-trained eyes.

Once the girl was up from her nap, we met up in the Seas, and rode Nemo again. She discovered that there’s a whole play area behind Bruce, and spun the wheels and watched the sharks in the periscopes.

Turning turning turning...

Then it was off to the Boardwalk for my birthday dinner at Kouzzina!

 

[DisneyBunny]

I was super excited about trying out something new. On my birthday no less. We got seated near the kitchen’s dessert station. And my little foodie heart was in heaven watching them expedite and plate and the like. I ordered the Fisherman’s stew and OMG. I was in heaven. They give you these little bread points to soak up the goodness, and if I hadn’t saved one just for this purpose, I would have totally licked the bowl once I was done. Yes, in a crowded restaurant. Heck, it was my birthday, and I can lick the bowl if I want to, right??

Anyways, I broke with the tradition of not ordering anything for Anastasia, and got her the overpriced kids meal. The sweet potato fries were good, but the chicken was an overcooked hockey puck. She ate some fries, a lot of the chicken soup, and most of the fruit cup that came with it. Still, kind of a wasted $8.95, if you ask me.

Marc got the Flank Steak. I had a bit of it too, and it was SO good. So well seasoned, and the potatoes and the sauce went so well together. Normally he’s not a Flank Steak fan, but this was way better than any we’ve both ever had before!

And, of course, in case they missed the giant cake hat and birthday button, the rest of the restaurant found out it was my birthday when they were all asked to call out “OPA!” when I got my cupcake.

Dinner was fantastic, but it did take a while, so by the time it was over, it was bedtime. We slowly meandered out of the Boardwalk and back to the villa. It was a good birthday.

 

[yankspy]

Your Daughter is adorable. We also noticed how packed the Character spot in Epcot was. Great pictures.

 

[popsicletrees]

I haven't had much of a desire to try Kouzzina, but the Fisherman's Stew just might change that. It looks delicious!

 

[DisneyBunny]

Friday, October 2nd

Today we had to switch rooms from Old Key West to Saratoga Springs. We moved so we could have enough points left over to stay a few extra days in Disney. However, I don’t think I’d move like this again.

We woke up pretty early, packed all of our perishables and sent them with bell services. The rest of our bags, we loaded into the car and then we headed right over to
Saratoga Springs for a day at the pool. Man, it was so blasted hot out that you didn’t even need time to ease into the water. We just jumped right in.
Anastasia had a BLAST in the pool, in and out of the zero entry area, and then she discovered the kids water slide. Pools are awesome. Slides are way cool. Put the two together? You’ve got toddler heaven. She was just so happy with that slide. We must have done it 15-20 times in a row before we pried her away and over to the Donald Duck fountain.

Playing happily in the water

Too bad the water was so warm! But it still felt great!

Hugs for Donald

 

[DisneyBunny]

We hung out at the pool till lunchtime… with no word on our new room assignment. They said they would text us our room number, and it could take till 4:00. Grrr. I was really hoping that we could get in before 2:00, so Anastasia could have her nap on schedule.

When lunchtime rolled around, we packed up from the pool, and walked to Downtown Disney. We decided to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch. For the two nights we’d be at SS, we decided that it would make sense for us to get the Dining Plan, since we wouldn’t have a full kitchen. Sadly the line for lunch went out the door and a good twenty feet beyond. But we stuck it out. Lunch was insanely chaotic, and took us nearly a half hour just to wait in line! Marc got a pizza and I got the half roasted chicken. Both were very good, but I just couldn’t manage any pictures since it was so crowded, Anastasia was acting up and we were all starving from a day of pool activity.

No call about our room yet. Sigh..

So after lunch we wandered around Downtown Disney. We wandered… and wandered. We visited all the stores, stopped in the Lego store for Anastasia to build with bricks. We hung out at the playground outside the Lego store. We visited the Tren-D store where Anastasia had a blast trying on every. Single. Bracelet in the container.

We headed over to World of Disney where Anastasia played dress-up with all the hats.

My little Rastafarian :lol:

Still no text about the room. At this point it’s 3:00, and WAY past naptime, but Anastasia is doing remarkably well, all things considered. Marc had a conference call to take, so Anastasia and I hung out for the next HOUR in the dig area outside of T-Rex. I LOVE that they have a hand washing station right there for you to rinse off after you’ve played.

Finally, FINALLY at 4:00 our room number is sent to us. We hadn’t wanted to go to a park that day because we didn’t want to have to turn around and head back once our room was ready. And while it was nice to spend some relaxing time by the pool, it still felt like a wasted day.

We headed back, checked out our new room and unpacked a bit. We had reservations at the Maya Grille for dinner, but we cancelled them, since we were in NO mood to sit down at a nice place to eat after a long day at the pool. We scraped together dinner out of the groceries in our room, and then we all turned in early to bed.