Trip Report Oh, the Places We go, The People We See

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

Back to Claire and I.

We decided we needed to ride the People Mover, so we worked our way there.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

We then walked up to the Carousel of Progress. I had gone on this for the first time in March of this year (2012). I went on alone as Skip and Claire were off doing something else. I was not so impressed and really thought I would never have a need to go on it again. BUT I also knew this would be something that Claire would enjoy, so I took her on it.

The park was crowded and we actually had to wait a cycle before we could get on it, so Claire stuck a pose or 2 for me.

Just as I feared ….errrr figured, Claire loved it. I believe this is when it got stuck. Not sure what happened, but we had an announcement to stay put and we would continue shortly, so we ended up seeing one scene twice while waiting.

As we were going through time on COP, Geoff, Gail and Abby were teacupping it away. Here are some of Geoff’s castle shots.

Geoff rode with Abby as Gail doesn’t do too many rides. She gets sick. (she’s always been wimp. LOL)

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

Time to check the pictures.

Alexis and Rob arrived back and Alexis did not want her hair piece in anymore. It was killing her head.

While Gail took out the hair, Geoff too a few shots of princess Abby.

I am not sure why, but after Claire and I got out of COP we headed to Storybook Circus. I think that might have been where Gail was last text, but she had moved on.

Dumbo sure is pretty at night.

We made our way over to find Gail and Abby was happy Claire had arrived.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

What’s on your shirt Claire? I love Princesses!

We actually got a ton of compliments on this outfit throughout the day. Another one that my wonderful friend Janet let us borrow.

Rob decided to leave at that point. He had a long day and still wasn’t feeling well.

The mad tea party was next on the agenda and I do not like it as well. Spinning rides like that do make me sick as well, so lucky Geoff got to ride with all the girls. They got in line and were let in, but they had issues finding a cup. Several kids ran in and all got their own cup. I don’t think the CM’s knew they were doing this and let too many people in. Finally Geoff led the girls in to a cup with another lady and her daughter. It was very crowded, but they survived.

Geoff was afraid that the other little girl was going to fly out as her mother let her stand the whole time.

After the spin around on the cups, we headed over to Barnstormer. Gail had a fastpass for Abby. Geoff took Abby through the line and I took Claire and Alexis through the standby line.

It was every bit of the 20 minutes posted, but finally we were ready.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

It was very exciting for them to be riding together too.
Our view from the top of the hill.

That was fun once again, but just way too short. We texted Geoff and he said they were over by Dumbo, so we made our way there.

Gail was in line with Abby.

While we waited Claire and Alexis got a few poses in.

Gail and Abby are now ready to fly.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

Look how wild they are! I think Gail let Abby use the controls, which meant she didn’t know what to do and they didn’t go up very often.

While they were riding, my fastpass hour for Space Mountain had opened up. Claire did not want to go with me, but Alexis said she would. Well… we got ready to head over and then Alexis had second thoughts. I am not sure why, as she had just rode it, but I really think it had something to do with her possibly missing out on something while she was with me and Claire was left with Geoff and her mom. LOL!

That’s Ok, I am a big girl and I went and rode it by myself. I left Claire with them and headed off. They had planned to get a snack, so I left Claire’s KTTW card with Gail so she could get Claire some popcorn with a snack credit.
I do like Space Mountain., but it is so jerky. I always feel like I am going to fly out, or crush my spine, or a combination of the 2.

When I came out I texted Gail and Geoff to see where they were. No one answered. So I found a spot to sit down for a few minutes and waited.

After bit I got a text that there had been some major drama and they would tell me about when I got there. Gail also said I had no snack credits left. That was odd. Mom and Dad must’ve gone hog wild and used all the credits. So I texted them and asked what they got and of course no reply from them either.
I asked if I needed to pick up Claire popcorn and they said she was fine and they had plenty of popcorn.
They were actually very nearby and I met right up with them.

So I asked what was up when I found them. I noticed Abby’s beautiful princess do was no longer.
Claire said, “Wow you missed it. Abby turned into the Devil. She was possessed and went crazy. Her eyes were glowing and Uncle Geoff took a picture of it.”
So what happened, you may ask? I sure wanted to know as well.
Well they went for popcorn and ordered and of course Claire’s card is declined. I think Gail had ordered popcorn for Abby and Alexis to share and it went downhill from there. They said Abby all of a sudden just went wild and started crying. They assumed she wanted her own popcorn and got her one, I believe, but that was not the case either. They said she was just pure crazy and no one had a clue what she was saying. They mentioned her head spinning a few times, but I am pretty sure that didn’t actually happen. She did however just start ripping her hairstyle out then as well. Finally they figured it out. She wanted the Mickey Santa popcorn bucket. They ordered one of those then and of course they are out. They asked where another one was being sold and Geoff ran over and got one. He said he would’ve paid $100 for the display model if he had to.
She looked like a perfect angel sitting in her stroller by the time I arrived back. I did find out however that NO one was allowed to eat her popcorn and she said she was saving it forever. She would sit there and talk to Mickey and then look around pop the lid open take a quick bite and quickly shut the lid like no one had seen her do it.
Claire insisted Geoff show me the possessed Abby photo.

We all just laughed. It DOES look like she is possessed.

Gail was ready to call it a day. They had to get up early to fly out tomorrow, but she did want to see Wishes. We all went on the bridge to Tomorrowland and just stopped there. It was so incredibly crowded and we didn’t want to fight the crowds to find a better spot.
I took a few pictures while we waited.

Soon we saw Tinker bell coming.

Abby didn’t like the booms of the fireworks, so Gail was holding her and trying to cover her ears. I ended up holding one of my hands over one ear to help Gail out.
As you can see, firework shots one handed really don’t come out very well at all.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

At one point I told Gail to just sit on the ground and hold her. It was the end of the day and who cares if you got dirty then, so she did scrunch down which made her a bit more comfortable holding Abby.

You can see in this next picture all the heads. It was crazy busy this night.

Here is PROOF that Abby was eating the forbidden popcorn. She would talk to Mickey’s head then pop it open, take a few bites and close it. It was almost like she was apologizing to him before eating it. LOL

The time had come …… Gail was going to head out and we most likely would not see them again till we were home. We said our good byes and we headed to Claire’s new favorite….. Carousel of Progress.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

I think we had Buzz fastpasses and headed over there next.

I don’t remember scores, but most likely I had a higher one, though sometimes Claire finds a high spot and kicks my butt.

I forgot to post this, but I think after Gail left we took these photopass pictures as well.

We decided it was time to call Skip before it got too late. It was still massively crowded and I was starting to feel achy again and I just needed a rest. We went in search of a peaceful spot.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

We found a spot and sat on the steps. We gave Skip a call. It was really magical sitting there. The view of the castle was amazing and the Main Street Electrical Parade was going by as well. We described the castle to Skip, but he just didn’t get it. After we got done talking to him we just sat there for a long time.

I was really starting to drag now. I was feeling achier, my throat was feeling sore and I just wasn’t sure how much longer I could make it. It was extra magical hours now and I REALLY wanted to take advantage of it, but the crowds didn’t seem to be going down at all. I then made a decision that I regret still. We decided to leave. Claire was OK with it, but I just hated doing it. I have heard that if I waited about 30 -60 minutes it did clear out quite a bit, but at the time it didn’t look like it would.

We headed towards the front then around 11:40.

We decided to duck into a few stores.

In just a weeks’ time the store was totally transformed from Halloween décor to Christmas.

jenseib · Jul 4, 2013

Good bye Magic Kingdom! We WILL be back to see more of you in the next few days!

If memory serves me well, we didn’t have much of an issue with getting a bus. I do remember it being full, but we had seats. It felt like a very long ride back. There was a race going on and traffic was heavy because of this. We did see many runners as we drove on.

We made it back to the Beach Club and made the trek to our room.
We could hear music blaring and lots of crowds. I assumed the race must be starting in Epcot.
We got settled into bed and even in our room we could still hear music blaring and loud crowds cheering. AND an announcer who NEVER shut up. I went to check our sliding door, as I swore it had to be open for as loud as it was, but nope, the door was shut tightly. I even double checked it later because it was just so loud. I was NOT happy about this. Had I known this, I would’ve stayed at MK. There was no sleep to be had with all this loud noise. My Mom even grumbled about it and said it had been going on for quite some time.
I don’t know what time I finally fell asleep, but I can tell you it took a long time and I was just not in a good mood. I had never heard of this being an issue before, but I now know if I go during a race time, to be sure not to stay anywhere near where the race is being held.

All in all it was a good day. I wasn’t feeling 100%, but I still accomplished a lot. We had visited 2 parks and had a wonderful ice-cream lunch ….Oh the Places We Go.
We met up once again with Carey and her family. Oh the People We See.

Maelstrom Troll · Jul 8, 2013

It took me 4 days to read this TR from start to finish, but it was very much worth it! How lucky you were to be able to see both the Halloween and Christmas decorations in one trip! We really love the Boo to You parade, in fact it's easily our favorite parade ever. We will be taking our first ever Disney Cruise this coming fall and I liked the preview here. You have got me really excited about the cruise experience but also now a little nervous about the boarding, transportation getting there, etc. etc. I need to catch up with some of you experienced cruisers and get the low-down! Great report, can't wait to see more!

jenseib · Jul 9, 2013

Maelstrom Troll said:
It took me 4 days to read this TR from start to finish, but it was very much worth it! How lucky you were to be able to see both the Halloween and Christmas decorations in one trip! We really love the Boo to You parade, in fact it's easily our favorite parade ever. We will be taking our first ever Disney Cruise this coming fall and I liked the preview here. You have got me really excited about the cruise experience but also now a little nervous about the boarding, transportation getting there, etc. etc. I need to catch up with some of you experienced cruisers and get the low-down! Great report, can't wait to see more!

You'll have a wonderful time. Once you got it all planned out it should flow nicely!

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

Nov. 11, 2013, Sunday ~ Day 11

Rise and Shine! I don’t remember how early I got up, but I know it was early. My Mom was up and about early too as they had to be packed and ready to head our fairly early as well.
We discussed the whole snack credit issue and she said they rarely used them, so she was not sure why I had none left. She said they never could figure out half the time how to use the plan and paid out of pocket half the time. She also said they had more charged to the room and gave me some money.
I went down to sort it all out.
The charges were already applied to my card ….isn’t that nice. But they did allow me to pay it off in cash and credit my card back. I asked about the whole credit issue and she said they had some system glitches the day before and she wasn’t aware of what, but maybe that was the problem. She printed up my credits left. Holy Cow! I had SEVERAL snack credits now showing. And clearly when I bought the pretzel yesterday it didn’t take that credit off. I asked about it, and she told me not to worry.
We also had several counter service credits to use up before midnight today as well. Oh gosh. We were going to be eating a lot today!

I then gathered the bags I had packed and took them to the van and drove over to Art of Animation. That was going to be our next resort stay. I figured it would be easier to get checked in and take as much of our stuff over first thing while I still had access to the van.

Claire was very excited to be staying in a Little Mermaid room at the AoA. Back in the Spring when I decided to extend my stay longer I really debated this. At first it was a no brainer, it would be Pop Century in a preferred Pool view room. Then I saw some preview pictures of AoA and it got me thinking. I still debated and it was also announced that the Little Mermaid rooms would be opening earlier than planned. When it came down to it, I just really wanted to check it out and also be in a brand new resort. I decided to book it and even decided I would stay there, even if there wasn’t a discount.
Luckily my wonderful friend Carey got a pin code for free dining and it included the Little Mermaid rooms as the time. I booked my room attached to her pin as well and was able to get free dining for this portion of the trip. I also decided to try out something else new …deluxe dining. I did the fuzzy math beforehand and I figured it would come out to close to the same amount as what I would pay for with regular dining. Well actually when applied it was even less, so I was a happy camper.

I proceeded over to AoA to get us checked in and drop off some of our bags. I texted Carey to let her know I was on my way as well. She had texted me the day before and told me they would give us their light up necklaces they had used during the Christmas party, so we planned to meet up one last time and I could get those and say good bye as well because she was heading home today.

I swore I took pictures of the lobby when I checked in, but if I did they have disappeared because I can’t find them. I thought I brought along my point and shoot, and maybe I did and just didn’t take any pictures.
I got myself checked in. Of course our room wasn’t ready but they promised to text me when it was. I let them know that I had little faith in that as this was my 3rd Disney resort and not one had texted me yet. They even gave me a card I could use to call in and check…Yep I lost that in some very secret safe place. LOL.
They were having a bit of an issue with my tickets and I told them I had picked them up already. Well they played around and told me they now were attached to my new KTTW card. Ok then, that’s nice to have.
I then made my way over to meet up with Carey. Carey was in the LM section as well and she said she was about as far back as you could get. They originally had a closer room but when they went inside it just had a king bed, which wouldn’t work for the 3 of them, so they were moved.
Kadence was in tow and a little disappointed that Claire wasn’t with me. I let her know she missed her, but I had to let her sleep in a bit as we have been so busy.
We chatted a bit and Carey gave me the lay of the land. It was really neat to see the resort in person and I planned to tour around later in the day.

We said our final good byes and I headed back to the Beach Club. Mom and Dad were ready to leave and I got Claire up and going as well. Today was our Downtown Disney day, with plans to go to DHS later in the day to see the Osborne Lights.
Well I decided that today was also going to be nap day. We had been going strong for over a week now and we really needed to have a little bit of mid-day rest.
After my parents left, we finished up with our packing and checking the room and had the rest of our luggage picked up to be transferred to AoA. We then headed out. I think we started our way to the bus stop around 9:40ish. Of course we had to make a stop and get a few pictures.

And off to the bus stop.

We had the bad bus mojo again and waited quite a long time for a bus. I think at least 20 minutes.

I took this picture from the bus stop, but I am not even sure what I was trying to get.

And a bush nearby.

Claire and I discussed our bad bus mojo and finally one came and we headed off.
I was excited to see the Décor all around here as well and I took several pictures of it.

We had to get a fun pose. I don’t think we ever took this shot before.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

I submitted this next picture in a contest around Christmas time and it won! I won a Disney gift card.

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as the perfectly princess birthday party.

We had some shopping to take care of. Nothing special, but we still had to shop.

We did a lot of browsing. I don’t think we actually bought anything. There we several shirts I liked, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay the Disney prices for them.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

I eyed the Dooney’s too. I REALLY liked the retro style pattern, but I wasn’t finding a style of purse I liked with that pattern.

After looking around some more I kept going back to the Dooney’s. I asked if another shop in DTD sold them as well and I was directed to Trend D I believe. I really wanted one and my excuse to get one was to make up for all the bad bus mojo I had had during the stay so far. Surely a new Disney Dooney would make me feel better, right?

We headed over and YES! I found a style I liked. I was so excited. I snatched it up. I think the lady was surprised at how easy the sale was. She went to grab another so I could look at placement (her suggestion, not mine) and I paid with my Disney Visa and got 10% off too! I was on a high leaving that store. Claire was even excited because she saw how excited I was as well and I guess it was contagious.

After my wonderful new purchase, we headed out and we needed to take care of Claire’s shopping request of the day.

That would be the Lego Store. She had recently become more interested in Legos and she had been saving some of her money for this store. We looked around and she was in love with the Lego Friends series and she picked a few boxes out and we went to check out. We used Disney gift cards, but what I didn’t know was that the cashier had to go and swipe each on another machine and get the balance and then he would key that into his register. He was a very nice guy, but pretty darn slow. We had used several cards as I was trying to clear out some of the lower balanced/ half used cards. Had I known how the process worked I wouldn’t have done that.
Soon I had a very happy little girl walking by my side. We were 2 happy girls, me with my Dooney and Claire with her bag of Legos.

We had to stop and get a picture or 2.

And then it was time for lunch!

There was a very long line and we got in it. I asked the people around me if this is where I went to check in and they all thought so too, so we waited.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

After a bit a lady approached the side of the podium and said she was there for her ADR and she was helped immediately. Well this caused a big ruckus. Almost every person in our line was there to check in for their ADR and this person was helped right away. What none of knew and there is no sign to tell you is that if you have an ADR you go to the side of the podium, if you don’t you stand in the other line to try and get in. They seemed to be having issues fitting people in, which I didn’t understand as once we were seated there were a ton of tables empty in there.
Anyways, some people got darn right nasty with the girls at the podium. I was disgusted, but I kept my mouth shut. They really need to have this explained better.

So Claire and I got out of line and headed over to the side of the podium to check in. They could not find our name. She acted like I was lying about having an ADR. After watching a few in front of me, I realized that they were not finding anyone’s ADR confirmations for that time period of the day. I don’t know if it had to do with the system glitch from the night before, or what the deal was, but luckily I had my confirmation number with me and pulled it out and showed her. After she saw that, she became sweet as pie and didn’t even search anymore and sent us back.

Instantly we liked this place. It was so colorful and fun.

We were seated right near the ice room.

The meteor shower was going to happen over our heads and then go into the ice room.

I forget how often it happens, but every so many minutes (maybe 10 or 15) the meteor shower starts.

Our table was right next to this cute little guy.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

This was the view from my chair.

The meteor shower started.

And turned the ice cave red.

The Cave then goes back to blue.

But it flickers quite a bit first.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

We made our orders and then took a look around the place.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

I LOVED the fish tank.

How cool is this bar?

And the Baby Mammoths were so adorable.

jenseib · Jul 11, 2013

This was our little buddy right next to our table. The only down side was that many people come over to take his picture.

Help!!!! It’s melting!