Trip Report Pop & Hop, Snack & Shop, Graduation Celebration - Sept 2016

We arrived home late last night and as usual, we are all in Disney depression mode. Seriously, the return to reality is so hard!

It was an AWESOME trip. However not without a few hiccups. Let’s just say that the name of my Trip Report could easily have been, “I Almost Killed My Husband In The Happiest Place On Earth” or… “”Did The Ride Just Stop?” or… “Bathrooms Around The World”

Needless to say that Disney Magic outshines small issues – even my husband’s behavior that almost landed him in Cinderella’s moat more than once.

Warning: I have some commitments over the next few weeks, so I’m not sure how much updating I will be able to do. But I wanted to start writing before my memory and notes start to fade away. Besides, I’m so sad – it helps to re-live it! Lol

For those of you who don’t know us – our cast of characters:


Me – Mary

Ross – My hubby who drove me INSANE throughout our trip.

Julia (14)

Hope (7 with Autism & Sensory issues)

What I didn’t mention in my Pre-Trip Report is that we were celebrating the fact that Julia is starting 9th grade this year. As homeschoolers, we have never acknowledged graduations or moving up ceremonies. So since my sweet girl is starting high school, I figured she deserved a Disney Celebration, so I had that put on our reservation.

Since Ross agreed to family shirts, I had my friend make them for us. Julia was surprised and really happy!

So if you are ready to join in the fun & craziness… welcome aboard!!

 

[JennSmith]

T

Wednesday September 14th – Day 3

I woke up to my alarm at 5AM and once again started to get ready before I woke up the girls. I texted Ross who was on his way to the airport and told him I was up and getting ready.

We had an 8:15 ADR for BOG – the park opened at 9:00 so this was my chance to enter the MK before it opened. I always wanted to walk down Main Street and get a few pictures in front of the partner’s statue and the castle with a limited amount of people. But I have never been successful. We ended last year’s trip to a DISATEROUS breakfast at BOG – so Ross didn’t have much hope I would be successful this time – he thought it would be a big mistake. However, I on the other hand, felt ready to go.

As I got out the shower, I received a text from Ross. He apparently decided he didn’t want to wait for the Jet Blue counter to open up and brought his suitcase on the plane with him. You know what’s coming right? On his journey through security, they tossed out the foot spray and the sunscreen! However, apparently the nail scissors made it on with no problem! I was a tad annoyed that he couldn’t have waited the time to check his bag – especially since he had ME and now he would have to lug his bag with him. Yet I was even more perplexed that security found stinky foot spray to be a larger potential threat than scissors!

However, it was what it was. We would be burnt and have really smelly feet for the week!

By 7:30 the girls and I were out the door and waiting for a bus. We walked to the North Depot, which was pretty much only a 2 minute stroll and right onto a very crowed MK bus. But we all got seats and we were on our way. I figured since the bus was so crowded, the driver would bypass the other stops, but – no, that was not the case. Not only did he stop, he loaded a scoter on at the next stop! The people were so annoyed; I mean it was beyond any capacity I have ever experienced at Disney. People were so jammed together and he kept yelling at everyone to keep moving back! Finally, people started to yell back and saying there was nowhere else to move!

As smashed as we were, we were finally on our way! Ross texted me again to say his flight was delayed because apparently one of the stewardesses left her I-Pad in her hotel room. I thought he was joking at first – but no he was not.

Believe it or not, it was 8:00 when we arrived at MK. I found the breakfast line and in we went!

We did it!!!

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These are awesome pics!!

 

[Figment Forever]

Sorry to hear you and Hope were getting burnt.

Now, what is he suppose to do when he gets thirsty?

He's on his own! lol

 

[Figment Forever]

T

These are awesome pics!!

Thanks! They are some of my favorite from the entire trip!

 

[LisaBelle]

Loving your report! I can't believe how your girls have grown. I loved the story about Hope finding the princess Magicband and telling the CM "Buy this please!" So happy you made it to your pre park opening ADR at BOG! I was so sad for you when things didn't work out for you on your last trip. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Figment Forever]

Ross informed me I need to write a retraction:

I must have misunderstood him and apparently he did wait at The Jet Blue counter for 10 minutes and it didn't move. He didn't want to wait in the long line - and that's when he realized he could take his bag with him. So his defense is that he forgot about the sunscreen and spray.

I will also add that my sis bought 2 tubes of sunscreen - the larger one got tossed but they let the smaller one go. That was the facial 100+ sunblock so I was grateful that we had that for the rest of the week because it turned out o be brutal!

Okay - retraction is complete!

 

[Figment Forever]

Loving your report! I can't believe how your girls have grown. I loved the story about Hope finding the princess Magicband and telling the CM "Buy this please!" So happy you made it to your pre park opening ADR at BOG! I was so sad for you when things didn't work out for you on your last trip. Looking forward to the rest.

Thanks so much! Hope is definitely, slowly but surely, finding her voice and expressing her opinion! Thanks for following along!

 

[Figment Forever]

Day 2 Continued...

After I fulfilled my dream of pictures on Main Street, we began our walk to BOG. While Main Street was a little more crowded than I had thought it would be, the area in Fantasyland seemed very quiet. It was cool to walk through it.

Hope found her calling…

A line was already forming for 7DMT of course. Soon, we were at Beast’s Castle.

For some reason, Hope does NOT like this restaurant. I can’t figure out why and she has not been able to tell me. Maybe it’s the lighting – or lack of lighting? But whatever it is, it makes dining here a little challenging.

Last year, I booked BOG for our last day breakfast but she could not get past coming to sit down and eat instead of going on rides. It was a total FAIL on my part. This time I did a better job preparing her. I think it helped that we were not in a rush and she got to enjoy walking through an empty park. She also got to see that things were not opened yet – so I think that all registered with her.

I checked us in and got a yellow thing – I forget what it was? A rose? We waited only a couple of minuets and then in we went. I told the hostess we pre-ordered so she just gave us a slip and told us to sit anywhere.

It was crowded! WOW I was surprised to see how crazy it was! Julia asked if we could sit in the West Wing but I was hesitant. I wasn’t so sure that Hope would be "sensory" comfortable in that room. As was giving my opinion, to a disappointed Julia, Hope piped up and announced, “Sit in the West Wing!” Umm… okay – let’s go!

Unfortunately, the room was packed and we had a hard time finding a table. I suggested that we take a look at the rose and then perhaps look for a table elsewhere. As we walked over to the rose, a group of people got up from a large table right in front of the rose and were leaving. A cm came over to clean the table and said we could sit as soon as she was done. We gladly waited for her to finish cleaning up and then just as we were about to sit another family made a dash for the table. They apparently didn’t see us waiting. They apologized and started to walk away but I realized that the table would fit all of us so I asked if they just wanted to share the table with us. I was glad they said yes! They were a family of 5 from Texas – the place where I dream about moving to one day. They were really nice and it was fun chatting with them. The weirdest thing happened… all of our food arrived at the same time even thought we had 2 separate receipts. So Julia, Hope and I huddled close together to pray. As we started, “Bless us O Lord…”, we realized that the entire table was saying grace! WOW – what was the chance of that? When we were done, we all stared at each other and laughed a little. On occasion, we get some weird looks at in public when pray before we eat, so this was pretty awesome.

Julia feasted on the donut with banana syrup. (She had been wanting that since last year's trip.)

Hope had the French toast and I forgot what I had probably because I was eating the entire place of GF pastries they put in front of me. The chocolate–cherry cake is the best!

I didn’t take too many pictures because my phone doesn’t do well in BOG.

As we were finishing our food, Ross sent another text saying he was boarding the plane. He had been delayed over an hour!

We said our good-byes to our new friends and then exited BOG.

I definitely missed seeing Beast and Julia missed having the grey stuff, but I really enjoyed our breakfast. Next time, I would like to give lunch a try.

 

[Scoppin]

He's on his own! lol

I guess that serves him right for not letting you to pack a few things in his bag.

 

[Scoppin]

Thanks so much! Hope is definitely, slowly but surely, finding her voice and expressing her opinion! Thanks for following along!

It is a nice feeling, after encouraging and guiding them, kids finally able to get the courage to speak up for themselves.

 

[Figment Forever]

I guess that serves him right for not letting you to pack a few things in his bag.

Oh - but I got him back by not saving him any "drawer" space at the hotel. I said he could live out of his bag for the week. lol

 

[Scoppin]

Day 2 Continued...

After I fulfilled my dream of pictures on Main Street, we began our walk to BOG. While Main Street was a little more crowded than I had thought it would be, the area in Fantasyland seemed very quiet. It was cool to walk through it.

View attachment 169931

Hope found her calling…

View attachment 169939



A line was already forming for 7DMT of course. Soon, we were at Beast’s Castle.

View attachment 169932 View attachment 169934

For some reason, Hope does NOT like this restaurant. I can’t figure out why and she has not been able to tell me. Maybe it’s the lighting – or lack of lighting? But whatever it is, it makes dining here a little challenging.

Last year, I booked BOG for our last day breakfast but she could not get past coming to sit down and eat instead of going on rides. It was a total FAIL on my part. This time I did a better job preparing her. I think it helped that we were not in a rush and she got to enjoy walking through an empty park. She also got to see that things were not opened yet – so I think that all registered with her.

I checked us in and got a yellow thing – I forget what it was? A rose? We waited only a couple of minuets and then in we went. I told the hostess we pre-ordered so she just gave us a slip and told us to sit anywhere.

It was crowded! WOW I was surprised to see how crazy it was! Julia asked if we could sit in the West Wing but I was hesitant. I wasn’t so sure that Hope would be "sensory" comfortable in that room. As was giving my opinion, to a disappointed Julia, Hope piped up and announced, “Sit in the West Wing!” Umm… okay – let’s go!

Unfortunately, the room was packed and we had a hard time finding a table. I suggested that we take a look at the rose and then perhaps look for a table elsewhere. As we walked over to the rose, a group of people got up from a large table right in front of the rose and were leaving. A cm came over to clean the table and said we could sit as soon as she was done. We gladly waited for her to finish cleaning up and then just as we were about to sit another family made a dash for the table. They apparently didn’t see us waiting. They apologized and started to walk away but I realized that the table would fit all of us so I asked if they just wanted to share the table with us. I was glad they said yes! They were a family of 5 from Texas – the place where I dream about moving to one day. They were really nice and it was fun chatting with them. The weirdest thing happened… all of our food arrived at the same time even thought we had 2 separate receipts. So Julia, Hope and I huddled close together to pray. As we started, “Bless us O Lord…”, we realized that the entire table was saying grace! WOW – what was the chance of that? When we were done, we all stared at each other and laughed a little. On occasion, we get some weird looks at in public when pray before we eat, so this was pretty awesome.

Julia feasted on the donut with banana syrup. (She had been wanting that since last year's trip.)

View attachment 169935

Hope had the French toast and I forgot what I had probably because I was eating the entire place of GF pastries they put in front of me. The chocolate–cherry cake is the best!

I didn’t take too many pictures because my phone doesn’t do well in BOG.

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As we were finishing our food, Ross sent another text saying he was boarding the plane. He had been delayed over an hour!

We said our good-byes to our new friends and then exited BOG.

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I definitely missed seeing Beast and Julia missed having the grey stuff, but I really enjoyed our breakfast. Next time, I would like to give lunch a try.

I am glad Hope was okay with your choice of where to eat. Sounds like seeing the park empty helped with her not wanting to be rush or feeling like she was missing something. Probably one reason why I didn't book many ADR breakfasts on our trip. Not wanting to waste prime time attraction time seating in a restaurant.

I am guessing the Beast doesn't come out to visit during breakfast.

 

[Scoppin]

Oh - but I got him back by not saving him any "drawer" space at the hotel. I said he could live out of his bag for the week. lol

Do you think he will learn for next time?

They really don't give you much drawer space. I am glad there were only the three of us. We were able to make it work. Mind you, it did start getting a little tight on space with all the stuffies they purchased.

 

[lostpro9het]

For some reason, Hope does NOT like this restaurant.

I agree with Hope.

 

[Figment Forever]

I am glad Hope was okay with your choice of where to eat. Sounds like seeing the park empty helped with her not wanting to be rush or feeling like she was missing something. Probably one reason why I didn't book many ADR breakfasts on our trip. Not wanting to waste prime time attraction time seating in a restaurant.

I am guessing the Beast doesn't come out to visit during breakfast.

Yes - I do think it helped for her to see the park was' not opened yet. Plus this was the start of our park time instead of our last hours - so I think maybe that helped too.

No beast or grey stuff except for dinner. (They do have a grey stuff cupcake.)

 

[Figment Forever]

Do you think he will learn for next time?

They really don't give you much drawer space. I am glad there were only the three of us. We were able to make it work. Mind you, it did start getting a little tight on space with all the stuffies they purchased.

I did end up sharing some space a few days in. But I'm not sure he will learn. lol

 

[Figment Forever]

I agree with Hope.

I don't think I have any need to go back for dinner, but I did like breakfast and I would like to try lunch. Poor Hope may have to suffer a couple of more times!

 

[Figment Forever]

As we left BOG, it was just after 9:00 so we went right to Peter Pan’s Flight. I couldn’t believe it already had a 40 minute wait posted! We didn’t stop on the way in to get a disability card for Hope, but since it was early in the day, I knew she had the stamina to do the wait. So on line we went. It was cool because we had never been in the regular line; we usually always do this one with a FP. It was very cute and we only ended up waiting around 20 minutes!

We made a quick stop for a bathroom.

They were handing out FP for Philharmagic which was funny because I don’t think you would ever need one.

Since Small World was still closed, we headed over to see Maestro Mickey after our flight to Neverland.

Then we walked to Guest Relations and got Hope her disability card. I didn’t want to push my luck and I could see she would need her stroller for the waits in line. We got a return time for Buzz and then walked over to Winnie The Pooh which had another 40 minute wait. Everything we passed had very long waits – something we were not used to seeing this early in the day at this time of year. I was hoping it wasn’t a trend we would continue to see for our entire trip and I was blaming F&W for it all! (Today was opening day.) Lol

 

[Figment Forever]

We definitely waited the whole 40 minutes so I was glad we had Hope’s stroller even though she got up many times to play with the interactive stuff.

After our wait, we boarded our honey pot – I love Winnie The Pooh! Hope decided she wanted to ride with Julia! This was new – she never really voiced who she wanted to sit next to. So when her little voice said, “sit next to sissy!” I got teary-eyed.

From the 100 Acre Woods we ventured to infinity & beyond! It was fun to ride all together – such a fun ride!

Then we needed to say good-bye to MK. We had a lunch date with friends in Germany! Ross had texted when he landed, got to ME and then when he reached the hotel. So as we headed for the monorail - he was settling in and then headed for an EPCOT bus.

 

[Scoppin]

We definitely waited the whole 40 minutes so I was glad we had Hope’s stroller even though she got up many times to play with the interactive stuff.

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After our wait, we boarded our honey pot – I love Winnie The Pooh! Hope decided she wanted to ride with Julia! This was new – she never really voiced who she wanted to sit next to. So when her little voice said, “sit next to sissy!” I got teary-eyed.

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From the 100 Acre Woods we ventured to infinity & beyond! It was fun to ride all together – such a fun ride!

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Then we needed to say good-bye to MK. We had a lunch date with friends in Germany! Ross had texted when he landed, got to ME and then when he reached the hotel. So as we headed for the monorail - he was settling in and then headed for an EPCOT bus.

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Appears Hope is enjoying the morning.

We noticed similar wait times early in the morning as well.

 

[blreinsel]

I cracked up at Hope's 2017 announcement! Her personality is hilarious this year! It's so fun to see how much she's grown and changed over the years. Makes my teacher heart happy.