Slow and Steady...A June TR!

Well, I have finally gotten to the task of sitting down and writing this. I know, took me long enough. The cast includes Myself, DH, DS (14), and DD--who had the good fortune of celebrating her 10th birthday on this trip. This trip was from June 11th-18th. We did a split stay starting with a Royal Room at POR, and moving to POFQ.

Some background here: DH sprained his ankle pretty badly, and would attempt the whole trip with his ankle wrapped, and one crutch. This would help set a slower speed than we are used to, but with the heat...Well, I'll get to it all.

This was our first trip flying United, and it was great. I didn't miss the SW cattle call at all, but everyone must not have gotten the memo. People were still trying to be in line first to get on the plane. Really not necessary when you have assigned seats.

This was also the first time our plane had no delays, and we would be at WDW early enough to hit a park the first day. Great start for DD's birthday! Got off the plane. First time I didn't get lost on the way to DME! Crazy easy to get to the right line. All 4 of us were waiting with absolute excitement, a whole trip ahead of us! Got on the bus, and the driver asked for a show of hands to figure out where everyone was going. And then we were off!

A light mist started, but

That just has a way of chasing the clouds away!

 

[Figgy1]

I'm looking forward to the rest of your tr! I hope your dh is up and about! How's he doing? xoxo

 

[MouseDreaming]

Our string of luck continued! First stop POR! What a lovely sight. We got off the bus, and headed for check in.
I had already done the on line check in earlier, and I expected the whole process to go quickly. It was only 3:30 or so, and we had plenty of time to enjoy MK.

A young gentleman CM came up to us bearing an Ipad. I thought great, this was going to be the fastest check in ever...and that is when our luck took a detour.

He couldn't find it. He asked me if I was sure I did on-line check in? Yes. Did I do it that morning? No, like 45 days ago. Hmmm. OK, so he sent me to the desk. That CM was excited to offer us an upgrade! A one bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs. I'm glad she was excited, because, I wasn't. I explained that I knew SSR is fairly spread out, and with the DH's ankle, this just wasn't a great idea. Besides, how is it an upgrade from a Royal Room? Two of us would have to sleep on a pull out couch. But you have a kitchen! I have no groceries, and no car (and no desire to cook on MY vacation, thank you very much!).

So she starts looking for a room for us. It took a while, and in the meantime, she asked are there any tickets associated with the reservation? Good thing I had it all printed out. It turns out that the lovely new computer system at WDW had disassociated the ticket media with the reservation. She was on hold. DH and the kids were getting impatient, wondering what is going on. Let's just fast forward about an hour, to finally leaving the lobby with a room number, ready to get ourselves together for our first park!

We got to room 9001, the room we had been assigned to, and guess what? Magical fairies do not maintain the rooms at WDW! DH came around the corner first, and saw them. A bunch of construction workers, yep, working on 9001. I volunteered to go back to the desk to get the room situation straightened out. DH's ankle was getting sore, and I wanted him to save it for the park. Just then, a CM came around the corner and asked if there was a problem. He was able to call the front, and get us into another room. So 9232 became our "home for a few days"

 

[MouseDreaming]

I'm looking forward to the rest of your tr! I hope your dh is up and about! How's he doing? xoxo

He's headed to the Dr today. Hopefully, he will leave with a referral!

 

[Zman-ks]

In for your TR!

 

[Figgy1]

He's headed to the Dr today. Hopefully, he will leave with a referral!

Fingers crossed and I hope he heals quickly while at home!

 

[MouseDreaming]

The inside of the room was better than I expected. I really liked it, and so did the family. The fireworks on the headboard were a big hit. The kids spent a lot of time during our stay trying to get both headboards perfectly synchronized. Only complaint, DD wishes they lasted longer than 30 seconds, as did the button pusher (mostly DH).

It was still drizzly, but not enough to don our poncho apparel, yet. Since it was DD's birthday, we asked her where she wanted to eat. She didn't even think about it before calling out Columbia Harbour House. It was already close to 6 by the time we made our way back over the bridge to the main bus stop.

We met a very nice family from Carolina (for the life of me, I can't remember North or south). They were first timers, although Mom had been there once before on a HS trip (I'm going to say it wasn't recent). They were kind enough to share with us all about FP, and GMR --which will be knocked down soon, and so sad because they really loved it), and make sure you see Pirates, and Splash. First timers--they're cute.

So we load onto the bus. A recurring theme, and made me feel better about my fellow man, is how many people were willing to give up a seat to the guy with the crutch. I wish I could send each and everyone of those people a big thank you card, especially after a DHS incident (more on that, later). On our way, little Lucy was chattering away, and her excitement was just contagious, but I missed the first castle sighting of the trip. I was a little upset, because it is the best the castle will ever look on a trip--that first look. On the plus side, no tears!

We got off the bus, and as we were walking to the MK entrance, it never occurred to me that there is a steep ramp that you must go down first. If you are doing the parks with one crutch--BEWARE! Actually, I didn't realize how many ramps and inclines there are in those parks! DH wasn't having an easy go of it with the messed up ankle, so enter The Human Crutch (also known as the wife, with her understudy, tall 14 Year old son). It made it a lot easier to get around.

 

[Figgy1]

I thought they were keeping the Great Movie ride and knocking down the Backlot Tout???????? Please update me!

 

[MouseDreaming]

By the time we got on Main St, the rain got heavier, so--Poncho Time! I had only popped 3 in the backpack, though. I figured the ponchos don't usually fit my DD comfortaby, so I figured we would buy her one. I was wrong, so we were short one poncho. Oh well.

First stop, CHH for Birthday dinner! DH and DS had they're favorite, the Lighthouse sandwich. DD got her favorite, the chicken nuggets, and I tried the shrimp. Sorry, I thought I got pictures, but I guess after all of the traveling, we were hungry! Dinner behind us, the birthday girl selected the first ride of the trip:

 

[MouseDreaming]

I thought they were keeping the Great Movie ride and knocking down the Backlot Tout???????? Please update me!

Figgy, don't get excited! Someone from the guy's work told him that. As first timers, I'm going to guess he doesn't work for anything Disney related. Interesting how rumors start.

 

[MouseDreaming]

I just realized I put this in the wrong place--Mods, a little help here! @wdwmagic

 

[Figgy1]

Figgy, don't get excited! Someone from the guy's work told him that. As first timers, I'm going to guess he doesn't work for anything Disney related. Interesting how rumors start.

PHEW!!!!! LOL I guess I'm still adjusting to being home and out of the loop.

 

[MouseDreaming]

So, I left you all at Pirates... DS was upset that his friend Davy Jones must now be unemployed. I have to agree, I liked Davy better than Blackbeard as well. The kids didn't get the mermaid thing. They were wondering what the weird light was about, and I had to explain. We did like the mermaid skeleton, and the skull rock addition as well. The first scene after the drop was very misty, and the canon fire is a lot more "splashy" than I remember it. On later trips, it was back to "normal". All in all, a great first ride!

Normally after POTC, the family would want to cross the park for the first HM ride. This had to be rethought, as it was obvious that dh's ankle was not going to allow it. So, we got through Adventureland. I won't bore you with all the little details, but the new/old Tiki room is great! I love that they brought it back.

I will also say that I learned a valuable lesson about JC. The whole experience absolutely hinges on your skipper. Ours was just awful. Absolutely bland. I don't know if he was new, or just didn't have his heart in it, but the whole boat was silent. He totally bombed. Unfortunately, this was our only JC for this trip.

It was around this time, that I was reunited with my favorite Disney treat--Pineapple Dole Whip Float, how I missed thee! I figured it had been 2 years and three months since my last one. Not that I keep track of that sort of thing!

After this, DH's ankle was ready to make the cross park trip. Off to HM! Great as always, but I have never experienced it so crowded! Once we got through the stretching room, there were all kinds of people pushing to get into the line. I stayed with DH. I might mention, I became sort of an expert on the rides in regards to the whole crutch and ankle thing. I managed to remember (most of the time) which side DH should sit on for easier load and unload, and how to put the darn crutch. For those of you who want to know--Doom Buggies work best if you are last on, because then you don't have to scootch across the seat at the end, and crutch can go across laps, or between riders.

This was our first experience with the "new" (to us anyway) hitchhiking ghosts at the end. Loved them! The first ride was great, even the hidden Mickey plates were back! Subsequent trips, the glowing foot prints on the stairs weren't working so great, the plates were switched again, and my favorite hidden Mickey towards the end was blurry. We couldn't make it out. Nonetheless, still one of our favorites.

 

[MouseDreaming]

After leaving HM, we went to Fantasyland, by way of the new Rapunzel tower. Let me say, the tower area itself looks lovely, especially at night. Unfortunately, it also ruins the view. When you are walking by Haunted Mansion at night, and the dogs are howling, it just isn't as creepy and fun with this big flowery tower poking up over the trees. It was time to sit and relax with Philharmagic after we pulled FP for Little Mermaid.

After Philharmagic, which while not one of my favorites, is a nice place to sit awhile, we made our way to Little Mermaid with our FP's. The fireworks had just started, so it was deserted. We started through the line, and here is a little warning for those of you who don't know--it is a long line to walk, with lots of ramps. This pretty much did DH's ankle in for the rest of the night.

I like the new ride, but there is one part that really bugged me. Before you go into the big party room where they have Under the Sea playing, they had these fish just screwed to the wall. It just felt like a missed opportunity, and they should have at least moved a little bit. The best part was the beginning, when you go "under water" with the bubbles.

DS didn't like it, but that was not a surprise. DD liked it, and DH could not do the line again. So, DD and I used 2 of the FP's and went again. Let me say, the FP line is a much shorter walk. Straight on and through. The other 2 FP's were kept as souvenirs. We would have gifted them to someone, but as we were leaving, the area was still empty. There really isn't a whole lot going on in New Fantasyland.

On our way out, we did a quick trip on IASW. Only tortured DS with that one once, and then it was back to the long line of people waiting for the bus to Riverside.

 

[Figgy1]

I'm so sorry you had a bad skipper we had a really good one the 3 times we rode it. The first one was spectacular!!!!!!!!! The whole boat was cracking up! The other 2 were also quite good!

 

[MouseDreaming]

I'm so sorry you had a bad skipper we had a really good one the 3 times we rode it. The first one was spectacular!!!!!!!!! The whole boat was cracking up! The other 2 were also quite good!

I actually felt a little sorry for the guy, it was so bad. I remember his name, but I won't put it down, because I truly hope he was newer, or just having a bad day.

 

[MouseDreaming]

Day 2- Wed. June12

I was really excited about this day. This is the day I got to meet @figmentfan423 and @Pooh'sBuddy !

But first we started with a good explore. The boys were still asleep, since we didn't get back and tucked in until the wee hours of the morning, but DD and I decided to check the place out! Of course, we slept in, and lunch wasn't too far off, so we pretty much missed breakfast.

I was on a mission. I knew that POR had more than one bus stop, and I was hoping to find one closer to our room. That lovely curved bridge was a hard way for DH to get started in the morning. DD-10 years old--was in a picture taking mood.

This was the view outside our room.

 

[MouseDreaming]

DS eventually joined us, found a closer bus stop, and went over to Fulton's General Store, where the kids invested in some new lanyards. Both had pins with them they wanted to trade. Got back to the room, and DH was ready to go. Off to MK!

Isn't she lovely!

We had just enough time to catch some ac and a seat at the Country Bear Jamboree. Yes, I like this one a lot! The CM was really nice, and when she saw DH with the crutch, let us go through the handicap entrance. It was another great show!

Time to get over to LTT for our lunch ressie. We were really excited to try this for the first time, and it didn't disappoint! DH ordered the burger

DS ordered the Freedom Pasta

I ordered the pot roast

and DD ordered a BBQ chicken and pineapple flat bread from the kids menu

We all really enjoyed it. I have to say my pot roast was the best I've ever had, anywhere. DH was a little upset that he didn't get it. DS's was really wonderful, too.

DD was not eating. She didn't realize that the pineapple would be on the flatbread. The waitress noticed, and quickly whisked it away and brought her some chicken nuggets and fries, which made her a very happy girl.

For dessert, I insisted we try the Ooey Gooey Toffee cake, as so many here have said it is really good. They weren't kidding! At first, no one else was interested, but I told the waitress to bring 4 spoons for it so we could all try some. When we bit into it, it was unbelievable!

I highly recommend it.

Lunch was done. Time to go back into the hot humid afternoon heat, and get to Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

I totally agree- Saratoga Springs is not an upgrade! Isn't the Ooey Gooey cake absolutely incredible?! SO delicious!!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Where to start?! What a pain that you had such difficulty with just checking in! I'm glad you got the Royal Room, though. Great view. Disney landscaping is fabulous.

I forgot all about the PoC mist! Did they decide to bring the great outdoor weather in? Actually, BTMRR was bad, too.

Oh, my! Your LTT food pics are great! That's so sweet that the CM brought your daughter the alternative lunch.