Trip Report Spoiler Alert. No Pandora, but Flowers and Gardens and Waves Galore.

Time for my first trip report!!! Exciting! First off going to tag some people in no particular order. @21stamps , @figmentfan423 , @Gabe1 , @betty rose , @littleroo, @Tony the Tigger , @donaldtoo, @Mr Ferret 88 , @Tuvalu , @TheMouseFan , @blgauger , @bee , @Cesar R M , @Songbird76 , @StarWarsGirl , @MinnieM123 , @MOXOMUMD , @ajrwdwgirl , @93boomer , @Courtney6682 , @amjt660 , @Doc Disney , @Goofyernmost @everybody

If you haven't read the ptr here is a link to it.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/our-hopefully-pandora-thrown-in-f-g-trip-2017.925406/

The planning for this trip May 19-27 started in November last year after I received a precious pin code in my email. I couldn't say no to that.

Eventually I ended up getting a better rate when the AP discounts came out(dh had an AP at the time), so I rebooked for the same resort, The Cabins at Fort Wilderness.

Who was going: me, dh, and the 4 kiddos(dd15, ds13, dd9, dd6). Who we were leaving at home(3 dogs, 3 cats, 1 cockatiel, and a dear SIL who was housesitting for a price. )

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Whew! A lot to reply to. Kids over the last couple of days. No time to come online and I have pizza on the way.

Question- was this all in the same day,
MK-GF-FW-Minigolf-Poly-MK?

Yes, all the same day. We usually leave MK by 12 o 1. Gets too busy for us to enjoy. That gives us more time to just enjoy the rest of what WDW has to offer.

Ha! Lucky!! I love your girls' dresses btw!!!

Thanks!

Oh my gosh that face would be impossible to say "no" to!

I know. It is very hard!!! Kills me!

The regular iPhones fit in my pockets, a plus won't.

Mine fits in my back pocket and in the side pocket of my Vera Bradley bag.

I have never seen the Nemo show, how was it?

It is a really good show. Definitely worth the time. I prefer Lion King, but we had seen it the last time, so wanted to see Nemo this time.

Wow, ok so, how do you get so much done in one day?!? Seriously?! Can you plan my trips?!

Ha Ha! You'll have to tag along one time.

Wait a minute, too full for key lime pie?!?
I don't even know how those words fit in the same sentence. Wow, just wow.

I know, nuts! Just that full I guess.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Thank you for sharing your photos of the Mary Blair tilework. I love her art, and on more than one occasion, I've stood there in the concourse, and just stared up at it--in wonder and awe. What a talented person she was.

I love the Mary Blair artwork so much myself. I would love to just stare myself, but 5 other people won't let me.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Whew, I'm caught up!! Apologies for blowing up your notifications.. can't wait to read more!

Oh here's a photo of the Darth Rueben and Grannie Brie. I'm going to find the recipes and try to make them sometime, the latter is pretty self explanatory though..just need to wait til fall for good apple butter.
View attachment 213961

Those sandwiches look yummy. I would just switch the corned beef to a bean burger on the reuben. I just learned that at Sci-Fi they well switch out a regular burger for bean on their sandwiches. Saw that on Disney Food Blog.

 

[21stamps]

Whew! A lot to reply to. Kids over the last couple of days. No time to come online and I have pizza on the way.

Yes, all the same day. We usually leave MK by 12 o 1. Gets too busy for us to enjoy. That gives us more time to just enjoy the rest of what WDW has to offer.

Thanks!

I know. It is very hard!!! Kills me!

Mine fits in my back pocket and in the side pocket of my Vera Bradley bag.

It is a really good show. Definitely worth the time. I prefer Lion King, but we had seen it the last time, so wanted to see Nemo this time.

Ha Ha! You'll have to tag along one time.

I know, nuts! Just that full I guess.

I am in awe. No joke. I can't imagine accomplishing that much in one day.lol. It looks like you got so much done in the morning!

 

[WisDisneyFan]

I'm all caught up. What a great trip report and I'm happy to see that you all are having fun! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I was just thinking this same thing. This report has sold me on getting a 7 before my trip in September. And yes, Snow Leopards are awesome!

It is a 7 plus. I am not sure if there is a camera difference between the two.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I'm all caught up. What a great trip report and I'm happy to see that you all are having fun! Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you for reading and glad you enjoyed it up to this point.

 

[21stamps]

It is a 7 plus. I am not sure if there is a camera difference between the two.

There is, the 7+ has some kind of dual camera and different zoom, or flash, or something lol. When my mom comes to my son's baseball games, her pictures are always better than mine. I have the 7 and she has the 7plus.

I'm an apple fanatic and buy a new iPhone every year since the original...I also read rumors for months ahead of time.lol. 2016 was the first time that I really had a tough time deciding what I wanted. Apple of course, but didn't know which model.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Sorry for the bombarding of "likes", i'm not sure how I've missed all your updates these past weeks but I'm all caught up! Congrats on the AP's!! That means we'll be expecting more trip reports!!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

There is, the 7+ has some kind of dual camera and different zoom, or flash, or something lol. When my mom comes to my son's baseball games, her pictures are always better than mine. I have the 7 and she has the 7plus.

I'm an apple fanatic and buy a new iPhone every year since the original...I also read rumors for months ahead of time.lol. 2016 was the first time that I really had a tough time deciding what I wanted. Apple of course, but didn't know which model.

It has a portrait mode which takes really nice shots. It has been compared to a DSLR.

Sorry for the bombarding of "likes", i'm not sure how I've missed all your updates these past weeks but I'm all caught up! Congrats on the AP's!! That means we'll be expecting more trip reports!!

Uhhhhh..... yeah... Trying to finish this one first. We leave in 6 days for the next and I have 2 days left from this trip. Haven't even packed!!! So not like me.

 

[Minnie1986]

It is a 7 plus. I am not sure if there is a camera difference between the two.

There's actually an Apple Store on my way home from work. I stopped in an apparently, there isn't too much of a difference between the two. Nonetheless, I'm definitely upgrading before my trip!

 

[21stamps]

There's actually an Apple Store on my way home from work. I stopped in an apparently, there isn't too much of a difference between the two. Nonetheless, I'm definitely upgrading before my trip!

Do the pocket test! Make sure you wear something with pockets to test the practicality. We go out often where I use a day sack or back pack instead of a handbag, and quite frequently where I literally just have my key fob and phone on me. On those days I use my pocket for my phone.
The regular 7 really does take decent photos too.
(Just not quite as good as the 7plus).

Depending on your trip dates, if after September, you may want to just wait for the 7s before upgrading.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Friday Mqy 26
We were off to MK on a rather chilly end of May morning. We all had light jackets on at first, but by the time the park opened it was warm enough to remove them. We were at the boat docks for the watercraft waiting for a boat. Since it was early there was no direct boat to MK. We had to take the watercraft that went to WL and CR. Luckily no one was going to WL, so we had a straight trip to CR.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Here was our transportation coming in.

River Country remnants.

The sneaker tree.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

We walked from CR to MK. It only took about 10 minutes. I really love how they have security set up now. Way more pleasant.

I do miss the Welcome Show. We didn't catch the inside show yet. Not interested I guess. I didn't find that opening Main Street before park opening led to smaller crowfs indoors. It was still nuts in my opinion.

First ride was Tea Cups. Dh doesn't like rides that spin so it was just me and the kiddos. I consider Tea Cups an arm workout especially since dd6 likes to spin super fast!!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

After Tea Cups we went on 7DMT then hit Pooh.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Peter Pan already had too long of a wait so we went on Small World since we didn't want to waste time on line when there was no wait. I guess that is a park plan we now utilize. We get FP's and hit those and in between those look for little to no waits. We avoid any waits more than 20 minutes. We figured we can miss some things since we have been there often enough.

No wait.

Our favorite doll.

I

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

After SW, dd6 wanted to go on the carousel. Since it was a walk on we did it.

Ok, strange story. You know how little kids eye up a horse and head towards it? Wel. Dd had her horse lined up. We got to the left side of the horse. I started to lift her up. She is little as in only 43 inches. Maybe 44 with crocs on. As I was lifting her ( I am just 5' 2"), I noticed a woman standing right by the right side of the horse. She went to me and said that she and her son wanted that horse and the one next to it which was at the end. I can understand that maybe because I am short and dd tiny she didn't see us. Dd was on the horse at this point. Her son, I noticed was over 6 feet tall and an adult in his 20's. I rolled my eyes internally and said rather loudly."dd6, this lady wants to sit on this horse so we can find another one." Her older son was visibly embarassed and told his mother that they should find other ones. This was not an issue since the carousel was empty. I was seriously baffled by this woman. If I wasn't such a non confrontational person I am sure I could have truly made a scene, but that is not me, and I was on vacation to have fun and go with the flow.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

After the Carousel I saw that LIttle Mermaid had a short wait, as in none,

We headed to Frontierland to try and do BTMR. It was extra magic hours and they were ending. Unfortunately we were behind a big crowd, so by the time we got there the line was too long. Dh wasn't having that and said if we didn't get to Sleepy Hollow, the crowds there would get too long and everyone would get cranky. There was a line when we got there so dh took the kids and got a table and I waited on line. This lady was hand painting on the umbrellas. She was cranking them out so fast. I could not believe I never noticed this before. She was amazing!!

 

[21stamps]

After SW, dd6 wanted to go on the carousel. Since it was a walk on we did it.

Ok, strange story. You know how little kids eye up a horse and head towards it? Wel. Dd had her horse lined up. We got to the left side of the horse. I started to lift her up. She is little as in only 43 inches. Maybe 44 with crocs on. As I was lifting her ( I am just 5' 2"), I noticed a woman standing right by the right side of the horse. She went to me and said that she and her son wanted that horse and the one next to it which was at the end. I can understand that maybe because I am short and dd tiny she didn't see us. Dd was on the horse at this point. Her son, I noticed was over 6 feet tall and an adult in his 20's. I rolled my eyes internally and said rather loudly."dd6, this lady wants to sit on this horse so we can find another one." Her older son was visibly embarassed and told his mother that they should find other ones. This was not an issue since the carousel was empty. I was seriously baffled by this woman. If I wasn't such a non confrontational person I am sure I could have truly made a scene, but that is not me, and I was on vacation to have fun and go with the flow.
View attachment 214881

Gotta love entitled Disney parents..I mean, don't ya know- They Paid To Be There. Ugh. Drives me nuts!
Kudos for keeping your cool and handling it in a nice way.

After the Carousel I saw that LIttle Mermaid had a short wait, as in none,
View attachment 214882 View attachment 214883 View attachment 214884
We headed to Frontierland to try and do BTMR. It was extra magic hours and they were ending. Unfortunately we were behind a big crowd, so by the time we got there the line was too long. Dh wasn't having that and said if we didn't get to Sleepy Hollow, the crowds there would get too long and everyone would get cranky. There was a line when we got there so dh took the kids and got a table and I waited on line. This lady was hand painting on the umbrellas. She was cranking them out so fast. I could not believe I never noticed this before. She was amazing!!
View attachment 214885 View attachment 214886

I had no idea about this either!