Takemethere81's Quick Trip-Lots of Pics!

Yippee!!! I finally get to write my own trip report after reading all of your wonderful ones. So to get started, I'll recap on a few categories:

New Experiences:

ALL OF THE BOARDWALK!
Tom Sawyer Island
Tommorrowland Transit Authority
NEW Haunted Mansion
Beautiful Christmas decorations!
Beautiful Crystal-lit Cinderella Castle
Dole Whip Pineapple Float
Nighttime Pics that actually came out
Mexico Donald Character Greeting
NEW Spaceship Earth
UK Pavillion
France Pavillion

Experiences I didn't quite catch and so far have never seen:
CoP(I know I'll take a hit from this one)
Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
Stitch's Great Escape
Minnie's House
Hall of Presidents (under refurbishment)
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Circle of Life
Innoventions (I've got impatient kids)
Snow White's Scary Adventures

There's probably more that maybe I'll remember later. Point is, one of the great things about Disney is, that this is not my first trip, yet check out all the new things I saw! I noticed that some of my old favorites seemed better than ever now that my kids are experiencing them for the first time. And I know that next time we go, there will still be great things to experience for the first time.

OK...Enough already! On to the trip report!!

Day 1

So Saturday my DH wakes up and he's got that look in his eye...he NEEDS to escape for a long weekend. I'm praying in my head for my FAVORITE place on earth and he says it! "Hun, let's go to Disneyworld!" So we pack up ourselves and our 3 kids in about an hour and head to Orlando, a 6 hour drive. On the way, we book a hotel (off property) and buy our Fl Resident 3-Day tix.

We got there at 6pm and we started our mini-vacation by heading over to The Boardwalk, where our younger kids and I explored and my oldest and my DH went over to the ESPN club for some FOOTBALL!!

Now I've never been to the Boardwalk, or even explored the resorts much, and this one is breathtaking! The detail is amazing and I absolutely love the ambiance of the seaside bustle.

My husband and son had to wait in a pretty long line, but they got in eventually and loved it!

My younger kids, ages 5 and 3 basically walked around and I just let them go and do whatever they wanted, no major agenda. We went to Seashore Sweets and I let them fill a little candy bag about half full and I picked up a yummy white-chocolate-covered-mickey-mouse-shaped pretzel.

Then when we came out, we bumped into a street magician, and no one had met him yet. My boys got like 2 uninterrupted minutes by themselves with him as he teased them by pulling coins out of their ears and making their shoes and noses magically squeak. They particularly loved how he would "throw" a ball up into the air so high it never came down.

After that, the kids and I strolled down to the boatdock and took a tour on the Friendship 1. I got to see all of The Boardwalk and the Dolphin and Swan resorts, as well as the entrance of DHS. I've never seen this view before. It was very relaxing. Sorry some of the pics are a little unclear, but they are certainly better this trip than last! :shrug:

After we took our little water tour, the boys were getting a little antsy and I saw some kids playing in the grass in a courtyard there so I let them do cartwheels and play for a while. While we were there, a banjo player came and played a few ditties for us while the kids danced. It was so cute!

Then we noticed a juggler a few feet away so we went to watch him. The kids got a huge kick out of the show! At one point, the man dropped a pin and my 3-year-old went and retreived it, which prompted a whole lot of dropping and the crowd was rolling with laughter as my little pin-ging child ran around the juggler.

Right after we walked away from the juggler, my 3-year-old started screaming bloody murder because he heard the booms from Illuminations across the way. This prompted us to hide in the nearest gift shop and decide it was time to go. Aside from this ending, I had to admit that starting our mini-vacation this way-slow paced-was the best thing to do ever!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Day 2 I woke up at 5:15am and tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't, so I was too excited! Once 6am rolled around and I could justify getting up to start getting ready, I did. We had breakfast and were out of there to catch our shuttle bus at 7:40. It dropped us off and we were at the TTC at about 8am.

Immediately I got a surprise! So many holiday decorations are already up! I've never seen WDW during Christmas and this will probably be the closest for us, because the holidays are too busy this year for a trip. So that was a dream come true for me.

Once we got there, we entered early for our breakfast ADR. I basically wanted to take a lot of pics so we never made it. lol

 

[kstella]

Great pics so far! Lucky you, not many people at MK so not a lot of strangers in your pics.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Our family photo (although it turned out blurry)

My littlest man w/his Mickey:

More later! I need to get my photos off mine and my hubby's cameras.

 

[disneychic71]

Great photos and beautiful family! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mikester71]

Love seeing the MK all decorated for Christmas! :xmas:
Have never been to WDW around any of the holidays actually and although I have seen many pictures of it decorated for Halloween, I've hardly seen any of it decked out for Christmas. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us and beautiful photos of you and your family! :wave:

 

[HollyBelle]

Yay for a quick trip to WDW :sohappy: ! You've really captured the spirit of the Boardwalk. Also, I love the pictures you've taken from behind the kids. It's nice to see some things from their perspective. Can't wait to read more!

 

[yankspy]

Great report. I also love just kind of strolling along the Boardwalk area. That picture of your son with his Mickey stuffed animal is great.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Great photos and beautiful family! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much, that is so sweet of you! :wave:

Love seeing the MK all decorated for Christmas! :xmas:
Have never been to WDW around any of the holidays actually and although I have seen many pictures of it decorated for Halloween, I've hardly seen any of it decked out for Christmas. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us and beautiful photos of you and your family! :wave:

You're so welcome!! It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!! LOL :lol:

Great pics so far! Lucky you, not many people at MK so not a lot of strangers in your pics.

It was lucky! It is easier than I thought to get these great pics, just get ADR's for breakfast and they let you into the Mainstreet area earlier than the rest of the park opens.

Yay for a quick trip to WDW :sohappy: ! You've really captured the spirit of the Boardwalk. Also, I love the pictures you've taken from behind the kids. It's nice to see some things from their perspective. Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! I have to say, one of the best parts of our trips we take these days is watching my kids experience WDW. It brings the magic back to ME, in a whole new way!

Great report. I also love just kind of strolling along the Boardwalk area. That picture of your son with his Mickey stuffed animal is great.

Thank you! The Boardwalk is a fun (and free!) way to enjoy WDW. I'd never been there before. What a neat little "diamond in the rough" place.



OK, more pics and report on its way today!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Day 2 Continued...

The Crystal Palace...our favorite spot for a Character Breakfast

After quite a bit of picture taking (I was so excited about holiday decorations!), we didn't have much time until rope drop...

...so we mapped out our touring strategy and waited at Adventureland til 9am.

I love this pic, because my two sons were watching the ducks...but it looks more like they've been playing "drinking around the world"

We went straight to Pirates because it isn't a FP attraction. The kids did pretty well, although the 3-year-old was a little nervous. DH especially loved the "new" updates (although I tried to convince him he saw them last year). I always love Pirates.

Then we got our stroller and headed to Frontierland, where we both got to swap and ride Splash and Big Thunder with a 5 minute wait each.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Why is my 8-year-old son so excited? Giving a huge thumbs-up? Because since he's the oldest and can ride everything now, he gets to ride each ride at least 3-4 times during the visit because we have to swap! Great deal for him!!! :animwink:

I love how on pretty much all of the outdoor rides, Cinderella Castle peaks out from somewhere. This is on Splash:

The younger kids played at the Laughing Place while we rode:

DH and the younger kids watched for us and waved as we went down the drop and continued under the bridge:

While my DH and son rode Splash, I noticed as Goofy appeared fresh, no crowd. So I whispered to my boys that he was over there and we snuck over to see him. We got to be 2nd in line and just as it was our turn, my son and DH emerged from the Splash exit, just in time to get in on the fun and get in the pic.

Then we continued on to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad:

You can barely see me waving, riding with my son in his yellow shirt (although it looks like I'm holding the Dreadlocks-Guy's hand):

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Next we continued along The Rivers of America toward Fantasyland. We stopped to experience The Haunted Mansion first:

I have to admit, I am not really one for spooky rides. But I did want to see the NEW and improved Haunted Mansion. The new technology they added is fantastic, especially the singing busts toward the end. I also always love the dancing ghosts in the ballroom scene.

Our kids didn't join us on The Haunted Mansion though, because we were afraid we'd freak them out too early in the trip and they wouldn't want to do anymore dark rides. Maybe next time for them.

As my husband took his turn on THM, I took the getting-squirmy kids and continued on toward Fantasyland. We rode It's a Small World, and it perked them right up! They all love it!

Next, it was time to get some food, so I took the kids into The Pinocchio Village Haus, while DH went and got FPs for Peter Pan's Flight. We had a nice little lunch, sitting by the window which looks into It's a Small World. Then we went on to explore Fantasyland.

(I will note that this was around 11:30, and the crowds really started to thicken).

The kids rode Cinderella's Golden Carousel. My 3-year-old loved that every time he came around, it was like Peek-a-Boo with mommy and her camera:

Then the older boys took a stab at pulling the Sword from the Stone:

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Our FP return time was up, so we rode Peter Pan, which was a huge hit with all of the kids, and DH and I. On the way out, my 3-year-old spotted "Mickey Magic" on the ground:

We skipped Pooh and Dumbo because of the wait time and went over to Tomorrowland. As my DH took the kids to Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, I went to get FPs. I got one FP for Space Mt and 3 for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

Then I went back to get some pics of my kids driving the cars. Once it was their turn, my husband waved me off of the exit bridge to come down to the queue area. Oldest DS was barely too short to drive alone. So I rode with my middle son.

Coming around one turn, I got a great shot of Space Mountain:

The wait time for BLSRS was not very long, so we thought we'd go standby first, then use our FPs right after. While waiting SB, I spotted Buzz doing character greetings:

After the boys met Buzz, we were nearing the front of BLSRS, so we hopped back into the place DH was holding in line and our whole family rode. It was fun! I got 74,900 pts! Not bad for a rookie.

Then myself and my two sons used those FPs I mentioned earlier and rode again, walking right back on. Oldest DS beat us all that time.

After Buzz, we went over to use our FP for Space. I got only one FP and I used it, but on my way in, grabbed a child swap so my DH and oldest DS could go after me. We are pros at utilizing the FP/Baby Swap combo. DS rode Space Mt for the first time and loved it!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

After Space Mt, we hopped on the TTA, a first for all of us. It was a very relaxing ride, but I felt they could totally do more with it. There is so much blank space that it takes you past, they really could jazz it up. Hopefully in the future they will, and not just get rid of it. It definitely has a lot of potential.

During our visit to Tomorrowland, I kept hinting at getting on CoP(I've never seen it), but by the time we were finished with the TTA, DH was getting a little clostrophobic since the crowd level in Tomorrowland was pretty high. A good walk to Mickey's Toontown Fair via the Tomorrowland walkway was the perfect anecdote. I got a great shot of Space Mountain too:

The most exciting part of using the Tomorrowland-to-Toontown walkway is that you have a great view of the MK RR as it passes each time. My 3-year-old is a huge fan of trains so he really enjoyed this the most of all of us.

We rode the train around back to Frontierland so we could get FPs for Jungle Cruise and take the kids to Tom Sawyer Island.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Nice report - great pics - thanks for sharing

 

[TakeMeThere81]

So we rode the train over to Frontierland, and my husband proceeded with the kids to Tom Sawyer Island. As I was popping park tickets in and out of the FP machine, I realized I was one ticket short. Instead of panicking, I proceeded out of Adventureland, making my way to City Hall, where I knew I could get a replacement ticket. (The same thing happened last year, somehow we have a habit of losing one ticket while we are there).

On my way to Main Street, U.S.A. I stopped to try a Pineapple Float at Aloha Isle. It was scrumptious!! Especially since I LOVE pineapple. I proceeded to Main Street, taking my time since it was just me, no kids or anyone else. I snapped a few pics also:

Barbershop Quartet performing:

Piano player really impressed me also:

Sort-of artistic Disney Balloon shot:

I also popped into the Emporium and picked up a magnet and 3 red and green Disney lollipops for my kids' stockings as well as a beautiful ornament (the candy-striped red and white one) for my Christmas tree this year:

I proceeded over to City Hall where I was helped by an extremely friendly and caring Castmember, Mei. She not only replaced my missing ticket but she gave me a complimentary FP good for any attraction for the whole family, to make up for the fact that I had 4 FPs that would not coordinate with our other ticket.

On my way back, I picked up FPs for Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and along with my FPs popped out an equal amount of Suprise FPs for Mickey's Philharmagic. That was cool!!

Then I met DH at Tom Sawyer's Island, a really fun place! This was my first time there.

We loved exploring Fort Langhorn. There were a lot of fun nooks and crannies, and the Escape Tunnel was especially fun. All of the caves and the barrel bridges were a lot of fun too. We enjoyed watching the Liberty Belle steam past us as well.

(About this time, my camera battery died >:-( so that is all the pics I have of the MK. I did take some pics on my phone but I don't know how to get the pics off yet so those remain to be seen...)

After Tom Sawyer Island exploring, we were hungry so we stopped in at Pecos Bill Cafe which I have to admit was only ok food. But it was quiet and we took a good break which we needed.

We had some leftover baby swap passes from earlier that day so we went and rode Splash Mt and Big Thunder a few more times. While I waited for DS and DH on Splash, I bought a cool wood picture frame with the DisneyWorld logo at the bottom.

Next we snuck past The Country Bears through the entrance into Adventureland and rode Jungle Cruise with our complimentary FP. I have to admit, DH and I both agreed that JC was pitiful at night. You can't hardly see anything because the animals and such along the river shore are not lit, but instead the insides of the boats are lit. It makes no sense. Anyway, basically you can't see anything and it is a waste of time at night. I still love the attraction as a whole though!

Finally, we headed to Fantasyland to use our Pooh & Mickey's Phil. FPs. Mickey's Phil. came first and although there was no line, we HAD to use our Surprise FPs so the Castmember humored us and let us through the FP line. My kids LOVED Mickey's Philharmagic and were laughing the whole time. Such a great show, and it was a first for all of us. Next we FPed Pooh which everyone LOVED also.

As you could guess, we were running out of steam at this point, and it was about 8pm. So we walked through the beautiful Crystally-lit Cinderella castle and out to the monorail and caught our shuttle bus back to our hotel.

At some point, hopefully I can share my phone-pics, including some of the castle. It really is a sight to see, absolutely breathtaking.

NEXT UP: EPCOT(along with a fully recharged camera)

 

[Todd L]

Great Tr. Im bringing my ds(3) on his first WDW trip in two weeks and I am getting so excited.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Nice report - great pics - thanks for sharing

Thanks so much for reading!

Great Tr. Im bringing my ds(3) on his first WDW trip in two weeks and I am getting so excited.

I'm sure your DS will have a great time! And you'll love watching him experience WDW most of all.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

DAY 3: EPCOT

We arrived at EPCOT before opening and once they started letting people through the turnstiles, I headed toward Soarin' to get 2 FP, along with a lot of other people. It was crazy

My husband headed over to Misson:Space to get another 2 FP. (We baby swap these so we only get 2 FP for each ride) What everyone says about Soarin' is right, it was a 50 minute wait almost from opening all the way to closing. Definitely DO NOT WAIT to get your FPs.

With FPs in hand, we met at The Seas with Nemo and Friends, where we got to basically walk on to Finding Nemo and our kids absolutely adored the ride.

The "Butt"

My husband and son in a Clammobile

Then we went over and let the kids freely browse the fish tanks to see if they could find their Nemo friends.

Then we took the kids over to see Turtle Talk w/Crush. They love that show! Crush is hilarious!

The kids checking out sharks and stingrays while they wait for TTw/C

 

[TakeMeThere81]

After we'd explored The Seas, we headed back to use our Soarin' FPs and check out The Land. I went with our older child on Soarin' and my husband took our younger ones to Living with the Land, affectionately known as "The Vegetable Ride" by them. We all love that one for no apparent reason. But we love it.

Monorail passing by...

After riding Soarin' and getting a baby swap for my husband, our Mission:Space return time was up, so we headed over in that direction. My son and husband rode first and I rode afterward with a baby swap. I forgot my cell phone when I went on the ride, which I would come to regret. My husband was waiting for us at our meeting place with my other two kids. Our youngest had a potty accident and since my DH couldn't call me to tell me what he was doing about it, I got off the ride only to find he'd disappeared. I won't do that again, not have my cell phone. It was a big pain. I didn't know where he was, he didn't know when I'd gotten off, and all of a sudden you start to notice how many people there are between you and your significant other. In the end, we both got to ride Test Track and we did find one another.


The boys made a game out of dropping their cars down the chute that was on the Test Track sign. That was not fun to get them away from

But I have to say, I enjoyed Test Track so much more this time than last time. That happened a lot this trip for some reason.

Backtrack: Here's some pictures I left out: