The RussJT Family Trip Report... A perfect week!

RussJT · Apr 7, 2008

Day 2 - Sunday 3/30... Magic Kingdom

We decided this trip to not get park hopper passes. This kids seemed to want to hit each park and stay there the entire day. I was curious to see how this would work out and wondered if we'd regret it at all.

Our family tradition is to start the first day at Magic Kingdom with an 8:05 ADR for breakfast at the Crystal Palace. I love getting through the gates early and having the walk down Main Street without too many people around us.

It had been almost two years exactly since our last trip. We had been planning this one almost since we arrived home the last time, and we were all incredibly excited for the first stroll down Main Street. We were not disappointed. As we came around the corner for the first time and saw the castle we all paused with tears in our eyes. As always, the view was perfect.

We slowly made our way to the Crystal palace, taking a few pictures along the way. We were the first people to the reservation window and after a wait of a few minutes, were the first family called in to the restaurant. The breakfast buffet was great as always. I think I ate a bit too much, but that was to be expected. The character interaction was very good as always. We got some great pictures at our table and of the kids following Piglet around during the parade inside the restaurant. We lingered a bit after finishing and made it outside just as the gates were opening.

We originally planned to head straight to Splash Mountain, but it seemed a bit cool and breezy at the time, and we didn't feel like getting wet that early. We headed to Tomorrowland instead. We noticed that there was no line whatsoever for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, so we rode that first. When we got off, I grabbed some FastPasses for Space Mountain.

While waiting for our Fas Pass time, we hit Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor for our first time ever (we liked it. I was NOT chosen as "That Guy", which actually disappointed me a bit.) We rode Buzz again without any line and then made our way to the Carousel of Progress. It is still a classic.

By that time it was time for our space Mountain Fastpass. This was the first time my daughter (age 5) rode it. She hated it... not because of the hills or speed, but because of the dark. She cried. I felt bad, but told her I was proud of her for trying it.

The rest of the Day we used FastPasses for the rides that had them (Splash, Pooh, etc.) and worked our way throughout the park hitting everything we could. The only bad part was when we waited in line for Pirates of the Caribbean for about 30 minutes or more and we close to the front of the line when they announced that the ride was experiencing technical difficulties and would be shutting down for a while. Disappointed, we got out of line and decided we'd try to do it later. We hit most of the rides in the park. We seemed to have a lot of luck in hitting shows (Mickey's Philharmagic, Country Bears, etc) at the perfect time... getting to walk in right before it was about to start.

We had planned to eat our counter service meal at Cosmic Rays at 5:00ish. About a half hour before that, we were near the castle and were planning to watch Dream Along With Mickey before making our way over the dinner. It started to rain, so we decided to skip the show and eat instead. We made it into Cosmic Rays before the rest of the crowd that followed soon after. Wew grabbed a table and got into line. Again, perfect timing on our part. We at while listening to Sonny Eclipse. I had the Rotisserie chicken meal which was good. We had eaten at Cosmic Rays once before, so we knew what we were in for.

After dinner, we made it back out into the park just as the rain was stopping. The only ride we disn't make it to that we wated to hit was the Haunted Mansion. I'm not sure how/why we missed it, but we made plans to hit it later in the week.

We had planned to stary for SpectroMagic & Wishes, however, the kids were exhausted so we left before the parade started. We had been in the park since 8AM. We were tired, but had a great day. We knew we were going to be back in Magic Kingdom on Friday. My feet were sore from walking. A bus for All-Star Movies was waiting at our stop when we walked up. Again... perfect timing which seemed to be the theme for the week.

Time for a shower and a good night's sleep before a day at EPCOT on Monday.

mouselvrmom · Apr 7, 2008

Sounds like you had a great day! Can't wait to read more!

smk · Apr 7, 2008

I always get so into everyone's trip report....makes me feel like I am there. Can't wait to read about what happened on Monday....

SoHkJerry · Apr 7, 2008

Very nice start keep it coming , don't you just love it when everything goes smoothly ! :king:

RussJT · Apr 7, 2008

Day 3 - Monday 3/31... EPCOT (& the search for H20Babie)

We ate breakfast at the All-star Movies food court. With the dining plan, we usually eat a nice sized breakfast and carry some snacks to eat in the parks in a backpack. This usually holds us over until we eat dinner in the park/at a resort.

We planned to get to EPCOT well before park opening. We got to the bus stop right as a bus was pulling up. There was no one else in line, and we ended up having a bus ride to EPCOT by ourselves. I don't know how it happened. It was weird being in a bus with just the four of us. It gave us a nice choice of seats. We got to the park at about 8:30. I let me wife know that I was going to hurry to Soarin's to get FastPasses and that I would meet her and the kids at the entrance to The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

I knew that H20Babie was in the park this day as we had traded itineraries before the trip. I figured I should keep and eye out for her (and her backpack) and introduce myself to (as my wife called her) my Internet girlfriend. I couldn't convince my wife that she was stalking me/us and not the other way around.

We never saw her. I think she was avoiding us (even though she had no clue what any of us looked like as I forgot to send her the picture I promised. (Made it harder for her to stalk us... but I figured she'd be up to the challenge anyhow.)

I waited inside for the rope drop and followed the crowd to Soarin' got our 4 FastPasses and made it over to meet them at Nemo. We rode it without waiting in a line. The kids enjoyed it as they are big fans of the movie. We wanted to do Turtle Talk with crush immediately after, but had to wait about 15 minutes before they were letting anyone in. That gave us time to look around and get pictures taken hanging out of Bruce's mouth, etc. After a brief wait, we were let into Turtle Talk. There weren't too many people in there. Crush picked out my son and asked him a few questions about swimming and how fast my son could swim. I forget the actual joke he made at the end of their conversation, but it really made my son laugh. We were happy that he was picked out.

We went outside and made a quick trip to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. The kids enjoyed this one as we somehow missed it the last time we were there. By this time, it was time for Soarin'. It was great as usual. My daughter loved it. They immediately asked that we ride it again, so I grabbed 4 more FastPasses.

We then headed over to Innoventions and checked that out before jumping into line for SSE. After all of the negative opinions about the refurb, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The kids liked having their images appear on the screen at the end, and liked seeing the postcards as we made them. I liked the narration by Dame Judy... and have no complaints about it at all.

We then headed into World Showcase and bought Passports for the kids. We thought the would enjoy getting stamps/messages at the Kidcot stations in each country. We were right. We loitered for a while in Canada and watched the O Canada film. We made it through the UK before it was time to head back for ride #2 on Soarin'. Before Soarin' we rode Living With the Land. The kids enjoyed the pumpkins shaped like Mickey, etc. I was surprised by how much they were interested in learning about this ride, etc. My son told me during the ride that he was learning about a lot of things he could tell his classmates when he got back to school.

After Soarin' I snuck over to Test Track and picked up a few FastPasses. By that time we were looking at a return time just after our Dinner ADR... this would give us time to explore World Showcase a bit more before heading to Norway for dinner and then back to Test Track.

We headed into Mexico and Rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. This ride has never thrilled me... but it was there, so we rode it. We made it through Norway, China, Germany and Italy before it was time to head back to Norway for the Princess Storybook Dining at Restaurant Akershus. This was our first time eating dinner in Norway. It was very hot at this time. There was a line at the entrance to get a picture with Belle in her ball gown. Surprisingly, my daughter decided that we should skip the photo op and just go sit down instead.

The meal was quite good. I really liked the appetizer bar of cold meats, cheeses and seafood. I particularly liked the peppered mackerel and tomato herring. Being the adventurous sort, I ordered the Traditional Kjottkakker without knowing what it was. Our server's name was Silje. She laughed at my attempts to pronounce the meal, and spent a few minutes trying to teach me how to say it correctly. Finally I either got it right or she gave up on me... I'm not sure which.

It turned out that it was a mixture of ground beef and ground pork with a sauce over it. I guess it was somewhat similar to meatloaf... which didn't make me feel as adventurous as I felt when I ordered it. Regardless, I liked it and was satisfied with the choice. My wife oirdered the lamb stew, which I tired some of also. It was good. Before Silje brought out the dessert, I made a quick trip back to the appetizer bar for more peppered mackerel and tomato herring. (Mental note to self: look to see if either of these are listed in the recipe thread.)

The dessert tray came out. There were three offerings on it for us to try. A rice cream with a strwaberry (I think) sauce, a cappucino cheesecake & some type of light layer cake with a raspberry filling in between the layers. Even though I was stuffed, I decided to try some of all 3. I loved the rice cream and ended up eating almost all of it. Fortunately, my wife seemed to prefer the cheesecake an the kids attacked the layer cake so we were all happy.

With very full stomachs, we headed to Test Track. With the FastPass, we had little wait before we were zooming through the ride. My daughter especially loved it and told us that she thought it was the fastest she had ever gone in her life. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Daddy drives faster than that on the Interstate quite often. Maybe I need to drive with the windows down more often (or buy a convertible) so my daughter and I could recreate FastTrack on occasion.

After Fast Track, we spent the rest of the day in World Showcase. We watched the American Adventure show which is always good. Once we were finished with that, we only had a little more than 30 minutes to get the kids Passports stamped in Japan, Morocco and France. We had to hurry a bit more than I would have liked, but they were enjoying the passports a lot and would have been disappointed if they didn't get to finish them. Despite some kids in Japan who kept trying to push their way through the line while their parents yelled at them to hurry up. Regardless, we were able to get their passports filled out. They especially enjoyed the fact that they now know how to write their names in Chinese and were looking forward to showing off that knowledge when they returned to school.

Again, despite the fact that the kids loved Illuminations last trip, they were very tired and let us know that they wouldn't mind skipping it to head back to the room. My wife and I would have loved to see it again, but we decided before the trip started that this trip was for the kids and not us, and that we were going to let them call most of the shots. (Time for a soapbox rant: It amazed/annoyed my how many times I heard parents forcing screaming kids onto rides the kids didn't want to go on / families arguing over ride choices, etc. I even heard a parent getting annoyed because her son had to go the the bathroom. For me, this trip was all about having fun with my wife/kids. There was no way I was going to be bothered by any of the decisions they made. We were in The Happiest Place on Earth for God's sake. I planned on enjoying it no matter what happened.) {RussJT now steps off the soapbox and returns to the trip report} We had a bit of a wait for our bus, and were all quite tired when we made it back to our room. We were at EPCOT from 8:30 AM until 9:00 PM... so it was a long day for all of us especially the kids.... but we enjoyed every minute of it. The weather was very warm (mid-80s) with only a light mist of rain at one brief point during the day. Couldn't complain about it at all.

Coming up... Day 4 & Animal Kingdom.

PotteryGal · Apr 7, 2008

Wonderful trip report so far! I wish more people had attitudes like yours when you were on vacation - everything is so positive!

Just out of curiosity, which part of Ohio are you from? We are about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh airport also, in the east central part of the state.

RussJT · Apr 7, 2008

PotteryGal said:
Wonderful trip report so far! I wish more people had attitudes like yours when you were on vacation - everything is so positive!

Just out of curiosity, which part of Ohio are you from? We are about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh airport also, in the east central part of the state.

I sent you a PM. Apparently we aren't too far from each other.

rshell68 · Apr 7, 2008

Sounds like you are having an absolutely perfect time so far!!!

smk · Apr 7, 2008

(Time for a soapbox rant: It amazed/annoyed my how many times I heard parents forcing screaming kids onto rides the kids didn't want to go on / families arguing over ride choices, etc. I even heard a parent getting annoyed because her son had to go the the bathroom. For me, this trip was all about having fun with my wife/kids. There was no way I was going to be bothered by any of the decisions they made. We were in The Happiest Place on Earth for God's sake. I planned on enjoying it no matter what happened.)

I couldn't agree more!!!!!

RussJT · Apr 7, 2008

Day 4 - Tuesday April 1... Animal Kingdom, Chef Mickey's & a visit from my uncle

Exhaustion has set in. I have an uncle who lives in tampa. Everytime we have taken a trip to the World he has come over and spent a day with us. This year we chose out day at Animal Kingdom for our get together. He told us he would meet us at about 10AM, so our original plan was to get to AK before park opening, ride something or another and get back to the entrance area to meet him when he got there.

However, when going to bed the night before, we were all a bit tired, so we decided to skip the opening at AK and get there at about 10:00 to meet my uncle. We thought it would be good for the kids to get an extra hour of sleep in the AM.

We woke up, ate breakfast at the All-Star Movies Food Court and got onto the bus shortly after 9:00. (Again, no wait for the bus... I have no idea how we kept pulling this off). We made it to AK before 9:30, so we decided to walk around and look at the Oasis Exhibits before meeting my uncle. As we were checking out some of the animals/birds, my uncle walked around the corner and spotted us. It turned out that he decided to leave Tampa early, got to the park before it opened and had been taking pictures around the park for a while before he found us.

He had never been to AK before. The one thing my kids wanted to do right away (and I thought my uncle would enjoy it anyhow) was to see Festival of the Lion King. We walked around and talked for a while and then got in line to see the show. This is one of my favorite shows in any of the Disney Parks, and it was great as usual.

We then walked around Africa for a while. My daughter did not want to ride Expedition Everest, but my wife, son & I did. My uncle didn't plan on staying for more than a few hours, and I knew by this point fastPasses would probably be for later in the day that he planned to be with us. Knowing that my son would be thrilled to ride it twice, I ran to Asia while they walked around Africa. On the way, I saw Devine for the 1st time. She blended in very well. I wouldn't have noticed her if I hadn't seen a few others looking in her direction. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me. I made my way through the crowd and got 4 Fast passes for Everest. They were already up to about 2:00 for the return time. I made my way back to Africa and met them. We got in line for Kilamanjaro Safaris. Our wait was about 40 minutes, but most of is was in the shade... so it didn't seem as bad. It gave the kids time to joke around with my uncle. There were quite a few animals out and about, and we got a great picture of an elephant almost completely submerged in the water as it was washing itself off.

After the safari, it was time for lunch. Even though we were on the Dining plan, my uncle insisted on buying us lunch. This worked out well since our ADR wasn't until 7:00 PM anyhow. The kids chose Pizzafari. It was very crowded. My wife and kids waited at a table while my uncle and I went to order. I knew the kids wanted pizza, but my wife was somewhat non-committal as to what she wanted and told me to pick something for her. I decided to order one Hot Italian Style sandwich and one Chicken parmesan sandwich and let her decide which she wanted. I knew I'd be fine with either one. She chose the chicken parmesan. I was happy as I was hoping to get the Hot Italian. we ended up trying some of each others sandwich anyhow. Both were good, but I preferred the Hot Italian.

After lunch, my uncle took a few more pictures of the kids in various area of the park and let us know that he needed to get going. We walked around for a while and waited for the Jammin Jungle Parade. We missed it last trip. It was interesting and quite different than the other parades. By the time it was over, we decided to make our way toward Everest. Once we got there, we decided that I would ride with my son first while my wife took my daughter to Dinoland. (She loves to ride the Triceratop Spin.) Everest was great as always. The Yeti was in full force. We looked around the shop nearby for a few minutes. I was surprised that my son didn't decide to buy something there. We made our way to Dinoland, where we switched kids. I stayed there with my daughter while the others headed back to Everest.

Once they returned, we went to see Finding Nemo the Musical. I thought it was a very good performance. The kids enjoyed it as well.

While my uncle was there he gave each of the kids $25 to spend. My daughter found some Princess figurines at a cart near Camp Minnie Mickey. We decided to head back there to watch the Pocahontas and Forest Friends show and then grab the souvenirs. By the time Pocahontas was over, it was getting close to 6:00. We had 7:00 ADRs for Chef Mickey's, so we decided to slowly make our way to the exit. (I would have liked to ride Dinosaur, but my son didn't like it the previous trip and I knew it would scare my daughter to death. That is one of the very few rides I can think of that I wanted to ride but didn't get to. The other is coming later in the report. I'm not complaining though... I figure if I only missed out on two I did well.)

We had a bit of a wait for the bus to the Contemporary and made it just in time for our reservation. The character interaction during the meal was VERY good. Pluto snuck up behind me and started licking me on the head. This had the kids cracking up. the kids got a loft of autographs from the characters and we took some nice pics. The meal was good, and being a buffet gave us more than enough to eat. I liked the Prime Rib. The kids were happiest about the sundae bar.

We made it back to the room right before 9:00 as we decided to walk around the Contemporary for a while. we rode to monorail for the first time this trip to Magic Kingdom and caught the bus back to our resort from there. Even though it was a short day in the park, we were still exhausted.

Next day 5. Ohana breakfast, pool time, Downtown Disney, Bibbidi Bobbidi Botique, 1900 Park Fare.

kybred72 · Apr 7, 2008

Love reading your report...sounds like a wonderful time.

I enjoy reading about the things that we get a chance to do on our trip

H20Babie · Apr 7, 2008

:sohappy:

Nice report so far, Russ! I was watching for you too, but there were so many tall men with brown hair in blue shirts that I think I got eye strain :lol:

Unfortunately, my backpack broke the third day and I had to buy a new one. Even on the Segway, we weren't allowed to take our bags with us, just our cameras and a bottle of water.

Sounds like you had an amazing trip!

Jenngusto · Apr 7, 2008

AWESOME trip report! It sounds like your family had a great time! And the pace and attitude of enjoying each other's company is great. :wave:

RussJT · Apr 8, 2008

Day 5 - Wednesday April 2... Ohana breakfast, Downtown Disney, Bibbidi Bobbidi Botique, 1900 Park Fare

We had a 9:00 ADR for the Ohana Best Friends Breakfast with Lilo & Stitch. We caught the bus at our resort headed to the Magic Kingdom. From there we took the monorail to The Polynesian. We had a bit of a wait before our reservation, so we had time to look around the lobby, etc. We had a family picture taken at the entrance. We really liked it, so we bought one.

The breakfast was good. The breads and fruit were the best part, but everything else was good also. The character interaction... especially Stitch really made my kids laugh. For some reason, Stitch kept picking on me... grabbing my head, grabbing my nose, acting like he was picking my nose and wiping it on my shirt. The kids are still laughing about that one.

After breakfast we took a quick stroll around the grounds and caught the monorail back to the MK. (Unfortunately someone had already requested to ride in the front. We thought about waiting, but knew we'd have another chance later so we decided against it.)

We made our way back to All-Star Movies. I threw in a load of laundry while everyone else headed back to the pool. My son really enjoys the main pool, where Sorcerer Mickey is shooting fountains of water out of his fingertips. He loves to swim under the fountatin. We stayed in the pool for about an hour and a half and then dried off and got ready for a trip to Downtown Disney.

My daughter had a 2:50 appointment at Bibbidi Bibbidi Botique. We had purchased a Cinderella dress for her before we left home. She wore it to her appointment. We wandered throughout the shops for a while before making our way to The World of Disney where BBB is located. She was excited.

When her appointment started, my son and I walked over to the Lego store. I think he could have spent quite a bit of time in there, but I wanted to see my daughter the moment her appointment was finished. We made our way back to BBB. I could see her in the chair from the entrance. I am a big guy and not incredibly emotional... but when I saw her I nearly melted. I didn't want to stand there all teary eyed, but I couldn't help it. When she was finished and got to see the final result she was VERY excited, especially since we were having dinner with Cinderella later. We got some great pictures of her expression the first time she saw herself in the mirror. They did her hair, makeup & nails and gave her a sash to go with her dress. She was so happy, and the reactions of cast members later (more details on that soon) made it possibly the best money I spent all week.

We had some time to kill before heading to the Grand Floridian, so we did some more shopping. At several stores, the male cast members kept making a big deal over her, getting down on one knee and bowing to the princess, etc. She ate that treatment up. It was perfect.

Finally we caught the bus to the Grand Floridian and made it to our ADR with only a few minutes to spare. We only waited about 5 minutes before being ushered to our table. We have always really liked the food/atmosphere at 1900 Park Fare, and I wasn't disappointed this time either.

Cinderella showed up at our table almost immediately. She and my daughter talked, compared gowns, etc for a few minutes. She really spent a lot of time at our table. Prince Charming arrived next and made a fuss over my daughter. He told her that if he didn't already have Cinderella that my daughter would have made a beautiful princess for him. I don't think anything could have made her happier.

We were about to go to the buffet when Lady Tremaine (the step mother) showed up. She was perfectly in character. She sneered at my daughter and said "I see you like Cinderella. Has she been here yet?" When the kids told her that she had, she asked how Cinderella's manners were. They told her she was VERY nice and she sneered again, "It's about time... I've been trying to teach her to have good manners for a long time." Her portrayal of Lady Tremaine was great. She posed for pictures / signed autographs, but was stern with the kids when she did it. I think they were a bit intimidated by her.

Anastasia and Drizella came by the table last (while we were eating). They were hilarious, arguing with each other, trying to distrct everyone's attention toward them and away from Cinderella. This is the first time that we have eaten there that they (and Lady Tremaine) were part of the meal. They were great additions to the cast and the CMs playing them had the parts down perfectly.

My wife reminded me that she thought H20Babie was supposed to be eating there, so she encouraged me to walk around the restaurant looking for "my internet girlfriend". She was enjoying picking on me about this. I didn't find her....and sisnce I never sent her a picture, she didn't find me. (Especially since on this day, I was a tall guy with brown hair and a black shirt. I only wore a blue shirt the first day, I think... which I'm sure made it more difficult for "the stalker" to find me.)

We finished the meal and walked around the inside of the Grand Floridian. A man was playing the grand piano in the lobby and was doing a great job. We hung out on one of the upper levels looking down on the lobby & listening to the music. As I think I mentioned before, my wife wants to stay the the GF badly. I have a feeling that is where we will stay next trip (whenever that may be).

We finally decided to leave. We made it to the monorail stop and asked if we could ride up front. We had to wait while one or two trains passed with people already in the front, but I wanted the kids to get the chance to be co-pilots, so we waited. They enjoyed sitting up with the conductor, and were given co-conductor licenses when our ride ended.

After taking the loop on the monorial, we got off at the Magic Kingdom and caught a bus back to our resort. We were tired, and the kids wanted to watch the results of the American Idol voting, so we headed to the room, watched the show and went to bed. (After the show, they watched Stacy and the Top 7 Must Sees for what seemed like the 100th time. For some reason they really loved this show and didn't want to watch anything else. My daughter still periodically announces.... "Love roller coasters, love Aerosmith... hellllooooo!")

Another great day... and a bit more relaxing than some of the others.

Next, Day 6... Disney Hollywood Studios

kybred72 · Apr 8, 2008

Couldn't agree more about the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!

We too brought our own dress from home and the money we paid for the hair and makeup was SOOO worth it for how much like a princess it all made her feel! :dazzle:

MattyFresh · Apr 8, 2008

Love the report....makes me wish I was back again...or even planning a trip again. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

Hope the park maps came in handy for you. :wave:

RussJT · Apr 8, 2008

Day 6 - Thursday April 3rd... Disney Hollywood Studios

After another breakfast at the resort food court we got on a bus for DHS.

The sky was very gray as we approached DHS. I had a feeling we were going that have the first significant rain that actually had an effect on us (as the previous was while we wrere eating dinner). It turns out I was correct, but it took a lot longer for it to happen than I thought it would.

We made it to DHS early and waited a while before they let us through the turnstiles. We watched the opening ceremony (the filiming of the Movie scene) before the rope drop.

Because it looked like it could rain at any moment, we decided to look for something indoors... so we headed straight for Muppet Vision 3D. We had a few minute wait before the show started, which gave me a chance to show the kids the key under the mat, and let them read some of the funny things on the crates in the waiting room. We all enjoyed the show.

When we came back outside, the skies had brightened a bit. We weren't sure what we wanted to do next, so we started to walk around. As we walked past the hat, we noticed that they were bringing Minnie and Daisy out for autographs. I don't think we had ever seen Daisy out and about on any of our previous trips, so we hurried up and got into line. The kids got autographs and pictures.

The only must sees we had for the day were Fantasmic (and we had the dinner package), Beauty and the beast - Live on Stage (since we missed it last trip) and Tower of Terror & Rock n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. I knew my daughter would not want to ride TOT or RnRC, so we tried to decide who would get to ride which one with my son if we only got to do each once. To my surprise, I realized that my wife had never ridden either and she chose TOT... which was fine with me. I like it a lot, but out of the two, I wanted to ride RnRC more. We made plans to grab Fastpasses when we got to that area of the park. The kids also wanted to spend some time in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playland.

We went on the backlot tour. Last trip I was picked to be part of the film scene. I was a deckhand on the warship. This year I made it through without being picked. Afterwards the kids got pictures and an autograph from one of the Power Rangers (they were happy just getting one), got pictures with Mike & Sulley from Monster's Inc., and got pictures/autographs from Kim Possible and Ron Whateverhisnameis. We crossed the park and got our Fastpasses for TOy & RnRC. We then went to see Beauty and the Beast. We enjoyed the show, including the a capella group at the beginning.

Before of Fastpasses, we hit Lights, Motor Action Stunt show. I hadn't seen it in a few years. It was still ok, but it was brutally humid by the point. Throughout much of the show I wished that I had something to drink with me. Somehow, I survived.

Shortly after, we grabbed a drink and some ice cream before my wife and son rode TOT. We waited for them in the TOT store since it was air conditioned in there. They enjoyed the ride, but my wife looked terrified in the picture. We immediately left there and headed to RnRC. Even though we had FastPasses, we had a 30+ minute wait in line. As we approached the loading area, my son's eyes widened and he saw how fast the launch was. he had never been on a coaster with inversions. I was curious to see what his reaction would be. As we loaded into the car, he clutched my hand, but denied that he was nervous. The ride was intense, but he enjoyed it. he admitted afterwards though that with TOT and RnRC back-to-back that he didn't mind if we rode calmer rides for a while.

We noticed that a Jedi training Academy was about to start, so we wandered over to Star Tours. Since we were there and the wait was short and we had a few minutes before the training started we decided to ride Star Tours. For some reason this ride has always made me a bit queasy.... but I did it anyhow, amd managed to escape unharmed. As the training academy started, my son desperately wanted to be picked, my daughter did not... so of course she was picked and he wasn't. At the last minute she decided to back out. They enjoyed the show. There was one little kid (who couldn't have been any older than 3) who was hilarious during the training. The Jedi trainer referred to him as 28 pounds of unbridled fury.

As soon as it ended, it was time for our dinner at Mama Melrose... which was just around the corner. Our server was Richard from Caracas Venezuela... and he was great. I ordered the spaghtetti fra diavolo with an appetizer of tomatoes and mozzarella. The appetizer was good. The meal was very good. It had calamari, clams, mussels & shrimp over pasts in a spicy marinara sauce. The amount of seafood in the meal was impressive and it was cooked perfectly. I like calamari, but it can be rubbery if it is not cooked right. This was very good. I followed it up with a piece of hazelnut Honey ricotta cheesecake which was delicious. My wife had chicken parmagiana and a Ceasar salad....see seemed to enjoy both. Again, the service was great, which always helps the meal experience.

After eating, we went through the Magic of Disney Anamation. The kids got autographs with Frozone (from the Incredibles) but were a bit disappointed that the rest of the Incredibles were not with him at the time. We then saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show which was one my daughter decided she really wanted to see.

By this time it was getting close to time to head for the back entrance to Fantasmic. We had never gotten the Fantasmic dinner package before. We were glad we didn't have to wait very long to get a seat. The only problem was it was starting to rain. We went in anyhow,and sat in a steady rain for about 30 minutes before the show started. At a few points we were concerned that the show would be cancelled because we could see some signs of lightning way off in the distance.

The show was not canceled and we enjoyed it... despite the steady rain. The end of the show, with Mickey on top of the rock after his win over the villians is always great. Soaked, we followed the crowd out of the park and made it back to our room.

It was starting to set in that the next day would be our last one to go to a park, but were were excited because it would be our first time to attend a Pirate and Princess Party.

Therefore next... day 7 - Magic Kingdom for the 2nd time and our first Pirate and Princess Party.

RussJT · Apr 8, 2008

MattyFresh said:
Love the report....makes me wish I was back again...or even planning a trip again. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

Hope the park maps came in handy for you. :wave:

We practically wore those park maps our during the last few months before the trip. The kids looked at them over, and over, and over while plotting and planning the trip. (OK, so did I.)

We ended up pitching them right before we left because they were falling apart.

Again thanks for sending them. (I planned to grab a stack of each before coming home and forgot to do so.)

DAKOTADISNEY · Apr 8, 2008

Great trip report! Loved hearing about the Bibbiti-Bobbity Boutique experience you had.The next time we go I would really like to do the Fantasmic dinner package. How does that work? Do they give you tickets or something to show you get preferred seating? How was the view?

When we were there in February the only small melt-down my 7yr. old daughter had was when we went to see Fantasmic 45 min. ahead of time and all we could find for a spot was to stand clear at the back by the trees. She was very disappointed and ended up leaving before it was done to avoid the large crowd afterwards. So I vowed next time we would not leave it to chance for her. Any tips/info would be appreciated.

The RussJT Family Trip Report... A perfect week!

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