Trip Report The Texas Ranger, The Beast, and We "started the fireworks": A trip of firsts!

Wow, this was a trip of many first for our happy little family. We have been to WDW numerous times, but this one was different, very different, in very many ways, and all good.

Let's start with the WHO:
myself, Debbie, known as Cee Gee to the grandsons.

CeeGee=Crazy Grandmom. According to my loving daughter, the boys have a normal grandmother (the other one apparently) and a crazy one......

which I would deeply resent if it weren't true, but that's another story.

Then there are the boys, Hunter (7) Logan (5) and Nicholas (3)

Always noisy and crazy when they are together.

And then their parents: my daughter Nicole

and her husband Steven.

And they call ME the crazy one!!!

The when- April 8-16, 2016

And the where- our first new first- Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort.

We have never stayed off property before. It was a big risk for us, we know disney properties and love them, but this place seemed so cool, we wanted to try. And for the 6 of us Disney properties require either 2 rooms or a suite, that gets expensive. So we bit the bullet, chewed our nails, and booked an off-property resort. When the real report starts I'll tell you if we were happy or not.

so more tomorrow......................

 

[docdebbi]

I literally squealed at the picture of little Prince Charming. How precious! I'm enjoying the report.

thanks dupac, this trip had another surprise in store for our little prince that brought a smile to his face. you'll see.

 

[dupac]

thanks dupac, this trip had another surprise in store for our little prince that brought a smile to his face. you'll see.

Can't wait! And the smiles on Hunter's face during Hoo Dee Do were so sweet too! Looks like those boys had a great time.

 

[WDWDarling]

Oh my, your little Prince Charming - cuteness overload!!!!

Hoop De Doo is on my Disney bucket list so I loved reading your experience.

Looking forward to more !

 

[docdebbi]

Ok, so to continue MK day 1.....

We had a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh, and as we went to walk into the entrance, the panic in the boys was audible. And by audible, I mean running and screaming, and pointing out loudly that we made them use FP last night, when would they get to play in the queue? I could have sworn that the queue was for waiting for the ride, but apparently I was wrong.

It's for playing in when you don't need to wait for the ride.

Finally, we got on the ride

And then we split up, with Steve taking Logan on Barnstormer while the non-roller coaster contingent played in Dumbo. Problem with my well thought out plan? Once again, a queue is for playing not waiting, so we ended up waiting extra long once they got back from Barnstormer while Logan got to play in the circus tent too

Finally we were allowed to proceed to the ride...........

 

[docdebbi]

Now, despite @ScarletBegonias thinking that it was COLD this week, we thought it was warm enough to let the boys play at Casey's splash and soak and get soaked. Although we were smart enough to take their shoes and shirts off. So semi-naked running boys it was.

Yup, glad that we had already decided that the costume was expendable!
After a thorough soaking, they all shared a chocolate dipped Pineapple spear. I only got one bite, wish we had gotten more. It was wonderful.

The intent was to then go on 7 Dwarves all together, and it seemed to be going smoothly, until they gave Hunter and I the front car. As we were stepping into the car, he was able to look down and saw the first drop and had a panic attack. He tried to jump out of the car, right over my not so little body. After just a few seconds of panic, it was obvious this wasn't happening, so he and I stepped out, and everyone else enjoyed the ride. I'm definitely not one of those "force the kid onto the ride while he cries" folks. Although I wish he would have gone, I think he would have enjoyed it, but not worth traumatizing him.

So a quick trip on the teacups and it was lunchtime.
Now, he doesn't like "spinny things" either. He is so very special, God love him, but he agreed to go if I kept the car absolutely still without any spinning. So, I mustered all the strength I had to keep the cup straight, no spinning, and he actually had fun, and said he wanted to do it again.

So on to lunch after a very busy morning. Trying out Diamond Horseshoe. Haven't eaten in here since it was The Diamond Horseshoe Revue in the 70s (I think) and it served sandwiches, and had dancing Can Can girls. Couldn't wait to try the new menu.

 

[docdebbi]

So made it to Diamond Horseshoe about 5 minutes late, but seated pretty quickly. The interior was totally unchanged from my youth

My take on the place, the food was surprisingly good. First salad with cornbread croutons, then cornbread with butter, then an entree. We got one each of the pulled turkey over cornbread, stewed beef and ham. It is all you care to eat and we were actually encouraged to order one of each entree. But since there were three of us we each sampled from each other's entrees. We alll enjoyed them very much, I particularly liked the sweetness of the cornbread combined with the tartness of the barbecued turkey.

The kids were offered the same entrees as the adults, but preferred the chicken tenders and fries. Shocking, huh?

Here's our only complaint about this place. They have only been open for 2 weeks and everything took them forever to get/find. Even ketchup. Took 10 minutes and they said they finally ran over to Liberty Tree to get some, so only able to bring a little cup full- for three little boys with chicken tenders and fries. She kept apologizing, but I hope they get themselves up and running right soon, or they're not going to make it. And the food was good, would like them to stay open.

Next quick trip to Jungle cruise and Magic Carpets -
seems strange to see Prince Charming in the jungle.

and home for the afternoon naps. Someone was a little tired.

 

[bethymouse]

Nice trip report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[fractal]

Great update! Love the decision to leave on the Prince Charming outfit, and overall letting "boys be boys".

I see a lot of good parenting here.

 

[docdebbi]

Great update! Love the decision to leave on the Prince Charming outfit, and overall letting "boys be boys".

I see a lot of good parenting here.

why thank you Fractal, I think my kids (daughter and son in law) do a pretty good job, or at least work really hard at it!

 

[docdebbi]

After carrying in some sleeping little boys (and making the big one sleepwalk in), it was time to try out the jacuzzi WITH water this time.

Note to others, you should probably warn the kids before turning on the bubbles.....LOL......all three jumped out in one fell swoop thinking the thing was exploding on them. Nicole basically caught 3 kids in midair! Ooops.........sorry.

Two of the three were willing to get back in after the little mishap, Hunter, not so much.

Oh, another hint. Keep the bubblebath to a minimum, that jacuzzi really foams it up!

So all cleaned up and ready to face the world again.

Now as we pass the store at TTC on the way Hunter decides that he wanted to be just like his father. Isn't that nice? So proud of that kid. Well, maybe not when this is what he means.

There are so many ways that he could emulate his father that would be good. He had to chose this?

Alas, a goofy in the making......

So after a quick spin on Pirates of the Caribbean and an unsuccessful attempt to find food in that end of the park- really, kiosks all closed, tortuga tavern closed, Golden Oak Outpost therefore with a 100 person line, we gave up and went over and rode TTA. Now THIS is Nicole's favorite ride. Yup, real thrill seeker that one.

Then it was time for the Wishes Dessert Party.

kid liked his ice cream

So after a long and tiring day, few pics on Main Street and home we went.

 

[docdebbi]

Knowing that staying for Wishes would make it a late night, we planned the next day as our pool day.
Visited the splash pads, the other lazy river and several of the pools before lunch poolside.

I assure you, those were virgin chocolate whatevers, for the kids, but ours were not!

Now, this night is the only selfish night we have on most trips. Steven and NIcole are real foodies, so we get Kids Nite Out, the official babysitting service for Disneyworld and we go to Victoria and Albert's- their treat. Can't beat that. And the boys love their one night for pizza in the room, getting to play with someone new, and just wandering and playing around the resort. Everybody wins.

My next post is only for foodies....the rest of you will be bored.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Such a fun trip! Following along!

 

[docdebbi]

So for the foodies among us, here are the Victoria and Albert's pictures.

First course- Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Siberian Caviar

Roulade of smoked salmon and Alaskan king crab

Alaskan sablefish with baby Bok Choy

Scotttish langoustine with Nage Crema

Truffled Bell and Evans chicken with Chanterelle mushrooms

Berkshire "porchetta" sherry Vinaigrette

Australian kobe style beef with Comte potato gnocchi

Selection of cheeses from the market

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Wild Strawberries

Peruvian chocolate crunch

 

[docdebbi]

Still at Victoria and Albert's- the coffee service- they prepare it tableside. Reminded me of my organic chem labs in college, but tasted better.

I however, like tea...

The menu

And our hosts, Victoria and Albert

And my lovely children in front of the restaurant

So after a very long very filling night, (not to mention 10 courses of wine and champagne) we rolled ourselves out to a taxi and went to bed as quickly as possible. Early morning tomorrow

 

[MinnieM123]

Wow! What an amazing meal you had at V&A. So glad you both had a wonderful experience. I was intrigued by the vaculator they used to make the coffee. (My husband had one of those years ago, and one time he accidentally dropped it, so the glass broke. That was the end of it, but we really liked using it for years.) They make great coffee!!

 

[WDW74]

Its been too long since we've been to V&A...those pics gave me chills !

 

[docdebbi]

Wow! What an amazing meal you had at V&A. So glad you both had a wonderful experience. I was intrigued by the vaculator they used to make the coffee. (My husband had one of those years ago, and one time he accidentally dropped it, so the glass broke. That was the end of it, but we really liked using it for years.) They make great coffee!!

So sorry that happened. Indeed Nicole and Steve said the coffee was great
And wow, it has a name! We call it the Bunsen burner thingy

 

[fractal]

Great pics of V&A dinner!

 

[docdebbi]

So the next morning was a bright and early start because we wanted to do something NEW. We thought the boys were finally old enough to be trained as Jedi. Well, the two older ones at least. Another first for us- but this was the only one we planned- the rest were magic.

So we arrived before park opening to find they were already letting people down to where you sign up for this even before 8:45. So we were off and running, quite literally.

The line was long by then and I figured my morning schedule was shot, but I was wrong. It moved much faster than I would have anticipated, very efficiently done, and in 30 minutes we were on our way with our preferred time of 7:10.

So we then moved quickly onto Toy Story,

Little Mermaid and Disney Jr.

with a few minutes left over between attractions to eat the world's biggest doughnut

which is difficult to eat with no teeth, but apparently not impossible. Also some time for trading pins

and a surprise game of Doc McStuffins tic tac toe on the store windows. Even got special certificates for playing.

It's the little things that make a day special. The boys (and we) loved it.



So off to lunch at Sci-Fi. With a quick photo on the way.

This is what happens when you try to get boys to pose with the sun shining directly in their eye.

They really did try, buy just couldn't do it for us.
So instead we had to settle for an inside "night time" shot.

Lunch here was good as always, the older boys were finally old enough to "get" how hokey the movies were, and off we went.

 

[docdebbi]

So, onto Great Movie Ride,

where shockingly we got kidnapped,

Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, where the boys were enthralled

and Star Tours and Muppetvision

Then we had enough time to build some lego Star Wars figures,

before we had to be at Mama Melrose for a Fantasmic package dinner. Dinner was nice, not spectacular, but very good. The desserts are great for adults,

and a nice change is that they have decreased the size of the "spaghetti and meatball" cupcake, and now it is included with the kids meals. We always bought it separately because we wanted them to have it, but it was HUGE and an extra charge before.

The boys were quite distraught when we told them that they would be having more spaghetti and meatballs for dessert......we are so mean. All was forgiven when it arrived.
Poor Hunter of course couldn't have the "spaghetti sauce". Things like this are why we were so grateful to the chef at Hoop de doo.

Next up was finally Jedi training. So exciting.