Thumbs up! Now point at it! We're baaack..1/23-2/1

Yep yep yep! We're back! I actually kept notes like a good girl and have been true to form by procrastinating on writing this report. All my text is finished. I still have to proof read as I go. I'm still in the process of uploading photos and video. I ain't even gonna try to edit any of that. I'm just gonna plug it in and go with this thing. Yeah, it's gonna be a heck of a journey for you readers so get ready. It was a heck of a journey for us along the way.

If you missed my pre-trippie & are interested, here's the link for that:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=389610

Again, this is my 1st ever trip report. It may get a little wordy at times but bear with me. Here we go!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 8..continued...

We walked over to the Magic Kingdom for the official opening ceremony and rope drop. The whole purpose in going to the Magic Kingdom is because earlier in the trip I didn’t get to see the fairies and Tracey really wanted me to do that. It was fun to see the opening festivities since we’ve never experienced that before. When the rope went down we made a beeline to the hub spoke to the right of the castle by the Rose Garden and Belle’s Story area thingy. When the 2nd rope went down we walked straight over to the rope to Toon Town. Tracey stayed by the rope talking to another lady and her daughter while I took Chandler & Brian on the teacups. We were the only 3 people in the 3 occupied teacups for the 1st ride of the day. That was really cool. Before the Toon Town opening the boys were able to ride the teacups again and have another spin on the speedway with Uncle Jerry.

Our solo Teacup ride:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/9-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=TeacupSolo.flv

Here’s where the day’s title comes in. Tracey and I were the 1st people to stake out the Toon Town rope. Next a really sweet younger lady with her young daughter came and waited patiently with us. Literally, with the exception of my one quick spin on the teacups, we were there for 45 minutes waiting for that rope to go down to see the Fairies. Gradually more people arrived but it started with us then that sweet lady and her daughter. We decided with her that when the ropes dropped we would get on inside and make sure that little girl who was so well behaved all that time got in quick. Just like the rope drop at Hollywood Studios the herd of tourists headed to the Fairies Meet was corralled by the CMs who walked us all the way in. Again, I was directly behind the 1st cast member walking in. As we got to the stroller parking out in front of the building I heard a dad yell, “Run!” and a little girl shot out past the entire line of people. The cast member called her back and told the little girl she had to be behind the cast members. I was directly behind the cast member so naturally I ended up being first in the queue. As soon as the cast member had moved on the little girl runs up to me and says, “I was first!” to which I replied, “No, sweetie, you weren’t.” I heard the girl’s dad tell her to run ahead of everyone. What is wrong with this picture? My husband found much humor in the fact that I wouldn’t let the little girl cut in line. Right is right and wrong is wrong and I guess it’s up to responsible adults to point that out even if a parent won’t. Every time my hubby tells the story the picture of what transpired becomes more and more elaborate. Last I heard, I put the smack-down on the kid. Next time I’m sure I’ll be body slamming her or coming off the top rope with a flying elbow. LOL! Husbands are so much fun! So we made sure the nice lady and her daughter were first to meet the Fairies in front of us. The mom was so excited, hugging and thanking us. We met Irridessa, Tink, and Silvermist. All were so cute and totally in character. My jeans had the distressed, torn look so Tink asked me, “Pixie-Fairy? Were you attacked by wolves today?” She commented repeatedly that the boys were wearing her favorite color. She was really cool. Truly, though, I think my favorite was Silvermist. I don’t know why. She was just so pretty and so sweet. I was inspired to go home and buy the Tinkerbell movie. Very good movie!

Fairies:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/9-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=Fairies.flv

 

[HollyBelle]

Oh, my! I saw the Donald picture, but it didn't even register in my mind that it was Cape May where he didn't use to be. :lol: I love his costume! We will have to try it again now that he's there. When we were there it was the chipmunks too. So I'm eager to hear who else might have been there.

Of course we are thinking the same thing, Jenn! Is there a word for it when we've totally surpassed the realm of character stalking and moved into even crazier territory :lol:?

And sweetpee... I agree with you on trying to fit in all the favorites. We don't tend to do many character meals though because we're not as big of fans of the buffets as we are the nicer sit downs. Your mushroom risotto from Le Cellier comes to mind :slurp:.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 8...still continuing...

After our trip to Pixie Hollow we walked over to the get our faces painted. I got some pixie dust put on the side of my face and Brian got a cool tribal design put on the side of his. Next we made our way over to Space Mountain where we were able to score a ride with just a 10 minute standby wait. We didn’t want to miss Carousel of Progress so we gave it a whirl, too.

Not one to jump on the face painting bandwagon, this was Chandler's face decoration...a piece of 'Pixie Dust' picked up off the ground and strategically placed:

I love this window:

My Sweetness waiting for the monorail in his coooool Helly Hanson jacket Jerry bought him:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 8...more to share...

By now the park was filling up pretty good so we decided to head back out. We stopped at our room long enough for a potty break and for me to touch up my face. Then we headed back to Downtown Disney. I checked out the Design-A-Tee shop but didn’t buy one because the fitted ladies shirts were so short. The kids went to Goofy’s Candy Company for some sweets. I looked for some pins at the Pin Trader but didn’t find the pins my friend wanted me to look for. We made a final pass at Once Upon a Toy but didn’t buy anything. The kids used their gift cards in the Lego store while Tracey and I sat outside taking care of our Southwest Airlines flight check-in using our cell phones. I also bought more of the Lego gift wrap because I ran out and it was on sale. Chandler and Jerry wanted to see Sammy Duval’s Curl so we went over there. They had Uggs on sale! Too bad I just got mine as a gift at Christmas.

The view before heading back out to DTD:

From there we went to the bus stop contemplating where to go next. I wanted Jerry to see the Animal Kingdom Lodge so we hopped on that bus. When we arrived we walked through the lodge out to the animal viewing area. We saw lots of animals pretty close and watched the pelicans being fed. We checked out the gift shop and picked up a few things there.

We took the Magic Kingdom bus and hiked back over to our resort. I touched up my makeup again and we picked up the last of our delivered packages. It was getting closer to our final dinner ADR at Ohana’s. We took the monorail over with plenty of time to spare. I ordered a Lapu Lapu after reading another trip report on another site and I was not disappointed. All I can say is WOW! That’s some Holy-smokin’ goodness of a drinky-drink. If you haven’t had one I highly recommend it. Don’t forget to use your straw and dig at the pineapple when you get done. There’s lots of yummy left even after you drink all the drink. Ohana’s was fantastic as always and our cousins who took care of us there were incredible. It was the perfect last supper, no doubt.

Yummy!

Jerry thought drinking beer from a glass was a little girlie so he played the part for us:

We knew the Magic Kingdom was jam packed because we had been there earlier in the day so we opted to hop a bus from the Poly over to Hollywood Studios. So much for Wishes on Main Street. No regrets, though, because our night turned out awesome in the end.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 8..a rockin' ending..

As soon as we got in the park we headed to Rock-n-Rollercoaster but standby was posted at 50 minutes. No way. We walked over to Tower of Terror which had a 30 minute posted wait but was actually no more than about 15 minutes total. We went for a 2nd ride which was maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait. Chandler ended his last 2 rides on this attraction with hands in the air acting a fool just like the rest of us. I think he’s done being afraid of this ride.

We walked back over to Rock-n-Rollercoaster just to see if the wait had shortened any. The posted time was still at 50 minutes but line didn’t look it so we gave it a shot. It ended up being maybe a 15 minute wait. While in line there was dance team behind the guy with his young son that was right behind us. At one point they all went to singing one of the Aerosmith songs in their obnoxiously loud, high-pitched, sqeaky, nerve-grinding voices. I turned around and the guy had a forced smile on his face. He said to me, “I’m not going to say a word.” I immediately came back with, “Well this is my last day and I don’t care anymore!” I caught one of the close by mom’s eyes just as I spat out, “I hope they can dance their behinds off or get really good grades because the singing stinks!” LOL! I guess we all just have enough sometimes and I was there.

The boys wanted a 2nd run so we went again which was pretty well walk-on. When we came back outside it was literally minutes until park closing so we ran for the same line again. So this was it: last official ride of the trip. We tried to hang back a little in the pre-show area anticipating this would be the last group through for the evening. Tracey and I struck up a conversation with the Cast Member who is in the room during the pre-show. I asked if what it was like to ride with all the lights on. I had read on some threads that CMs sometimes do this during after hours and have seen videos on YouTube of ride-thru's with the building lit up. The CM told me it was pretty cool but was nothing compared to riding in the complete dark with all the lighting effects and everything totally shut off. Oh wow! I agreed that would be the best. Chandler had come over and heard this part, too, and agreed that would be the epitome of a good ride. Tracey joked that it could be lucrative for this CM to make a dark ride happen for us but, naturally, the CM laughed and told us it wasn’t possible. We all had a good chuckle and wished the CM a good evening. Again, as we headed towards the limo loading area we hung back trying to time it so we could get the last ride of the evening just because we thought it’d be cool. We joked more with other CMs about wishing something would happen to the lights inside so our last ride would be the best ever. Of course, they all laughed with us and said they wished they could do that but couldn’t. No problem. We were having a good time regardless. We had it timed, too, so that Chandler & Brian were in row #1, Tracey & I were in row #2, and Jerry was all the way in the back row by himself. We were going to be the ONLY people on the last limo of the night. Just as we were strapping in a younger Asian couple came running in and grabbed a middle row. Bummer but still awesome that were going to be the last limo. The limo rolled into position for the launch and we felt it back into position as it always does. There was a longer pause than usual before the countdown to launch. Tracey and I just looked at each other. We both felt like something was going to happen without even saying a word to each other. We had hoped our last ride would be special and it was. There’s no doubt in my mind had that couple not run in at the last second we would’ve had our ultimate wish. Still, things happened during the ride that I’d never seen before. Each time something happened we all erupted into the loudest screams of joy that we could manage. I wish I could’ve hugged and kissed those wonderful Cast Members. They made our last ride one the most memorable we’ve ever had.

When we headed back towards the park gates to exit most everywhere was pretty deserted. Both boys broke down and cried as we walked out. That was tough. Bless their hearts. It's never easy to see your babies cry no matter how big or how old they get. Your heart always wrenches when you see their tears or hear their cries. We hugged and kissed them and assured them they’d be there again in the not-so-distant future.

I love these windows! They're soooo Minnie!

Brian unleashes his inner rock star on the bus:

And a final family cuddle:

We got back to the resort and started the miserable task of packing up. It was our last sleep in our Disney beds for this trip. So sad.

 

[mouselvrmom]

Of course we are thinking the same thing, Jenn! Is there a word for it when we've totally surpassed the realm of character stalking and moved into even crazier territory :lol:?

I don't know if there is a word yet, but I'm sure you could make one up! :lol:

And, sweetpea, how exciting that Mickey is now at Cape May's. Although I guess now it's the same characters as Chef Mickey's pretty much.

 

[maggiegrace1]

Greatreport and beautiful family!..
It is obvious that you all have so much fun together..Love that!

Oh, and the Lapu Lapu is the BEST!..I get one every time and I always use a spoon to get all the pineapple goodness out..my hubby even cuts half of the pineapple off to make it easier since I am kinda tipsy by that time..

Thanks for sharing!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Greatreport and beautiful family!..
It is obvious that you all have so much fun together..Love that!

Oh, and the Lapu Lapu is the BEST!..I get one every time and I always use a spoon to get all the pineapple goodness out..my hubby even cuts half of the pineapple off to make it easier since I am kinda tipsy by that time..

Thanks for sharing!

I was tipsy by the time I started scraping the sides of the pineapple with my straw, too. I swear if I'd have thought for a second I could press my face down in there I would have. It's soooo good for something that strong. Usually I get a backscratcher but decided on something new since I had read about it. Both are excellent drinky-drinks!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 9-2/1: Famous last words: "I feel like 50 cents."

It’s the dreaded Disney departure day. Why does this day come so fast?! I was up at 6:30 to finish packing up and get ready to go. We had an 8:10 ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickey’s again. The service was only somewhat better than the day before but what can you do. I filled up on Goofy’s Vegetable Lasagna again. Mmmmm…so yummy.

Man, I can't figure out how to edit the video for anything! Skip thru to the 1 minute mark. That's where the pitifulness begins:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/10-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=ChefMick.flv

The pics:

My favorite Disney breakfast food:

And we had to get Brian to give us one last shot:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/10-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=BrianCelebrates.flv

After leaving the restaurant we made a final run through Bay View Gifts and Fantasia for our final purchases including presents for our sweet little furry-girl back home. We took all our packages and souvenirs that wouldn’t fit into the luggage down to the business center and shipped everything home via FedEx ground service. It ended up being 2 large boxes and a medium box that totaled $109 to ship. I didn’t realize we bought so much stuff!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 9...continued...

We called Bell Services up to the room to get the rest of our luggage out of the room and stored. Once everything was safely out and stored we walked over to the Magic Kingdom so Tracey could return the 2nd Kodak battery charger that we bought and didn’t work at the camera shop. I took the boys to the back area behind the camera shop and took pics of them with all the fun props. It was hard to get them to smile for me. As you can see, I was only able to convince Chandler to get into 1 of the picture spots. What a hidden gem that area is, though! I’m glad I finally took the time to go see it. We also walked into the Emporium for 1 or 2 last purchases.

Another excellent Minnie display:

And a last look back on Main Street:

On the way back out of the park we took some Photopass shots in front of the train station making pouty faces. We also did a thumbs-down-point for posterity. The last day blues is the worst!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 9...a little more...

We took the boat over to the Grand Floridian and checked out the shops. Then we hopped our final monorail ride back to the Contemporary. I stopped in the Contempo Café long enough to grab some rice crispy treats for the trip home. I heart those yummy slices of heavenly goodness. We had our luggage brought out on the cart from Bell Services and waited for our limo to arrive to take us back to the airport. I sat in the cushy seats adjacent to the Contemporary Grounds and finished up the last of my travel notes.

On the boat:

A look back at our "home":

And it's time to go.....**sniffle sniffle**

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 9...the journey ends.

Our stretch limo arrived on time. When we got in the limo Chandler used his silly voice and said, “I feel like a million bucks!” Then we were on our way out from our home resort, under the water bridge, out past the car care center, and so on. As we left the property and looked back at the entrance signs the funk really set in. That’s when Chandler using the same silly voice broke the silence with, “I feel like 50 cents.” We all had a good laugh at his wit. Brian fell asleep in the limo while the Tinkerbell movie played on the video screen. It was hard not to cry.

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/10-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=Limo.flv

Sometimes I wonder why I torture myself with looking back the way I do. I always want that one last look. As we pulled out of the resort I looked back towards our "home". As we headed along the Seven Seas Lagoon I looked back towards the Magic Kingdom. As we passed the entrance to the Magic Kingdom parking booths I looked back...then at Epcot as we passed...each time we passed something I gazed back. This was the worst:

And my sleeping angel as we approached the airport:

When we started doing our curbside check-in at the airport I realized we didn’t have our 2 big suitcases. Not good. We went through with check-in because we had less than an hour until our flight. I immediately got on the phone with the manager of Bell Services who promised to call me back right away when they found our suitcases. He called back once we were through the security check and let me know they had them. He said because it was their fault for not bringing out our luggage when they were supposed to they would ship them both via FedEx Priority Overnight at their expense.

Our flight home boarded quickly and we actually left the ground a few minutes ahead of schedule. That put us arriving in Houston a half hour early. I love Southwest!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Texas Home again.
In May Tracey and I were pretty excited and happy to get back home to the kids and our pup. This was our 1st big family trip since we got our dog so this was our first time experiencing the anticipation of getting home to our girl. It’s amazing how something like that can make going home a little less sad.

When we got into Houston Tracey called his parents to let them know we were back okay. They were on their way home from a weekend in San Antonio so we were able to coordinate meeting up at Saltgrass for some good steaks and lots of tale-tellin’. We got home to our house shortly after the half of the Super Bowl game. Riley was so excited and happy to see us. She jumped and yapped and ran from person to person just gushing with love and kisses. It was the best welcome home we ever had.

Post-trip thoughts:

So there ya have it. Our 6th family trip. Words just don’t do it justice. The best part of the whole thing was just being together without life getting in the way, like always. Jerry has been more bummed after getting home than us but we’ve done it a lot more than he has.

Crowds. Whoever said that attendance was down overall is wrooooong! It was pretty busy! We think the lower value of the dollar really brought on the foreign tour groups in droves. I think the tour organizers must read the crowd calendars at Touring Plans because they seemed to be out in full force at the parks listed as best to visit each day. As a result we adopted a new strategy on the fly which consisted of early mornings (which we have never done before) and avoiding parks noted as good or bad when we could. If we were in a park that seemed to get kinda crazy we just left. There was no sense staying and fighting the masses. Sometimes switching parks worked pretty well. The dance teams started arriving mid-week which didn’t help. I hope to God my sons never carry on that way when I’m not around. But if you think those of us who complain and express our disdain for these dance/cheer/sports kids who come in will change anything we’re pretty sadly mistaken. You really get the bigger picture when you see channels on the televisions on property dedicated to these particular groups by their organization names. If they have series of pins issued for their organization it’s safe to say they’re here to stay. Grrrr!

Park hours. The park hours had been slashed not too long before we were due to be there but when we arrived they seemed changed again. This screwed up my whole planning spreadsheets and added extra steps in summing up where to go at different times. That was aggravating.

Transportation. Eh. It was hit or miss. Sometimes the busses were quick and sometimes you wondered if anyone knew you existed at all. That’s pretty standard, I think.

Food. We enjoyed just about all our meals with the exception of Hollywood & Vine and the few at Chef Mickey’s that we got bad service. It’s always a challenge to decide where to go and when.

Future trips. There’s no certain time we plan to take the boys back again. At this point there’s too many variables between Tracey’s job, the kids’ school, etc. Jerry is taking his girls for their inaugural trip May 24-31 staying at the Polynesian. The girls want me to go with them really bad. I don’t know if that’s going to pan out but I’m going to try. The boys will still be in school and there’s no way Tracey can take more time off so if I go it will be without my own family. Tracey’s mom also called while we were on vacation to tell me she wanted to start planning for a stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in January 2010. Tracey wants to try and make this trip with them as a grown-ups trip but I don’t know if we’d leave the boys behind or not. We’ll have to see.

Also, since I’ve been home, I helped our dog/house sitters plan an April trip to the Polynesian. Boy are they jazzed! When we got home we were informed that staying in our home was like staying in a Disney resort because we have so much Disney stuff everywhere. They loved staying here. I think that’s one of the best compliments I’ve ever had about my home! Yaaaaaayyyy!!!!

Thanks for tuning in.

And thanks, Walt, for more of the best memories a gal could have with the guys she loves the best.

 

[HollyBelle]

Okay sweetpee, I really have to tell you that the sadness is overwhelming, especially those last pictures in the limo (but what a fun way to go!). I can totally feel the heartbreak as I read about your departure day .

But you know what I keep going back to?... that first video of Brian at Chef Mickey's! Oh that is totally going to be a classic in your family. I have a feeling you'll be tempted to pull that one out of the vault one day when he brings a girl home! LOVE IT!! Your boys are adorable .

I'm so glad you decided to write the report... it's been fantastic!! And my goodness, how'd you get it all up so fast?! That's impressive.

 

[happymom52003]

Best trip report EVER!:sohappy: You had me laughing and crying right along with you. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

That was great!!! I was so sad for you when you were leaving!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Okay sweetpee, I really have to tell you that the sadness is overwhelming, especially those last pictures in the limo (but what a fun way to go!). I can totally feel the heartbreak as I read about your departure day .

But you know what I keep going back to?... that first video of Brian at Chef Mickey's! Oh that is totally going to be a classic in your family. I have a feeling you'll be tempted to pull that one out of the vault one day when he brings a girl home! LOVE IT!! Your boys are adorable .

I'm so glad you decided to write the report... it's been fantastic!! And my goodness, how'd you get it all up so fast?! That's impressive.

LOL! After I finished the report I was talking about it with the guys and Brian wanted a peek at what pics/video I posted. I pulled up his 1st Chef Mickey's dance and he just says, "Oh no you didn't!" I just told him of course I did and he's a big hit with quite the following of adoring fans. He's cool with it now. LOL! Thanks for the kind words about my boys. I'm so clueless with boys a lot of the time. They're just so odd, especially at the big kid/pre-teen ages and all. And within a matter of weeks Chandler will BE a teenager which scares the bejeezus outta me! It helps build up the mom-nerve when people compliment the kiddos, tho. So thanks!

The speed. That's an interesting point. I finished up the work I was doing the Monday prior to the trip so I'm back to being a stay-home-mom. Tracey was sick this week so he was home in bed a lot. The house is in serious need of cleaning. I stayed up a couple nights this week until 2:30 or so. I'm a night owl by nature. And yesterday I burned thru a whoooole lot because I spent aaaalllll day working on it. So if you put your life on hold for a week, let the house, your hair, laundry, sleep, everything go straight to h-e-double-hockey-sticks then a report can go up rather quickly, I guess. LOL! Pathetic. I know.

Best trip report EVER!:sohappy: You had me laughing and crying right along with you. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

Then you were on the adventure with us! Perfect! That's what I was going for! LOL! I hope it was as good for you as it was for us. LOL! I only wish I'd done this for the past 5 trips....

That was great!!! I was so sad for you when you were leaving!!

Awwww...I didn't mean to make anyone sad. **hugs** Part of the ride is the overwhelming joy of arriving and heart wrenching pain of leaving. You can't have one without the other and I wouldn't give any of it back. Returning to life is always hard. Generally I have a good cry the night before the kids go back to school. That's the hardest part for me: letting them go again. Jerry has held onto the blues more than the rest of us, though. Tracey and I tease him about being a newbie because we used to have a much harder time getting past that gloom and finding inspiration again. So it's usually on the plane ride home that we start discussing the next trip, stuff we want to do again, things we want to try, etc... LOL! Hey, whatever it takes, right? Thanks for coming on the journey with us. The more the merrier. :sohappy:

 

[disneygirl1]

Sweetpea, love the report!!! You have such an adorable family. Glad to see that you all enjoyed yourselves. I have to agree with you. My eyes well up in tears everytime I have to leave Disney. But then I think, we'll be back soon to create even more Disney memories.

 

[H20Babie]

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:
(Standing ovation!)
​

What a wonderful TR sweetpea! Great pics ... but no Whitesnake??? :lol: Just joking. I loved the pixie dust you had painted on!

Oh ... and I almost choked when I saw the hot air ballon. I thought, OMG, they put the wand back up Lol.

You have a beautiful family and a wonderful outlook on all things Disney. Thanks for a great trip down memory lane!​

 

[sweetpee_1993]

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:
(Standing ovation!)
​

What a wonderful TR sweetpea! Great pics ... but no Whitesnake??? :lol: Just joking. I loved the pixie dust you had painted on!

Oh ... and I almost choked when I saw the hot air ballon. I thought, OMG, they put the wand back up Lol.

You have a beautiful family and a wonderful outlook on all things Disney. Thanks for a great trip down memory lane!​

Thanks! Okay, I'm adding the Whitesnake pics to the list of shots to get next time at DHS. I've never been to any of the All Stars so I don't know where to find the car. But there's cars at DHS! Hope I don't get kicked out of the park.... LOL!