Trip Report What a whirlwind week!

When they say time flies I think that applies double to a Disney week!
Welcome and I hope you enjoy following along on our hectic but (I think) fun trip!

I started planning this trip a couple of months ago for all of my family. We haven't all been together since the pack up and move out week a year ago and I thought it would be nice for a family get together that didn't involve work. ( I CLEARLY forgot that while Disney is fun, it can also be work.)

Travelers included, myself Cindy, son Seth, his partner Jake, daughter Aleisha, son in law Julio, and the grandchicks, (who wish to be called Ariel and Elsa!)

When-March 27-April 1
Where-Was supposed to be all Poly Tower (more to follow on that.)

This would be the first trip for Elsa who had one goal the entire time, yep, she was meeting the other Elsa and she made sure everyone knew about it!

In my next post I will explain why these princesses are wearing their well used travel sneakers instead of princess appropriate footwear. It is quite the story.

 

[MickeyCB]

Love your t-shirt. (I’m sure you are going to tell me it is a J&S original )

Thanks and yes it is! I love vintage Mickey. That is a loose interpretation of a 1930's Mickey Charlotte Clark doll I have.

 

[MickeyCB]

MK day continues-

Since we were in the center of the park exiting the castle we decided to do something we have never done before and headed to the Storybook Circus area.

As we were walking that way we went under the sea and Ariel absolutely loved it!!! Without any prompting she did the wave but I didn't catch a photo.

Next we went on the barnstormer and I wasn't sure how that was going to go. As it turns out both of them gave it a thumbs up!

Next we headed to Dumbo, in all of our years here we have never ridden.
It was also a success.

After that I wanted to go into Big Top Treats because I had heard about all of the goodies they offered in there.
I bought one of the big carmel apples that I ended up taking home and it lasted a solid week.
The girls got one of the insanely large lollypops that were a hit the entire trip!

And let me tell you, in the whole scheme of Disney dollars spent, the best was for these lollypop covers. They were fantastic for saving the lollypops, but also they were great because when we wanted the girls to stop eating them they were reassured we weren't going to throw them away and more willing to give up the sugar!! (For the time being!)

We took the girls on the people mover while Aleisha and Julio rode Tron. When Seth, Jake and I went to ride it went down right as we were about to board, and we never got a chance again.

During our turn they took the girls to Buzz.

We also did another that the girls had never ridden, and the rest of us for years.
As I got whiplash I determined Ariel wasn't ready for the real road yet!

Cute family photo op!

After that we decided to head to the other side of town!

Something that I wanted to mention here is that we had decided to buy the premier pass to use. It was a decision that took a lot of contemplating because of how expensive it is. Many factors came into consideration including predicted crowds, a multigenerational trip, etc.
As it came closer to our trip dates I was watching the crowd calenders and decided to pull the trigger. At the end of this report I'll give you a summary on our use and if we felt it was "worth it." Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

 

[cgersic]

You have taught me something new - lollipop covers! Who knew???

 

[MickeyCB]

MK day continues-

We headed back across and rode Jungle Cruise. The girls really liked it and loved all of the different animals.

A delivery for @riverside !!

After that we rode Pirates and again I wasn't sure what the reception would be, but I had them hold their ears in the cannon area and they really enjoyed the rest. Ariel loved the treasure at the end. Our ride photo didn't show up and honestly it happened so much this week I ran out of energy tracking them down.

As we went through the shop at the end I told them they could pick out something, Elsa didn't want anything but Ariel loved the loose jewels you could buy and put into a box. We weren't sure how it worked so we put jewels in there and went to the checkout. The CM explained that the jewels had to fit into a little black bag that were with the jewels, and I offered to go back and get one and she said, oh we have some here. (So apparently I'm not the only person who does not understand how this works.) She was very sweet, she helped Ariel stuff that bag to the very top with all of the jewels she had picked out with a few peeking out of the top!

After that Seth, Jake, Ariel and I went to ride Tiana's.
It was hilarious. She was loving the ride till the last drop. And boy oh boy was she mad. Not scared, mad!!
We flew down and got absolutely drenched at the end. I had rain jackets and forgot to put them on us.

We traded places and Julio and Aleisha rode Tianna's while we watched the passed out Elsa!

That box in Ariel's hand is the one from the Pirates store. It's a nice little wooden trinket box.

While Aleisha and Julio were waiting for us they got some beignets that we shared. They were super sticky but tasty.

We had dinner reservations at Skipper Canteen but had time for one more ride before we met up with Aleisha's friend.
Another first for us, Magic Carpet! It was cute, but I would never willingly wait in any kind of line for it.

At Skipper's we were seated at 2 tables and it was complete chaos from the time we got in till leaving. Despite there being a table right beside us, they insisted on putting the second one across the busy isle. Then the waitress said she couldn't add Ariel's meal to our tab because she was 3 feet away.
I was getting a little cranky and said if she comes over here now can you take her order and then we will let her go sit over there (she wanted to be with the other little girl in our party.) Well...I guess I could.
Keep in mind there were plenty of chairs at either table.

Anyway, we ordered and ate in a bit of a rush. The food was fine as always but with the crazy I didn't get any pictures of our food here either.

We headed back up the hill to catch a few last rides and the little late day parade came by. The girls thought it was the best thing ever!

It was getting late and I wanted to get a ride on the Mine Train and Peter Pan before we left but Ariel started with a bit of a melt down right after the little parade, so her dad took her off somewhere and Elsa rode Peter Pan with us, and then Julio took the girls while Aleisha and I took a quick ride into the mine. I love this ride and was so bummed Ariel wouldn't go on it, but she was maxed out.

We still hadn't received a room notice, but at this point I knew they had to have a room for us so we headed out of the park. We had plans to probably come back again tomorrow evening.

On the way out we picked up one of the refillable popcorn buckets and that was a big hit through the rest of the week.
I took this pic for a friend who was planning on coming the next week and was curious what bucket was currently in use. IYKYK

We rode the monorail back to the Poly with fingers crossed that at 6pm we would have a room to go to.

So quick comment on use of premier pass today. Out of curiousity we checked standby times for each ride and kept a tally. It was well over 8 hours and that was before I started forgetting to keep track towards the end of the day.

 

[MickeyCB]

An update on the lost (forgotten) luggage situation.
$131.85 later, it arrived back home.

The airline uses a company called chargerback to retrieve and get lost things returned.
You file a lost and found form with description, etc. and through some convoluted process they end up with the item and hold it hostage unless you are willing to pay the fee they decide to charge you.
Aleisha and I talked and as it would have cost more than that to replace the suitcase, dresses, shoes and whatnot we decided to pay it.
Lesson learned, I guess, grrrrrrr.

 

[meggo819]

hold it hostage unless you are willing to pay the fee they decide to charge you.

That’s insane! Looking back to see what airline this is, to avoid it

 

[MickeyCB]

That’s insane! Looking back to see what airline this is, to avoid it

It was American but I tried to look it up online, and it looks like a lot of airlines, hotels etc. use this company. Very overpriced in my opinion. I get it, I lost it, it takes time, effort, humans etc. to get your things back to you buy this feels overpriced.

 

[MickeyCB]

MK day is winding down-
We headed back to the Poly on the monorail and stopped at the front desk because it was 6 pm with no room notification.
They did have a room by then and gave us the number. I always request a high floor and most of the time we have been accomidated. Today we were in luck again. We were on the 8th floor.

I stopped by bell services to arrange to have all of our luggage and the groceries we had ordered brought to the room.

This was a dedicated 2 bedroom and was very nice. I don't know without looking at actual floor plans but the kitchen/dining/living area seemed narrower than other DVC 2 bedrooms we have stayed in before. And as I look at these photos I am also reminded that there was a lot less kitchen counter space/storage.

I apologize for the pictures because they have all of our stuff spread all over as it was getting late and we needed to start getting the girls ready for bed.

Living/kitchen area, the living room has a queen pull down murphy bed that is nice-

2 queen bed bedroom-

The second bedroom bathroom-

Hall bathroom-

Main bedroom, king bed-

Main bedroom bathroom, very spacious with 2 seperate sinks, right and left as you enter, so 3 full bathrooms which is gold-

And the view was freaking fantastic!! You can see MK while seated or standing but for some reason I can't post a wide view photo.

It was so fun. Multiple nights Ariel and the rest of us watched the fireworks. Elsa was a little less interested because she didn't like the sound.

Tomorrow, it's off to Africa!! And, Asia and Pandora and....

 

[MickeyCB]

AK DAY!!!

Unlike one of my buddies on here, I really enjoy AK.

We woke the sleepy (west coast, status post MK day tired) girlies up.

Elsa- Ariel wake up, we get to see the animals today!

I got the multipass for us today and it served us well.
We used the Minnie Van service today for the first time ever because we knew it was going to be tough getting them up and moving this morning and we had both a breakfast scheduled and before that a LL for the safari!

We of course were cutting things close but on the way in my little eye spied DiVine around the corner!!
Love love when we catch seeing her!

The girls get a reluctant participant trophy for this one. If you could really see their faces.

We then hustled to the back of the park to enjoy a fabulous safari.

And then a sight I have never seen before.
See the lady lion up there? I don't know how to post a video but she had seen something below that apparently looked and smelled like breakfast to her! She kept pacing back and forth and we all got a little thrill watching her!
Sorry for the blurry pic, it was a screenshot from the video.

The safari took much longer than we anticipated and we had to hussle to make our breakfast reservation. (I'm with you @wdisney9000 on the ressie thing)

Uncle Seth and Elsa were on the move!

We made it to Husker House just in time for our reservation. Aleisha's friend was going to get us a Festival of the Lion King show LL as soon as we tapped into the Safari. But, we realized as we were waiting to be seated she got some of us but not all. So we were going to have to hustle a little with the eating to go get in the standby line for the next show.

After we were seated it was (of course) a fair amount of time till the characters started to come through.

 

[Tuvalu]

AK DAY!!!
Unlike one of my buddies on here, I really enjoy AK.

 

[MickeyCB]

 

[MickeyCB]

AK day continues-

We left off sitting down at Tusker House and waiting for the characters to come by.
Once again, chaos reigned and no food pics are available.
It was a very nice buffet with lots of choices.

On the character front the big cheese came through first!

And I couldn't resist a photo with him and my girls.

Next was a visit with Daisy, so cute.

And then one of those Disney moments that turn into core memories.
The characters were doing their little dance around the restaurant and Donald came by (one of Ariel's favorites) and he turned and shook his tail in her face! She busted up laughing, it was so funny, and when it was over a lady a few tables from us told me she caught it on video and she sent it to me.
I have a blurry screenshot from it.

We still had not seen Goofy but I made an executive decision that if we wanted to catch the Lion King show right next door we needed to book it. I did feel bad because Ariel did comment that she didn't get to see him yet, but I was pretty sure being able to see the show would be a better choice (and we were going to see Goofy again later in the week.)

So we rounded everyone up after it took quite a long time to get the check. We hurried over and were some of the last to be seated!
The girls absolutely loved the show, I am so glad we made it. You know if a 2 and 4 year old sit still for an entire show they are enjoying themselves.

After that we made our way over to Navi River. I can take or leave it but I knew the girls wouldn't be able to ride FoP and wanted them to get to experience something.

Aleisha and Julio rode FoP while Seth and I got them an icecream. By the way, there is a nice little hideaway spot by the bathrooms by Navi River where they were able to eat their icecream, run around and then we were able to wash the sticky off!
While Seth and I rode they decided to head back to the resort to see if they could talk Lana into a short afternoon nap.

We took our time walking out and did some shopping. I don't think I bought anything, Seth got a necklace he had been eyeing up. I didn't take a pic but it had a cool charm on it.

We took the bus back and when we got back to the tower we stopped to check out the terrace gardens. There are 2 on each side of the tower. There was only one other person there reading and then another family showed up to take some photos. It seemed like a nice quiet spot.
Seth refused to let me take his photo at the front. The large wicker thing is a seating area and there are a bunch of comfortable rockers in front of the glass railing.

We headed back to the room to see how the napping was coming along. Little hint, not well.

As soon as we were finishing up at AK I started booking us some LL's for MK for the evening. We decided to let the girls at least rest a little and then we would head over to MK again.