The Dolleys Do Disney...June 20-27 - UPDATED 7/1 About This Page:

[misty hailey]

Love it!!!

[disneydreamer33]

Great updates. You have got to try TOT, if you can do (or want to do) RNRC I think you can do TOT. (It is awesome)
Sorry about the bus situation. Good thing you had your passporter with you to call the resort. Who knows how long you would have waited.

[5SOXFNZ]

We were up and ready to go and at the bus stop by 7:30am today! We arrived at the MK and made our way to the front entrance for our 8:20am reservation at the Crystal Palace. When we got there Jacob was very concerned, ”But Mom, it’s not open yet, how can we get in????” Man, did I look like a super hero when we walked up and I nodded yes to the CM who asked if we had breakfast ressies and he waived us through the rope line!!

We practically had Main Street to ourselves and the kids thought this was awesome. They got to stop and look at a lot of things they didn’t see the other day because it was so crowded!

We got to Crystal Palace, checked in and were seated in about 5 minutes. (I should have been better about looking at the time at all our meals as to what time we actually got seated vs. when we got there but I was so caught up in the excitement too! ) Breakfast was great! Ian LOVED eating with Pooh and his gang.


And they did a little parade around the restaurant with all the kids twice while we were there. Ian kept saying “I march with Tigger!! We watched the crazy people running past the windows when the park officially opened and laughed…man people are NUTS!!! Hehe!!

We finished shortly after and made our way out to Tomorrowland. We walked on Buzz Lightyear (I don’t know why we didn’t go a 2nd time?!?!) and then Kevin took the older two on Stitch’s Great Escape while Ian and I walked around a bit and happened upon the Stitch show. It was actually really cute, he enjoyed Stitch on the screen and all the dancing and singing. When they returned back from their ride Meghan really wanted to go on the Astro Orbiters so I took her (As I was waiting I realized that for some reason in all my trips starting in 1974, I had NEVER rode the AO’s, even all the high school trips I took with friends…hmmm, I wonder why??? Meg thought it was cool that there was something Mommy was doing for the 1st time with her.) Well, we waited about 30 minutes in line, went up the elevator, we got our little pep talk from the CM which went something like this….”there is a storm approaching (actually it was right there, we could see it clearly!!) if it rains we will not stop the ride, you will get wet. The only reason we will stop the ride is for lightning”
Well, okay then!! So we make our way to our rocket, get in, buckle the seat belt and CRACK!! I see the bolt like it was in a movie…you know, the zig-zag “perfect” lightning bolt. I look over to the “catwalk” type thing off to the side of us where there were two manager’s and I can tell by the look on their faces and the frantic talking into the walkie talkies, we were getting out. We unbuckled and everyone went back down in a very orderly manor. I chatted with the CM on the way down who said they have a whole team of meteorologists stationed throughout the park when a storm like this is approaching. They have a whole system in place, something to do with timing the minutes between strikes, to determine when rides will be closed/opened again. Due to this storm all the outdoor rides were closed down at this time (Speedway, AO’s, Dumbo, Splash, BTMR to name a few) but everything inside was still operating. We decided to head to Toontown.
　
Goofy’s Barnstormer was closed so we headed to the Hall of Fame…one line was for the Princesses (it said 30 minutes but the CM said it went much quicker) and one was for the Fairies which was listed at 90 minutes (the CM said it was definitely that long, possibly more) Meg had already met all the Princesses in Epcot and the boys out voted her on the fairies so we headed back out and to Mickey’s house. There was a 30 minute wait to see the Big Cheese!


From there we headed to Minnie’s house. The Barnstormer had opened again but no amount of convincing could get the kids on it…I have no idea why my 8 year old will do Mission Space but not Goofy’s Barnstormer!! We headed to Fantasyland to get FP’s for Pooh. From there we hit Mickey’s Philharmagic…another thing I can’t believe I had never done!! Oh my goodness was that awesome!! The kid’s loved it! We decided to do lunch and have some swim time back at CBR so it was time to head out to the bus. On our way out of MK we stopped at the Chappeau to order embroidered ears for all the kids!
We headed back to CBR and when we returned to our room we had a great surprise in the window from Mousekeeping! So cute!!


We changed into our swimsuits and headed to OPR for lunch. Kevin I both got the Chicken Ceasar Salad and the kids all had pizza. Ian napped for a but in the carriage during the trip back and for a little bit through lunch. We swan for a while then headed over to the Aruba beach for about 15 minutes to let the kids play in the sand. Then we got ourselves back into our clothes and headed back to MK. I think we got back around 5 or 6pm.We picked up the kids ears and took some photos.

Our evening touring started in Adventurland on the Treehouse, and Magic Carpets we grabbed FP’s for the Jungle Cruise then headed over to Pirates. After Pirates we used our JC FP’s the did a turn at Shrunken Neds boats for the kids! We stopped for a snack in Frontierland, Mickey Bars for all!!


We made our way back into Fantasyland (doesn’t everyday in MK eventually lead back to Fantasyland??) and did Dumbo and Pooh again. Then we headed to Tomorrowland to do the AO’S and Speedway. Ok, I’m a little hazy…I honestly think we did more this afternoon but I could be wrong. I think we just lingered and took in all the sights as much as we could.

I know that when we had decided to go on Tomorrowland Speedway it was dark, and approaching parade time, we decided to catch the later Spectro parade so we had until about 10pm to line up for Wishes.

We made our way to the walkway between Cosmic Rays and the castle and staked out a spot for Wishes. So cool because Tinkerbell flew directly over our heads! We watched the fireworks then decided to head down Main Street to stake out a spot in front of Tony’s for the late SpectroMagic parade. It was a nightmare because MK had EMH untils 2am that night so there was a sea of people trying to leave the park after wishes fighting against a sea o people trying to enter the park for the EMH’s. It seemed like there was no ryhme or reason to how people were walking and no CM’s anywhere to direct the flow. It was actually a little scary at times. It took a LONG time to get to the end of Main Street but we found a great spot and sat waiting for the parade.

After the parade we headed back to the hotel for some well needed rest!

UP NEXT: Pirates and shopping and dinner with The Mouse!

[5SOXFNZ]

Originally Day 8 was open on the itinerary to do whatever park the kids wanted to go back to the most. But, after some discussion between the family, we decided to skip a park this day and take a down day! The kids had the pirate cruise in the AM and we had BIG dinner reservations, so we would have only had about 4 hours to tour anyway. Also, we found out the day prior we would have to be moving rooms due to our last night being a room only reservation. Luckily, I packed everything when we returned from MK last night.

I woke up early, got showered and dressed and headed out to check us out of our room. By the time I had returned Kevin had all the kids up and dresses and they were eating breakfast. I packed the last of the stuff and called Bell Services to come get our luggage for storage.

By 8:30am were on a bus to MK, then took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian. UGH…it seemed like the monorail stopped for 15 minutes at each station and we were running late!! We ran off the monorail at the GF and just RAN through the hotel asking as I was running how to get to the Marina and CM’s just kept pointing us along…it was actually quite comical! I had run ahead with Jacob and Meghan and Kevin trailed behind with Ian in the stroller! We got to the boat dock just in time, they were boarding the boat. They fit the kids with lie jackets and gave them their Pirate Swag (Bandanas!) and of they went into the Seven Seas Lagoon! I was happy to see that they had a PhotoPass Photographer sailing with them…I thought this was a nice touch or parents so we could see what went on! (Anyone whose ever tried to get details from a 5 year old knows what I mean!!)
Kevin Ian and I had an ADR at the GF Café so we headed there (They had caught up to us in time to see the boat leave the dock!) Breakfast was good…Ian loved his Mickey pancake!


After breakfast we took a stroll along the waterfront near the marina and waited for our buccaneers to return!

They disembarked their pirate ship and we headed back inside to figure out our next step. It started to rain just as we got inside. As we sat in an entryway I see a lot of hustle and bustle, a manager and two CM’s carrying something very hastily. They placed two baskets by the door, one with towels and another a hamper for guests to dry themselves off when they came in from the rain! Talk about Deluxe!!!


We decided to head back to CBR and then to DTD. I’m not sure why we didn’t just catch a bus from the GF to DTD(I think my brain was shot at this point and I just wasn’t thinking!!) but we decided to go to MK via boat then take the bus to CBR. As we were on the bus to CBR we got our text that our room was ready…so it all worked out in the end.

We headed to our room at Barbados and dropped off our stuff then headed out to DTD. We wandered around for a bit, Meg got a Mr. Potato Head box and Jacob picked out some more StarWars stuff. We got some snacks at Goofy’s and then just wandered around.

We caught a bus from DTD to the Contemporary about 3:45pm for our dinner at Chef Mickey’s. We arrived a little early so we explored the Contemporary for a little while then headed upstairs! Dinner was great and Donald was a hoot! He kept trying to get everyone to cheer for him and if it wasn’t up to his standards he would walk away and make us beg him to come back! The food was good, standard buffet fare. It amazed me that no matter how many times the kids saw Mickey it was such a HUGE deal every single time! I that!!!!



After dinner we took the monorail to MK again and caught a bus back to CBR. The kids had a date with the swimming pool and Mommy had some DDP credits to spend!!

While Kevin had the kids in the pool I went to the grab and go mart and STOCKED UP!! Somehow, we ended up skipping a QS dinner one night…I think it was the day we had Sci Fi for a late lunch, we were all so full. I ended up getting enough for all of us for breakfast the next day plus some other snacks for the plane and to bring home. I still had snack credits left so I took the two older kids in and told them each to pick three candy bars…you would have thought it was Christmas!!

We swam until about 11pm and then headed to bed. Earlier in the day we had come up with a plan for our last day. It was unanimous that we would be going to the MK so everyone got to pick one MUST DO ride, we would have to hit all those then if we had time, we would fit in other things. And also, we would have to ride Dumbo one last time….a family tradition, the first and last ride of the trip is always Dumbo!

When we completed the list I was weary that we would even get them all done because of course, 5 people, 5 rides, 5 different LANDS!! How different we all were.
Here is the list we comprised:
Daddy (Kevin) - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Mommy (Lois) - Carousel of Progress
Jacob - Tomorrowland Speedway
Meghan - Haunted Mansion
Ian - Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

UP NEXT: DAY 9...DID WE GET IT ALL DONE????

[CinderAbby]

(doesn’t everyday in MK eventually lead back to Fantasyland??)

In my trips with Abby, this is how our day goes. Fantasyland, somewhere else, Fantasyland, somewhere else, Fantasyland, leave.

[5SOXFNZ]

We woke up early and packed up our stuff carefully sorting making sure the kids carry-ons were ready to go and stuff. We called Bell Services and had them pick up the luggage to store until this afternoon.

We headed out to MK and arrived just as the opening countdown was finishing. We headed straight to BTMR. Turns out, neither of the kids wanted to ride so Kevin went on alone. It was walk-on. I wanted to ride to and Meghan decided (after some convincing) that she would go with me Again, we walked on.

From there it was on to The Haunted Mansion…walk on! Wow, we were knocking out our list no problem!

We headed to Fantasyland and grabbed FP’s to Winnie the Pooh, then continued to the Speedway. It had a posted wait of 30 minutes but it was not more than 15.

Then we headed to Carousel of Progress…Walk-on! The kids actually got a big kick out of this one and it’s a sentimental favorite of mine! I sang along the whole time and by the end Meghan was singing along too!!

We headed back to use our Winnie the Pooh Fast passes. When we emerged from there it was starting to rain a bit so we high tailed it into Pinocchio’s Village Haus to eat lunch. We grabbed a table first and just missed the rush of people. This rain was a typical Florida one…it came in, dumped buckets and then was GONE! We had a good lunch and I looked at the time…oh my…we had done everything on our to-do list and it was only 12:30pm!!

We lingered at lunch a bit then headed to Dumbo. We waited about 20 minutes, Ian was starting to get cranky in line but perked right up when he got to the front and got to ride Dumbo for a third time this week!


After Dumbo we headed to Toontown and jumped on the train. We rode one full rotation then stayed on until we reached Main Street again. Ian fell asleep as soon as we left the Toontown station so it was a good rest for him. When we got off at Main Street Ian was still asleep. One o my favorite pictures from the trip:



It was about 2:30pm now so we picked a spot in front of Tony’s to watch the 3pm parade. I ran into the PhotoPass shop and picked up some scrap booking supplies and then it was time for the parade. Ian wokeup almost on cue just as the parade was entering the loop! We watched then as soon as it ended headed out.

Just before we got to the tunnel under the train station I grabbed Meghan’s hand and ran over to where you have a full view of the castle down Main Street. We waved goodbye to the castle as I always do when I leave WDW! She gave me a hug and said “Mom, thanks for bringing me to your favorite place, I loved it!” I started to cry and thanked her for sharing this special place with me!! Kevin thought I was a crazy nut because when we rejoined the boys I was crying my eyes out!!

We headed to the bus and got to CBR in time to retrieve our luggage and jump on our 4:30pm DME to the airport. We ate dinner in the airport then headed through security. As soon as we made it through security I got a phone call from SWA (I didn’t even know they had my cell phone number!!) to say that our flight had been delayed an hour!! UGH!! We just hung out at the gate and the kids played their video games while we waited. Everyone fell asleep on the flight home and our neighbor was waiting for us when we landed. All were home, safe and sound and in bed by midnight!

[CinderAbby]

Great trip report. Thanks for taking us along.

[vfair]

How cute!

Looks like someone got more Mickey Bar on the outside than the inside! But he also looks very happy.

[5SOXFNZ]

First off, a HUGE thank you to all my pass porter friends! I could never have done this trip without all of you! Some of the best tips I received were on the fly commenst rom people's posts! I will NEVER plan another trip to Disney with out a trusty PP's in hand an I'm sure months of times on the boards! I have also reccomended this site to as many people who will listen to me!!

Kevin and I have both agreed that we will never do WDW without the Dining plan! It was incredible. My post trip calculations have determined that we broke even with just the tables service meals, so all the QS and snacks were bonus. Also, I thought at first ADR’s were a pain in the butt, having to decide where we wanted to be when we wanted to be there 90 days in advance! Trust me, for someone who is a planner by trade, having ADR’s was actually a very relaxing thing. I didn’t have to make decision on vacation, it was already done! I knew what park we were going to what day and where we would eat. I could just go with the flow and make sure we were there on time and we were good! I LOVED it!

Staying on property has now spoiled me. I loved not having to drive anywhere and being able to just go back to the hotel mid-day whoever we wanted. CBR was a great resort. The room size was very nice, we didn’t have to break down the pack n play because there was room to leave it up and still function! The double sinks were a godsend! It was spread out, but being in Aruba we had a short walk to OPR. I thought the food court was great, much more variety in the QS category then in the parks themselves. The pool was wonderful even for the varying ages of children I have. The children’s Splash area was okay for the older two but the 1st time Ian went into it he was knocked over pretty hard and would not go back into it. The staff was great and the stores were very convenient. The bus service was good with the one exception of our night at DHS. I would not rule out staying there again, but I think next time I will try for POR just to try something new.

8 years old is a magical age because he was so into how everything worked and also because he loved the Hidden Mickey thing!

5 years old was a magical age because it was all so “real” to her! Man, the look on her face when she met her first Princess and talked to her!! That is a memory I will treasure forever!

2 years old was a magical age because he was so in love with the characters and the Fantasyland rides!

My kids are incredible children! Every single day, at least once, they thanked us for taking them to Walt Disney World! They said please and thank you to everyone they encountered. They hardly fought with each other all week and were just all around great travelers! And they didn’t ask for ANYTHING!! They were so in awe o Disney World that we actually had to convince them at some points that it was okay to buy some souvenirs!! Both the older two kids left with $110 in spending money…they each came home with over $40!
　
We could have done with 7 day passes because we needed that one down day. We were fine with losing the $13 it cost us to upgrade to the 8 day passes even though we didn’t use that last day. Park hopping with kids is out of the question. At least my kids…it would have been too hard to switch gears between parks, they liked being able to go back to the same park after their breaks.

Next time I will schedule more pool time and more meals back at the resort.

I wish we had made it to more character greeting spots. By the time we got to them the waits were out of control and would have eaten too much touring time.

As long as my kids and husband will let me, I will always do matching t-shirts for the trip! It was so much fun and the kids enjoyed the extra attention from the CM’s. It was also always very easy to spot my children in a crowd.

I don’t think I’ll do June again, although the heat did not bother me nearly as much as it did Kevin. The kids fared well in the heat, but we definitely worried about dehydration.

I ordered too much food from Garden Grocer, but now that I know I can be more accurate next time.

I vow I will always make it to the park at opening time, it makes such a big difference!

DHS takes more than a day to do.

Epcot is definitely for older “kids”!

AK is my least favorite park!

MK is just as magical as when I was 4 and went for the 1st time!

When can I start planning our next trip?????????

[vfair]

Great reflections! I am always picking up tips from the TRs I read. This is such a great group!

[bsblady01]

more please

[disneydreamer33]

Great updates. Sounded like a very magical trip for your family. Thanks for sharing.

[CinderAbby]

Great reflections. And I agree about your assessment of the MK - it has been and always will be magical (even for me at 10 trips under my belt).

[triddle67]

I want to thank you for sharing your trip with us. I really enjoyed it. My girls are about the same age as your older 2, so that helps me in knowing what to expect with them. Were the older two able to keep going with all the walking? I can't wait until it will be my turn to share. This site is fantastic. I am so glad that I found it.

[Cam22]

Lois, I have just caught up and finished your wonderfully magical trip report! I love the picture of Ian with the Mickey Bar. That is just priceless! And I was all teary as I read your goodbye to the castle with Meghan. Again simply priceless! for sharing your trip and your thoughts with us.