Fun, Family and Firsts--Our Oct ’10 TR - UPDATED 11/16 - Page 2 - PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel
Fun, Family and Firsts--Our Oct ’10 TR - UPDATED 11/16
About This Page: This is a discussion on Fun, Family and Firsts--Our Oct ’10 TR - UPDATED 11/16 within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; I've just found your trip report and am really enjoying it - sorry the reveal didn't get a better reaction....
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We made our way to DME. We waited a solid 30 minutes before we were loaded onto our bus. The kids were pretty excited to be riding without carseats and thoroughly enjoyed the movie playing.
In no time at all we saw
We had arrived!!
We would be staying at the All-Star Sports Resort and that was the first stop. When I was making reservations we had originally been booked at Movies, but somehow ended up at Sports. I knew the boys would love it, but I have a bit of a history with the hotel and was a bit apprehensive. See, I met my college boyfriend of 4 years while on Spring Break at Disney. He and his friends were staying at Sports in the football area. So my memories all took me back to first love and first kisses and all things that I don’t bring up with DH. (That’s a whole other story!!) Oh well, I figured it was time to make some new memories. Besides I’d requested first floor baseball, so at least we wouldn’t be in football, right?
I did not check in on-line as I had heard the on-line check in lines were longer. The rest of my family had, and their line was indeed longer. No more than 10 minutes after we arrived at our hotel did we have our Keys to the World in hand along with 4 First Visit buttons. Our room was on the third floor of, wait for it, the football building. See, the fates did want me to make new memories. It turns out the my parents and brother had adjoining rooms, but we were 5 halls away. Not ideal and I was quite irked at the time, but I have come to terms with it and we survived.
Now, our kids had never stayed in a hotel before. So that alone was a big deal. We opened our door and were greeted with
I had ordered water from Staples the week before and went to find out where that may be. (I got three cases of water delivered for around $24, so that was a great deal!) I found it at the bag check out front of the entrance. They delivered it to our room and we had cheap water all week!
Well, I was antsy and ready to get going. We had 4:40 ADR’s at Crystal Palace. It was nearing 2:00 so I thought we should get going. I will state now that I had subscribed to TGM and had touring plans ready for each day except this one. I warned everyone that we were going on a yellow day, but we just had to see the castle! The girls changed into their princess dresses and we were off, with two double strollers in tow, to find the bus to MK. (It turns out this was to be our only day at the proper bus stop. For that very night they tore up the bus lane and we were relegated to tents in the parking lot for the rest of our stay.)
I was ready for a longish bus ride, and it was, but I think it was due to the excitement. Although sometimes we were on the bus for 25 minutes and sometimes for less than 15 for the same trip. Go figure. I’d never been dropped at the gates before. We’d always taken the ferry or monorail, so this was new and different. Once we figured out how our cards worked with the fingerprint thingy we were greeted with a gorgeous site.
At this point I started getting teary. By the time we were walking up the street and I got my first glimpse of the castle, I was actually crying. It was actually happening. After the months of planning and the years of wishing, we were finally there!! Us, and MANY other people, but we were there none-the-less.
I forced everyone to stop for a Photopass pic in front of the castle. (I’d pre-ordered and I was sure-as-shootin’ going to get my money’s worth!!)
We walked through the castle and peeked into the BBB to get a feel for when it was to be our turn. Fantasyland was a zoo and the wait times were all 40+ minutes so we kept walking to Toontown. I was pretty surprised at how much was walled off. The entire area behind Dumbo, the Tea Cups, Pooh’s Ride...But Disney does make a nice construction wall! With lights and everything.
Toontown was a zoo too, but we managed to walk through Mickey’s House. Then we had a Princess mission so we found the tent and got in line. It said 20 minutes, but after 20 minutes and no real movement we had to quit so we could make our ADR. We promised two sad little girls that they would get plenty of Princess time throughout the week. We couldn’t leave the bigtop without Grandma buying presents, even though I had told the kids that there would be no buying until the last day. We walked out with Pluto hats for the boys and princess Minnie ears for the girls.
The veranda at CP was packed and I thought, “Uh Oh, we’re going to be waiting forever.”
Forever turned out to be about 15 minutes and while we were waiting, the kids got their first glimpses of characters!!
They were beyond excited to get into the restaurant. We were seated at the first table to the right of the entrance, so the third table on the characters' path. Not long after we sat down, the first parade started. I knew Kaylin and Carter would join, but Braydon and even Abby did too!
Eeyore was the first to arrive at our table. We quickly learned the importance of a stack of autograph books! Abby would go nowhere near him. She was fine at a near distance but pics were a no go. For my kids however, it was love at first sight. I wasn’t sure how Carter would react, but he was all about hugs.
By the time Pooh came around, Abby would get nearer if her Dad was holding on tight, so this is her first picture with a character.
This was our ADR and Kaylin is allergic to eggs and wheat so I didn’t know how exactly this would all work. I’d noted her allergies on our reservations and filled out the forms for dietary. After we’d been in the restaurant 15-20 minutes, the chef came out and walked the buffet with us. This was the longest we ever had to wait for a chef. There actually wasn’t a whole lot that she could eat so we stuck mainly with fruit. He did bring her out dinner rolls and she was in seventh heaven, because she rarely gets rolls even at home. Our dining experience took so long that Eyore and Tigger came back for a second visit. We were there for over an hour and a half and it was very loud, but the parades and the characters kept the kids entertained. We were very fortunate for free dining when the bill arrived; our first glimpse at just how valuable free dining is.
By this time we were all ready to do something. We headed into Adventureland and I was struck by just how amazing Disney is. Each part of the park feels so different. Mark even commented on it. It really is quite amazing. Our first stop was the Swiss Family tree house. I have great memories of this as a child. It seemed to always be our first stop.
We kept walking and found a new to me ride, Aladdin’s Magic Carpets. Everyone got in line and I decided I should try out the fast pass system. The Jungle Cruise was right there so I gathered tickets and got our first fast passes. Then I ran over to BTRR to get more, as I had remembered reading that you could hold two fast passes at a time. Well, I soon learned you could, but you couldn’t get your second set until your first set was ripe. Lesson learned. So I headed back to the Magic Carpets and they were still in line. They ended up waiting almost 45 minutes for the ride. Ugh!
By the time they exited, we could use our Jungle Cruise fast passes, so off we went. Oh how we loved those precious pieces of paper. We walked right on! We had a delightful boat captain. I’d never cruised in the dark before so that was fun! We decided that it was time to grab parade spots for MSEP so we headed towards Liberty Square, but ended up across from the pin trader store in Frontierland. We got our spots about 7:30 for the 8:00 parade. Mark and I ran to get BTMR fast passes for after the parade. When the light up toy carts started rolling by I was so happy I’d planned ahead. I pulled out the glow bracelets from the dollar spot and the kids were satisfied. We had many, so they shared with other kiddos in our vicinity. Now, I thought the parade started in Frontierland and ended at Main Street, so when it was 8:05 and 8:10 and 8:15 and no parade I got to wondering. Well, it turns out the parade starts at Main Street so we were towards the end. Finally we heard the music and saw the first float approaching. The kids were mesmerized. We loved MSEP. It was a wonderful start to our trip. Be prepared for photo overload, I got a bit carried away.
We loved watching the end of the parade wrap up the parade ropes. Mark commented, “Wow, they have this down pat.” Well, of course, it’s Disney! We made our way through a mass of humanity to BTMR. I LOVE this ride! Kaylin was tall enough, but she’d never done a real roller coaster before. She and Abby wanted to go so we left Carter with Grandma and Grandpa and off we went passed all those people in the stand by line. Love those fast passes! Here are the girls on their first ride!
Everyone but Kaylin loved it. She said it would be better in the day time. We had extra passes so Grandma and Braydon went to ride again. By this time Wishes was beginning so we tried to find a spot to watch. We walked over the bridge away from BTMM and watched from there. Not great, but ok. The fireworks weren’t over the castle, but we could hear the music. I tried to watch for Tinkerbell, but didn’t see her. Maybe next time. It had been a long day and we were ready to crash, so we made our way to the entrance which with the crowds was not easy.
Overall I’d say it was a good start to our trip. No Princesses yet, but they would be coming!
Tomorrow: AK by Rope Drop In Order To Follow TGM Suggestions, Right?
Last edited by buckinghammr; 11-04-2010 at 12:53 PM..
About This Page: This is a discussion on Fun, Family and Firsts--Our Oct ’10 TR - UPDATED 11/16 within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; I've just found your trip report and am really enjoying it - sorry the reveal didn't get a better reaction....
Mary - not enough trips!
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