Oh the Places We Go, The People We See ...Dream Trip Report

[jenseib]

And then Alexis.

[jenseib]

[jenseib]

As you can see, getting the photopass CD was well worth it for us. We had a ton of pictures taken during the experience and after.

The girls did a little shopping afterwards.

I don’t think we bought anything because I didn’t want to carry it around for the rest of the night. This was Gail’s last day so, so I am sure the girls found a few things they liked.

[jenseib]

After all the fun with BBB and the photoshoot, Claire and I hightailed it over to Pooh. We had pulled fastpasses earlier and I knew it would be cutting it close. We arrive and were about 10 minutes past the time. I asked the CM if we could still use them as we had been at BBB and he said sure thing and let us in.

Claire already started complaining about how itchy her dress was. In years past she never would say a word about any dress, even ones I knew had to be itchy. She would chose beauty over comfort. Not so anymore. I told her she needed to wear it longer, but she still kept complaining. I need to remember for future visits that she will need to wear a shirt under the dress to make it more comfortable.

After our ride on Pooh, we headed over to Dumbo to take a spin.

We then checked out Barnstormer but it was a bit too long of a wait for us at the time.

I finally gave in then. I was tired of hearing how itchy she was. I had hoped to at least get through dinner with the dress, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant if I made her wait so we headed to the bathroom and changed back into her skirt outfit.

We then walked over towards Space Mountain as I wanted to get fastpasses.

[jenseib]

We grabbed fastpasses for several hours later that evening and then decided we needed a quick snack. It was around 4 and our dinner reservation was in about an hour, but we were to the point that we just couldn’t last quite that long. Claire got a frozen treat.

I got a pretzel and we sat down under the People Mover and ate them. We people watched and talked and laughed because we heard the spiel from the People Mover over and over and over again.

After I ate about half of my pretzel I realized I never took a picture.

While we sat there I looked over my receipts to see how many snack credits were left. Everything would have to be used by midnight the next day as we were checking out of the Beach Club Villas in the AM and switching resorts and dining packages. Claire’s receipt showed a certain amount but mine didn’t show anything. That’s odd. It also appeared my parents weren’t using the snack credits as well. There were quite a few left according to Claire’s receipt. I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but they had a hard time understanding the dining plan. Each day my Mom would tell me that drinks and appetizers from dinner were charged to the room, which meant, charged to my credit card. She would give me money and I would go and pay it off each day. I even asked at the desk if they would take them off my credit card and the CM totally ignored me.

So I knew we would have to make sure they got some snacks or Claire and I would have to use up some more snacks before they expired.

After we finished our treats we decided we should head to the front and work our way over to the Poly for ‘Ohanas dinner.

[jenseib]

We excited the park and took the monorail over. We were a little early so we slowly made our way to check in.

It was quite busy in there, but we did get checked in. They told us we could have our picture taken, which we declined. I don’t see this as a winner of a photo op. Now if I had purchase the photopass plus, then I would’ve done it, but without it being included in the meal, it’s not something we would want.

We had barely sat down and we were called in. Our ADR was for 5:05 and we got called in a few minutes before 5 with the first group being called in for the first dinner round. Cousin Joe led us to our table.

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We had a window seat, but our view wasn’t really all that grand. Well we could SEE the Grand, but there were quite a few trees in the way.

It’s very dark in there and it was hard to get decent pictures.

Our bread.

Now I have heard people RAVE about this bread. I asked about this bread too ….. to many people. It is described as a pineapple coconut bread. I do NOT like coconut. Many people told me you cannot taste coconut at all and some didn’t even realize it had it in it. I am here to set the record straight. YES you can taste it!!!

My first bite….mmm this is pretty good, sweet and tasty, but after about 20 seconds I got the aftertaste of coconut. Darn it! I did keep eating it, hoping it was mind playing tricks, but it wasn’t and I gave up on it after a bit. I just couldn’t get that taste out of my mouth. Claire enjoyed it and did eat quite a bit, but she also mentioned it had a funny taste to it as well.

The salad was very good though. Claire wasn’t so much a fan, but she did eat some.

The sauces.

Again, I heard many people talk about how wonderful they were. I only liked one of the 3 and it was just OK. The others were not good at all. Claire didn’t like any of them.

[jenseib]

The potstickers and chicken wings. This was the best part of the meal.

 

 

Both were good and we cleaned the plate (well Claire only at the chicken)

 

I slacked in picture taking after this. The veggies were good, but Claire wouldn’t touch them. The noodles …not our thing, we both took a bite or 2 and were not impressed.

The meat …good if it had no sauce on it. We did not like any of the sauces on them and Claire just stopped eating. Our first few bites of the steak were great, but again, after a minute the sauce taste came out and it was just off to us. Not our thing at all. We would’ve preferred to have sauce less meats.

 

 

Luckily we had enough of the chicken wings and potstickers to fill us up. And I had more salad and veggies.

The lady came out to entertain and called the kids up. Claire refused to go, but we enjoyed watching her sing. I tried for a photo, but not very good at all.

 

 

After a while she called up adults too and we had to do some dance or something. Claire said if I went up, she would go too and the only way to get a lei was to participate, so we went up and made fools of ourselves. It was fun though.

 

When we got back to the table the bread pudding had arrived.

 

 

Claire got a birthday treat as well.

 

 

[jenseib]

The ice-cream was good, the bread pudding, just Ok. Again, it’s not a big thing for us. Actually I think it’s only the 2nd time I ever had it and probably Claire’s first. I do know the reason we liked it was the caramel sauce. If it didn’t have that, I probably would’ve taken 2 bites and pushed it aside.

We paid the bill with our dining credits and left a tip. Our server was decent, but not great. He didn’t do anything wrong really, he just had kind of a been there done that tone to everything. ….Just not energetic at all.

As we left I tried to get a few more pictures.

The whole meal was just ok to us. It wasn’t bad; it was just not to our tastes. I really don’t know if I will ever go back for dinner. I have heard since that the sauces have changed, so that is a reason to give it another try. I probably will only do so if Skip is with us so he can give it a try too. At least now I don’t have to worry about trying to get it right at the 180 day mark. I have looked at trying to dine here for a few years, but we are always so last minute with planning trips I just never had a chance. Now I know we are not really missing much at all.

I did have Claire stop and get a picture with the Tiki God.

And I took a few more pictures around the resort.

[jenseib]

I hear good things about Kona too, so someday we will give that a try as well.

We then hopped the monorail and headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

It was very exciting to see trees lit up.

[jenseib]

And the whole reason to come to the Magic Kingdom during the holiday season!!!!!!

This is absolutely stunning. I love the castle this way and if I never saw it looking normal again, I would be ok with that. I fell in love with the icicle castle immediately.

The down side to this night ….it was so freaking crowded. I was just amazed at the amount of people here.

[jenseib]

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the castle. It was just so beautiful.

I think the greenish blue colored castle is my favorite.

We headed over to the Laugh Floor. We have only done this a few times and decided it was time to give it a go again.

We had so much fun. We laughed so hard. I can’t remember all the details anymore, but we had a great group of people with us. One kid kept getting the camera on her but she was so clueless, and it was funny and then a nearby kid kept trying to get in the shot. We had some adults that were also not really with it and the answers they gave were hilarious. And even Mike was rolling his eye at times and making jokes about the slow responses he was getting. You could tell this was a crowd they don’t get normally and did a lot of improvising. Like I said, we have only done it a few times in the past, but this was by far the best time ever and it will be disappointing in the future because I know it will never live up to this one show.

Claire kept asking to go back all through the trip, but we never made it and I did tell her it just wouldn’t be as good as this time because of the people we had in there.

When we came out we texted the family. I can’t remember what they were doing. I know Rob and Alexis were in line for Space Mountain. I think only Gail, Rob, & kids and Uncle Geoff were left in the park at that time.

[jenseib]

 

Geoff had gone to dinner with the other adults at the Contemporary and then Gail texted him that the girls wanted to spend more time with him so he came back while the rest headed back to their hotels.

While we had been having our dinner, Gail’s family had gone to CRT for dinner. Later on when I caught up with Gail I asked how it went. She said not so good. It started out well in the lobby, but then when they were called Abby lost her shoe on the step in true Cinderella fashion. I guess this triggered something and she started crying. I don’t remember the whole story, but I think she then did NOT want to be there and didn’t want to see the princesses. It was less than magical for them. Alexis enjoyed it, but it was sad her sister was in one of her moods. They did say the food was good, which I was glad to hear as the last time it was not very good at all.

 

 

 

This is not my favorite Cinderella at all. In person she looks normal, but in all her pictures she looks like she is in pain when she smiles.

 

 

Back to Claire and I.

 

We decided we needed to ride the People Mover, so we worked our way there.

 

 

[jenseib]

[jenseib]

We then walked up to the Carousel of Progress. I had gone on this for the first time in March of this year (2012). I went on alone as Skip and Claire were off doing something else. I was not so impressed and really thought I would never have a need to go on it again. BUT I also knew this would be something that Claire would enjoy, so I took her on it.

The park was crowded and we actually had to wait a cycle before we could get on it, so Claire stuck a pose or 2 for me.

Just as I feared ….errrr figured, Claire loved it. I believe this is when it got stuck. Not sure what happened, but we had an announcement to stay put and we would continue shortly, so we ended up seeing one scene twice while waiting.

[jenseib]

As we were going through time on COP, Geoff, Gail and Abby were teacupping it away. Here are some of Geoff’s castle shots.

Geoff rode with Abby as Gail doesn’t do too many rides. She gets sick. (she’s always been wimp. LOL)

[jenseib]

Time to check the pictures.

Alexis and Rob arrived back and Alexis did not want her hair piece in anymore. It was killing her head.

While Gail took out the hair, Geoff too a few shots of princess Abby.

I am not sure why, but after Claire and I got out of COP we headed to Storybook Circus. I think that might have been where Gail was last text, but she had moved on.

[jenseib]

Dumbo sure is pretty at night.

We made our way over to find Gail and Abby was happy Claire had arrived.

What’s on your shirt Claire? I love Princesses!

[jenseib]

We actually got a ton of compliments on this outfit throughout the day. Another one that my wonderful friend Janet let us borrow.

Rob decided to leave at that point. He had a long day and still wasn’t feeling well.

The mad tea party was next on the agenda and I do not like it as well. Spinning rides like that do make me sick as well, so lucky Geoff got to ride with all the girls. They got in line and were let in, but they had issues finding a cup. Several kids ran in and all got their own cup. I don’t think the CM’s knew they were doing this and let too many people in. Finally Geoff led the girls in to a cup with another lady and her daughter. It was very crowded, but they survived.

Geoff was afraid that the other little girl was going to fly out as her mother let her stand the whole time.

After the spin around on the cups, we headed over to Barnstormer. Gail had a fastpass for Abby. Geoff took Abby through the line and I took Claire and Alexis through the standby line.

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It was every bit of the 20 minutes posted, but finally we were ready.

It was very exciting for them to be riding together too.

Our view from the top of the hill.

That was fun once again, but just way too short. We texted Geoff and he said they were over by Dumbo, so we made our way there.

Gail was in line with Abby.

[jenseib]

 

While we waited Claire and Alexis got a few poses in.

 

 

 

Gail and Abby are now ready to fly.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Look how wild they are! I think Gail let Abby use the controls, which meant she didn’t know what to do and they didn’t go up very often.

While they were riding, my fastpass hour for Space Mountain had opened up. Claire did not want to go with me, but Alexis said she would. Well… we got ready to head over and then Alexis had second thoughts. I am not sure why, as she had just rode it, but I really think it had something to do with her possibly missing out on something while she was with me and Claire was left with Geoff and her mom. LOL!

That's Ok, I am a big girl and I went and rode it by myself. I left Claire with them and headed off. They had planned to get a snack, so I left Claire’s KTTW card with Gail so she could Claire some popcorn with a snack credit.

I do like Space Mountain., but it is so jerky. I always feel like I am going to fly out, or crush my spine, or a combination of the 2.

When I came out I texted Gail and Geoff to see where they were. No one answered. So I found a spot to sit down for a few minutes and waited.

After bit I got a text that there had been some major drama and they would tell me about when I got there. Gail also said I had no snack credits left. That was odd. Mom and Dad must’ve gone hog wild and used all the credits. So I texted them and asked what they got and of course no reply from them either.

I asked if I needed to pick up Claire popcorn and they said she was fine and they had plenty of popcorn.

They were actually very nearby and I met right up with them.

So I asked what was up when I found them. I noticed Abby’s beautiful princess do was no longer.

Claire said, “Wow you missed it. Abby turned into the Devil. She was possessed and went crazy. Her eyes were glowing and Uncle Geoff took a picture of it.”

So what happened, you may ask? I sure wanted to know as well.

Well they went for popcorn and ordered and of course Claire’s card is declined. I think Gail had ordered popcorn for Abby and Alexis to share and it went downhill from there. They said Abby all of a sudden just went wild and started crying. They assumed she wanted her own popcorn and got her one, I believe, but that was not the case either. The y said she was just pure crazy and no one had a clue what she was saying. They mentioned her head spinning a few times, but I am pretty sure that didn’t actually happen. She did however just start ripping her hairstyle out then as well. Finally they figured it out. She wanted the Mickey Santa popcorn bucket. They ordered one of those then and of course they are out. They asked where another one was being sold and Geoff ran over and got one. He said he would’ve paid $100 for the display model if he had to.

She looked like a perfect angel sitting in her stroller by the time I arrived back. I did find out however that NO one was allowed to eat her popcorn and she said she was saving it forever. She would sit there and talk to Mickey and the look around pop the lid open take a quick bite and quickly shut the lid like no one had seen her do it.

Claire insisted Geoff show me the possessed Abby photo.

We all just laughed. It DOES look like she is possessed.

Edited June 30, 2013 by jenseib

[AussieMumma]

I've really enjoyed really your trip report.I'm looking forward to see what you thought of the Art of Animation as we'd like to stay here next time we go :)

[jenseib]

I've really enjoyed really your trip report.I'm looking forward to see what you thought of the Art of Animation as we'd like to stay here next time we go :)

 

 

Thanks for reading along. I will be getting to that portion in the next week or so!

[jenseib]

Sorry I've been missing in action. My internet line broke outside and it took several days for them to come and hang a new one. One of the issues of living on a farm I guess. We think a semi might have snagged it and dragged it down.

Of course I had a ton of work to do online during those days so I was carting my laptop off to my parents house to try and get a few things done here and there.

It came back on Tuesday afternoon and then last night it went out again with the storms in the area. UGH! Thank goodness that didn't last too long.