TinyTinkerBell's April 2005 WDW Adventure About This Page:

[TinyTinkerBell]

This trip was April 21-25. We only hit MK, Epcot, and MGM, we don't do AK and we didn't have enough time. We did see Cirque du Soleil however. And though it was CT spring break, where we are from, the crowds where nowhere near as bad as they were in Easter 2002...
TR Part 1 coming up!

[TinyTinkerBell]

Cast Members
Mother (DM)
Father (DF)
Brother Age 10 (DB)
Me Age 13
Thursday April 21 2005
Last night we'd done the sleep over at a relative's near the airport thing, so we didn't have to wake up until 5:30am. We drove to the Newark airport and were there in time for the 7:30am flight. Since we were only going for 5 days, everyone brought 2 small suitcases (1 carryon and personal item is allowed so 2) and we didn't have to check any bags. The flight was uneventful...we played the trivia game and I was number one for a few rounds! We landed and picked up our rental car from AVIS, a nice white Suzuki, and drove the the Dolphin. We checked in and were on our way on the boat to MGM. Once there me, my mom, and brother went on the Great Movie Ride whilst Dad rode the Tower of Terror. Then together we rode Star Tours and saw MuppetVision 3D and Millionaire. On Millionaire, the hot seat was only 1 person the whole time, she got up to 125,000. I was number 9 once though!
We rode back to the Dolphin and drove to DownTown Disney for Cirque Du Soleil La Nouba. All I can say is that it is amazing. There are no words to describe it. It is pricey, but worth every cent.
We shopped a little in the Marketplace's World Of Disney, getting Tink souvenirs for my little cousin and Grumpy souvenirs for her older brothers. My brother and I got pressed coin books, and two pressed coins each, a Sorcerer Mickey for each of us and a Hook for him and Tink for me. We then ate at the Portobello Yacht Club, very good Italian food and seafood.
Back to the Dolphin for rest...coming up, MK EMH, and Epcot.

[TinyTinkerBell]

Today was Friday April 22. It was an EMH morning at MK, so me, dad, and brother headed there on the Swan-Dolphin-BoardWalk Inn Bus and were there at 8:10. First my brother and I rode Dumbo in the pink one (my fave for sentimental reasons) with a wait of, oh, 10-12 minutes while my dad got FP's for Peter Pan. We then saw PhilharMagic, absolutely WONDERFUL, my brother's #2 attraction in MK, and I made them ride It's A Small World. Then a 10-minute wait and onto Splash Mountain.....my brother's maiden voyage. Always a hit...yet it lulls you into such a false sense of security, all the cute characters, and then...WOW! Pressed Penny in SplashDown Photos.
Next was Big Thunder Mountain (12 minute wait), both me and my brother's first time....and it was a HIT! Then onto Haunted Mansion, 2.5 minute wait! Always deliciously creepy and then back to Peter Pan for our FP. By now it was about 11am...we strolled down Main Street, stopping for 4 pressed pennies each in the Emporium and adjoining stores, and then we took Monorail Pink to the TTC and then Monorail Black to Epcot. We rode to Epcot with a 20 year old guy who was an absolute Disney fanatic...he came every other weekend and had an ENTIRE VEST OF LILO AND STITCH PINS on the front and Lion King/ Mickey on the back, and some lanyards, probably over 300 pins...he was really cool and told us about his AP preview of Soarin' and then was off.....and we were off to meet my mom! She'd been filming the Festival, so we have some great footage. We decided on lunch at Le Cellier, waited 15 minutes and were brought in...off to a good start with the pretzel and sourdough bread and artisan cheeses. Then kid's grilled chicken for me and mussels for my brother, my dad had a small but excellent steak and my mom had the fab trout salad. And we're off! By now it was around 2pm, so we strolled the World Showcase up to America, caught the 4pm American Adventure and Voices of Liberty. Then onto Mexico for El Rio Del Tiempo....stopped back in France for a mickey eiffel tower penny each, then onto the River of Time. Afterwards, we bought my brother one of those squeeze n' breeze WDW blue fan bottles....and more pressed pennies in Mouse Gears! Then off to SpaceShip Earth, and we did Innoventions whilst my dad took advantage of the 15 minute wait for Mission:Space. Curiously low wait times the entire trip for this...never more than 25 minutes! Then it was back to the hotel and dinner.
We ate dinner at Gulliver's Grille in the Swan with Timon, Rafiki, Goofy, and Pluto. The food was OK, but we won't be going back. We then strolled on the Boardwalk and into Epcot. We stopped for a pressed penny of SpaceShip Earth, then settled onto the bridge for IllumiNations about 8:30pm. We enjoyed it immensely and my mom got quite a portion of it on film.
Back to the Dolphin, a great evening.
Pressed Penny Tally:
6 for me, 5 for brother

[TinyTinkerBell]

Saturday April 23
Today we went to MK again, this time with all four of us. We rode Dumbo (green)on his first fly of the day! and the Teacups(yellow) together, as well as the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.
Brother/dad rode Buzz and Space Mountain and achieved Space Cadet level (even though dad got about 50,000 more points) on Buzz. Mom and I rode IASW and Peter Pan. Together we all saw PhilharMagic, a new favorite of many of our family. Mom and I also rode Snow White's Scary Adventures...it WAS scary! I bet many young children are terified of this ride.
Then brother and I rode the Barnstormer 2x (this is supposedly a kiddie coaster...not so, dear friends!) while Dad got FP's for Splash Mountain.
We headed to Adventureland via the Country Bear's Jamboree, my mom's obsession is that she must see this every trip. Ah well, it is cute. Then onto Pirates...when brother was around age 3.... "more pirates mommy, more pirates mommy......." and we'd ridden it about 10x in a row that trip! Always a classic.
Back to get FP for BTMRR, and rode Splash again using our old FP. Then we got Mickey Bars all around in Frontierland...beware of the gulls here, they want your food. We saw the Hall of Presidents (we are history buffs) and then walked around to Tomorrowland. By this time it was raining....so we hopped on the TTA for our first time ever. Now Mom and I can say we have been inside Space Mountain!!!!!!!!! The view of Walt Disney's Dream for EPCOT was also very nice. We got a noodle bowl at the Noodle Station and saw the Share a Dream COme True Parade.....wonderful, but because of the rain they left out the princess globes and the entire "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes", and reduced the characters. However the dwarfs were quite funny and we met a little boy with his nanny whose mother was a CM in the parade! So we got extra characters coming over to us as we were near the little boy.
After the parade, we stopped for some pressed pennies and we took the bus back and strolled over to the BW surrey bike rental, however one member of our family (DB) was too short to pedal so we passed on renting. We freshened up and got ready for our 6:15 PS at the Flying Fish Cafe.
The Flying Fish food was delectably delicious. We had the artisan cheeses for an appetizer as well as the calamari, and my mom had delicious halibut while my dad had swordfish. Brother had inevitable chicken strips and I has the kids "Flying Fish And Chips" with the brownie for dessert, while the family shared the banana chocolate torte and creme brulee. We then played miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens. We had done the Fairways course the last time we were there, it is really like miniaturized regular golf. So we chose the fun Gardens course. I had fun humming to the Nutcracker music and telling everyone what it was (I dance in the Nutcracker at Christmastide each year). I got 3 hole-in-1's, the Waltz of the Flowers (3), Bacchus from the Pastoral Symphony(10) and Sorcerer Mickey(18). We watched Fantasmic! fireworks from the windows of our room, then got a late night snack at Tubbi's. Bed for everyone at 11pm.

[tkmom1972]

wow how old are you? unlike me you write so well.

[YOLANDA]

Sounds like a future Passporter writer to me!!!

[amanda31599]

Awesome trip report!

[TinyTinkerBell]

Yup...I am 13. But I will be 14 in the summer.
A funny story though, one not included..... Our first day, we were in MGM, upgrading our passes from 3-day to 4-day. There were 3 adult, 1 child ticket (brother was 9 at that time). The guy goes "You made a mistake....there is only 1 child ticket!" They though I was 9 and my brother was 7. However, we are both very tiny. I am about 4'10" and 83 lbs, and my brother is only around 4'2"! Oh well.
More coming up!

[TinyTinkerBell]

Part 4 Is coming up! It will be: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Artist Point, SpectroMagic, and Wishes: The firework show we are standing in the middle of.

[TinyTinkerBell]

Day 4 Part 1
This morning my brother and dad headed off to MGM for the Rockin' Roller Coaster, while Mom and I went to MK. We got there at 10am and the Dumbo line was an hour so we rode the Mad Teacups! HeeHee, I am an evil child. Now we are tiny people, I am 13 and together my mom and I weigh about 180 lbs...she is only 2 in. taller than me and I am 4'10"! So we were thrown around that pretty yellow cup as I spun with glee!
Next, we went on Snow White's Scary Adventures, and then It's A Small World and PhilharMagic (mom's favorite attractions!)

I had some spending money left (I had to provide my own money this trip....although mother did buy me 2 pins!) so I got the Tinkerbell Pin Trading Starter Set and began to trade. While in MK, I traded my 3 "trader" pins (It comes with 4 of the same pins). One for a Mickey holding Georgia, one for a ballerina Minnie, and one for a USA Olympic Pin. However, I spotted a CM wearing a Jiminy Cricket pin saying "I'm No Fool" so I traded my Mickey Georgia pin, not realizing that states pins were hard to come by. Then brother showed up and admired my pins....guess who bought a Mickey pin!
Then we met dad and brother for a funnel cake at Sleepy Hollow Snack Stand and took a spin on the WDW RR. In ToonTown the Barnstormer had a 40 min wait....hmmm these crowds seem to be worse than yesterday...... so we hopped on the monorail pink to the GF!
We took that lovely ride around to the GF on the deserted resort monorail...WHY DOES IT ALWAYS FILL AT MK AND EMPTY AT THE TTC? After the TTC, it is always EMPTY. And on Friday, the Epcot monorail at NOON was DESERTED... my brother dad and I shared our "section" with one other person. Anyway, we'd never seen the Poly so we got to, and then headed over to the GF! We've never seen these resorts because my parents decided they only like the Epcot area resorts.
We ate lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe. we all got sandwiches, very good, and Mickey Mouses (Shirley Temples with a Mickey straw and extra cherries!)
I also got two pressed pennies, one with Alice and one with Suzy and Perla (this is the only place I found a penny machine with these two mice)
We strolled the grounds a bit and tried to find one of my friends that was staying in Sugar Loaf Key...but we didn't spot her. My dad decided that next time we have to eat at Narcoosee's. Then we hopped back on the monorail to the TTC and then on to Epcot!
Coming up.......
the part where we meet Figment!

[lauren-roxy]

Just got caught up with your trip report and it is fantastic!! Can't wait to read more!!!