left with 2 good ones came back with one-trip report-forgot something 5/8 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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OHMEGOSH!! I absolutely cannot WAIT to read more of this!! HURRY UP!!! Just reading about it makes me feel all happy and giddy inside b/c I get to go back in June!! So right now I'm living vicariously through your TR!!! And I'm loving it, too!
Great start so far. My experience at Park Faire was similier to yours....I yelled and my husband charmed.....by the end of dinner they had comped our meal, which gave us an extra table service. I booked it again for this year, I hope its better!!
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Enjoying the TR, looking forward to the next installment. Sorry 1900PF was not better. It looks like the same Cinderella, step sisters, and step mom we had 2 years ago. They were great for us too. Different Prince Charming. The picture of him with your daughter was cute!
We fell asleep & I slept very restless, I was worried about the boys sleeping in & in general flying alone. Heck, I don't need a reason to worry.. I simply DO!!
Woke to my cell alarm at 2am & started calling the boys.. Jamies phone rang & rang & then went to voicemail.. Not good! Brendans phone instantly went to voicemail meaning it was turned off.. AARGH!! At first, I didn't worry as I figured they were playing with me & joking, especially since they both ASSURED me they would be awake.
I kept trying with the same results.. by 2:30am I was in full blown panic mode. . All kinds of thoughts kept going through my head.. "were they getting ready & didn't hear their phones?" "What if something happened to them.. someone broke in" I started to pace & woke Jim up who also started calling the boys. I kept thinking they would HAVE to hear Jamies phone at some point. They were due to be picked up at 3:30am & I was really getting worried.
I then thought maybe it was the cell reception in the room so I got dressed & started walking the entire length of the courtyard (shown here)
All the while I'm still calling them. I then decided to call my SIL to have her go over to the house & get the boys up.. She lives less than 1/8 mile from my house & would be there in less than 5 minutes. HER phone was off AARGH!!! I was shaking, crying & SUPER upset & also VERY VERY . I trusted those boys & they were disappointing me. In typical mom fashion I started saying "If they're okay & just slept in, I'm gonna throttle them" . I was also crying as the boys were going to stay with my Aunt originally then it changed to her getting them up.. I was sad that my 'go to' person was no longer there for me as well.
By 3:00am I was inconsolable.. crying & pacing.. Shelby woke up during this & looked at me & said "Does this mean I'm your favorite now?" She did make me giggle at that.
I finally text my friend, Donna who was taking them to the high school to catch the bus to the airport. She didn't respond & I panicked EVEN more.. I kept trying to call the boys with the same results until finally Jamie answered & said Mrs W (Donna) & Lauren (her DD, Jamies friend) were there & they were leaving. Donna tried to calm my nerves by telling me everything was okay, they weren't late & she had them ready to go..
She subsequently texted me when she dropped them off at the high school & when they got on the bus. I kept thanking her & told her I owed her a FAB drink when we met up on Saturday night. She was catching her own flight to WDW with her DH soon after she dropped the kids off.
WHEW! I could relax a little. I tried to go back to sleep but was still antsy from the anxiety. Jim walked down to the food court & to his surprise it was open & there was coffee & fountain drinks he could get with his refillable mug. He brought me back a cup of coffee & I tried to relax.
I decided I wasn't going to be able to sleep & went into the tub for a relaxing bubble bath.
Jim got a few texts from the boys asking for his phone charger to be brought to DHS as they had forgotten to charge their phones the night before.. That was #1 thing to do on my list of 'to do's' for them so I was VERY angry with them. These aren't children.. Jamie keeps insisting he's 17YO & will be away at college soon but after that night he has shown me he isn't as mature as he 'thinks' he is ( okay- rant over!!)
We had 8:15am ADR's at Chef Mickey & I knew we'd have to do some transferring so we left around 6:30am to get to the bus stop.
Now, Jim's absolute favorite place to eat at WDW is Chef Mickey.. He loves the food but better yet loves the character interaction. When I was booking our ADR's his main request was Chef Mickey & he also wanted it our first morning of the trip.
It was a very smooth bus ride to the Contemporary. We boarded the MK bus & he then told us to stay on the bus & he'd take us to the Contemporary.
We were taken to get our picture & seated right away. When the CM informed us that Donald Duck was one of the characters, Jim beamed. Donald is his favorite character & we weren't aware that Donald was now at CM.. so this was a pleasant surprise for him.
The first character was Goofy..
Jim ADORES the orange juice in WDW.. I don't know if it's psychosomatic but he thinks it tastes better at WDW. I think he had his juice glass refilled at least 7 times at CM.
don't know why I took this pic. probably him being so excited for Donald.
but that didn't stop him from chowing down on the food...
finally we saw Donald.. He came over to our table & Jim jumped up to get a picture with him.. I think this is one of my favorites of the trip.. Jim has such a huge grin on his face..
Breakfast was awesome. I especially liked the crepes... with blueberry sauce.. (Yes I took a pic!)
(It was half eaten, sorry!)
After Donald Minnie came over..
then we all waved our napkins to the "Celebrate Mickey" song ( a favorite of ours since the boys were little) I think that's another reason Jim likes Chef Mickey.. it holds such happy memories.
Finally Mickey made his way into the room..
We were done eating & waited a few minutes to see if the CM would be around with our photos but when we asked her she said she didn't have our packet.. She offered to go back & look & we told her it was no biggie.. hey, we saved $30 is the way I look at it.
We headed out of CM STUFFED.. took a bus to MGM.. Now my main goal was to make sure I rode Toy Story Mania. I had heard so many good things about TSM & also knew it was a ride where FP's get sold out quickly so I wanted to get to the ride ASAP..Only problem is, I never researched WHERE it was located. We stopped to get a photopass photo taken & then asked the CM where Toy Story was located. While standing there looking at a map, Someone comes up & grabs me & says "What do you need a map for? You've been here a million times!" It was friends of ours from back home.. Their kids werent in the band so I was really surprised to see them.
The CM told us TSM was in the old Millionaire building so we ran over there.. We got FP's & as I'm getting my fast passes my friends are there too.. curiosity was getting the best of me so I asked what they were doing there. Seems our high school baseball team was playing at Cocoa Beach in a tournament that weekend& our friends came down a day early to spend it in MGM. Wow.. our high school must have been empty.. with the band & baseball team not there.
Got our FP's & I was planning on giving it to the boys when they arrived to DHS later that morning as last trip they didn't get to ride a lot of big rides.. the band parents took their tickets the minute they entered through the gates & the kids only got a FP if they asked a band parent.
We got in line for TSM as the wait was only 30 minutes. Like I said in my previous post one of my favorite things to do in WDW is to people watch & try to figure out their 'story'. Well, I had a blast with the group in front of us. It was 4 people, a husband & wife, their son & his girlfriend. the son & girlfriend were in their early 20's I guessed. The son must have slept bad as GF kept rubbing his neck.. Funny thing is once GF stopped rubbing, Mom would push her way in & rub it again. Then as we were walking through the que & looking at all the cool stuff Mom wanted her pic with her son only.. no GF or Dad in the photo. If the GF hugged the son, Mom would come over & put herself in the way of them & wrap her arms around son.. Once we hit Mr Potato head I was in full blown oogling of these people.. it was clear that Mom adored her son & didn't think too much of GF. (to me it seemed the typical 'no one is good enough for my son") Well Dad went to take their pic at Mr Potato Head & GF was on one side of boy & Mom on the other,, Mom had her arms wrapped around the son that was bordering creepy to me. Funny thing is GF was taking self portraits of herself & son during the que that mom had no clue about..
Okay.. people watching over.. It was almost time to board our ride.. Now Shelby was hoping to get car #20 as that was the car the Jonas Brothers were on when they rode TSM.
she kept hoping but we got car #29 instead. with Jim behind us. How is TSM???? Wow!!! I loved it!! I did scream once when I broke a plate & it came shooting back at me. I think this is one of the coolest rides at WDW.
We left TSM & headed toward Star Tours.. there was a 30 minute wait there as well but we hopped into line. While I like this ride I have to admit it is time for a total re-vamp & it will be interesting to see what they come up when it is re-done.
I then wanted to go on Muppets & Shelby balked saying we'd seen it 1000 times.. I didn't care. it never gets old "They're tourists, whadda they know" cracks me up every time. I won & we did go in & the show was just about to start. It was packed & the poor CM was trying to get people to move all the way to the right & one lady refused she parked her butt right in the middle ,. The CM kept telling her to move over & she simply told him NO.. Even her family kept trying to get her to move & she wouldn't, she made all of the people in her row step over her. The CM made a (not so) cryptic announcement on the microphone "Please move all the way to the right, don't be rude & sit in the middle & make people walk over you, move to the right" I loved it!!
Shelby decided she got to pick the next ride so she picked GMR... well to our surprise there was no line at all. .we walked right on to the ride. When we got on I mentioned to Shelby that I hoped we got the western scene as I hadn't seen it in ages. She looked at me puzzled & I realized that she's NEVER seen the western scene, she always had the gangster scene.
Well, luck was with us & we had the western scene.. Shelby sat there loving it.
It was getting very hot & Shelby wanted to swim again ( see a pattern here??) I figured we'd be back to DHS later in the week so it was okay with me.
I did want to see Jamie & Brendan & say Hello (& give a mini lecture over them sleeping in) before we left..
We saw some of the band kids meandering around the park so I figured it wouldn't be long before the boys were there.
COMING UP: "I'm going to Disney World, is anyone else?"
I love all of your Shelby stories. She sounds like such a fun person.
I used to have rehearsals in Mt. Holly, NJ and would pass by Franco's mom's house every week. It was a cute little thing near the local high school.
I've always wanted to stay in POFQ. Looking forward to hearing more.
Well read on Douglas! There are LOTS more Shelby stories in this trip report.. the girl definitely does make life.... Um..... Interesting to say the least.
When I was younger I was super shy & I'm so glad that NONE of my kids inherited that trait.. all 3 of my kids are outgoing & friendly.. Shelby is also VERY outspoken which can be good & bad. I have always said no one is going to EVER take advantage of her. .she's too tough! but her mouth gets her in a pickle some time too.
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At first, I didn't worry as I figured they were playing with me & joking, especially since they both ASSURED me they would be awake.
. All kinds of thoughts kept going through my head.. "were they getting ready & didn't hear their phones?" "What if something happened to them.. someone broke in" I started to pace & woke Jim up who also started calling the boys. I kept thinking they would HAVE to hear Jamies phone at some point. They were due to be picked up at 3:30am & I was really getting worried. 
. I trusted those boys & they were disappointing me. In typical mom fashion I started saying "If they're okay & just slept in, I'm gonna throttle them" 
. I was also crying as the boys were going to stay with my Aunt originally then it changed to her getting them up.. I was sad that my 'go to' person was no longer there for me as well. 
) 
is TSM???? Wow!!! I loved it!! I did scream once when I broke a plate & it came shooting back at me. I think this is one of the coolest rides at WDW.
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