Mother-Daughter 13th Birthday/Princess Half Celebration - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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8:30 p.m. That left 2 1/2 hours until park close and 13 attractions to complete! We did a quick regroup and decided we'd save Stitch's Great Escape for last. It's a 20 minute show, which means you have to time it just right to get in - and the attraction gets terrible reviews. We figured it doesn't really belong in the Magic Kingdom anyway, so if we finished one short, Stitch would be poetic justice.
Raced to Under the Sea and found no wait... still in that post-Wishes lull. It takes a while to walk through the (beautiful!) queue even with no wait. The plan was to breeze through the Ariel Meet and Greet as soon as we were done and then check New Fantasyland off as completed. Ursula had other plans. Our clamshell stopped just as we entered the "scary" portion of the ride. We were stuck for 19 precious minutes.
It was 9:00 p.m. when we finally got out... and the line next door to meet Ariel had grown to 30 minutes. We crossed Ariel off the list, knowing we could do 2-3 other attractions in the same amount of time. If we were really lucky, we'd be able to come back and visit her just before park close. Plan B: On to Tomorrowland, then Fantasyland, then Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, with a circle back to either Ariel or Stitch's Great Escape if we had time.
9:09 p.m. Carousel of Progress
9:31 p.m. Peoplemover
At this point we looked around for the Tomorrowland Arcade. One requirement was to play a full game at the arcade. I thought it was over near the gift shop and Cosmic Rays... but we didn't see it and there was no time to look further. (We found out later that we had walked right past it when exiting Space Mountain earlier in the day!! We were so glad to finally get past that slow group we missed our chance for a game and photo.)
9:45 p.m. Tomorrowland Speedway
10:00 p.m. Mad Hatter Teacups
10:06 p.m. Prince Charming's Regal Carousel
10:12 p.m. It's a Small World (never realized how LONG this ride is!)
10:28 p.m. Mickey's Philharmagic
10:44 p.m. Haunted Mansion
We exited Haunted Mansion at 10:54 p.m. Time for one more ride if we hustled. We walked as fast as we could to the Jungle Cruise and arrived at 10:58 p.m. They held the boat for 2 more minutes and then took us (along with 2 other guests) on the last cruise of the night.
This was really a great way to end our adventure. Our skipper was great and we laughed and laughed.
We missed our goal by 3 attractions - Ariel Meet and Greet, Tomorrowland Arcade, and Stitch's Great Escape. But we had a crazy, wonderful time and were pretty pleased with how much we accomplished. 48 attractions in 14 hours! As of March 21, no one has officially completed an Ultimate Touring Plan since New Fantasyland opened. I think it will take longer park hours to make it through everything. We might have finished with one more hour.
By this point, we were exhausted and hungry - and floating on a bit of a high from our exciting day. One last photo op in front of the castle, french fries at Casey's Corner, and we were on the bus headed back to our comfy bed at the Beach Club.
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Deer Isle Mom
Last edited by deerislemom; 03-24-2013 at 04:19 PM..
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Wow! Congratulations! I'm so impressed at the way you were able to lose very little time when your plans didn't work out-- you just tied a knot and moved on. I'll bet if the clamshell hadn't stopped you'd have done it!
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Stupid Ariel ride!! You could have totally done at least 2 of those last ones if you hadn't gotten stuck!! Darn it. What a day though, what a day. Fantastic memories for you and your daughter. Awesome!!!
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I'm not surprised you didn't get through everything, with the addition of new Fantasyland, but my goodness, you got close! Congrats on a great achievement!
The one in the blue is my friend, Myron. My DH is a barbershop singer, and he makes it a priority to sing with the Dapper Dans every trip. Myron once set it up so that DD could do the Pledge of Allegiance at the Flag retreat ceremony.
I am loving your report! My DD and I will be heading down for Princess weekend next year. She will be 14 and we are going to do the race together. I might have to add this Ultimate touring plan to our agenda! I'm sure she'll be up for the challenge.
Wow! Congratulations! I'm so impressed at the way you were able to lose very little time when your plans didn't work out-- you just tied a knot and moved on. I'll bet if the clamshell hadn't stopped you'd have done it!
Thanks! Rearranging was part of the fun - it felt a little like doing a scavenger hunt or a puzzle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakesmom1118
WOW!!! Great day with 48 attractions!
Thanks! It's amazing how much there is to do in the Magic Kingdom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Congrats on the 48 attractions!!
Thank you! (Reading your Alaska trip report from a few years ago right now as we're thinking that might be our next adventure)
Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_duke
Stupid Ariel ride!! You could have totally done at least 2 of those last ones if you hadn't gotten stuck!! Darn it. What a day though, what a day. Fantastic memories for you and your daughter. Awesome!!!
DD was SO frustrated we got stuck in the little mermaid ride. On the other hand, we had a few lucky breaks during the day - so it all works out. We'll definitely be remembering this for years to come.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chancho
Holy awesomeness!!! You two rock. What a great memory of your time together.
It is a great memory! I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have this time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Congrats! Quite an impressive number of attractions in one day!
Thank you! We had a good time.
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Originally Posted by mimidodaplgo
Wow I am completely from your awesome attempt at the Ultimate!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I really enjoyed hearing about it.
Thank you for reading!
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Originally Posted by rlb38
So close Sounds like a busy but fun day ! Maybe running will be easier ??? What a wonderful mother/ daughter day.
LOL! Running was actually a little harder... but this lasted so long it seemed equally like an endurance activity. 14 hours of go-go-go is a lot!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
I'm not surprised you didn't get through everything, with the addition of new Fantasyland, but my goodness, you got close! Congrats on a great achievement!
Thanks! We got through more than I thought we would.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince
The one in the blue is my friend, Myron. My DH is a barbershop singer, and he makes it a priority to sing with the Dapper Dans every trip. Myron once set it up so that DD could do the Pledge of Allegiance at the Flag retreat ceremony.
I am loving your report! My DD and I will be heading down for Princess weekend next year. She will be 14 and we are going to do the race together. I might have to add this Ultimate touring plan to our agenda! I'm sure she'll be up for the challenge.
That's SO cool! Glad you picked him out of the photo. Love that your DH sings with the Dapper Dans and your DD got to do the Pledge of Allegiance! And I love that you are going to run the Princess with your 14 yr old. I'd like to hear about how she handles training, etc. - maybe I could get my daughter to run with me. I read your marathon 2013 trip report recently - inspiring!!
The Ultimate Plan is a great thing to do with a teen - especially if you are there with just her (I think it would be tricky for an entire family to move around that quickly). Friday before the race worked well for us. Saturday would have left me exhausted for the race, and Monday I was hobbling around stiff and sore. Thursday would have been even better
I love that you are going to run the Princess with your 14 yr old. I'd like to hear about how she handles training, etc. - maybe I could get my daughter to run with me. I read your marathon 2013 trip report recently - inspiring!!
Well, we haven't started training yet...I don't want her to burn out. February is a long way away! She doesn't really enjoy running, but neither do I! I just like RACES! We are planning to walk a lot. In fact, I broke my ankle last month and will not be able to run until May, so we'll BOTH be doing a lot of walking at first. Glad you enjoyed the marathon weekend report. I'm skipping marathon weekend 2014 in favor of the Princess with DD, then the plan is Goofy 2015!
Saturday was our "in between" day. Friday was completely consumed by the Ultimate Touring Plan (left our room at 7:15 a.m. and returned at midnight). Sunday would bring the half marathon and a not-yet-disclosed afternoon event. This day, we could do whatever we felt like.
Quick aside... when we returned to our room Friday night everything in the fridge was frozen solid. I don't mean slushy. Hard as a brick. The goat cheese, the butter, the fruit, the drinks. I checked the temperature gauge and it was set on the warmest setting. Bummer! So much for all that food we brought for snacks. More on this later...
Our original plan was to hit morning extra magic hour at Hollywood Studios, then lunch or swim, then the expo, then Epcot. Needless to say, after our day on Friday, we weren't exactly up and at em at 6:30 a.m. We punted on extra magic hours, but did still make it to Hollywood Studios by just before 9:00 a.m.
All we wanted to do was Tower of Terror, RnR, and the new Jack Sparrow show. ToT was a walk-on. This was my first time riding as I'm not crazy about drops. Not sure what I think about the drops, but the whole ride experience was amazing. Very, very cool. We're on the back row...
We then picked up Fastpasses for Rock-N-Roller Coaster and headed over to the Jack Sparrow show. Took this photo on the way.
The Toy Story wait was only 30 minutes, so we jumped in line. I've never been through the standby line. It was adorable! Loved all the toys. Didn't have to wait long after that to see the Jack Sparrow show. That was well done, but I don't feel any deep desire to see it again. Our Fastpasses were ripe, so on to RnR. Love that ride! I think I'm a sucker for rides with music. (Forgot to mention how the Disneyland version of Space Mountain has ruined the WDW ride. I LOVE the music blaring in your ears in the Disneyland Space)
After this we browsed in some shops then took a boat back to the Beach Club, where we promptly walked to Epcot for lunch. It was early, but we wanted to save plenty of time for the pool. Loved how easy it was to walk to Epcot! We went to the new bakery in France. The new layout is convenient and there are many more food options... but it's not particularly charming. Sort of a cafeteria feel.
We shared one cup of lobster bisque, one croque monsieur, and one creme brulee. It was very good, but not inexpensive (about $22). We debated riding Test Track, but decided we'd rather hit the pool first.
Stormalong Bay is AWESOME!! We spent at least 2 hours enjoying the sandy bottom pool, the "lazy river" and the slide. Loved it all! And tried out the hot tub. DD (5) would love the sandy/shallow water play area. I can see why this pool draws guests to Yacht and Beach Club.
Time to head to the Expo! The Princess Half Expo was at the Coronado Springs Resort this year. I liked the Disneyland Half expo much better. This one was very crowded and loud - and not as many vendors and services. We picked up my packet, etc, bought a pack of Sports Beans, and headed out.
While we were at Coronado Springs, we went to the Zooma Women's Race Series party. I found out about this on twitter. I'm interested in their Cape Cod Half Marathon, and the party promised good swag and giveaways, so we stopped by. The event was in an executive type entertaining suite. We did get good swag - a Zooma race tech shirt (from Skirt Sports), a Zooma bag, and a cool sparkly headband. DD loves her shirt and has been taking her gym clothes in the bag. We didn't stay very long, as DD was the only kid, so we missed any giveaways.
Dropped our stuff off at the room and headed back to Epcot. By this point I was hoping to save my legs, so we just stayed in the World Showcase. Browsed around a bit and ended up eating at Tutto Gusto in Italy. This was kind of cool. We sat on a sofa in front of a coffee table near the fireplace (no fire - it was quite warm). The menu was perfect for carb loading. We each got a pasta dish. Mine was very simple - tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella. DD's had arugula, pancetta, and potato. Both were yummy. Smallish portions that were just right for us... but maybe not a full meal for some. Prices were reasonable.
After dinner, DD got gelato at the stand in Italy and we walked back stopping in a few shops. We met up with Tigger and Pooh in the U.K. toy store. I love how they have themed Christopher Robbin's room for this meet and greet.
I hated to call it a night so early (I think it was about 7:00 p.m.), but I would have to be up at 2:30 a.m. Back at the room, I got my race stuff together and was in bed by 8:30 p.m.
Here's my Merida themed running outfit. Next up: Race Day!
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You could have totally done at least 2 of those last ones if you hadn't gotten stuck!! Darn it. What a day though, what a day. Fantastic memories for you and your daughter. Awesome!!! 
Quite an impressive number of attractions in one day! 
from your awesome attempt at the Ultimate!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I really enjoyed hearing about it.
Sounds like a busy but fun day ! Maybe running will be easier ??? What a wonderful mother/ daughter day.
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