Just Embrace It...Disney the Premium Way TR - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sorry for the rough start to the day! Sounded like it ended on a better note at Via Napoli!
Oh yes, Via Napoli was a great end to the day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by kingfamily1129
oh boy....your day sounds a little less magical than I'm sure you hoped. But, no Disney trip is without its so-so days..at least you got yours out of the way early on day 3
It's true. But they were always days when Phil was gone, it seemed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by missminniedreams
Enjoying your TR so far...keep it up!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovedisney247
We had the same sort of day with the weather--we toughed it out through the Halloween Party--hope you guys managed okay!
As you'll see, we did end up toughing it out at the Halloween Party and I am glad we did, as I heard tons of people switched to Thursday (or at least, the Thursday party was way more crowded).
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerngirl1014
Great TR so far!!!
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Sorry about the rough parts to this day, but as others have said, sadly most Disney vacations have them - and hopefully they're now out of the way.
Nope, not all out of the way, but this morning was the worst morning by far. Some other rough patches are ahead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
Sounds like you had fun even though there were a few little rough patches. Enjoying your TR!
It was fun. My grandmother once told me you can't have a day that's all bad--something good happens everyday, even if it's a small thing. And she was right!
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So I meant to go back and add some day 3 pictures, but my day got so crazy so I forgot. I'm going to try to do better with putting them in the actual TR. But here are some now:
Boys at Contemporary
Phillip at Chef Mickey's
All of us at Chef Mickey's. Elizabeth Frances is very unsure about the characters.
I was up by 7:45. Elizabeth Frances had a rough night. She was up from 3-4:30. Ugh. We were all showered, dressed and out the door by 8:30 for our breakfast at Whispering Canyon. I got the waffles. We were originally supposed to go to a waterpark today, but it was very overcast. The temperature wasn’t bad, about 80, but it was windy and cloudy and I thought we would be too cold. So we headed to Hollywood Studios. The ride William was most excited to ride this trip was Tower of Terror, but based on his reaction to the other rides I thought it would be too scary. He didn’t cry, but I don’t think he liked it very much.I talked to him about it before he went on, but he still wanted to do it. So we rode that first. I THINK I saw Princess Sharon walking from ToT towards the Sorcerer’s Hat, but I’m not 100% sure and I didn’t want to say anything and be wrong.
Next we got FP for RnR. I stayed out with Elizabeth Frances, Phillip (who doesn’t like thrill rides) and my dad while the rest of the family rode the ride. Then we all went (Patrick went twice). Next was Great Movie Ride, and our guide wasn’t all that great. You could tell she was reciting a script.
Phil next took the boys to ride Star Tours, while I stayed out with my parents and a sleeping baby. We ate lunch at Backlot Express, which I don’t think I will do again. And why no hot dogs on the children’s menu? That just seemed strange to me. It still hadn’t rained yet, although it was very windy and cloudy. It was also muggy and humid. After lunch we went back to the hotel and put Elizabeth Frances down for a nap. The boys then went to swim for an hour. We got ready for the Halloween party and then we went to Hoop de Doo. The show for some reason was not as great as I remembered, and the food was only so-so.
William at Hoop de Doo. He is Darth Vader.
Elizabeth Frances at Hoop de Doo. She is an LSU cheerleader (of course!)
Boys interacting with Hoop de Doo characters
As we left (we got out of there fast), it began drizzling. We stood under the only free-standing umbrella with another family, and then it began to pour. You couldn’t see across the lake or even a few feet in front of you. We had a decision to make: do we bag the party or just go? Ultimately, we decided to go to the party. By the time we got to the MK, the rain had cleared significantly and was now just a “spitting in the wind” drizzle. It continued to drizzle on and off for the remainder of the night.
After we got to the MK, Phil & I had a big fight. No one was listening to me or doing what I asked, and I had about had it. It culminated when I said FOUR times I was going to the bathroom, did anyone need to join me? Finally, I said, “Fine. I’m going.” Phil then got angry with me and said that I was ruining the night for everyone. It really upset me that I had put all this time, money and effort into planning this trip and now he said I was ruining it just because I had briefly lost my patience. I bit my tongue and just ignored him the rest of the night. He knew he went too far as he kept trying to get me to talk to him, but I needed a break from him.
The nice thing about the rain that night is the park was practically empty. We walked on just about every single ride. From about 7:30-9:00 we got tons of candy, rode Pirates, Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion. I love the Haunted Mansion at the Halloween party. In fact, there was one (purposely) creepy CM who was working at the Doom Buggies. He didn’t look at anyone or say anything to anyone, he just sang to himself. With all that creepy zombie makeup, I was a little shaken by him! At 9:00 Phil took Elizabeth Frances, William and Patrick back to the hotel. I stayed with my parents and Phillip. We rode Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter (my first time!) and Buzz Lightyear Space Spin twice. My dad for some unknown reason really wanted to ride the Stitch ride. It was terrible as always and I don’t think any of us will go on it again. We caught the tail end of the Halloween parade which was so clever and fun, and then we walked right on to the WL ferry. We were home by 11:30 and in bed by 11:45.
Tricia just this mourning found your TR and am loving it. Your family is simply beautiful and thank heaven Elizabeth Frances has 2 older brothers for when she gets older. Sorry yor evening at HDDR wasn't as enjoyable as ours was Think by second or third show crowd and cast have really warmed up for the show. We had problems with water ferry's as well and ended up passing on our Adr at Cali Grill as no ferry running only bus and Wishes was cancelled due to CM event in MK that night.
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Love the pictures. Glad you had fun at the Holloween party.
We did, despite the argument and rain!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Glad you went to the party, despite the earlier rain. Sorry it started out a bit rough, but it sounds like you still managed to have a good time.
We did. I am very glad we chose to go the party, as I have heard since that the Thursday night party was absolutely packed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeL
Tricia just this mourning found your TR and am loving it. Your family is simply beautiful and thank heaven Elizabeth Frances has 2 older brothers for when she gets older. Sorry yor evening at HDDR wasn't as enjoyable as ours was Think by second or third show crowd and cast have really warmed up for the show. We had problems with water ferry's as well and ended up passing on our Adr at Cali Grill as no ferry running only bus and Wishes was cancelled due to CM event in MK that night.
Thank you, Mike for your compliment about my family! Poor Elizabeth Frances will never get to date. You know, I think you might be right about HDD. We went to the first show, and last time we hit the 7:15 show. It's still really fun and worth going to, I think. I wonder what was up with the ferries????
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Sorry today didn't go as planned! Hopefully tomorrow will!
It does. There is only one more kind of rough patch later in the trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
Glad you made it to the party. Even though the weather tried to ruin your plans.
Happy Halloween everyone!! Hope all you boys and ghouls are behaving yourselves!
We all slept in late, until about 8:30. We got ready for the day then went to Roaring Forks for breakfast. After breakfast, we caught a bus to Animal Kingdom and arrived about 10:30. My mom and I took the boys on It’s Tough to be a Bug while Phil and my dad took Elizabeth Frances to get FP for Kilimanjaro Safaris. The FPs were ripe almost immediately, so after watching the movie we headed that way. The day was overcast and very cool, so we were able to see lots of animals. Our guide had just finished telling us that there was a elephant ahead who might be Little Red’s mother. As we rounded the corner…nope. No way that was the mother. That elephant was very, um, well-endowed. After we all got a little giggle out of that, we saw another elephant going to the bathroom (both #1 and #2). My boys all got a kick out of that. We heard about that for the rest of the trip! We were also able to see the lion, lioness and cheetah.
Phillip on drums
Patrick on drums
William with some pretty tricky drum moves
Phillip & Patrick finding their zen
After the safari, we went to eat lunch. There was no other option except for Flame Tree Barbeque. I think it is the best counter service place on the whole property. I got the barbeque chicken salad, and it was yummy. We found a place under a pavilion since it looked like rain. My dad kept checking the weather radar on his phone, and saying there was nothing around. But then it started drizzling. My dad still said there was nothing on the radar. We encouraged him to step outside, because yes, it was raining no matter what the radar said.
After lunch, we rode EE twice. My Patrick is quite a thrill junkie; his brother Phillip is absolutely not. Patrick went both times and Phillip sat them both out.
I am in the front with my mom
We got FP for KRR, and while waiting for them to ripen, we went on the Maharajah Jungle Trek and saw lots of tigers (Geaux Tigers!!). Then we went on KRR; my dad stayed back with Elizabeth Frances.
She spent a lot of the vacation like this!
When we got in the raft, there was a grandfather with his grandson who must have been about 5. They didn’t speak much English, so they didn’t understand they had to put on seatbelts. The CM had to hold the rafts while they were trying to help the grandfather know what to do, which backed up the ride tons. We tried to help, but were buckled in ourselves and thought it would be better for the CMs to handle it. I think another CM finally climbed in the raft and buckled the seat belts. I felt badly for the grandfather because he had no idea what he was being told to do. Finally we were on our way. Phil and the boys got soaked, I stayed relatively dry.
Next stop was Dinoland, USA. I went on Triceratopspin with Mom and William and Elizabeth Frances while my dad took the older boys on Primeval Whirl.
By the time we finished, it was about 3:45 and the park closed at 5:00. We decided to go to the Boneyard and let the kids roam free. At one point Phil took Patrick to ride Dinosaur, but the rest of us stayed and played. We left the park at 5:00, stopping to get the kids some pins on our way out.
Dinner that night was a Jiko, so we took the bus to AKL. I have never visited this hotel before, and I must say I was quite impressed. The layout is fabulous. At Jiko I had the barbeque chicken flatbread for my appetizer and the filet for my main course. Dessert was bread pudding which was so, so good. The hotel was fantastic because when Elizabeth Frances got restless during dinner, we could take her for a walk outside and see the pool, flamingos, and the upstairs artifacts. While walking her around outside, I noticed it was getting very chilly. We decided to head back before it got too cold. Our waiter had been very attentive, but a family of four had arrived and were having him go down every single item on the menu. It took forever for us to settle our bill. Finally we left at about 7:45. We decided to catch whichever park bus got there first. Epcot was the big winner! It was a good choice, because we were able to immediately get a bus to WL, and we were back by 8:30.
We had plans to go to Universal the next day, and had purchased from a travel company a package that included park tickets and a travel voucher to and from the park from our hotel. The problem was we needed to print the voucher. I went to the front desk with my dad, and we asked where we could print out the voucher. Unbelievably, there is nowhere at WL to do that! There is no business center and no access to a printer. We called Mears, the shuttle company, and they told us it absolutely had to be printed; no, they could not look at our confirmation email or just receive the voucher number from us. The manager of WL offered to have us send her the email to her private email and she would print it at home and bring it in tomorrow, but ultimately my dad decided he would take the first ferry out to the Contemporary at 6:45 am and go to their business center (the nearest one) and print out our vouchers. I was annoyed at both the WL (you would think a deluxe hotel would have some sort of business center, even if it was tiny) and Mears (why did it have to be printed? Don’t we live in a paperless society?). I got back to the room at about 9:15 and had a splitting headache. Elizabeth Frances was already in bed, and Phil took the boys to the hot tub. So I took Tylenol PM and went to bed. When Phil came back in, he said it was getting really cold outside. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 10:30.
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Sounded like it ended on a better note at Via Napoli! 
Tricia
So we headed to Hollywood Studios. The ride William was most excited to ride this trip was Tower of Terror, but based on his reaction to the other rides I thought it would be too scary. He didn’t cry, but I don’t think he liked it very much.I talked to him about it before he went on, but he still wanted to do it. So we rode that first. I THINK I saw Princess Sharon walking from ToT towards the Sorcerer’s Hat, but I’m not 100% sure and I didn’t want to say anything and be wrong. 
That just seemed strange to me. It still hadn’t rained yet, although it was very windy and cloudy. It was also muggy and humid. After lunch we went back to the hotel and put Elizabeth Frances down for a nap. The boys then went to swim for an hour. We got ready for the Halloween party and then we went to Hoop de Doo. The show for some reason was not as great as I remembered, and the food was only so-so. 
You couldn’t see across the lake or even a few feet in front of you. We had a decision to make: do we bag the party or just go? Ultimately, we decided to go to the party. By the time we got to the MK, the rain had cleared significantly and was now just a “spitting in the wind” drizzle. It continued to drizzle on and off for the remainder of the night. 
No one was listening to me or doing what I asked, and I had about had it. It culminated when I said FOUR times I was going to the bathroom, did anyone need to join me? Finally, I said, “Fine. I’m going.” Phil then got angry with me and said that I was ruining the night for everyone. It really upset me that I had put all this time, money and effort into planning this trip and now he said I was ruining it just because I had briefly lost my patience. I bit my tongue and just ignored him the rest of the night. He knew he went too far as he kept trying to get me to talk to him, but I needed a break from him. 
That elephant was very, um, well-endowed. 
After we all got a little giggle out of that, we saw another elephant going to the bathroom (both #1 and #2). 
My boys all got a kick out of that. We heard about that for the rest of the trip! We were also able to see the lion, lioness and cheetah. 
We found a place under a pavilion since it looked like rain. My dad kept checking the weather radar on his phone, and saying there was nothing around. But then it started drizzling. My dad still said there was nothing on the radar. We encouraged him to step outside, because yes, it was raining no matter what the radar said. 
The hotel was fantastic because when Elizabeth Frances got restless during dinner, we could take her for a walk outside and see the pool, flamingos, and the upstairs artifacts. While walking her around outside, I noticed it was getting very chilly. We decided to head back before it got too cold. Our waiter had been very attentive, but a family of four had arrived and were having him go down every single item on the menu. 
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