Long-Awaited Family +1 Vacation Trip report 1/18/14-1/25/14
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HopeAnna79 · 02-07-2014, 12:54 AM

Firsts!!

I completely spaced something that happened on our way down Main Street. I got a text from a number I didn’t know that stated: “Hope Ann, sending you lots of Fairy Dust for this week!” I immediately asked who this was and the reply was “Your Fairy Godmother.” How cool is that?? This was the first of several mystery texts during the trip. (It drove my mom nuts that I am extremely inquisitive (she would say NOSEY) and I did a search on the number. She had to work very hard to convince me to just let “the magic happen.” It should have been a clue!)
From now on, “The Boys” refers to the two 14 year olds.

The Boys were off to explore the Kingdom on their own. The rest of us decided to head towards Tomorrowland. First up was “Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor” and guess who is in line right ahead of us?? Yup, The Boys. As soon as they were in the room, they scattered though! It was a great show and we all enjoyed it a lot, especially Mom and Linn. Why? Because they were showcased on the video several times! LOL!!!! They kept accusing Mom of texting during the show, and Linn was on the screen during the warm up. None of us were questioned but it sure was funny watching Mom and Linn on the screen! They said that they have never been on the screen before and for both of them to be on it in one show was neat!
Next up was Buzz Lightyear.
The serious player:

The studious and confused players:

The laid-back and surprised players:

It was time for Linn to return the rental car and pick up Mom’s scooter from the hotel. The remaining 4 (Mom, Rob, Ronnie, and I) decided to ride Space Mountain. By this time, Mom’s legs were hurting her quite a lot and we hoped to change our FP+ times for SM to “now” and were unable to do so because system seemed to be pretty bogged down and sluggish, maybe a lot of people were trying to get their FP+ done for the day? Later in the day we were thankful not to have used our FP up at SM.
We decided to go ahead and wait in line. It wasn’t too long and guess who was in front of us again!? Yup, The Boys. Ronnie had a ton of fun crashing his little space shuttle on the interactive game.
This was Ronnie’s FIRST REAL ADULT roller coaster ever, and he was so excited he was bouncing. He decided to sit close to mom this time. His usual ride partner is Rob.

Mom, Ronnie (can you beat that smile?) and I.

Rob.

Sadly, while this was Ronnie’s first adult roller coaster it was also Rob’s last roller coaster ride of the trip. It proved to hurt his back a great deal. I wasn’t too sure he was going to get out of the ride without assistance but he managed it. L
Right after SM.

Rob and Ronnie decided to go find lunch since Mom and I were almost due for our BOG lunch FP+. We took the nice little path between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, taking it nice and easy. This is the first time I’ve ever seen that little path and I liked the feeling of being alone in a park filled with people.

We made our way through New Fantasyland. The new restrooms in the Circus area are really nice. Next up was the new area which neither of us had seen. I have to say I feel as if the Seven Dwarfs mine roller coaster is really in the way!! In order to get anywhere on the “other” side of it, you have to walk ALL the way around it and it’s not all that small!! Oh well, l I hope it won’t feel so crowded when all the barriers are down from the construction.

We arrived at the bridge to BOG about 15 minutes early and sat and enjoyed people watching. It was 11 AM and the line to get into BOG without a reservation was already extremely long, extending clear past the bridge. I’m sure this added to the feeling of being crowded in that area.

I don’t remember her name but a super nice CM wanted to be sure Mom was okay and then just talked with us until it was time for us to check in. While she gave most of her focus to us she often stopped to help other people, the most frequent question asked was “Is this the line for Belle?” and “Is THAT the line for lunch?” LOL! We talked about the weather, the differences between where we live and what her home state was, how she was frustrated about making sure she brought her heavy coat for the day and then the realization that she really didn’t need it. (I did. Coat on, coat off, coat on, coat off!) That is what makes Disney, Disney to me!! We were sad that we both had forgotten the thank you cards the boys had made as she really deserved one. She was even aware of the time of our FP+ and quickly checked us in 5 minutes early (which we found to be standard for all FP+ for us for the week) and we were quickly in the queue to order our meals! It is SO pretty inside! I wish there were fewer people so I could have taken more pictures, or at least, better pictures but that wasn’t the case. I also wish I could share video because the knights talk!!! It was quite funny. One was sneezing over and over and over again. Another was hiding Lumiere (?) as he played around with a Duster.

Ordering was super fast and easy. BOG was the only restaurant I encountered that let you know on it’s menu what I could order that was GF. I REALLY wanted the ham and cheese sandwich but it wasn’t available. Based on the recommendation of someone here from PP, I ordered the roast beef with horseradish and it was SO good! This is the only meal I remembered to take pictures of. I loved the little “allergy” flag that my meal came out with!!! My only complaint was the chef must REALLY like horseradish sauce because my sandwich had more than it’s fair share. The lemon desert was divine.

We ate in the ballroom and really enjoyed it. It didn’t feel crowded at all. The weirdest part to me was having to get the silverware. I had to walk back more than once to get all the things we needed for the meal. I had made such a big deal about the fairy godmother text my husband sent me a text during lunch (which is a very rare thing) calling himself my “sexy godfather”. I still crack up thinking about that.

Once we were done eating and touring BOG, we went to the Rapunzel tower area and just relaxed and waited for Linn to return. We had a bit of time to wait before our next FP and I think Mom and I both needed a respite. I adore this little area. It is crowded, for sure, but the bathrooms are very, very nice, the little charging area is very neat and inconspicuous and it is a pleasant place to just sit and people watch.

By 1 I was getting phone calls every 15 minutes or so from a very anxious young man (Ronnie) who was very worried that I was going to forget his Very Important Appointment with the Pirate League. It took a lot of convincing but he finally relented long enough for Mom, Linn, and I to ride my favorite ride, the “Haunted Mansion” once Linn arrived with the scooter.

Linn showed up with Mom’s scooter and instead of doing whatever he was supposed to do to slow down, did the opposite and ran over a poor family near us. It was one of those funny-yet-really-not situations where I always find myself laughing simply because I don’t know what else to do. Thankfully, no one was hurt and mom quickly took over the scooter operations. At least until 4 boys (Rob, Ronnie, Levi, and Hayden) decided it was their personal source of pure enjoyment and mom’s source of consternation throughout the trip. Let’s just say the scooter plays into a lot of havoc caused by these 4, especially “The boys”!

The boys had used their FP+ for the haunted mansion but Ronnie and Rob did not which meant they had a FP I could reschedule for them. By this time we knew we weren’t going to make it back to SM for our FP+. Here is where the mobile app was a huge help. Everyone but Ronnie, Linn, and I decided to head back to the hotel for some R&R before our ADR at Liberty Tree Inn. This meant that we had a FP+ that needed to be rescheduled. I first reschedule Ronnie, Linn, and I from SM to Pirate Cruise (which is almost missed) and The Boys from SM (which they rode about 10 times today) to a MUCH, MUCH later time of 10:30 PM on BTM. I also scheduled Rob and Ronnie a FP+ for Barnstormer later that evening. Mom didn’t end up using all of her FP+ for the day, which isn’t a big deal. I really wish the app had some sort of way to letting you know who used what FP because with a group of 7, it got very confusing at times and I had a running list of all the FP+ for all groups going on in my head at all times, bleh. After writing all of this out I actually think I ended up doing Big Thunder Mountain and Barnstormer scheduling during dinner. This is when I learned that changing an attraction then the time was easier than changing the time and then the attraction.

Getting Mom and the scooter through the circular rooms at HM proved to be an act of hilarity. One CM is telling us to stay as close to the wall as we can, great only we can’t see the wall and mom kept hitting it and was going WAY, WAY slow and so I started walking in front of her with the flashlight of my phone shining on the floor and wall to help her see the way only to get in trouble for being in front of the scooter (flashback to family that was run over.) It was pretty funny.

Now it was getting close to Ronnie’s Pirate League appointment (and he was just a little excited) so we started heading towards that part of the park. He was much less excited about the Tiki Room that Dad insisted they catch after their lunch and even less excited when Mom, Linn, and I came up and wanted to see it again since we had about 20 minutes early his appointment. All he could do was tell us it was really weird and, see told you so! Through the whole show. When I ask him what his least favorite attraction was of all the WHOLE trip he rolls his eyes and says “MOM! You KNOW I do NOT like the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Room!!!!!!”

Lunch was the first DDP meal we used and it worked great for mom and I but being in separate rooms ended up being an issue for Rob and Ronnie. This like this stress Rob out and with the stress of having to jump through the hoops to get Ronnie a GF pizza and then having to pay, he ended up putting both of the meals on his MB instead of one from each so we used 3 CS meals instead of 2. Thankfully I was able to get this fixed the next morning and even ended up with 3 extra CS meals!!!

Good grief, it’s only 2:30 in our day and I'm going to need a THIRD installment! I think it’s safe to say we packed a lot into our first day.
Up next: ARRGH!!!

**chezp** · 02-07-2014, 02:33 AM

I was just thinking how much you packed into the day as I was reading this.

So glad you enjoyed Be Our Guest - the knights are so cool, aren't they?

lfredsbo · 02-07-2014, 06:27 AM

Oh my.......the scooter ordeal.......

I know it's not nice to laugh but as long as no one was hurt, it is right?

Glad you enjoyed BoG!

**Colexis Mom** · 02-07-2014, 08:53 AM

Glad you're having a great time at MK!

shazza · 02-07-2014, 09:31 AM

Sounds like an action-packed day so far, with some hijinks thrown in.

HopeAnna79 · 02-07-2014, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chezp

I was just thinking how much you packed into the day as I was reading this.

So glad you enjoyed Be Our Guest - the knights are so cool, aren't they?

]

Yeah. It was a bit packed!!! LOVED BOG.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

Oh my.......the scooter ordeal.......

I know it's not nice to laugh but as long as no one was hurt, it is right?

Glad you enjoyed BoG!

Thank you for laughing! We all laughed really hard about this (except Linn who just gave us a mean look) throughout the trip. I still remember this is clear, slow-motion detail. We told Linn he couldn't talk and drive at the same time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Glad you're having a great time at MK!

we are!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shazza

Sounds like an action-packed day so far, with some hijinks thrown in.

Definatly some hijinks thrown in!!! And we aren't done yet!!!

**Cam22** · 02-07-2014, 04:04 PM

You all did pack a lot into this day. I think Space Mountain is a very jerky ride, but even worse in the back seat. I rode there a few trips ago and now request to be in the front or middle. I too thought I wasn't going to be able to get myself out when we got back.

Your meal at BOG sounds fun and the knights are so funny as they talk. I can't imagine trying to keep up with all those FP+.

lauriep · 02-08-2014, 03:11 AM

I don't know how you did so much in one day, and it's not done yet! I keep expecting dark skies in the photos-- surely it's night-time by now??

HopeAnna79 · 02-08-2014, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam22

You all did pack a lot into this day. I think Space Mountain is a very jerky ride, but even worse in the back seat. I rode there a few trips ago and now request to be in the front or middle. I too thought I wasn't going to be able to get myself out when we got back.

Your meal at BOG sounds fun and the knights are so funny as they talk. I can't imagine trying to keep up with all those FP+.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauriep

I don't know how you did so much in one day, and it's not done yet! I keep expecting dark skies in the photos-- surely it's night-time by now??

Maybe this explains why we came home so tired??????? (cause I think most of the days are like this............)

HopeAnna79 · 02-09-2014, 12:14 AM

We are finally winding down our first day! First up, a Pirate League Makeover!!!
As I said before, Mom, Rob and “The Boys” went back to the hotel after the Tiki Room. I had called The Boys and asked them if they wanted to go back to the hotel and they said no, they would stay. After I got out of the Tiki room Levi called wanting to know what bus to take back to the resort. I had a mild panic attack thinking that they had left the park without anyone (I know they could do it, however!) Thankfully they hadn’t and I told them that Mom and Rob would meet them on Main Street. I think Levi did that just to see what my reaction would be. Later in the week they got to fly completely solo one day.
I think Linn took off to go ride SM while Ronnie and I waited under cover from the quick rain shower for his appointment.
He chose to the “black-eyed Bart” look. First up was his new pirate name. You can’t choose your pirate name, it is chosen for you with a combination of a big tumbler thingy and your birthday. Ronnie’s new name was Ben Foulstench!!!! For the next 45 minutes he was addressed only as Ben Foulstench. The “wench” (she called herself that!) that did his makeover was phenomenal. She talked in an authentic pirate accent, used awesome pirate words, and had a massive amount of corny jokes she shared throughout the transformation. While we were waiting for the “secret” portal to open up I learned she has been with Disney for 12 years, first as a part timer and then committed to full time employment. She has been with Pirate League since June. I was really bad about getting CM names……next time I plan on being better. There are so many amazing ones they deserve the name recognition!
Before:

During:

Ronnie did really well with all of the makeup until she had to work on his eye. This wasn’t a good thing as he doesn’t like ANYTHING near his eyes and I didn’t think of that when he was choosing which look. We got through it though!
Once he was transformed, he was lead through the pirate oath, given a sword, a sash, a pirate tattoo that marked him as a member of Capt Jack’s crew, and treasure.
Let me introduce to you Pirate Ben Foulstench!

The scar on his cheek was the most life-like scar I have EVER seen!

I love these photos from Memory Maker! As you can see his brought-from-home pirate outfit worked out greatly! I wish we had brought his pirate hat though.

Next up was Pirate Cruise. We got stopped in the “a pirate’s life for me” room for almost 15 minutes. Not sure I want to hear that song again anytime too soon!! I have to say I like the one in DL much better.
Time for dinner!!! I LOVED the Liberty Tree Tavern and will definitely return. There was a TON of food, it was SO delicious, and the chef was awesome.
Hayden had some fun with Ronnie’s accessories:

Because we didn’t know if we were going to be coming back or not on Friday, we decided to fit in a few more rides. Rob and Ronnie took off for the Barnstormer, The Boys were off on their own doing who knows what, and Mom, Linn, and I were off to ride the Little Mermaid ride, which is AMAZING!! I LOVED the ride line and adored the ride. It was colorful, bright, and cheerful; reminding me a lot of the movie. Lastly, we rode the People Mover in honor of my Grandpa Pete who passed away a week before we left for Disney. He wasn’t a big ride person so when he went with us to WDW years ago, he would ride the PM, often falling asleep. The CM’s would let him ride around the track 2 or 3 times before waking him up. He would often have at least one of the grandbabies with him, sleeping away too! That sucker moves a lot faster than I remember!!! While getting off the PM, Rob called to tell me they were going home. When asked about Barnstormer he told me that they never got to ride. After being in the FP line for 45 minutes they shut down the ride because someone had broken their arm!!!!! So they were given paper FP to use later at MK if we were to return. They stopped to buy a jacket for Rob (it was COLD and we left ALL our heavy coats in the trunk of the car in Denver…) and a Perry pillow for Ronnie. Poor Rob was left the task of washing all that makeup off Ronnie…….I’m told it was ONLY a 45 minute ordeal and the tub had a black ring in it that I’m sure took the poor mousekeeper a LONG time to clean out!!
After we were done with our rides we had to wait for the boys and their last FP at Big Mountain Thunder so we meandered down Main Street shopping. I found Rob a perfect gift, a Grumpy Mug!

Unbeknownst to me, Mom also was shopping and bought me this beautiful figurine of Aurora.

I LOVE her train!
I didn’t find anything I HAD to have, rather, I found lots I wanted but none of which was anywhere within my budget!!
I headed out to the guest relations to trade our military park hopper vouchers to real tickets and then people watched just outside while Mom and Linn waited just inside for the boys to catch up with them. It was about 11PM by now. I had been in the park for 15 hours!!!!! Someone wanted to know if I was coming back to close the park at 3AM……..
We caught the bus back to AKL and I walked into our room at 12:10 AM! It was a very long but very Magical day.
We came back to another Magical gift from AKL when we arrived back to our room, more chocolate covered strawberries and zebra domes.

Up next: AK and?