Chills and Thrills: January 2011 at the Poly - COMPLETE!! 1/27 About This Page:

[aprild]

What a great first day to make up for the awful start to your trip!

I'm really enjoying reading your TR, hurry back with more please!!

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Originally Posted by debrabrown

Great update! We're looking forward to doing the Kim Possible mission for the first time so thanks for not telling any secrets! Got any tips though? That's so nice your daughter really enjoyed Epcot! We're spending two days there as well.

I love al your pictures and the food looked delicious!

This is my favorite picture - nice shot!

Thanks so much! Kim Possible is very fun! My one suggestion is if you decide to sign up at the recruiting station by the fountains in Future World, tell the CM which country you'd like to do (if you're interested in a particular one) so you get sent to the right station to pick up your handset. The second time we signed up we were told to report to Norway. When we got there and told the CM we wanted Germany he had to re-issue us a new ticket to go to Italy to pick up our handset because each station can only assign you to certain countries (I thought they could set you up for any country you want at any station). He said we could've avoided that by telling the initial CM. But I actually wonder how necessary it is to even sign up in Future World vs. just going straight to the cart.

Originally Posted by debrabrown

ps - what is up with Duffy the bear? I never heard of him until Cam's report!

Also, thanks for the reminder of The American experience show (or whatever it's called) We'd like to catch that!

Duffy is Mickey's teddy bear (made by Minnie). Apparantly he is HUGE in Tokyo Disney. When we were waiting in line to go on Soarin' we met a family from Tokyo - the mom was very excited to see we had a Duffy and she had a little Halloween Duffy clipped to her backpack.

Originally Posted by isabelalvarez

Great updates

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Lillybug

Your pictures are gorgeous!! I'm so happy that the Xmas decorations were still up! And your food pics are making me very hungry! What a wonderful first day!!


Tara

Thanks for the compliment!

Originally Posted by mpwife153

I was so nervous for you guys getting out before the snow hit ~ so glad Delta was on the ball when it came to the upcoming weather.

What luck getting an upgrade at the Poly & having it on them! Disney Magic before you even arrived After seeing that line at DME & now buses in site,I would have gone for the cab too!

GF is so . My fav is the Lobster Eggs Benedict, sooooo good! I the pic of DD napping on DH(those curls & sucking her finger reminds me of my little Princess).

What a great day at EPCOT! I have been eyeing Duffy for a few years ( that he has Mickey heads on his paws), but didn't know the whole story behind him. Now I may have to cave & get one

Can't wait to hear more!

I thought my Dad was going to go for the lobster eggs Benedict but he went for the regular kind! You'll have plenty of opportunities to get a Duffy bear if you want one - he was everywhere!!!

Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata

Love the updates!! My DD also loves EPCOT, so much so that we always skip AK in favor of multiple EPCOT days. (I know, I'm sorry AK lovers)

I'm really excited for her to do Soarin' for the first time, too, so reading about your DD's experience on there lifted my heart! Thanks for sharing all the pix! Can't wait to read more!

Aw, that's so great that your DD will get to go on Soarin' for the first time too! I hope she loves it!

Originally Posted by aprild

What a great first day to make up for the awful start to your trip!

I'm really enjoying reading your TR, hurry back with more please!!

Thanks for reading!

[islandgirl]

I'm all caught up-I don't know where to start!! AWESOME TR !!!

Glad you made it safely to FL! I'm so glad you got out in time! on getting an upgrade at the Poly! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner look sooooo esp. that fruit plate! Your pictures are beautiful. How to be able to see the decorations too! What a great day at Epcot!! I can't wait to read more!!

[lazanya]

Just catching up! Glad you are having a great time so far!

[Ciavobella]

Nom, nom, nom-that GFC breakfast looked so good. I want to go every day to try it all.

[Cam22]

Great day at Epcot with some fabulous food along the way, too! How that you all got to ride Soarin' together! Congrats on getting the ADR changed!

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Originally Posted by islandgirl

I'm all caught up-I don't know where to start!! AWESOME TR !!!

Glad you made it safely to FL! I'm so glad you got out in time! on getting an upgrade at the Poly! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner look sooooo esp. that fruit plate! Your pictures are beautiful. How to be able to see the decorations too! What a great day at Epcot!! I can't wait to read more!!

Thanks so much! Another snow day here today so I'm working on the next installment!

Originally Posted by lazanya

Just catching up! Glad you are having a great time so far!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Ciavobella

Nom, nom, nom-that GFC breakfast looked so good. I want to go every day to try it all.

I know! I wish we'd made it back a second time because there were several other things on the menu that I wanted to try.

Originally Posted by Cam22

Great day at Epcot with some fabulous food along the way, too! How that you all got to ride Soarin' together! Congrats on getting the ADR changed!

Soarin' was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

[benjiboo25]

What a great upgrade! Just what you needdded after all that you had been through! The food pics you posted all looked wonderful!!!!!

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Day 2, part 1 of 3

Although we didn’t make it to the MK in time for the opening ceremony, we did manage to hop the Monorail shortly after 8:15 a.m. so we could take advantage of the tail end of EMHs.

Our first stop was Main Street Bakery for breakfast (or more specifically, cinnamon rolls!). The seating area was crowded but the line to get food wasn’t too bad. I went to order while DH and DD got a table (we had to sit separate from my parents because there were no large tables available). DH and I split a yogurt parfait and a cinnamon roll (I dream about these the other 51 weeks of the year!) and DD had a croissant.





DH witnessed a scary incident while I was in line. A baby at the table next to us accidentally pulled his mother’s cup of coffee onto himself and the scalding liquid got all over him. DH said the staff came over immediately with first aid provisions and the manager even gave them a certificate to go to one of the stores and get the baby a new outfit since his was ruined. How awful for that family but it’s nice to see that Disney takes such good care of its guests.

Breakfast was delish! DD was hungry for seconds so I went back up and got her a bagel. Once we were done eating, we headed toward Fantasyland. Along the way we stopped to check out the new Tangled meet. The CM told us that the first two meets of the day has been moved to Pinocchio’s Village Haus due to the cold. I snapped a few pictures then we kept moving.







As we approached the teacups we saw Alice ducking into an alcove to get out of the cold. I actually thought she was leaving to go backstage but the handler came over to DD and told her to come on over. Alice was a sweet as ever.



We passed the new queue for Winnie the Pooh as we made our way to Peter Pan.



Once we got to Peter Pan, we saw something you don’t see every day:




We hopped in line and were flying over London in no time. I love this ride! On the way out we grabbed FPs for my Dad and DD to return later on. Next we rode IASW – I noticed they have reversed the queue for this ride since we were last there – now you enter through what used to be the exit.

By now it was just about 10 minutes until the Tangled meet so we headed over to PVH. There were only four or five families ahead of us. I think we really lucked out with the meet being moved inside – I don’t think people realized so it was there so that kept the crowds down. Later on we’d pass the outside meet and see a long line already formed about an hour before the next meet.

Rapunzel came out with Flynn Rider not far behind!



They didn’t do the show that I’d heard about, I’m assuming because of space limitations being inside, so this was just a regular meet and greet. DD started to get very nervous and shy at this point. She kept telling me that we didn’t need to stay for this. Turns out she was very nervous about seeing Flynn. Awww. When our turn was next I thought she was going to bolt but I gently nudged her toward Rapunzel and she went right up. Flynn tried to say hello to her and I was really impressed with how quickly he picked up on her hesitation so he stayed of to the side. While DD chatted away with Rapunzel, Flynn gave us his trademark smolder! My mom told me afterwards that she laughed and he said to her, “Are you melting yet?” Love it!



After the meet, Mom, DH and I decided it was time to ride the Haunted Mansion! Last year DD thought she was ready to ride this but the stretching room freaked her freak and we had to go out the chicken exit. This time she told us from the get go that she’d be going off with Grandpa while we rode HM (my Dad doesn’t like HM either). The two of them had big plans to use their Peter Pan FPs then take the riverboat ride (his fave). I think they also squeezed in another ride on IASW. We set a time to meet and off we went.

There wasn’t much line at all for HM so we were done lots of time to spare. We went over and browsed the Christmas shop, then went to the riverboat landing and saw Dad and DD on the back of the boat. We were waving like lunatics and they were pointing so we thought for sure they’d seen us but it turns out Dad was just pointing out something on the shore.

It was pretty chilly out still, especially in the shade, so we decided to duck into CHH for some coffee, tea and hot cocoa while we waited.

Once we were all reunited, we only had about 30 minutes until our lunch reservation. We decided to take the long way so we could ride PotC. We passed the Woody and Jessie meet on the way and DD so wanted to stop but the line was all the way back to Splash Mountain. I promised her we’d come back.

DD has ridden PotC a few times but she was getting very nervous in the line. I told her that she and I could leave and wait for everyone else at the exit but she said, “No, Daddy will be mad at me” (which of course is NOT true at all). We couldn’t convince her to leave so she buried her head in my shoulder the whole time.

Luckily the next stop was lunch at Crystal Palace, which I was sure would put her in a happier mood!

[Principessa_di_Fata]

Wow, I hope that poor baby was ok. So scary! I'm glad the staff was so prompt and efficient in helping!

The rest of the morning sounds great so far! I love that as a rule, the CM's and characters are very tuned in to a child's mood and feelings, and will act accordingly. It's appreciated that they're so sensitive and aware.

Looking forward to reading about your CP experience! And thanks for the reminder about IASW... I forgot about them reversing the queue. I hope we see a 10 minute wait for PP... but I'm not holding my breath, lol!

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Day 2, part 2 of 3

We arrived at CP and checked in for our lunch ADR. I was happy to see that there was hardly any crowd at all on the porch (the past couple of times we’ve eaten here we’ve had to wait quite a while after our ADR time). We got our pager and headed over to a sunny spot to try to stay warm. Our pager went off in no time and we were shown to our table, which was just one table over from where we sat when we ate here with my parents last time (to the left as you’re facing the buffet).

The line at the buffet was quite long so I headed over to get DD something from the kids’ section so she could get started. Unfortunately I forgot to take food pics during this meal so I’ll just have to describe it for you. I got DD mac n cheese, meatballs, green beans and some beautiful strawberries from the dessert bar (they had a gigantic bowl of huge strawberries up there – yum!). While I was doing that, Pooh stopped by our table to visit.



During a break in the action I headed up to fill a plate for myself. I had couscous salad, corn spoon bread, broccoli, chicken nuggets, rice and a couple of slices of flank steak. Once I got back to the table Piglet and Eeyore stopped to visit.





I had pretty much stuffed myself at this point but that wasn’t going to stop me from dessert! I had some strawberries, a little scoop of chocolate trifle and a marble cheesecake square. Buffets aren’t my favorite type of meal but I have to say, the food was very good!

On the way out I noticed that even the topiaries were bundled up for the cold!







At this point, DH and I decided that we would take DD back to the room for a rest. She was fighting a bit of a cold (she woke up with a bad cough each morning, which subsided during the daytime hours) so we thought she could use some downtime. Mom and Dad decided to stay and do a few rides and we all planned to regroup at the hotel later.

As we made our way to Main Street, DD caught a glimpse of the Dream Along with Mickey show and wanted to stop. We watched the end of the show then continued moving down Main Street.



I stopped for a minute to listen to the marching band.



At this point, DD reminded me that we never went back to see Woody and Jessie as I’d promised. OOPS! Next thing you know we’re heading all the way back to Frontierland. The line was still stretched back to Splash Mountain but it moved at a good pace, even when the gang had to take a break to, “check on the critters.” I passed the time by craning my neck to see the construction going on in SM and I also noticed this sign, which I’ve never seen before:



DH is a big HM fan so he thought it was cool.

A banjo trio came by to entertain us and soon enough it was our turn.

DD literally ran up there when it was her turn! She was so excited to meet Jessie (and Woody too, but mostly Jessie).



With that promise fulfilled, we took the express Monorail to the TTC and walked back to the Poly from there.

DD spent the time watching TV and playing her Leapster. When my Mom got back to the room we played a round of cards (SkipBo) and formulated our plan for the evening, which was to head back for MSEP and possibly Wishes if we could stand the cold.

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day st MK so far! Love the pics!

[buckinghammr]

What a great first two days. The travel sounded less than great, but arriving always makes everything better.

I just have to ask, how cold was cold? (As I write it's -29F.)

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Day 2, part 3 of 3

Around 5:30 p.m. or so we headed back over to the MK. It was very chilly by this point – like scarf and gloves chilly! DD was hungry so our first stop was Casey’s to get her a hotdog. We then made our way to the parade route to find a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade. When DH and I went to MNSSHP back in October, we really enjoyed watching the parade from a spot across from the Christmas Shoppe so we decided to head to that area.

We found a nice spot for all of us right in front of the Sleepy Hollow snack stand. It was a good spot because we had one family next to us to the right but then no one to the left because the trash can was there. And because we were sandwiched between two sets of ropes (in front of us were the parade ropes and behind us were ropes marking of the line to Sleepy Hollow) there was only enough room to stand one deep, which meant no one pushing up behind us. Perfect for me because I really hate being smushed by crowds! Well one little vent here, it kinda bugs me when you take the time to stake out a spot like 30+ minutes before the parade and then in the final seconds when they’re announcing the parade about to start, people try to barge in on your spot. We had several groups ask if we’d be sitting down when the parade started so they could squish in behind us – when clearly the spot was only big enough for one deep. Luckily the family next to us had the same mindset as us so we all stood our ground (strength in numbers!) and didn't get smooshed in.

I’ve only seen MSEP once before – at Disneyland back in the mid-90s so it was practically like a new experience for me. I purposely didn’t take too many pictures because I tend to end up feeling like I missed the experience when I’m seeing it through the camera’s viewfinder instead of watching it “live.” I did get a few shots though!





Once the parade was over we were feeling a leeeetle bit like popsicles so we decided Wishes would have to wait for another (hopefully warmer) evening later in the trip.

We made our way out of the park and hopped the resort Monorail over to CR for some supper. I was still pretty stuffed from lunch so DH and I shared the Mahi-Mahi sandwich, which is very tasty!



Mom got a flatbread and dad had a club sandwich but I didn’t get pictures of either.

After dinner we browsed the shops for a bit then made our way back to the Poly. The Luau had been cancelled again so we were able to see part of the show outside of ‘Ohana like we had the night before. We caught it at exactly the same spot as before, but since DD hadn’t been with us to see it we stopped and watched again.

We said our goodnights at this point and all agreed to sleep in/get a slow start the next morning since we had a late breakfast planned at ‘Ohana.

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry it was so cold, but sounds like a great night!