"Are there any thrill rides in this park?" June 5-11, 2011

[ARmom30]

Hi from Arkansas!

Yes, it really is that far from here to Disney! We drive, too! I always say they should just poof in a new road so that we don't have to drive North East to go South! That road to Memphis sure seems long...

So, how far out of the way is it to stop at the beach? We just can't decide which route we like best, but haven't gone through Mobile. If it's not too bad, maybe I can talk my DH into making a stop there sometime. It's so hard to go to Florida without going to the beach, but we don't usually go once we're there because it's so hard to leave Disney once you're there!

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

Hi! And welcome. We don't have to drive through Memphis to go south. You must live farther north than I do.

The side trip to the beach probably added about 100 miles total. Of course, part of that was from my lack of planning and not having a reservation. But it was a lot farther off of I-10 than I realized.

liking what I see so far

Thanks! I'm glad you joined in!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

So glad you've had some time to write more.
It's always nice to stop at the beach. It kinda sounds funny to me when people say they've never been to the beach. I live and grew up about 15 min. away from the coast. So glad your little one got to experience it. I LOVE the beach, and of course the ones in FL are way better. The water looks beautiful!!

 

[ARmom30]

To anyone who was reading this trip report, I'm sorry I've been gone so long! I put this on the back burner for a little while due to life being busy, and before I knew it 2 months had gone by! I am going to try very hard to get back to it and finish it quickly. DS5 and I are headed back to the world in 29 days! Woo hoo!

 

[ARmom30]

Finally, around 7:00 we were seeing this!

We followed the road signs and made it to the guard house to tell them we were checking in.

We walked in to the lobby and there was no line. I had done online check-in, so everything was ready and of course our room was ready. Eli was very excited to get his “Happy Birthday” button. I offered to get Coltin one (even though his birthday is in March) but he declined. So we headed off in search of our home for the next 6 nights!

He was dancing in the lobby!

We were in the Jazz Inn building 9. We were on the 2nd floor looking over a courtyard, I guess. I really liked our room location. We were very close to the pool and Melody Hall, but it was still very quiet. And my DH could see trees, which is good for him. We did get the family suite, because we have a teenage son, and we wanted to be able to shut the door and have some privacy. Having 2 bathrooms was a big plus for us too! Eli thought the pull out couch and chair was very cool, and immediately claimed the couch as his.

We brought our things in to the room and just threw it all down. LOL. We headed straight for the bus stop so we could eat at WCC. Doug wanted to drive, and I said, “No way! This is why we are staying on property!” So we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

When we arrived we headed over to the boat launch and found the resort launches and the “right” boat to take us to the Wilderness Lodge. I really thought DH would enjoy this meal because the atmosphere should appeal to him.

We just missed a boat, so we had to wait a little while to catch the next one. DH struck up a conversation with a couple of ladies from Louisiana over his shirt choice.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the AR vs LSU game is a big deal every year!

We got on our boat and made our way to the Wilderness Lodge. The boat ride was so pleasant! Eli loved seeing all the sights from the water. We even caught the Electric Water Pageant. When we got to the dock we went straight up to the lobby to check in at Whispering Canyon Café. On our walk inside we passed the pool (beautiful!) and saw that they had the movie playing outside. Eli was intrigued. I told him they would do that at our hotel too. We checked in by 9:00 (15 minutes early) and were told we would have to wait a bit. I looked around and there were lots of empty tables. And servers that appeared to have nothing to do.

The boys entertained themselves in the lobby for a while.

I shopped in the mercantile store. We finally were seated around 9:45. Our server was very friendly and attentive to Eli concerning his birthday. He wasn’t sure he liked the attention though. Colt was very excited about the bottomless milkshakes! We all ordered the skillets. Everything was really good, but again slow. We finally were finished with our meal, we skipped dessert, but Eli got his 1st birthday cupcake of our trip.

It was huge! And we were really ready to hit the Magic Kingdom. So we asked them to box it up for us and settled the bill. We headed back to the dock and caught a boat to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[ARmom30]

Finally we see the Castle!

We enjoyed our boat trip back to the Magic Kingdom. It was very pleasant outside, not too hot. Of course, it was almost 11pm at this point! We made our way to the turnstiles and used our KTTW cards for the very 1st time. I have to say, I loved the evening EMH’s this night! Thanks WDW for the extra time! We walked under the train station and around the Town Square where we got our 1st glimpse of Cinderella Castle. It is absolutely beautiful at night! I love the different colors (and I can’t wait to see it decorated for Christmas!!). Eli was mesmerized and so excited. We made our way down Main Street barely glancing into the shops. We got to the Hub and the big boys were itching to ride a mountain! Somewhere along the way I told Eli about The Haunted Mansion, and that’s where he wanted to go. So, Doug and Coltin went to the right to Tomorrowland, and Eli and I went left towards Liberty Square. I remembered in line at HM that I had Doug and Colt’s KTTW cards and they would need them to get on the ride! I got my phone out to call them and I had already missed a call from them. We met back at the Hub again and I gave them their cards. Then we headed our separate ways again. HM was a complete walk-on. Eli wanted me to hold him in the stretching room. Then, of course, someone screamed. I had warned him that it might happen, and he just squeezed my neck tightly. He wanted to leave, but I wouldn’t let him. I told him that if he was scared to close his eyes. We got in our Doom Buggy and took off. Eli seemed scared several times, but he made it through the ride and wanted to go again. So we did! While on the ride the second time I got a text from Colt. “Are there any thrill rides in this park?” Really, Colt? REALLY?? I spent 7 months planning, researching, reading, shopping and 30 minutes in to this trip you are questioning me? I told him already that this was not like 6 Flags and that is a Theme park, not an amusement park. I just ignored him (to be nice and not go off on him) and went on IASW with Eli. We made our way through Fantasyland with very little wait anywhere. We met up with Doug and Colt to ride Peter Pan’s Flight. Near the entrance to Mickey’s PhilharMagic, we ran into our 1st character. It was Donald Duck!

He had a Photopass Photographer with him, so we got a card and had our picture made and got his autograph.

Donald even noticed Eli’s birthday button and wished him HB in his autograph book. We then spotted Goofy over by the carousel so headed over there quickly. We were the last to get a picture with him and then he went in for a break.

I was really surprised to see the characters out at night. It was after 1 a.m. at this point. The big boys came back and we rode Dumbo in the dark.

We stayed until the 2 a.m. closing time.

On the way out, Eli needed a bathroom break so I forced Colt to let me take a couple of pics.

We made our way out to the bus line and back to ASMu where we fell into the bed and immediately to sleep.

 

[tinkgurl]

2 am is the best time at the MK!!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Wow! What a great update. glad to see you made it back to your TR.
I can't believe you went that late with such a little one- that is awesome!!
Looked like a lot of FUN. Birthdays are the best at Disney!!
Too bad you didn't get a family pic that night with all of you in AR gear- that would have been cute.
I would think your DS probably liked RnR and EE rollercoasters better than the ones in MK.

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

We were there the same week at OKW! Love your updates... isn't MK awesome late at night?

 

[ARmom30]

2 am is the best time at the MK!!

It was awesome! It wasn't too hot, and the lines were short!

Wow! What a great update. glad to see you made it back to your TR.
I can't believe you went that late with such a little one- that is awesome!!
Looked like a lot of FUN. Birthdays are the best at Disney!!
Too bad you didn't get a family pic that night with all of you in AR gear- that would have been cute.
I would think your DS probably liked RnR and EE rollercoasters better than the ones in MK.

My little one is a night owl! Lol. He would stay up that late every night if I let him. DS15 is a thrill rider. He did have a favorite later in the week.

We were there the same week at OKW! Love your updates... isn't MK awesome late at night?

Did you like OKW? I wanted to stay in a villa somewhere, but ended up needing to save all the money possible so we went for the suites. We loved EMH at night at MK!

 

[ARmom30]

Fall is very busy for us. Football, soccer, deer season, Halloween, etc.

Last week was homecoming at Colt's school. They dress-up days during the week. On Wednesday they had "Duct Tape Day." We made him a football jersey out of tape. lol. He said he would have won the competition if we had made pants too.

He also got hurt during the game Friday night. He tackled a player from the other team and his helmet came off and he got cleated in the face. He went to the ambulance and they taped him up and he finished playing the game! I was so proud of him for going back out there. I know it took a lot of courage from him. (Scroll really fast if you don't want to see the pic of his injury!)

We went to the ER as a precaution after the game. They gave him antibiotics to prevent infection and used dermabond. He was so happy he didn't need stitches!


Eli came to work with me yesterday, so needless to say, nothing much got done!

And here he is with the countdown calendar that we made for our trip in 3 weeks!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

OMG - what an injury it definately looks worse than you said.
Stitches are no fun glad he didn't need them!
Love your countdown calendar!!!
You must be so EXCITED!
I have 6 more mos. til we get to go back.
I did get to make most of our ADRs though and got times I wanted YAY!

 

[ARmom30]

OMG - what an injury it definately looks worse than you said.
Stitches are no fun glad he didn't need them!
Love your countdown calendar!!!
You must be so EXCITED!
I have 6 more mos. til we get to go back.
I did get to make most of our ADRs though and got times I wanted YAY!

His face actually healed really fast! I don't think he will even have a scar. He had to get stitches in his top lip last year, he remembers them well!

We are so excited about our trip! I got all of our Mickey the last couple of days. We are flying this time. Magic Express here we come!

 

[ARmom30]

EPCOT

On Monday of our trip we were headed to EPCOT. We were out so late the night before I tried not to panic when everyone was still asleep at 10. I got up quietly and got myself ready, then I woke Eli up. He would take care of Doug and Coltin waking up. Lol. When we finally left the room, Colt asked for breakfast, then Doug said that sounded good. So we went to the food court so they could get some Mickey waffles. (They really didn’t understand that I was planning on breakfast in the room to save our counter service credits.) Eli wasn’t hungry and I had eaten a Pop Tart while everyone else was still sleeping. They finished and we headed to the bus stop. We would be getting to the park later in the day than I wanted to, but I was trying very hard to be calm about it. We were all tired, and there was no need in all of us being grouchy from not getting enough sleep.

We didn’t have a lot of time before our 1:30 ADR at Teppan Edo, so I went for Fast Passes on Soarin’ while the boys just checked things out. I suggested things. Do you want to ride The Seas? No. Do you want to go to Innoventions? No. Do you want to ride Spaceship Earth? No. (This was all coming from Doug.) So, then we went to check out the line for Test Track. It was long, over an hour, and we didn’t want to do the single rider line with Eli. We did verify that he was tall enough though!

We headed over to Mission:Space and we all went on the Green side to be safer for Eli. We all liked it, but Eli really enjoyed playing in the tunnels after the ride. Doug and Coltin went back through to try the orange side, and said it was okay, not that different from green. We let Eli play for a little while, but needed to be on our way to Japan.

On our way to the World Showcase Eli really started to fade fast. He was complaining that his stomach hurt. He hadn’t eaten anything and he was hungry and grouchy and didn’t want to walk. It was too hot and he is heavy! So, I left them on a bench near a bathroom in case he really was sick and headed to the IG to rent a stroller. Best idea ever! After he got a ride we made it quickly to Japan and climbed all the stairs to check in. We were early, but we were seated almost immediately. The CMs working there didn’t understand me when I asked for crackers for my little boy. Lol. We were joined by another family of 4 and our waitress came out quickly to take our orders. Very soon our chef came out and started cooking!

Eli was much happier just getting something to drink, then even better once food was put on his plate.

So, I learned a lesson, make him eat no matter what he says! Doug was really disappointed that the rice didn’t get cooked on the grill like they do at hibachi grills around here. Who likes plain white rice? I know Eli and I had shrimp and I believe Colt had chicken and Doug got steak. We all really enjoyed this meal and would definitely eat here again.

I got dessert here too, the ginger cake. It was pretty good! Our waitress had noticed Eli’s birthday button and brought him a chef’s hat and ice cream.

Then Colt wanted to wear the hat too.

We settled our bill and headed out on a trip around the world.


Making our way around the WS was slow and at times painful. No one wanted to look at anything. Doug kept asking where the shows were. He remembered seeing shows at EPCOT when he was a kid. So, finally we stopped in the America pavilion and listened to the Voices of Liberty. While we were waiting to go inside, a CM noticed Eli’s birthday button and said she had a special phone call for him.

It was Goofy wishing him Happy Birthday! Voices of Liberty were good, and it was air conditioned!

We watched The American Adventure (Eli was bored with this most of the time), but I really enjoyed it. We continued our way around and I left the boys near some drums and I went ahead to try to get FP for Test Track. They were all gone by then so I told Doug and Colt to try the Single Rider Line. Doug said no. (He said no to almost everything all day.) So, we went to The Land for our ride on Soarin’. It was a hit with everyone. Thank goodness! Doug really wanted to go back to the room and Colt wanted to go with him. So they went ahead and I took Eli for a ride on Spaceship Earth. We had a very short wait and were soon on our journey.

Then we went to MouseGears so he could shop. Doug had promised him a toy and he picked a monorail. We headed out of the park and back to our “apartment” for the night.

(At some point in the day I took Eli to the Character Spot to meet Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. We didn’t wait for Goofy and Donald since we had met them the night before. And, we had an ADR the next night at Chef Mickey’s.)

Eli waiting patiently.

And this is where my camera told me my memory card was full!!! So I handed over my PP card and let the professionals handle it!

 

[ARmom30]

Here are some of the PP pics from the EPCOT Character Spot.

Pluto really had a lot of fun with Eli. And Minnie Mouse was the only girl Eli was willing to meet all week!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

We loved Teppan Edo. It was also my b-day while there and I too got a hat and yummy dessert- so fun!! My older DS wanted to wear the hat too.
It's not too much fun when not everybody wants to do the same thing. Now I know why you are going with just Eli this trip. Test track if one of my boys' faves!! We must have rode that 5 or 6x this past trip. The FP do go fast though.
My DS10 loves Spaceship Earth!! He loves to make funny faces and make a new movie at the end each time. This is also a multiple ride attraction for us.
I hope Eli did get to go on the Seas ride it is so cute. (especially for little ones). Although my DS14 still goes on almost everything NOT IASW!! lol
Hopefully your next day was a little better.
Oh I forgot about the AA show and voices of lib. I cry everytime I see that show it's just so patriotic!!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

OMG I just realized from your ticker that you will be there in a couple of weeks!!!!
You must be so EXCITED!!
I don't write TR but I scrapbook all our trips. My goal every year is to finish scrapping the trip before the next one, but it is so hard!

 

[ARmom30]

We loved Teppan Edo. It was also my b-day while there and I too got a hat and yummy dessert- so fun!! My older DS wanted to wear the hat too.
It's not too much fun when not everybody wants to do the same thing. Now I know why you are going with just Eli this trip. Test track if one of my boys' faves!! We must have rode that 5 or 6x this past trip. The FP do go fast though.
My DS10 loves Spaceship Earth!! He loves to make funny faces and make a new movie at the end each time. This is also a multiple ride attraction for us.
I hope Eli did get to go on the Seas ride it is so cute. (especially for little ones). Although my DS14 still goes on almost everything NOT IASW!! lol
Hopefully your next day was a little better.
Oh I forgot about the AA show and voices of lib. I cry everytime I see that show it's just so patriotic!!

We never did make it to the Seas. Next week for sure! But he loved SE. He kept wanting to know what was in the ball! Yes, that is a big part of the reason I want to go back with just Eli. He likes to do everything, not just assume that he won't like it.

OMG I just realized from your ticker that you will be there in a couple of weeks!!!!
You must be so EXCITED!!
I don't write TR but I scrapbook all our trips. My goal every year is to finish scrapping the trip before the next one, but it is so hard!

We are so excited about this trip so soon! We only have 11 days!! The last one I planned for 7 months. Waiting on this one seems to be dragging worse and I only gave myself about 5 weeks!

 

[ARmom30]

Monday Night

This one is light on pics. Sorry!

When Eli and I arrived back at ASMu, we found Coltin on the computer in the living room and Doug asleep in the bedroom. Colt told me they took the wrong bus and had to walk from All Star Movies (or Sports) I don’t remember now. So don’t let anyone tell you that the All Star Resorts always share busses. It’s not true!

This wouldn’t have been a problem, except Doug was sick. The reason he said no to everything all day long was that he had a horrible stomach ache! He never said anything though. So, I checked on him and offered him some meds (I had come prepared!) and tried to get him to eat something, but he declined. He was sure that he had food poisoning, but no one else was sick, so I'm pretty sure he had a bug. I was so glad we had 2 bathrooms so we didn't have to share that night! So, to let him rest, Eli and I put on our swim suits and gathered the dirty clothes and headed to the pool and Laundromat. We went to the main guitar pool. I traveled light since I had to carry the laundry stuff, so I only had my phone with me. We threw the clothes into 2 washers ($2 each) and headed to the water. I set an alarm on my phone for 30 minutes to go back and switch it.

The pool was very crowded! There were no empty tables or chairs to put my things down, so Eli swam (he was wearing floaties) and I watched from the side of the pool so I could keep my phone with me. We switched the laundry and set my phone for 30 more minutes.

He spent a little bit of time in the kiddie pool too. He wanted to take off the floaties, but I only allowed it there since I wasn't in the water with him. When the clothes were dry, I dragged him out and we went back to the room. We checked on Doug, who was still sleeping and maybe feeling a little better (at least not in the bathroom). Eli put on dry clothes while I folded all the clean ones. Then we headed to the food court for supper. I’m pretty sure Eli had the kid’s pizza meal and I had the Chicken Alfredo. Yum! After we ate, Eli discovered the arcade. He loved it there! I let him play a few games, then convinced him to go back to the room to sleep. The next day was the Animal Kingdom and Eli’s 5th birthday!

 

[ARmom30]

Plans for our upcoming trip:

I just thought I would throw this out there is anyone is interested!

When: November 11-15
Where: All Star Movies (I requested the Toy Story section)
How: Flying Southwest (non-stop flight)

We will drop DS15 off at school that Friday morning, then head to the airport. We have about 3 1/2 hours to drive, but we got a better fare and a non-stop flight. We will arrive around 4:20, ride the Magic Express to check in to the ASM. We will probably grab supper in the food court then head over to the Magic Kingdom for MVMCP!

Saturday 11/12 we will be at Animal Kingdom. I have a reservation at Boma for that night so that we can see the AKL. I'm sure Eli will love it! Does anyone know if the Finding Nemo show is still going on? I can't find showtimes anywhere.

Sunday 11/13 we will go to Hollywood Studios. They are having EMH in the evening. This is our speed, we are night owls! I also have an ADR at 50's Primetime Cafe for lunch. I want to catch the Osbourne Lights and Fantasmic!

Monday 11/14 we will be at EPCOT. I have an ADR at Chef Mickey's for 11:20. This time is not ideal, but all I have been able to get. This will allow us to ride the monorail too. I really want to catch Illuminations this night. We missed it this summer. This is also the day after the last day of F&W 2011. I did this on purpose, because with Eli, I didn't want to fight the crowds there.

Tuesday 11/15 is our check out and fly home day. Our flight is at 1:20 which means we will have to catch the ME at 10:20. We won't have much time at all, but we may hit up the MK again for a couple of rides, if I can get Eli up and out the door early enough!

With the time change coming home, we will land at 2:20. Then drive home and be sad that we aren't still at WDW.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Plans for our upcoming trip:

I just thought I would throw this out there is anyone is interested!

When: November 11-15
Where: All Star Movies (I requested the Toy Story section)
How: Flying Southwest (non-stop flight)

We will drop DS15 off at school that Friday morning, then head to the airport. We have about 3 1/2 hours to drive, but we got a better fare and a non-stop flight. We will arrive around 4:20, ride the Magic Express to check in to the ASM. We will probably grab supper in the food court then head over to the Magic Kingdom for MVMCP!

Saturday 11/12 we will be at Animal Kingdom. I have a reservation at Boma for that night so that we can see the AKL. I'm sure Eli will love it! Does anyone know if the Finding Nemo show is still going on? I can't find showtimes anywhere.

Sunday 11/13 we will go to Hollywood Studios. They are having EMH in the evening. This is our speed, we are night owls! I also have an ADR at 50's Primetime Cafe for lunch. I want to catch the Osbourne Lights and Fantasmic!

Monday 11/14 we will be at EPCOT. I have an ADR at Chef Mickey's for 11:20. This time is not ideal, but all I have been able to get. This will allow us to ride the monorail too. I really want to catch Illuminations this night. We missed it this summer. This is also the day after the last day of F&W 2011. I did this on purpose, because with Eli, I didn't want to fight the crowds there.

Tuesday 11/15 is our check out and fly home day. Our flight is at 1:20 which means we will have to catch the ME at 10:20. We won't have much time at all, but we may hit up the MK again for a couple of rides, if I can get Eli up and out the door early enough!

With the time change coming home, we will land at 2:20. Then drive home and be sad that we aren't still at WDW.

I'm sure finding nemo is still at AK. We didn't see it this year but usually do.
Is the only day you are at MK for MVMCP? b/c that's not much time for rides. They usually have lots of different character meet and greets for the party and you waste a lot of time in lines. We saw the 7 drawfs last year! it was awesome.
The Osborne lights are incredible!!! You and Eli will LOVE them. I didn't want to leave. I could have watched them all night.
Going at Christmas is the BEST!!! So magical
Have a great time. I'm so jealous