Reality Disney: But I Don't Want to Go Among Mad People (NEW 4/25 SEE YOU AT BREAKFAST)

[magichusky]

Welcome! My quixotic family unit, spanning 3 generations and including 2 little girls, 2 teachers, 1 scientist, 1 big grump, and 1 crazy retired Marine on an ECV, embarked on a 2-day DL extravaganza with 1 night at GCR. This was our first time staying at a DL hotel, the little girls' first time riding the big rides, and expectations were high! BUT really nothing went as planned. And actually many things went completely wrong. To the point that I, a long-time DISer and self-perceived expert DL and WDW strategist, got the Disney beaten right out of me.

There was an ECV accident, endless technical glitches, burned FP's, a nightmare CM, disappearances, poor communication skills, scorching hot weather, and my "clipboard of fun" basically blew up.

The title of this TR appropriately comes from the following conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat:

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ​

Keep this in mind.

This TR is, at its core, an ode to parents and the disabled. Usually I tour the parks with one or two friends or my mother, and we always get everything checked off of our lists and more. I have always observed parents pushing strollers through WDW, their eyes glazed over and laden with heavy backpacks, snacks, diaper bags, and supplies, and I thought that they looked kind of miserable. But until this trip, I really had no idea how hard it was to take small children to DL or for the disabled to navigate through the parks.

WARNING: The following TR is full of twists, turns, and some material may be too flabbergasting for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

If you're in the mood for a wild ride, a reality check, and maybe some lessons learned, then you're in the right place!



THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

This is my family in Cars Land (they're all smiling but I forced them to take this picture):



From left to right: Helen (my sis-in-law), Mom, Dash (my niece, 4.5 yrs), Dad, Bob (my brother), Violet (my eldest niece, 7.5 yrs), and me (Lauren).

My parents and I live in San Diego. We LOVE Disney. My brother's family lives out of state and as a result we usually only see them twice a year, which is very sad. “Bob” and “Helen” have two little girls: “Violet” (7.5) and “Dash” (4.5). Usually my parents and I fly out to see them. The last time they flew out to see us was 4 years ago when Violet was 3.5 and Dash was 8 months. We did a half day at DL and it was so magical. When Helen told Mom that they were planning on flying out to CA this summer, she mentioned that they wanted to do 2 Disney days this time. Mom and I looked into the military promotion at the Disney hotels and realized that with the discount, staying one night on Disney property was actually affordable for us. We initially wanted the DLH since the monorail pool area looked fun for the girls. Only the GCR was available (aww shucks), so we were delighted to book 2 rooms for the night of Wednesday, 7/27/2016. We had never stayed overnight at DL before, so we were beyond thrilled, especially for GCR. As my grandfather used to say: "Always go first class!"

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRE-TRIP REPORT
PTR 1.1: The Clipboard of Fun
PTR 1.2: Loopy for Legoland - Part 1
PTR 1.2: Loopy for Legoland - Part 2
PTR 1.2: Loopy for Legoland - Part 3
PTR 1.3: Ready for Disney!

DAY 1
DAY 1.1: Bibbidi…Bobbbidi…OMG!!
DAY 1.2: Disney Ninja Warrior
DAY 1.3: Shadow Man
DAY 1.4: Splashed & Afraid
DAY 1.5: Damage Control
DAY 1.6: Like Herding Cats

DAY 2
DAY 2.1: How Rude!
DAY 2.2: See You At Breakfast
DAY 2.3: Frozen Out Of Frozen (coming right up!)

RANDOM UPDATES
A Quick Update (9/11/16)
A Quick Update: A Very Shutterfly Thanksgiving (11/29/16)

 

[magichusky]

PTR 1.1: THE CLIPBOARD OF FUN


I thought that I would start off with a quick mini PTR to set the tone. And so it begins:

One day I was watching the Full House Hawaii episode and I realized something: I AM Danny Tanner. In the Hawaii episode, “Tanner’s Island,” Danny concocts the “clipboard of fun,” which is a beautiful thing: a carefully crafted minute-by-minute itinerary that ensures the family accomplishes every single one of their vacation goals.



This is basically me to my family (in Danny’s words):

“Everybody just calm down. You are all gonna get to do everything you want to… So, I have carefully scheduled every minute of every day with everyone’s activities. And it’s all right here on my clipboard of FUN.” ​

I made my very first clipboard of fun when my parents, sister, and I traveled to WDW for the very first time during the week before Christmas 2010. We have been going to DL for decades, and for the most part you can pretty much just show up at DL and have a great time. After doing some research on the DIS however, I realized that WDW was completely different. There was a science to which parks you should visit on which days, ADR’s had to be scheduled months in advance, and we had to fly all the way across the country instead of just jump in the car and drive for an hour. When we invest a lot of money in a vacation, I think that an itinerary really helps us get our money’s worth. My clipboard of fun for our 2010 trip was a smash. Everything went so smoothly and we accomplished so much that my parents became great believers in the clipboard of fun.

We loved that trip. Here are a few pages from the scrapbook I made for it...

I actually included the clipboard of fun in the lower right of this page. I gave everyone laminated, pocket-sized copies:



























Since we are so familiar with DL and usually just do day-trips, I have never made a clipboard of fun for DL. However, this time we would be doing 2 days there and would stay overnight at GCR. Additionally, or should I say more importantly, we had a large group of 7 that included 2 little girls and Dad on an ECV (electric convenience vehicle). Dad’s knees have been bothering him lately so it’s tough for him to walk long distances.

Due to the special needs of our family during this trip, I prioritized a few things:

1) Minimize walking, park hopping
2) Avoid the heat
3) Don’t overschedule; take time to rest
4) Prioritize things the girls want to do

• Dash: Small World, teacups, carousel, anything “Frozen” themed
• Violet: Autopia
• Both: character meets, pool, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, BBB

I knew that we should scale back on our vacation goals considerably because, with our motley crew, we wouldn't be able to be nearly as efficient as Mom and I are when we tour the parks by ourselves. So after some thought, and keeping the above priorities in mind, I drew up the following clipboard of FUN:



Pretty simple, right? But alas, somehow this seemingly straightforward itinerary blew up and practically launched into space.

About 2 weeks before our trip, it suddenly dawned on Mom and me that we should probably make ADR's. We're used to doing this for WDW but never think to do it for DL. We were initially planning on just doing both the breakfast and dinner buffets at Storyteller's Cafe, since it was so convenient for us, but after doing some light research on all the fun dining experiences available at DL, I discovered the "Minnie & Friends Character Breakfast" at the Plaza Inn on Main Street. It looked PERFECT for the girls, and we were so excited about eating breakfast in DL (which we have never done because we usually just do day-trips). I was worried that the Plaza Inn would be sold out or times would be limited but thankfully, we got all the times we wanted. The Storyteller's Cafe was a huge hit but the Minnie & Friends breakfast was probably the highlight of the entire trip!

Okay so I think we're ready to roll. Or, as Danny Tanner would say:

“Ladies and gentlemen, let the vacationnnn BEGIN!”​

NEXT TIME: Loopy for Legoland - Part 1

 

[scrappydew]

Awesome trip report so far!

 

[Angrose]

Oh goodness, I can only imagine the chaos that you had to endure during your trip! I guess we will all read about it soon enough! I am also an uber-planner. It drives my DH crazy. However, he knows to just follow my lead at DL because I know my sh@%! I take a lot solo trips because no one in my family or circle of friends is a crazy Disney geek like me, so I am a little nervous about an upcoming trip I'm planning for my family. It will be me, my mom, sister, DS8 and my nephew who is 3, so also a 3-generation trip. I'm looking forward to reading about how you handled your chaos!

 

[magichusky]

Awesome trip report so far!

Thank you!!

I am also an uber-planner. It drives my DH crazy. However, he knows to just follow my lead at DL because I know my sh@%!

I laughed so hard when I read that. But seriously, isn't it the truth!

It will be me, my mom, sister, DS8 and my nephew who is 3, so also a 3-generation trip. I'm looking forward to reading about how you handled your chaos!

That sounds so exciting! It was really my brother and dad who caused the most chaos in our case. I bet your mom and sister will be more amenable to your suggestions!

 

[magichusky]

PTR 1.2: Loopy for Legoland - Part 1


Today I am continuing with the mini PTR by posting a quick blurb about our day at Legoland, which Violet and Dash completely loved. Mom and I thought that they actually enjoyed themselves more at Legoland than DL, which I found exceedingly disappointing, but the day at Legoland was their first full day of vacation so they were fresher. They had also slept in that day and gone out to a nice, late breakfast. By the time they found themselves at DL, I think that Violet and Dash were overtired. Also, DL may have been a bit overstimulating and overwhelming for the girls; Legoland was more manageable for them.

Bob, Helen, and the girls flew into San Diego on Sunday morning. Prior to their arrival, Violet and Dash had been extremely anticipatory and excited. Violet even made a "California Countdown" that she scotch taped to her wall:



Here they are jubilantly loading up a suitcase. Dash is in the background waving a traveling toothbrush holder and travel-sized toothpaste.



Bob and Helen had decided to visit Legoland on Monday. Mom and I met them there directly after lunch because that morning we had to babysit my 8 week old niece, "Baby Apple," while my sister, "Peach," went to a big job interview. That morning, Apple actually exploded out of her diaper and contaminated the front of Mom's shirt. Mom just washed off her shirt and said who cares, everyone at Legoland will probably be sweaty and gross anyway so no one will even notice. Which was true!

Baby Apple:



When Mom and I paid for parking at Legoland, the attendant at the kiosk gave us a coupon for a free 8"x8" Shutterfly photobook, which I was pretty excited about it because I was planning on making Violet and Dash photobooks for their entire trip (with an emphasis on Disney of course). I had made Violet an elaborate scrapbook for Valentine's Day but she had mentioned a few months later that some of the pages were "falling off" or something. The girls were probably too rough with it unfortunately. I realized that a photobook might be more child-friendly and easier for them to flip through and share. I've never made a photobook before so I'm pretty excited to see how they turn out.

This was actually my first visit to Legoland. Mom had visited several times prior because she had taken her students there for field trips. When we got through the turnstiles, Helen texted and told us that they were currently in Pirate Land (or whatever it's called). I was concerned because after researching the park online the night before, I had decided to avoid Pirate Land because it had all those pesky wet rides. I generally don't mind getting splashed but I HATE getting my hair/face soaked with all that icky ride water.

Mom and I picked up a park map from the navigation station. I liked this Legoman nearby with the binoculars and the Lego seagull:



When we first arrived at the park, it was obvious that it was very crowded. I was also definitely unprepared to encounter such a large crowd of very young children. These are the children under 3-4 yrs, and probably predominantly 2 yr olds. I thought that I would be immune to this after visiting Disney so many times, but I don't really recall ever seeing so many toddlers at Disney. It was definitely overwhelming because it seemed like everywhere I turned, I observed a child in the throes of a meltdown.

Mom and I found Pirate Land on the map and started walking in that direction.

Lego beaver hidden in a waterfall feature, which I thought was cute:



Mom and I eventually found the others in the dreaded Pirate Land. Violet wanted to play a carnival game nearby. She actually won a big yellow dog! She named him Buster, who was her trusty companion for the rest of the trip. When the game was over and the attendant handed Buster to Violet, I saw a dark wave of jealousy pass over Dash's face. Dash had played, too, but since Violet was the one who sunk the ball into the blue cup, she accepted Buster. I braced myself for a melt down (you know, if I was 4 then I'd probably be miffed, too) but Dash moved on. Mental note: find another carnival game that Dash can easily win ASAP.



Helen wanted to do this ride called Splash Battle for some reason (she later apologized for it haha). Of course, Mom and Bob refused so I had to go with Helen and the girls. It's basically like TSM except you sit in a pirate ship and use cannons to shoot streams of water at other ships and unsuspecting passersby. Unfortunately, there were also cannons set up along the perimeter of the ride that guests could walk up to and use to aim at YOU. Ultimately, this was our downfall. I was COMPLETELY drenched by a vindictive little boy who couldn't have been more than 10. I tried to defend myself but my cannon's field of view was not wide enough and I couldn't swing it far enough to the right to nail this kid. As our ship was heading into port, a woman grabbed a little boy and held him up to the fence, yelling for us to splash him: "Get this kid!!!! Get this kid!!!!" Don't you just wish you could do that sometimes when your kid is acting up??

In the heat of battle:



We squished our way out of Pirate Land and arrived in Medieval Land. We came upon a big play area for kids themed after a medieval fortress. The playground had nets, tunnels, and slides and things. Violet and Dash launched themselves up the net and disappeared. The others suggested that I go after them and keep my eye on them. Well, I TRIED. I scaled the net but by the time I got up there (I had flip flops on and my camera in one hand) the girls were long gone. I eventually found Dash who wanted me to follow her but she kept zooming through tiny tunnels that I would get literally stuck in. I was too big to go through the tunnels without crawling on my knees; this HURT. The playground was not adult friendly and there were often no alternative routes besides tiny tunnels and enclosed slides. I practically stumbled out of that place and we basically had to just stand there and wait for Violet and Dash to decide to reemerge on their own accord.



Eventually they had had their fill of the medieval fortress and we could proceed. We came upon another carnival game. This one involved picking rubber ducks out of a swirling pond and the number on the bottom of the duck determined what sized stuffed animal you won. Basically, if you threw enough money at these people, you'd be guaranteed SOMETHING. We thought that Dash could "win" something here, she and Violet would be even, and we would stave off a potential meltdown.

After $10, Dash had qualified for a small stuffed dragon. The attendant came over and held up a dragon in one hand and a slightly larger pink unicorn in the other. "For just another $10," she announced, "you'll be guaranteed to win the unicorn. It's such a great deal." Bob and I were pretty irritated because OF COURSE Dash wanted the unicorn instead of the dragon. Mom saved the day by forking over the $10. Dash was absolutely ECSTATIC to have "won" the unicorn. But ADVICE: avoid those darn carnival games like the zika virus!



Bob and Helen took the girls to get in line for a nearby kiddie jousting ride. Both Violet and Dash were excited because they would be able to each ride a horse by themselves. Mom and I made our way to the perimeter of the jousting trail so that we could take pictures as the girls passed by. I looked down and noticed that my shirt was positively covered in black streak marks. I realized that that must have resulted from my struggles keeping up with the girls in the medieval fortress play area. I headed over to a nearby restroom to try and wash it off. While I was working on my shirt, I heard a mother in a nearby stall yelling at her kids and seemingly ramping up for a full-blown panic attack: "I went to all this trouble and I got you here and now you're being so horrible!" I felt bad for the mother and bad for the kids. It was extremely stressful to overhear, so I was rushing trying to get out of there.

I got most of the marks off of my shirt and rejoined Mom. Soon after, Dash galloped by:



And then Violet:



By then, Helen and Bob wanted to stop for lunch. They had had a late breakfast so lunch was coming late, too. While they were waiting in a long line, I took Violet and Dash to a nearby Legoman meet 'n' greet:



The Lego character was really fun and pleasant. Then we had a photoshoot with the Lego pizza guy who was beckoning guests into the restaurant:





After lunch, Mom and I took the girls on a nearby water ride called "Aquazone Wave Racers." Bob just refused and Helen doesn't like "spinny rides," so they supervised. Basically you get in a jet ski thing and zoom around in a big circle. Guests watching from land can press special buttons to set off "mines" that send water exploding high into the air and potentially soaking riders. I saw Bob stationed at one of the buzzers, probably trying to set off a mine on us, but we emerged from the ride relatively unscathed.

Next we went to the part of the park that I had been most looking forward to: Miniland USA. Miniland is an amazing, giant Lego recreation of several different cities in the U.S., including Washington DC, San Francisco, New York City, and Las Vegas. We arrived at Grand Central Station:



I had read in skier_pete's DL TR recently that there was a Lego guy sitting on a Lego potty somewhere in Miniland. I had told the girls about this and they LOVED the concept; they had been talking about it for days and when it was time to head over to Miniland, they were determined to find "the guy on the potty." We found him pretty quickly!



We passed Central Park:



The Central Park Zoo:



And the Guggenheim:



My personal favorite was the procession of dogs being walked down the hill from this chalet (I don't know what the chalet's real-world equivalent is?):



We then found ourselves in Las Vegas. I of course LOVED the UFO's that had crash landed next to the Las Vegas sign:



The aliens had streamed out of their flying saucers and were involved in some skirmish with the FBI or something? I couldn't quite figure out the storyline or if the scene perhaps referenced a film I was unfamiliar with.

We walked further up the Vegas strip and the girls noticed a Lego resort pool that many guests had used as a wishing well; there were many coins in the pool. Mom got out some pennies that they could wish with:



Dash threw her penny and completely missed. Violet threw her penny and accidentally knocked one of the little Lego beach chairs into the pool! I took this picture to serve as photographic evidence of Violet's vandalism:



I like how you can see in that picture how each tiny Lego pool-goer is unique.

Oops.



We didn't know what else to do so we vacated the premises.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST: Loopy for Legoland - Part 2

 

[magichusky]

PTR 1.2: Loopy for Legoland - Part 2


After that we went to the Kid Power Tower. It's like Jumpin' Jellyfish in DCA only you have to pull yourself up to the top. When you reach the top, you can let go, zoom to the bottom, and start all over again. Apparently you have 75 seconds to go up and down as many times as you can muster. The girls had already been on it earlier in the day with Bob and Helen and they loved it so much that they wanted to go on it again. This time, Mom and I took them. I got everyone to start flashing their muscles and Violet and I decided to try to reach the top faster than anyone else.

Violet claimed that her muscles were "almost as big" as mine. And was completely serious. I was like are you KIDDING me??!! I train pretty hard, so I was flabbergasted by this bravado! Kids crack me up because they see their world in such strange ways.

Violet's biceps:



Dash's biceps:



Violet and I made it up the top 3.5 times. Mom was freaking out that Dash would slip out of her seat (actually her concerns were quite valid; we wouldn't have taken Dash on again if we had had the opportunity). Subsequently, I don't think they made it all the way to the top.

The girls then requested to drive the little Lego cars in Fun Town. They had also done this earlier in the day and wanted more. First we went to the Jr. Driving School, as Dash was not old enough to drive in the regular Driving School (6-13 yrs of age). Dash was concentrating hard and passed a lot of other drivers. It was sort of funny because many kids would get hopelessly stuck against the fence, stuck together, etc. The ride attendants would have to wade out into traffic and push the cars around constantly.



High level of concentration here:





Then we went to the big kid Driving School, which was massive and had actual streets, actual lanes, actual traffic lights, and actual traffic signs:







Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of Violet driving:



I was leaning against the fence waiting for Violet to pass by so I could get an up close picture. Dash stole my camera out of my hand because SHE wanted to take the picture of Violet. She was too short to see over the fence, so we got this picture:



HA! Violet's car was of course perfectly positioned behind the fence post. Dash would not give the camera back and by the time I regained control, Violet had turned a corner. When Violet rejoined us she asked me excitedly: "Did you get a good picture of me driving??" I was a little disappointed: "Well, sort of…"

We left Fun Town and passed a huge fountain. It was basically a forest of tall streams of water shooting up from the pavement. Suddenly, Violet declared that she was going to run through it. Apparently she had seen it earlier in the day and explained to Mom: "I told myself that I was going to run through it," as if it was a goal of hers. So cute! But also wet and squishy. She started accelerating towards the water and I exclaimed: "Aren't you going to at least take your shoes and socks off first? Nooooo!"



Dash of course refused to be left out of the chaos:



They were DRENCHED. Ewww. Here's Violet wringing out her clothes:



We came upon a lovely Lego triceratops and I asked dripping Dash to pose with him:



The girls decided that "Coastersaurus" would be next.





Mom and I had sent away for these special Disney princess beach towels from the Disney Store. They even had embroidered their names on them. The entire princess swim collection was on sale so we ordered them the matching swim bags, heart-shaped sunglasses, and flip flops. We stuffed everything in the swim bags along with mini handheld battery-operated fans, Dory swim goggles, and a Dory kick board for Dash (she still can't swim very well). We gave the bags to the girls on Sunday and told them that now they were all set for the GCR pool.

Helen had brought their new towels with them that day because Legoland has a huge waterpark and they were planning on stopping by if there was time.

Here's Dash drying off with her new towel:



I liked this Lego duckbill so I made Bob pose with it. He didn't look too excited about Coastersaurus:



While we were waiting in line, Peach texted Mom and told her that she found out that she got the job! We were all very excited for Peach.



Finally, we were ready to board the Coastersaurus. I got a kick out of the dinosaur footprints we had to stand on:



Ready to coast with the dinos! Again, Bob looks positively thrilled in this photo:



Our bootlegged ride photo:



Violet and I were having a great time, but Dash looks pretty worried in that photo! She said that she was unsure the first time around (Coastersaurus is very short so each train goes through twice in a row), but she liked it the second time. We were hoping that some of the Legoland rides would serve as a sort of warm-up for DL later in the week.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST: Loopy for Legoland - Part 3

 

[magichusky]

PTR 1.2: Loopy for Legoland - Part 3


After Coastersaurus, we went to Ninja Land:





I was pretty excited about the new ninja ride, "Ninjago," because I'm a huge American Ninja Warrior fan. So I like everything ninja. The girls were pretty excited, too, because they're also fans of the show. While we were waiting in line, Violet and I debated about whether or not the ride was pronounced "Nin-JA-go" or "Ninja-go." It was a long line and Dash needed to use the restroom. She and Bob jumped the railing and made a run for it. The line was slow-moving so they made it back in time.

Violet, Dash, and Buster worked on their ninja moves with this Lego ninja:



Ready to be a ninja!



It was kind of funny because right before we got on the ride, a ride attendant asked Bob about how long we think we waited in line. Bob thought maybe 30 min. I guess this is how they come up their posted wait times for the rides at Legoland haha.

Ninjago is like TSM only you swoosh your hands/arms out in front of you like a ninja/Luke Skywalker and "throw" fireballs at your enemies depicted on 3D screens. Take a look at everyone's scores in our bootlegged ride photo. See anything weird?



Yup. The 4 yr old won by a mile!! Mom, Violet, and I were like what in the…! Mom and I think that our sensors were malfunctioning. I was karate chopping to the point that I actually became fatigued, but I hardly ever saw any green fireballs being generated (each person is a different color). Plus it's a possibility that the sensors were engineered for shorter kid-arms. I can come up with a litany of excuses, but I was still out-ninja'd by a 4 yr old.

I liked this Lego ninja who was shooting ice at his enemy. Violet and Dash posed appropriately:



The little tiny white things scattered all over the ground are white legos. There were some legos available at the base of the ninja temple for kids to play with. Little boys and girls were flinging them everywhere for some reason.

Now if you're going to burn $20 at a carnival game, you may as well burn it on the "Ninja Challenge" so you can acquire a ninja panda.



It was getting late and I felt like we still hadn't explored the whole park! Well, that's what happens when you surrender 35 min to the Splash Battle standby queue. Our last attraction would be the "Coast Cruise."



Bob is like YES! The end is near! I think he was the first one on that boat!



The Coast Cruise is like Small World only with Legos. I got a kick out of this long-neck with a hard hat who was helping with Lego construction:



These Lego dinos were trying to abscond with Legos:



This tiny Lego dino with the roller skates and boom box cracked me up:



Watch it!



We cruised on over towards Miniland and saw some global landmarks:









It took me awhile to figure out what was going on here, but the white thing is a Lego Q-tip that was moving back and forth, and a tiny Lego man was "cleaning" out George's ears.



More Lego skylines:



Ducks had invaded Brooklyn. The landscaping was totally covered in duck feathers, which was sort of funny.



The grand finale- an undersea concert!


It was then time to go home. Overall, the girls had an AMAZING time! That particular day was cloudy and not terribly hot. The next day, Bob, Helen, and the girls were going to the beach to meet up with some of Bob and Helen's old CA friends and their kids. Then, it would be onward to DL!

Farewell from Legoland!



NEXT TIME: Ready for Disney!

 

[Mamato4boys]

I'm loving your trip report! So fun!! I can't wait to read more.

 

[magichusky]

I'm loving your trip report! So fun!! I can't wait to read more.

Thank you!!

 

[magichusky]

PTR 1.3: Ready for Disney!


On Tuesday, it was time to get ready for Disney! We would be leaving bright and early the next morning to check into the GCR. But first, we had to get some things in order.

That day, Bob, Helen, and the girls would be at the beach meeting with some of Bob and Helen's old CA friends and their kids. Mom and I packed a little cooler of drinks and snacks for them all. Luna supervised:



We skedaddled over to the beach and delivered the cooler to Bob at the hotel. We also dropped off extra beach towels and two beach pails we had bought for Violet and Dash; the pails were full of fun sand tools like shovels, strainers, castle molds, etc. When we arrived at the hotel, Bob was renting a big beach umbrella from the front desk. Bob then carried all of the items down to the beach. He mentioned that they probably should have walked a bit further down the coast to a less crowded area, but oh well. He also mentioned that he wanted to leave the hotel at 7am the next morning to drive to Disney. I was like GEEEEZ. Mom and I were concerned that since we were aiming to see "Paint the Night" and the fireworks that first night, the girls wouldn't make it if they had woken up at 5:30am. We decided to try and gently remind Bob and Helen of this later that day.

As Mom and I were leaving, we took the car down to the beach in order to survey the action and OMG that place was a sandy black hole of steaming bodies, crooked beach umbrellas, and mewling children caked with sunscreen. It looked just plain stressful. This is why we avoid the beach in the summer!

Bob, Helen, and the girls were coming over after the beach for dinner and to do laundry so everything was fresh for Disney. Mom and I stopped at the grocery store on our way home to pick up some frozen mac 'n' cheese for the girls. Violet and Dash are extraordinarily picky eaters and they often require completely customized dinners and desserts. I say the following with love: Seriously? We also stopped by Target and I bought one of those traveling hair brushes that folds up.

When we got home, we got the suitcases out of the garage. I got out the little folding trolley that Mom uses to transport her book bag and heavy materials into work during the school year. Mom wanted to know what in the world I was doing with that. I explained that I was going to put the bottled waters in there, since we were bringing a bunch with us for everyone to use in the parks. Mom was horrified: "I can't check into GCR looking like that! Do you mean to tell me that we FINALLY have the chance to stay at a nice hotel and you're going to roll that thing in there? I mean, I use that for SCHOOL!"

"Are you calling me tacky?!" I responded, indignant. I whined that I was probably the one who was going to wind up carrying the zillion heavy bottles to the hotel room by myself. But I put the trolley back. And I did wind up carrying the bottles.

We also packed some snacks for Violet and Dash. They had requested Fruit Roll-Ups and we added the Go-Go's (my personal favorites) and some Finding Dory graham cookies that I had randomly found at Target:



And yes, that's a Dory piñata in the background. Dash wound up loving the Go-Go's and they both really loved the Dory grahams. I wouldn't recommend bringing anything like Fruit Roll-Ups into the parks as snacks; they get gross and squishy on hot days.

Next it was time to prepare Luna's "overnight bag." Whenever she goes to the dog hotel I prepare individual meals for her in ziploc bags that the employees can easily divvy out. I like keeping Luna on her regular kibble and canned food so her tummy doesn't get upset. I also packed her favorite cookies, vitamins, and 2 stuffed toys (her triceratops named "Tip Top" and her dragon Santa; his name is just "Dragon Santa"). Before I knew it, Luna was over there fishing stuff out of her overnight bag:



Soon it was time to drop Luna off at the dog hotel. I had been dreading this all week! I loaded her overnight bag into the car and got Luna buckled up. It was very hot that day and the inside of my car was like an oven until I was able to get the A/C going. Poor Luna:



I signed up Luna for some extra private puppy play time sessions during her hotel stay and returned home. I had just enough time to type up the clipboard of fun. I wanted to show it to Helen and Bob so that they could amend it if necessary. Once it was finalized, I would type up copies for everyone.

Just as I was finishing typing up the itinerary, Bob, Helen, and the girls arrived. Violet and Dash directly ran upstairs so they could supervise. Poor Violet had HUGE RED circles under her eyes and both Violet and Dash were sunburned on their backs and shoulders. When we eventually went back downstairs, I noticed that poor Helen was absolutely BEET red. Helen said that they had been at the beach that day for 5.5 hours!?! She said that she applied sunscreen to the girls immediately but had forgotten to apply sunscreen to herself until it was too late. She thought that Violet had gotten sunburned under her eyes because she kept going into the water and rubbing her eyes, effectively rubbing the sunscreen off in that area.

As I observed Helen growing REDDER and REDDER by the minute that evening, and Violet and Dash requesting aloe to be applied over their burns, I became more and more fearful. These people had totally gotten trashed at the beach. The day before Disney. I was afraid that as a result, everyone would be uncomfortable and overtired the next day. So ADVICE: enjoy a restful day before doing Disney (especially with little kids!).

Before dinner, Mom, Violet, and Dash looked up height requirements for the rides on Disney's website:



We explained the concept of FP's to them and they were very interested in the concept. Dash was very self-conscious about not being tall enough for a fun ride and getting left out of the action. "Will I be able to get a FP?" Dash asked. We told her that of course, even if she wasn't tall enough she could still get as many FP's as she wanted. Dash was almost 41" with shoes on, so she was eligible for most of the rides. However, Mom and I weren't sure that she should ride BTMR, for example. Since BTMR's refurb, the new steel track is smoother but seemingly a bit faster, and the new special effects are kind of intense!

I showed Helen my drafted itinerary on my laptop and she thought that everything looked just perfect. Everyone was especially excited for the Frozen show. We also at least convinced Bob to push back their departure time to 7:30am instead of 7am. When we suggested that the little girls might be overtired he scoffed and exclaimed: "They're just kids! They'll be fine!" Helen said that Violet and Dash would probably get some extra sleep in the car during the drive anyway. Mom and I were still suspicious, especially since they were all just coming off of sunburns and an exhausting beach marathon.

After dinner, the girls were definitely overtired and cranky. There was a "piano lesson" that totally got out of hand and was extremely stressful. I was hoping that after some good rest, they'd be ready to roll the next morning!

It took me a little while to wind down that evening. I felt like it had been one of those days that sort of gets away from you; I didn't feel very productive for some reason. I was also anxious because Luna was at the dog hotel. Situations like that call for some Full House therapy!



NEXT TIME: BIBBIDI…BOBBIDI…OMG!http://www.disboards.com/threads/re...w-8-6-ready-for-disney.3533659/#post-56442405http://www.disboards.com/threads/re...w-8-6-ready-for-disney.3533659/#post-56442405

 

[Imagineer5]

excited to read more! It drives me crazy going to Disney with people who do no research (and I leave next Friday for DL with my mom, who does zero research lol).

 

[magichusky]

excited to read more! It drives me crazy going to Disney with people who do no research (and I leave next Friday for DL with my mom, who does zero research lol).

Thank you for reading! Haha people who do no research usually fall into 2 categories: 1) they respect your Disney knowledge and respect your carefully planned itinerary or 2) they think they know better even though they did no research and make your itinerary blow up. My brother was definitely in the latter category! Drove me nuts! I hope you and your mother had an amazing time at DL!!

 

[magichusky]

Update!

At long last, hello everyone! So sorry for the delay. I’m planning on putting together weekly updates from here on out. I got off track while ensconced in the delight of the Olympics (who enjoys watching white water kayaking at 1am? I do!!). If I could compete in any Olympic sport, it would definitely be either gymnastics or pole vaulting. But alas, I’m about a foot too tall for gymnastics and my high school didn’t offer pole vaulting. Once, when I was a tween I got so excited about the Olympics that I cartwheeled through the foyer of my house. I promptly drove a knee through the wall. It took my parents two weeks to notice the hole, then they simply could not figure out where it came from. I think that I eventually told them a few months later: Yeah, you know that mysterious hole in the wall? It was ME!! But I digress.

Additionally, I became obsessive compulsive about a series of random organizational projects in my house. When I get on that OCD organization kick, I really need to ride that wave. Because nothing is worse than cleaning out the garage when you’re not in the mood. However, I think that I FINALLY burned out today while condensing the Christmas decorations.

Anyway, my two favorite projects involved, bizarrely enough, one sheet of galvanized sheet metal. First, I made a magnetic organization board to go over my desk:



I bought a vintage picture frame, took out the glass insert, cut the sheet metal to size using tin snippers, and done! I’m absolutely not a super-huge DIY person but I really enjoyed this project. Now I can display post-its, magnets, and reminders. It also works great as a dry-erase board!

I was on a roll so I used the remainder of my sheet metal for this delightful stand-up menu for the kitchen:



I found these adorable day-of-the-week magnets that fit perfectly. My plan is to make a small card for each dinner recipe we have. One side will be the name of the recipe and the other side will be the list of ingredients. All of the cards will go into a “meal bank.” Every week, Mom and I will select a card from the bank for each day of the week and display them on the menu. Then we’ll use the backs of the cards to generate a shopping list. The daily logistics of deciding what to make for dinner and checking to see if we have all the necessary ingredients is actually extremely stressful for us. Cognitive psychologists call it “decision fatigue.” Hopefully this new menu system will make everything much easier and less stressful!

FYI: Every single item I used for these projects was purchased from Michael’s. Okay wait- before we move on, I have a Michael’s story. You’ll love it. So I was kneeling down on the floor while rummaging through a bin of magnets. Suddenly, this woman appears and leans directly over me to rummage through a display of metal accent pieces. Like *directly* over me. I mean, whatever if you want to lean over for a second to grab something, but this went on for like a solid minute. I was getting pretty irritated and was on the verge of saying something, but I kept thinking: “Well, maybe she’ll just leave in the next ten seconds and then I won’t have to say anything.” I really dislike confrontation. But ten seconds passed, and then another ten seconds, and another ten, and then suddenly this insane woman sent a shower of large metal thingamabobs raining down upon me and crashing to the floor, causing a massive ruckus and giving me a massive spike in blood pressure. I shot up and stood there, just staring at this woman. “I am SO sorry,” she said, wide-eyed. I just turned and stalked away. I just hate it when I’m enjoying a relaxing afternoon selecting crafts and then someone with no regard for personal space starts breathing down my neck. I wish it were easier to just…”Let It Go.”

Finally, I will leave you with some thoughts I found helpful from a bunch of boost-your-productivity/organize-your-life self-help books that I read during my OCD binge:

from “15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management” by Kevin Kruse

• “If you aren’t busy working on your own goals, you’ll be working to achieve somebody else’s goals.”
• How can you get your brain to quiet down? How can you always remember your great ideas? With Sir Richard Branson’s SECRET PRODUCTIVITY tool, of course: Always carry a notebook. If you don’t write down a brilliant thought, you will forget it!
• How do you create an effective work routine? By choosing what you want it to be, instead of letting others dictate it for you. For example, most people check their email first thing in the morning. As a result, their focus and energy are going where OTHERS are directing it.
• Checking your phone constantly shows a LACK OF POWER. Are you at the beck and call of someone else?
• Highly successful people practice the “TOUCH IT ONCE” policy: Immediately take action on something if it will take less than 5 min to complete. How much time will you gain when you aren’t returning over and over again to “touch” the same items?
• CHANGE YOUR MORNING, CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Instead of waking up at the last minute and rushing out of the house, design an empowering and energizing morning routine. Carefully protect that first hour of your day, making sure that all input is positive. Don’t check the news or look at your phone first thing in the morning.

from “The 5AM Miracle” by Jeff Sanders

• “Greatness is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” —Earl Nightingale
• “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” -Albert Einstein
• The challenges you face with your own productivity are not problems- they are distinct OPPORTUNITIES to not only get more things done, but to efficiently do the things that matter most.
• Create an intentional, prioritized, written plan for your day. Wake up with purpose and intention. When you begin your day reacting to your environment instead of proactively shaping it, you find yourself on the defensive.
• The “Clean House Syndrome”: checking off a long to-do list is shallow productivity. House cleaning is usually used as a procrastination tool. At the end of every day, ask yourself: “Did I make tangible progress towards my grandest goals? Could I be more efficient tomorrow?” Ultimately, the achievement of your grandest goals is based on what you DO EVERY DAY.
• Instead of a to-do list, use a calendar to SCHEDULE your tasks. Actually, check out this great article from the Harvard Business Review, “To-Do Lists Don’t Work.”
• The magic of creativity will appear as you free up space in your head (by writing things down like Richard Branson and maintaining an effective system of lists).

And NOW- back to our regularly scheduled programming.

PROCEED TO NEXT POST: BIBBIDI…BOBBIDI…OMG!

 

[magichusky]

DAY 1.1: BIBBIDI…BOBBIDI…OMG!



Today was the big day!! Or, as Danny Tanner would say: “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET THE VACATIONNNN BEGIN!”

I had set my alarm for 6:15am. The night before, I had had trouble winding down and didn't manage to lull myself to sleep until about 1:30am. I made it through the first of the two Full House Disney World episodes and called it a night.





I think that I finally stumbled out of bed around 6:45am. When I first woke up, I was confused by Luna's empty dog bed for a nanosecond and then remembered that she had just spent her first night in the dog hotel. I hoped that she was doing okay. I always worry constantly whenever I board my dogs, even though the dog hotel is really nice.

Dad was already packed, had his suitcase by the door, and was sitting in his recliner wearing his Mickey Mouse golf shirt and POTC baseball cap. I thought that it was pretty funny because usually he's such a grump and doesn't really seem to be into Disney. However I think that he enjoys being a part of the hustle and bustle. I had an Ezekiel english muffin (I am obsessed with them now- they really keep you going with all that extra protein) and reminded Mom not to forget her Maleficent Mickey ears. Our goal was to depart at 7:30am, but we pulled out of the driveway at 7:54am. We received a text from Helen that they had hit the road about 10 minutes prior. I turned on our driving music: the park music CD from AK in WDW, which is very soothing with steel drums, jungle chants, and relaxing jungle weather sounds.

I would have preferred to leave at 8:30 or 9am, towards the tail end of rush hour. I am not a road trip person; I would much rather fly. Initially, Bob had wanted to leave at 7am, but my Mom and I were able to convince him to push it back since that night was our only chance to see the fireworks and we didn't think that the little girls would make it if they were overtired.

Sure enough we wound up in the middle of rush hour and bad traffic; and not bumper to bumper sleepy-driver bad, but angry-driver bad. When I merged onto the highway I sped up, put my signal on, and was halfway into the slow lane when a fool in a massive pick-up truck trying to merge behind me roared up and tried to cut me off, almost clipping my driver's side back bumper and getting us into a huge accident. I had to semi-swerve back into the merge lane and absolutely laid on my horn. The turkey passed me on my left and turned around to glare at ME. This is why I can't go on Autopia anymore. I returned the favor by dramatically shaking my fist at him. And don't be fooled into thinking that all of this transpired in silence. I definitely drowned out the soothing jungle chants with my own indignant tirade. My parents then proceeded to lecture me on the dangers of road rage, etc. My Mom hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before either, so she was already a bit on edge to begin with and proceeded to back-seat drive for the next 20 or so minutes. We literally drove each other crazy for a little while and then finally settled back into silence. Honestly, I think that if you get in a near accident at 70mph then you are entitled to a little bit of harmless venting. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful but still trafficky and stressful. We finally pulled onto Disneyland Drive after about 1 hr 15 min.

Bob, Helen, and the girls arrived at GCR a few minutes ahead of us. Helen texted us a photo of Violet and Dash flipping out in the backseat when they saw the Disneyland sign. SO very joyful!



Quite soon after, we pulled into something we've never ever done before: we pulled into the GCR! I remember that the CM at the gatehouse was particularly cheerful and polite and had great hair! We felt very classy pulling up to the valet. I tried to decelerate very gradually so my brakes didn't squeak.

Here's Mom excited to roll into the fancy lobby. Do you see that sign in the upper left corner of the photo? It says: "The Happiest Place on Earth." Remember that...



Violet ran up to us as we made our way to the front desk. Dash was sitting in the cute little mini rocking chairs in the children's waiting area. She eventually sauntered over and struck a pose:



The excitement level was through the roof:



Violet and Dash checked out the model Disney Cruise ship with GrandDad. I liked the tiny little water slide that extended across much of the upper deck:



Our rooms weren't ready yet. Mom told me that the front desk would text me once the rooms were ready. My phone number was attached to both of the room reservations. We loaded all of our luggage onto a cart and the bell services guy took it away, then returned with Dad's ECV. I had meant to call Deckert's the day before to confirm our reservation but I just didn't get a chance. I had visions of GCR telling us that they couldn't find our ECV, Deckert's losing the reservation somehow, or the ECV being defective, but eventually the ECV appeared and seemed to be in full working order. I was so relieved. I highly recommend Deckert’s if you need to rent an ECV at Disneyland.

I guided everyone to the GCR's DTD portal and we started walking towards security. We came upon the World of Disney (WOD) store and Mom and I suggested we go inside to find the girls some hats and autograph books. Dad stayed behind on the ECV.

The girls had been sunburned the day before during their marathon day at the beach and the hot sun was rising fast. Mom and I wanted to find some hats with brims to keep the sun out of their faces. The month prior, we had seen some adorable Minnie Mouse baseball caps for kids on the Disney Store website and almost ordered them but we wanted the girls to experience the fun of picking out their own hats at DL. We really hoped that they would gravitate to the cute Minnie hats though! When I had visited DL with my DIS friend, Rachel, a few weeks prior, I had seen swarms of kids wearing the hats and even tons of women wearing them, so they were extremely popular.

During that visit, I had acquired a fabulous Minnie visor from WOD. I was pretty excited because I usually don't see visors being sold in the parks. Perhaps I'll see one but it's plain and ugly. I prefer visors over baseball caps because I have to wear my hair up or else it poofs out eventually and drives me crazy. Anyway, Violet had seen my visor back at the house and declared that she wanted one exactly like it. After scouring WOD, we couldn't find any more visors, but we came upon the cute Minnie baseball caps. Violet thought that it was similar enough to my visor and liked it. We got one for Dash, too, and she liked it but said that it was too big. After some more scouring, I was so excited to find a smaller version of the hat with a Minnie face on the front instead of just plain polka dots. When I offered it to Dash, her face lit up and she gave me the other hat and jammed the new hat onto her head. "It's perfect!" she declared.

Mom found a mirror so the girls could check out their new hats:





Bob was pacing and getting restless and inching towards the exit. Oh well because Mom and I weren't finished yet. We grabbed two princess autograph books and told the girls about the logistics of hunting for characters in the parks, acquiring their autographs, and inserting the corresponding photos into the photo sleeves once we got home. They seemed particularly excited about the concept and were really into it. Mom paid for everything and had the CM cut the tags off of the hats. Just after we turned to leave the counter, Violet found a Minnie Mouse pen in the plastic bins they have displayed in front of the check-out queue. We debated getting it. I said "Oh, the characters don't have their own pens? Do we need to bring pens to those things?" I had never done a meet 'n' greet before with an autograph book. Then I realized that I was being silly and of course the characters and handlers don't provide pens. We decided that since we had already completed our purchase, we would just pick up the pens somewhere in DL.

Once we exited WOD, Bob walked back to the entrance at the other end of the store to pick up Dad. Pretty soon, Dad came scootering over and Dash immediately hitched a ride:







We came upon the security line and it was disgusting. If it had just been Mom and me then we probably would've walked back through the DTD portal to GCR and gone through the private DCA entrance, then exited DCA and walked across to DL. With the large tour group we were with today however, we chose to just stay where we were. The line through security must have taken at least 20-25 minutes. We were standing in direct sunlight the entire time so it was a little unpleasant but if it’s in the name of security, it’s fine.

Once we got through security, Mom suggested a stroller rental for Dash. Bob refused because he didn't want to deal with it and thought that Dash was too old and would be fine (my bro is so stubborn sometimes). Dash is 4.5 but still tiny, so navigating through thick crowds is uncomfortable for her plus it was really hot. She actually chose to hitch a ride with Dad on the ECV for probably 90% of the time we were touring the parks. If she hadn't had the ECV then she 100% would've eventually needed a stroller.

We walked to the DL turnstiles where the line wasn't bad at all. Dad had to activate four of the tickets by presenting his military ID. The other three tickets had already been activated when Mom and I had visited DL in April:





I herded everyone to a PP photographer so that we could take a family photo in front of the train station. I had told everyone that we needed to get two family photos immediately upon arrival to DL: one in front of the train station and the other in front of the castle. This was so NOT negotiable. I had to be slightly pushy about it, which I hate doing, but I knew that if we didn't take them first thing then it wouldn't get done. Little did I know how right I was.

The PP photographer was cracking me up because she had to be pretty forceful in order to make this photoshoot happen. Other guests kept standing in front of us or right next to us and the photographer kept waving her arms and yelling "No! Nope! Move aside please!" I really appreciated it.



We started heading West towards the tunnel and suddenly Mom spotted Ariel doing a meet 'n' greet! The line was pretty short. The girls were SO excited and scrambled to whip out their new autograph books. Mom and I scrambled to find a pen. We couldn't find one initially and started kicking ourselves for not just buying the darn pens back at WOD. We hadn't anticipated a meet 'n' greet by the turnstiles! Mom thankfully found a pen and we were saved. When I looked down to check on the girls, for a second I couldn't figure out which ones they were!



A man in front of us in line turned to us, pointed to the family in front of him and said: "Last family. Last family." Then he and his family got out of line and moved on. He had a thick accent and was probably visiting from out of the country, so I wasn't sure if he meant that they were vacating their spot in line or that the line had been cut off. I didn't see a handler anywhere so we just stayed put. After a minute or two Ariel stepped to the side and told us very nicely that the line had been cut off. I was surprised that she didn't have a handler with her. We were disappointed but the entire day was ahead of us so we proceeded to Main Street.

We walked down Main Street and I had to pull Violet out of the path of an oncoming Clydesdale. I guess she's not used to dodging horse drawn carriages! Mom pointed to the Walt Disney statue in the hub but it was surrounded by a horde of people and I had already established my vector towards the front of the castle so I was sort of in commando/not-listening mode. It was so darn hot already. I snagged a PP photographer and it was like pulling teeth just to get these people into an acceptable formation for the photo. Right before we took our picture there was a commotion behind us and apparently a proposal was taking place. That was the second proposal I have witnessed in that very spot.



Having completed our mission, I instantly relaxed. Now we had photographic evidence of a great Disney day, regardless of any future potential mishaps or meltdowns. The girls were bent on finding the golden spike that marks the exact center of the park. They had seen it mentioned in a Disney Parks DL documentary that they had watched back at home and for some reason it stuck. We walked through the castle…



…and navigated to the spike. We had to wait for a break in the torrent of guests streaming through the castle so that we could get a picture:



Mom and Helen wanted to take the girls into BBB to pick out some special items:



Mom and the girls had been talking on the phone for months about going to BBB and selecting the princess dress of their choice. Dash was going back and forth about which princess she should choose and Violet was hoping to find something a little less formal. We were lamenting about how, at 7.5 yrs, Violet already has deemed it uncool to dress up as a princess. It's sort of mind boggling how short that timespan is in which the inner magic of childhood is still more powerful than their external world. When we had last visited DL together 4 years ago, Violet was only 3 yrs old. We took her to BBB and she chose a beautiful Cinderella dress:



She was initially inclined towards the Aurora dress because she loves pink, but when she saw the glass slippers that went with the Cinderella gown, she absolutely HAD to have them. She then decided that if she was going to get the glass slippers, then she needed to get the matching gown and all of the corresponding accoutrements. Violet loved her shoes so much that she refused to take them off for the rest of the day, even though it was scorching hot and her feet were fogging up the clear plastic. When we attended the parade later that day, Cinderella spotted Cinderella-Violet watching earnestly and put her hands over her heart and blew her a big kiss. Violet was SO unbelievably pleased and amazed that Cinderella acknowledged her that she almost couldn't contain herself. It was one of the most heartwarming memories I have of Violet’s life and one of my most special Disney memories. I wished that I could've slipped that Cinderella a $100.

Anyway, now it was Dash’s turn to shop at BBB. I reminisced and then snapped back into commando mode. I informed everyone that I would make a FP run for BTMR and would return shortly. It was extremely crowded that day and was imperative that we maximize our FP potential. I also wanted to make things as convenient as possible for the family and minimize walking and unnecessary baking in unshaded standby lines. I power walked back across the drawbridge:



I then cut through the Fantasy Land extension and through the Mexican restaurant which spit me out right where I needed to be. I was pleased to acquire 7 BTMR FP's for 11:35am. I power walked back through the Mexican restaurant, cut across the Fantasy Land extension, and took the secret pathway that winds around the side of the castle and spits you out near the back of BBB. I walked up to the entrance to find Bob leaning against a pillar outside and grumpily devouring a granola bar. No BBB for him haha. I was so excited to discover which princess Dash had chosen. She is obsessed with Elsa and had been talking a lot about getting an Elsa gown. If it hadn't been for Elsa, I would probably have guessed Aurora, since I didn't think that Dash would be able to resist the hot pink.

When I finally walked into BBB, I discovered that Dash had chosen…

AURORA!!

Apparently she didn't even make it further into the store where the Elsa gowns were. She took one look at that pink dress and that was it. She wanted it ALL. The dress. The shoes. The gloves. The purse. The wand. The tiara. And Mom was so pleased. Box it right up!

When Violet saw me she was so relieved to have someone available to escort her around the store so that she could shop, too. We made a circle and Violet admired a huge crystal tiara that was $99. There were a few of them on the shelf in clear boxes. Do people really buy small children $99 toy tiaras? I would probably just become obsessed with relentlessly surveilling the tiara to make sure it wasn't lost or damaged. As it was, I lived in fear for the next two days that we would inexplicably lose one of the autograph books or one of the beloved Minnie hats.

Violet came upon the Minnie Mouse section and was drawn to an adorable and soft Minnie dress. It was more like "enhanced clothing" than a costume and totally appropriate for a 7.5 year old. Not babyish but still cute. And it matched her Minnie baseball cap! She found some matching Minnie socks and sparkly red sneakers. Mom is always very aware of getting the girls gifts that are separate but equal. Violet had 3 items but Dash had 5. Mom encouraged Violet to survey the Minnie display again and see if there was anything else she might like. Violet found a little Minnie purse that was a sparkly red with a sparkly beaded handle and snap closure. She had trouble with the snap closure initially and I had to help her open it a few times, but eventually she got the hang of it. I was worried that I would wind up carrying that darn purse for the rest of the day, but Violet wound up becoming quite obsessed with it and carried it diligently for the rest of our time at Disney. It was so cute when Violet requested that Helen give her her pin money (Bob & Helen had given Violet a $20 bill to spend how she liked in the parks) so that she could deposit it in her purse.

Violet’s size sneakers were not on display so I asked the CM behind the counter if he had any in the back. He made a call and we were relieved to find out that the shoes were available and it would only take about five minutes for them to be hand carried up to BBB. While we were waiting for our special delivery, Dash spied a tiara that- wait for this- LIT UP. She decided to swap out the Aurora tiara for this new find. I thought that that was very “Dash”- flashy!

Dash in bare feet and light up crown:



You can see me in that picture bustling about, still in commando mode. A CM had unfortunately left a huge cart parked directly in front of the full length mirror. I was trying to reposition it so that the girls could use the mirror.





The shoes arrived and finally, we were ready! Box it right up! We were pleased to find some of those pens on display up at the register. We got Violet the Minnie pen and Dash got a pink princess pen with Aurora's tiara on the top. It took a little while to ring everything up and two CM's were very nice about coming over to help expedite the process of cutting the tags off of it all.



We were finally ready to emerge from the depths of BBB and back into the daylight (you can see Violet’s new Minnie purse and pen in this photo. Unfortunately the pen would not fit inside the purse):



Dad was lounging on the ECV and Bob was ready to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was far away from BBB. He was cranky and blubbered that we hadn't even "done anything" yet and it was already well after 11:30am. I proudly announced to everyone that we had BTMR FP's that were active in 5 minutes and escorted them through the secret pathway towards Frontier Land. Violet hitched a ride with Dad on the ECV and Dash was walking just behind me, eating a small snack. You really work up an appetite after all that shopping!

I think that we had just reached the edge of the Fantasy Land extension. I actually can't pinpoint exactly where we were because things became such a blur. Suddenly I heard a thud and then Dash crying loudly. I remember everyone ahead of me stopped and turned to see what was the matter. I turned around and my heart sank. Dash was sprawled on the ground face down with her right foot and lower leg wedged underneath the ECV.


NEXT TIME: DISNEY NINJA WARRIOR

 

[chunkymonkey]

Hi I just wanted to say I love your TR. We just came back from a week at DLR. We were three adults but I can understand the stress that parents must feel with their kids at the parks. We also went to Legoland with my niece on our first day, we didn't do much because my niece didnt' want to do a lot of the rides, but we did a few and we loved the Lego Miniland too.

I like your style! Next year my extended family is taking a trip to WDW, and that will include potentially 12 adults and 7 kids, and of course I am the planner of the whole thing. I think I'll be like you most of the trip, the commando, take-charge, clipboard holding tour-guide! Because of course you need a spreadsheet/clipboard of fun for Disney, especially for Disney newbies!

Oh no what a cliffhanger! I hope your niece is ok! I can't wait to read more!

 

[magichusky]

Hi I just wanted to say I love your TR. We just came back from a week at DLR. We were three adults but I can understand the stress that parents must feel with their kids at the parks. We also went to Legoland with my niece on our first day, we didn't do much because my niece didnt' want to do a lot of the rides, but we did a few and we loved the Lego Miniland too.

Thank you!! That's so exciting about your recent DL and Lego Land trips! I hope DL was on its best behavior. When we went it seemed like everything was constantly breaking down. How rude!

I like your style! Next year my extended family is taking a trip to WDW, and that will include potentially 12 adults and 7 kids, and of course I am the planner of the whole thing. I think I'll be like you most of the trip, the commando, take-charge, clipboard holding tour-guide! Because of course you need a spreadsheet/clipboard of fun for Disney, especially for Disney newbies!

That's a HUGE group!! I can't imagine trying to control so many people. I bet WDW will be easier since FP+ allows you to easily reserve FP's on your phone and you won't have to run around collecting them yourself or drag 20 people with you haha.

 

[magichusky]

DAY 1.2: Disney Ninja Warrior



It took me a second to process what I was seeing. You really just become so complacent when immersed in the Disney bubble. Dad and Violet had gotten out of the ECV and were just standing there unsure and gaping at Dash.

I don't think that anyone said anything; I just rushed to the ECV, lifted it up to take the pressure off of Dash’s foot, and waited for someone else to pull her out from under it. This entire incident seemed to play out in surreal slow motion and it seemed to take positively FOREVER for someone to pull Dash out from under the ECV.

I was HORRIFIED. I was also extremely fearful that Dash had broken something or sprained her ankle. Dash was sobbing and at that point Helen was holding her. I asked Dash if she could move her foot and she could. Very thankfully, she appeared to be fine except that she had skinned her little knee badly. We got her seated on a nearby ledge and Helen pulled a Super-Mom move and whipped out a bandaid from nowhere in 5 seconds flat and placed it over the wound which was still bleeding a little.

Helen picked up Dash, who was still crying and sniffling a little, and carried her the rest of the way to Frontier Land. At that point, no one said anything at all, and we carried on towards BTMR in silence. I started blaming myself for not watching Dash closely enough and for renting the ECV in the first place. When I had first considered renting an ECV for this trip, one of the possibilities I vaguely worried about was an accident like this one, because Dad can be pretty oblivious sometimes. But I knew that Dad really needed it. I also blamed myself for how long it seemed to take me to actively respond to the incident. Usually I'm pretty jumpy and quick but when you're afraid that a child has been injured, it's a very different kind of feeling and very paralyzing.

Dad later told Mom that Dash had tripped in front of the ECV but he had been talking to Violet at that second, so didn't react in time to stop before coming upon Dash. To little Dash’s immense credit, she really pulled it together after that and was ready to carry on after only a few minutes. In many ways, she was a trooper during this trip and we were very proud of her.

We rounded the corner towards BTMR and it seemed strange because the area was mostly empty. I looked up at the standby wait time and it read: "- -." NOOO! BTMR was down! Everyone was pretty bummed, especially after the accident. What do we do now?? I inquired about wait times and FP return times using the Disney Parks App. Since the BTMR FP was active, that meant that we could get another FP. I asked people if they would rather have an IJA FP (return time 2:30pm) or a SplashM FP (return time 1:40pm). There was some dithering and no one could decide. The girls were consulted which I thought was pointless because neither of them had any idea what IJA or SplashM even were. Finally, I just made the executive decision to go for Splash, since Dash wasn't tall enough for IJA and SplashM was appropriate for the scorching weather. In that heat, the demand for SplashM would only increase and the only way we were getting on it was with a FP.

Standby for POTC was 25 min so I decided that everyone would get in line and I would do a FP run for Splash. If I didn't get back to POTC in time to rejoin them in line then oh well. I knew that if I waited to get the FP's until after POTC, then the return time might be too late. Plus, I wanted to get our second FP ASAP so we could get our third FP ASAP. I estimated that, best case scenario, we'd be able to utilize 4 FP's (most likely 3) before we headed back to GCR around 3:30pm for pool time and rest leading up to our 6:10pm ADR at Storyteller's Cafe.

We walked to New Orleans Square and found a spot for Dad to park the ECV against the railing facing Tom Sawyer Island. The others got in POTC standby and I power walked to Critter Country:



I made it to the FP distribution center and acquired 4 FP's for 2:10pm and 3 for 2:15pm. I decided to use the loo at Hungry Bear. I turned to leave Splash and caught a glimpse of Star Wars Land construction that I found really depressing. The area to the West of Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island used to be lined with lush, tall trees and dense foliage. When you paddled the Davy Crockett canoes past that area, it felt like the trees went on forever. Now: BOOM. Trees gone. Everything leveled. Mickey & Friends Parking Structure- in your face. I had never realized how close the road was to the edge of the park. It's a shame because the Western side of DL was always my favorite; it was quiet and less commercialized. It was all about adventure, exploring the wilderness. There was an Indian village set up along the river and a little animatronic Indian girl petting her big white dog on a rock by the water. The back pathway from BTMR to Fantasy Land was shady and quiet. Big Thunder Ranch was always sweetly seasonally decorated and was a great place to bring overstimulated kids to rest, color in the little farmhouse, and pet the pygmy goats with bells around their necks. Now it's going to be full of stormtroopers and AT-AT walkers. I don't really know how I feel about that. But then again, I was highly suspicious of Cars Land when construction began and now I’m obsessed with it!

After Hungry Bear, I power walked back to POTC and went up on the bridge that overlooks the queue. I spotted Violet’s Minnie hat! They were still going through the line and luckily they had entered the right-hand side of the queue so that I could hop the railing easily at the base of the stairs leading up to the Dream Suite. I waved at them and motioned to the railing. I headed back over to the New Orleans Cafe to stand in some shade while I waited for them to reach the railing. This was where I would make the jump:



I checked out the items for sale on one of those rolling carts. They had some selections from Goofy's Candy Co. that I considered. I had broken down in a moment of low blood sugar once and spent $5 on a bag of Mickey & Friends gummy bears and they really hit the spot. Usually I just bring my own snacks and save the money to buy something really awesome, like my Minnie visor or my Mickey Mouse laptop bag. But today it was so hot that all of the Go-Go pouches I had stored in the basket on Dad's ECV were boiling hot after sitting in the sun. Unfortunately, the cart only had sour patch snacks and gummy worms available. They also had a bunch of those ridiculous misting fans that they sell for $20 and display all over the place to taunt guests with when it's hot. I had pre-purchased cheap mini handheld fans for both the girls *specifically* so that they wouldn't whine for a $20 misting fan. I had given the fans to them a few days prior but it didn't look like they had brought them into the park. I was worried that consequently they would fall under the spell of the price-gouged misting fan.

After only a few minutes, it was time to hop that railing and get ready to descend into the bayou, which sounded fabulous due to the disgusting weather. I was looking forward to taking a break from the "real world." I was pleased that I had made it back in time to rejoin the line and was feeling pretty good about our progress so far. Even though BTMR was down, with luck it would reopen before we left the immediate vicinity. I had already collected 2 sets of FP's and we were able to get a third set at 1:40pm.

The last time we had visited DL with the girls, 4 years ago, Violet was 3.5 and POTC was one of the first rides of the day. I was concerned that she or Baby Dash (who was then only 9 months old) would flip out as it was their very first dark ride. Thankfully, we had of course already visited BBB and Violet lit up her electric blue Cinderella wand and used it as a lantern to shield herself from the unknown. I remember watching wide-eyed Violet, who was sitting between Mom and my sister, hold her wand out in front of her as she asked pertinent questions about the nature of the pirates. This time, Dash was sitting in the front row between Bob & Helen, and just as Violet did, lit up her hot pink Aurora wand as if lighting a lantern and held it out in front of her to lead the way.

Violet was pretty concerned about how big the drop was going to be. At the end of the adventure, when our boat slowly ascended the steep incline and traveled back to the "real world," Violet was convinced that there would be another huge drop at the end of it. I remember making the same assumption at some point when I was a child. I let her chatter on nervously until we arrived at the top, at which point in time Violet realized that there was no drop whatsoever and we both laughed.

After POTC I consulted my Disney App and BTMR was still down. I suggested Tarzan's Treehouse and/or JC (15 min wait). We headed across the bridge to Adventure Land and the treehouse:



Dad decided not to go up. Bob, Helen, and Dash led the way. I had stopped on the stairs to take a photo of the view of the Matterhorn and Adventure Land below:



That area past IJA and JC is perpetually bottlenecked but it doesn't look too bad in that photo. EMH had been from 7-8am at DCA that morning so I think that that helped a little bit. While touring WDW, I always make it a rule to avoid the park with EMH that day. It never used to be a concern at DL but I think now that the ticket prices have increased so much, more people may be opting for the 1-park-1-day tickets, so EMH is more influential on crowd levels.

To my amazement, Violet simply sauntered across the big suspension bridge like it was nothing. I was a little bummed out because I didn’t get a chance to run across the bridge and jostle everyone around since I was last in our group:



Violet seemed to really enjoy exploring the treehouse. She requested that I take pictures of certain things and stopped to read the little storybooks that were displayed along the way, telling the story of Tarzan.





Honestly, when I was a child and DL re-themed the original Swiss Family Robinson treehouse to Tarzan, I was absolutely incensed. SWR was one of my favorite films and was one of the original attractions at DL that Walt Disney oversaw. I enjoy walking through the SWR treehouse at WDW, but I don't really pay attention to the DL Tarzan version. Violet noticed some things that I had never noticed before myself. It's a little weird to watch other guests tour the treehouse because they seem to just power walk right on through and not really look at anything or even acknowledge the great views of DL below. It's sort of annoying when you're just trying to enjoy a view for literally 10 or 15 seconds and suddenly several people queue up six inches behind you and you can feel their eyes boring into the back of your head.

LAND!



Violet and I enjoyed exploring the children's play area at the base of the treehouse. I never noticed these fun ropes for kids to climb- it was like a little Ninja Warrior obstacle! Violet used to take gymnastics and was the one kid in her class who could climb to the top of the rope; it was her specialty. Plus, she’s just as much of a Ninja Warrior fan as I am. There were a few kids trying to climb the rope so I encouraged Violet to go over there and "get it" and show them how it's done.



Mrs. Potts!



There was a percussion area where you could grab a metal stick (it was sort of hard to wield because it was attached to a heavy metal security chain) and bang on an assortment of pots, pans, and a xylophone. Violet enjoyed experimenting with these for a few moments. She requested that I join in which I did even though I was having a bit of an OCD attack about touching something that was so obviously contaminated with kiddie germs. I sanitized my hands thoroughly immediately afterwards.

Another ninja obstacle; this one was smaller:



After all those ninja moves, Violet and I were quite ready for lunch!


NEXT TIME: SHADOW MAN

 

[magichusky]

DAY 1.3: Shadow Man



After the treehouse, we all decided to break for lunch. This was a relief to me because the last time we all visited DL together four years ago, Bob had a hanger attack. Suddenly Bob started stalking away from us with a wild look in his eye and said: "I have to eat lunch. NOW.” We were then forced to have an emergency lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus since that was the only option in our vicinity. I was pleased that people were doing the smart thing and insisting to Bob that we eat lunch. He is really a bizarre, restless individual and refuses to stop for meals or eat snacks to regulate blood sugar.

I suggested a CS meal at the French Market nearby on the other side of POTC. We began heading back that way. Violet was dawdling so I had to hang back and monitor her. I think I told Violet about a zillion times that day and the next to watch where she was going and to walk faster because we were falling behind. No reaction. I would literally have to grab a limb and drag her out of the path of an oncoming stroller, wheelchair, motorized or horse-powered vehicle, marching band, etc. Mom and I later realized that the dawdling was probably just a manifestation of Violet’s fatigue. It was hot and she had had a long day at the beach the day before. It’s hard with young kids because they can’t articulate how they’re feeling, so instead of saying “Hey, I could really use a snack” or “I’m really hot, can we find some A/C?” they do weird things like overreact, dawdle, or rant bitterly.

I saw Mom, Dad, and Dash heading over to the ECV and I realized that they were going to move it for whatever reason. I couldn't run up to them because Violet was still dawdling so terribly. I yelled at them to stop. The ECV was parked in front of POTC against the railing overlooking the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. The French Market is a 1 minute walk from POTC so there was no reason to move the ECV.

Moving the ECV was usually a time consuming hassle, especially when Dad had to reverse it out of a parking spot. It was crowded and guests are oblivious to ECV's, which I had never noticed before because I have never toured the parks with anyone on an ECV. Endless torrents of guests will cut in front of and behind the ECV. Oftentimes Mom and I had to form a barrier between oncoming guests and the ECV just so that Dad could get moving again. After Dash’s accident, Mom was consumed with walking sideways next to the ECV so that she could monitor the situation closely. We didn't want another accident with either of the girls or with someone else's child.

That being said, I didn't want to burn five minutes unnecessarily moving the ECV. Since Violet and I were so far behind, I had to yell "No!" and "Stop!" repeatedly at them but they did not hear me. When I finally got to them, I told them again to stop and that the restaurant was close by, but Dad already had the ECV in reverse and was getting ready to pull out. Instead of just stopping, they had already established their vector and were in "not-listening" mode. I was pretty frustrated. Once Dad had pulled out of the parking spot and was in motion again, the mission was complete and they were back in listening mode again. I told them for the 5th time that the restaurant was "right there" and pointed. Dad pulled up a few yards and re-parked the ECV.

Some lovely ducks came up to greet us and stared at us expectantly. Dash was SO excited and requested that I take a picture of them. I think that she got more excited about seeing the random ducks at DL than any of the rides haha.



We all rejoined Bob and Helen and approached the French Market. I told everyone that I would find a table because that seating area is usually pretty crowded. Plus, we had 7 people, so would need 2 tables. I mercifully spotted 2 empty tables adjacent to each other on the edge of the seating area, right where you walk into the restaurant. Everything else was jammed. I told Bob to grab the tables. Not listening. I told Violet to grab the tables. Not listening. I told anybody to grab those darn tables before someone else does. No one increases their rate of speed. I sped around my group and desperately slapped one hand on each table and stood there, hunched over. Now, the logical thing to do would be for a second person to join me so that one person was sitting at each table. Then, a third person would ascertain what we wanted to eat and would then proceed into the restaurant and bring back our food for us. But no. Everyone had already established their vectors and were in, you guessed it, "not-listening" mode. Bob & Helen took the girls inside and then my parents sort of disappeared. I sank onto one of the tables and put my bag on top of the other table. I guess I would have to go back in by myself to get lunch after everyone else returned. I was stressed about it because that would mean that I would probably start eating 10 minutes after everyone else. Usually not a big deal, but everybody knows that when you’re eating with little kids, once they sit down the clock starts ticking. This is the window available to you in which to eat your meal. If you fail to consume your meal within that window, then well, that’s your problem.

I wish that I could be one of those really chill people who goes with the flow, but I was kind of stressed out. My mind was spinning about how I could address the situation when thankfully Mom reappeared. We worried that Dad wouldn't come back to find out what we wanted so then we'd both be delayed starting lunch (Mom worried about the same scenario I was worrying about). Thank goodness Dad eventually also reappeared and was confused about why we hadn't entered the restaurant. Mom suggested that we place our lunch order with him so that he could order our lunches at the same time he ordered his own, thereby saving time. He looked at us blankly. I stood up and said that I would go in and get everyone's lunches. Mom told Dad to select what he wanted from the menu that was posted right behind us. He made his decision and then I instructed him to sit at the table I had just vacated.

I know. Lunch had basically exploded into a quantum mechanics problem.

I went inside and it didn't take long to go through the line. I ordered two French dips for Mom and Dad and picked up a kid's mac 'n' cheese meal for myself. The DL adult portion sizes for lunch always seem too big for me to consume in a single meal and I hate to throw away food. Plus it was hot so I wasn't super hungry. Thankfully Mom reappeared again right as I got up to the cashier so that she could help me carry the trays. Bob, Helen, and the girls had just sat down so she gave them the table she had been saving.

The seating area is shaded by a tarp and trees so it's usually a very pleasant place to sit. However, it was scorching hot and humid so it was still pretty sticky even in the shade. I considered that perhaps I should have guided us to an indoor restaurant with A/C but the only ones I could think of were Pinocchio's Village Haus and Pizza Port.

Bob, Helen, Mom, Dad, and I all enjoyed our food and everyone cleaned their plates. Bob also had the French dip and Helen had a big salad. But sure enough, the girls started getting restless after having taken only a few tiny bites. Violet had the chicken kids meal and Dash had the same thing I had, which she found exceedingly funny. Violet refused to eat her chicken and claimed that she didn't like it, even though she had ordered it herself and hadn't even tried it. Dash was ignoring her mac 'n' cheese but when I pointed out that I had eaten all of MY mac 'n' cheese and really liked it, she was happy to take quite a few more bites. I don't know if Violet ever touched her chicken. Sometimes I am convinced that those children must generate calories via photosynthesis.

I pulled out my phone and noticed that I had received a text from GCR informing us that one of our rooms was ready. Mom told me that the CM at the front desk had said something about texting GCR to request that our luggage be delivered to our room once it was ready. The text message didn't mention anything about this, so I called the front desk and requested the luggage to be sent to the room. I found out that someone had to be physically present in the room to accept the luggage, so we would have to call them again once we returned to GCR for our pool time.

I checked the status of BTMR on my Disney App and it was OPEN! Everyone was excited to head back on over there and ride the wildest ride in the wilderness! It was the girls' first ride on BTMR and everyone was pumped. Violet was extremely anxious about whether or not she should take off her hat during the ride and whether or not it would blow off. She decided that she would indeed take off her hat and advised me to take off my Minnie visor as well.

Violet was quite adamant about riding with me and Dash wanted to ride with Mom. Whenever it was time to load onto a ride we would always go through this. Mom and I were very aware and careful about making sure that the girls rode with their parents often; they always wanted to ride with us and actually refused to ride with Bob and Helen 90% of the time. Both girls actually had a few mini temper tantrums when we insisted that they ride with a parent. Taking your child to DL for the first time (well, technically the second but neither of the girls had been old enough to remember or really ride anything four years ago) is a special memory, and we knew that Bob and Helen would obviously love to ride with their kids and be able to have that experience with them. I had to have a long discussion with Violet about how much her dad really wanted to sit with her and how we could sit together the next time we rode BTMR. Thankfully Violet seemed to understand this and skipped over to Bob and said "Dad, I want to ride with you."



I was pleased that we were assigned the first 3 rows, as the front is the slowest part of the train. Once the rest of the train crests a hill and you finally start to pick up speed, the front of the train is already near the bottom of the hill. "U.B. Bold" pulled up and we got ourselves situated.



I wanted to get a family photo of Bob, Helen, and the girls on BTMR for the first time. I yelled at them about 3 times to turn around and smile. Helen and Dash turned to smile but Bob was, you guessed it, not listening. This picture cracks me up because it's direct photographic evidence of my plight for the day: repeating myself over and over again to no avail. You can see Helen calling for Bob to turn around for the camera, which she was pointing at. She had to repeat herself a few times and Bob for some reason didn't seem to comprehend. By that time everyone had already loaded onto the train so I had to follow suit. Ugh.

Ready to roll:






Our train was about to pull out of the station when I heard that tell-tale beeping noise. The low hum of the ride's inner mechanics, which you don't notice is there until it's not there, shut off and a CM came over the intercom announcing: "Powering down." Are you kidding me?!!

Our lap bars released and we were instructed to evacuate and meet the CM's at the exit who would give us re-ride passes. Side note: everyone from the train was given a re-ride pass, regardless of whether or not they were FP or standby. I didn't consider this to be a 100% comp. Standby riders were given a FP while theoretically holding a FP for another ride- they now had 2 FP's. We were also given a FP but we had just burned a FP, so we now had 1 FP. I don't know how exactly the CM's could address that aspect but regardless, when you blow a FP on a ride that breaks down, it's a huge loss especially on a crowded day when FP's run out quickly. But I guess that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

By then it was about 1:30pm or so and there was more dithering about next steps. Mom and I suggested Fantasy Land because we hadn't even really experienced it yet, since we had only walked just inside the castle and gone right into BBB. However, Bob was being a pill. I informed everyone that I could acquire our third set of FP's at 1:40pm. The only big thing left in that area to get FP's for was IJA. There was some more dithering as IJA was considered. We started shuffling along aimlessly. Dad went to get his ECV, which was parked near the BTMR FP distribution corral. The rest of us migrated over to a nearby patch of shade next to the covered area that serves as the queue for the Mark Twain Ferryboat (the ferryboat is closed now due to the Star Wars Land construction, but you can still climb aboard and explore at your leisure).

Suddenly, Violet spotted Dr. Facilier (villain from "The Princess and the Frog") doing a meet 'n' greet in the empty queue. There were only about 2 children in line for him so Violet & Dash whipped out their autograph books and raced over. I was a little hesitant about going to meet Dr. Facilier because he was not exactly what I pictured when I envisioned Violet & Dash experiencing their first DL character meet. Furthermore, Helen told me that when Violet was younger, Dr. Facilier was the catalyst for a series of nightmares that plagued her for months. Anyway, it turned out that the actor who played Dr. Facilier was extremely expressive and entertaining, and the girls actually got a huge kick out of him. This day was starting to take a turn towards the unexpected, so I thought that the fact that the girls' first autograph was some weird villain that nobody liked was sort of par for the course.







Once the meet was over, the girls and I returned to Bob, Helen, and Mom in their shady refuge. There was more dithering. I checked my Disney App and the wait times for some of the Fantasy Land rides were doable. Peter Pan was 45 min as usual so that was out, but there was the carousel, Casey Jr., Dumbo, Small World, and the teacups. Dash had specifically expressed interest in Small World and the teacups. We started a procession to the castle and suddenly someone asked where Dad was.

We looked everywhere. Dad had positively disappeared. He was gone.

NEXT TIME: SPLASHED & AFRAID

 

[Kiren]

Oh no! Dad's gone? So many cliffhangers! Can't wait to read more!