Yes, We're Satisfied With Our Care! October 2015 TR **NEW 8/21 Final Thoughts

[Carathryn]

I LOVE those firework pictures! Such a pretty perspective with the firework lighting coming off the lake. I'm sorry the kids weren't cooperating on your drive back to the hotel! Being an oldest child can be so difficult at times

 

[aj23]

Love the pictures of Wishes from the TTC. Makes me think about watching from there just for that view.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Some cool perspectives for both the parade and the fireworks. The pictures from the TTC came out great and pretty cool they pipe the music into there - have to remember that for helping with a quick getaway - though too bad that didn't work out. At least it was only a 10 minute drive but I am sure that is rough when you just can't get them calmed down

 

[Dugette]

Seeing Carousel of Progress made me realize it's been a long time since we've been on that! I miss it now.

Cool view of the parade from the train station!

Good to know they pipe in the Wishes soundtrack at the TTC. Could be a good place to catch Wishes on a non-park-ticket day - I will have to keep that in mind. Beautiful fireworks pictures, as always!

 

[khertz]

I LOVE those firework pictures! Such a pretty perspective with the firework lighting coming off the lake. I'm sorry the kids weren't cooperating on your drive back to the hotel! Being an oldest child can be so difficult at times

It was a pretty cool perspective to see Wishes from! It was neat being able to see all of the bursts at one time.

We were so proud of our plan until that complete meltdown getting into the car. lol We learned a lot from that car ride!!

Love the pictures of Wishes from the TTC. Makes me think about watching from there just for that view.

DH reads lots of photography blogs to get ideas, and this was one he had been wanting to do for awhile. It was definitely cool!

Some cool perspectives for both the parade and the fireworks. The pictures from the TTC came out great and pretty cool they pipe the music into there - have to remember that for helping with a quick getaway - though too bad that didn't work out. At least it was only a 10 minute drive but I am sure that is rough when you just can't get them calmed down

Yeah, it was a good plan until they both had a meltdown at being woken up to put in the car. But it was nice to have a quick getaway back to the room instead of fighting the crowds after the fireworks and then still having to get to the TTC, then the car, etc. There was one lone CM working at the dock, and he was encouraging those that came over on the ferry to stop and watch from there. Very cool!

Seeing Carousel of Progress made me realize it's been a long time since we've been on that! I miss it now.

Cool view of the parade from the train station!

Good to know they pipe in the Wishes soundtrack at the TTC. Could be a good place to catch Wishes on a non-park-ticket day - I will have to keep that in mind. Beautiful fireworks pictures, as always!

Seeing all the pics on the People Mover has reminded me that I have missed out on it since our October trip! I have to remedy that later this month. We always seem to find time for CoP though. It's one of our favorites!

It was interesting to watch from there. I bet FoF would be even better from up that high since the floats are so huge!

Definitely a good spot to watch from, especially if you're not planning to use a park ticket that day. There was a CM working down by the dock encouraging everyone coming over on the ferry to stay and watch from there. It was a cool experience to watch the fireworks with only a couple dozen other people!

 

[missangelalexis]

Wow, I love all the photos from the train station. Watching the parade from up there definitely gives you a different vantage point. Very cool!

I've always thought it would be nice to catch Wishes from the TTC. It's certainly a fabulous view. Glad you guys to do it!

Ah that car ride back does not sound fun! I'm sure the long day took a toll on everyone!

 

[afwdwfan]

After a nice spin on the People Mover, we decided to check in with John & family on the Carousel of Progress. This is a favorite for DH & me, and we are passing the love on to DS. I frequently hear him singing There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow to himself while he’s playing!

DH stood against the railing to set up his tripod and camera settings. Soon enough, it was time for Wishes! They even pipe the music in on the dock.

Oh my gosh! I'd never even considered this! Everybody always talks about watching from the Poly or the Contemporary, but the vantage point for either of those is just a little bit off. This looks absolutely perfect. And they pipe the music in??? Ok, new bucket list item for an evening without park tickets.

Were there many people trying to stake out a good spot to watch from?

Both kids woke up as we put them in the car. DD was screaming her head off and was totally inconsolable. This led to DS being emotional at having been woken up and DD screaming beside him, so he started sobbing and covering his ears. He cried the whole way back saying, "She's just making me so upset!" It was the absolute longest 10 minute drive back to Bonnet Creek EVER IN LIFE.

Oh no. Been there, done that. I'm just glad that you were able to get them settled down and asleep once you made it back to the room.

 

[DDuck4Life]

I LOVE those firework pictures! Such a pretty perspective with the firework lighting coming off the lake.

Love the pictures of Wishes from the TTC. Makes me think about watching from there just for that view.

Some cool perspectives for both the parade and the fireworks. The pictures from the TTC came out great and pretty cool they pipe the music into there - have to remember that for helping with a quick getaway - though too bad that didn't work out. At least it was only a 10 minute drive but I am sure that is rough when you just can't get them calmed down

Good to know they pipe in the Wishes soundtrack at the TTC. Could be a good place to catch Wishes on a non-park-ticket day - I will have to keep that in mind. Beautiful fireworks pictures, as always!

I've always thought it would be nice to catch Wishes from the TTC. It's certainly a fabulous view. Glad you guys to do it!

Oh my gosh! I'd never even considered this! Everybody always talks about watching from the Poly or the Contemporary, but the vantage point for either of those is just a little bit off. This looks absolutely perfect. And they pipe the music in??? Ok, new bucket list item for an evening without park tickets.

Were there many people trying to stake out a good spot to watch from?

TTC is my new favorite spot to watch the fireworks after catching them a few time this trip. Pictures from here will be a recurring theme this trip report as I went back by myself a couple times on party nights to catch Hallowishes! I was there 3 or 4 times (spoiler alert) and I know twice I had one other person with a camera and tripod set up next to me. Other than that the only other people there were the ones who had just gotten off the ferry as the fireworks started and stayed to watch. if you get there 10 minutes before the fireworks start you and the dock CM will be the only people there. Plenty of space to just relax and wind down waiting for the fireworks after a long day at the parks. Better than being stuck on Main Street really getting to know the people next to you an hour before they start just so you can have a decent view.

While the music being piped in and the view are great it's not even the best thing. You can actually sit on the benches, under the overhang for the ferry waiting area, to watch. You have the music, great view, quick get away, no crowds and a spot to sit and enjoy the fireworks after being on your feet all day. You can see why it's my favorite spot especially on party nights when you can't stay to watch the fireworks. I really shouldn't be hyping it up this much since I want it to stay the way it is with no crowds.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

TTC is my new favorite spot to watch the fireworks after catching them a few time this trip. Pictures from here will be a recurring theme this trip report as I went back by myself a couple times on party nights to catch Hallowishes! I was there 3 or 4 times (spoiler alert) and I know twice I had one other person with a camera and tripod set up next to me. Other than that the only other people there were the ones who had just gotten off the ferry as the fireworks started and stayed to watch. if you get there 10 minutes before the fireworks start you and the dock CM will be the only people there. Plenty of space to just relax and wind down waiting for the fireworks after a long day at the parks. Better than being stuck on Main Street really getting to know the people next to you an hour before they start just so you can have a decent view.

While the music being piped in and the view are great it's not even the best thing. You can actually sit on the benches, under the overhang for the ferry waiting area, to watch. You have the music, great view, quick get away, no crowds and a spot to sit and enjoy the fireworks after being on your feet all day. You can see why it's my favorite spot especially on party nights when you can't stay to watch the fireworks. I really shouldn't be hyping it up this much since I want it to stay the way it is with no crowds.

I have watched Hallowishes from the Poly beach and you can really get a sense for how widespread the perimeter fireworks are - did you get the same sense from that spot at the TTC?

 

[afwdwfan]

I really shouldn't be hyping it up this much since I want it to stay the way it is with no crowds.

Yeah, I think you might have just ruined a good thing!

But thanks for the info. I'll definitely have to check it out sometime.

 

[DDuck4Life]

I have watched Hallowishes from the Poly beach and you can really get a sense for how widespread the perimeter fireworks are - did you get the same sense from that spot at the TTC?

Absolutely, you get the same feel here as well. There should be several photos coming of Hallowishes from the TTC for you to get a sense of how it looks. I think I went back 2 other party nights to catch the fireworks. It's really quite impressive how widespread the fireworks are when you look at them from that far away. It's a completely different feel from being in the park where they seem so much closer.

 

[Imagineer5]

Oh no, I didn't mean to but I laughed at Paxton's comment at the end while crying himself. Poor boy! And poor you guys - those car rides with a crying baby are horrible, it's like a grating noise you just cant do anything about.

But the wishes from the TTC look amazing! I've never seen them from that view (though not much different from the Poly beach lol) and great idea to watch from there and then hop right in the car.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Just joining in and caught up with your TR. The pictures are amazing and your kiddos are so cute!
We are planning our first trip to USO and our kids will be 2y, 4y, and 8y so it was great to read a trip report with young kids We're staying at HRH and looking forward to the Express Passes, but now you have me worried about transitioning back to FP for the rest of our trip. Oh well, we'll survive.
DH and I were at the same MNSSHP last year! We are skipping this year as our kids don't do well much after 9pm. The Baymax and villain costume (I forget the name) were great. Your little girl is so precious.
DD's first trip was at 3mo and she was so much easier at that age. It's work getting up early like you said and taking breaks for feedings and diapers, but nice too because she slept so much.
Now I've got to find your other TRs

 

[khertz]

Wow, I love all the photos from the train station. Watching the parade from up there definitely gives you a different vantage point. Very cool!

I've always thought it would be nice to catch Wishes from the TTC. It's certainly a fabulous view. Glad you guys to do it!

Ah that car ride back does not sound fun! I'm sure the long day took a toll on everyone!

It was an interesting spot to watch from! I bet FoF would be cool from up there too because of how huge the floats are.

DH has been pushing for watching fireworks from the TTC for a few trips now, but it never made sense more than it did this trip with DD along. Although the car ride afterwards was not fun at all, it was still better than battling the crowds out of the park!

Oh my gosh! I'd never even considered this! Everybody always talks about watching from the Poly or the Contemporary, but the vantage point for either of those is just a little bit off. This looks absolutely perfect. And they pipe the music in??? Ok, new bucket list item for an evening without park tickets.

Were there many people trying to stake out a good spot to watch from?

Oh no. Been there, done that. I'm just glad that you were able to get them settled down and asleep once you made it back to the room.

I know DH kind of took this on, but I just have to comment that it was a fantastic spot to watch from. When we got there, it was just the CM and one other guy who was obviously used to doing this since he was already set up with his tripod. By the time it was over there was still only maybe a few dozen other people watching with us. Most people were getting off the ferry and continuing on to their cars.

Yeah, I think you might have just ruined a good thing!

But thanks for the info. I'll definitely have to check it out sometime.

I was thinking the same thing!! Thankfully my reach is not that far to have any sort of impact. lol

Oh no, I didn't mean to but I laughed at Paxton's comment at the end while crying himself. Poor boy! And poor you guys - those car rides with a crying baby are horrible, it's like a grating noise you just cant do anything about.

But the wishes from the TTC look amazing! I've never seen them from that view (though not much different from the Poly beach lol) and great idea to watch from there and then hop right in the car.

lol No worries! I laugh about it now myself. It was so ridiculous! And it was a terrible feeling that there was just literally nothing I could do that was consoling either one of them.

I had read about watching from the Poly beach for years and just never thought to try it out. The TTC definitely worked better for us because we would have to go there anyway, and this way we didn't have to fight the crowds out and wait for transportation along with a million of our closest friends. lol

Just joining in and caught up with your TR. The pictures are amazing and your kiddos are so cute!
We are planning our first trip to USO and our kids will be 2y, 4y, and 8y so it was great to read a trip report with young kids We're staying at HRH and looking forward to the Express Passes, but now you have me worried about transitioning back to FP for the rest of our trip. Oh well, we'll survive.
DH and I were at the same MNSSHP last year! We are skipping this year as our kids don't do well much after 9pm. The Baymax and villain costume (I forget the name) were great. Your little girl is so precious.
DD's first trip was at 3mo and she was so much easier at that age. It's work getting up early like you said and taking breaks for feedings and diapers, but nice too because she slept so much.
Now I've got to find your other TRs

Welcome!!

Express Pass will definitely spoil you!! It took a couple days of explaining to DS before he realized just because we had FPs in Disney didn't mean we could get off and get right back on a ride that he liked!

Thank you! MNSSHP is something we absolutely love, but it is a huge expense, especially if not everyone can hang, so I totally know what you mean. We really struggled with the decision to buy tickets to our first party in 2013 because we weren't sure how DS would do with a late night, but we ended up doing it and loving it. I had similar reservations about it this past trip on 2015 because of having DD with us this time around. I think we will do it again this year only because it might be our last fall trip for awhile.

I was so worried about taking her at 3 months, but 6 months in February was definitely more of a challenge! She will be nearly 10 months when we go Memorial Day weekend, so I'm preparing myself mentally right now! lol She is more interested in the world around her, but that now means she grabs at everything within reach and 90% of the things she gets her hands on goes in her mouth!

You don't need to go far to find my other TRs! They are all linked in my signature. Happy reading!

 

[khertz]

Day 6: Thursday October 22nd

The next morning, we were up and getting ready at 6:45 am. By 8:15, we were heading out the door and making the very short drive over to Epcot. It was a beautiful day!

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We got into the park a little before 9 am and got a couple more photos of this beauty before rushing over to line up for our first attraction of the morning.

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We had made our 3 FPs for Journey Into Imagination, Soarin’, and Nemo. Since we only had a 30 day window to make them, there were none available for Test Track. We weren’t too worried about it because DS had previously acted too scared of it and didn’t seem interested. But right before the trip, he had expressed interest in trying it. Since it was before 9 am, we went over to the side of Future World with Test Track and joined a line behind the rope. Once the rope dropped, we joined the mad rush of people over to Test Track. We managed to snag a rider switch pass before DS and I joined the line to ride standby.

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It wasn’t too long before we were ready to design our vehicle. This was something I had never had the chance to do either, as the only other time I’ve ridden TT since the update, I had used FP and chosen to skip the design part since it doesn’t really matter in regards to the ride. However, DS was super excited about it.

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When the ride started picking up speed at the end, DS looked at me a little freaked out and said, “But I didn’t make a fast car!” He held on tight for the fast outdoor portion, and said, “It’s fast, but I’m not scared!” At the end of our ride, he kept saying over and over how awesome it was, but when I asked if he wanted to ride again, he said once was enough. Lol

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We had a little fun playing around in the car showcase before going to meet DH and DD.

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Meanwhile, DH was walking around a bit with DD in the stroller taking pictures.

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When we met back up, we decided to over and use our Figment FP+ before I would need to take DD to eat.

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DD wasn’t terribly impressed.

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 6 Continued: Thursday October 22nd

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After the ride, DD and I went around to the bathroom behind Imagination so I could feed her on the bench outside. I had noticed earlier in the morning when going to use that restroom that it wasn’t very heavily trafficked, so it seemed like a good place. DH and DS stayed behind in ImageWorks so DS could play and design his own Figment.

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Then, DS decided he wanted to ride Test Track again after all. So they went to ride using the rider swap pass.

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DS’s car came in 1st!


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After they finished on Test Track, they came back to find me by Imagination.

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We traded kiddos so DS and I could go use our Soarin’ FPs. It was another first for him! I hate that you have to park strollers outside of The Land. I mean, I get why that is, but it just sucks when you have little ones. But still, we parked it and headed inside.

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We made our way downstairs to Soarin’ where I requested a rider swap. This was one of the attractions where instead of just giving you the pass right away, they instead gave me a plastic card similar to the red wait time cards that I had to carry through the queue and give to the CM at the merge point where he exchanged it for the rider swap pass.

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DS absolutely LOVED Soarin’! He was pretty nervous at first until the ride started and he got an idea of what the ride was about. Then he relaxed and totally enjoyed it, especially the parts with the hot air balloons and, of course, Disneyland!

While they were waiting, DH actually found a fellow DIS Dad who had posted in their Facebook group that he was in the Soarin’ waiting area at the same time. Funny thing about it was not only was it another DIS Dad, he is also from a city within 20 minutes of where we live!

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After our ride, we had to tuck the Soarin’ rider swap away for the moment, grab the stroller, and hurry over to World Showcase. We had a lunch date coming up, and I certainly didn't want to miss this one!

UP NEXT: Buongiorno!

 

[TinkyCheeks]

I have really been loving this TR! I have to give you props on your early mornings and being able to get out the door with two little ones. You're a great writer, and I'm really enjoying this! Following along!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad DS enjoyed Test Track and Soarin! Sounds like a pretty solid Epcot morning So nice that DH was able to meet up with another DIS Dad!

 

[rdkeim]

The Wishes pictures are the best ones I've ever seen! I would have never thought to watch it from the TTC. Also, the parade pictures from the train station were great - a different perspective being above the action. The ride home - oh my. Every parent can feel your pain on that. But, it looks like the kids were good to go the next morning!

 

[afwdwfan]

It wasn’t too long before we were ready to design our vehicle. This was something I had never had the chance to do either, as the only other time I’ve ridden TT since the update, I had used FP and chosen to skip the design part since it doesn’t really matter in regards to the ride. However, DS was super excited about it.

I love that part! He did a nice job too!

When the ride started picking up speed at the end, DS looked at me a little freaked out and said, “But I didn’t make a fast car!” He held on tight for the fast outdoor portion, and said, “It’s fast, but I’m not scared!” At the end of our ride, he kept saying over and over how awesome it was, but when I asked if he wanted to ride again, he said once was enough. Lol

I'm glad he enjoyed the ride. Even if he didn't feel the urge to jump back on it.

DD wasn’t terribly impressed.

Nobody is impressed by Figment's skunk smell.

Then, DS decided he wanted to ride Test Track again after all. So they went to ride using the rider swap pass.

How about that? I'm glad he decided to give it another shot!

I hate that you have to park strollers outside of The Land. I mean, I get why that is, but it just sucks when you have little ones. But still, we parked it and headed inside.

I get it, but yeah, it is definitely a pain.

While they were waiting, DH actually found a fellow DIS Dad who had posted in their Facebook group that he was in the Soarin’ waiting area at the same time. Funny thing about it was not only was it another DIS Dad, he is also from a city within 20 minutes of where we live!

Nothing like going several hours away to meet someone from close to home!