StarWarsMomofGirls!
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
Amazing! I love it.Here's the business card
Amazing! I love it.Here's the business card
Sounds like awesome character interactions!All of the characters were great. The girls told Snow White how much they love the dwarfs, asked Jasmine where Carpet was, and talked to Aurora about Phillip. Ariel in particular was quite fun when she asked the girls why they had their dinglehoppers at the table. They tried to explain to her how forks worked but she maintained her polite confusion, which they found hilarious.
Yeah, that makes sense! I always say if you can move things up earlier in the schedule it works out best!At this point, I decided, rather than battle to get out of this mess, we’d just move our Festival of Fantasy viewing to this day and clear things up later in the week.
Too bad they didn't love it!It started lightly raining as we were unloading, so we headed into the Enchanted Tiki Room to enjoy the show and stay dry. Hubby had hyped it quite a bit (the girls were walking around the house singing, “In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room,” in the lead up to the trip) and this was a bit of a letdown. They liked the first song, but when the tempo slowed down, they started to get bored. I was surprised, as they’re usually suckers for animatronics, but I think they were expecting the whole thing to be super high energy the way Hubby had been singing. They didn’t dislike it, but I’d say they were underwhelmed.
Seriously!With this being our first time as a family in MK, and an early exit to boot, I was happy to have accomplished 9 rides, 6 shows, 4 character meets, 1 parade, 1 pixie-dusting, and 1 lunch in the castle.
I don't mind waiting when you know you are going to get more than just hello smile goodbye.There was a 15-minute wait to meet Cinderella, but she was having a nice long chat with each family once they got to her.
Too cute!
I mean, what do you know, you are just there mom!!! We moms know nothing!Unfortunately, the preschoolers refused to take my word for it
I get great delight about hearing these kinds of conversations, as it lets me know that my children are not the only crazy children!being seated and putting in their orders. It was clear to me that they had the character flow such that we would all get situated and then the ladies would start coming through. Unfortunately, the preschoolers refused to take my word for it. They were very worried that our section didn’t meet princesses and my assurances were insufficient. It got to the point that the solo diner at the next table over was laughing at us and I had to flag down one of the servers to confirm that our table would, in fact, be on the meet and greet rotation.
Ariel is the best for this!Ariel in particular was quite fun when she asked the girls why they had their dinglehoppers at the table.
What makes Disney great, when the adults feel like kids! I heard a rumor of them upgrading this, which I would LOVE! It needs some tech updates.d the experience. I am a sucker for 3D gags; despite knowing logically that there is nothing in front of me, I still squeal and duck when an instrument appears to be flying at my head. The girls had fun reaching out to try to grab everything and Hubby was mostly enjoying watching me act like a little kid.
Good time to be flexible.At this point, I decided, rather than battle to get out of this mess, we’d just move our Festival of Fantasy viewing to this day and clear things up later in the week
That is strange!The timestamp on my photos shows the first floats in front of Liberty Tree Tavern at 2:53pm, meaning it had to have started moving at more like 2:45pm.
Why wasn't the CM telling people about that?!?!My intention was to try the citrus swirl, but that machine was down. Instead, we got an orange dole whip twist in a cone and a float for everyone to share. I manned the float while Hubby manned the cone and the girls jumped back and forth eating from both.
the fact that you describe them as a cluster of kids... oye. I know you are used to it...just see us walking with a small cluster of kids.
this I don't understand... That ride barely has harnesses... I am sure they loved getting to ride all together, though., with the adults behind: an adult was not required to be in each row. The girls spent the ride trying to get us lined up just right to get spit on by a camel and were nearly successful.
Bummer. But sometimes overhypped things just don't stand a chance.as they’re usually suckers for animatronics, but I think they were expecting the whole thing to be super high energy the way Hubby had been singing. They didn’t dislike it, but I’d say they were underwhelmed.
This is the problem, I feel like it is really hard to have a true comparision. But I always love to see a good review of the two.We would not have enjoyed our two adult beverages at CRT had we been paying for them ourselves, so that’s definitely advantage DDP. At Sleepy Hollow, I would have gone with the Nutella waffle with fruit if paying out of pocket, which I would say is advantage OOP. Not that the Mickey waffle was bad, but chocolate hazelnut spread = yum! Finally, we would have stuck with just water at dinner if the drinks hadn’t been included with our credit. I’d say that is a slight DDP advantage: we enjoyed our soda and chocolate milk, but would have been fine without
I completely agree that it's all about perspective. A good attitude makes all the difference.This is one of those moments where I feel like perspective really matters. I had never expected to get my room that early and I had already specifically packed one carry on with everything we would need for swimming. My plan had always been to change by the pools and hang out until our rooms were ready, so the only real inconvenience to us was the extra trip up to a room that turned out to be unavailable. I could have chosen to be annoyed about the mix-up: it was certainly disappointing to think we would get to change in the room only to have to do the awkward public bathroom clothing change. However, when my husband and I turned the corner, we were both just excited to have the money on the account towards our charges for the trip. You want to give me $100 because we brought out bags up prematurely? Sold!
We did the DXDP on our first trip with two six year olds and an eight year old and it was a LOT of food. The next trip we did DDP and it worked out well. Once they were "Disney adults" we chose to pay OOP for dining and have done so every trip since. It's all what works at different stages of your family life.When we first booked this trip, I had assumed that we wouldn’t be doing the dining plan, as I’d heard so many people say it was too much money for too much food. However, it was also true that we were in the small category of travelers (outnumbered by children under 10 and going to a lot of character meals) where the plan would be most likely to be cost effective.
Love this picture!The girls were hamming it up the whole way up Main St, waiving to everyone below and having a blast. When we unloaded in front of the castle, I wanted to make sure we got family photos while we were still relatively put together. As I had read on the boards, the lines for photographers closer to the entrance were several families deep but those nearer to the hub had no one waiting. We hopped in line and quickly got our obligatory castle photos.
The Fairy Godmother is a great meet!When we got to her spot, there was quite a line and I tried to usher the girls away since we obviously hadn’t waited our turn like those families. The Godmother was having none of my polite refusal and insisted that the girls pose for pictures and invited Hubby and me in for a family shot as well.
Such an awesome first day!!Overall, we had a nice first park day of the trip. The rain only got heavier as the evening wore on, so leaving early was the right call for us. The morning stomach upset didn’t turn into anything more, which I think in and of itself was a win. In looking at my plan for the day, we had missed Merida, the carousel, the river boat, the Hall of Presidents, Move It! Shake It!, and HEA. I started shifting things around to make sure we got back to Merida, the parade, and the fireworks. The others were only listed as filler to begin with, so I’d keep them in the back of my head as options on our next park days, but I wasn’t concerned about getting to them. Plus, we had unexpectedly accomplished Festival of Fantasy, Astro, Buzz and Pirates, which left me with a big chunk of time and a FP to reschedule on one of our other MK days. With this being our first time as a family in MK, and an early exit to boot, I was happy to have accomplished 9 rides, 6 shows, 4 character meets, 1 parade, 1 pixie-dusting, and 1 lunch in the castle.
The parade was beautiful and we got to see Maleficent back in action.
There was a CM coming through the line whose only job was to let people know that this was the location for citrus swirl, not pineapple dole whip, and I saw several people bail out of line once they heard her. How do you just get into a food line without knowing what they sell?
fewer random people came up to me out of the blue to ask if they were triplets.
(the girls were walking around the house singing, “In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room,” in the lead up to the trip
They proceeded to jump at every loud noise and generally be on alert for anything else being pretend-shot at them. There were no tears, but they were adamite that they didn’t want to ride again.
Dining Plan Explanation and Day 1
When we first booked this trip, I had assumed that we wouldn’t be doing the dining plan, as I’d heard so many people say it was too much money for too much food. However, it was also true that we were in the small category of travelers (outnumbered by children under 10 and going to a lot of character meals) where the plan would be most likely to be cost effective.
I decided to scour menus online and build a moderate splurge budget to see just how close we’d be to the plan cost. For us, a moderate splurge would essentially mean splurging on the kids and skimping on the adults. We’d do character meals for them, let them get snacks, but be more restrictive with ourselves. For instance, I guessed that we’d allow ourselves one caffeinated beverage a day but otherwise be drinking water. The moderate splurge didn’t include any alcoholic beverages, either, because I knew we wouldn’t spend that kind of money on ourselves when push came to shove. When I added it all up, the moderate splurge was within $200 of the DDP cost with 3 fewer TS credits being used. I discussed it with hubby and we agreed that $200 was the extra seated meals and the ability to go ahead and order whatever snacks or drinks we adults wanted without worrying about the bottom line.
Coming into this trip, then, there were essentially three numbers I was tracking: a) what we paid on the DDP plus tips, b) what we hypothetically would have paid on the meals we actually purchased had we not had the dining plan, and c) what we would have spent had we stuck to our moderate splurge plan. I expected that we would get significantly more value from the dining plan than the cost we paid (a safe bet based on our TS costs alone), but I wanted to see just how well we did. On the flip side, while I knew buying the DDP would be more than the moderate splurge, I wanted to look at how much more money Disney got out of us by offering the plan and how much more benefit we got out of them by taking advantage of it.
For each day, I’ll breakdown what we ate, what the menu cost would have been, and what we most likely would have order on our moderate splurge budget, tracking the ways that the DDP shifted our eating habits, for better or worse. With all of that explanation out of the way, here’s how we did on day 1:
DDP Cost for Trip: $2,114.91
Day 1 Actual Spending
Refillable mugs: $101.60
3 QS Hurricane Hanna: $65.28
3 S Ample Hills: $19.23
DDP Day 1 Value: $186.11
Moderate Splurge Adjustments
We would not have gotten the resort mugs without the plan. While it was a nice bonus to be able to run down and grab coffee each morning, we could have used the pot in our room, too. The kids don’t drink soda, so they got the occasional lemonade or Powerade refill, but that wouldn’t have been missed had we not had the mugs in the first place. I’d say the DDP offered us a slight advantage for convenience relative to the moderate splurge. As to the meal, I think that, without the plan, we would have made a Beaches and Cream reservation, split a couple of apps and entrees, and gotten the Kitchen Sink. Had we done that reservation, there would have been no adult beverages and no Ample Hills. The DDP netted us tastier, more unique ice cream than what you get at B&C, but in a much less fun presentation. We also would have been beholden to an ADR, rather than just eating once we chose to leave the pool and get cleaned up. I’d give the slight advantage to the moderate splurge here, because the Kitchen Sink is a worthy experience unto itself.
Moderate Splurge Day One Estimated Cost (Tax and Tip): $114.28
Apparently, we were quite a sight, because several folks around us were smiling at the girls and commenting on how well they were sharing. That turned to the inevitable, “Are they triplets? Are they identical?” spiel that we get pretty much everywhere we go. When they were babies, the stroller with three car seats might as well have been a flashing neon sign saying, “Infant Triplets: Come Tell This Woman She Has Her Hands Full!” Now that they’re older, it’s gotten a little better because people who aren’t looking closely just see us walking with a small cluster of kids. Once someone takes more than a passing glance, though, it’s pretty obvious because all three are identical. The trick to avoiding the questions is to keep moving and don’t make eye contact, but that’s not really an option when you’re stopping to eat. I was interested to see how much attention we’d get on this trip because people already have plenty to look at in Disney without staring at my kids. We still got the question from nearly everyone we directly interacted with (characters, servers, cashiers, etc) but fewer random people came up to me out of the blue to ask if they were triplets.
I love that your girls don't seem hesitant to ride anything! Just full of excitement and joy!
Sounds like a great time at CRT!
I can imagine it gets annoying being stopped by so many people about the girls being triplets!
I think you made the right call waiting to do HEA another day. And at least you were able to squeeze in the parade on this day to free up some time on another day!
SOunds like a great first day, you got so much done!
I am so enjoying your trip report!
It looks like you folks had a great travel day and first park day!
I will have to look into Walmart delivery...did not know that they were in the game there! Good to know!
Loved your comfy princess dresses!
I can't wait to read more!
lynn
Too bad they didn't love it!
I mean, what do you know, you are just there mom!!! We moms know nothing!
I get great delight about hearing these kinds of conversations, as it lets me know that my children are not the only crazy children!
Why wasn't the CM telling people about that?!?!
Bummer. But sometimes overhypped things just don't stand a chance.
Such an awesome first day!!
Ah, I'm so jealous! She came back up like a week after our trip. I'm glad you got to see her.
I wonder how many angry people at the front of the line order dole whips there were that this felt necessary?
I bet you got a ton of attention! You just don't see a lot of triplets. I had random people at Disney ask if our boys were twins on both trips so far, which makes zero sense because DS1 is a foot taller than DS2. Maybe it's the matching shirts I did?
Joining in!
Sounds like you had a great first day at Magic Kingdom! Crazy how long Merida's line was that day.
You and I think a lot alike about DDP. When we decided whether or not to get it, I looked at what I thought we would be spending for meals and compared it to how much adding the DDP would be. We are 2 adults and we definitely plan on ordering alcohol with dinner. When I did the math, we might lose $100 on DDP but my BF agreed that not worrying about what we are spending is well worth that $100.
I have twins and I feel like there should be a parents of multiples signal to acknowledge each other in public without stopping and doubling down on the "OMG there are twins/triplets/etc over there!"
At least strangers are commenting on all of them. Alot of people will comment on how beautiful Gwen's Hair is but no one really says anything about Morgan. And over the years I can see how it effects them both. I can image how constant commenting can be annoying.
Love the pictures! They are having fun hamming it up!We had a breakfast of bagels and English muffins in our room, then headed out. I wanted a latte but didn’t want to waste early morning touring time in the Starbucks line, so I grabbed one at Boardwalk Bakery. I was expecting something a bit bigger, but it was a traditional, small latte about the size of a tall coffee at Starbucks. Since I knew we’d have plenty of snack credits this trip, I wasn’t too upset about this being a poor use of one. Mostly, I was disappointed because I had wanted much more latte than that! While I was getting my drink, the kids were playing in the photobooth again.
Nothing better than the ease of the International Gateway entrance. I am dreading the impact of the Skyliner stop. I have loved being spoiled with an easy entrance.Entering Epcot through the international gateway was as delightfully easy as everyone says it is. We were one of perhaps 20 families when they opened security at 8:30 and found ourselves lined up to head into the park at 8:37. We started walking at about 8:50am with a group who was moving briskly but with plenty of room to avoid shoving. Only one other family pealed off to heard to Soarin’, and they clearly knew what they were doing. I had reviewed the maps, so I knew we would be taking a smaller walkway that would be more direct than going through the main WS entrance, but I only had a mental picture of it. These folks clearly knew what they were doing, which made me all the more confident as we sped walked toward the Land pavilion.
That workded out so well! I love the very literal interpretation A had of your suggestion, lol!Out we went, back around to do ride in with Nemo and friends. We walked straight onto our clamshells at 10:03 and swam along with our fishy friends. When we got off, we headed back to find Turtle Talk had a much fuller waiting area but they were still letting people in for the next show. We ended up seated at 10:15, so I’m pretty sure this would have been the same show we were waiting for earlier, had we stayed in that area the whole time.
$100 is pretty exciting for 5 year olds! My boys were obsessed with collecting Disney stuffies when they were younger, to the point where we had to have a separate chair at the table for their stuffies when we went for dinner!At 11:03, we were doling out bits of treat for the girls when we got the notification that Spaceship Earth was down and we had anytime FPs instead. This left us with a weird amount of time before our lunch reservation at Garden Grill. Our FPs for the other side of Future World were for after lunch, and we didn’t want to be crisscrossing the park too much. Instead, we decided to let the girls start working on the gift cards that were burning holes in their pockets. Between their birthday and Christmas, they had $100 to spend each, so shopping was going to have to be done at some point on the trip.
I feel your pain! My oldest son has Coats Disease (a rare retinal disease) and has worn glasses since he was two. I would get people coming up and asking what happened to his eye ALL THE TIME...... I felt as though I should have a made a brochure to hand out!When we took Landon to Disney at 9 months, everyone and their brother stopped us to comment on his glasses. Back when he was an infant, glasses on a baby weren't as common so lots of people wanted to stop and ask us about them. We didn't mind telling them about his eye condition, but after a hundred times it did get tiresome. We just want to get to Small World, folks!