Wait, do we have a Fast Pass for that? Final Update, Final Thoughts and Favs 1/26

[PrncessA]

I'll cross my fingers and send pixe dust your way that everything is there!

Yeah, you talking about your late arrival made me double check my plans.... I think this is the only thing that could back fire a bit but we'll see.

The wait was completely worth it if that helps! We loved HDDR!

 

[PrncessA]

Since I start school today I am going to try and finish up my last updates and post them this week…

We woke up very early on our last morning. Our goal was to make it to the MK for the opening ceremony, let’s see if that happens. Since we were only there for one night and I had laid everything out for the day the night before, we were up and ready pretty quickly!

We called down to bell services and had our luggage stored until we caught the UNmagical Express. We had to deal with our own luggage at the airport because we were flying Southwest via JetBlue, and you cannot check baggage at the hotel yet with this merger. Since we bought our tickets through Southwest we didn’t have to pay for luggage fees, but the downside was that we had to stand in the line to check them at the airport. Which we will get to later.

With our luggage gone we said goodbye to our last room at Disney in 2014 and headed down to the club lounge to get some breakfast. For the life of me I can’t remember what we ate, but whatever it was we ate in a hurry because we were on a mission!

We made it down to the docks in plenty of time, but so had a multitude of other people, and there was no boats to be seen. Finally after quite a long wait a boat arrived… heading to the Contemporary Resort. Eventually a boat arrived and we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom.





I was fearful that we wouldn’t make it for the opening ceremony, and I was right. We pulled into our dock right as the fireworks exploded over the train station. Oh well, an experience for next time I guess! What I wasn’t prepared for was how crowded the gates are at MK at opening time. The lines were super long! And Lorelai got run over by the same stroller not once but THREE times! Seriously, pay attention lady!





Eventually we made on to Main Street and we were ready to start our last day!

I am going to try and piece everything together by photos (of which I didn’t take nearly enough) and hopefully my memory will fill in the blanks.
We started our day by heading to Tomorrowland.





We had a ride on a mountain that we had to take! Well at least some of us! Erik decided to sit this one out! For some reason I don’t have the photo of the ride, but I am certain that we rode it. We then headed over and rode Buzz!





I am almost certain that we headed over and rode the Carousel of Progress for me. I just love it!!

As we were leaving Tomorrowland guess who we ran into? Stitch!!! With practically no line! We had a wonderful interaction with him, especially after he saw that Ethan had a photo of him on his shirt! There was a lot of licking sound effects going on!























It was by far the best character interaction we have ever had. The handler was great in the interaction and there was a whole bit about Stitch not being invited to Donald's birthday party (it was his birthday) and now he was going to have a great day because he was on Ethan's shirt. LOL

Some PP pics!





After Stitch we headed back down Main St. to pick up some SotMK cards for Ethan. I am not sure why we waited so long to do this, but it was an instant hit with Ethan that is for sure! At this point Erik and Ethan split up from Lorelai and me for just a little while. The E’s headed out to do a few SotMK missions and Lorelai and I headed toward her choice of Dumbo. We stopped outside and picked up a water and popcorn and headed inside. We chose to grab a beeper and play in the play land for a while before we rode.

I will admit this was much more preferable than running around the MK with Ethan and playing cards! I sat on the bench and enjoyed popcorn and AC and Lorelai ran around and played.



Our goal was to meet up outside of 7DMT by 11am right before our FP+ window closed. As the time got closer I called Lorelai down and ask if she wanted to ride Dumbo or just head out, turns out the play land was enough for her! LOL We handed in our pager and ducked out the side entrance and made our way to meet up with Erik and Ethan. We ran into them outside the FP entrance and they were enjoying a frozen lemonade! YUMMM!

We finished the lemonade and headed into the FP+ queue a couple minutes late, but we still were given blue Mickey heads and we were off to ride with the Dwarfs!

After our Mine Train ride, we were off to do the dreaded stand in line for Be Our Guest. We had originally had a lunch FP for our first day at WDW, but since we moved our first day from the MK to Epcot we lost it and I was unable to get another one for this day. That meant we were going to stand in line!

 

[PrncessA]

When we got there the line was off the bridge and quite far around the corner. There was a CM standing at the end of the line saying the wait was an hour and a half. I would have happily headed to Casey’s or any other CS restaurant in the MK but Erik was really excited to see the inside of BOG. Erik told me to take the kids and ride a ride or two and come back and he would stand in line. What a man!

The kids and I headed next door to go “under the sea” with Ariel. I am not sure how long the wait said, but we never stopped walking and before we knew it we were on our own clam.









While we were in the ride my phone started ringing, it was Erik, but every time I answered it the connection was lost. But he kept calling back, I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t imagine he was already at the front of the line, but that is what it was. When we got off the ride I called him back and the line was moving much faster than the hour and a half we had been told, it had only been 20 minutes or so and he was already almost to the door!
We hurried over and got in line:





And before we knew it we were inside!











We placed our order and headed out to find our seats. Our goal was to sit in the West Wing, and we found it without a problem. I never did find the other room, no idea where I didn’t look.





We sat very close to the rose, which the kids loved.



They also watched the torn portrait waiting for it to flash to the beast, but try as he might Ethan never caught it on film. I have no less than a dozen photos of the portrait!





Our food came out pretty quickly. I am not sure what Erik had but the kids had the grilled cheese sandwiches and I had a bowl of soup. I am pretty sure Erik had some kind of sandwich. But Ethan didn’t take any photos of it. He did take a photo of our Grey Stuff cupcake, I think we all shared two.





We were in quite a hurry after our meal as our FP window to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was about to close! In fact we finished eating only moments before it closed so we RAN in hopes of making it. Surprisingly we did make it!

Of course afterwards we had to stop for some PP pictures!












At that point we ask the kids if they wanted to stay and watch the parade or head back to the hotel and swim before we left and of course the answer was SWIM!

Before we left we had some important shopping to do! We headed into the Emporium and spent way too much on souvenirs. I ended up with a 2014 Travel Mug, a 2014 photo album and a purse. Erik picked up a pen and a watch. But it was time for the kids to decide what they were going to pick as their toy… and the answer was:



Buzz and Duffy. Lorelai also got a Tinkerbell necklace and Ethan got a small fluffy Donald Duck plush. With most of our gift cards spent we head off to catch the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge!

Coming up: Swimming, the storm of a century and a lost bag….

 

[vleeth]

What a whirlwind of a morning!

How great that you made it into BoG early enough to also make your BTMR FP+. I love that ride!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Sounds like a fun last morning in the parks!

 

[MissMaryQC]

Sorry you guys missed the opening ceremony, but there's always next time! It's the best part of WDW; always something to look forward to!

I can't believe some ran down little Lorelai! Sometimes people get very aggressive with their strollers, as though it were a battering ram. We all came to see the same stuff people, let's do so in an orderly fashion!

The ride photos from. Buzz light year are a hoot! I feel like that ride in particular needs to adjust their cameras a bit; the kids are always blocked by their guns!

Stitch! He is the cutest. I'm so glad you had such a great interaction with him. I always run to see home when we're in the parks.

The PP pics near the castle are great! Very picturesque.

A pager to ride Dumbo?!?! That's genius! I haven't heard about that before, can't wait to check that out!!

Erik's a good guy for standing in that BOG line, although it sounds like you guys got some speedy pixie dust there! ixiedust:

I really like the red photo of the kids on LM, it's very artsy, something my family would keep.

BOG looks amazing! Ethan is really a good photographer, I hope he keeps up with that!

I LOVE you Minnie shirt!!

The PP next to BTMRR is great, especially the ones of the kids. They're so loving with each other, it's wonderful!

Great souvenirs! I love the yearly stuff myself. I always get a photo album and fill it with that's years pictures.

Always very sad to leave the MK, but sometimes a relief as well. WDW can be quite exhausting!

 

[PrncessA]

What a whirlwind of a morning!

How great that you made it into BoG early enough to also make your BTMR FP+. I love that ride!

It definitely was a whirlwind! When I think of everything we did during our 9 full days I get tired. We packed a lot into this vacation that is for sure!!

I do remember on that particular ride that for some reason my skirt was extra slippery on the seat and I felt like I was about to slide out of the seat!

Sounds like a fun last morning in the parks!

It was the perfect end to our parks vacation!

Sorry you guys missed the opening ceremony, but there's always next time! It's the best part of WDW; always something to look forward to!

I agree, that is one of the best parts of Disney. There are so many things that we have never done, or didn't get around to on this trip. So we look forward to doing them next time.

I can't believe some ran down little Lorelai! Sometimes people get very aggressive with their strollers, as though it were a battering ram. We all came to see the same stuff people, let's do so in an orderly fashion!

I hope that I wasn't like that with our stroller when the kids were younger!!

The ride photos from. Buzz light year are a hoot! I feel like that ride in particular needs to adjust their cameras a bit; the kids are always blocked by their guns!

I always look confused on Buzz for some reason.

Stitch! He is the cutest. I'm so glad you had such a great interaction with him. I always run to see home when we're in the parks.

He was the best!!

The PP pics near the castle are great! Very picturesque.

Thanks!

A pager to ride Dumbo?!?! That's genius! I haven't heard about that before, can't wait to check that out!!

It was a nice break that is for sure!

Erik's a good guy for standing in that BOG line, although it sounds like you guys got some speedy pixie dust there! ixiedust:



I really like the red photo of the kids on LM, it's very artsy, something my family would keep.

BOG looks amazing! Ethan is really a good photographer, I hope he keeps up with that!

He loves take photos!

I LOVE you Minnie shirt!!

Thank you! I had at least 5 people stop me and ask me where I got it, I think it was a Disney Store outlet. I love it too!

The PP next to BTMRR is great, especially the ones of the kids. They're so loving with each other, it's wonderful!

I love the photo of Lorelai hugging Ethan. They really do love each other. He is a pretty great big bro.

Great souvenirs! I love the yearly stuff myself. I always get a photo album and fill it with that's years pictures.

I love the 2014 "Small World" themeing!

Always very sad to leave the MK, but sometimes a relief as well. WDW can be quite exhausting!

Bitter sweet. We were exhausted that is for sure!

 

[MissMaryQC]

Not sure how, but I was on another thread and replied here instead of there, weird stuff. Any who, might as well say hi while I'm here!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Whoa! Sounds like the crowds were crazy stupid at the TTC. It's been years since we've even stepped foot on the TTC ground and I don't miss it a wee little bit.

I'm so glad to hear that you guys loved Hoop Dee Doo. It's been a family favorite for years and we went this past trip too. Isn't it wonderful how the children who swore they didn't have to pee change their mind when you are in a line. Yeah, I've had that happen many times too. At least you were able to make it back before the boat arrived.

It looks like your last day in the park was a great one. You were able to do quite a few things and even eat at Be Our Guest.

 

[PrncessA]

I am so sad to finish up this trip report, especially since Erik and I made the decision to move our 2015 trip from June to November. We weighed the options and quite a few things went into making our decision:

1) We want to go during at least a slightly cooler time of year.
2) We want to go during a slower time of year.
3) This will be the last year that we would ever even consider pulling the kids out of school, Ethan starts middle school in 2016.
4) We want to go to Food and Wine.
5) We want to go to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
6) The kids go to camp for a week in June and we take a multi-family vacation after camp. We would like to spread our vacations out.

So all of that combined means that we are switching our dates to either the first or the second week of November 2015. We have to arrive by Nov. 16th to enjoy Food and Wine and historically MVMCP starts at the beginning of November. I am very excited about why we are going at this time, but it is so far away again!

To keep my spirits uplifted we have two more vacation opportunities to plan! The plan for a 2016 Disneyland Girls trip is moving forward. My mom is excited to come and my sister is really excited that we are coming. She would like for us to stay at her house in San Diego the entire time though… I am not up for that. It is a work in progress, it will probably we broken up between San Diego and Disneyland, but I see Lorelai and I doing more Disney days than my mom and sister. We haven’t set a date yet, but November 2016 seems to be a popular choice.

Lastly Erik and I are thinking of doing a small vacation just the two of us for our 10 year anniversary. We have been throwing around a couple of options such as Las Vegas, a cruise (non-Disney) or a long weekend at Disney World. We haven’t decided what we are doing yet, but I will let you know when we do!

So now to finish up our trip...

When last we left we were lugging our bags of souvenirs to the boat to go back to the Wilderness Lodge. I am not going to lie, there were tears in my eyes as we pulled away from the Magic Kingdom for the last time.



The boat ride was relaxing and before we knew it we were back at the WL dock. Instead of heading up the Club Lounge we headed to bell services to ask to get into our luggage. I was lead back to the luggage storage area, which was pretty cool and I spent a while trying to organize our souvenirs into our already over packed suitcases. I pulled out a bag that I had prepared with our swimsuits and a change of clean clothes, etc. Plus a bag that had all of our chargers, my kindle, and a few other carryon items in it.

It took me longer than I expected, but I reorganized all that I could and went out to find Erik and the kids, who had given up on me and were now in the WL gift shop… doing more shopping. The only thing I remember buying there was a silver Mickey head auto decal thing. It is now proudly on the back of Erik’s car. We bought something else, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was, and the receipt is gone.

Finally we were ready to head to the pool! We had originally planned on the big pool, but for some reason we decided to head over to the quite pool at the villas. We found the fitness center and locker rooms and changed into our suits. It was nice having the lockers to store our bags!

We headed out to the pool and it was crowded! We swam for a while with the kids, sat in the hot tub with them for a while and then we sat at a table and watched them. It was at that moment when Erik said “We need to come back next year!” I said we could book it right now with a bounce back (I had gotten an email I think) and we should have upgraded our tickets to AP’s since it would save us money. We seriously considered sending me back to the MK with our tickets to upgrade at that exact moment if you can believe it, but ultimately since we didn’t know if we would be coming back before June, we decided against it.

The kids finally had enough of the pool and it was starting to look a bit grey, so we headed into the locker rooms to shower and change. FYI the locker room only has one shower, but it is nice to have it there.

After changing we headed back to the main building and it was starting to rain, we headed upstairs to relax in the club lounge and by the time we got upstairs it was dark and the rain outside looked like a monsoon! I was so glad that we were not in a park at that moment! There was a lot of thunder and lightning and it crossed my mind maybe it was so bad our flight would be cancelled. Only in Disney would this be a good thing! The storm lasted for quite a while and it was still raining when we left but it wasn’t as bad.

We still had a couple of hours or so until we had to catch the UnMagical Express. We had a very late flight and we were supposed to leave at 5:30 I think, or sometime near that. We settled ourselves on the far side of the “lounge” in the adult area with the large couch and the kids set against the walls to watch their tablets. We grabbed some food (a few times) and drinks. It was nice to sit and relax at the end of our vacation with a glass of wine!

Way too soon it was time to head downstairs. We went outside and our luggage was already out waiting for us. I set my Minnie Mouse bag down on the bench next to the luggage and took Lorelai inside to use the restroom. Then I noticed her shirt was on backwards or inside out, I don’t remember which, but she had to change it. We weren’t in there that long but when we came out there was the ME bus and Erik was at the door waving us out. Seems like the pulled up right as we went in, and they were waiting for us!! We ran to the bus and we were off!

Here are the photos before the crying started:





I am not kidding only seconds after that photo both Ethan and I started bawling! It wasn’t pretty! Although the storm has moved past Disney World we could see it in the distance and there was a ton of lightning.
We arrived at MCO and waited for the driver to unload all of our luggage, which is when I noticed that I did not have my Minnie bag. I immediately knew where it was and the driver gave me a number to call the Wilderness directly, maybe they could get it to me before our plane took off. I called and explained my situation and they said they would call me back. We got in line to check our baggage and the line was LONG, super LONG.



There was a family with 4 children under the age of probably 7, the youngest probably being a year or so old and boy did they look like they were glad that their vacation was ending. They looked like they both had ran a marathon and barely survived!

We finally checked our many bags and headed to the fauxrail, when I received a call from a WL CM. They had my bag, but it wouldn’t be able to make it to the airport in time. The CM was from a city less than 15 minutes away from where we live and joked about bringing it to us in a few weeks. In reality they shipped it to us and we received it a few days later.





The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. I bought some new earphones to use on the plane at one of the Best Buy kiosks and the kids played in the empty terminal.



The flight was uneventful and Lorelai slept through most of it.



I listened to a few Dis podcasts and dozed a bit as well. Ethan and Erik were pretty quiet in front of us. There was a bit of chaos at Midway when they changed our luggage area three times, but we eventually got our luggage and grabbed a taxi home.

So ended our Disney Adventure 2014…

Up next our final thoughts and favorite moments!

 

[PrncessA]

To finish up some final thoughts and favorite moments!

Our first split stay!

The pros were that we found two new resorts that we fell in love with! Port Orleans Riverside is such a beautiful resort and we would have never saw YeeHaBob if we hadn’t stayed there. It is definitely easy to make the decision to stay at a moderate resort now that we know how much we love it!



We were extremely blessed with an upgrade to Club Level at the Yacht Club. It was a once in a lifetime upgrade and we LOVED every second of it. If money wasn’t an issue we would stay there every trip!



The cons: Packing up and moving our stuff was not fun the second time. If we ever do a split stay again it would be moving once only and only if the first resort is for a day or two only.

Club Level:
We loved staying club level, I mean what is not to love! We did however enjoy the Yacht Club a bit more than the Wilderness Lodge. Ethan wants to live at the Yacht Club and I don’t blame him to be honest!!

Food:
TOO MUCH FOOD! I am glad we had this experience so that I no longer have to try and convince DH that the DxDDP is too much food! We enjoyed nearly all of our dining, but I am glad that we found out that Ohana is not for us. I hate that we missed our early morning Crystal Palace, we will be doing it next time. We found a few places that we loved and will be going back such as TRex, Tusker House, Kona Café and HoopDeeDoo Revue.



We LOVED YeeHaBob and we will be seeing him again! I am looking forward to snacking around the “world” next time we go!



Erik is still talking about the Po’boy sandwich POFQ and we all loved the beignets!



Our touring style and the dreaded FP+:

I am glad that as a family we agree for the most part on how to tour the parks. We really enjoyed FP+ for the most part. We missed a few of our time slots but it didn’t matter, we were lucky enough to do everything we wanted to do. We found out that Epcot is easily our second favorite park and that the Animal Kingdom can be enjoyed. There are so many things that we didn’t do, so much to do next time!



Our favorite moments:

Ethan’s favorites:

Riding Test Track hands down! It did not disappoint and it is his favorite ride!



Yacht Club Club Lounge!

Runners up: Toy Story Midway Mania, Big Thunder Mt., YeeHaBob

Lorelai’s favorites:

Meeting all the princesses! She has not forgotten that we still need to meet Pocahontas!













And many more….

Pirate Cruise! She loved it and wants to do another one, so does Ethan surprisingly. I reminded them that they both cried that they didn’t want to do it before it. LOL



Runners up: Splash Mt., Toy Story Midway Mania, HDDR

Erik’s favorites:

The free upgrade to Club Level at the Yacht Club!

Epcot World Showcase



Runner’s up: Wishes Dessert Party, Pirates League with Ethan, YeeHaBob

My favorites!

Staying at the Magic Kingdom until 3am and riding everything without a wait!



Ethan being a kid, wearing his pirate makeup the day after, wearing the Donald Hat everywhere, just relaxing and enjoying himself!





Runner’s up: Tower of Terror, meeting some Disers!, the YC upgrade

 

[PrncessA]

To finish up here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I know that you are bummed about bumping back the next WDW vacation but it sounds like the November trip will be a good one.

I really enjoyed your "favorite" wrap up post. It's always nice to go back and read and reflect upon the best moments of the trip.

 

[vleeth]

What a wonderfully amazing trip!

 

[ach222]

Enjoyed your report! I know it's a bummer to have longer to wait for your next trip, but being there when the Christmas decorations will be up sounds amazing!

 

[MissMaryQC]

I'm so sad it's over!!

It's been so much fun following along on your family's adventures in WDW, thank you so much for sharing with us!

I'm glad they shipped your Minnie Bag so quickly, that'd be a sad thing to have lost.

I know your plan changes push your trip back, but you guys are gonna have so much fun! I've never been to MVMCP, but we've been during the holidays and the decorations are so wonderful! Something about Disney makes the holidays all the more magical!!

And how cool will a Girls trip be to Disneyland?!?!

I sure do hope to see how each of those trips turns out, in the mean time enjoy the rest of your year and we'll see ya real soon!

 

[RDawn]

Sara, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful trip and your beautiful family with us. I especially enjoyed your favorite pictures in the wrap up. I just started reading you 2009 trip report and have to tell you how sweet your children are in both reports! I have also read a number of Lisa's (Mickeystoontown) trip reports & love the fact that she has followed your trip and you even had an unplanned DISmeet with her! If I can't be in Disney myself, I am happy to be able to share the adventures from someone else's trip. Thanks again

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Sounds like a nice way to wrap up a trip. (Minus the missing bag) Glad they could get the bag and send it your way.

 

[PrncessA]

I know that you are bummed about bumping back the next WDW vacation but it sounds like the November trip will be a good one.

I really enjoyed your "favorite" wrap up post. It's always nice to go back and read and reflect upon the best moments of the trip.

I just hope that it doesn't get moved back even further! We are desperately trying to buy a house this year and as much as we love Disney it is a lot of money to put into a vacation and not as a larger downpayment. But our kids will only be this young once and vacations are very important to us... oh the dilema. If anything goes it will be a fancy anniversary trip.

We won't get to see you this year since we moved our trip!!

Disney is such a magical place, and our vacation was filled with magic that is for sure!

What a wonderfully amazing trip!

Thank you for following along!!

Enjoyed your report! I know it's a bummer to have longer to wait for your next trip, but being there when the Christmas decorations will be up sounds amazing!

I can't wait to see the Christmas decorations!

I'm so sad it's over!!


Me too!

It's been so much fun following along on your family's adventures in WDW, thank you so much for sharing with us!

Thank you for joining us!

I'm glad they shipped your Minnie Bag so quickly, that'd be a sad thing to have lost.

I was to! It had nearly all of our chargers and my kindle in it! We were all sharing 2 chargers at the airport.

I know your plan changes push your trip back, but you guys are gonna have so much fun! I've never been to MVMCP, but we've been during the holidays and the decorations are so wonderful! Something about Disney makes the holidays all the more magical!!

I can't wait!

And how cool will a Girls trip be to Disneyland?!?!

So excited!!!

I sure do hope to see how each of those trips turns out, in the mean time enjoy the rest of your year and we'll see ya real soon!

I now have more time to follow other peoples reports!!

Sara, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful trip and your beautiful family with us. I especially enjoyed your favorite pictures in the wrap up. I just started reading you 2009 trip report and have to tell you how sweet your children are in both reports! I have also read a number of Lisa's (Mickeystoontown) trip reports & love the fact that she has followed your trip and you even had an unplanned DISmeet with her! If I can't be in Disney myself, I am happy to be able to share the adventures from someone else's trip. Thanks again

Thank you for following along! I know what you mean! I love reading trip reports and seeing other families' adventures. Everyone has such a different wonderful (or funny) experience!


I love Lisa's TR's as well. I am always cracking up! It was like meeting a celebrity!

Sounds like a nice way to wrap up a trip. (Minus the missing bag) Glad they could get the bag and send it your way.

Thank you for following along! Disney was great about getting my bag to me, they didn't charge or anything.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Well I finally managed to get caught up and it's all over with. But I enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing all the great photos and memories!