Four Brits hit the world the TR! ~~~Completed 28/11~~~

[DisneyJo]

We were up and out early again today and were at MGM by 8.50am, we joined the crowds (actually they weren’t that big!) watching the opening show we made sure we were on the right hand side ready for the ToT/RnR dash! The plan of action was that Jess and I would go ride ToT whilst the non-riders Ellie and David would get 2 FP’s for both RnR and ToT

We walked straight onto ToT and got the back row, I thought it was great nowhere near as scary as I thought my stomach didn’t even go But Jess hated it (but now says she’d do it again ) I think it was because it was another dark one! We met back up with the FPV’s and headed towards Star Tours, this was so funny last trip as Jess thought we really had gone into space Again another walk on. We quickly met up with Kim Possible, who had no-one waiting! Backlot tour was next but the demo wasn’t running (I got to participate in that last time and was eager to get David chosen) so they just showed us a few explosions and stuff, not exactly very exciting! As we did the tour all the cars and bikes were warming up for the LMA show which was pretty cool. Oh yeah as we stood waiting a man, sorry didn’t get his name, spotted my LGMH and said oh I DIS, but that was it!!!! We ran into these guys next.

It was about 20 mins before HSM but it was so crowded, I asked the girls what they wanted to do and they were desperate to go draw some characters, we watched the pre-show which is quite sweet, whilst David and I waited the girls saw these guys.

We were soon in and we got to draw Daisy Duck.

Then the girls, Jessica’s at the top, Ellie’s at the bottom.

The girls enjoyed it so much we had to go straight back and do the next show which was Mickey and yes one of them does look more like Pooh

Again Jess at the top and Ellie bottom, as you can see later in our holiday we got them signed

On leaving the girls spotted Emile from Ratatouille.

It was now 1pm and we were getting hungry so we grabbed a box of popcorn and headed to the B&B show, OMG how hot is it in there, when I stood up Jess and I then went to RnR she was so excited, as we got on it decided to break down, we were sat at the bottom of the hill for about 5 minutes and she gradually got more stressed and panicked, I had no clue when the ride would start up again and we couldn’t get off, I tried rubbing her knee to reassure her as with those overhead straps on you can’t really move much. I honestly thought she was about to cry! Eventually we’re shot off into the dark (yes a dark ride again you know where this is headed don’t you!) I couldn’t enjoy it as I was so worried about Jess and did manage to grab her hand at one point. Well the ride stops and I look at her and the lighting made her eyes and teeth a sort of greeny yellow colour and she looked horrendous, I honestly thought she was in a really bad way, her eyes almost looked as though they’d rolled back Then the tears came, but I was just so relieved she was alive Oh I wished I’d had the camera to redneck the ride photo as it was hilarious! Poor thing though cried all the way back to David, people kept looking and I’m not sure if they were bad mother looks or awwww poor little thing looks So it was decided that we wouldn’t be going on that ride again

We were now absolutely starving and knew there was no way we’d survive until our 3.50pm MM ADR so we grabbed a sandwich, chips and some cookies from Starring rolls, as we sat down David said hey that tables got a croc on it!!!!! So I grabbed Felicia out of our bag and went to say Hi, it was MikeS with Faolen. He was so nice and we had a little chat, he was with his wife and DD and we got this photo of the croc meet!

If it hadn’t been for the croc I would never have seen him, so the croc works

 

[DisneyJo]

It was almost parade time now so we went off in search of some shade again, we managed to grab a great spot next to a gun stall (why do they sell guns?????) It was a great spot and the girls got so much interaction, sorry there’s a ton of photos but I just had to show what attention the girls got from the characters!

Sorry, I said there was a lot We were now really hot even though we’d been in the parade so we dived into Muppets, not our favourite but hey it’s cold!!! The lady was just shutting the rope but let us through so I still didn’t get to see the key under the mat! The show is OK but after you’ve done Philarmagic nothing compares! We then browsed a few shops before heading to MM. Now I knew that another DISer Lisa (Zigzagzerr) was also dining here so I kept a look out! Jess and I had Ceaser salad which was OK but huge, Ellie had salad and David had the Artisan breads which were ridiculous they could have fed us all for lunch

After our starters I sent Ellie off to stalk She did a circuit of the restaurant and reported back that she had spotted 3 people in lime green shirts, which I guessed to be them So we went to say Hi and it was Lisa and her family were so sweet, we had a quick chat about, ummm not sure now must have been Disney though took a few photos and left them to eat.

So that took us up to 3 DIS sightings today


I then had the chicken parmesan which was fine, David had the steak which he thought was nice and both girls had pizza and as they ate it all they must have been good too! D & J were too full for dessert much to the dismay of our waiter as he kept saying that the meal (we did the fantasmic package) was the same price whether we had dessert or not. E had icecream and I had the warm chocolate truffle cake which was really delicious but even I couldn’t eat it all


Now full we decided to head back to CSR and had the longest wait ever for a bus, so far we’d been so lucky I suppose we were due a wait! Anyway we were still back there by 5.40pm, D & J went for a swim whilst E played with her toys and I chilled in the room.

Not much time for a rest though and we were back to MGM by 7pm our waiter had said to get to the fantasmic dinner entrance about 8.15pm for the 8.30 show which I thought was really pushing it so after wandering around a little standing in the queue for GMR for 5 mins before deciding we’d never make it we headed there at 7.45pm to find the reserved seats already really crowded, we were lucky though and got good seats towards the back as far across as you could get. I’d come prepared and we played cards and ate skittles whilst we waited

Fantasmic was good and here’s just one photo for you!

We made a quick exit and got straight onto a CSR bus. As we were getting off a young couple were so sweet and gave the girls their glowing necklaces, but they ended up just staying in the fridge for the next few days It was then straight to bed for another early BB day!

 

[DisneyJo]

Another early morning, are there any late ones we’re at BB by 7.50am and we are now so sad we’ve got our own touring plan worked out So just briefly we did the family raft ride twice, caught the lazy river to the runoff rapids which we did twice, one go on double dipper, toboggan twice. We then caught the chairlift up (shows how quiet it was there was no queue) did the raft twice more and we were done and back to CSR by 10.40am when normal people were only just arriving

We all had a quick shower before heading to DTD for lunch and DQ. Everyone wanted to try EofS again and we actually got a meal each today We didn’t eat it all though The kids meals here are such good value, Ellie had a pizza sub which was the same size as the adult ones, a brownie and drink. We had a meatball sub and 2 BLT subs all very nice again!


We headed to DQ and I really don’t know why but we didn’t get any photos here We went straight for POC as this often has a long queue and after about 10 mins we were in, you wear a special visor thing and you’re pirates trying to sink boats and pinch their treasure by bombing the boats. Jess wanted to be Captain and steer us but she kept going away from the boats we were trying to sink so I took over, not that I was much better but we won Next was the jungle cruise and we’re useless you sit in an inflatable boat on a big inflatable cushion and have to row. There is a big screen in front of you and you get sprayed with water and thrown around a bit, good fun but we didn’t get to the end The people next to us completed the course so quickly but they didn’t have as much fun shouting at their kids to row We were now thoroughly exhausted but spotted Aladdin so jumped in the line, this is a virtual reality game, you’re trying to collect jewels whilst flying on a magic carpet, you had to wear a big hat thing (I know I’m so technical ) and it was so cool as you could hear and see your team, we were all monkeys and David looked pretty hot We managed to complete this one so we were getting better! Next up was the pinball game, OMG I haven’t got a clue what we were meant to be doing, you stood on a pad and holding onto a bar you had to jump around bouncing from side to side trying to move your ball on a screen, well I got more points than David so I suppose I must have been doing something right!!!! We then spent some time just playing the arcade games, basketball and the Starwars ride before we’d all had enough!


We had a quick browse through the Virgin store before heading to the bus stop. We sat and ate our EofS cupcake whilst waiting. We were off to Epcot and decided the best route was to catch a bus to the yachtclub and get the boat to the international gateway, it worked great we were there by 3.10pm and we had tons of time before our GG ADR! We saw these guys on our way in and I’m not sure why but Ellie didn’t want to see them?!?!

Near Canada we bumped into these guys who had no line and Ellie joined in again!

We were all so hot and found the McDonalds stand and all grabbed McFlurry’s these were huge about twice the size we have in England and a great snack credit. TT had a posted wait time of 40minutes but we had to go on and it really wasn’t that bad a wait. Ellie and I decided to act scared for the photo When I PPed it though I pushed my card in too much and a CM had to go get it out from around the back, whoops

We did a quick fly through Club Cool to try some more soda before walking on to Figment, no queue today This is so nostalgic but I still prefer the original from when I was little! As we checked in at GG, making sure to ask for the lower level, we spotted MikeS again we shouted Hi and waved.

 

[DisneyJo]

We had good seats, the food was fine and the characters were great, Mickey even kissed my hand Here’s a few photos…..

The girls with their desserts as you can see Jess didn’t decorate her cupcake she just ate the decorations

The only thing I was disappointed with was that you only rotated through the first bit of the Land I had visions of seeing the greenhouses, I know pretty daft We had a quick look at Soarin but it was 75 mins don’t think so! Ellie wanted to do Nemo again which we walked on then walked straight onto TT, I guess all the crowds were at Soarin The girls didn’t get chosen to ask any questions but one boy, probably about 10, asked “can we eat turtles” You should have seen Crushes reaction!!!!! Little brat We had a nice leisurely look around the tanks, we saw tons of divers and the manatees!

We were tired now so just grabbed one last photo on the way out.

Back at CSR the girls wanted to go buy some postcards, on the way we had a laze around!

After much deliberation 10 postcards were finally purchased and 10 90cents stamps!!!!! We used another CS for 2 croissaints and an OJ and the CM actually remembered me because I use my credits strangely

Wow when I read this back we did so much today and it’s no wonder we were in bed by 9pm

 

[marias]

I just love your trip report - thank you for sharing.

It makes great reading with the photos, you feel like you are living it too.

Looking forward to more.

 

[KayleeUK]

Brilliant Jo You all look so happy

 

[DisneyJo]

I just love your trip report - thank you for sharing.

It makes great reading with the photos, you feel like you are living it too.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you Maria, you've just made my day

Brilliant Jo You all look so happy

Thanks Kaylee

 

[DisneyJo]

I woke about 7am to see the privacy curtain shut and the bathroom lights on, fearing one of the girls was ill I got up and found Ellie sitting on the floor doing a puzzle book WTH she was doing goodness knows


Today was shopping day and the girls had a huge amount of Birthday money to spend, they had both asked all their relatives for $ instead of a pressie and both received an astounding $370 Lucky girls, wish I’d have had that much spending money


We ate the previous nights croissants in the room, wandered down to the main lobby, posting the postcards on the way, bell services got us a taxi and we were on our way to the Florida Mall. Is it just me or do you all hate seeing the money going up and up and up in a taxi It wasn’t too bad though at $40 including the tip.


Our purchases – I got some brown MJ crocs, sneakers and a wallet (yeah I know, how did I contain myself ), David bought a few polo shirts, sneakers, some ripcurl swim shorts and a hat (beanie), Jess got pink MJ’s & sneakers and both girls bought several DS games. We then found the Build a Bear shop and they were in heaven, everything was half the price it is in England (well all our purchases were) and they made the most of it! They both chose a new bear, well rabbits actually, even though I think they’re too old for any more stuffed animals they obviously don’t think so!!!! Then they splashed out on several outfits, Ellie got a bargain of 2 Disney costumes for $20 and named her bunny Tinkerabbit We grabbed a bite to eat at some sub takeaway which was OK and by about 3pm we had had enough and taxied back to CSR, it was $40 again, maybe we’ll hire a car next time, if we’re brave enough, as I still didn’t get to a Target or Walmart!


We had a lovely swim back at the CSR quiet pool I think there were only 2 other people in it, I got some laundry done, I love the US machines you can just get so much in them, I also came prepared bringing my own detergent, conditioner and dryer sheets.


Even though we’d shopped all day we decided to dine at DTD, this may have something to do with David hating the PM. We had our longest wait, 30 minutes, for the bus but we finally got there! First stop well it was Goofy’s of course, we had more SC’s to use up Between us, well the girls and me, we got a lovely piece of delicious fudge, which didn’t make it back to CSR some big sherbet straws, lolly’s and of course some more make your own rice crispy cakes!!!! We still had 30 SC’s left


We decided to eat at WGPExpress, I got the Quesadilla which was nice but too much sauce on the top and the others had pizza which they said were lovely. We had cookies and Brownies for dessert, well we took them for later


A little back story, David saw a Chicago Bulls NBA cap in the sports store on our first visit to DTD but it was quite expensive, he even went right up to the counter to pay, well I said hang on until after our shopping trip as we may find it cheaper, uhh well nope we didn’t so whilst we were here he went to buy it and guess what, no caps Remember this!!!!



We caught the boat over and again went into the Virgin store where David and the girls bought loads of CD’s and more DS games, BTW the prices here were exactly the same as the Florida Mall. Here’s the only photo of the day of Ells and I on the boat yes we're both really windswept but I couldn't post without a piccie could I

We were home by 9.20pm and ready for lots of stalking tomorrow

 

[DisneyJo]

We were up and out, breakfast in the room as normal, and we arrived at Epcot at 8.40am. We joined one of the many queues about 5 families behind the turnstiles, as we’re standing patiently waiting I notice a group of people right up the front all wearing the TFW lanyards, I just had to check them out and when I got to the front OMG it was my great DIS friend T (DisneylandMama) now she had been going on and on about stalking me and giving me a great big hug as I’m not a huggie person, so I did it to her instead I think I took her by surprise, but it was just like meeting an old friend rather than a stranger who I’d chatted with on the internet It was not awkward at all, can’t remember what we chatted about though and we took no photos!!! The girls chatted non-stop and soon introduced themselves to T’s DD Maddie and they all got along wonderfully too. Eventually David wondered where in the world I’d gone and came to find us and he was soon introduced to his future golfing partners Andy and Waldo he didn’t know at this point what he’d let himself in for


We headed towards the rope drop and the girls were having a ball with the characters, lots of interaction. I don’t know why but we just didn’t take many photos Here are 2 of Minnie though.

Our main aim this morning was TT and luckily so was T’s, funny that But David was waiting for no-one so we joined the throngs all headed that way too. I grabbed some FP’s whilst we waited for TT to open, T was probably 30 people behind, those strollers sure do slow her down We were so early that we were able to skip the preshow and head straight for the ride. We love this ride, it’s one of the few rides that all of us absolutely love, so when we get off David suggests going again. Now I was in a dilemma whether I should wait for T and I did feel guilty when David MADE me go again, sorry T but I know your motto, don’t wait for no-one So we make it round again and still only wait about 5 mins. Here are our daft photos.

You can see how early it was as we had the car to ourselves Also I know it looks like we’re being lions in one of them but a few days before we went on holiday in the rugby the mascot did that pose so the girls and David thought it would be fun, I know we’re a weird family


Next stop was to FP and ride Soarin, as I went ahead the girls saw some Dream Team members and wondered if they had any pins to trade Well the DT asked the girls some questions, one of which was about FP’s and Jess even told the DT that you could have 2 at the same time and he was so impressed he made the girls honorary Citizens of Epcot, they received a pin and were really happy They caught up with me and we decided to wait the 15mins for Soarin, especially as the DT had said they were headed that way, we didn’t see them though

We rode the land, much to the girls disgust, then grabbed some Brownies and drinks, they weren’t very nice As we’re sitting there we see T and co come in and wave, as T comes down the escalator I go and apologise for blowing her off but she totally understood We ride Soarin again followed by TT again we end up with a single rider this time though

I love how TT can be added to your PP, I hope they do all the rides!


Jess and I now had a mission to go to Space, whilst E and D went shopping. Almost a walk on and I had a WNTW (what not to wear) moment, but sorry no camera, a lady waiting for MS was wearing a strapless white lace dress It was a really pretty dress but not for park touring in August, at least she wasn’t at AK on the rapids


We find D and E and my sweet little girl had bought me a pressie, I wasn’t allowed to see it until we got back to the resort, but just incase I forget to tell you it was a little cuddly Figment with magnetic hands and feet and now has pride of place on my fridge door, she even insisted on using her own money too

 

[KayleeUK]

Love your Test Track pictures

We have hired a car for the day before just to go shopping, it worked out cheaper that taxis and we visited Walmart too

Keep it coming!!!

 

[wils]

Having a lovely evening catching up on TRs and I'm loving yours! Jealous your DD met Flounder though

 

[DisneyJo]

Love your Test Track pictures

We have hired a car for the day before just to go shopping, it worked out cheaper that taxis and we visited Walmart too

Keep it coming!!!

We intend to hire a car next year Kaylee, we were too wimpy this trip but I really want to shop at Walmart and Target

Having a lovely evening catching up on TRs and I'm loving yours! Jealous your DD met Flounder though

Thanks Jo

 

[DisneyJo]

Wednesday Continued

So I’d left you with me and Jess having ridden MS and Ellie buying me a pressie We decided to wander around Innoventions as we hadn’t been there yet, I know this may sound daft but we just ended up wandering around aimlessly! We didn’t know what we were doing We turned into them As we passed the Firehouse we heard lots of cheering, saw the dream team and heard mention of points OMG someone’s won the DVC was my thoughts until I read Jen and Tera’s TR and realised it was part of the game and they probably had won fast passes Oh well for ages I was really happy for someone, maybe a tad jealous too


I’d read loads about the make your own robot and we decided to try and find that, it happened to be in the opposite Innoventions from where we were!!!! After waiting ages in line then listening for ages about different types of plastics etc we were finally able to race our robot. For those of you that haven’t done this you are in teams, Ellie & I and David & Jess, on a computer screen you choose different parts for your robot it’s colour, name etc and finally after a little practice you get to race against about 10 others. You do this by running on a sensor pad, moving left and right and you can even jump by going on a certain part of the mat. It’s so much fun but incredibly tiring, D & J came 4th and E & I came 9th You also got to vote for the most stylish and best named Robot, we didn’t win those either We had fun though and that’s all that counts Whilst we got our breath back we made our plastic robots, now I never realised how big these would be and trying to fit all 4 in the backpack so David could carry them was tough going

Back to the Land and as we were about to go down the stairs to Soarin I spotted a lady with short dark hair wearing tan coloured shorts with a LGMH tied to her waistband, before I had time to say anything though she was gone So if that was you say Hi We now did a final ride on Soarin grabbing more FP’s for later before heading back to CSR. When we got there, about 2.30pm, we saw this, our first and last funny thing by the mousekeeping!

After a quick lunch of 2 shared cheeseburgers a swim and a shower we were back to Epcot by 4.30pm. Ellie wanted to do Nemo again, OMG how many times!!!!! And as normal it was a walk on. As we passed the manatee tanks they were for once both there I love Manatees and these 2 were being very playful, too playful if you KWIM The CM was telling us all about them and they turned out to be 2 boys one of them had lost most of his tail in an accident, they also eat between 60 and 100 lettuces per day, that sure is a lot of salad, they’ll keep the Land ride in business

It was now nearly time for our CR ADR ……………………………..

 

[DisneyJo]

After about a 10 minute wait at Coral Reef we’re seated, we have an awesome table right by the tank We were allowed to have speciality drinks here on the DDP so us girls all got Strawberry daiquiris whilst David got a coke It did come in useful later on when the girls shared his free refills as there are no refills on the special drinks


Food wise Ellie had no starter followed by the grilled chicken, her reaction then the ice cream sundae, she would have so preferred the pizza but as the dessert was apple slices and she really wanted ice cream, chicken it was! Why on earth can’t they mix the meals? Oh well next trip she’ll be an adult anyway!!!!


Jess and I both had Caesar salad, way too big and too much dressing, followed by steak which was good. David had the crab claws followed by the shrimp pasta both which he said were OK, good but not great!


Dessert was Ice cream for Jess, as always a success, Crème Brule for me and Cheesecake for Dave, both us enjoyed our desserts, again not superb but nice. We’re so easy to please


Throughout our meal we saw so many fish, I know we should have done we were under the sea!!!! A friendly Ray sat next to us for most of our meal and the turtle (DH’s favourite) swam past several times. Loads of divers went past and they were hilarious, blowing kisses, asking how our food was, waving etc. One was even throwing stuff in the air like confetti


I would definitely eat here again just for the view, I know we had a great table and I probably wouldn’t think the same if I was at the back. Here are a few photos, sorry they’re a bit dark!

Tummies now full we head on out and the plan was to use our Soarin FP’s but we were just too full to go on it I know we had the much coveted Soarin FP’s and we didn’t use them, but we had already ridden it 3 times that day!!!!! We decide to have a relaxing walk around WS before going to our VIP Illumination seats at about 8.30pm. We stopped and browsed in a shop and Ellie discovered that the princess pins she was trading for were a CM set of 5 pins and she had just found her 4th one We hit the Mexico ride, much better IMHO, wandered around Germany, tried to convince the girls that the Haribo gummy bears were not a good SC as we could buy them cheaply at home, eventually I won!!!! We always have to look at the Steiff bears as the girls each have the limited edition one from the year they were born, DH and I have the 2000 one and I was given a really old one which is still in mint condition when I was a baby We never buy anything though, just like to look, nothing to do with the price you know


In USA Ellie completed her set of Princess pins, she was so happy and so was David as he found a shirt for $7 The girls had been dying to try a kaki Gori so Ellie got a strawberry one and Jess the Rainbow. Here they are, I think the sunset must have been reflecting off the ball?

As we wandered past France I spotted Lisa and her family in the distance sitting at a table by the water I shouted Hi but obviously not loud enough, sorry Lisa I should have come over We had had enough by now so decided to just go to our seats, well a sloped bit of concrete The VIP area is right in the centre between Mexico and Canada between 2 shops. It was screened off by lots of trees in pots and you had to show your ticket to enter. We staked our spot and I spent the next 25 minutes near the entrance looking for Janet, but never saw her, Janet where were you????? We had a lovely position near enough central about half way up the slope, we couldn’t understand the people who had gone right to the front next to a low hedge as they weren’t able to see whilst sitting down, well we soon found out. Literally 5 minutes before the fireworks started they opened 2 little side ropes and everyone ran through them to sit even closer to the front. We, and about a third of the other VIP’s, didn’t know about this and we all got a bit mad, it meant that people who had been there the longest no longer had the best seats They were literally crammed into this front spot so we just stayed where we were, still having a great view but with space too I think this really does need to be managed better, but for future reference if any of you go there you now know go to the front at the sides


We still had a great view but I must say it isn’t my favourite show, the fireworks are great but the bit with the ball just goes on for too long and gets *gasp* boring!!!!

Once it finished we managed to avoid most of the crowds, caught the first bus home and were back at CSR by 9.40pm. Another busy day!!!!!

 

[KayleeUK]

Boring!!!! How could you LOL

Looks like the girls loved there Kaki Gori's

 

[florida sun]

Jo, I have finally caught up with all your reports and they are brilliant and I love your photos, cant wait for more

 

[natalielongstaff]

ive just caught up as well great reports Jo....keep up the good work !

 

[arieljasmine]

And me! Really enjoying your reports, Jo, and hearing about all your stalking! Sssh, I agree with you about the ball bit in Illuminations!

Laur's

 

[Chilly]

Finally caught up, keep them coming!

 

[tazz23]

I started reading about 2 hours ago and got totally engrossed! Just realised its after 1am! Really enjoying the reports- Your DDs are so cute and I love the way you seem to stalk everyone