Wifey's Gang Trip Report Updated post 71(we're in a Parade)

[irongirlof12]

another lovely day , I agree with you about AA, very patriotic

 

[wifey]

Day 11 Epcot part 2

When we left Canada, with the drizzle making a few folks panic and rush into the shops for ponchos, we took a quick glance at the time and were surprised to find it was almost time for our TT FPs. We trudged over and noticed the rabbits munching the grass and hopping about and some awful teenage boys tying to chase them As we got to TT we noticed the huddled mass outside and wondered what was going on and eventually found out from an unhappy CM that it had broken down and they did not know when it would be working again.So we had a couple of options 1 get new FPs and hope it was working when we returned or 2 wait and see if it would be open soon. We went with no.1 and decided to risk our chances later. It struck me as odd that it went down at the same time as Ellen's Universe of Energy hmm but at least it had stopped raining .

So by now it was time to make plans for the remainder of the day and we went back to the message board there and we sat down for a spell as they only had late time slots for FPs on Soarin' which was a shame so we picked up FPs for MS. Our time slot soon came around and back we went to TT and while we were in line we got talking to another Dad and his kids who were doing a "Hidden Mickey" hunt but decided not to give them any clues they were doing just fine. After this we just had to do MS one more time and although we went in the FP line we got delayed going in this made DS nervous but he was determined to do it again. We loved the ride and it was close to dinner time when we came back out so to satisfy our need for a filling meal we went to Electric Umbrella and took our time just chilling out while we ate. After all the fun we had we chose to grab the bus back to our hotel and picked up ice creams at the food court and some very rich chocolate cake with a very generous layer of piped frosting on top mmm...

We had an early night planned tomorrow we've ADRs at Chef Mickey's and Whispering Canyon Cafe and lots more fun to enjoy

 

[Minniespal]

A trip to Epcot is not the same without TT breaking down.

Shame on those teens for chasing the bunnies.

 

[wifey]

Day 12 Tuesday 3rd July Magic Kingdom Part 1

We were up at 6.30 am to prepare for breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 9.50 am and each of us jumped in the shower and dressed quickly. We were waiting for the bus by 8.20 am We were really looking forward to the day ahead. Once we arrived at MK we realised that DS wanted to ride on the Indy Speedway cars again so DH and DS went off to line up since it was early and the line was smaller than on our last day in MK only 20 mins wait this time. I waited in the viewing area and watched from one of the benches. Both of them enjoyed it and DS took the wheel this time so he was very happy.

Once we met up again DH went over to Buzz for FP tickets for later in the morning and then we headed back out of the park we did get some strange looks I could just imagine some guests thinking 'what they are leaving already but why' Ahh the lovely calm walk to the Contemporary was bliss and once in the lobby we soon found our way up in the elevator to Chef Mickey's. We were quickly checked in and given a pager which went off in less that 5 minutes and our lovely server took us to our table which was in a different area to where we have been seated before. CM Ruth Ann was wonderful very attentive and she kept us informed of each of the characters whereabouts and how long they would take to come round to our section bless her. She kept our drinks topped up and told us what was where for the food choices she was a real gem of a waitress It was very busy from time to time but mostly it was lively lots of kitchen staff clearing tables or laying out cutlery etc. and restocking the buffet. The food was very fresh and tasty some things made to order, great tasty food and very filling.
Goofy was very well goofy this morning he had been walking around and meeting guests sat behind us and turned around suddenly and walked into a kitchen trolley and banged his shins OUCH the staff made light of it I'm sure they didn't want us to worry about him but he really did seem to hurt himself and after he met DS and went to the next family he had to sit down for 10 minutes He signed autographs while he was there and then limped away to the kitchen for a while. The characters came by one at a time and we had to wait for ages for Minnie, all of the girls wanted her autograph and a photo with her some of them wanted group photos as well. This delayed Minnie by half an hour and then she went for a restroom break so by the time she came back Goofy and Mickey had been back again!!

By this time we had finished our breakfast and once we left a good tip for Ruth Ann and paid for our meal and photos we left to walk back to the park.
It was nearly lunch time but while everyone else went for lunch we tried to get on rides

More to follow....

 

[Minniespal]

Poor Goofy

 

[wifey]

Okay I'm back with Part 2


As we walked back up Main St and headed to AdventureLand again DS said he wanted to go on Aladdin's Carpet Ride again. So we queued up and while we were there got talking to another english couple who were on their honeymoon, so we told them about the buttons they could get from Guest Services and the wedding hats they could buy in some of the shops and how special the CMs would make their trip if they knew about it. They were amazed and thanked us and we wished them a wonderful time and gave them our congratulations. We love to spread the magic
Then we went to BTMRR for FPs again and since we had a while to wait for the time slot we made our way over to Tom Sawyer's Island, after a brief stop at the rifle range at Frontier Land DH and DS were ace at this,DS wanted to shoot at stuff again and once he was content again we made our way over to the tunnels (where I don't like walking through it's the darkness makes me uncomfortable my eyes don't like going from bright light to pitch black) and then back across th Frontier Land and along to Fantasy Land again ohh some of the standby lines over there were 70-90 minutes for a 3 minute ride So we sauntered along to Toon Town Fayre which was also very busy. My those crowds can be rough if you were not expecting them to be so bad. DS passed up on Goofy's BarnStormer this time I guess he's out grown it now but he did want to go on the Carousel so back we walked and waited in line for a while and once we were allowed on there was not enough horses for everyone waiting so we had to wait again but eventually we all enjoyed it and found it very relaxing those horses looked great with their new paint work.
Once again we just had to do Stitch's Great Escape when we made our way over to TomorrowLand and then a spell on the TTA where we heard as we came of a guy asking a CM "Where does this take us to"? To which the CM said "Right back here via everywhere in Tomorrowland" I couldn't help but laugh about it As we left we noticed that Buzz was outside Carousel of Progress which I personally think people just pass off as something for another time it really deserves more appreciation and COP was actually open so I looked at DH and he nodded so in we went and unfortunately a group of teenage boys sat behind us. They went on the take the proverbial out of it and a few other guests told them that if they could not respect it and what it stands for then they should shut up and leave. Well they shut up alright and sat sulking but I guess they got the message we didn't hear another word from them.
With that lovely and nostalgic (SP?) look at human progress we happily made our way to Buzz as our FP time slot had begun. We always love Buzz and DH and DS were happy when we left to take in the smells and sights of the park and to people watch.

Before we knew it the time had flown over and after reading about allowing time to get around on the Disney Transportation System we left the park again. Our destination was Wilderness Lodge for dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We had never made the journey over there before so were unsure how long it would take us it was 4.20 pm and our reservation was for 6 pm so we found the boat launch and really enjoyed the ride over very relaxing and got there in plenty of time too. With our spare time we had a look around and took some photos and we did notice that the pool had a stack of clean dry towels beside it. Staff were changing the wet used ones as we walked by and the place was so well planned out it was ideal. We found the lobby and went in we had a quick look around the shop and took a couple more photos and sat down.We found the Cafe and I checked us in and again we were given a pager which went off once the boys headed to the restroom so I let the staff know they would be a couple of minutes and once they returned we were taken to our table. We took a couple of minutes to take in the atmosphere and notice the decor which we loved. Then we were introduced to our server Geno who was fantastic and great fun.
He gave us a few minutes to decide what we wanted and gave us the kids menu to see the choices for DS. The choices were either grilled fish with whoe grain pilaf rice and veggies and yogurt parfait or grilled chicken strips with macaroni topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella served with veggies or kids picks starters were water melon or garden salad, entrees canyon skillet mac & cheese or cheese burger desserts Cinnamon Apples, Chocolate Chip Cookies or Worms in Dirt. We asked for the chicken and pasta but DS refused to eat his veggies so he was told he had better eat his fruit We ordered a vanilla shake for me and DH had a beer DS had a Sprite then after deciding against starters we split a canyon skillet which was very good even the salad was full of flavour and texture and we loved the dressing too . While we ate we watched the antics going on around us now bear in mind tat as the evening progresses more ketchup bottles are brought out One of the tables close to us wanted ketchup but they didn't ask for it so one of the boys at the table took a bottle from another tble but their waitress noticed and "put him in jail" for stealing and everyone else had to being their ketchup to that table . So funny and that went on all evening , during the night all of the kids were invited to take park in the "Pony Express Ride" so they all lined up on hobby horses and skipped around the restaurant and we all had to cheer and whoop until the last one made it home.

Then the kids had to promise the staff that they would never ever go to a Universal Park before they could receive their certificates and become honorary Pony Express Riders Ds was wearing his Spiderman t-shirt LOL!!There was one family whose dad didn't cheer so he was made to give out the certificates to the kids while they shouted "Thankyou" to him. Once our main course was over we had dessert Apple Cinnamon Pie with hand made Vanilla ice cream ooh so good but very filling. Our server was a little amazed that we didn't have second helpings of anything but we assured him we could not eat another bite. So happy and full we made our way back out and after a quick restroom break headed back to the pier for the baot back to the MK. The boat went via Fort Wilderness camping ground where we noticed a pirate themed evening event on the beach and we had a great view of the back of the Contemporary on the way over and an unusual view of the waterway over the road From the boat dock we went for the bus back to the hotel, we could see how busy the park was and didn't relish being in the crowds that evening as guests were still turning up to get in, so we considered what we wanted to do on our next day and went to bed tired but happy.

 

[irongirlof12]

great day, WCC sounds fun, we have an adr there for next trip!

 

[arieljasmine]

What a great day, with too exciting ADRs. I do hope Goofy was OK, how bad to not be able to scream when you hurt yourself! WCC sounds like a real laugh.

Laur's

 

[wifey]

Hi girls WCC was an absolute hoot we loved the way the servers would get everyones attention by calling out "Hey Howdy Hey" ( just like
Woody's Roundup Gang in MK) and we'd all reply "Howdy" right back as loud as we could (it does get noisy in there but not irritatingly so) and the whole place just buzzed. We'll make plans to go there again on future trips and to 50's Prime Time which was a great place too wonderful food and fantastic antics from the servers

Now to continue...


Day 13 Wednesday 4th July A Very Restful Day

We slept in and relaxed all day taking in the quietness at the hotel most of the guests had gone out for the day. We took advantage of the peace and went swimming while our laundry washed and dried. Again we were struck by some older folks who had lots of difficulty remembering which machines they were using. So our loads in the dryer got stopped and the door was left open now the thought of someone else rifling through our stuff made me very unhappy so I decided to keep popping back in from the pool to check on progress and re-starting the machines Eventually we had everything organised clean and dry and took it back to our room. Then we had a quick shower and had a walk to the games room and the food court for a bite to eat. Most of the staff there were very friendly and smiled as we sat by the big tv in the corner and watched the loop of cartoons and sung along too. DS was surprised that I could sing along with by back to the tv Then DH went back to our room for the card to use in the games room and we spent a while in there trying to get as many tickets as we could to trade in for prizes. After a while we had thousands and DS traded them in for a car and an airport play set and sweets he seemed fine with his choices so we walked back to our room for the camera. Just as we reached our block the rain began so we waited to see how dark the clouds were. What the heck we said and went for it and walked over to the opposite side of Mighty Ducks and took a few photos of the buildings we had not seen before and DS was happy to have one of him with Donald (one of his favourite characters) and enjoyed the atmosphere with kids playing and laughter everywhere.
Then DS wanted to look in the gift shop for something for his best friend and while we looked around he spotted a "pirates" toy the helms man as well as a bag of sweets for his friend so we paid for them and headed back to our room. As DS played with his toys we sat back watching tv and reflecting on the events of the last two weeks mainly high points, and a couple of really low ones. Mainly we were impressed with the CMs everywhere, the hotel and the parks were well run and the shuttle service provided by Mears who run DME was excellent and very well organised.


Our only observations which we agreed on when we discussed them that night were:- 1 that Disney should have enforced the no smoking rules instead of letting guests smoke on balconies and inside rooms or on the landings. On our second week every day we had smoke come through our air con unit and through the door due to the guests staying in rooms on either side of our room who were smoking. There were adequate smoking areas on the ground floor they were just too lazy to make their way to the designated areas And :- 2 the restrooms in the parks..they were all cleaned fairly frequently. However for some reason american parents don't let their kids sit on the toilet seats and they messed up the whole place leaving seats and floors covered in.. well you know what.. and in some occasions in the mens restrooms on the walls too.It wasn't pleasant and I count myself lucky that we took our own flushable toilet wipes or there would have been a few choice words said to those parents. I mean there were paper toilet seat covers if they were that worried about germs, they probably left far more than they would have picked up, I'm glad we also took anti-bacterial hand gel it was worth it's weight in gold when hand soap dispensers were empty and the hand dryers were out of order.
All in all we've had a great time even when using the WDW Transport which was fun and easy to work out.We had some lovely conversations with other families form all over the USA and from Wales, England and Scotland.

So happy and chilled out we had dinner in the food court we had an early night in readiness for our long day ahead, hoping that the extra security at the airport due to the attack at Glasgow would not cause us too many problems.

Still to tell you .. our final day including Departure Day Breakfast

 

[wifey]

Hi girls WCC was an absolute hoot we loved the way the servers would get everyones attention by calling out "Hey Howdy Hey" ( just like
Woody's Roundup Gang in MK) and we'd all reply "Howdy" right back as loud as we could (it does get noisy in there but not irritatingly so) and the whole place just buzzed. We'll make plans to go there again on future trips and to 50's Prime Time which was a great place too wonderful food and fantastic antics from the servers

Now to continue...


Day 13 Wednesday 4th July A Very Restful Day

We slept in and relaxed all day taking in the quietness at the hotel most of the guests had gone out for the day. We took advantage of the peace and went swimming while our laundry washed and dried. Again we were struck by some older folks who had lots of difficulty remembering which machines they were using. So our loads in the dryer got stopped and the door was left open now the thought of someone else rifling through our stuff made me very unhappy so I decided to keep popping back in from the pool to check on progress and re-starting the machines Eventually we had everything organised clean and dry and took it back to our room. Then we had a quick shower and had a walk to the games room and the food court for a bite to eat. Most of the staff there were very friendly and smiled as we sat by the big tv in the corner and watched the loop of cartoons and sung along too. DS was surprised that I could sing along with by back to the tv Then DH went back to our room for the card to use in the games room and we spent a while in there trying to get as many tickets as we could to trade in for prizes. After a while we had thousands and DS traded them in for a car and an airport play set and sweets he seemed fine with his choices so we walked back to our room for the camera. Just as we reached our block the rain began so we waited to see how dark the clouds were. What the heck we said and went for it and walked over to the opposite side of Mighty Ducks and took a few photos of the buildings we had not seen before and DS was happy to have one of him with Donald (one of his favourite characters) and enjoyed the atmosphere with kids playing and laughing.

Here's the view from our room

Then DS wanted to look in the gift shop for something for his best friend and while we looked around he spotted a "pirates" toy the helms man as well as a bag of sweets for his friend so we paid for them and headed back to our room. As DS played with his toys we sat back watching tv and reflecting on the events of the last two weeks mainly high points, and a couple of really low ones, while we packed our suitcases. Mainly we were impressed with the CMs everywhere, the hotel and the parks were well run and the shuttle service provided by Mears who run DME was excellent and very well organised.


Our only observations which we agreed on when we discussed them that night were:- 1 that Disney should have enforced the no smoking rules instead of letting guests smoke on balconies and inside rooms or on the landings. On our second week every day we had smoke come through our air con unit and through the door due to the guests staying in rooms on either side of our room who were smoking. There were adequate smoking areas on the ground floor they were just too lazy to make their way to the designated areas And :- 2 the restrooms in the parks..they were all cleaned fairly frequently. However for some reason american parents don't let their kids sit on the toilet seats and they messed up the whole place leaving seats and floors covered in.. well you know what.. and in some occasions in the mens restrooms on the walls too.It wasn't pleasant and I count myself lucky that we took our own flushable toilet wipes or there would have been a few choice words said to those parents. I mean there were paper toilet seat covers if they were that worried about germs, they probably left far more than they would have picked up, I'm glad we also took anti-bacterial hand gel it was worth it's weight in gold when hand soap dispensers were empty and the hand dryers were out of order.
All in all we've had a great time even when using the WDW Transport which was fun and easy to work out.We had some lovely conversations with other families form all over the USA and from Wales, England and Scotland.

So happy and chilled out we had dinner in the food court we had an early night in readiness for our long day ahead, hoping that the extra security at the airport due to the attack at Glasgow would not cause us too many problems.We watched some of the fireworks which we could see from our end of the building truly amazing and worth the view no-one else can match them for scale and wow factor

Still to tell you .. our final day including Departure Day Breakfast

 

[wifey]

Well it's finally time to return to the real world "oh phooey" as Donald Duck would say!

Departure Day Thursday 5th July

We had planned to get some last moments of magic in our final day by booking reservations at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian resort with the Departure Day Character Breakfast. So we dragged ourselves out of bed early 6 am which was quite an achievement after all the festivities last night and some guests returning very noisily at 3 and 4 am. We had taken relaxing baths the night before and were soon presentable and dressed and everything packed for the day ahead. Our express check out slip was waiting on the door just before 7 am I had asked to get it early so that we had it when we left. Very quietly we took everything down to the lobby and waited outside for the shuttle and met some of the families we had talked to on the shopping trip, they were also leaving that day and had made the same plans. Our shuttle left on time at 7. 30 am all of the cases were put in a locked trailer and we made our way across to Pop to pick up another family and the headed to GF. The poor driver almost had kittens on one stretch of road, where the landscaping teams were busy working, when a van pulled out suddenly in front of the bus and stopped right in the lane in front of us We did get there in one piece and were very hungry. Our driver told us he would take us in and gave the staff the group booking number etc and asked us to sit down at the tables until our servers brought our drinks and then we could get what ever we wanted for breakfast and when to be back at the bus.
We had noticed on our way in Mary Poppins was outside greeting everyone

so we went over to the buffet and chose what to have and while we ate some of the characters came to see us,Tigger

Pooh Bear and Alice and the Mad Hatter.

The room was smaller than I imagined it would be but it still seated lots of guests. The food was fresh and the staff were good but the buffet area was a little cramped compared to Chef Mickey's. We enjoyed the atmosphere and the food and made it back to the bus with about 20 minutes to spare.
Then we were taken to DTD and we were able to get our cases back and check them in at the Virgin desk and get them wighed and have the airport tags put on them then they were put in a wagon and taken to the airport. It was very well organised and we felt that the system was safe and our cases would be secure.We were now free to explore DTD for a while so after quickly ringing Mears to check which pick-up we were scheduled to be on we walked in and made our way around to the shops. DS wanted to look in the Lego shop again so we stopped for a while and he played and got excited and spilt gatorade all down his t-shirt So we had to find him a new one to wear on the plane so into World of Disney we dashed and found a Ratatouille one and told him he would have to change shirts later. After a browse through the rest of the shops we decided to get ice-creams ,it was a while until lunch time, and just for once Ghirardelli's was not heaving so we sat inside to eat them We've wanted to do that for so long it was lovely to actually sit there and enjoy it for once! It was close to the opening time for the cinema so we headed back over and after a few minutes wait got in line for tickets to see Shrek 3 which was fantastic and a fun way to spend a while before we had to leave and walk back to the pick-up area for the ride to the airport. We did grab a meal at McDs before we headed over and made a quick restroom break along the way and changed DS's t-shirt. We arrived early, I rang them and told them I was concerned about security delays at the airport, we had an earlier time arranged but there was a great guy there who was working for Mears who called ahead and said we could get on the earlier bus and we made our way over with a little time to spare.
It's just as well we caught that bus when we did it was a bit chaotic finding the way to Departure Gates and clearing security, it was not very well organised they should have had more lanes open and some of the staff got a bit crabby with the travellers. Once we cleared security, with our shoes off, and went through Customs and made it to the gate we literally only had to wait at the gate for 5 minutes and we were allowed to board the plane
DS said he didn't want the window seat again because one of the controller buttons stuck on the way out. So I swapped with him and who do you think sat down in the row in front of DH... yep you guessed it the selfish prat who crushed me on the outbound leg .. but he didn't dare move before he looked I was amazed he actually checked before he moved every time on the return leg of the trip The staff were better and kept telling folks to put their seats up when the food and drinks came around and we enjoyed the trip home until a guy 3 rows behind us decided to talk rather loudly for the whole night until an hour before we landed.. which was when breakfast was served to the rest of us..that was when he fell asleep It was raining when we landed and so much colder than we hoped. We made our way out of the airport to the train station where we had to show out tickets for travel home and ducked into the little shop on the platform until the train was due. We had taken our JetEase until halfway through the flight so we didn't feel too bad just cold and yawning a lot. So once the train arrived we put the cases in the luggage area of the cabin and waited for the refreshments cart. I don't know if it was sleep deprivation or what but the cart was manned by a polish couple who talked at 90 miles an hour and we both got the feeling we were in a Harry Enfield sketch, how odd, they giggled and chattered the whole way home. We did get cups of tea and juice for DS and a sandwich from them and they stood there and she added up in her head and gave us the price £6 but it was so odd how she did it I can't explain. I put it down to being tired until I noticed that's how they behaved with every customer who bought something from them. We arrived at out station and managed to catch a taxi home for noon and managed to stay awake long enough to start the washing machine off with a load from the items we'd worn for the last 24 hours and crashed into bed 'til 3.30pm. Our trip is finally over and we have lots of happy memories to keep and share and photos to enjoy although we've agreed for any future trips we'll probably stay off-site again and go off season if we can.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Fantastic trip report Wifey

 

[Ware Bears]

I've really enjoyed reading this ~ shame it had to end.

 

[arieljasmine]

I have really enjoyed reading your trip reports, thanks very much for sharing them with us

Laur's