A BIG Small World Meet

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

We left off with some late night rides at Epcot and hopping over to the Magic Kingdom for a flight to Neverland and to defeat Zurg. As we went to bed, I was feeling a bit off. I was exhausted. We decided NOT to set an alarm, expecting our trusty toddler would wake us up with plenty of time to make a planned meet with fellow Disney Fans (friends from the disboards.com message boards) at 9:30 AM.

Well...how is it that kids only sleep in when you don't want them to??? Henry woke us up at 8 AM, so we scurried around the Villa, but we managed. While on the bus it started to sprinkle...

Video: Magic Kingdom Bus Spiel (1:16) - this is an awful video, it's sideways! But, the bus spiel is always fun to listen to!

We made it to the Magic Kingdom just after 9, and rushed through the rain over to Small World where our meet-up was to take place.


Awesome DIS kids!!

Amy (a Disney friend) had brought stickers and Henry was so beyond excited about them! It was like he had never had stickers before in his life - he could hardly even listen or focus on anything but them! LOL


We filled up the queue!

We requested a boat for 17 (or was it 19?) and off we went on the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed.





As SOON as we rounded the corner with the end of the ride I heard one of Amy's boys ask "Are we done now?" HA! They were not havin' that Small World! Really though, we all enjoyed it! It was so much fun meeting everyone!!

Just as the cruise ended another friend, appeared--so a few people rode again, but Henry had already spotted his new favorite across the road....so we said our good-byes and



went flying again! The wait time had listed 25 minutes, but we waited less than 10!

We didn't have any plans for the morning - just a relaxed sort of day, so we again let Henry take the lead and he pointed us in the direction for everyone's favorite singing bears.

On the way I took some pictures of the skyway area because I knew they would be demolishing it soon for new bathrooms.




It's such a pretty building!





I just kept snapping pictures...











And apparently we went inside...probably for no real reason, other than we had never been in that store.




Cute little fox stuffed animals

And right next door was our destination


Wrong settings on the camera...oops!















It's not a "must do" on our trips, but it's always fun to do!

After we sang and clapped our hands we had worked up a small appetite for a sweet, so into the shop we went


Hmmm...what looks good?

Joe was into the treats, but I spotted this



Henry had no idea who that big dude was, but he was elated to see him! But, Brer Bear was busy scoping out the candy--and "getting a hug" from his Character Handler. As you might be able to tell he had a costume malfunction and she was fixing it! :-)

Brer Bear took a minute to give Henry a quick hug on his way out



we made our purchases and stepped out just in time to see the start of the Frontierland Hoedown!

I had NO idea this even happened on a regular basis! I have since found out they often run this in the afternoon, or just after it rains to brighten up the mood in the park.  What a FUN event! It really did brighten our moods! My pictures are terrible because it was still on the settings for inside the Country Bear Jamboree, but hopefully it gives you an idea. Lots of dancing and singing and characters!









Henry got asked to dance by several different CMs and even the characters, but he refused. All he wanted was his SUCKERS that we bought from the store!



Meanwhile, Brer Bear was doing the Hokey Pokey 3 inches from us



No interest.

All well! I had fun!

After the hoedown we started to wander a bit - Joe took the camera, fixed the settings, and proceeded to get some beautiful shots!







As we approached Main Street we decided to grab some lunch. It was just before 11 AM and Casey's was just about to open. Like the Frontierland Hoedown, I had no idea Casey's sang when opening! How fun!

Video: Take Me Out to the Ballgame! (39 seconds)

We were shortly in the door and ordering at the counter. I noticed the gourmet hotdogs now on their regular menu (they had tested these a few months prior):



While we waited for our order, just outside the door the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade was going by.  This is a fun parade, so much energy!












The Jesse costume freaks me out a bit. Am I alone in this? What happened to her neck?





And soon we were sitting and enjoying our food


NOT MINE.

Yes, you read that correctly. These were NOT MINE! Those were Joe's!  I looooooove Corn Dog Nuggets and I didn't order them!

I figured I had many days still in front of me, plenty of time to get my Golden Beauties, so I opted for



The Chicago Sytle Dog instead! I am orginally from Chicago, and I LOVE real Chicago hot dogs, so I had to try it! It was pretty good - not fantastic. And the bun was too long...which was weird. But, I'd order it again!

After our bellies were full we made a quick pit stop over at First Aid. Remember that little blister I had? It was getting worse with the wet shoes from the morning rain, so I got a few band-aids and Joe took this:


Nice work hon!

Henry asked to go to the hotel - and to have a Mickey Bar AT the hotel. So, that's just what we decided we'd do! We started out of the park and I was click-happy





































When we arrived at the buses we saw a Yacht Club/Beach Club bus was there - so we hopped on board - we had always wanted to check out the Yacht Club, and now seemed like a good time!

Up Next: Crazy Birds and Ice Cream.

Green Monday

Have you ever heard of Green Monday?  I hadn't until this morning -- apparently it's TODAY!  It means we are getting veryyyyyy close to Christmas and retailers break out one more big discount day - similar to Cyber Monday.

So in honor of GREEN MONDAY, I'm offering a $50 gift card with any Walt Disney World package bookings today!  Including the Free Dining package that is still available through this Saturday with travel dates January - March 2012.  $200 is all that is needed to hold a reservation and is fully-refundable up to 45 days before your travel.  I will make sure you get the BEST discount out there for your travel dates too!!

Happy Green Monday!  And if you are online shopping today, I hope you snag some wonderful deals!

Late night rides

Let's keep this ball rolling with another update from our Feb/March 2011 Walt Disney World trip! You can find all the updates I've done so far HERE


We left off after Soarin' and we were crossing the park to use up our Test Track FastPasses. Now, if you recall, Henry did not really enjoy this ride from our first night-but, I hadn't fully noticed that he had been scared-he just went quiet, which, at the time, I figured was because he was a bit tired. So I didn't think twice of bringing him on this time....and he didn't hesitate jumping into line either-so I thought all was well!


Hidden Mickey!



When we got to our numbered squares, the Cast Member working the queue started to play a game with Henry and the numbered squares - basically quizzing him on his numbers, while we waited. What a very cool Cast Member! I mentioned, in passing, that Test Track was his favorite - and she gave us our FastPasses back so we could ride again! YAY!

Soon it was our turn and we started to zip around the ride.


In the heat room...he always does this! LOL


In the cold room. Brrrrr!



And after the ride, of course, we had to check out the cars!


Safety first!

And the dump shop





After we left the shop we told Henry we could ride again...YAY!

But...he refused.

He completely shut down.

In my notes I wrote, "H was a bit testy and didn't want to ride????? No idea why!"

I was a bit confused and bummed, we tried to convince him a bit, but it was a no go and almost resulted in a melt-down, so we weren't going to force him. (but look at that pic in the car - he was obviously scared!  I hadn't really looked at our picture at the time, just scanned our PhotoPass card and moved on.)

He requested Peter Pan.

HA! Wrong park!

BUT! We had those FastPasses that the Cast Member had given us the previous day while at the Magic Kingdom, and they expired today...and there is a monorail straight to the park...so why not??? Let's GO!

While on the monorail Henry started to get completely nutty and hyper, while I was fading...isn't that how it always works?! Kid is ready and raring to go, while the parents are falling asleep!

Soon we arrived:







Onward to Pan!


One very happy boy about to ride to Neverland!




"Let's fly!"

After we landed, we tried to convince Henry to do Pirates, but he was very fussy about it and adamantly did NOT want Pirates. On our previous trip one of the cannon balls from the ship actually got us a teeeeeeny bit wet and he remembered that...and didn't like it. (and just so you know, later in this trip we bribed him onto Pirates - and he's now obsessed!  But we'll get to that later in the trip...)

So, instead of Pirates we were off to Buzz!

While waiting in line Henry is literally bouncing off the walls. He's completely wired and wild and not obeying...which just made my tired self completely irritated and almost resulted in a Mommy Meltdown, but we survived.







After Buzz he is D-O-N-E. It's like a switch. Wired to tired. I was more than fine with that! I was at the end of myself for the night. We walked back over to Pan and gave away the couple of FastPasses we had left, then headed for the Castle.

As we walked through the Castle on our way out, a door popped open and Ariel stuck her head out!!! There were lots of guests in the little room she was peeking out from. I had no idea what that room was for or what was going on. Since I've been home I found out that little room is where the elevator to go to the Cinderella Suite is! Apparently Ariel was crashing Cindy's pad with her friends for the night! LOL

As we walked out of the Castle the Kiss Goodnight started, so we paused and enjoyed that





Video: Kiss Goodnight (1:15) - it's not great, there were a lot of people around us talking, so you can't hear the audio very well. But you kinda get an idea!

And on Main Street I spotted this


It was the only one with a light on. Pretty clever.

At the buses, the line for the Boardwalk is CRAZY long, but a Yacht Club/Beach Club bus came first, so we got on that. The bus driver was from Minnesota and a hoot. The bus was full, with people standing, so at every turn he'd shout out "Hard left, everyone say 'Whooooooooooooa!'" and everyone complied. It made the very full bus ride a bit more bearable.

At the Beach Club another guest asked about how to get to the Boardwalk, and he decided he'd just take us there since there were quite a few of us! Woot!

We got into our room at 10:55 pm. I was exhausted, I had a blister on my toe and I'm just feeling a bit off... Hopefully a good night's sleep would make for a happy boy and a happy Momma.

Look at all those lazy people on the lazy river!

More from our Feb/March trip to Walt Disney World!  See all posts on this trip HERE

As we left off, we had made a decision to head out of Epcot and back to the Boardwalk for a nap, then to Stormalong Bay for some more pool time.





We opted for the boat back to the Boardwalk - probably because it was there waiting for passengers when we stepped out. Staying at the Boardwalk twice now has made me a BIG fan of Disney boats. They are so relaxing, it's like an attraction in and of itself!




See you soon Stormalong Bay!


See you in August Yacht Club!



We were soon rolling down the hallway and were in our room where we promptly laid Henry down and attempted to rest ourselves.

However, remember that cup of chocolate mousse Henry had? How many grams of sugar do you think are in there?!

Ya...no nap. It wasn't happenin' no matter how much we tried to bribe him. So, off to the pool!

This time we decided to tackle the lazy river and we rented a tube. If I recall correctly, the tubes are $10/day, or $3/hour. We rented for an hour, and the Cast Member told us to just return it whenever.

Joe and Henry went around the river first





And then Henry wanted to dig, so Joe kept floating when Henry and I played in the sand.



After Joe went around a few times, I took a turn in the tube while the boys did the sand. Later, Joe and I took turns swimming laps around the lazy river area since it's 7 feet deep. I really enjoyed that, it's not a huge loop, but enough to provide a good swim a couple times around.

Then...guess what we did next?

If you guessed "Dig in the sand." You are correct!

Dig.

Dig.

Dig!

Joe and I would lay on the edge of the water while Henry dumped buckets of water on us....this was incredibly entertaining for quite some time.

Then we dug in the sand a bit more.

And some more.

We still had the tube, so the boys hit the lazy loop again, I decided to really be lazy and hit the lounger for a short NAP.

Yes, this was another good day at Stormalong Bay! We left the area around 5:30 due to growling stomachs and....I was growing antsy. I needed to get more Epcot!

We peeled Henry away from the sand and before we even left the pool area he was sound asleep.

Back in our room we slowly prettied ourselves up and then wheeled to Epoct. Henry must have woken up in the room, because by the time we got to Epcot he was raring to go!


He received a Woody sticker at the gates


A quick PhotoPass on the bridge

We had Soarin' FastPasses that were burning a hole in my pocket, so the logical place to eat was



Sunshine Seasons was a big hit with Henry back in September, so we were hoping for a repeat of a good meal.


Despite the beauties seen here, there really is only one choice for this family...


Mine - Ginger Mongolian Beef with veggies and noodles


Joe's - Spicy Cashew Chicken with rice and noodles

We must have been really hungry because usually we just have Henry share off our plates, but this time he got his own!


Henry's - Kids Sweet & Sour Chicken with noodles. He actually requested broccoli. :-O However, I knew he'd eat one or two piece and waste the rest, while he would gobble the noodles, so I shared my veggies with him instead. It was a Proud Mommy Moment when my 3 year old requested vegetables!

And now for the glorious, wonderful...


Drool. I love, love, love this dessert.

When we were done eating all our plates and garbage were pushed to the center of the table where Henry spotted a Hidden Mickey


It's a bit of a gross picture with all the trash, but...I was still proud! Look at that Mickey with the plates!

And soon it was time to



Henry was SO EXCITED to soar! And he got a little red card necklace dealy-do, which made him even more excited!






Let's fly!

After this ride I think I discovered my favorite Disney sound. The click of the seat belts coming off after this ride. It's funny-they do the announcement of how to get out of the seat belt while everyone is pushing, pushing, pushing on the red button and then suddenly BOOM! we are released and the clicking fills the room. It's the end sound of an awesome ride. I have no idea, but it just strikes me as a fun noise. I'm weird like that. :-P

As we walked out I snagged a geek shot


Kinda cool.

And now...it was time to use those Test Track FastPasses...how would Henry do???