Harboring a Rebel Spy - 9 days at the YC, many firsts for these vets - Updated 12/22

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Hey Howdy Hey. I am Heather, and my super-awesome family of five took a little trip to the World last month. Come along with us as we relive it for your reading pleasure. Expect lots of pics, mini-reviews of restaurants, and some silliness.

Who are we?

Troy, Heather, A.J. (12), Leah (10) and Paige (5)

We visited Disney World from November 19 - November 27 (Thanksgiving, people!) and we lived to tell the tale. In fact, we had ZERO crowd issues. I am will go into that more later.

We have been to Disney many, many times. people ask, "why are you going back?" Well, because in Disney my kids all get along, my too-cool-for-school 12 year old son sleeps with his Figment stuffie, and I don't have to do dishes. Reason enough for ya?

Visual proof of kids getting along:

This trip included many FIRSTS for a family of vets. Most importantly, it was the first time we surprised the kids. We told them in the airport where we were really going! This was also or first time using FP+ and MBs. In September 2013 we stayed off-site for the first time(meh - both good and bad but mostly meh), so we missed out on these things. I will review our first experience with the MyMagic elements as we go, but suffice it to say WE ARE IN LOVE. FP+ is not without it's issues, and I will go into them, but I'll mainly sing it's praises. If you don't like it, consider yerself warned, matey.

Each day we made it a point to do SOMETHING for the FIRST time. We rode the rides we tend to bypass. We saw shows we never thought we'd like. We stayed somewhere we have never stayed (the Yacht Club - awesome - more on that later). We took an entire day off and did nothing! It was amazing and is something we will do every trip now.

So come along with us and let's relive 9 days of magic, memories, laughter, silliness, a bit of rain, many firsts, and so much more.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Day 1 - We Depart
Day 2, Part 1 - The Primeval Hurl
Day2, Part 2 - Pluto Buys Flat Gram a Mickey Bar
Day 2, Part 3 - Does Sven Poop Yak Poop?
Day 3, Part 1 - Buzz Lightyear Redux
Day 3, Part 2 - We Definitely Didn't Order Six Plates of Mac n Cheese
Day 3, Part 3 - I Went on Space Mountain and You Didn't Tell Me?
Day 3, Part 4 - The One with All the FoF Pics
Day 3, Part 5 - Liverlips? Really?
Day 3, Part 6 - We Flip it to the Green Side, Baby
Day 4, Part 1 - We Are Only Here to Ride Soarin'!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

The day had come. Months of planning and secret-keeping were finally ending. WE WERE LEAVING FOR WDW, ya'll!

If you paid attention to the intro (does anyone read those?), you know that this trip was a surprise for our three kids. We had told them we were tagging along on a work trip of Dad's, and it would be kind of boring but we might try to swim in the hotel pool or something. Ha!

So we woke up as usual on this Wednesday and sent the kids to school. At noon we picked them up and headed to the airport. We had a layover in Atlanta after leaving our cute little Austin airport. The kids were starting to get excited just to be going somewhere. They kept asking, is Grammy meeting us there? They just knew there was something else going on besides a business trip... A.J. noticed the ME yellow tags as we checked in for our flgiht and DH told him we had forgotten to remove them from last time. "Oh." he said. He totally bought it!

The kids enjoy an Aunt Annie's pretzel before boarding and my son covers himself in mustard. Sigh. Every. Time.

After landing in Atlanta, we grabbed some grub. I was already itching to get to Disney and use my FREE DINING ENTITLEMENTS! Paying for food was already painful. As we moved to our gate to wait to board, DD10 asked where we were really going? She is an intuitive little one and smart as a whip. I knoew she'd be the first to figure us out! I broke the MBs out of my carry on and just passed them out. The two bigger kids were hopping up and down with joy. Paige, 5, didn't believe us at first. Like we would pull such a mean trick on them?? She clearly thinks we are evil. She asked if I brought her Minnie ears, and when I showed her I had she was thrilled. Those babies have been with us through 3 Disney trips and a Disney cruise.

Heading to the wonderful ME line...

On the awesome Mickey bus!

We are true Disney Dorks: we LOVE the DME bus and the cartoons and the little propaganda show. We are always the only people on the bus cheering when the TVs come on. We missed the old show, but love the guy who does the little snippets on the new one. We did "Rob the Concerned Bystander" impressions all week... "Waiting in line 120 minutes for Anna and Elsa is a bad idea, and I advise against it."

At this point it was about 9:30pm. We arrived at the YC (last stop of 4), and headed to the check-in desk for people who aren't checking in because they did it online and yet aren't we really still checking in by talking to the guy behind the desk? Hubs took the rascals over the the Marketplace to get their mugs. Becaues we don't drink Cokes at home the minute we arrive on Disney property the challenge to consume as many beverages as we can commences. I was assigned our room number (2154) and took the stairs up one floor to see what my fate would be. I think we can all agree that this moment is so pivotal. Where would the room be located? What would the view be? I was on pins and needles.

NAILED IT. A quick little jaunt from the top of the stairs (later in the week I did laundry and OMG some unlucky people have to do a 5K just the get to their rooms!).

(the children have not stepped foot in the room yet so this is the only time it will be presentable)

The room location was awesome. The room itself looked just like it did in all the online pics and reviews I had stalked. We had the daybed for our (Disney-malighned) 5th family member. Now, The View. I had upgraded to Garden to avoid a dumpter or a roof. For the FIRST time we wanted to spend time on the balcony with wine or coffee or mugs full of Coke product.

Jackpot!!!!!!!!!!!

I will share better pics of this adorable courtyard and gazebo later, but suffice it to say I was pretty darn happy. I decided to head over and make sure my posse had found their way to the BC marketplace and weren't wandering SAB in confusion. I also wanted a cup of brown water really bad. Bad enough to drink the brown water.

I loved this little conversation area in the BC lobby. I really did prefer the YC for a few reasons, but this lobby was sweet. The YC seemed less crowded and more homey. Also, the BC lobby always smelled like fish at night (from Cape May). And while we love seafood and did enjoy Cape May (I'll cover that later), the constant fish smell got old.

So I joined up with my crew, who were buying flatbread pizzas and filling mugs and doing some preliminary shopping in the Marketplace. I showed my 12 year old a Chip n Dale Mickey eat hat (he loves those rodents) and he said, Mom, I just can't beleive I am in Disney World right now. Thanks so much for surprising me. Of course I cried. Come on, now. Who wouldn't? This is what it is all about.

So far we were off to a wonderful start. I love this first night - you are HERE and you have your ENTIRE trip ahead of you. You smirk at the poor stiffs loading their stuff onto the DME bus for the flight home. This place is ALL YOURS now!

Just one snafu to share.... I ordered some things from Amazon pantry to have in the room - bottled water, creamer cups, disposable coffee cups (throw away in parks - much easier than lugging the mug all day), pop-tarts, etc. It was held hostage in the Convention Center when we check in and we were told we could call for it between the hours of 9am-5pm. Awesome except we would be leaving for the parks at 8am the next day. Lng stroy short, it took two days to get that darn thing, and DH finally had to go BEG. So unless you are people who are acutally in their resort from 9am-5pm OR are checking in before 5pm, beware of shipping stuff to resorts with convention centers. I won't bother with that in the future.

Next up - we hit park #1 and experience some magic and laughter and other great stuff.

 

[mousehappync]

Awesome surprise! I have found that requesting "close to lobby and elevator" at BC and YC usually lands yup a great view. Can't wait to read more!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Can't wait to hear more about YC and Cape May, considering both for our next trip!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Awesome surprise! I have found that requesting "close to lobby and elevator" at BC and YC usually lands yup a great view. Can't wait to read more!

Exactly what we requested - yay us! I know we wil lstay here agfain... hoping to go whole-hog next time and get a BW view... So pretty. Really really loved the Epcot resort area.

Can't wait to hear more about YC and Cape May, considering both for our next trip!

Loved them both! Plenty more to say about each. I don't take food pics though... we just dig in too fast! We are hungry people!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Just spent 45 minutes typing out a new installment and when I hit submit I was logged out. Any suggestions to avoid this? I may or may not have said a very bad word.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

We always start every trip with MK. It just feels right. But this time, crowd calendars, weather, and FP+ availabilty all told me to start the trip at AK. Since it was a trip where we were trying to do new things, I went with it. We tend to spend very little time at AK - we go, we ride EE and Safari, and leave. So there were plenty of firsts to accomplish here. Here are a few we discussed:

Primeval Whirl
Nemo
Flights of Wonder
Tusker House

We will get to 3/4 today.

Disney decided to open AK at 8am today, So we were up at 6:30. We brewed some Joffreys in the cute tiny pod-thingee, and enjoyed this for a bit:

Note: if the hallway next to us didn't "jut out" about 4 feet, we would've had a view of the bay when looking left. So rooms beyond ours (2154) would have a vew of the water. However, we enjoyed our sweet view. So peaceful.

So next we woke the kids and enjoyed the fact that they popped right out of bed on the account that they weren't waking up for school. We bundled them up - it was 48 degrees when we left for the bus at 7:50am.

A word about the YC bus stop and bus service: LOVED IT. That was two words. YC shares a bus with BC, but YC is picked up first. And while each day the BC bus stop was jam-packed, I never saw more than 3-4 families waiting at the YC. Now, I do prefer the cue-style waiting at the Values to the mosh-pit style at the mods and Deluxes. When it is crowded it is really not clear who was there first and thus should get on the bus first. But since it was never crowded at our bus stop, this was not an issue. Yay!

By 8:20am we were at AK. Loved the Christmas tree. I was scoping out a PP photog, but no luck, so I have this sad shot:

As we walked in they told us EE was opening at 9am. No problem. What was a problem was that Leah scanned her finger with a mitten on. But no one knew that. This would cause trouble later. Stay tuned.

AK was a ghost town. We headed slowly to DinoLand. Since Paige is too short to ride PW (which makes no sense as she can ride EE), I took her on Triceratop Spin while DH took The Bigs on PW. For the FIRST time. Paige and I got to ride three times in a row without getting off because there was literally NO ONE THERE.

The rest of our crew came of PW and since they LOVED IT and there was NO WAIT, DH and I switched. All in all, the big kids rode PW four times before 9am. And they didn't want to hurl even once. The ride is much more mild than I would've thought, though I think the left side does more "whirling" which may cause more "hurling."

It was now 9am so we headed to EE. There were CMs stationed out front telling people it was "too cold' to run EE. It was 54 degrees. Oooooo K. We have ridden it in colder weather and even rain, so we called BS on that in our heads and smled politely. Our FP+ was around noon, so we figured we would be good by then. We ambled on over to Africa, where we had a Safari FP+ at 9:15.

This boy plays percussion so the (non-existent) crowd got a little treat.

We ran into a PP photog. Yay! Gotta get our $$ worth from that MM!

There was no wait for the Safari, but we used the FP anyway and enjoyed our two week trip through Africa. DH took approximately 307 pics, but I will share just two. You're welcome.

It was now about 9:30 and we were hungry. And cold. We headed to Pizzafari for breakfast platters, coffee and hot chocolate. We were peppy, excited and so pumped up to be in WDW. There was some dancing in Pizzafari. Because we had it to ourselves.

Up next: Pluto Buys Flat Gram a Mickey Bar

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

So we are in AK and we have just filled our bellies with coffee for the non-minors and hot cocoa for the youngsters. We tried EE again after this, but now it was "down." I assume it was "down" even at 9am when they stated it was "too cold." So what we did next was wander. And where did we end up? Back in DinoLand!

The big kids wanted to ride the Hurl again, while Paige wanted to meet Santa Goofy. This trip she was "meh" on characters, having met them all numerous times at this point in her 5 year existence. But Santa Goofy walked by and high-fived her on her way to his meeting place so she was all in.

We sometimes travel to Disney with my parents. They couldn't make it this trip, so we made a Flat Gram and a Flat Pawp on sticks to carry with us. Gram has a thing for Goofy, so we broke him out for this meet and greet.

We asked Goofy to pose with FG (Flat Gram) for a pic, and he was happy to. He even gave her a kiss. After that, I scanned my MB and began to leave. Pluto wasn't having it. He felt left out. He took FG and showed her the Christmas tree.

The PP guy and handler giggled. Then Pluto left the meeting tent with FG. At this point, the family waiting to be next looked annoyed. But Pluto was on a mission. He wanted to buy FG a Mickey Bar. He took her to the nearest cart and opened the freezer and took one out. The CM working the cart took it right back. Pluto wasn't too happy about this so he ran around in circles for awhile with FG. Paige was cracking up, and so was I. No pictures, I am afraid, because it was happening too fast and we were chasing that mutt all over the place. The handler finally came and retrieved our friend Pluto and FG went back into the bag. We had a great story to share once the others returned from PWWe also called the non-Flat Gram to tell her about her adventures. And yes, after this DH took Paige to play some carnival games (rip off) and I took the Bigs on PW. AGAIN. This time we were on the left track and I started to feel a bit yucky. I can handle roller coasters, drops, upside downs, etc., but going in small circles makes me sick. After we got off the ride I was ok, though.

After this it was time for something we were all really looking forward to: Nemo. Ok, I was looking forward to it. The rest of the family was just following my lead as I am the Keeper of the Plans. FOTLK is such an amazing show. We go back every year, and this means we had never seen Nemo. That was about to change.

The show was beautiful and touching and really fun.

I might like Nemo more than FOTLK. I just might. It made Leah and I cry. Twice. Even DH said he had a lump in his throat, as my daughter clutched his hand as Nemo sang about needing his Dad. We were already quoting Rob the Concerned Bystander from the DME TV show. Now we were all sining "In the biiiiiiiggggg bluuuuue world" constantly.

It was finally time for the EE FP+. Was it up? Yes! The FP+ line was a bit longer than it should have been as they accomodated those with FPs in the morning while the ride was down. But we appreciated the chance to see the yak poop. It is a really a must-do for us.

It was Paige's first time on the ride and she was by me. She did not like the backwards part. But she didn't scream or cry, just mentioned afterwards that she would sit out of subsequent rides on EE.

Looks like a maintenance crew needs to drop by:

Ride photo, note Paige holding her breath:

After this we did some shopping, so we could use our coupon before 1pm. You get these handy dandy coupons on the bottom of quick serive meal receipts. Paige picked out this guy:

We had some time before our 2pm lunch ADR, so we walked the Pangani Trail.

After this we listened to some great music on the stage in Africa while DH and I enjoyed a Dole Whip with rum, ya'll! Excellent. Would be even better on a hot day.

It is time for another FIRST - lunch at Tusker House. a quick little food review...

We felt the food here was "meh." There were not many kid choices, and the salad bar was lacking. We all enjoyed the hummus and I liked the beef in the carving station. DH loved the couscous. We found all else to be a little boring, including the desserts. We aren't picky so we tried it all, there just wasn't much that blew our skirts up. The character interactions were very fast, but that was fine as my kids are kinda over it at this point. They enjoy a quick high-five and happily pose for the photo opp but that is about it.

Donald took a liking to Leah and came back by to pull her up for the parade around the room.

She really enjoyed this until her brother told her Donald's "friend" is probably a girl. Brothers!

A.J. made his own hidden Mickey dessert:

So we probably won't go back to TH. But I am so glad we tried it!!!

Next up: Part 3 - Does Sven Poop Yak Poop?

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Right before our "meh" lunch at TH, we had stopped by the friendly FP+ kiosk to rangle up a new FP experience. This was a great experience. Nothing like Epcot and Mk where the line for the FP+ kiosk needed to have a FP+. That is one I would've reserved fo sho. The nice CM at the kiosk easily nabbed me an EE FP+ for 3:30, so after lunch we did what anyone would do. We rode Dinosaur and tried to scare all that food we put in our tummies right back out.

After riding this, Paige - who didn't recall the ride whatsoever from the other 37 times she has been on it in the past - declared it was her "favorite ride ever." Later this same day we asked if she wanted to go on it again and she said, "Nah, not today."

Now we divided and conquered. Paige didn't want to brave EE again, so DH took her and leah to ride Triceratop Spin and who knows what else. We were getting some serious use out of TS today, right? AJ and I rode EE and loved every second. We took a special moment to observe the Yak poop, as we always do. For those of you who think I am crazy, there is a case in the queue filled with items one might find on a real climb up Mt. Everest. One of these things is scat from various creatures indigenous to said mountain. The Yak poop is a big white blob. For some reason it caught our attention years ago and now we talk about it all the time. Anything white and about the same size is Yak Poop in our world.

So we then met up with DH and the girls and did the switch. AJ, Paige and I stopped for a photo opp:

When we got back to the hotel that evening and looked over our MM photos, we cracked up at Sven photo-bombing us. There is even a video to this same effect. Paige asked, "does Sven poop Yak poop?" We probably should've explained the difference between reindeer and yak, but we really don't know the differences so we just said, "YES!" She was just trying to be funny anyway.

While DH and Leah rode EE we went to a dance party, yo!

This was pretty cute and the characters there were very interactive and fun. When Paige latched onto Timon's leg he didn't mind at all. He just kept boogie-ing with her dangling there.

Guess what we did next?

AJ was really wishing the "tipping" power was greater.

After this we hit the Boneyard, and DH and the big kids ride Dinosaur again.

The Boneyard is cute and fun and I don't know why we don't go more often. DH and I got a beverage and sat motionless for awhile. It was fab. But it was getting close to 5 and we wanted to get on the bus before lines formed. So we departed AK, and bid it adieu until June 2015 when we take our FIRST EVER SUMMER TRIP. We are scared of sweating to death, but determined to make it work.

After a little break at YC, we meandered over to the BW to russle up some grub. Actually, we took the boat.

We love the BW. We were disappointed to find there were no performers out this night. Maybe because it was chilly. We filled our mugs at the bakery and pondered what to eat. The offerings at the bakery are slim. And filling your mug there feels weird. We have always wanted to stay here, but now we aren't too sure. DH, Paige and I go sandwiches. I had a roast beef that was really good on the dges. The inside was much too soggy to eat. It was very very rare, which didn't bother me. But the sandwich must have sat awhile which led the horseradish-like sauce to create a wet mess in the center of the sandwich. Paige had a kids' meal turney on goldfish bread and enjoyed it. AJ and Leah got pretzels from the margarita cart. They claimed it was all the wanted.

This photo is right before we moved to a table next to one of those propane-flame things. It was c-c-c-c-cold.

We can make Mickey ears from anything, I tell you!

At this point we saw the Surrey Bike. I capitalze this because evey.single.time we plan to ride one. And we never do. AJ said, "hey let's plan to ride that and then never do it!" I replied, "sounds like a plan, son!"

One day we will ride The Surrey Bike. And it will be awesome.

After this we watched Nemo on TV (in the biiiiig bluuuuuue world...) and fell asleep... We also had a discussion about our favorite parts of the day, as we always do as we fall asleep at WDW. I liked when Pluto absconded with Flat Gram. We patted ourselves on the back for doing three new things at AK today.

I was already warning everyone that the next day we would be up before the sun to begin our day at the most magical place on earth, MK.

 

[natebenma]

OK, Heather. I'm kind of a Yacht & Beach Club junkie. I skimmed over your intro, read your checkin and room reveal experience and skimmed thru your AK pictures.

Going back now to read.

I'm in!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

OK, Heather. I'm kind of a Yacht & Beach Club junkie. I skimmed over your intro, read your checkin and room reveal experience and skimmed thru your AK pictures.

Going back now to read.

I'm in!

Welcome to it! I learned a lot from your thread before I left for this trip. I have plenty more to say about the YC Christmas decor, train, transportation, mug refill in lobby and captain's Grile... Not to mention SAB! Stay tuned!! We truly loved YC!!!!

 

[natebenma]

Just spent 45 minutes typing out a new installment and when I hit submit I was logged out. Any suggestions to avoid this? I may or may not have said a very bad word.

UGH!!!

This is what I do- I type my update in Microsoft Word (saving often) and then copy and paste into the DIS reply box.


You can add in the links to the photos as you are typing (I do) or once it is in the box.

I add sizing, color, bolding and any smilies after I have copied it in.

Plus, you have a copy now on your computer of your trip report!

 

[natebenma]

OK, finally had a chance to go back and read (yes, the intro, too!)

The photo of the kids on Main Street is too precious, and dare I say this year's Christmas card?


What a great surprise for the kids. A close call on the ME tags, but nice recovery. The only time we surprised the kids was on our Universal trip in July 2011. We didn't tell the kids we were doing a one day visit to MK. We told them we were going to Sea World. Had the driver take us the backway so we wouldn't go through the welcome arch. When we stopped at the Contemporary and the kids asked why, the driver said "We are picking up another family". They still didn't get it and I finally had to tell them to "Get Out!"

I'm so glad you loved the YC. We have only stayed at the BC, but I know I would love the YC, too.

Sorry about the issue you had with your delivery to the resort. Teena has warned us that you should only use USPS when shipping to a convention resort because anything else will be delivered to the convention center, held hostage to a time constraint and shipping feeas you discovered.

*****************************************************

AK

Can't wait to hear the aftermath of the mitten-finger-scan!

We have started going to Dinoland USA first thing at AK during Extra Magic Hours and the place really does feel extinct! Love it.

That was a lot of rides that day on PW!!! I can't really do spinny rides, but I am good for 1 ride at a time on PW.

The pictures you chose to post for the safari are great with the animal reflections.

**********************************************************

Love the Flat-Gram and especially that Pluto kidnapped (papernapped?) her and tried to get her a Mickey Bar!

I have a fondness for flat travelers. A few years back, my son Ben was sad that he had not been to Disney in awhile, so we made Flat Bens and he went along on vacation (Disney, Universal, Disney cruise) with a dozen or so different families. He even has a trip report (see my signature).

Real Ben, however, did not find this to be an adequate substitute

**********************************************************

I think I have just seen the Nemo show once- I made it a condition of booking the Disney trip. But my family doesn't really like to watch shows, so we haven't been back.

If you won't be returning to AK until 2015, does that mean you didn't get to tick Flights of Wonder off your list of first time experiences? I have never seen it, but really want to!

Love Paige's expression on EE.

I have heard about the Dole Whip (with rum)- where in AK do you get it? All the time or only on special occasions?

We have had breakfast and lunch at Tusker. Like you said, "meh". Boma, however, is AWESOME!

Tell me about the Memory Maker dino picture- why is there no border? First time I have just seen this blank.

Yak poop story is great. Yak was the first word my oldest son Nate could spell.

I miss the Boneyard. It has been awhile since my boys were interested.

Good luck with the Surrey bike thing. It never ends well.

***************************************

A couple of housekeeping issues... you should post a link to your trip report on the BC/YC FAQ thread. Or if you would like me to, I can. I also have a section on Page 2 with links to resort-related trip reports. May I add yours to this?

And if you have a chance, can you add some pictures of your room view to the YC Room View Thread on the Resort Photo Subforum?

Yacht Club Room Views

Thanks!!!

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

OK, finally had a chance to go back and read (yes, the intro, too!)

The photo of the kids on Main Street is too precious, and dare I say this year's Christmas card?


What a great surprise for the kids. A close call on the ME tags, but nice recovery. The only time we surprised the kids was on our Universal trip in July 2011. We didn't tell the kids we were doing a one day visit to MK. We told them we were going to Sea World. Had the driver take us the backway so we wouldn't go through the welcome arch. When we stopped at the Contemporary and the kids asked why, the driver said "We are picking up another family". They still didn't get it and I finally had to tell them to "Get Out!"

I'm so glad you loved the YC. We have only stayed at the BC, but I know I would love the YC, too.

Sorry about the issue you had with your delivery to the resort. Teena has warned us that you should only use USPS when shipping to a convention resort because anything else will be delivered to the convention center, held hostage to a time constraint and shipping feeas you discovered.

*****************************************************

AK

Can't wait to hear the aftermath of the mitten-finger-scan!

We have started going to Dinoland USA first thing at AK during Extra Magic Hours and the place really does feel extinct! Love it.

That was a lot of rides that day on PW!!! I can't really do spinny rides, but I am good for 1 ride at a time on PW.

The pictures you chose to post for the safari are great with the animal reflections.

**********************************************************

Love the Flat-Gram and especially that Pluto kidnapped (papernapped?) her and tried to get her a Mickey Bar!

I have a fondness for flat travelers. A few years back, my son Ben was sad that he had not been to Disney in awhile, so we made Flat Bens and he went along on vacation (Disney, Universal, Disney cruise) with a dozen or so different families. He even has a trip report (see my signature).

Real Ben, however, did not find this to be an adequate substitute

**********************************************************

I think I have just seen the Nemo show once- I made it a condition of booking the Disney trip. But my family doesn't really like to watch shows, so we haven't been back.

If you won't be returning to AK until 2015, does that mean you didn't get to tick Flights of Wonder off your list of first time experiences? I have never seen it, but really want to!

Love Paige's expression on EE.

I have heard about the Dole Whip (with rum)- where in AK do you get it? All the time or only on special occasions?

We have had breakfast and lunch at Tusker. Like you said, "meh". Boma, however, is AWESOME!

Tell me about the Memory Maker dino picture- why is there no border? First time I have just seen this blank.

Yak poop story is great. Yak was the first word my oldest son Nate could spell.

I miss the Boneyard. It has been awhile since my boys were interested.

Good luck with the Surrey bike thing. It never ends well.

***************************************

A couple of housekeeping issues... you should post a link to your trip report on the BC/YC FAQ thread. Or if you would like me to, I can. I also have a section on Page 2 with links to resort-related trip reports. May I add yours to this?

And if you have a chance, can you add some pictures of your room view to the YC Room View Thread on the Resort Photo Subforum?

Yacht Club Room Views

Thanks!!!

Hmm.. My guess on the Dino MM pic is that others took the time to add the border and I am too lazy? Or maybe MM had an "off" day? or amybe both? Ithink MM has a lot of "Off" days!

I will happily add my photos to the resort room thread. Do you want me to post a link of the entire trip report over on the YC/BC thread? I can do that too!

I love that your son's first word to spell was YAK. ha! Did that beat out even his own name? When AJ was three his preschool teacher nearly flipped her lid when she saw AJ could spell his name on the first day of school. She said boys "almost never can." I said, calm down lady. His name is AJ! Two letters! The other three boys in the class were Ezekial, Christopher and Benjamin! Poor kids! he was probably 5 before he could spell his actual first name (Anthony).

You'll have to wait a few days for mitten story...

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

We woke up bright and squirrely, pumped about our first day at MK. We all have different favorite parks, but all five of us agree it just ain't Disney until you've hit MK.

Disney decided, once again, to swtich the opening to 8am. Since my plan was to board the bus at 8am, there went my dream of seing the rope drop show. Oh well, We have BTDT, as my 10 year old would say. Been there, done that for us Gen Xers trying to keep up with our tweens.

My kids like hot tea in the morning. I know this is weird, and its mostly just a vacation/holiday thing. So Hubs and AJ hit the mug refill place in the lobby of the YC. I think it is the Crews Cup. If it is Ale and Compass someone please come along and point out my stupidity in a way that makes me afraid to ever post again. Haha. Don't really do that! And I know none of my three readers would! But I have seen it happen.... Anywho. DH came back in the room with mugs of coffee and tea and he was not happy to have learned that this little lobby mug refill gem closes around 11am. Yes, we would need to hoof it to the marketplace at BC to fill the mugs. And? We need exercise after all this free dining gluttony. The kids, however, were pumped to find their fave tea: Twinings Earl Grey. Yes, they are odd children, and no, they don't even drink with their pinky up.

So I pushed everyone out the door with horror stories of lines building for every second we dawdled and watched another classic Mickey cartoon. Once again, the bus stop was basically empty and the bus came almost immemdiately. I heart you, YC.

I want to aplogize ahead of time; this update may be a bit disjointed, as I don't have my travel notes in front of me. We just adopted a new puppy last night for Christmas and she is snoozing at my feet. Getting up to get the notes means she will wake up, need to potty, and I will get distracted and never get this done. So I am moving forward with just memory to guide me.

I do know that it was cold again, and we were all wearing mittens. Including Leah. As she scanned her finger. And Mickey turned green and we all went on our merry way.

We stood on line for the PP photo we all know we must have:

Btw, THIS is the Christmas card pic this year.

Leah was jonesing for SM. Paige is tall enough, but rejected the idea. So she and I Buzz. Over and over. There was NO ONE AT THE PARK AT 8:40am. NO ONE. I think most people never realized the parks opened an hour earlier since they made the switch just two weeks earlier.

Visual proof: kids get along at WDW.

We have dozens of Buzz pics from this trip and this is the only one where the laser gun thingy is not blocking Paige's face. And her Michael Jordan tongue is in full effect.

We rode twice in a row, and then made the Switch and I rode SM with the big kids. Then we all rode it together. At this point, Paige has riden 5 times in a row. Then we asked Paige what she most wanted to do and she chose the Carousel. Yes. Yes yes yes of course all I could think about was how the park was dead and we should be riding other stuff. But it what what she wanted. So off we went. I stayed off and took pics. Too spinny for me.

It was now time for our BTMRR FP+. It was about 9:30. I had made all our FP+ early as possible, for the best change of booking decent 4th, 5th, 6th etc. FPs... I am still not sure if that was a good idea or bad one. We could've walked right on that ride at 9:40am. However, we did book many more FP+s in the kiosk that day, so maybe it was a brilliant plan.

While walking to BTMRR we saw AJ's fave vermin:

He doesn't find waiting in line worth it anymore, so we settle for these photo bomb shots.

Now, BTMMRR pics:

#BTMRRselfie

He is always making sure she is ok, which is why we stick her with him on rides.

After this we grabbed a pretzel. Those pop-tarts in the room just weren't sticking to the ribs. We had an 11am BOG FP+, so one pretzel to share was all I would allow. Then we had to potty at the World's Best-Themed Bathrooms. You all know where I mean.

Post-potty Pic

I am pretty sure we went on IASW next. At somepoint we also went back out front for this:

In the next installment we will go to BOG for the FIRST time and I will tell you all my thoughts on it. Stay tuned!

 

[natebenma]

Hmm.. My guess on the Dino MM pic is that others took the time to add the border and I am too lazy? Or maybe MM had an "off" day? or amybe both? Ithink MM has a lot of "Off" days!

I will happily add my photos to the resort room thread. Do you want me to post a link of the entire trip report over on the YC/BC thread? I can do that too!

I love that your son's first word to spell was YAK. ha! Did that beat out even his own name? When AJ was three his preschool teacher nearly flipped her lid when she saw AJ could spell his name on the first day of school. She said boys "almost never can." I said, calm down lady. His name is AJ! Two letters! The other three boys in the class were Ezekial, Christopher and Benjamin! Poor kids! he was probably 5 before he could spell his actual first name (Anthony).

You'll have to wait a few days for mitten story...

I have always assumed the borders on the ride photos are automatic. I think they are...

Yes, post the link to your trip report in the main body of the FAQ thread. People are always looking for Disney stuff to read and do while waiting on their trips! I'll link it in the trip report section too. Thanks!

Yes, he could spell "Yak" before he could spell "Nathan" and in fact once he was in school and had to start writing his name, he became "Nate"

 

[Cando86]

I'm loving your report! You can feel your excitement through your writing - it's making me so excited for our trip!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Found your report and really am enjoying it. We were there the same time as you. My DD 15 and I visited between 11/15-11/22, we stayed at the Poly and loved it. It was cold those days but we did a lot in The parks and really had a wonderful stay. Excited to hear your thoughts on BOG lunch, we did it as well the day before you were there. Your kids look so happy and are really enjoying their surprise visit. We really love Tusker House for breakfast, we haven't tried lunch there. We will be back at the world in April, right after Easter, this is my DD school break. It will be really busy according to the crowd calendars, however like your family we are not newbies and we won't worry if some things are missed because of the crowds. We are staying at BCV so will take time to enjoy SAB, did you all get to swim or did it stay cooler? If you did hope it was fun.

 

[Liz]

We were one of those poor unfortunate souls checking out on the day you arrived! Your family is so cute! Looking forward to reading more!