"I need a vacation from my vacation!" Our 9night August Trip Report! **UPDATED 9/24**

[TeresaG]

Following along! Our trips overlapped, and we had almost the exact same experience at WPE on the 16th. We got there and it started pouring! It was definitely a rainy and hot week. I can't wait to hear what comes next!

It was a very rainy week right! We've never had such wet weather, but thankfully it never lasted long.

I am following along!! We will be at Pop for the first time in 10 days

Your family is adorable!

Thank you!
And it's so exciting that you'll be there soon! We really love Pop! Just be prepared for small room, aside from that it's great. We're never in our room so it doesn't bother us, but it can be a shock when you're expecting bigger.

Following along!

Yay!

Great start, looking forward to more!

Thanks!!

Just joining in! Love your TR so far...hope things get a little better. Wet strollers are never fun! We have not eaten at WPE (I know, shocker, right??), but hopefully the next trip. Looking forward to more!

We loooove WPE!! It's a great value when you're on the dining plan, and the food is awesome. As for the stroller, this wasn't the last time it got soaked while we were down there. LOL. We eventually learned our lesson though.

Yay!! So excited to hear all about your trip!!

I'm sorry, do I know you?

Right! It was definitely not our smoothest WDW vacation. Ugh - that heat and all those grumpy people (including us! ).

It looks like y'all had a pretty fun time at DTD. That bites about the rain/stroller situation though. I hope it got dried out completely before the next morning.

I totally know what you mean about the Christmas tree - it won't be long now before I have to retire the non-Disney ornaments or have more than one tree.

The heat was something else. I compared it to 'surface of the sun' heat. It was brutal. And, I guess because it was SO hot, I never felt like the air conditioned rides were very cold. Which was weird and probably just a me thing. lol

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

opcorn:

 

[TeresaG]

Day 2: Magic Kindgom!

The alarm woke us up bright and early this morning. We had Early EMH at Magic Kingdom to get to! So at 6am Kenny and I rolled out of bed to start getting ready. We let the kids sleep a little longer while we showered and dressed. While Kenny was getting ready I hopped over to Everything Pop to fill our coffee mugs with some much-needed coffee. It was still dark when I was walking over, which just sealed how EARLY we were getting up. Thankfully coffee is set up early, even if nothing is being cooked yet. I exchanged looks with the other Disney morning bedraggled folks out for much needed caffeine, filled our mugs and headed back to the room.

When I got back I woke the kids and gave them a fruit cup, some granola bars and chocolate milk. That was probably the healthiest breakfast they had the whole trip. Just kidding. Sorta. While they ate I packed last minute stuff and downed my coffee. Soon we were all dressed and ready and off to the bus stop. It was probably around 7:05am at this time. The bus stop line was already long but the kids and I managed to find seats on the bus.

When we got to MK I went over to guest services outside the park to ask where I needed to go to get my PhotoPass+ card while Kenny and the kids went through bag check. They told me where I had to go inside the park to do it, but I knew I wouldnt waste valuable early park time to go get it. Kenny met me over there and we all went to the turnstiles to get in the park. Since we had the Magic Bands, the only location I saw that had them was all the way to the right. Not saying that was the only one, just saying it was the only one I noticed.

We entered and waited about 10mins for the opening show to start, so timing wise we did pretty good! I love the opening show at Magic Kingdom. Its impossible not to tear up while its going on. The kids thought it was magical and it was just such a great moment.

Waving to Mickey and friends on the train!

Alex was having trouble seeing so Daddy had to lift him up.

Our magical moment was quickly followed by the herding cattle moment of trying to squeeze into the park. LOL. But thats ok! Were at Disney! I grabbed the kids maps (they collected them through the vacation it seems), and we were on our way down Main Street. We had a plan this morning, and were very commando about it. It was our first time ever being commando on a trip. LOL. I was really kicking myself about not having the photopass+ thing figured out yet, especially since we were passing all the photographers out on Main Street, but I reminded myself we had plenty of time to get those pics. So while we hurtled our way through Main Street we still managed to look around and soak in the magic. We were really here!

Theres the castle! Ah, such a great feeling.

Since we had Magic Bands, our plans were actually NOT to run to Peter Pan or grab fastpasses, We had those already! Instead we headed straight to JOTLM.

Through the castle! Go!

On our way I tried to soak in all the new Fantasyland details. Everything was fantastic! But since we had a plan, I didnt take my camera out for any pics. Maddie was so excited to see the Princes Castle and she squealed when she saw Ariels statue outside the queue. The ride was walk on so while we were walking through the queue Maddie was pointing out all the seashells in the ground. It was cute, but she can be super slow and we had a bunch of people behind her so I scooped her up and we tried to look at everything with a safer distance from the people behind us. LOL. I didnt want to hold up the non-existent line.

I am pretty sure for our first ride we all squeezed in one clam shell. It was a tight fit for all of us. LOL. But it didnt matter! We were on JOTLM and it was our first Disney ride!! No cameras were taken out, we just sat and enjoyed ourselves. The kids loved it (Alex said it was a girl ride before we got there and gave us a little back talk about going on it, but that was the only time he said anything about things being too girly ; he quickly got into the magic of Disney and suspended disbelief). Maddie LOVED it. Like, was obsessed with it.

After JOTLM we headed over to Barnstormer and Dumbo. As we were walking I noticed Ariels meet and greet was only 5mins. I mentioned to Kenny that I thought we should meet Ariel before her line got too long so we did! Her line was not long at all we really did only wait 5mins at best- and in no time we were meeting Ariel. The kids LOVED it! Alex was very into it. At first I could tell he was thinking girly&this is too girly but eventually he was just chatting away. Maddie was mesmerized. I didnt have my PhotoPass+ card yet, but I made sure to get the card the photographer gave me and listened as he explained how to add it to my account when I started it (I was very new to this at the time so I wanted to make sure I understood).

My photopass+ cd isn't here yet, so all I have are the pictures I snapped. The whole family got in on these pics (Ariel is my fave!) so I'll post them when my CD gets here.

A completely mesmerized Maddie

And together!

After we said goodbye to Ariel we headed over to Barnstormer and Dumbo; both were both walk-ons. In fact the line was so short for Barnstormer, and its one of the kids fave, we got right back in line to go on it again when we were done. After the second time the kids wanted to ride it AGAIN, so I sent them with Kenny to ride again while I hoofed it over to Winnie the Pooh to grab a paper FP. I got a bonus FP for Philharmagic which we love! FPs in hand I moved it back to the Barnstormer where we met back up to Dumbo ride together.

Waiting for our first ride on Dumbo this trip!

Waiting to fly!

Then we hit the Teacups and Winnie the Pooh. The kids were getting hungry at this point, and it was still really early, so we made our way to Gastons Tavern for some snacks. I grabbed us a huge cinnamon roll and some hummus to share. The cinnamon roll was good, no complaints from anyone, but I felt it was dry. Meh. I miss the Main Street cinnamon rolls.

We enjoyed the theming at Gastons! So fun.

With our bellies full, we went to Philharmagic and then Peter Pan. Everything so far was walk on. Yes, we had a paper FP for Pooh and a FP+ for Peter Pan, but the lines were super short this morning. After our flight over Neverland we went on the happiest cruise on Earth Small World! Again, walk on (not a surprise for SW)

Small World selfie with my man.

And a RARE pic of daddy and Maddie. Maddie is pretty much glued to me at all times, so even though she loves her daddy, most pics are of her with me.

After SW we decided it was time for a potty break by Rapunzels Tower. Boy, when I say this took my breath away Im not kidding. Its beautiful!!! I took lots of pictures because I could not get over how wonderful it looks. Yes, its a restroom area, but does it matter?? So magical.

Our next stop was Haunted Mansion which we had as a FP+. It was not necessary since the line was not very long, but it was nice to have it and be able to walk right on. Maddie was not a very big fan of HM, but I just kept reminding her the ghosts are silly, not scary. It seemed to keep her happy.

After HM we decided we had hit everything we had planned for the morning so we should go to Main Street and figure out how to get our PhotoPass+ (because, naturally, I had forgotten the red voucher sheet with my number on it in the hotel room I can never make things easy on myself). We also had a lunch ADR at Tonys Town Square for 1:45pm and we wanted to grab a FP to Meet Mickey and the Princesses. So off to Main Street we went.

 

[TeresaG]

opcorn:

LOL.

 

[Blessedwithboys]

Wow the tangled bathrooms are really pretty!! I love the pictures of the kids at Gastons my boys are going t o love it in there!! What a great morning in MK

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Yay! The new princess stuff is so fun.

We probably ride Barnstormer 12 times when we were there in March. The kids are crazy for it.

 

[xDisneyAngelx]

Your children are so adoreable. I can't wait to read more about your trip.

 

[RGirl]

Great update! How nice that you were able to ride so many things with short waits. Kind of a nice surprise!

It looks like you all are having a great MK morning!

 

[TeresaG]

Wow the tangled bathrooms are really pretty!! I love the pictures of the kids at Gastons my boys are going t o love it in there!! What a great morning in MK

Gaston was so fun! He was probably our favorite character meet. He was just so funny and did such a hilarious job turning everything back to himself. It was awesome.

Yay! The new princess stuff is so fun.

We probably ride Barnstormer 12 times when we were there in March. The kids are crazy for it.

Yea, we ride that thing CONSTANTLY. They are obsessed with it. My problem with it is it's such a short line! It takes longer to walk through the line than it does to actually ride it! haha!

Your children are so adoreable. I can't wait to read more about your trip.

Thank you so much!!

Great update! How nice that you were able to ride so many things with short waits. Kind of a nice surprise!

It looks like you all are having a great MK morning!

I think being there are 8am for EMH was what really allowed us to ride so much. We did 11 rides and one character meet before 1pm! LOL. So even though we hate getting up so early, it's worth it to be able to ride so many rides in a short period of time. That and I had studied the MK map to make sure we minimized the amount of walking we did.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Sounds like a great morning at the MK! I can't wait to see the new Fantasyland!

 

[TeresaG]

On our way to Main Street we were headed back towards the hub and what did we see? The Move It! Shake It! Parade. The kids were very excited so we parked the stroller on the curb and let them watch. I never realized they stopped in the hub and had a street dance party. Boy, were my kids thrilled about that! Jesse was stopped in front of us so they danced the whole time with Jesse. Maddie was in love with Jesse.

Jesse made sure to come back to Maddie to give her a kiss on the head. Super adorable! What a fun time!

So now we’re really heading back down MS. Seeing all the photographers was killing me quietly so the PhotoPass+ resolution could not come soon enough. I was very concerned we weren’t going to utilize it to its best potential (and since I was the one who wanted to do it I felt a little pressure to make it worth it). Kenny and the kids went to grab our Mickey meet and greet Fast Passes while I went in to figure out the PhotoPass stuff. It took me a while waiting in line, but it wasn’t too bad. They met me in line and the kids pin traded while I waited to get my new card. They also combined the Ariel meet with my new account so that was nice. All this done we went over to Tony’s to check in.

 

[ThereAndBackAgain]

Subscribing to my first trip report!

I think your kids are adorable. The chocolate milk got me. No use crying over spilt milk right?

 

[TeresaG]

**My Photopass CD finally arrived so now I can REALLY get this TR started! Be prepared for a bajillion pictures!!**



We didnt wait long before being seated, but lunch was a little slow. Food was fine, but service was slow. Oh well. We finally told the server we needed the check right away because we had a FP we needed to get to. He seemed to understand, and with about 5mins left on our Mickey FP, we left Tonys and headed straight to Mickey.

Kenny snapped this picture because he thought the Lady and the Tramp stamp was impressive. I thought the almond cheesecake was way more impressive, and I almost stabbed his hand with a knife for getting between me and dessert.

We waited in line about 10mins for Mickey so again lines were not too bad. I had in my head that we would be meeting Mickey AND Minnie, but I was wrong, it was only Mickey. I was a little disappointed, but it turned out THIS Mickey was talking to us. We were definitely not expecting that. I had heard about the talking Mickey, but never researched it to find out more about him. Well, there he was. The kids were flabbergasted. LOL. It was definitely great to see. They were all smiles.

Mickey coming over to say hi. Maddie was floored (as you can tell by her face)

Photo0056FourBySix by teresag3, on Flickr


Photo0059FourBySix by teresag3, on Flickr

And the whole family

After we met Mickey we grabbed a FP for the princesses and then headed over to City Hall for another bathroom break. As soon as we were ready to leave we realized the Celebrate parade was about to come through so we checked out time and figured it was the perfect opportunity to watch it. It wasnt crowded at all where we were standing, but it was HOT and there was no shade. Ah well. The kids were so excited to watch the parade and it was so fun and special to watch them wave to the characters and yell out their names. Alex was really into it this year, and I think it was a lot for his sisters sake. Either way it was magical. At one point in the parade Maddie hauled her butt to me and hid behind my legs and I had no idea why until I saw Captain Hook walk up to Alex. LOL. He pointed to his Birthday button and gave him a high five. He also terrified Maddie in the process. LOL.

After the parade passed us we went up to the train station to ride the train over to Splash Mountain for our next FP+. We had an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique for Maddie at 5:30pm so we had a schedule to keep. LOL. Maddie fell asleep on the super short ride to Frontier Land.

Poor girl. All the Disney magic (and a full belly) was catching up to her.

I carried a sleeping Maddie off the train while we parked the stroller and got in the FP line. She was waking up slowly during all this. When we got to the turnstiles I put her down for the big test: Would she really measure 40 like she did at her yearly checkup at the pediatrician?

She had to stand up REALLY straight, but she was tall enough! Woo! Now was when both Kenny and I were getting a TINY bit nervous about how she would do on the big drop, but she was very excited for this ride so we just went with it. Kenny was way more concerned than I was. I know my kid. Shes a daredevil. Turns out Maddie LOVED Splash Mountain (I knew she would) and this first ride started her love affair with it. We rode it at least 10x this trip.

After this first ride on Splash, I realized in order to even be able to see my petite little princess in the ride photo, we would need to request the front row; she was totally hidden behind the other folks!

After Splash we hit Big Thunder for another Maddie first. Alex could not stop talking about this ride its another one of his favorites! I like BTM, and heres where Im going to sound old, but it is SO LOUD in the caves it inevitably gives me a headache. I also knew Maddie would hate those parts so I made sure to cover her ears (and plug one of mine). Maddie loved this ride too (of course).


After we finished we headed back to Main Street for the princess meet and greet! We had just enough time before her BBB appointment to squeeze it in.

The line for the princesses was pretty long, but it moved quickly. First princess was Rapunzel! We (well, I) love Rapunzel. She used to be Maddies fave (and everyone calls her Rapunzel because of her super long hair), but soon before the trip her favorite princess (next to Ariel) changed to Cinderella. Anyway, that didnt keep her from asking where Pascal was. Lol. And Alex asked what Maximus was doing. They are so cute. (oh, and Pascal was playing hide and seek with Cinderellas mice and Maximus was with Flynn racing Auroras prince if he won he would get a sack of apples as tall as Maddie lol).

Aurora was next.

Maddie doesn't really know who Aurora is, but she wears pink so in Maddie's book she A-OK. LOL

Finally Cinderella. Maddie was beside herself. She went mute. I might ask Cindy to move in with me.

Alex asked where Gu-Gus was because Maddie couldn't formulate words. But she listened with rapture to the answers.

Both kids hugged her, but the PP didn't get a pic of Maddie. Bummer too, because it was probably adorable.

Up next, Maddie's first time at BBB. And another stroller incident...

 

[TeresaG]

Sounds like a great morning at the MK! I can't wait to see the new Fantasyland!

Thanks! New Fantasyland was beautiful! I can't wait to see what it looks like next time we go.

Subscribing to my first trip report!

I think your kids are adorable. The chocolate milk got me. No use crying over spilt milk right?

and thanks!! Yea, the chocolate milk thing was sorta funny. Even at the time with him throwing a fit I was sorta holding back a smile. hahah

 

[HumblePie]

I'm really enjoying this trip report. My kids are the same ages, so I'm getting lots of great tips!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

I love Maddie's face in the first Mickey picture!! So cute.

And 10 points for Alex for getting in the princess pics, lol!

 

[TeresaG]

After we finished with the princesses we headed over to the castle for Maddie’s BBB appointment! She was really looking forward to this appointment (so was I!). I had made her an appointment last year, but she was just 3yrs and changed her mind so we cancelled. This year she was all over it.

On our way we stopped at one of the photopass photographers who had been mocking me all day for not having my PP+ card for a castle shot.

Ha! I finally got a pic in front of the castle.

Don't smile kids, we wouldn't want anyone to think we were having fun or anything

We made it to BBB just in time for our appointment. It was PACKED! I saw two people get turned away for appointments. Finally I made my way up to check in. We were given a personalized invitation for Maddie and told to have a seat. It was at this moment I figured I should change Maddie into her princess dress (I bought a Rapunzel Halloween costume last year for $5 and since I knew she would not wear it for longer than it took to take a few pictures it was perfect –of course as soon as she saw the super $$$ Cinderella dress her eyes lit up but I squashed it before she could even ask; if she had looked at her father with those eyes and asked for the Cindy dress he would have bought it as well as every accessory –I was not about to let that happen). I quick put the dress on over her clothes but then she asked to take her shirt off underneath so we did that super fast. As soon as we were done it was her turn!

Nervous and excited all at the same time

Seating in this place is pretty much nonexistent, which is a little annoying. We all had to stand for a little while until other kids finished up and we were able to sit. Maddie’s FG was super sweet, but Maddie was so excited it channeled into her being mute (which is a rarity LOL). It took about 5mins of constant coaxing from her FG to get her to start talking.

Maddie chose the traditional hairstyle, and pink tiara and Mickey clip (no one is surprised). She chose the purple comb too, and was all happy that she got to make so many big girl decisions by herself. LOL.

Quickly they were underway. I took lots of pictures during the getting ready part because I noticed our PP photographer left a lot to be desired. I didn’t take any of my own shots during the big reveal because I wanted to be able to enjoy it –and wasn’t that part of the reason I got the PP+? Looking back I really wish I had, but more on that later.


I was VERY interested in seeing how they were going to stuff all that hair into the top bun thingy.. Trust me, I brush that mess every day, it is THICK and LONG. I was afraid she was going to have a massive poof on her head. LOL

My dainty lady..

Ahhh, time for the pixie dust that we would all be covered in the rest of the trip. I had to sleep next to this kid every night; I was not as excited as she was about all these sparkles.

Reveal time! Close your eyes! (she was unsure about this part -I don't think she understood why we were telling her to close her eyes)

Very seriously checking herself out for the first time

She approves.

Seeing her Mickey clip (we love this thing btw! she wears it all the time!)

After her big reveal and all the goodies were packed up for her (I didn't realize they got to keep the makeup, 2 bottles of nail polish and all the face gems) in a BBB bag (which she still loves!) we realized it was POURING out. And, AGAIN, our stroller was out there uncovered. Ugh. I was also upset because I didn’t want Maddie’s hair to get ruined as soon as we had gotten it done!! They gave all the girls just finishing up a hair cover which was nice, and we all pretty much stood in the castle area waiting for the rain to die down a little.

It eventually trickled down enough that we felt comfortable running over to Castle Couture for her little photo shoot.

My daughter doesn't do the whole "look at the camera and smile" thing very well. I blame the fact that I'm a photographer who takes her pics constantly. LOL

I wasn't loving the poses, but went with it because it's all part of the BBB experience right?

I do like this one.

And this is prob my fave.

While we were in there the rain stopped which was great. We headed over to the sopping wet stroller and learned, lo and behold, it had a rain guard tucked underneath. Well isn’t that fabulous. Sigh. We rolled the stroller over to Pinocchio’s Village House to grab some napkins and I let Kenny try to soak up the water while me and the kids hit the rest stop. Maddie was in her glory from all the attention she was getting.

I thought the price and value of BBB was over my expectations. I figured it would be a cheapy tiara and mickey clip but they weren't! Even Kenny was surprised when he felt the weight if them. They are really, really nice quality. Maddie wore her tiara pretty much every day the rest of the trip (it was SO hot and her hair is so long I just put it in a bun on top of her head and jammed the tiara in there -she loved it).

We decided to hit JOTLM one last time since we were right there, and we knew tonight was not going to be a late EP/Wishes night so we wanted one more ride before we headed out of the park. We had another rope drop morning, as well as a Wishes FP+, for the next day.

When we got back to Pop it was already getting a little late (8:30pm) so we went right to Everything Pop to get something to eat. I grabbed the kids their food while Kenny went to get our food. I was done and noticed he was still in line so I paid and set them up at a table while I waited for him. And waited. And waited some more. He took FOREVER!!! They took SO LONG to make the food he was ordering (a new flatbread and turkey sandwich). Man, were we annoyed! The kids were done eating and getting cranky/antsy so I pulled out some of their toys while we waited. FINALLY he showed up with our food. This was our first experience with the new Pop menu, and the long wait was not setting us up for a good feeling. The flatbread and sandwich were pretty good, but after taking so long we were just left with a bad taste.

Finally we headed back to the room for bed. We gave the kids a quick shower and called it a night. We had another early morning ahead of us!

 

[wiigirl]

Adorable pics!

 

[scholastica]

I'm really enjoying your TR so far! Your daughter looks like she loved BBB.

 

[TeresaG]

I'm really enjoying this trip report. My kids are the same ages, so I'm getting lots of great tips!

Thank you! If you have any questions please ask!

I love Maddie's face in the first Mickey picture!! So cute.

And 10 points for Alex for getting in the princess pics, lol!

LOL! Maddie was floored when Mickey started talking to her. Completely flabbergasted.

And Alex just likes to talk to the pretty girls. I was sitting there like "Is he seriously asking these questions?" and then I raised my eyebrow so high I swear it disappeared into my hair when he hugged Cinderella. He gave Tink the same treatment. Must be the blond hair..

Adorable pics!

Thank you!!

I'm really enjoying your TR so far! Your daughter looks like she loved BBB.

Thank you! Maddie really LOVED her BBB experience. She has already said she's going to do it again and again and again...