I *think* I made DH a lifelong Disney Fan! A June 2017 TR (the end 7/19)

[buzzrelly]

I know I am nowhere near the end of this report, but I just have to say how great of a trip we had. I feel like I have soooo many photos of us smiling and having fun. Not that we did not have fun in 2016 but we do not have the multitude of fun, happy photos from that trip because honestly, it just wasn't as good of a trip. This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

It's the stuff dreams are made of, isn't it?! So happy that y'all had such a wonderful trip!

 

[ArielSRL]

It's the stuff dreams are made of, isn't it?! So happy that y'all had such a wonderful trip!

Thank you!

 

[ariane37]

Your hair looks so cute in pigtails

This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

I love, love, love this sentence I recently got an email from a client who went for the first time in July. She titled the email "Dreaming of Disney" and wrote how, looking at all the pictures she's printed out makes her happy and sad at the same time because the trip was so much more magical than she thought it would be and the idea of not going back soon makes her cry. She ended up booking already for next July. It's emails like hers and comments like yours that show how truly special and magical Disney really is

 

[ArielSRL]

Your hair looks so cute in pigtails

Thank you! I am so glad I found a hairstyle that worked for Disney!

I love, love, love this sentence I recently got an email from a client who went for the first time in July. She titled the email "Dreaming of Disney" and wrote how, looking at all the pictures she's printed out makes her happy and sad at the same time because the trip was so much more magical than she thought it would be and the idea of not going back soon makes her cry. She ended up booking already for next July. It's emails like hers and comments like yours that show how truly special and magical Disney really is

It truly is a magical place and I get tears in my eyes when I think of all the special times I had there as a child and as a single adult. And now, it is an even more magical experience because I am able to pass that same magical feeling along to both my husband and my children!

 

[ErinF]

I know I am nowhere near the end of this report, but I just have to say how great of a trip we had. I feel like I have soooo many photos of us smiling and having fun. Not that we did not have fun in 2016 but we do not have the multitude of fun, happy photos from that trip because honestly, it just wasn't as good of a trip. This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

Awwww, so glad it was such a great trip!!! Especially compared with the last one when there were some things (ahem, your dad) that were beyond your control. Not that it was not fun with your parents, that's wonderful to have those memories of 3 generations together on that trip, but it is a much more different dynamic being just you and DH and the boys. I hope it truly is the beginning of many years to come of wonderful memories at Disney with your family!! I know we are further down that road, having taken our first family trip when the oldest two kids were 2 and 4, and now we've just this past summer had our 7th trip (5 WDW and 2 DL). It's a whole lot of amazing and fun memories!

Um...yum! I definitely enjoyed my meal.

Yum, yum, yum!!! I too love nachos and those look really great. We've never been to Pecos Bill and we really need to remedy that! If you ever make it out to DL, there are some great nachos at the quick service place in the Grand Californian (we just popped in there from DCA for lunch) plus people rave about the lobster nachos at the Cove Bar, also in DCA, though I've never had those myself (probably wouldn't choose them b/c I'm not a huge seafood lover).

 

[Neverland_Girl]

I love those ears!

I know I am nowhere near the end of this report, but I just have to say how great of a trip we had. I feel like I have soooo many photos of us smiling and having fun. Not that we did not have fun in 2016 but we do not have the multitude of fun, happy photos from that trip because honestly, it just wasn't as good of a trip. This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

Awe this is so sweet! I know boys are different than girls but I'm so grateful my parents took us so much as kids because those are the memories I remember the most.

 

[QueenJen]

I think I said I'm not sure what we did on the break but there are no bar charges so we must not have went to the pool.

I can totally relate to the no bar charges.....must not have went to the pool. (or anywhere outside of our room for that matter)

This was one of our few magic shots.

Cute pic - hands stacked nicely, boys both looking where they were supposed to.

it will include some alcohol

I didn't realize any of the dining plans offered alcohol.....off to go research!

We are coming up to our next trip soon (not Disney) - and I am just now able to start looking at planning the next Disney vacation. I think 2018 is out....but 2019 might be in the cards for us (although, I will want to miss the massive crowds for any new attractions). We like the beginning of December for better weather and getting to see all of the holiday decorations.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I know I have said it so many times that it is annoying, but that boat is the best thing since sliced bread!

You can say it over and over again...

There is a charge from the merchandise cart that started a whole new (expensive) chapter in our Disney lives though...pin trading!

Oh, it does!!! Def look into ordering some from amazon next time. Well, I will let you know how it goes for us in a couple weeks.

Oh and more boat praises...when you take the boat to MK, you have your own security line! Quick and easy! Love it!

Can't wait to try this out! Glad to hear it sounds easy.

This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

YEAH! I always get so nervous for the folks I know going and have spent so much time planning an all. I always hope that they have as great a time as we have always had.

I'm fairly certain we skipped it in 2016 so it was new for all the boys, at least. I think they enjoyed it.

I love this attraction, but they could mix it up a bit, for sure. It gets stale when you have seen it a hand full of times.

Crazily enough we are considering the dining plan for 2019, as it will include some alcohol and I totally miscalculated my anxiety on the food bills this time. I don't want to have to worry about it next time, so I think I can solve that with the plan. I will totally work to maximize the value if we do get it, though, and if the boys are still eating next to nothing, then we can use their credits for QS breakfast, as I will plan more sit down dinners for the TS credits.

Honestly, this is half the reason, we keep getting it. I plan to keep track and see if we do break even or not this trip. Alcohol included will make planning different next year for sure!

 

[vamassey1]

There is a charge from the merchandise cart that started a whole new (expensive) chapter in our Disney lives though...pin trading! Now, I do have a lanyard and some pins from like 2007 when Mom and I did a girls trip but it's just not something I have really got into. Well, lets just say all the boys are now. We must've stopped right after we got back to WL based on the time on the receipt and Chad bought a Starter Kit and a Steamboat Willie pin. And then that sparked AJ's interest and eventually sparked Will's. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Danielle loved pin trading for about 2 trips. Now we have the pins put away. Michelle wants to get Gia started on it when we go in February.

This was one of our few magic shots. I definitely need to do more research on those for next trip. T

Love this magic shot. I need to do some research too. I want more of these.

I know I am nowhere near the end of this report, but I just have to say how great of a trip we had. I feel like I have soooo many photos of us smiling and having fun. Not that we did not have fun in 2016 but we do not have the multitude of fun, happy photos from that trip because honestly, it just wasn't as good of a trip. This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

This touched my heart! I love Disney!

After this we headed to Pecos Bill for dinner. I was looking forward to this because I had heard lots of good thing about the fixins bar and I'm a huge fan of tacos and nachos!

Your dinner looks good. We had a meal here too and I enjoyed it too.

Crazily enough we are considering the dining plan for 2019, as it will include some alcohol and I totally miscalculated my anxiety on the food bills this time.

We're planning our meals with the new alcoholic drinks added.

 

[chunkymonkey]

They hit the spot on a hot, humid summer day!

Looks good! I totally forgot about this in August...I wanted to try one, but I forgot to do a lot of things that were on my list just because I was so distracted half the time trying to herd everyone onto a ride, or to an ADR that these things skipped my mind. And then when we were there this past weekend, it was all about F and W so I forgot about these slushies too. Oh well, maybe on another trip this year!

Apparently my finger got in the way of the photo. Oh well. It had gotten a little hot so we pulled out the cooling towels for a bit. We didn't really need them very much this trip though, because of the cloudy/rainy days...which was so much different than 2016.

We had a lot of these, but when you're already sweating and there's so much humidity, I don't think the wet towels really helped. I actually preferred to stay dry so I used a microfiber towel instead.

I had been smart enough to bring plastic throwaway cup tops for them to use when eating the Mickey Bars, except, I forgot to use them

Great idea! Despite you not using them, of course!

Love this picture! Everyone looks so happy!

Sadly, the cream cheese pretzel did not live up to expectations so I tossed at least half of it.

I used to like these but I don't know what happened but they are not so good anymore. Or maybe my tastes have changed. Oh well.

Love this pic too!

I know I am nowhere near the end of this report, but I just have to say how great of a trip we had. I feel like I have soooo many photos of us smiling and having fun. Not that we did not have fun in 2016 but we do not have the multitude of fun, happy photos from that trip because honestly, it just wasn't as good of a trip. This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

That is really great to hear. I'm so happy you all had such a great time. Sometimes when we plan so much for that one yearly trip and then it doesn't live up to your expectations...it can be such a disappointment. But I'm excited to hear how it was so good you guys are now DVC owners!! Yeah!!!

Yum. We had the nachos before. The best part was the fixin's bar!!!

 

[ashleymrush]

Surprise surprise, I'm behind from being back in school too! All caught up now though!

The boys had ridden around the People Mover a couple of times until they finally had had enough...lol.

There's never anything wrong with this!

After this, we headed back to People Mover...because, why not?

See, told ya there was nothing wrong with it! Lol!

I had been smart enough to bring plastic throwaway cup tops for them to use when eating the Mickey Bars, except, I forgot to use them.

At least you remembered to bring them! That's half the battle.

The meal was just okay. It had been better in 2016.

I keep hearing that about BoG. I've only eaten there for breakfast once (it'll be in my next post on my TR) and I was underwhelmed. They did a review of the dinner on the Dis recently and said that it used to be better and is now just mediocre. Seems like they can do much better.

You'll see only Chad has a pin lanyard at this point...well it won't stay that way!

My little brother is a pin collector. It can get so expensive but there are some really cute ones out there. A cast member told me that the number of people that participate in collecting has gone down a lot.

I know I am nowhere near the end of this report, but I just have to say how great of a trip we had. I feel like I have soooo many photos of us smiling and having fun. Not that we did not have fun in 2016 but we do not have the multitude of fun, happy photos from that trip because honestly, it just wasn't as good of a trip. This trip was all that I wanted it to be and more and I am so looking forward to spending years and years to come at Disney with my family.

So happy to read this. It really is so great the memories that are made and just experiencing pure happiness.

And I got the nachos (with lots of fixins)

I love the nachos there! I'm a fan of any place with a toppings bar too. When I go in Oct. 2018 I am hoping to do the secret nachos. They look so amazing!

Can't wait to read more. I'm off to finally update my own TR now.

 

[ArielSRL]

Okay readers, Sunday night is usually my update night, though I've probably done it on Monday nights a lot lately, and again, I'll be pushing it to Monday. I'm going to try to do it during the day bc we are off bc of Hurricane Irma. We here in GA are at risk for high winds, tornadoes, and flash flooding. Hopefully all will be well and I'll be able to get the update done at some point tomorrow.

 

[Raeven]

I hope all is well for you too. Stay safe!

 

[vamassey1]

Okay readers, Sunday night is usually my update night, though I've probably done it on Monday nights a lot lately, and again, I'll be pushing it to Monday. I'm going to try to do it during the day bc we are off bc of Hurricane Irma. We here in GA are at risk for high winds, tornadoes, and flash flooding. Hopefully all will be well and I'll be able to get the update done at some point tomorrow.

Stay safe!

 

[ArielSRL]

Awwww, so glad it was such a great trip!!! Especially compared with the last one when there were some things (ahem, your dad) that were beyond your control. Not that it was not fun with your parents, that's wonderful to have those memories of 3 generations together on that trip, but it is a much more different dynamic being just you and DH and the boys. I hope it truly is the beginning of many years to come of wonderful memories at Disney with your family!!

Thank you! And no doubt that this trip was more enjoyable but last years' was still a good trip, despite...lol.

I know we are further down that road, having taken our first family trip when the oldest two kids were 2 and 4, and now we've just this past summer had our 7th trip (5 WDW and 2 DL). It's a whole lot of amazing and fun memories!

So glad to read this! Hoping our magic continues for several more years!

If you ever make it out to DL, there are some great nachos at the quick service place in the Grand Californian (we just popped in there from DCA for lunch) plus people rave about the lobster nachos at the Cove Bar, also in DCA, though I've never had those myself (probably wouldn't choose them b/c I'm not a huge seafood lover).

I will need to remember this!

I love those ears!

Thank you!

Awe this is so sweet! I know boys are different than girls but I'm so grateful my parents took us so much as kids because those are the memories I remember the most.

I say I remember my first trip at 3 - its probably the photos - and that is when my love for Disney World began!

I can totally relate to the no bar charges.....must not have went to the pool. (or anywhere outside of our room for that matter)

HAHA...so true!!

I didn't realize any of the dining plans offered alcohol.....off to go research!

It starts next year.

We like the beginning of December for better weather and getting to see all of the holiday decorations.

I love that time of year, too. We almost always went at that time when I was in college and once about ten years ago with just my mom! it is just so hard with my teaching job. Maybe ill have more opportunity once we start getting APs.

Def look into ordering some from amazon next time. Well, I will let you know how it goes for us in a couple weeks.

Please do!

Can't wait to try this out! Glad to hear it sounds easy.

It truly is! You'll love it.

Honestly, this is half the reason, we keep getting it. I plan to keep track and see if we do break even or not this trip. Alcohol included will make planning different next year for sure!

Yeh, I just had a lot of anxiety when paying the bill so I am going to see if the plan helps with that. I'm fairly good at planning so I think I can make sure we get the most value out of it that we can. And I like the included alcohol in the new plan and the fact that the QS dessert is now a snack to be used later.

Danielle loved pin trading for about 2 trips. Now we have the pins put away.

We'll see if this is how it goes for us.

Michelle wants to get Gia started on it when we go in February.

It seems fun for kids!

This touched my heart! I love Disney!

We're planning our meals with the new alcoholic drinks added.

Looks good! I totally forgot about this in August...I wanted to try one, but I forgot to do a lot of things that were on my list just because I was so distracted half the time trying to herd everyone onto a ride, or to an ADR that these things skipped my mind.

I wasn't herding nearly as many people as you and I forgot to do a lot of things, as well!

I actually preferred to stay dry so I used a microfiber towel instead.

We have those too and used them a lot in 2016. This trip, the weather was just so much more milder, that we didn't need them.

Love this picture! Everyone looks so happy!

Thank you!

I used to like these but I don't know what happened but they are not so good anymore. Or maybe my tastes have changed. Oh well.

No, you are right, they are not that good...but I'm assuming they used to be better from all the good reviews. They took them away for awhile and then brought them back so I wonder what kind of changes were made.

Love this pic too!

That is really great to hear. I'm so happy you all had such a great time. Sometimes when we plan so much for that one yearly trip and then it doesn't live up to your expectations...it can be such a disappointment. But I'm excited to hear how it was so good you guys are now DVC owners!! Yeah!!!

However, as crazy as it is, we haven't actually closed on our DVC contract yet! Shoul dbe any day now...but resale takes a long time!

Yum. We had the nachos before. The best part was the fixin's bar!!!

For sure!

Surprise surprise, I'm behind from being back in school too! All caught up now though!

I can totally relate!

I keep hearing that about BoG. I've only eaten there for breakfast once (it'll be in my next post on my TR) and I was underwhelmed. They did a review of the dinner on the Dis recently and said that it used to be better and is now just mediocre. Seems like they can do much better.

I'm hoping to try dinner in 2019 once we are back to a full parks trip but yeh I have heard some complaints as of late.

A cast member told me that the number of people that participate in collecting has gone down a lot.

I would definitely agree.

So happy to read this. It really is so great the memories that are made and just experiencing pure happiness.

I love the nachos there! I'm a fan of any place with a toppings bar too. When I go in Oct. 2018 I am hoping to do the secret nachos. They look so amazing!

I would love that but I don't have enough people to do it I don't think.

Can't wait to read more. I'm off to finally update my own TR now.

And I need to catch up on that!

I hope all is well for you too. Stay safe!

Thank you!

Stay safe!

Thank you!

 

[ArielSRL]

School's out again today so that means an update during the day!

Day Four 6/6/2017 ~ Magic Kingdom (part 3)

So by the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned this but this day was actually my favorite day/night of all of our trip. MK was open til 11pm and we closed out the park. I know I have mentioned that nighttime in the park, especially MK, is my fave, so the scene was set.

When I last left you, we finished our yummy dinner at Pecos Bill and headed back toward Adventureland. I had gotten a FP for Jungle Cruise so we could do it at night but it really wasn't quite night yet. So it pretty much was just like the day one. Next time, I may try for a true nighttime Cruise. Anyway, we also had the Tiki Room on our list but either it was getting too late or maybe they weren't doing any more shows but we did skip it. I know we hit up Aladdin again because I have a photo:


This was around 8:30 and afterward, we headed to BTMRR because we had FPs and because I was on a mission to ride it during the fireworks. On the way, we stopped for some PP photos by PotC:


It took us a few minutes to get over to BTMRR and then the FP line was a little long. I was afraid I wasn't going to make it, but it ended up working out perfectly! I love BTMRR, but I'm kind of ruined now because never again will it be better than riding it during fireworks:



It may not look like it from my photos, and lets face it, it isn't easy to get perfect fireworks photos while you are riding a roller coaster...but trust me, it was AH-MAZING! Of course, I experienced it by myself because AJ wouldn't ride it and Will couldn't, so Chad had to stay with the boys. No matter though, they spent the time at the Trading Post buying all kinds of pins!

After this is not my most shining moment of the trip. We headed to Country Bears and this is where we found out that we had missed the last show. Ugh. I guess I should have checked the time on the website but I just assumed it would be open late because the park was. D'oh! And this is one of the things that Chad insisted upon. Good thing we had one more MK day. I did have to shuffle some things around but I made sure we got that bad boy in before the trip was over!

We did some shooting at the Shooting Arcade. It was almost creepy because it was so dark and there was no one else around. I mean, that is part of the reason I like nighttime at the parks, because of the lack of crowds, but it truly seemed almost too empty over there. I'd like to try the Arcade for the boys during the day sometime too, but it was nice to have it all to ourselves.

After this we headed up toward Fantasyland. I know we wanted to ride Peter Pan again, but I honestly don't remember if we did. I know I went on and made several additional FPs for our late night but I can't remember if I got PP or not, or if the SB line was too long or what. I'm thinking we had to ride it more than once so maybe it was tonight?? LOL. Horrible memory. Next time I need to take a few minutes to make notes at the end of the day!

I do know we rode the carousel, because, again, I have photos!


The boys had never ridden the Carousel before and it wasn't on our list, but we decided we needed to! After this, we went into Fantasy Faire, maybe for a pin or some pin backs, I think, but before, I got a pretty photo of the castle in the back:


After some time in Fantasyland, we headed to Tomorrowland. I am again, fuzzy about details but I'm fairly certain we did the Speedway again, probably with a FP. I have no photos this time though. Then I think after this we went to Buzz, probably with another additional FP. Here are our ride photos but they have no time stamp so that is why I am unsure if we did this before Speedway or after, but I'm thinking Speedway before because we would've passed it first:


So the funny thing about this ride is Will did awesome on it! Even though you can barely see him! And I want to say we rode this twice but I don't have any more ride photos saved and its possible it was after the next ride...or maybe we talked about riding it again, but we didn't. Y'all I am an absolute horrible trip reporter this time around! HAHA.

Continued in next post...

 

[ArielSRL]

Day Four 6/6/2017 ~ Magic Kingdom (part 3) con't

Anyway, I do know that we rode Astro Orbiter next. It was in my plan to do it at night so we could be high up and see all the lights. It was a tad scary to be up so high though! Worth it though:


So after this we may have ridden Buzz again or just talked about it and decided against it. Either way, it was getting close to closing time so we did eventually make our way to Main Street. I had thought this was going to be our last nighttime at MK because our next MK day was a split day between MK and AK so I was very wistful, took my time strolling, and took a few photos:





Sadly, our amazing night at MK had ended. We boarded our little boat back to WL and according to receipts and folio, made no additional stops on the way back to the room. I'm sure we headed to bed fairly soon after getting to the room, as I had hoped to be at AK by about 8:30 or so the next day. Will we make it?

Next up: Day Five 6/7/2017 ~ Animal Kingdom (part 1)

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

I love your photos!

Maybe it's just me, but I think the MK at night is so peaceful. Even though most of the time it's really not Lol! I love taking my time strolling around and just taking it all in.

 

[vamassey1]

School's out again today so that means an update during the day!

How was the weather? Did ya'll do ok?

So by the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned this but this day was actually my favorite day/night of all of our trip. MK was open til 11pm and we closed out the park. I know I have mentioned that nighttime in the park, especially MK, is my fave, so the scene was set.

Sounds like the perfect combination.

Next time, I may try for a true nighttime Cruise.

Keep trying, it's a different experience at night.

I know we hit up Aladdin again because I have a photo:

Cute photo!

I love BTMRR, but I'm kind of ruined now because never again will it be better than riding it during fireworks:

I love BTMRR @ night. Sounds even better with fireworks. Our next trip is short with only 5 park days, 2 @ MK. The first night we're doing the Desert party so maybe we can shoot for this our second night.

so Chad had to stay with the boys. No matter though, they spent the time at the Trading Post buying all kinds of pins!

Doesn't sound like he suffered much.

We did some shooting at the Shooting Arcade.

Dennis and the kids love the shooting arcade. I don't think they ever tried it at night.

he boys had never ridden the Carousel before and it wasn't on our list, but we decided we needed to!

Looks like the boys really enjoyed it.

So the funny thing about this ride is Will did awesome on it! Even though you can barely see him!

I was just thinking how cute he looked with his head barely over the top. I'm really impressed.

Anyway, I do know that we rode Astro Orbiter next. It was in my plan to do it at night so we could be high up and see all the lights. It was a tad scary to be up so high though! Worth it though:

Never going to try this, heights don't bother me but going round and round does.

Sadly, our amazing night at MK had ended.

I hate leaving MK for the last time. It's just too sad.

 

[Raeven]

Next time, I may try for a true nighttime Cruise.

I want to try that too! We never seen to make it there at night.