Planning...the early stages

Before this past trip in October, the last time I was at Disney World was 8 years ago. Now, I want to go again. Right Now.

This winter I seemed to survive a bit better and I think it's because I had a little trip to Arizona planned for February. Something to look forward to after all the cold and dreary days. So it only makes sense, that for my emotional well being, I should plan a trip for next winter to Disney World.

I think park tickets are free if you're under 3 - so we better go before Liam turns 3 next June.

I want to go in one year - in March. I think I'll start visiting the disboards again and watching for discounts.

And then maybe we should go to CA and visit DisneyLand - I've never been there and I have a ton of friends in CA that we could also visit. Then, it wouldn't be a total Disney trip - so that would make Mike happy.

I don't know. But we're going somewhere.

Our Magical Moment

I've mentioned before about how great all the Cast Members were at Disney World. Well - the following story and pictures would not have been such a great memory had it not been for the Cast Member dressed as Woody and the Photopass Photographer who captured the entire event.

So - while Quinn and I were waiting in line to see Woody and Buzz Lightyear Quinn noticed that he only had Buzz on his shirt. "But Mommy, Woody will be sad, because I don't have him on my shirt." Do you want to draw Woody a picture? "Do you think that will make him feel better?" I do. "Okay."

And so Quinn drew Woody a picture - and even signed his name on it!

When we finally made it to the front of the line - Quinn went right up to Woody and gave him the picture. "Here Woody. I drew this for you and signed my name for you!"

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And Woody quickly gave Quinn a hug.

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And brought him in a little closer...

And just that would have been enough. That would have made me happy.
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But then, Woody made such a big deal out of that picture. He showed it off to Buzz. He pretended to hang it up on the wall. He danced around a little. And showed it off to Buzz again. It was perfect. And just that would have been enough.
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And so Quinn asked for Woody's autograph.
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And Woody called Quinn closer to watch what he was writing.

And Woody wrote, "Howdy Cowboy! Thanks a LOT! Your pal, Woody"
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And just that would have been enough. But no. Woody held up that picture for the picture. And then, yes then, is when the really magical part happened. The "character handler" asked Woody, "hey Woody, you want me to hold onto that for you?" And Woody shook his head NO and put that picture right into his holster belt and patted his 'pocket'!

When we got outside to meet up with Mike and Liam Quinn saw Mike and said, "Daddy! I gave Woody a picture and my autograph and he put it in his pocket and is going to keep it FOREVER Daddy! Woody's got my picture in his pocket!"
And then I almost burst into happy tears!

Pluto!

Our last morning we went to Animal Kingdom and on our way to Donald's Safari Breakfast I noticed a bunch of characters with almost nobody by them! Pluto was just standing around and so I said to Quinn, "Do you want to go say 'Hi!' to Pluto?" No thanks, I already saw him! And I said, "But, look, nobody's giving Pluto a hug - he needs one!" And Pluto got down on his knee and motioned for Quinn to come and hug him!

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I'm pretty sure this is my most favorite picture of Quinn with any character!

Character Fun!

Cathy talked about rides, so I decided to blog about the characters....

I always love meeting the characters, those are the pictures I can't get enough of. It use to be that you could just walk up and elbow your way to the character and snap a pic, now it's lines or special meals to meet and greet.

It was kind of funny, but not really surprising to me, that Joe prefered the characters with the big head. He would not interact with the ones who's faces were actually showing!

We met most of our characters at meals (Chef Mickey and Princess Storybook Breakfast), but as we walked to our first ride these fine ladies were out near the castle, and we only had to wait for 3 people in front of us. Emily was a bit nervous, and man were they in character, but still must have sensed her uneasiness and were as 'nice' as you would expect.

The next friend was Ariel. This was a nightmare for Ryan, but we waited the 45 minutes in the sweltering heat to have our own personal time in her grotto. She was very talkative. In the end it was worth it, since this was the only place we could meet her, and she is a favorite of Emily's.

These are from Chef Mickeys. That is definately the way to go to meet characters. They come to the table, you get plenty of pictures. My only regret is that I wish I had some other ones with Mickey not in a chef outfit.

As you can see here, Joe was fine with them being right at his level.

We did see a lot of Princess at the breakfast, but Mulan was my favorite, and Emily's too. She also took time to talk with Joe and bent down for a picture with him. The CM was the most personable and knowledgeable in my opinion as well. She talked about Mushu, and when Emily fell of the chair in excitement, she asked if she was practicing her 'warrior moves.'

It was so worth it to do the character meals, especially with the Disney Dining Plan. You avoid the lines! I do think I would do a few more character meets when we go back...you never know how long the kiddos will be into that....but if they are anything like their mother, they have a long time to enjoy it!

The Rides

Our first ride as a family at Disney World was the Haunted Mansion. After getting the boys hair cuts done we were sort of late getting on rides and everything had a long wait - except Haunted Mansion - we walked right on, right into the room where the lights go off and everyone screams, and right into our little "car". I loved it! I love that it was our first ride as a family and that we were able to squeeze into one car, with Liam on my lap. Quinn loved it and asked to ride it again every day of our trip. And Liam surprisingly didn't mind it that much - compared to other rides... Oh and Mike almost had a heart attack when something "jumped" up - seriously Mike jumped and Quinn laughed at him! We rode Haunted Mansion two more times on our trip - and always just walked right on!

Here's Quinn and I on the Magic Carpet Ride. The coolest thing was as we were walking off Aladdin and Jasmine were walking into the ride area! Jasmine made a big deal out of Quinn's hair and Aladdin said hello! How cool - BUT I didn't have a camera to grab a picture (plus they weren't really doing meet and greets - just going on the ride, I guess).

And well...here we are on the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Ride. Liam did not enjoy this ride AT ALL. Seriously.

Quinn enjoyed looking at all the stuff!

I told you Liam HATED this ride. This was right after the bouncing that happens with Tigger during the ride. He HATED it. (In case you can't tell).




Next - our favorite ride - Toy Story Mania!

We had to go straight to this new ride at Hollywood right when the park opened. We waited about 20 minutes. When we got off the wait was up to 70 minutes - and fastpasses were almost gone. Quinn loved it - Liam hated it. Bascially, it's like a moving arcade game - only in 4D. You spin around in the car, stop in front of big screens, pull and shoot rings or things at stuff, and get points! All while wearing 3D glasses - and - the part that Liam hated the most - anytime you shot something you'd feel air coming at you! Truly an awesome experience, unless, you know, you're one and just don't get it!


Now of course you're thinking, man, you guys really tortured Liam. No. That's not true. He did enjoy this ride...

Any ideas what it is? I'll give you a hint. Or, rather, I'll just tell you. "It's a small world..." I know it's cheezy, but I like this ride. It totally makes me think of Disney world, way more than Dumbo.

Here's a quick break down of the rides and how the boys reacted to them (oh - and our wait times, just for fun!)
Dumbo - we waited 10 minutes, Quinn thought it was ok, Liam didn't like it.
Peter Pan's Flight - we didn't wait at all, Quinn liked it, Liam HATED it, I thought it was pretty cool.
Winnie the Pooh - we didn't wait at all, do I need to talk about what the boys thought? I thought it was OK.
Snow White's Scary Adventure - We didn't wait. We didn't take Liam on it, Quinn loved it, I thought it was OK
Mickey's Philharmagic - not really a ride, a show, we didn't wait - Quinn loved it. I loved it! (We didn't take Liam)

Goofy's Barnstormer - 5 minutes, Quinn loved it, I thought it was too short, but probably perfect for a kid's first rollercoaster ride (Liam wasn't tall enough - nor would we have tried)
Big Thunder Mountain - We used fastpasses (Didn't wait), Quinn said, "It went down too fast!" I thought it was fun and was surprised Quinn wasn't screaming. It's a real rollercoaster! (Liam wasn't tall enough - nor would we have tried)
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - Not quite as cool as Toy Story, but Quinn enjoyed shooting at things. Liam did a little better, because he was playing with the gun. =) Still - didn't like it much.
Triceratop Spin - Just like Dumbo. We didn't wait. Liam didn't mind it as much as Dumbo. Quinn thought it was ok.
Finding Nemo - We walked right on. Liam liked most of it (except this one part where it appears you're spinning, but you're not). Quinn loved it so much he asked to go on again - and a CM let us cut into line by the handicap entrance and we hopped right back on!
Journey Into Imagination - We walked right on. I enjoyed it more because Quinn was into it. Liam kept saying "bye bye" to Figment.

For the most part, the only ride Liam enjoyed was "it's a small world". Everything else he would very clearly say, "All done." and "bye bye". Or, you know, just cry.

And here's a list or rides I WISH we would have done:
Pirates of the Caribbean (too long of a wait)
Splash Mountain (wanted to do it, but didn't want to get wet)
Tower of Terror (Quinn said he wanted to do it at home, but when he saw it - NOPE.)
Dinosaur (same as Tower of Terror)
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway
Soarin' (We went to EPCOT late - fastpasses were gone and the wait was over an hour)

I suppose that's why I have to say, "next time we go!"

Caribbean Beach Resort

My feelings towards our resort are sort of that of a love/hate relationship. After it took us so long to check in and get to our rooms and after having pretty much none of our requests filled I really didn't like the place much. But then I woke up very early Thursday morning and saw this:

And on my way across the bridge to the main area (food court, store, information center, etc.) I saw this and took a quick picture.


This was the view from our hotel room. Can you see how one might fall in love with this place?


Quinn loved staying here and leading us to either a bus stop or over the bridge to the pool or lunch. We was insistent that we stay behind him and let him lead. Since that was one of the only places we could let Quinn walk on his own we took advantage of this.
Here Quinn's going to lead us over the bridge that leads to everything!


Here's a view of our "island" Aruba. Each "island" has it's own beach and we spent one morning letting the boys play on the beach. I wish we would have had more time to enjoy the resort. Boat rentals, bike rentals, pirate's cruise, swimming pool with slides, and I waited until the last day to find out the "Banana Cabana" (hotel bar) has the most awesome Orange Dream drinks ever. There was a ship holding a pirate's cruise the morning we let the boys play on the beach, so we saw all these boys on a ship chasing a pirate on another ship - and then the pirate ran right onto our beach and ran away. Quinn got into the action by grabbing a stick and yelling at the pirates, "Stay away from our island! Argh!" So he had fun and we didn't even pay the $30 to have him on the boat!

I know some people love this resort and stay there every time they go to Disney World. For us, there's plenty of other places to try and I can't wait to try something new next time! (I'm thinking either the Dolphin or the Swan - I heard teachers get discounts there?!? Or the boardwalk - if we happen to win the lotto or something.)

Cast Members

A few posts ago, Amy mentioned that one of the things she was looking forward to was, "The fact that being at Disney means that everyone working there treats my kids like they are the most special kids at the most special place on Earth." I really didn't understand what she was talking about, but after our vacation, oh my gosh, I totally get what she meant.

Every "Cast Member" (that's what Disney calls their employees) made me feel as though Quinn and Liam were a part of their family. From the smiles to the stickers - my kids received plenty of both from everyone who wore a Disney name tag. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left Quinn and Liam were constantly being waved at, smiled at, ooooohed over, talked to, or getting stickers. It didn't matter what job these people held - from table cleaners, cashiers, bellhops, bus drivers, security guards, ticket takers, crowd management, street cleaners, bathroom attendants, and everyone else - they all treated my kids as if they were the most special kids there!

We had a lot of "magical moments" on this vacation - and pretty much all of them were because one or two cast members went out of their way to be nice to the boys.

After spending a busy morning at Hollywood (where my most favorite magical moment happened, but you'll have to wait until those pictures are ready) we were heading out of the park. Quinn and I needed a bathroom break before waiting for the bus and heading back to the hotel for our afternoon naps. When we walked out of the bathroom, this is what we saw:

The street cleaner was talking with Liam - and Liam was SO engaged and happy to see him. I stood back for awhile and watched in awe as the two of them interacted together. The Cast Member even let Liam show him where to sweep - and would sweep up there. Liam loved it!

I can't even explain how much this reminded me of how much I love being at Disney World. After awhile Quinn and I went up to the stroller and the guy started talking to Quinn - did "the pound" with him, and wished us a "magical day".