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Trip Within a Trip (or Any Excuse to Go To Disney)


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Well, here goes my first trip report.  We are still on the last part of our vacation so there is hope I wil get most of the report (the Disney part) done before we get home and "busy-ness" sets back in.  

 

Every summer we make a trek to north Mississippi for a week to see my family and a week or so to South Florida to see Andy's (fellow Fiend Thrill Shakepeare) family.  This year we were able to schedule our trip to coincide with a reunion taking place at his home church with some of the people that were in his youth group in the mid to late 80's.  After the reunion weekend we planned to stay about a week to hang out with family, chill some, and eat at some of our favorite restaurants.  Knowing we had hoped to sneak in a few days in Disney since our annual passes are good until mid November my in-laws suggested we do that in the middle of the trip.

 

Even though Andy's parents' Florida passes are not good for the summer, they offered to use some hotel points they had in Kissimmee and go up with us for a night or two.  They booked Monday and Tuesday nights and planned to ride up later in the day Monday. They told us to plan for them to keep our boys (9 and 6) that night so Andy and I could close a park.  Woo-hoo!  Date night!!  So, hence the trip within a trip......

 

Next up:  Making memories and early alarm clocks...

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I'm in!!  Page one for DIT today!   :jumpforjoy

Not unusual for you - I had to write the report to get on a first page!

 

In, love those trips within a trip :)

True, makes for interesting packing and repacking!

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One of the main reasons we “needed” a WDW trip was to ride the new Mine Train ride.  After all, it had already been open for over a month!!!  I was helping friends plan their trips telling them to be sure and ride it and I hadn’t ridden it yet!  We watched it being built over the course of a few trips and needed to see the finished product!!!!!

 

Of course by the time we had nailed down exactly what days we would go there were no fastpasses for Mine Train left for those days.  Andy made a good point, though, that the que needed to be seen in its entirety to see all the theming.  We chose to go to Magic Kingdom on Monday since there would be extra magic hours in MK on Tuesday and we were not going to be staying on property to take advantage of them.  Avoid the more crowded park if you are not getting anything out of it! 

 

We got fastpasses for Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain.  This would be the first time on Splash for both boys.  They both love Big Thunder, but have mixed feelings about Space Mountain- the 9 yr. old loves it, the 6 yr. old was NOT a fan after his first ride back in November and had said he would never ride it again.  After bragging on his big brother and encouraging them both to try new things, blah, blah, blah, he decided he would give it another try.

 

We were looking at about a 3 ½ hour drive up to WDW.  We figured that the only bearable time to stand in line for the new mine ride was first thing in the morning.   That meant getting us all up at o’ dark thirty.  Hoping to settle the boys down to sleep and refresh my memory of the seven dwarves’ mine we snuggled them into their beds at the grandparents and watched Snow White all together.  I have to say, there is not much more precious in life than cuddling with your family watching a Disney cartoon knowing you will be in the middle of Disney magic in a matter of hours.  We all pointed out details and wondered if they would appear in the ride or que.  But, no, that didn’t help any of us get sleepy!  Oh well….

We were packed, my MIL made us breakfast pizza and packaged it for us to eat on the road, and we set an alarm for 4 a.m.  No questions or complaining.  Why is it so much easier to get up early for Disney???  

 

The alarm went off as planned, we dressed and got the boys up and dressed, loaded into the truck and pulled out at 4:39 a.m.  Record timing for us!  Magic Kingdom, here we come!

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I'm in! I understand about the need to ride the mine train - that's why we're heading down next Tuesday. We don't do summer trips, but darn it, I WILL ride the mine train! We were there when they announced the opening date, and were bummed that we couldn't try it during that trip.

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I'm in! I understand about the need to ride the mine train - that's why we're heading down next Tuesday. We don't do summer trips, but darn it, I WILL ride the mine train! We were there when they announced the opening date, and were bummed that we couldn't try it during that trip.

We kept telling ourselves that we could wait until October and the Tower of Terror Ten Miler that Andy has registered for.  We kept saying "It will be too hot.  It will be too crowded".  Our annual passes (that we won't be able to get again for a long time) kept whispering "Use us.  This money is slipping away.  You'll be going right by on your trip"........

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After a happily uneventful trip up the Turnpike (Go Sunpass!) we pulled into Ticket and Transportation.  (We were a bit concerned how long the boys would last since the youngest only had a half hour nap and the 9 yr. did not sleep at all.) There were several CMs stationed around T&T telling people that the monorail would not go into service until 9:30 but buses were ready to take us to the MK faster than the launch.  I could not believe the people who were determined to take the boat!  Good for us, though.  There were buses waiting in line to pick up people – ours wasn’t near full.  They just left to get us there quickly.

 

As we exited the bus the park opened.  Great timing!  We entered the park and made our way straight through the castle to the Mine ride.  We finally found the end of the line somewhere near the circus area.  9:15 a.m.  Sign said an hour wait.  Sure, we thought, if we’re lucky! 

Though it was WARM, we reminded ourselves that this really was the best time of the day to stand in line.  We had purposely waited to apply sunscreen until now, knowing we would have plenty of time to do a good job of it.  We chatted with folks around us and enjoyed the shade and fans when we got to them.  The kids (no, all of us) enjoyed playing with the interactive sections in the que.  The boys loved pointing out carvings like they had seen the night before in the movie. We had laughed during the part of the movie where the dwarves carefully lock the vault and then hang the key by the door.  Attention to detail – that is what makes Disney so special.  Yep, the key is hanging by the door.  Securely attached, much to the boys’ disappointment. 

 

It really was right at an hour when we loaded the ride.  We loved it.  It is beautiful and the theming is amazing. I would say it is somewhere between Barnstormer and Big Thunder in ride action.  The cars do sway some side to side but the sensation is still like a good banked turn.  Our experience may have been a ittle different if the weight were distributed differently.  Each car in the train has 3 seats that hold 2 people.  in our car the 3 adults were on the right side and the 3 kids were on the left. It may have swayed a bit more if it were better balanced.   It travels quickly through the outside parts and slows down while inside so you can see the dwarf and jewel details.  I would like for it to last a bit longer, but I know there isn’t that much room in that area to do much track.  Still, it is a family friendly little coaster and a nice addition to New Fantasyland.

 

Next- an early lunch surprise!

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I'll keep this going because, right now, I have time!  We are still in South Florida and the relaxing is in high gear.  Well, for me, anyway.  Andy is writing on the dissertation.  The boys are enjoying their grandfather's assorted computers/tablets, etc.  I am catching up on Fiend-dom. 

 

On with the report:

By the time we got out of the Mine Train area it was 10:30.  Since breakfast was really early (I mean, how are you supposed to sit there in the truck with breakfast pizza and not eat it right away???), we decided we would head to Gaston’s and have a non-Main Street cinnamon roll and a pork shank to share.  Really good together.  If the cinnamon roll was from Main Street it would not have shared a plate. 
With anything.

 Just saying….

 

But, while on the way to Gaston’s we saw that CMs were sending people into Be Our Guest for lunch.  Hmmmmm……. We had not eaten there yet because of the lines at lunch and filled reservations (and price) for dinner.  Yet here were CMs asking us if we wanted to eat – there was no line.  Why, yes, we said.  Why not?  Second new experience of the day.  We ordered our food and found a seat in the West Wing.  The thundering and lightning was a little jarring for our “scared of storms” son, but the whole portrait changing part intrigued him enough to overlook it. 

Andy and I both had the Croque Monsieur and the boys both had Chip’s Delight.  We shared one Master’s Cupcake for dessert.  Lumiere was right - the gray stuff is delicious.

 

Next we headed to Haunted Mansion – a first for our boys.  I admit I have sheltered them a good bit.  We don’t allow a lot of scary stuff on TV.  At the parks I vividly recall having to take the oldest one out of Lion King (the fire part) and Tough to be a Bug (everything) at age 2 ½.  I am scarred.  What can I say?  But, this was to be the trip that we tried new things.  Whether they liked them or not. 

On the “you can’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it” routine, our boys are allowed to say they weren’t too crazy about Haunted Mansion.  I am sure they will grow to love it someday.

 

By now there was a light rain falling; just pleasant enough to cool off in.  We headed to Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.  Son 1 had been requesting it during previous trips but it always seemed to be closed.  Not today!  Done!  Another item checked off the agenda.  By now the rain was more steady and we headed to the Jungle Cruise to wait a half hour in a sort-of dry line.  We have some ride and/or que audios on cd that we listen to in the van all year long so we all were ready to join Albert Awol in saying, "If it rains in the jungle, who cares?  After all, it is the rain forrest!"

 

 The day continued with off and on clouds and full, but not crazy crowded, lines.  We used all three of our Mountain fastpasses.  We grabbed Dole Whip floats and found a spot to watch the 3:00 parade just in time for the announcement that said it was canceled due to the threat of lightning.  It was a good time to teach a lesson to our boys about handling disappointment (hey guys, we are AT Disney World) and about how much Disney (and OSHA) cares about its employees and their safety.  (More about that on day 3!)  We also got in a train ride and Pirates of the Caribbean before we headed out for some Chinese food in Kissimmee.  We met the in-laws at the hotel and chilled for a little while.  They took the boys to the pool and shoo-ed us out for our date night back at MK.

 

I think Andy and I got back to the Magic Kingdom around 9 p.m.  We got a 4th fastpass of the day for Peter Pan.  In addition we were able to ride Little Mermaid, Buzz Lightyear, Small World, and Winnie the Pooh as well as see Mickey’s Philharmagic.  For the record, the fireworks are quite intense over in New Fantasyland.  Take cover!  Incoming!!! 

 

Anyway, that’s not too bad for a couple of hours.  We  wandered through the Emporium and headed out before midnight.  I love doing MK with my kids, but it was my sweet DH Thrill Shakepeare (Andy) that first brought me to Disney World when we were dating.  It will always be a romantic place for us!

 

Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at our hotel in Kissimmee and headed to Hollywood Studios.  My in-laws decided to head to Hollywood, too.  Hollywood, FL, that is – back to their house.  We had the hotel to ourselves for another night and were told to take our time heading back down on Wednesday.  Woo-hoo!  Maybe a couple of Epcot rides???

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Following along & enjoying your trip.

 

Now if only there were some pictures to go along with the narrative...........

 

;)

I know.  We only took a few pics.  I just asked Andy to add in the ones he took.

 

You got a lot accomplished!

Nice work getting walk-in at BOG!

I was surprised, too, especially since it was the week of July 4th!

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And thanks for the mine train review

You're welcome.  I enjoyed reading Cody's today.  I look forward to hearing more people's perception of it.

 

Can't remeber if I said it before but I'm in!

Glad to have 'ya!

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Hollywood Studios was the request of our youngest son.  He LOVES the Star Tours ride and Toy Story Midway mania.  We had fastpassed those AND Tower of Terror.  Not being totally horrible parents we HAD shown them ride through videos of the ride on YouTube.  Full disclosure.  They were both a little nervous but up for the challenge.  They survived but aren’t in any hurry to do it again.   We also made it a point to see the Indiana Jones show one more time since rumor has it that it will disappear before too long.  We did the great movie ride and got cookies from Writer’s Stop.  We decided we were hot and tired and needed a break.  We checked and could get our 4th fastpass for Fantasmic that night.  We left property for late lunch/early dinner and rested/napped/watched soccer at our hotel. 

 

We got back to HS in time to ride Star Tours before the show.  Our youngest had been the rebel spy that morning and our eldest wanted a chance at it.  Not this time.  We headed over to Fantasmic.  As we entered our oldest said, “Hey Mom, there are so many good seats! “  I replied that yes, as long as we are not by a Brazilian tour group with inflatable whacking sticks, there is really not a bad seat in the theatre.  Hmmm….. spoke too soon.  Let me add Argentinians with balloons.  Those teens popping their balloons all through the show got old.  Really old.

After the show we were herded like cattle toward the park exit.  “Going with the flow” is not always what it is cracked up to be so, we broke free and headed for one more ride on Star Tours before park closing.  We made it and son #1 got to be the rebel spy.  Happy boys, tired boys.  This was the first time they had closed a park after 10.   Andy and I were really proud of their first time accomplishments.

 

Still to come: A little bit of Epcot and pics from Thrill.  He took more than I thought!

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