[EmpressJenny]

Thursday morning Pete and I headed to Beach Club Villas to stay overnight w/my aunt Linda & uncle Dave and their kids Samantha (8) and Shane (3) during their DVC week. Sami wanted to see Cinderellabration, so we hit the MK around 11AM, got FPs for Space Mountain, saw the show (it was cute), did Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion, then headed back to the resort for lunch. The Villas were gorgeous, and it was great to have a full kitchen. They saved a ton of money not having to go out to eat for every meal. After sandwiches, we went to Epcot. Soarin' was a 60 min. wait w/no more FPs, so the four of us got yards at Rose & Crown, and strolled around. The kids wanted to do Figment, but we still had half our beers left. I chugged mine, gagged up some foam, and nearly threw up walking into Figment. I was having a VERY hard time holding it down. Some half-yard president, huh? Sami is my baby, and she usually holds my hand the entire time we're in the parks, and I felt really bad having to tell her to go hang out w/"Peep" (Shane can't say Pete) so I didn't puke all over her.

My aunt works for GMAC, so we went to Test Track and got to go upstairs in their VIP room. This is an entire floor above the ride where you can get free drinks (sodas and coffee), beautiful, clean bathrooms, and comfy leather chairs and sofas to lounge upon while looking out the huge tinted windows over the park, while the cars buzz by right below you. On the opposite side of the floor is the coffee/soda room, and you can look out of those windows onto the interior of the ride where you go over the blocks, etc. Very cool, a really nice perk. Not to mention the fact that after you relax in your VIP lounge, you get passes to go through the back and up the exit to ride TWICE with no wait! Very, very cool.

After Test Track, we got another round of yards ('cause they're half price after you've got your cup, can't turn that down) and headed back to the room. Linda and Dave took off ahead of us so they could get ready to go out to dinner, and Pete and the kids and I took our time, got our swimsuits on, and went down to the pool.


Sooooo cool! The sand at the bottom of the pool is really neat, and Pete and I took turns watching Shane so we could go down the big slide w/Sami. I decided to take a chance, and put Shane on my lap down the baby slide which he LOVED. He is an extremely adorable child but extremely, well, let's just say his nickname is Stitch. So it was nice to find something that kept him happy. Once we went down the slide, that's all we did for the next 30 minutes. When his lips turned blue, I wrapped him in towels, and "Peep" carried him back to the room.

I love how Peep lavishes attention on Shane when it's playtime, but I had to change his diaper.

Now let's talk about Jenny's inexperience w/kids and food.

I've got younger siblings and a million cousins, so changing the diaper was no big deal. But my aunt had left out clothes for him, a little blue polo and khaki pants, so I dressed him and put him on the floor so he could play with his "choo choo" (the monorail) while I cooked spaghetti. Trying to feed a toddler spaghetti w/out a high chair? After ruining the poor kid's clothes with red noodles I finally said, "that's it", and stripped him down to his diaper to finish feeding him. He DID NOT like getting spaghetti on his tummy! Then I cleaned up the kitchen while Pete played Magic Kingdom dollies with Sami at the table and had the time of his life with the Aladdin dolly.

My aunt & uncle came back from a great dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse, then we all went to MGM for the late Fantasmic. NO ONE was there, it was great. We did Muppets, then everyone but Pete and I went to hold seats for the 10:30PM show, and Pete and I managed to get on the last elevator for ToT. Anyone ever done this ride at night? Absolutely gorgeous when the doors open up and you see the lights all over the park. Pete even held his hands in the air. We tried to get on RnRc, but it was closed, so Pete got a candy apple, I got a beer, and we found our family in the front row of a ghost town of an auditorium.

Anyone ever sat in the front row? We got SOAKED and a HUGE waterbug crawled by. It was really cool to be that close, but it was really funny to get drenched. Pete swears that a couple of the princesses waved right at him as they sailed by.

Friends of my family had been by earlier in the week and left a couple parkhopper passes to Universal. So Pete and I took a free trip to Universal....I'll explain my opinion shortly...

[missy H]

What a cool trip, kids can be hard work with food!
Girls at 8 are great, they tend to be very girly and want to be friends with "big girls"
Glad you had a good time, can't wait for your opinion of Universal!

[EmpressJenny]

I'll try to keep the report on Universal short since it's a Disney site, but it's a dollar more for parking than at Disney, first of all. Second of all, when the rides break down, you DONT get an Express Pass to come back up when it's fixed (their equivalent of FP) unless you make a big stink at guest services. Pete's scared of most rides. He almost messed himself on Dr. Doom, and wouldn't do any other thrill rides with me, I had to do them alone. There were a million school groups who kept line jumping, so there were lots of near-fights and I ended up telling off a bunch of them and shoving my way back in front of them again.

Regular Universal was much more fun than Islands of Adventure, Pete could do most of the rides, but some jerk left their bubble gum in the seat on The Mummy, so Pete got gum all over his Mickey shirt, I tried to clean it off in the men's room, but it was stuck. I complained about it and Universal gave him a new tee shirt for free (I think they were secretly pretty tickled about ruining a Disney tee). All in all, it was fun, but definitely not Disney, and I don't think that Pete got as much out of Islands of Adventure to warrant going back.

We're happy being WDW passholders, but it was really kind of my family to give us free tickets.

Disney forever.

[Erin]

I enjoyed reading this report!
It cracks me up that "Peep" is scared of the rides!!!!!

[tigger03]

[quote=EmpressJenny

Regular Universal was much more fun than Islands of Adventure, Pete could do most of the rides, but some jerk left their bubble gum in the seat on The Mummy, so Pete got gum all over his Mickey shirt, I tried to clean it off in the men's room, but it was stuck. I complained about it and Universal gave him a new tee shirt for free (I think they were secretly pretty tickled about ruining a Disney tee). All in all, it was fun, but definitely not Disney, and I don't think that Pete got as much out of Islands of Adventure to warrant going back.

Disney forever.[/QUOTE]


I think the whole gum think was a Universal Studios ploy to rid all park go'ers of Disney T-Shirts. --Hey look that guys wearing mickeymouse, quick stick the gum on his seat. Can't have him advertising for the mouse in our park.

[cinderbella]

Love it!!!!
When are you going back??
We'll be there Tuesday thru the following Wednesday......you better keep a look our for us, as I will you!

[Disneyfever]

Great TR! You both sound like you are great with kids. It is an entirely different experience with children. I'm glad to hear you had a great time. Pete must be an old pro at the ToT!
BTW, how did you try cleaning that gum off in the "men's room?!"
At least I know how to get a free T-shirt at Universal. Keep the TRs coming. I really like reading them!

[EmpressJenny]

Originally Posted by Disneyfever

Great TR! You both sound like you are great with kids. It is an entirely different experience with children. I'm glad to hear you had a great time. Pete must be an old pro at the ToT!
BTW, how did you try cleaning that gum off in the "men's room?!"
At least I know how to get a free T-shirt at Universal. Keep the TRs coming. I really like reading them!

I tried to use paper towels and water to peel it off, but right now it's in the freezer to try and get it all off. I'm glad you enjoyed the TR

Cinderbella, I will DEFINITELY be looking for you!

[BuzzLightyear]

Another great TR Jenny

We really enjoyed the front row seats we had at Fantasmic a few weeks ago. It was a bit of a different perspective, and we didn't get too wet.

[queensmama]

Great report Jenny! You always make me laugh.

[EmpressJenny]

Thanks, queensmama. I try to write them as interestingly as possible since otherwise people would be bored to death every week.

[EmpressJenny]

I've just got one more thing to add to this TR - I am POSITIVE that I picked up my strep throat from one of the parks during this trip. But I wonder, was it Disney or Universal?

[Cincy]

Originally Posted by EmpressJenny

I'll try to keep the report on Universal short since it's a Disney site, but it's a dollar more for parking than at Disney, first of all. Second of all, when the rides break down, you DONT get an Express Pass to come back up when it's fixed (their equivalent of FP) unless you make a big stink at guest services. Pete's scared of most rides. He almost messed himself on Dr. Doom, and wouldn't do any other thrill rides with me, I had to do them alone. There were a million school groups who kept line jumping, so there were lots of near-fights and I ended up telling off a bunch of them and shoving my way back in front of them again.

Regular Universal was much more fun than Islands of Adventure, Pete could do most of the rides, but some jerk left their bubble gum in the seat on The Mummy, so Pete got gum all over his Mickey shirt, I tried to clean it off in the men's room, but it was stuck. I complained about it and Universal gave him a new tee shirt for free (I think they were secretly pretty tickled about ruining a Disney tee). All in all, it was fun, but definitely not Disney, and I don't think that Pete got as much out of Islands of Adventure to warrant going back.

We're happy being WDW passholders, but it was really kind of my family to give us free tickets.

Disney forever.

EJ,
What were you doing in the men's room?

[lovemysons]

Jenny, I have two questions. One, if a ride breaks down at Disney, do you get an express fast pass to come back and ride it? And, two, as Cincy before has asked, what were you doing in the men's room?????/

[pumouse]

I was wondering the same thing but I was afraid to ask!