[Mickey Mom]

Originally Posted by jimbo

just catching up on you TR loving it
what cool rooms, although if I woke up and saw the skull on the curtains I'd freak out.

sorry to hear about the camera - that happened to me 2hrs in to our trip. hope you can post more photos

Our DD4 was a little worried when we walked first walked into the room. It was dark so I had to run in and switch on all the lights so that it wouldn't scare her. She was a little scared of the shower curtain and the pirate ship etched into the shower wall for some reason and she would go into the bathroom alone for the first three days!

Luckily we had my DF's camera to use as back-up and now I get to shop for a new camera!

I took over 1200 pictures and I will definately post more, but most have the kids in them and I am still a bit leary of posting pics of the kids online. I'll have to sort through more of them.

[Mickey Mom]

Day 5:

This morning we had reservations for Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for DD4. Our reservation was for 9am, so we were up for an early start.

I dressed the girls in their princess dresses before we left. DD4 was Snow White and DD2 was Belle. We went to our bus stop at Trinidad South and with very little wait our bus arrived. Before the bus driver would let us on the bus, he got off and told us the princesses should enter first and that we should all remember that we were in presence of royalty. That was cute and the girls loved it.

We arrived at the MK and we were allowed early entry (due to our reservation) prior to the park opening to guests. This was amazing. I never realized that if you had an early reservation you would be allowed entry in before the park opened. I guess I had always thought they wouldn't book ressies until the park opened. Anyway, what an amazing walk up Main Street. No-one was around, we got amazing pics of the kids running down Main Street and up to the castle. We got pics of us and the castle and no-one else around. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life. (Is that pathetic?) I just never imagined that we would ever have an opportunity like that. It was like we were the only ones in the park. It was such a great surprise.





We got up to the Castle and had very little wait and DD4 was called for her royal appointment to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. While DD4 had her hair and nails done, DH took DS6 and DD2 into Fantasyland (by now the park had opened) and they rode Peter Pan while they waited for us. Once DD4 had her hair and nails completed and was ready to go, the CM "Fairy Godmother in Training" was so wonderful, she picked up DD2 (who was unfortunately too young to be able to book an appointment) and sat her on the chair and did the Pixie Dust Wand and put sparkles in her hair and then spun her around for her own "reveal" into the mirror. DD2 was so happy, to her, she had been able to get her hair done as well and it really made my day.

Once we were done there we went to Fantasyland, rode Cinderella's carousel and rode Dumbo and then we were ready for our Breakfast in the Castle. The breakfast was AMAZING! The food was great (DH was even given a second plate). The princesses were fabulous with the kids, we had a great time.

After that we did the Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, back to Cinderella's Carousel, The Speedway (forget the name right now), Buzz Lightyear, I think that is it.

We walked down Main street to the Exposition Hall where I was going to print a couple of 5x7's from my photopass card (we got free coupons when we booked). I was told that if we had visited the BBB that day that we could have a free portrait session done at the back of the hall. So off we went. The guy took great pics of all three kids and pics of them together, it was wonderful, another great surprise that I knew nothing about. I printed my free 5x7's as the kids toured the back of Exposition hall and had a break watching some retro Mickey cartoons in the little theater.

We were getting ready to leave when we realized that people were starting to sit for the 3:00 parade which would start in 5 minutes. No-one was sitting on the curb in the middle circle of the main street entrance, so we walked across and got some amazing seats. Believe it or not, from all my trips to DW, I had never seen the 3:00 parade. We always end up somewhere else in the park. It was amazing. When the princess float went by, The Handsome Prince was waving to us and upon seeing DD4 (as Snow White) he turned and tapped Snow White on the shoulder and she turned to blow a kiss at DD4. How thrilling for DD4!!

After the parade, DM wanted to get some ice cream on Main Street. I was ready to call it a day, as were the kids, but DM had been hoping for ice cream all day so we followed the crowd down main street and sat for some ice cream.

We got back to our resort around 6pm, had dinner in the food court and enjoyed a swim in the Pirate Pool.

What an amazing day!!

I'll add more pics later tonight!!

[TaraRae82]

What a Royal day you had! I love all the little extra touches the CM's added!

[tinkerbelle24]

I have been pondering if I should book DD7 (8 on trip) a ressie at BBB. I know its something she would enjoy but not keep in her hair. How much is it for just a hair/makeup package?

[dancing4disney]

I love the pictures of the kids facing away from the camera. What a beautiful picture. I have picture of my three kids running up a pathway and it is one of my favorites.

[vthokiegirl]

Great TR sounds like you had a great trip so far. Can't wait to see some more picstures.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by Mickey Mom

Day 5:

Before the bus driver would let us on the bus, he got off and told us the princesses should enter first and that we should all remember that we were in presence of royalty. That was cute and the girls loved it.

what an amazing walk up Main Street. No-one was around, we got amazing pics of the kids running down Main Street and up to the castle. We got pics of us and the castle and no-one else around. It was one of the most incredible moments of my life. (Is that pathetic?) I just never imagined that we would ever have an opportunity like that. It was like we were the only ones in the park. It was such a great surprise.

We got up to the Castle and had very little wait and DD4 was called for her royal appointment to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. While DD4 had her hair and nails done, DH took DS6 and DD2 into Fantasyland (by now the park had opened) and they rode Peter Pan while they waited for us. Once DD4 had her hair and nails completed and was ready to go, the CM "Fairy Godmother in Training" was so wonderful, she picked up DD2 (who was unfortunately too young to be able to book an appointment) and sat her on the chair and did the Pixie Dust Wand and put sparkles in her hair and then spun her around for her own "reveal" into the mirror. DD2 was so happy, to her, she had been able to get her hair done as well and it really made my day.

What an amazing day!!

No way is that pathetic
This brought a tear to my eye
your DD2 was so lucky to get her makeover

[Mickey Mom]

Originally Posted by tinkerbelle24

I have been pondering if I should book DD7 (8 on trip) a ressie at BBB. I know its something she would enjoy but not keep in her hair. How much is it for just a hair/makeup package?

Just hair/make-up is around $50 and to add her nails is another $5. I'm sure you would have a great time and DD8 would love it. At first I thought the price was high, but when I priced everything they give her to keep afterwards, the price is actually quite cheap. DD4 had the Fantasy? hair done, and to buy the crown and Mickey barrette alone would have been $20. On top of that they gave her all her make-up and the rest of the sticker jewels to keep. This year we got her nails done as well and I was shocked - the increase in price was only $5 and when we left I couldn't believe they had given her two full containers of princess nail polish in her back to keep - they weren't even opened! These nail polishes cost $3.50 each to buy, so we actually saved $2 by having them do her nails....how great is that?!

But above all, the experience outweighs any of the cost, it is a magical memory, especially for the kids.

[tinkerbelle24]

Originally Posted by Mickey Mom

Just hair/make-up is around $50 and to add her nails is another $5. I'm sure you would have a great time and DD8 would love it. At first I thought the price was high, but when I priced everything they give her to keep afterwards, the price is actually quite cheap. DD4 had the Fantasy? hair done, and to buy the crown and Mickey barrette alone would have been $20. On top of that they gave her all her make-up and the rest of the sticker jewels to keep. This year we got her nails done as well and I was shocked - the increase in price was only $5 and when we left I couldn't believe they had given her two full containers of princess nail polish in her back to keep - they weren't even opened! These nail polishes cost $3.50 each to buy, so we actually saved $2 by having them do her nails....how great is that?!

But above all, the experience outweighs any of the cost, it is a magical memory, especially for the kids.

Thanks so much for the information! $50? Can't beat that! We used to go to club libby lu and it ran around the same. Its great to know they let the kids keep the stuff. I'm going to try and book this for her actual birthday.

[Mickey Mom]

Whew...is this turning out to be the longest TR yet?!

Onto Day 6!

Today was AK day.

We got up early again, however, this was our day for mis-timing of buses!! As we approached our bus stop we watched our bus pull away! Grrr, bad timing! For some reason AK buses seemed to be few and far between this morning so we had a little longer wait than usual.

Side-track...on the topic of buses....we did notice the CM's paying a lot more attention to the timing of buses compared to previous trips. Every morning there was a CM at our bus stop asking arriving guests which park they were off to today. Then roughly every 15 min or so, a van with another CM would show up and ask about the promptness of buses or which buses we were waiting on. Then that CM would drive off (to where I don't know) and shortly a bus for that destination would show up (or 2 buses sometimes depending on the load). Not sure if this was a CBR thing? We did learn that Disney buses are installed with a GPS sort of device that tracks and tells them where to go next. Interesting.

Anyway, we made it to AK for opening and just in time for some rain! Luckily we were well prepared with some rain gear and stroller covers. It was a light rain so it didn't hinder us much and as the rope dropped we headed off to Kilamanjaro Safari (sp?). It was great. The animals were out and about enjoying the rain so we were able to see all the animals really well. After that DH ran over to grab some FP's for Everest and we headed over to A Bug's Life.

Around 10:30am we arrived at Tusker House for Donald's Safari Breakfast. We had no wait, had a great picture done and headed in. It was our first time here and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was towards the end of breakfast, so people were slowly clearing out, which gave us some extra room and great opportunities for pics with the characters and no-one sitting behind. The food was great and we were pleased with all the selection. The kids ate really well and DD2 went crazy over the special juice (I forget the name). She kept asking for it for the rest of the trip!

After that the rain started to clear and we enjoyed the rest of the park. We played games in Dinoland and all three kids won something at the water game. We loved the Nemo show (1st time for us), DH had fun riding Everest 3x on his own!! Haha!! I really wanted to try it but chickened out last minute. We visited Camp Mickey/Minnie and watched our beloved Lion King show. We found the Kids Discovery Zone areas and DS6 loved them. We had to do as many as he could find and then when we realized we were getting to the end of the day, we discovered that we could stop at Guest Relations on our way out and they kids got their books stamped with all the remaining stamps and got a mini-lesson on all the areas that they missed. It really made DS's day.

On our way home we had much better luck with the buses and found our bus waiting to wisk us back to CBR. What luck!

Back at the resort we had a quick dinner and spent a relaxing evening together.

[Mickey Mom]

Day 7!

Typhoon Lagoon Day!!

Yippee!! One of our favorite days!! I'm sure we were all fish in a former life!! We arrived for the opening and secured a wonderful seat under a canopy on the sand right on the edge of the wave pool.

So much fun....DS6 and DH and DF dove into the wave pool while DD's took their time to check things out first. We walked over to the kid's area and the kids all loved the little tube/rafting ride and of course the water canon area. I should really have my park maps here so that I can get the proper names.

We spent a long time in this area and then we headed back to our beach area for some lunch. After we ate we walked over to the Crush n'Gusher. DF and DM and DD's played in the pool area while DH and DS and I went up to grab a tube. Unfortunately DS did not make the 48" height requirement. He had to remove his water shoes and the lifeguard distributing the tubes measured him and he was half a finger-width under the line. His hair hit the bar, but not his head, so Crush n' Gusher was a no-go for DS. Oh my was he devastated!! Poor thing.

Anyway we decided to get his mind off it we'd take him to see the sharks while DF and DM took DD's back to the beach to play. It was so funny. We got him all suited up to see the sharks and as he approached the tank, he said, "You know, I don't think I should enter this water." Of course we answer, "Why not?". "Well", he says, "I do have a cut on my foot," ( a very minor scrape on the top of his foot from a previous fall), "and you know how sharks get when they can smell blood....". So funny, so he opted to just watch the sharks from a far and not enter the water - for safety's sake.

Anyway, after some more sun/water and of course a Typhoon Tilly...yummy!! We headed back to CBR.

We had dinner reservations at Shutters at 6pm. We arrived for our reservation and our table was ready and waiting. We had a wonderful dinner. DH had steak and I had the shrimp and pasta....sooo good. I had the most wonderful Banana Cabana...mmmmm. After dinner we took some coffees to go and we enjoyed a relaxing walk around the resort as the sun went down.

Another great day!!

[Mickey Mom]

Day 8.....

Great day...with a rough ending.....

Hollywood Studios Day!!

We had a blast at this park! We arrived again for opening and as we stood to take some pics at the hat DH ran for some FP's for TSM. For arrival shortly after 9am we ended up with FP's for noon!

We had a number of priorities of things to see at this park that we have previously missed, and it worked out great. We started with Star Tours, went on to Beauty and the Beast, TT, Quick Lunch, TSM (DH, DS and me), The Stunt Show, Visit Lightning McQueen, TSM again (DF, DM, DS and DD2).

Dinner was early 4:00 at Prime Time Cafe. While this is a tried and true favorite of ours, our waiter was not up to the role as much as in previous years. We had a nice meal, but all-in-all we weren't thrilled with our waiter.

After dinner we caught the Indiana Stunt Show, and DS was thrilled that DH was picked to me an extra in the show!

It was great. DS was so into it all. To him that IS Indiana Jones. Afterward DS got a picture with the Bad Guy and the Idol. That was one of the highlights of the trip for DS.

We had a great time, probably the most fun we have ever had at that park.

Unfortunately the night didn't end so great....
As we rode the bus back to our resort we turned into CBR. Then the driver took a sharp left and exited the resort. Where are we going? We go around the block and then re-enter the resort at another location?! Why he wouldn't just carry on with the route even if he was off a bit? I don't know. Anyway, we are waiting for our stop (and by the way, Trinidad South is always the LAST stop of the route). The bus stops at our stop and we are sitting at the back of the bus (7 of us and our strollers). We get up to get off the back doors and the bus driver doesn't open the doors. A couple people get off the front and DH yells up to the driver "excuse me, can you open the doors", the bus driver doesn't hear him, doesn't check his mirror, and hits the gas. We are all stunned (preparing to get off, not preparing to start moving) my mom falls over a bench, she and I let a little scream in shock and then the driver hits the brakes and DD4 falls into the bus aisle and DS6 falls against a row of seating and hits his head and his front teeth.

I was so angry. I was holding DD2 and luckily we didn't fall, but after all that the driver didn't even ask if we were okay. He opened the rear doors and we got off. DD4 was fine but DS had a red mark down the side of his face and I was worried about his teeth and how hard he had hit his head. So, as we stand at our bus stop in the dark checking out the kids, there goes the bus...pulls away and the bus driver never even said a word. We were so angry. When I got off I had looked for a number on the bus or for the driver but I was upset and I didn't see anything. I wanted to call and complain, but DH didn't think there wouldn't be any point if we couldn't tell exactly who it was. It makes me mad just thinking about it.

Anyway, all in all it was a good day, just a bad ending.

[cowanfamily]

Yeah! Glad you are continuing, love it. The DS and the shark tank - hilarious! Keep it coming!