[Jessibelle]

Hey gang. Just got back from the happiest place on Earth and boy are my feet tired! With two young kids, 1 and 4, I didn't have the inclination or energy to keep a daily report so I thought I'd share some highlights.

I flew down with the kids while DH drove. Big mistake! I was given nothing but greif at the Norfolk airport and ended up in tears before I got on the plane. By the time I arrived in Orlando, I had a bloody lip courtesy of my son and was about ready to shoot myself. We drove to the Ramada on 192 where we had a one night stay and I collapsed.

The next day we headed over to Boardwalk to check in and drove to AK. It was Saturday so we figured that AK wouldn't be as crowded as elsewhere. We made it for the last seating at Restaurantosaurus and had a nice breakfast with the gang. My DS is smitten with Donald.

We mostly wandered around to the whims of my DD after that and she rode Dinosaur without fear, which amazed me. Her highlight of the day was meeting with Stanley at Conservation station and having him sign the Great Big Book of everything we had made a few months ago. We also saw Rafiki, Timon and Daisy Duckosaurus.

We left the park with the intention of settling into our Villa at three, not knowing that check in wasn't until 4. So we had to kill an hour driving around. When we did finally get into our room, we were a little disappointed. We had stayed at OKW last trip and were kind of expecting the same type of place. My DH hated the valet parking and he even tried to get us switched to OKW, but they didn't have any one bedrooms for the week. The room was fine for the week and we got used to the valet parking, but I don't think we will stay anywhere other than OKW while the kids are small again.

We got a pizza from the Boardwalk and were in bed by 9:30! My DH said that it was the first time since he was a child that he's gone to bed that early.

[llama]

Sorry your trip started out on a bad note. Bad start good finish, I hope.

We've stayed at OKW for the last 3 years and my husband LOVES it. So do I. We've only stayed in a studio at Boardwalk. And he HATED everything about the parking set up. Plus getting to our room was like a 5 mile hike down that long, long hallway. Did you have a 1 bedroom at BV. If so, why were you not as pleased with it,as OKW. I know the l bedrooms at OKW are larger. Did it seem crowded? We're staying a BCV in January with our two daughters and I think they are similar in design. Now I'm a bit worried... Personally we think OKW is perfect in almost everyway.

[Jessibelle]

We did have a one bedroom at BV and all I can say is that it felt more like a hotel room than a home. We loved the homey feel at OKW, like we really lived there. The amenities are the same, but you have a stackable washer/dryer that is right outside the bedroom behind a folding door as opposed to the washer/dryer in the separate room behind closed doors. The kitchen was like an efficiency kitchen, small, just there. At OKW we ate dinner in the room almost everynight, I only cooked once at BV. I just felt cramped.

Combined with the parking and the long hallways, we feel that we are better off at OKW. But we are glad that we took the chance and had the experience at another resort. :)

[Dana]

Sorry it started off bad. The bloody lip and the hassle at the airport would have had me in tears of frustration too. I would have collaped before I got to the hotel...:laugh Stresss does it to me every time. No wonder you guys were in bed at 9:30 the next night. You were still recovering. I hope the trip got better for you as I'm sure it did. You are the second person that has reported seeing Daisy Duck at AK. I have never seen her in any of the parks on any vacation and hope that me and DD get lucky this trip. I love her. Can't wait to read on.:)

[cbeccaboo2]

I'm soooooo sorry that your trip was offf to such a rocky start. I sure hope that things get better as your Disney Days continue. Keep your reports coming!! Can't wait to read your upcoming days.

:heart :) :) :heart

Becca

[Fantasy]

Awwwe you poor thing! It could only have gotten better,right?:nervous I hope so! I look forward to hearing about it.:D

[spike]

Jessibelle, I couldn't agree with you more about OKW.
It is great to hear that someone at DC was able to spot Stanley at Conservation Station. I hope he is their in December, all my kids love him.

[Jessibelle]

Well, thank goodness that we went to bed early the night before because we had two big events planned for today. The Princess Storybook breakfast in Norway at 8:30 a.m. and the Halloween party at night.

We got up before sunrise and were out of the hotel at 7:45 in hopes to get our DD picked as Princess of the Day and open the restaurant. We got to the gates of Epcot before 8 and were told that they don't open the gates until 8. We were already late since there were at least 15 cars ahead of us to get in. Once we parked we hustled to the security check point (for those of you going to the first seating of the breakfast, there is a special security lane all the way to the right when facing Spaceship Earth). Unfortunately we hit another snag as they had our name on the priority seating list spelled wrong and we couldn't go into the park until they found us on the list. So by the time we got to Norway there was a big line to check in and I knew we had missed our chance. I was of course more disappointed than my DD. The ironic thing was that the girl who got picked checked in only two ahead of us! Oh well.

The breakfast was nice. By the time all the Princesses came over (Belle, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora & Mulan) the food was cold, but we weren't there for the food right? My DD was in heaven. She was dressed as Belle and couldn't have been more star-struck. My DS was horrible however and my DH had to sit outside with him throughout the meal. I have attached a photo of her with Aurora.

After breakfast we rode SE & played in the AT&T global network room after the ride. Funny thing there...If you've been in there you know about the glass floor with the shiny stones in the center of the room. My DS would not walk on the glass floor. He would side step until he got to the frosted glass and then he would walk on that. And he wasn't the only one, there was another one year old that was doing the same thing, so we were all just laughing at these babies as they manuvered to the center of the room.

Our DD got a lot of attention in her dress and loved it. Everywhere we went people would call her princess or your majesty. Some employees would bow or curtsey. It was great.

We rode Mission Space next and to my surprise DD loved it. When I put her on the ride she said, Mom I saw this on TV I don't want to ride it. I said, Too late. While we were blasting off I expected to hear her screaming and instead I heard, This is fantastic! She loved it so much that she rode it again with her Dad. Remember, she's 4. The ride was great, I wish we could have gone on it again but we never got back to it. The lift off was intense and the simulation was incredible. It didn't make any of us sick, but don't let me fool you, as I was waiting for them to come of the ride, many many women were sitting down on the wall next to me saying, that was awful, the worst thing I've ever done. So heed the warnings.

We did Imagination and played in the image lab. Made ourselves into the Monkey family once again. I love that! I wanted to be out of EPCOT by 1 the latest to get the kids back for naps before the long night ahead of us so we ate a quick lunch at the Electric Umbrella and headed back. While we slept, DH ran to Walmart to stock the fridge. My sister in law and her boyfriend who live 2 hours away were coming up for the party so we were planning a spaghetti dinner in the room before we went.

And we slept.

[Jessibelle]

We ate our dinner and rushed around to get ready for the party. I was the Evil Queen from Snow White, DH was Hades, DD was Ursula, DS was Gaston, SIL was the Hag from Snow White and her boyfriend was Captain Hook. Attached is a picture.

We were really late and missed the first parade. We loved the special fireworks and had our picture taken. We did some trick or treating and put the kids in the costume parade in TL. DD got a ton of attention once again because she was apparently the first child Ursula they had ever seen. Buzz led her into the parade and was completely taken with her. Afterward the CM came up to me and said that Buzz wanted a group photo with him. Unfortunately no one knew what was happening and we got yelled at by another CM for holding up the Buzz line. Once it was all straightened out and we were all together with Buzz, we realized that the camera was back in the stroller. I had thought that they were going to take our picture and I have no clue what happened. So we blew that one. We got the camera and got photos with DD and all the characters that were there, Stitch, Chip & Dale, Buzz, Pluto, some Alien girls.

We missed the 10:00 parade doing this so we headed for some rides. SIL's Boyfriend had never been to WDW so we took him on Pirates of the Caribbean, the HM and Small World. The classics. He was impressed (of course!)

We were out of time so we headed back to the room and didn't get in until 1. The kids were destroyed. We all collapsed yet again.

My revelation about WDW:
1. Time accelerates once you step on property to 12x the normal speed in the real world.

[Jessibelle]

Originally posted by Dana
You are the second person that has reported seeing Daisy Duck at AK. I have never seen her in any of the parks on any vacation and hope that me and DD get lucky this trip. I love her.

Dana,

Daisy was at the MK everyday along with Pinnochio, Baloo, King Louie, Gepetto, Robin Hood, two of the country bears, friar tuck and the bad guy from Pocahontas. They were all around the circle at the start of Main Street. So you should see her this time. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[tinkerbell]

I just love the pictures!!!!! and I was thrilled that you and your DD loved M:Space which is my new favorite ride of all time .. well at Epcot anyway
I agree about time accelerating while your there. It seems to take forever while your counting down the days ..then once your there time magically begins to vanish

[Jessibelle]

Originally posted by spike
It is great to hear that someone at DC was able to spot Stanley at Conservation Station. I hope he is their in December, all my kids love him.

We asked a CM at the gate if he was there and where he was. When we got to the building at Conservation Station, I asked another CM and she told us what time he would be there and when. We were first in line when the right time came. We hit the petting zoo in the meantime and brushed goats. ;)

[Jessibelle]

Back to MK today for a real day at the park. Because of the late night, we didn't get to the park until noon. Sad. We were planning to get DS's first haircut at the barbershop so DH went and stood in line while I took the kids around for autographs and pics on Main Street. We waited for the barbershop almost 2 hours! But it was definitely worth it. DS got his hair cut by Michal who was featured in the Disney Mag last year. I had him sign my copy of the magazine. The haircut was great and he got a certificate and a pair of Mickey ears that say "first haircut" on the back. DD had her hair cut as well and then french braided, streaked pink and sprinkled with pixie dust. It was great!

Now it was already after 2 and we hadn't even been off Main Street. :madmad We went and got FP's for Mickey's Philharmagic and headed to TL. We rode Buzz and the Astro Orbiter which is DD's favorite ride. We ate at Cosmic Ray's and rode the teacups twice. Another of DD's faves. She just loves to spin!

So Mickey's Philharmagic...The CM there said it's 4D with class and I agree. It was spectacular! I loved it. I think that was the concensus as well since after each segment the audience was applauding. The flying carpet segment is fantastic and I loved the smells. You have to see it to believe it.

We headed to Splash Mt for a FP and got a late one. Then we headed to TSI for some running around time. BTM was closed for renovations, but I wonder :hmmm

We went on SM after exploring the island and DD and I went through the line and she copped out at the last possible second. Then DH took her back in and she did it. He is more persuasive than me. She went again with me and I spotted a hidden Mickey...the fishing bobber to the left of the boat by the fishing frog.

We left MK early and headed to the Marketplace, ate Mickey D's and let the kids play at Legoland for the rest of the night. DD met and befriended a little girl from Brazil. Her mother and I exchanged addresses and email addresses. How cool, a foreign penpal at 4 years old! Back to the room for collapsing again.

Here is a very unflattering but funny picture of me and DD on the teacups.

[crystalrp]

That is a really great picture!! Looks like you gals are having a BLAST!! :laugh

[Jessibelle]

Off to MGM today and we actually were out of the room at 11 a.m. - I remember being at the park before it opened. DH took the kids for pics and autographs around the hat while I ran off for FP to TOfT. Since the ride is only open on one side and it was late the FP's were for 6:15 to 7:15! We saw lots of characters, which was basically the main theme of this trip. Did Playhouse Disney, saw the Beauty and the Beast show and rode Star Tours with DD. She told everyone that her name was Princess Leia on the ride.

We walked down to TofT at 3 hoping that because of the parade, the line would be shorter. No luck though, 50 minute wait posted. We told the CM working the door that we needed a parent swap but our FP's were for later. She was so wonderful, she gave us FP's for right then and we got to go right into the library while others were waiting outside. In total I think we were in and out in 15 minutes. DH rode while I took the kids back to PHD. We walked right in to meet Lilo and Stitch after PHD. The Animation of Disney was closed.

We played in at the Honey I Shrunk playground. Ate at the Backlot Cafeteria, which we had never seen before and had a great selection. We headed over to Fantasmic and were extremely lucky. We got a second last row seat smack dab in the center. We've never seen it from the center, always from one of the far sides.

DD made more friends, this time with a group of sisters that had all come to WDW to celebrate their parents' 54th wedding anniversary with them. Two of them had never been to WDW. Hard for me to believe when my 4 year old has now been there 5 times and my 1 year old has now been twice. Boy are my kids lucky! Fantasmic was great as usual. On our way out we received some terrible news. I wanted to ask a CM about what would happen to the Osbourne lights with the new stunt show going in and the resident's street torn out. She said sadly that the lights would not happen this December and they didn't know what the future fate was. Can you believe it? We are in shock as are the CM's. She said that they are so disappointed. Hopefully Disney has some plans for the light show and won't scrap it. My DH said that if they do, Universal should buy it for their original park to attract people at Christmas. That would be a shame, but at least it wouldn't be gone.

Here is a photo of DD the gangster. I guess I should find some cute photos of DS for a later post, but my DD is such a ham...