DisneyWorld Gumball Rally

Awsumb and I were talking about a way to surprise Kenneth for his 40th Birthday with a weekend trip to Disneyland.  I knew it would be tricky to pull off because he always does the planning and has access to all credit cards and accounts.  Then one day Kenneth pipes up, There is a special deal with WDW Today Podcast and Mouse Fan Travel to attend Reunion 2012 in Disneyworld. He went on to tell me he had already done some research and that we could upgrade our season passes to premium passes with admittance to WDW parks as well at Disneyland.  Also that there would be a special rate at The Beach Club and some special events we could attend with the Podcast Reunion. 

Kenneth was recovering from foot surgery he had back in September and was anticipating the second foot, which was scheduled in December. He was busy at work and anxious to get away knowing just what this second surgery and the recovery would be like. I admitted the plan Awsumb and I were trying to work out to surprise him and told him if he really wanted to spend his 40th in WDW we would love to make it happen. 

This would be a quick trip and a bit of a "Gumball Rally" as we tried to fit everything in that we wanted to see and do in just a few days.  So we revealed to Awsumb that once again it was time to "Put on your Mickey Ears!  We're going to Disney WORLD!"

  

Thursday, November 29

Day 1 - Travel

1.       5am Fly Seattle to Orlando

2.       5pm Check in at Disney’s Beach Club

3.       Walk to Epcot to switch Disneyland Annual Pass to Premiere Pass.  Everyone kept telling us the back gate would be able to help us.  I don’t know why they can’t just do this stuff at the front desk of the resorts. It is sure annoying to have to run all over to sort these things out when all you want is to start your vacation.  We were told guests services was not equipped to help us at this back entry.  But, they offered to escort us through the gates to walk to the front of the park where they were set up for this type of transaction.  We decided to split up.

4.       Friendship Boat back to Resort to check out Storm Along Bay…

5.       The Beach- Just missed the campfire on the beach with marshmallows, but sat down to watch a movie on the beach while waiting for Kenneth to return from Epcot with our new passes.

6.       Dinner at Cape May.  By this time we were so hungry and just wanted dinner. Although we had a previous reservation because we didn’t know where we would be and where we might have to end up going to upgrade our passes.  I really didn’t think it would be such a big deal to get dinner at the resort we were staying in, especially if we weren’t picky.  Turns out I was wrong. Reservations are just the norm at WDW for any meal more than counter service.  I about had it. All I wanted was to have simple dinner and wish my husband a happy birthday and get to sleep.  Maybe even swim in the pool.  After lots of back and forth we finally ended up eating at Cape May. It was ok and we all found plenty that we each enjoyed off the buffet.  Although there was crab and such because we are from the northwest it was nothing special. But I really enjoyed the salads!  I heard someone behind me tell her friend, “I don’t really like fish.”  Just a tip, but don’t eat at Cape May if you don’t like fish!

Friday November 30

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios (16 Attractions)

Breakfast in bed

1.      9:15am Friendship Boats to Hollywood Studios.       Pick up Toy Story FP/Sign up for Jedi Training

3.       Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

4.       Tower of Terror

5.       Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage

6.       Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

7.       Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

8.    The Brown Derby for lunch at 1:30pm

9.       The Great Movie Ride

10.    Photos with Phineas and Ferb (longest line of the trip)

11.   Star Tours

12.   5:00pm Friendship Boats to Beach Club

13.   Swim at Storm Along Bay

        My only comments are that although the sand bottom is really fun because the pool is so big and there are so many shallow depth changes it is easy to be walking through the sand then scrape your foot on the rough bottom during a depth change. I think these are set up because of some of the features in the pool like the whirlpool, etc. But it’s easy to ruin a pedicure!  My little guy loved the waterslide from the pirate ship and went over and over again.

14.  WDW Today Meet Up.  We went to WDW to celebrate Kenneth’s 40^th Birthday, who got the idea when he head WDW Today has a special group rate and event that weekend.  There were a few different types of special events we could have gone to, but because our home park is Disneyland not Disneyworld we figured our time was better spent exploring the parks.  We did decide we didn’t want to miss out on the party at Hollywood Studio’s after park closing at 8:00pm to see The Osborne Light show.

 

Everyone tells you everything is walkable when you stay at The Beach Club. What they don’t tell you is that the walk to Hollywood Studios is really a 30 min trudge.  At least it feels like that after little sleep for 2 days, a full day at the park and swimming all evening.  We should have just waited for the next Friendship boat, but we were worried about making it to the park before closing at 8:00pm.  So, we just took off full speed ahead. And half way there the boat passed us!  I was so tired at that point I thought about jumping in the water so they would have to rescue me!

 

We did make it, just in time. We were led to a waiting area and my little guy was able to meet all the Podcast Guys and get the autographs.  He thought it was the coolest thing ever.  We realized that since we don’t really listen the radio, these podcast guys were celebrities to him.  They were all very kind to each spend some time talking with him.

15.  Toy Story Mania.  As the light show was being reset we were given this as a surprise.  (Which was perfect because we had abandoned our FP tickets we had picked up earlier in the day so we could go back and swim.)

16.   Osborne Lights/Dessert Party.  We were all given a gold box stuffed with treats, apples, sweet breads, cookies, brownies, etc.  Plus there was hot chocolate, cider and punch available).  I would say there was less than 75 of us there.  So fun to explore the lights and have the park to ourselves! By about 11:00 pm the park had been closed for some time there was no transportation.  We must have looked lost, so Ken, one of the transportation managers drove us back to the resort in his van.  Then we ended up ordering room service dinner.  The options weren’t as good as we expected. Our little guy fell asleep. Kenneth had a burger and I had a nice tomato, mozzarella and arugula salad.

Saturday, Dec 1

Day 3 - Epcot  (16 Attractions)

1.       10:00am  grab FP to Soarin’ and ride Mission: Space.  OK, we should have known when we were loaded onto the ride with no navigator that we were in trouble. That pretty much sums up the rest of our day. I feel like Epcot is a park that you can too easily wander around odd pathways doing nothing.  And having a navigator is really a good idea!  I was assigned the commander position, so of course I kept that title the rest of the day.  But it sure would have been nice to have a navigator!  I just hate walking around in circles and there isn’t much to see when you are walking around in circles at the front of that park.

2.       Spaceship Earth – Ok, those videos were hilarious!  Why can’t they email the whole video to you?  Definitely made such a dated ride.

3.       Innovention’s Sum of all thrills.  My 11 year old thought designing his ride was so cool.  Glad we didn’t miss this one. 

4.       Photo Pass at the front of Epcot

5.       Character Photos with Mickey and Minnie (Vent - Why are all the buildings in Florida so hot?  In California all the buildings are so cool and comfortable.)

 

6.       The Seas with Nemo and Friends (And I thought the new Little Mermaid ride was bad)

7.       Soarin’ (Ok, why don’t they call this what it is Soarin’ over California.  Sure it’s a favorite of ours too, but I don’t understand why the wait is so awful.  You really must get a FP in Florida. Our other observation was the cue and cast members were lacking compared to California.)

8.       Living with the Land

9.       Friendship Boat to World Showcase

10.   Teppan Edo (Reservation was for 1:30pm.  We didn’t make it there until 2:30pm.  We were seated with another party that had allergy issues. So they basically made three separate meals, which made our dinner take much longer than we had planned.  But we did enjoy our meal.

11.   5pm: Candlelight Processional.  The crowd was pretty thick and so our plan to see Santa before or after was scrapped. Little did we know that would be our only chance to see Santa in WDW.  In California there are so many more places to see Santa including your resort if you stay at The Grand Californian.

12.   China - Reflections of China in circle-vision

13.   Germany (no Hummel’s?!?!  Our last trip about 10 years ago one of the new generation was there signing Hummel’s and I was so looking forward to getting another one.  So sad to learn Goebel is no longer producing them.)

14.   Norway - Maelstrom Viking Boat and Movie.  My sons name is from Norway, and he just finished a big report on immigration from Norway.   On our last trip there were more things important from Norway for sale.

15.   Mexico - Grand Fiesta Ride

16.   8:30 Illuminations - fireworks and water show.  We had preferred seating with our dining package. In retrospect I think you can probably see the show from anywhere and instead of lining up in our assigned area we should have made our way over to Canada, UK and France, which we missed on our last trip as well!  Basically Epcot is a two day park.  Or a park to pick up a few things here and there when you pop in for a dinner reservation.  We did miss out on Le Cellier Steakhouse because they had no reservations and our trip was pretty last minute.  If we had planned to stay longer we could have picked up the last few things we didn’t get to see before or after dinner one evening.

 

We arrived back to our room to find room service had accidently delivered a beautiful cracker, cheese and fruit platter to our room by mistake along with a card wishing Glena and Silvia a Happy Anniversary. After we called the front desk they told us to enjoy and they would send another up to Glen and Sylvia.  We were sooooo tired and it had been such a long day.  This special delivery was just what we needed. And now whenever something magical happens we exclaim, "God Bless Glen and Sylvia!"

Sunday, December 2

Day 4 – Magic kingdom (20)

 

1.       Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom Card Adventure.  We probably shouldn’t have wasted our first hour doing this, but if you go to WDW all the time it’s a fun idea.

2.       Castle Photo Pass.

3.       Buzz Lightyear Spinner

4.       Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor

5.       Buzz Meet and Greet

 

 

6.       Carousel  of Progress

7.       Space Mountain X2 (Gotta try out both tracks!)

 

8.       Shop for new Mickey Ears… disappointed with selection… commiserate with WDW Corporate Employee about how Magic Kingdom just makes us homesick for Disneyland.  Disneyland is just so much more charming.  Bigger is not always better. Sometimes it’s just bigger. 

9.       Mickey PhilharMagic 3D

10.   Crystal Palace Character Meal with Pooh and Friends. We could have skipped this. Lunch was OK, but not great and our little guy seemed a little grown up for the crowd there. We should have checked out Be Our Guest, the new restaurant in Fantasyland. 

11.   Peter Pan with Fast Pass.

12.   Haunted Mansion – the new interactive cue is super fun!

13.   Hall of Presidents

14.   Splash Mountain

15.   Jungle Cruise

16.   Pirates of the Caribbean

17.   Thunder Mountain

18.   Magic Kingdom closed at 7:00pm for the new ticketed Christmas Party.  Cast Members instantly turned cold and we thought we would be able to talk out through the shops.  Wrong – “Get a Wristband” became our new family catch phrase as we were kicked out of the park.  We debated about buying tickets to the Christmas Party all day… but we were there for such short visit.  Maybe it would have helped our day feel more leisurely instead of so rushed.

19.   Swim at Storm Along Bay

20.   Beaches and Cream for dinner.  Where my husband finally got to order THE KITCHEN SINK!  I chose the tomato soup and it was so good we knew we were be back just for that.
 

Monday, December 3

Day 5 – Animal Kingdom (17 attractions)

 

 

Checking out the Christmas Tree (not the reflection in his glasses)

 

Kids always think the tricks the photo pass guys insert are fun!

 

1.       Oasis walk through

2.       Tree of Life Photos

3.       Discovery Island Trails

4.       Kilimanjaro Safaris

UH OH!

5.       Pangani Forest Trail

6.       Festival of the Lion King

7.       Christmas Mickey and Safari Donald Duck Meet and Greet

 

8.       Yak and Yeti for lunch.  It was so hot and muggy all morning with cloud cover.  Lunch was cool and relaxing.  The little guy had seared ahi appetizer for his entrée.  I chose the salmon and Kenneth a steak and shrimp prepared like a volcano!

9.       Finding Nemo – The Musical

10.   Boneyard Playground

11.   Dinosaur x2  No wait, they would have let us stay in that car all day if we wanted to!  New family catch phrase, “We’re not gonna make it, we’re not gonna make it!  …. We made it.”  Which was basically the theme of our trip. We basically waited for nothing, but also that meant we never took a break, never sat on a bench, didn’t even really have a snack. Even the shows were always made it just in time. It was exhausting!

12.   Everest x3  Ok, no one told me this went backwards… And as it went backwards in complete darkness I yelled “Are we supposed to be going backwards!?!  Are we going upside down!?!”  My boys laughed at my surprise and assured me we didn’t go upside down. I screamed, “Well I went upside down!”  This was also walk on.  I guess evenings at Animal Kingdom are just super slow as everyone leaves because the animals go in for the night.

13.   Kali River Rapids x5  This is pretty short compared to the raft ride in California with less thrills so it wasn’t quite so “Soakin’ Awesome!” as it could be.  But we still managed to get soaked!

14.   It’s Tough to be a Bug

15.   Russell and Doug Meet and Greet  - Park closed 7:00pm (Awsumb is still soaking wet!)

 

16.   Beaches and Cream for Dinner - 3 Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Please!

17.   Swim Storm Along Bay

 

Tuesday, December 4

Day 6 – Travel

Magic Kingdom Early Morning Hours (16 attractions)

1.       Ears

2.       Space Mountain x2

3.       Buzz Lightyear Spinners

4.       Jungle cruise

5.       Pirates of the Caribbean

6.       Thunder Mountain X2

7.       Splash Mountain

8.       Haunted Mansion

 

Check out of The Beach Club and have a quick Snack Lunch

 

9.       Friendship boat to Hollywood Studios

10.   Rock n Roll x2

11.   Tower of Terror

12.   Behind mouse

13.   Friendship boat back to Beach Club

 

4:00pm Town Car arrived to take us to the airport for our 6:30 pm flight home to Seattle… The airport was a nightmare and super busy.  The flight was long and cramped.  We should have used our afternoon to enjoy a leisurely meal… I just couldn’t click my heels fast enough to get home!  I usually have suitcases dumped out and laundry started by the time Kenneth settles with the cab driver.  If it weren’t for the wet clothes packed I would have left everything as it was by the front door because I was just completely drained.  But I managed to sort loads and put the luggage away before falling into bed by midnight.

 

And just like our last visit, which was for a week I told Kenneth, next time we need to go for 10 days or more and really take it easy!

 

 

 

Don't Forget The Parsley!

Our little Awsumb has always been precocious.  When he was very small and we went out to dinner he would get really upset if the service staff would not address him directly. He liked to order for himself.  One night while we were dining out he placed his order then added, “Don’t forget the parsley!”  He had noticed that when we go out, besides having someone else to serve us a cold drink and no dishes to clean up, that it was the little things that made it special.  Even a small garnish like parsley was an important part of the experience for him.   And it was that small thing that he cared about and didn’t want to miss out on.

 I have since realized that in a child’s eyes, it’s the little things that matter. And sometimes when you remember the little things, they don’t even care about the big things. This is why the large cardboard box that comes with a new toy, bed or whatever might be more exciting to them than the thing we spent money and time selecting for them.

 This is the time of year that I sometimes hear people worry that they can’t do enough for their children for Christmas.  Of course our challenge is trying to make sure our son doesn’t take things for granted.   As an only child he often gets things other kids in bigger families might not.  And although Awsumb has all that he wants and more, there are still things he asks for like and iPad, which he is NOT going to get.  Awsumb has brought up the idea of getting an iPad a few times recently.  And we have strictly told him this is just not going to happen.

 This weekend we put up our Christmas tree and the next morning Awsumb crawled in my bed to cuddle with me.  He said, “Ya know, even if we don’t get anything for Christmas we have such a beautiful tree.  And Auntie and Uncle are coming to stay with us.  We’ll all be together and Christmas will be so wonderful.”  He then paused and said, “As long as we get some chocolate!”  Apparently chocolate is very important to making Christmas special.  “At least a little piece.”

 Just a great reminder that it’s the little things that make memories and make celebrations and  holidays special.  Just like that small garnish of parsley, having a simple treat like chocolate, spending time with family and all those small, simple things are what our children will grow up and remember.  Take the time to make the little memories with your children.  For, it’s these little things that will help them remember that someone loves them.

 So this Christmas don’t forget the parsley, and some chocolate, at least a little piece!

Happy Birthday 7-11 Free Slurpee Day!

 Wednesday, July 11th, 7-Eleven celebrates their 85th birthday by giving away FREE SLURPEES from 11am to 7pm.  Look for special flavors being released this month:  Fanta Strawberry Banana and Lemon Creme Flavor (both sugar free).  7-Eleven expects to give away around 7 million free slurpees this year.
 How many will you get?

THE GOAL:

10 free Slurpees!

That's 71.1 ounces of Slurpee per person!

THE RULES:

Only ONE Free Slurpee per 7-11
You must get a different flavor than the one before

(but may repeat flavors over the course of the event)
You must finish your Slurpee before we get to the next 7-11

And of course, obey all traffic laws!
And that leads us to

THE CHEER:
"Suck for your lives!"
Which you will find yourself yelling

as you chase other cars loads of kids

around town trying to get the last of

the FREE Slurpees cups
before they are all gone!

Join us to see how many

FREE SLURPEES
it takes to
FREEZE YOUR BRAIN!

Click to see previous

Free Slurpee Days

2010 and 2011

Epic FAIL! 

After waking up to a parade of ants in the kitchen and having an afternoon tea party with pest control and our contracter, there was no time to even stop at a 7-11 before I had to pick up baseball uniforms for 30 teams and be at the field to pass out uniforms AND coach our first scheduled game of the summer season.  The 7-11's around our house strictly stopped serving birthday slurpees at 7pm.  Sometimes life just gets in the way of scheduled fun! 

At least we got to participate in 2012's Summer Kick off in May!

Lego Star Wars That I Used To Know

A month ago I found this note in the family room. "Do Not Touch.  Lego Stop Animation In Progress! Do Not Touch! Caution!  Keep Out!"  And since then Awsumb has turned our family room into a LEGO stop animation film studio. He was mostly spoofing stupid commercials and blowing things up.

If any of you would have stopped by my house recently it looked like a Star Wars Lego BOMB went off in the family room.  And I admit I was getting a little paranoid about the amount of Lego tubs that were being opened and sifted through.   (Note:  all other themes are still compartmentalized in their own plastic buckets… because if they mix, that would be bad!) 

Now that school is out and we have a break from baseball Awsumb has been living it up - 10 year old style!  This has included: bikes rides all over the neighborhood on his new bike, hours of wiffle ball in the street, swimming in the rain (because we are sick of waiting for the sun to come out in the northwest), tons of Xbox and recently watching ALL the Star Wars movies.  Twice!

Then last week everyone started sharing and resharing Teddie Films spoof of Somebody I Used to Know by Gotye.  At some point I realized the guy singing the Darth vocals was a guy I knew in high school.  Israel Curtis also did the music.  You can download on iTunes here.

I showed Awsumb this video and he was instantly obsessed.  Next thing ya know we were put to work helping him dig for specific pieces and minifigs.  We helped him a bit with the timing.  It's basic... but remember - He's 10!  We realized we could have worked on the video day and night and done so much more.  But we have to get out and enjoy what little bit of summer the northwest provides!

Star Wars That I Used to Know by Israel Curtis

Awsumb's Lego Stop Animation Video

No minifigs were harmed in making of this video

2012 Brain Freeze Rally

 7-Eleven is kicking off summer early this year with

FREE SLURPEE DAY!

Wednesday, May 23rd

11am to 7pm

(at participating stores)

THE GOAL:

10 free Slurpees!

That's 71.1 ounces of Slurpee per person!

THE RULES:

Only ONE Free Slurpee per 7-11

You must get a different flavor than the one before

(but may repeat flavors over the course of the event)

You must finish your Slurpee before we get to the next 7-11

And of course, obey all traffic laws!

And that leads us to

THE CHEER:

"Suck for your lives!"

Which you will find yourself yelling

as you chase other cars loads of kids

around town trying to get the last of

the FREE Slurpees cups
before they are all gone!

Join us to see how many

FREE SLURPEES
it takes to
FREEZE YOUR BRAIN!

RESULTS:
Free Slurpee Day
was totally trumped by baseball
 as we had a game scheduled. 
So I pulled my son out of school a bit early...
2 1/2 Hours, 2 ipod playlists,
probably more in gas than it was worth,
 to get two 10 year old boys 10 Slurpees
After which they had a baseball game...
yeah, sick tummies anyone?

Click to see previous

Free Slurpee Days

 2010 and 2011

Historical Halloween

Awsumb as Walt Disney

Historical Halloween 2010 - 3rd Grade

Each year Awsumb's school avoids typical Halloween madness  as the 1st through 3rd grade classes celebrate Historical Halloween.  During the month leading up to Halloween the kids select a historic figure that contributed to society in a positive way.  After doing some research the kids write up a notecard with basic facts.  Then on Halloween the kids dress up and present their selection. 

It's always such a fun day and the parents crowd in the tiny activity room to get a glimpse of their child.  Because it's so crowded and I am usually running back to the classroom to set up for the parties which follow the presentations I never get good video or a good picture of Awsumb.  The above gem was found in the school yearbook and I finally got a copy of it to share with you!

As you can see Awsumb selected Walt Disney.  I will have to dig up his little notecard, because I am sure I saved it. Awsumb was excited to share that Walt's imagination and hard work continues to inspire and entertained kids and families.  And doesn't he look so cute?

The preschool classes celebrate Storybook Halloween. Each child arrives at school dressed as their favorite storybook character.  What other non-traditional ways does your school celebrate Halloween?

One More Disney Day

What would you do with One More Disney Day?

Well this leap year Disney decided to leave the park open for 24 hours.  We had previous planned a trip to visit our favorite Auntie and Uncle in February and spend a few days in Disney, so we were super excited to be part of this event!


How was it?  Let's just say that after this fiasco Disney owes me ONE MORE DAY and all I got was this stupid t-shirt.  Ok, I didn't even really get a t-shirt, but Kenneth and Awsumb did and of course Awsumb's totally proud of his t-shirt.  And we earned that darn t-shirt the hard way, which you'll see in my review.

Yes, we did it, 24 hours at Disney! And we received our buttons to prove it!  So are you ready for the good, the bad and the ugly?
First I should say we typically visit the park during off season. We are used to a little bit of a crowd on our weekend days and very low weekday crowds. We live in the northwest, yet have been annual pass holders a few years in a row now. We love Disney and feel a type of ownership and respect regarding the park.

When the OMDD promo was announced we were sad because we had already purchased flights and planned a trip at that time and would be flying out that day, but thought we would at least go in at 6am and stay until afternoon when we needed to catch our flight... after a delay on our arrival we ended up changing out flights so we could attend the full event.

THE WEEKEND - I mention our previous days activities for background that we had already been in the parks for days and that we were having a great time. We checked into the Disneyland Hotel on Saturday. Our son was anxious to check out the new pool and water slides and we spend a few hours in the park until late. Sunday we took in a full day at Disneyland. Monday my Father and Aunt joined us and we park hopped giving them a tour of the new and the old. Monday and Tuesday crowds were light and with a combo of good planning and fast passes we didn't really wait for anything much longer than a few minutes. Tuesday we spent at DCA, ending our day early with room service for dinner so we could rest up for the 6am opening.

 THE BIG DAY - So Disney was set to open at 6am on February 29th and stay open until 6am March 1st. Disney promised special ears to the first so many people that entered the park. News reports said 1000 or more fans began lining up down the block by 10:30pm Febuary 28th.  I didn't sleep well Tuesday night anticipating the crowds and just not knowing what to expect. So we got up about 4:30 and but still didn't make into Disneyland until about 6:30, which turned out to be a good thing as we missed the masses that had waited out all night ... And we wouldn't have ended up with the special Mickey ears anyway.

First impression... LINES... MAJOR lines, lines for every character in main street over twice as long what we are used to, lines for photo pass in front of the One More Day sign, lines into gift shops, lockers, etc... just massive lines.

We had thought it would be fun to do every single attraction in the park. Figuring there would be one or two reprieve's in crowds when we would really get through a group of things fast, gather fast passes and just use our knowledge about touring plans... And that we'd be done early.. have lazy dinner and people watch.. then use fast passes over night when we suspected it could be super crowded and full of young adults.

This was our first mistake. We should have looked at the day more of a hang out day, a people watching day, a day to graze through the parks with snacks and special food options. Instead we ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time ALL. DAY. LONG. We decided to start in Tomorrowland, Space Mountain was down so that really filled some of the other things up like Buzz and Star Tours. It felt like 3pm on a busy day. I hear other areas had walk on or short rides after opening, but we just somehow ended up always in some sort of mess, walking in circles. Our son did get picked for Jedi Training and we were having a good time for the most part.

Someone mentioned Modern Family was being filmed... I think there might have been three different things filmed that day and it seemed like we always ended up in some jam because of this.

At the beginning of the day I felt like the crowd was really excited to be there... lots of Disney fans, people were happy. Later in the day I felt like the crowd changed. it was more like grad night... Crowds were disrespectful, garbage was everywhere, cups and trash tossed into the scene on various attraction, left in vehicles, all through the lines, etc. Lines were being mismanaged by cast member. When they would decide to open things up and rearrange the chains in switchbacks or make two lines as in the Jungle Cruise line they rarely stayed to even things out before the merge, but just let about 30 or so people walk in front of us. People were cutting lines, major GAK abuse, just a mess... I felt like the cast members had no control over crowds... and by late evening became tired and oblivious to lines and were sometimes caught in their own little world gossiping and talking as lines of people were waiting to be seated on an attraction.

And the crowd control issues just weren't in attractions or in lines.. I usually praise Disney for their great planning around shows like parades and such. The way they keep people moving, discreetly take down ropes allowing people to easily exit an area after an event, etc. But it was just like we'd end up in a sea of not moving people over and over again. While waiting by the path in between Adventureland and Frontierland for my DH to meet us back with food he was getting from the BBQ place across from Indiana Jones he was pushed all the way to Main Street before he could return to us with cold food.

And I never really saw special characters... maybe just wrong place at wrong time, but even at 4:30 we tried to figure out the Mickey Pajama Party line and one girl who was still in line and looked like she had at least 30 min. to go said she's been waiting over an hour... by late evening all big rides were like 90 and small rides like 30 -45... just so unimaginable crazy..

Oh and the bathrooms were a just a mess. I didn't think it was funny at the time, but multiple times ended up waiting in a line for a sink, then having soapy hands and a faucet that either didn't spray enough or just stopped working altogether during my turn... so I waited in another line with dripping soapy hands just to rinse and another line as one one or two paper towel dispensers worked. And it was obvious there was not enough staff keeping stalls clean... I am a bit of a neat nick, so these things stress me out. (edited to add specifics like stalls with poo smeared all over the floor, etc.)

By the end of the night we still had a few more things do cross off our list to complete every attraction in the park. We almost gave up because it just wasn't fun anymore. The crowd had changed... But we pushed through and ended up leaving about 4:30 because people were starting to talk about getting out of the park being a nightmare and it sure felt like that was a possibility to us. We had our 10 year old with us and felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

When we left there were still lines of people trying to get in, they wouldn't even stamp our hand (which is our family's special tradition, because getting your hand stamp as you leave for the last time each trip means you can always come back)... And there were huge lines at the ticket booths... I can't imagine if they were still hoping to get in, getting tickets for tomorrow or what?

EDITED TO ADD - Oh and to really tell you how demoralized we were - we left with sets of Fast Passes to Space Mountain, Star Tours and Big Thunder Mountain... We had planned to do a second run through the big rides last thing before leaving the park... And honestly, we just couldn't convince ourselves it was worth pushing through the crowds to use them! Saving these as a keepsake of the day.


Overall.. it was just busy. Like Christmas Capacity Busy WITHOUT all the special decorations and Christmas Cheer. We didn't feel like it was all that special. All we walk away with is to be able to say we did it. But if I had to do it again... I wouldn't! If I had to do it again I might have just gone to DCA for the day and swam at the hotel and had a good night's sleep... then waking up on Thursday and going to the park for a few more hours with no crowds before it was time to catch our plane to fly home.

To top things off... as if we didn't already feel like we were hit by a truck, one our taxi ride to the airport we were in a multiple car pile up... and being the first car we felt every single slam into the pile... We are all ok... I think my neck is feeling a little weird and we are all going to go into see our doctor just in case... As the last car, which was a truck hit the pile he turned and came up along side of us, also hitting the cement barrier. I was worried he was going to push and turn us out into the other lane of oncoming traffic... where my son and I would be exposed... We were not and I realize it could have been so much worse!

Go give your little one's an extra squeeze tonight!

And if you read all that you probably feel like I owe you an hour of your life back! LOL!  You deserve a button!
This was a quick review I shared in the middle of the night after returning home…
I still need to post pictures of the rest of the week.  We really did have a nice Disney visit.  And because we hold season passes we are looking forward to more Disney Days before the year is up!

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