Great update!! Love the pic with the troll, and I wouldn't have noticed the "girl helmet" if you didn't mention it!
Plate spinning, how cool! I always wondered if it's as hard as it looks.
Great update!! Love the pic with the troll, and I wouldn't have noticed the "girl helmet" if you didn't mention it!
Plate spinning, how cool! I always wondered if it's as hard as it looks.
Thanks for still reading, guys! I'm hoping to get my DHS day written up in the next day or so!
~Brandi
Well, I've had our HS day typed up for a few days, but Photobucket must be having problems because I can't get the darn pics to upload. Grrr... Hopefully soon!
~Brandi
Fix it please.
Youth is wasted on the young.
I wish! I'll probably be posting without pics. I'm so frustrated!
~Brandi
We were up bright and early for our HS day. Since we were at the Boardwalk, we decided to walk. When we stepped outside, it was immediately apparent that the humidity had ratcheted up several notches. Yikes. Tom was sweating through his shirt within a matter of minutes! We left at 745 which put us at the turnstiles at 8am. I had been worried about the walk because I had heard it was long, but in reality it was a breeze! We were the first ones in our turnstile line, so we made ourselves comfy. The boys sat down and played with my iPhone while Tom made friends with everyone around us, including the nearby CMs. It was pretty funny because the CM at our turnstile was a lot of fun and told Andy that boys wearing jean shorts weren’t going to be allowed through the gates that day. Poor Andy is so literal that he was a bit worried until we explained the CM was just kidding!
The turnstiles opened at 840 and we headed to Jedi signups. Dh was walking about two steps ahead of the boys and I, and the CM along the way kept telling him he couldn’t sign up without his children. Um, we were “literally” right behind him. It was comical. We were almost to the Sounds Dangerous building when this woman comes running from behind us (sans children) and she burst in front of us to be the first one to sign up. Too bad for her, though, because they wouldn’t let her through the door because her children were nowhere to be seen. So, my boys were the first signups of the day, and we took the first Jedi Training. We had a few minutes so we went to ride Star Tours, but it wasn’t open and we were told it wouldn’t open until exactly 9am. We milled around a bit and took a few pics.
We lined up at 9am for Jedi training. There was a family sitting there with their kids who didn't realize until half way through the show that people are no longer picked from the crowd to participate. There were some upset kiddos in that group! Yikes!
The boys thought Jedi was AWESOME!!! It was also really fun for Tom and I to watch them battling the Dark Side! Tom and the boys are big Star Wars fans, and we were traveling over Star Wars Weekends, but with Andy's issues we knew we couldn't deal with the crowds associated with that. Sigh.
I don't have the photopass pics but here's one of each of the boys that I took.
We stopped throughout the day at all of the extra Star Wars photo ops.
The boys were done with Jedi and in line for Star Tours by 943. I staked out a spot in the shade. I was afraid the virtual reality aspect of the ride would not mix with my motion sickness. I people watched and perused the store while I waited. They were done with the ride at 954, and we went and saw Phineas and Ferb. There was only one group in front of us, so we were done with them by 10am. Phineas and Ferb made a big deal of our Perry the Platypus shirts which made the boys laugh.
Next we headed to watch Muppets. We got to the theatre at 1010 so we had to wait for a show to finish. We were in the theatre at 1015, and done at 1035. My family always enjoys this show. Besides, it was nice and cool in the theatre which was a nice break from the humidity outside.
After Muppets we headed over towards Toy Story. Along the way we saw an Army Guy so we got a quick picture.
We lined up for Toy Story Mania at 1045, and were off at 1059. I love TSM!
The kids wanted to check out the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playset since we missed it last trip, so we headed over. I gave the kids 15 minutes to play, which turned into 20 because someone…Nate…refused to come out at the appointed time. Sigh. I finally tracked him down and we were on our way to lunch.
We decided to eat at Starring Rolls because, let’s face it, I wanted a yummy dessert. And, this day I was making lunch all about me! Tom and I split a sandwich, Nate got the little Power Pack thing, and Andy got his trusty Uncrustables sandwich. We each got a dessert. Yummers. We apparently inhaled our lunch and were on our way at 1150. (I can’t believe we ate so fast every time. You’d think we’re starving children from some underprivileged country or something. It’s a wee bit embarrassing!)
We headed to Rockin’ Roller Coaster while Tom was FPV for he and Nate to ride Tower of Terror after. RnR was in refurb on our last trip, so it was going to be the first time for Andy to ride it. I had already warned Nate that he was probably not tall enough. Yet, when we got to the line, he was right at the line so the CM waved us through. I wasn’t going to ride, but I was afraid further up the line they would say he wasn’t tall enough so I stayed in line just in case.
There was a group of three young adults behind us in line, so we were chatting with them while we waited. We asked the single rider if he would ride with Nate since I wasn’t riding, and he agreed. He was talking it up to Nate saying how brave he was, etc. It was really cute. Each time we got to a CM, they measured Nate and sent him through. In no time we were to the ride, so I made my exit. I waited in the gift shop by the picture wall. There pics popped up before they exited the ride. Poor Andy looked TERRIFIED and Nate was sitting by his new “friend” like he didn’t have a care in the world! When they came out the exit Andy said in no uncertain terms that he did not want to ever, ever ride it again while Nate said he loved it and it was “the best ride EVER!!”
These are terrible pics, but you get the idea:
Next was Tower of Terror, which Andy hated last trip, so we decided to split up. Tom and Nate headed to Tower of Terror, and they rode RnR again as well…maybe in the single rider line? I can’t remember! Andy and I headed to the Great Movie Ride. I didn’t really want to ride it, but we needed to do something. Luckily, as we walked down the queue, they were looking for a party of two, so we were immediately whisked through and onto the ride. How was that for luck?
We got in the line at 1222, and were off the ride at 1249. Andy hated it. He didn’t like the gunshots, the alien part scared him, he hated the mummy scene. It was not a good choice apparently. He spent most of the ride hiding behind my back! I didn’t expect that at all. Lesson learned!
We tried to go to Star Tours for him to ride solo, but they wouldn’t let him go alone. So, we got a drink and headed over to Lights, Motor, Action! where we were supposed to meet up with Nate and Tom. By the time we got over there they were already seating people, so we walked right in and got a spot in the middle pretty close to the top. I was texting Tom to see where he and Nate were, and they were running a big late because of that extra ride on RnR. Luckily they made it before the show started.
The boys loved LMA, and liked that Lightening McQueen had been added since our last trip. On our way out, Nate jumped up and started down the stairs, and we got separated. I couldn’t see him because so many people kept jumping in front of us and I had that brief moment of panic. He’s a smart kid, and as soon as he got to the bottom of the stairs he stepped to the side and waited for me to catch up. Panic over.
We were out of there by 205, and Tom and Andy wanted to do Star Tours again. Nate said he wasn’t interested, so I took him to HISTK while they went. What a bad idea! The place was packed, and hot, and PACKED. It was miserable. Did I mention that it was hot? And packed? We met up with Tom and Andy at the Muppets store at 230 because Andy’s BFF loves the Muppets and Andy wanted to buy him a souvenier. After shopping, we decided we had done everything we wanted to.
On the way out I had to stop by the camera shop to get our Jedi pics transferred to our photo pass card. It took just a few minutes, and we were on our way back to the Boardwalk at 256pm having had a wonderful day!
We went back to the room to freshen up, and then headed to ESPN Zone for dinner. Tom wanted to go because he's a total beer snob, and thought he'd be able to get something decent to drink. Service was terrible. There was hardly anyone in the place but it took FOREVER for our server to finally make it over to our table to get our drink order. Tom asked the server what "dark beers" they had and the server responded Guinness. Tom snapped back, "Guinness is NOT a dark beer."
OMG. I wanted to punch him in the face while simultaneously hiding under the table. What a jerk! He opted for a water instead. So, for the rest of the meal I was seething because he was so rude to the server. It didn't help that the service sucked and the food was nothing to write home about. I was infuriated that after all that he didn't order a drink, since it was the only reason we were in the crappy place to begin with. Ugh.
When that "fabulous" meal was over, we wandered around the boardwalk. The boys played some carnival games and then we went for a swim.
After swimming we headed back out to watch the Boardwalk performers and get some yummy snacks. Then our day was officially over and it was time to turn in!
Tomorrow we are off to MK and the boys have a surprise Pirate's League appointment!
~Brandi
Did you FPV TSMM somewhere along the way, or was the wait really that short at that time of the day? I'm so wanting to go back to HS and ride TSMM and RnRC repeatedly! LOL My almost 7yo was about 1/4" too short. She's got a sensory processing disorder as well, but she is all seeker, it doesn't interfere with her doing much of anything, just doing much of anything while not running into stuff, hanging onto strange people, etc.
The Jedi pics transferred to the PhotoPass thing ... I don't think we did anything where this would have been an issue, but how did that work? I was wondering about how the PhotoPass plus thing work with ride photos, but we didn't purchase that, so it's just a curiousity question.
Windsor Hills: June 2012
GKTW: January 2009
ASMu: September 1997
Off-site: July 1978
We used Andy's GAC for TSMM. I don't remember exactly what the wait time was SB, but I'm thinking it was around 45 minutes or so. I honestly didn't pay much attention.
As for the Jedi...they have a photopass person stationed at the stage taking pics during the whole tutorial, and they will give you a black Photopass card afterwards. The problem is that it has all the pics of all the kids that participated in that show. So, if you go to the camera store, you can go through and show them which ones are of your kiddos and they will transfer just those to your photopass. I had regular photopass, not photopass plus.
~Brandi
I forgot about your GAC, the TSMM makes sense now. The black Photopass card thing makes sense. I don't see my girls getting into Star Wars (DH has watched all the movies on DVD several times with them around, no interest yet), but there might be some other thing in the future that will be useful info for.
Windsor Hills: June 2012
GKTW: January 2009
ASMu: September 1997
Off-site: July 1978
I also had a bad experience with service at ESPN. We finally got up and left... before we ordered of course :)
Great update! Love the pics of you all on TSMM, did you have a CM take them for you, or did you do it yourself?
I took those pics, Pam! We told them we were two and two, so Tom and Andy were in a separate vehicle across from us. Made it nice for pics!
~Brandi
Looking back, Pam, that's the only pic I have of myself that whole day! Yikes. I think Andy and I got a few PhotoPass pics, though, thank goodness! I swear some events I don't even have proof that I was there because I'm always behind the camera. I can't tell you how many Thanksgivings I've scrapbooked that there isn't a single pic of me!
~Brandi
OMG. I was thinking of starting a trip report for my trip next week, and decided to read through this one to remember our May trip. I just noticed I never finished this one! Oops. Here's our MK day with the Pirate's League appointment! Sorry!
The next morning we were up bright and early for another day at Magic Kingdom. Nate decided that he wasn’t interested in riding Space Mountain today…Maybe something to do with his major fit on the ride on our last day here? Anywho, Tom and Andy headed straight for Space Mountain while Nate and I made our way to Speedway. We were the first ones there, so we had a CM greet us at the line entrance. They made a big deal about Nate being the first one, and gave him a Speedway License. He felt VERY important.
After Speedway, we rode Pooh. Then we rode Snow White because it was our last chance to ride it! It was being closed for refurb right after our trip. Then we rode Peter Pan per Nate’s request.
Tom and Andy met up with us and were shocked that we had ridden so many rides already! We all got in line for It’s a Small World at 940 and we were exiting the ride at 951. Not a bad start to the morning!
We walked to Adventureland to ride Aladdin. We entered the line at 10:02 and exited at 10:09. Apparently I had them staring into the sun because they both have their eyes closed in this pic!
We decided to walk through the Swiss Family Treehouse since we’d never done it before. It took about 10 minutes at a leisurely pace to see everything we wanted to see. We also got to see something we didn’t want to see…a man wearing a vulgar tshirt two families in front of us. Classy to wear a shirt that says the “F” word in large letters across the back, dude.
We popped over to Jungle Cruise and had a great driver. The boys laughed at all of her jokes! We were off by 1031 and headed to Splash. We entered the FP line at 10:42 and pretty much walked straight through to the loading area. We were done by 10:55.
We headed to lunch at Pecos Bills right when they opened at 11am. We ate at super speed (which seemed to be the trend over the week) and were heading out at 11:23.
Since we were by Pirates of the Caribbean, we hopped in line. It was 11:36 when we got in line, and it became apparent pretty quickly that it was going to be a while. I’m not sure why, but it was pretty backed up. There was also a family behind us who kept trying to weasel their way in front of us as we meandered through the queue. It was funny because no one was going anywhere, so I’m not sure why they kept trying to get in front of us…the people in front of us weren’t moving either! Tom was getting very annoyed and trying to block the way. It was frustrating that she was being so blatant. It’s common sense that it is a line and you have to wait your turn, lady!
We finally made it to the front of the line at 1150. The woman had weaseled her way in between Tom and I, but when we got to the loading area, she had to wait for us to load since we were with Tom anyway. Not sure why she went to all that trouble to get in front of me!?!
By this time I was sweating it because we had a surprise appointment for Pirate’s League for the boys. I hadn’t anticipated the Pirate’s of the Caribbean line to take so long, so I knew we were cutting it close. We got off the ride at 1158, and were supposed to report to Pirate’s League at 1155 for our 1210 appointment. Oops!
The Pirate's League was a surprise for the boys. They saw it on the Disney Planning DVD and asked if they could do it. I lied and told them there weren't any appointments available and that they were all booked up. HeeHee.
We didn’t need to be in such a hurry, because Pirate’s League was backed up anyway. Surprise! The boys were super excited when they realized what we were about to do. Nate got called back first, and then Andy. They liked the part where they were assigned their “Pirate Names”.
They looked super cool with their pirate makeovers, too! The whole process took about an hour from the time we checked in to the time we walked out.
We didn’t buy the cheesy pics at the end, but instead got in line with Pirate Goofy for a few shots!
After our pics with Goofy, we decided to head out. The boys looked amazing, so we got several comments on the way out by cast members and guests. Nate was proudly wielding his sword. We stopped for a PhotoPass pic on Main Street and headed out.
~Brandi
And here are a few photopass pics of us as Family of the Day:
~Brandi
Love the photos!
June 2011 and May 2013
Thanks! Those Family of the Day ones give me the warm fuzzies when I see them!
~Brandi
The boys really hammed it up for the camera after their "Piratization", love those pics! And the Family of the Day ones are awesome too, especially the one of the fire truck in front of the castle - definitely a one-in-a-million shot!
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