13 Days of Disney - Everything We Never Knew We Always Wanted - June 2016 TR Update 1/30

[disny_luvr]

Do you think you'll write a trip report for your Disneyland trip? I'd really like to read one, lol. We hope to venture out west in a few years and a trip to DL is definitely on the list.

 

[Jfsag123]

Just found and finished your report. Thank you so much for sharing! What a great job you did making lemonade! 2/3rds of my kids are not into characters at all, so I enjoyed reading about meets I have never experienced! I will look forward to a future trip report from you.

I'm glad you found me and that you enjoyed it! Thanks so much. I fear our trips will soon become less character-centric, so I'm trying to soak it in while I've got it!

Do you think you'll write a trip report for your Disneyland trip? I'd really like to read one, lol. We hope to venture out west in a few years and a trip to DL is definitely on the list.

I probably will. I haven't been doing a PTR because the planning is just not the same (and I still have no idea what I'm doing lol), but I'm thinking that I will do a TR if only because I like having the record of the trip that results from it. I'll link it here when I do. I never seem to get around to putting together the photo album or scrapbook (I still have 2013 branded stuff lying around unused!), so I think I will start regularly doing TRs instead. If I get to engage with folks like I did with this one that's wonderful, but even if no one reads, I'll have it for me!

 

[adcarnes]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us!

You have a beautiful family and it looked and sounded like y'all really had a magical time. We also live in Texas, around the Lubbock area, and drove down our last trip. It was really nice, though quite a long drive.

I loved all of the kids costumes and how the characters responds to them. And what great CM's y'all encountered!!

Thanks again for sharing. It has helped ease my Disney blues a bit.

 

[Jfsag123]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us!

You have a beautiful family and it looked and sounded like y'all really had a magical time. We also live in Texas, around the Lubbock area, and drove down our last trip. It was really nice, though quite a long drive.

I loved all of the kids costumes and how the characters responds to them. And what great CM's y'all encountered!!

Thanks again for sharing. It has helped ease my Disney blues a bit.

Howdy to a fellow Texan! Thank you for reading and for your kind words! Coming from Lubbock definitely adds a few hours to the drive. We enjoy the road trip, though, and love not being restricted on packing.

We really did have some great CM's! I totally understand the Disney blues and am glad to have been able to ease yours a bit.

 

[CalSea12]

I LOVED your TR! It has inspired me to want to stay deluxe one of these days

We are from TX (DFW) too and doing our first drive down to Disney this June (we usually fly), I am a bit nervous about it though.. do you have any tips... which route do you think is best/fastest?

I love your kids costumes, they are amazing! So glad you guys had tons of pixie dust on this trip!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I stumbled onto your report... and I LOVED it! I read the whole thing in one sitting! I'm so glad you wrote it - you are very entertaining!

I didn't intend to comment on individual things (that's a lot for an entire report!), but after seeing so many awesome (and some not-so-awesome) things that happened, I couldn't help myself and went back and added the quotes. I apologize in advance for the number!

The short version is I injured my toe and it affected our Disney trip.

This is such a bummer! I'm glad to read that your toe has improved, and agree with others that you were such a rock star to deal with an injured foot on a Disney trip (with its miles and miles of walking!). I hope you'll get to return to BCV on a future trip so you can enjoy SAB!

Here is the video of the reveal.

What an awesome reveal! Good job keeping the secret - it's really hard to do!

After exploring the room we stepped out on the balcony and were shocked by what we found. It was huge!

HOLY COW THAT BALCONY!!! That's AMAZING! What wonderful pixie dust from the CM, to not only get you into a room right away, but to get you THAT room! Awesome!

So before we knew it it was our turn to meet the guys. This was the look on the kids’ faces when we rounded the corner, as captured by the PP photographer.

That Buzz and Woody meet is awesome! I finally did it on my 2016 trip (when I didn't have my anti-character meet sister with me!) and it was so much fun!

I realized we may have another shot at Characterpalooza, as the rain had stopped. We killed a little time walking around, then headed that way with our fingers crossed.

Victory!

You are character meet rock stars! I never had luck with Characterpalooza, but did manage to run across character training at Epcot once.

The CM’s commented on what an achievement it was to be first for Soarin’, and encouraged us to take photos and videos of the empty queue, as so few people ever see it that way.

Wow, the first ride?! How fabulous! Anika and I once made it onto the second ride of the day (and that was entering from the front entrance - we walk fast!).

Anyway, we darted across the path and headed toward the new(ish) character spot location with Joy and Sadness from Inside Out. This would turn out to be our 2nd longest wait of the trip. We got in line at 9:06 and didn’t meet the characters until 9:55. Ugh.

The meet with them is great, but I agree that the wait time is LONG. I'm not sure I'd wait that long to meet them again, but I'm glad I did once as they were really interactive!

Our first time eating here. I had to try it after all the raves I’ve read. It did not disappoint.

Via Napoli is one of our FAVORITE restaurants on property. I've eaten there during our last four trips!

. First up, the Carousel of Progress. We saw this for the first time last year and I was sure Alex would be bored out of his mind, especially with the length of it. We went late at night so he’d be more likely to just fall asleep if he got bored rather than whine and try to move around. To our surprise he sat in rapt attention for the entire thing and asked to see it again as soon as it ended.

Alex is awesome. You know you're doing a good job as a parent when you mold a COP fan!

Before we could get very far, we were held up by a sudden surprise. As we walked between the UK and Canada, the gate swung open to reveal a bunch of characters. We had stumbled upon a character training at just the right time!

You really know how to time things well! You're character meet rock stars!!! Also, the pictures of the angry penguin are HILARIOUS!

My mother-in-law makes the costumes.

Your MIL does a PHENOMENAL job! What amazing costumes throughout your trip (and on past trips!).

The best part was when a woman who had to be in her 50’s at least basically crawled over my wheelchair and stepped directly onto my obviously injured foot so she could get a better angle to take her picture of the Welcome Show.

People are RIDICOULOUS! It's unbelievable how some folks have no regard for others. I hope you did indeed give her a few choice words (even if the "choices" had to be PG-rated).

What we did mind was that interactive thing they have in the queue that kept saying “bark like this” over and over and over and over…

Fully agree! The meet was awesome (I don't believe they meet anymore, which is too bad!) but that barking was OBNOXIOUS!

All of us LOVED this meal.

Yak and Yeti is another favorite of ours - it's always SO delicious! As a bonus, it's always a welcome reprieve from the crazy heat in AK!

I'm glad you gave AK another try - that park has really grown on me during my last few trips!

After the Jungle Book show, we stopped off in front of the Tree of Life on our way out of the park to take in some of the new projections. It was so beautiful.

What beautiful pictures! I'm looking forward to all the additional attractions and shows that will be in AK during our next visit (whenever that will be!).

Gaston was on his way backstage from his last meet of the day when he spotted Cora and Alex. He stopped, called out to them, and wanted to talk to them. We went over to him but other people kept coming up and trying to talk to him. Gaston is super popular and can draw a crowd pretty easily, as you all I’m sure know. He brushed everyone else off and told them he was “talking to these people right now!”

What amazing character interactions you had throughout your trip! From riding on the teacups with Alice to lots of two on one time with Gaston - how magical! Those costumes really are amazing!

Kelley, thanks for such a wonderful trip report! I'm sorry that you won't be visiting WDW this year, but certainly hope you write a TR about your Disneyland vacation! I understand the lack of PTR - I'm debating whether or not to start one for our upcoming Universal trip this fall (there's just not nearly as much, if any, planning required for a Universal trip!). Still, I hope you do write a TR - I'd love to read it!

 

[Jfsag123]

I LOVED your TR! It has inspired me to want to stay deluxe one of these days

We are from TX (DFW) too and doing our first drive down to Disney this June (we usually fly), I am a bit nervous about it though.. do you have any tips... which route do you think is best/fastest?

I love your kids costumes, they are amazing! So glad you guys had tons of pixie dust on this trip!

Thank you! We got spoiled with our first DVC rental stay as far as the deluxes. We've never stayed non-DVC deluxe, though, and I really want to try it some day.

The drive isn't bad (at least, it's not to us). We have taken I-20 to Jackson, then 49 S to Hattiesburg, then 98 to I-10 in Mobile every time we've done it, with the reverse route back. It's what Google recommends. Each time I've considered the alternate route of heading south from 20 in Shreveport and taking I-10 all the way across MS and AL, but have always backed out of that route prior to leaving. However, it may be faster, as it's pretty much all interstate, while the route we take has us on smaller highways in MS and AL that take us through small towns. If you end up trying that one, let me know! My only real tip is drive as far as you think you can get on the first driving day so you are able to get into WDW in the early/mid afternoon on arrival day. Also watch out for speed traps on 75 in Florida - they are plentiful and brutal! We have never been stopped, but have always seen several who were less fortunate. The Waze app is your friend!

Very much appreciate the thoughts! We really did have a thoroughly pixie dusted trip!

 

[Jfsag123]

I stumbled onto your report... and I LOVED it! I read the whole thing in one sitting! I'm so glad you wrote it - you are very entertaining!

Aw shucks! Thank you very much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

I didn't intend to comment on individual things (that's a lot for an entire report!), but after seeing so many awesome (and some not-so-awesome) things that happened, I couldn't help myself and went back and added the quotes. I apologize in advance for the number!

No apology necessary! I admire your patience in doing so!

This is such a bummer! I'm glad to read that your toe has improved, and agree with others that you were such a rock star to deal with an injured foot on a Disney trip (with its miles and miles of walking!). I hope you'll get to return to BCV on a future trip so you can enjoy SAB!

We are hoping to get back to Beach Club next year! That was the thing I was most bummed about. I never swim on vacation, but I bought a suit special just so I could enjoy SAB. I am saving that baby for next year and getting my money's worth!

What an awesome reveal! Good job keeping the secret - it's really hard to do!

Omg, it was so hard. Thank you!

HOLY COW THAT BALCONY!!! That's AMAZING! What wonderful pixie dust from the CM, to not only get you into a room right away, but to get you THAT room! Awesome!

Right?! I've been trying to temper the kids' expectations of future balconies, because they still talk about this! lol

Wow, the first ride?! How fabulous! Anika and I once made it onto the second ride of the day (and that was entering from the front entrance - we walk fast!).

Ok, that's seriously amazing! The only rides we've ever hit as the first or second group of the day as rope droppers have been Jungle Cruise and Buzz Lightyear and that's because very few people tend to be headed there first thing.

The meet with them is great, but I agree that the wait time is LONG. I'm not sure I'd wait that long to meet them again, but I'm glad I did once as they were really interactive!

Yeah, no, I'm never doing it again. But, as you said, I'm glad we did it the once. I love having the pictures and the characters were a lot of fun.

Via Napoli is one of our FAVORITE restaurants on property. I've eaten there during our last four trips!

I'm trying to push myself to try new places, but this one has to go on the repeat list. It was so good!

Alex is awesome. You know you're doing a good job as a parent when you mold a COP fan!

Why thank you! I must admit to being thrilled at how openly my kids have embraced the classic Disney stuff in addition to the newer stuff with the more familiar characters.

You really know how to time things well! You're character meet rock stars!!! Also, the pictures of the angry penguin are HILARIOUS!

We got so lucky! I'm going to be looking for it every time we walk by now.

Yak and Yeti is another favorite of ours - it's always SO delicious! As a bonus, it's always a welcome reprieve from the crazy heat in AK!

I'm glad you gave AK another try - that park has really grown on me during my last few trips!

Amazingly, reflecting on the trip this far out from it I'd have to say that our AK day was probably my favorite complete day of the entire trip. I am shocked to be saying that, but so glad to have finally seen the beauty and magic in the park that I've heard others describe.

What amazing character interactions you had throughout your trip! From riding on the teacups with Alice to lots of two on one time with Gaston - how magical! Those costumes really are amazing!

Thank you from my MIL! We have really been fortunate in the amazing character experiences we've had and I know the costumes have a lot to do with it. It will be a sad day when my kids have completely outgrown it, but I will have hundreds of photos to look back on commemorating the experiences.

Kelley, thanks for such a wonderful trip report! I'm sorry that you won't be visiting WDW this year, but certainly hope you write a TR about your Disneyland vacation! I understand the lack of PTR - I'm debating whether or not to start one for our upcoming Universal trip this fall (there's just not nearly as much, if any, planning required for a Universal trip!). Still, I hope you do write a TR - I'd love to read it!

Thank you for reading and responding! I will almost certainly end up doing a DL report. I'm really excited about getting to experience the different feel of the parks on the opposite coast. Let me know if you end up doing the Universal report! Lord knows when we will ever get to those parks. And re: the comment about less planning - DLR is the same way! I'm going nuts over here being a month and a half out and having nothing to plan. Don't even have park hours yet!

Thanks again so much for reading and for your very kind comments. I hope you guys have an amazing trip!

 

[Jfsag123]

For anyone who may care, I started a TR for the trip we took to Disneyland and the West last month. https://www.disboards.com/threads/m...vers-take-on-disneyland-and-the-west.3617647/

 

[AColeman]

I've had such a fun time reading through your report! Makes me look forward to our trip even more. My compliments to the seamstress, ya'll costumes are fabulous!!

 

[Jfsag123]

I've had such a fun time reading through your report! Makes me look forward to our trip even more. My compliments to the seamstress, ya'll costumes are fabulous!!

I'm glad you enjoyed it - thanks for reading! We really are so lucky with the costumes. I hope you have a wonderful first trip!