I *think* I made DH a lifelong Disney Fan! A June 2017 TR (the end 7/19)

For sure. Because I thought we were skipping 2018!
I know!!! 10 months sounds much more of a manageable wait!

Well then he texts me from work asking if we could just do a Disney only trip in June 2018.
Man, he really is a convert! You did you job well!

We will do mostly resort only stuff, with one MK day, a visit to Disney Springs, maybe some mini-golf, maybe Hoop Dee Doo, renting of some water craft, lots of pool time, and time for DH to go off property to a cigar shop (he did this on this past trip, as well).
This sounds really nice! Def do Hoop Dee Doo Review! We loved it! And perfect to do if you are going to hang out most of the visit. You can also do Pony rides for the boys. It's only $8. I wanted to try and do it this trip but Morgan is too tall.
 
Well, that makes up for it. THat ride baffles me. I mean, I like it. But that standby line is never less than 20 minutes, for like 2 minutes through Neverland! :confused3
I know, right?? I guess it's just a classic, quintessential Disney ride?? LOL

Dude, this could totally be one of those official Disney photos! The boys look so psyched!
Thank you!

These are the best! I always get one and refill it at least once a day. Popcorn is great, but it's better from WDW.
It truly is!

AWE! Happy belated anniversary!
Thanks!

It worked! He's hooked!
Apparently so! :)

That's awesome! Super happy for you guys!
:goodvibes

Gah! I'm so far behind already.
I'm behind on everyone else', as well!

Ok the picture of the boys meeting Mickey? So sweet.
Thank you!

I'm kinda sad I missed out on that as my kids are too old and too cool at 8 and 10 to be so excited for characters.
I'm sure that day will come for me as well. And then I will be sad. But I may drag them to meets anyway! HAHA

Jumping in a little late but I'm here!

What a beautiful family- your boys are absolutely precious. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip :)
Thank you for joining in and the compliments!

I have been following along and am enjoying your report!
Thank you for joining in!

Congrats on moving up the countdown calendar! And for him to suggest it! That sounds like a fun and relaxing trip!
I'm so excited!

Yay!

I just booked my return flight for January 10th. I have nothing else planned though!
Nice! Can't wait to hear more about it!
 
I know!!! 10 months sounds much more of a manageable wait!
For sure!

Man, he really is a convert! You did you job well!
Thank you! I have no idea what I did though...lol. To be completely honest, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that his dad loved Disney and his dad passed like 15 or 20 years ago. Maybe he felt a connection to him while there?

This sounds really nice! Def do Hoop Dee Doo Review! We loved it! And perfect to do if you are going to hang out most of the visit.
Well if we don't do HDD this trip, we will definitely do it next trip...but I agree, it would work best on a (mostly) resort only trip.

You can also do Pony rides for the boys. It's only $8. I wanted to try and do it this trip but Morgan is too tall.
You are not the first person to suggest this. My friend that I rented points from for this 2017 trip, also suggested it.
 
Way behind!
OMG love love love the boys faces seeing the characters!! While I am enjoying my older kids very much, every once in awhile it hits how fast time has gone, and that wonder on their faces! OTOH-just has to be more tailored to their taste-the big smile from my (challenging) middle child when she first walked across the bridge to Hogsmeade in 2015 (huge HP fan) made that expense worth it. She likes Disney, but likes Universal more.

And congratulations (hopefully!!) on the DVC purchase!! Can't wait to hear how rest of trip goes since you turned the grumpy 1st day DH into a DVC owner! We own a TS (non disney) that we have used to go many wonderful places-hoping to trade for a France trip in 2020.
 


OMG love love love the boys faces seeing the characters!!
Thanks!

OTOH-just has to be more tailored to their taste-the big smile from my (challenging) middle child when she first walked across the bridge to Hogsmeade in 2015 (huge HP fan) made that expense worth it. She likes Disney, but likes Universal more.
Nice! I hope to make it to Universal and HP one day!

And congratulations (hopefully!!) on the DVC purchase!!
Thank you!

We own a TS (non disney) that we have used to go many wonderful places-hoping to trade for a France trip in 2020.
Sounds wonderful!
 
In the end, the manager came over and gave us a written anytime FP for us because of the inconvenience.
We haven't done CP breakfast but have enjoyed our dinners there, but if you remember we've had meals where a character has missed us. It's annoying to say the least when you want to get out of there but need to get one more character! Very nice that in the end you got the FP though, softens the aggravation a bit. And overall it looks like all your guys enjoyed the meal :)

Again, I do not know how to stand in a complimentary manner!
lmao this is how I feel every time I take a picture with a character! Rarely to any of them turn out well, especially with princesses for some reason. I always look like a dork.

We headed out and grabbed the water launch back to WL. Best thing ever! I can not say enough good things about it! My only regret about it, is not using it enough!
Isn't it???? Steve feels like he's missing out if we take the bus to MK or even Epcot instead of using the water taxi lol.
 
We haven't done CP breakfast but have enjoyed our dinners there
Good to know. We may switch it up to dinner in 2019. But AJ says he prefers breakfast so we shall see.

but if you remember we've had meals where a character has missed us.
I totally remember this has happened to you a couple of times. Mostly at Garden Grill, right? I ask because GG was where the characters came the fastest for us! But we did make our ADR for like 10:15 and I think breakfast ended at 10:30?

It's annoying to say the least when you want to get out of there but need to get one more character! Very nice that in the end you got the FP though, softens the aggravation a bit. And overall it looks like all your guys enjoyed the meal :)
Yes, we were very appreciative of the FP and it was a good meal. I seem to eat here every trip!

Isn't it???? Steve feels like he's missing out if we take the bus to MK or even Epcot instead of using the water taxi lol.
Yeh, I don't think DH will allow us to take the bus to MK again, especially after our AM EMH fiasco.
 


Loving the new ticker!!!! I am so happy for you with becoming an owner at BRV! The pictures for the boys with Mickey are great along with you and Chad. Looking forward to reading about your night at MK.
 
Thank you! I have no idea what I did though...lol. To be completely honest, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that his dad loved Disney and his dad passed like 15 or 20 years ago. Maybe he felt a connection to him while there?
On our first trip, I wasn't sure if my DH was hooked or not, till we were back and asked when we were going again. Men are funny like that... Well, whatever it was, I think you have a family of fans!

You are not the first person to suggest this. My friend that I rented points from for this 2017 trip, also suggested it.
You MUST do it!!!! Well, I guess it would depend if the boys like animals... Morgan has asked to do horseback riding for years now. Might be the first time she is too tall for something... :upsidedow
 
It sounds like so far the lines you guys had were a lot longer than when we were there the next week. We did tons of fast pass shopping in the park, I think that is my new favorite thing, fast passes and flexibility...haha! It was so great to be able to make them on the fly and just ride what was available, it might be my new tactic every time we go from now on. We were lucky because since we have ridden everything already at MK, we weren't too worried about riding 7DMT or the others that are really long waits. I also used Kenny The Pirate's crowd calendars to choose park days instead of EMH days and stuff, and chose the least busy park for each day.

Those photos with Mickey were so great, like you said, it was pure joy on their faces! It is so funny too that you said Starbucks had such a long line, it has to be the time of day because none of them had lines and we went to all four in the parks, plus the one at Disney Springs. We must hit them when everyone else is trying to get to the first rides of the day. It was great to be able to use a gift card in there, helped save a little bit of money whenever we could. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the MK day!!
 
I totally remember this has happened to you a couple of times. Mostly at Garden Grill, right? I ask because GG was where the characters came the fastest for us! But we did make our ADR for like 10:15 and I think breakfast ended at 10:30?
Yup, GG unfortunately both times. Loved the food though. And we did the same thing the first time, our reservation was for 10:15 with the 10:30 close which is why (they said) the characters missed us! Apparently they'd left early for lunch lol. That's when they gave us the "golden FP" for the character spot. The second time we ate there we had an 8am ADR and one character still missed us.
 
Loving the new ticker!!!! I am so happy for you with becoming an owner at BRV! The pictures for the boys with Mickey are great along with you and Chad. Looking forward to reading about your night at MK.
Thank you! Update coming in a day or two, I think! I spent tonight downloading PP photos. This is my second night doing it and I am still not done!

On our first trip, I wasn't sure if my DH was hooked or not, till we were back and asked when we were going again. Men are funny like that... Well, whatever it was, I think you have a family of fans!
Yes, they are funny like that, aren't they? And yes, I am excited about my family of fans!!

You MUST do it!!!! Well, I guess it would depend if the boys like animals...
Honestly I'm not sure how they would react. My dad has taken them to the Game Ranch before and they did fine, but I personally haven't seen them around animals.

Morgan has asked to do horseback riding for years now. Might be the first time she is too tall for something... :upsidedow
That stinks!!

It sounds like so far the lines you guys had were a lot longer than when we were there the next week.
They really weren't too bad for us, but that is because I did my research before the trip. We didn't wait much longer than 15 - 20 minutes at most. But there definitely were longer lines. We just didn't have to wait in them. But yes, I think it used to be that early June was less crowded than mid but now it seems the further into summer, the least crowded it gets. Apparently fall is the busy time nowadays.

We did tons of fast pass shopping in the park, I think that is my new favorite thing, fast passes and flexibility...haha! It was so great to be able to make them on the fly and just ride what was available, it might be my new tactic every time we go from now on.
Yes, we did a lot too, especially at MK...but I definitely had certain ones in mind I wanted. They were all secondary ones though, so I knew we would probably get them no problem.

We were lucky because since we have ridden everything already at MK, we weren't too worried about riding 7DMT or the others that are really long waits.
Even though I have been a lot, it hasn't been consistent lately and for the boys it has only been a couple/a few trips and every year brings new memories for them, and DH with his 35 year absence, so we definitely had ride plans in mind. Of course, we were flexible and changed things that didn't work and also changed things to suit our preferences.

I also used Kenny The Pirate's crowd calendars to choose park days instead of EMH days and stuff, and chose the least busy park for each day.
I use Touring Plans, but same concept.

Those photos with Mickey were so great, like you said, it was pure joy on their faces!
Thank you!!

It is so funny too that you said Starbucks had such a long line, it has to be the time of day because none of them had lines and we went to all four in the parks, plus the one at Disney Springs. We must hit them when everyone else is trying to get to the first rides of the day.
Almost every time I looked at MK, it was crazy busy, except first thing in the AM. Unfortunately I didn't check Epcot or AK, but DHS was dead when I went to that one.

It was great to be able to use a gift card in there, helped save a little bit of money whenever we could.
*Spoiler alert* I forgot to use my gift cards when I finally made it to the one at DHS! Argh! LOL

Yup, GG unfortunately both times. Loved the food though. And we did the same thing the first time, our reservation was for 10:15 with the 10:30 close which is why (they said) the characters missed us! Apparently they'd left early for lunch lol.
:rotfl2:

That's when they gave us the "golden FP" for the character spot.
Yes, I remember that! So ours wasn't unprecedented...lol.

The second time we ate there we had an 8am ADR and one character still missed us.
Smh! You get all the Character Training juju but none at the Character Meals! HAHA
 
He did not find it here but the boys found some lollipops that they still haven't eaten to this day! LOL. Of course, I have them hidden away in a bag somewhere, so, out of sight, out of mind!

We bought the long unicorn lollipops and the boys were entertained for about 15 minutes. The rest got thrown in the trash. Luckily they were snack credits so it wasn't a real loss. The same happened with the Goofy pixie dust things though I'm not sure they ever needed that much sugar! :tilt:

I stopped at the Confectionary and bought a huge chocolate covered strawberry to replace the ruined ones that were still in the car at WL, and some cake pops.

So happy you got the chocolate covered strawberries again. Those cake pops are really good too!

My boys are showing pure unadulterated joy at seeing him!

So cute! This is the best as a parent! They are SO happy!

The boys and I got back to the room and the staff at WL had left us an anniversary present (our anniversary was June 26th so I figured we could celebrate at WDW, right??)

What an extremely nice touch that did not go unnoticed by DH when he returned.

This is so sweet! Between the kids with Mickey and this, it must be THE moment that your husband felt the magic! pixiedust:
 
I've been following along since the beginning but wanted to finally pop in and say Hi! Your boys are so adorable, and your DH sounds like my dad when we were little. He says he won't go back to Disney until he has grandkids, but I'm glad you brought DH over from the dark side. Can't wait to read more!
 
Okay so I lied. I was hoping to do an update tonight but I ended up watching TV. AJ has gotten into this habit of staying up way too late with me, watching TV. Just FYI: we usually end up watching Moana on Netflix; at first he refused to watch it and I talked him into it and now he is obsessed and we have seen it at least 10x! He wants to be Maui for Halloween! Anyway, I usually let him do this every other night, but he stayed up with me both Sunday and Monday nights - Chad worked late Monday night so he sneaked another late night in. I usually do computer work, like downloading PP photos and resizing TR photos, or posting updates, when he is up with me. But the nights he goes to bed at a semi-normal time, I watch my TV shows. So tonight was one of those nights! But he will be up late with me tomorrow night, so I will plan to post an update then.

I did manage to already buy something for our 2018 trip - well, originally it was for our 2019 trip because I ordered it before we know that we would be there a year earlier than expected. In any case, I bought Will a limited edition Cars 3 MB. We all have special order ones except him so I thought it was time:
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He is super excited but we shall see if he even wears it. We only have the one park day in 2018 so maybe he will want to show it off.

We also got a new family game:
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Perfect for the boys, though Will doesn't quite get the rules yet...lol. I've played it with them once but we are supposed to play tomorrow night when DH gets home from work as a whole family.

Okay, so I am headed to bed in just a few minutes because the boys are doing swim lessons this week and next and I am actually setting an alarm during Summer Break! Be back tomorrow night!
 
We bought the long unicorn lollipops and the boys were entertained for about 15 minutes.
Yes, this is what would happen with ours as well. LOL

So cute! This is the best as a parent! They are SO happy!
Yes, I just love those particular photos so much!

This is so sweet! Between the kids with Mickey and this, it must be THE moment that your husband felt the magic! pixiedust:
You may very well be correct!

I've been following along since the beginning but wanted to finally pop in and say Hi!
Welcome!! Thanks for joining in!

Your boys are so adorable
Thank you!

and your DH sounds like my dad when we were little. He says he won't go back to Disney until he has grandkids, but I'm glad you brought DH over from the dark side.
Me, too. I was very worried this would be the case with him, so I am so glad it isn't!

Can't wait to read more!
Check back tomorrow (Wednesday) night!
 
I just booked Crystal Palace after reading the comments here. We have been years ago a few times and loved it. I am not really a Pooh fan but my Granddaughter mentioned she would like to eat there while watching a video. So I checked tonight and they had a few times for dinner on November 3rd!
 
I just booked Crystal Palace after reading the comments here. We have been years ago a few times and loved it. I am not really a Pooh fan but my Granddaughter mentioned she would like to eat there while watching a video. So I checked tonight and they had a few times for dinner on November 3rd!
I hope you enjoy it! We almost always have breakfast there on our trips!

Congratulations on your upcoming trip/DVC purchase! So exciting! I love Will's MB - even better now that he gets to use it a year early. ;)

BTW, I also have a Maui loving boy and I got this for him. https://getlifegear.com/products/new-maui-outfit-for-boys It's pretty cute.
Thank you for the congrats! And thank you for the link!
 
Day Two 6/4/2017 ~ Magic Kingdom (part 3)

So we did okay as far as time-wise on our break, but we probably took a little longer than I had planned. We decided to take the bus back, I'm fairly certain, because the bus stop is very close to the villas. I had had a 7DMT booked for me here, with the boys all doing Pooh, but I ended up taking one for the team and changing mine to Pooh also, so we could all ride together. Plus, like I said, we were just a tad bit later than I had planned and we had somewhere we actually had to be this evening. *Spoiler Alert* I never rode 7DMT this trip.

I know that the first thing we did when we got into MK, was stop at the popcorn cart for a $1.50 refill! I mean, seriously, who can beat that?? After that, we headed straight back to Pooh; AJ's favorite ride! We enjoy this one, because the boys do. It didn't take us too long because of the FP. Then we headed over to Dumbo. I think I was able to book a 4th for this one because I don't think we got near the play area - thank goodness...lol. AJ chose to ride with me:
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A good, classic ride.

After that we headed over to Barnstormer, the ride we were all finally tall enough for! Sorry, a throwback to the PTR, for those that read that. :) Anyway, I am fairly certain that no one in my family has ever ridden it. I mean, I would be the only one and I don't think that I have. Obviously it is a fairly tame "roller coaster" so I figured it was perfect for the boys. Hmmmm...well, one of them really enjoyed it! From the intro, you may remember this is now Will's favorite ride. AJ declared, "Never again!" SMH...lol.

Next up after this, we headed to IASW. Obviously, another classic but I think we only did this one once the whole trip. I took a photo but it was dark so it isn't the best quality:
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After this we headed to Columbia Harbor House for some dinner. I kind of messed up here and we should have had an early dinner as it was probably already 7 or 7:30 and the dessert party I think started at 8 (maybe even 7:30). But, in my defense, the dessert party was a very last minute thing and our day was already planned out by then. In any case, we did enjoy our meals but I didn't take any photos! Ugh!

Chad and I had previously decided to share the Fried Shrimp Plate and the Lobster Roll. He ended up not really liking the Lobster Roll, but I thought it was wonderful so we each took our own entree! AJ got the Tuna Fish sandwich - yes, he is so picky he won't eat normal kid stuff but he eats tuna fish, and used to eat boiled eggs - and it is so cute, it comes on fish shaped sandwich thins! AJ didn't really like their version though so he probably decided to have some peanut butter, and I think that is what Will ate, as well. The smartest thing I did on this vacation was to order the individual peanut butter servings...the dumbest thing I did was not order enough!

Anyway, I would highly recommend the Lobster Roll! Oh and I'll just throw this out there in case you haven't figured it out but I didn't really ask Chad how he felt about most of his meals, which is why I don't really have many opinions from him. But he didn't complain and he would if he didn't like something so I'm sure the shrimp was fine, just like the GP Bison Burger and CP breakfast. LOL. Yep...no food photos and no opinion from DH...I'm a *great* trip reporter, huh?

It was a good meal and we all filled up...which probably wasn't the best idea since we had a lot of desserts coming, but it is what it is. We also managed to leave our refillable popcorn bucket here and didn't realize it until the next day. Good thing I am a receipt keeper...

After dinner, we dragged the boys on HM! Well, we just told them it wasn't real and sugar coated the whole thing and managed to talk them into it. AJ rode with me (again) and Will rode with Chad. I think Will did okay for the most part but he probably didn't even get most of what was going on and he doesn't really let stuff like that bother him too much. AJ was okay, too, but I don't know that I will ever get him on it again! Oh and we also got stuck for a few minutes on the ride. EEK! We all managed to survive and then we headed to dessert party.

At this point it was probably almost 8:15. I think we arrived around 8:20, got checked in and were seated right away. Chad took AJ up quickly and they picked out a few things. Chad isn't a huge sweets person so nothing really excited him. He also complained about the lack of soda. I went up next to grab some items for Will and myself. I'm a big fan of sweets and everything looked great so I grabbed a little bit of it all. And no, I don't have any photos. :( Anyway, even though I am a big fan and all the items looked delish, I really just didn't have the appetite for it. So we probably sat there for 15 minutes max and nibbled on some things and then went ahead and asked to be walked out around 8:35.

When we got to the reserved section, there was still plenty of room and this, honestly, was the main reason I booked this party. We did not have to stake out a spot hours in advance, while keeping 2 little boys and 1 big boy entertained. We had easy bathroom access without losing our spot or fighting any crowds, and no one weaseled there way into our spot 2 minutes before show time. Now, I will say it did rain on us somewhat while waiting on the show and during the show but nothing too major. The boys played with some other kids who had a bubble blowing wand and fairly soon it was time for the show to start. I have quite a few photos, so bear with me!
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Continued in next post...
 
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