Walt Disney World - Day 2

September 17th, 2010

We were up for the day shortly after 7:00 am so we could be at the bus stop around 8:00 am to make rope drop for Animal Kingdom. We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 8:25 and proceeded to the turnstiles. While waiting for the park to open Emilia managed to rub sun tan lotion in her eyes so she was crying and kept rubbing eyes. Finally at 8:45 they let us through the turnstiles to the rope right before the Oasis. Here we watched the opening ceremony which had Mickey, Minnie and Pluto on a safari truck. Here they told us everything that we would need for our adventure for the day. After they zoomed off we were allowed further into the park. Herm and Emilia went to get fast passes to Kilimanjaro Safari while I followed the crowds to Expedition Everest. I was close to the front of the line and decided to check on the Single Rider line which turned out to be closed so I lost about 25 places in the regular line. They didn’t let us into Everest until 9:05 for whatever reason and everyone in front of me seemed to want to look at all of the exhibits as we were making our way to the trains. I was finally off Everest at 9:15 am. Herm now hopped in line while I took Emilia to Dinoland so she could ride Triceratop Spin. She was upset that she didn’t get to watch the “slide” anymore which was Everest. She seemed happy once we got in line for her ride but then proceeded to cry once the ride started. After we got off the ride she wanted to watch the cars on Primeval Whirl until Herm made it to Dinoland. He decided to take her back to the Triceratop Spin while I rode Primeval Whirl. Now it is 9:45 and Emilia wanted to take another ride on the dinosaurs so I went to ride Dinosaur.

Emilia and her daddy also met Pluto and Goofy while I was gone. We made our way out of Dinoland and stopped to see Tigger while we made our way to Kali River Rapids.

No wait on this ride luckily so Herm and I were able to both ride and were done by 10:45. Now we made our way to Africa to go on a Safari using our fast passes. Its 11:15 now and time to start heading back to the room so Emilia could take a nap. First we stop to see Lilo and Stitch and then we had our picture taken in front of the tree of life. We made it to the bus stop by noon and were back to the resort by 12:30. We ate lunch in our room and then it was time for a snooze.

We wake Emilia at 2:45 so we could head back to Animal Kingdom to see the parade at 3:45. Emilia enjoyed the parade a lot. I really dislike it when people come up at the last minute and weasel their way to the front of the crowd especially when I have been sitting in my spot for a half hour. One guy tried pushing his stroller to the front instead of just taking his kid out of the stroller and holding him. Oh they didn’t speak English so you couldn’t communicate with them. I really do not get people at times. After the parade we made our way to watch Finding Nemo the Musical. Emilia loved this show. Which is to be expected since Finding Nemo was her favorite movie for the longest time. Animal Kingdom is now closed and we are heading to the Magic Kingdom next to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. First we were going to catch the bus to the ticket and transportation center but the line was very long. So we head over to the Contemporary/Poly bus stop. The bus arrived within 5 minutes of us walking up and it wasn’t crowded at all.

We got off at the Contemporary and then walked to the Magic Kingdom. This park was more crowded than Animal as it was a parade night but we made the most of it. We took our picture in front of the castle as the crane putting up the Christmas Lights was down for the evening. Then we got a fastpass for Peter Pan’s Flight and then walked over and got a fastpass for Splash Mountain. Since the wait said it was only 10 minutes I got in the stand by line and we got a rider switch pass for Herm for later. Herm then took Emilia to stake out a parade spot. My wait for Splash Mountain was 17 minutes so I didn’t get the ride until 7:30 where I needed to make my way to Main Street to find Herm and Emilia. Emilia made some friends with the ladies by us and mooched some popcorn from them. They were very generous in giving her popcorn as they kept filling up her stroller tray. Herm went to change Emilia’s diaper and bought back some food from Casey’s. Emilia ate her hotdog and French fries just as the parade was about to get to us. She was fascinated by the parade. I love the music to this parade and thought it was much better than SpectroMagic that has been at WDW for year. After the parade Herm took Emilia to ride Peter Pan while I used my fast pass for Splash Mountain. I got off Splash Mountain at 8:58 pm just in time for Herm to hop in the fast pass line before it closed at 9:00. I guess the workers were a little surprised to see him up at the boarding station but he was in before close so they sent him in his very own boat and the boats in front and behind him were empty also. While Herm was riding Splash Mountain I went to try to catch Wishes. I really wanted to watch these from Main Street but I couldn’t make it there as people kept stopping so I ended up watching them from Liberty Square. It wasn’t too bad of a view but I wanted to get castle shots as I have not had them before. Oh well maybe next time!

We made our way out of the park and to the bus stop. The All Star Music line was huge so we got into the All Star Sports line. We were on the next bus that pulled up and on our way back to the resort on a very packed bus. Herm and Emilia went swimming while I got some food from the food court. Then it was off to bed!

Up Next: Day 3 Typhoon Lagoon and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

The Siegel Family Vacation to Disney World Day 1

Siegel Family Vacation to Walt Disney World

September 16th to September 23rd 2010

Cast of Characters: Herm, Ashley and Emilia

September 16th, 2010

Mema picked us up shortly after 6:30 and we arrived at GRR around 7:15 am to check in for our flight. I accidentally packed the disposable water camera in our checked bag and the not so nice TSA agent wouldn’t take the bag off the belt even though it wasn’t in the x-ray machine yet and just said well its ruined. Not the best start to the trip as that was a wasted $10 plus we would have to buy a new one on property at Disney since we aren’t renting a car. Emilia didn’t do the best on the flight as she didn’t want to stay in her seatbelt so that was a battle. Once we were up in the air and she was able to watch a movie so it made things a little easier.

We arrived at Orlando International Airport around 11:15 am. We took the tram to the main section of the airport made our way down to level 1 for Disney’s Magical Express. Our line moved slowly due to the cast member checking us in but soon we were waiting for the bus. We just missed the bus as the CM stopped the line in front of our family. It was a busy day for ME as we waited 30 minutes for the next bus and at least 20 of the minutes there were no busses out front to go to any of the resorts which seemed very odd to me. The first time we took Magical Express in January there were plenty of busses coming and going. Soon we were boarding the bus to make our way to Disney’s All Star Music Resort. After a quick stop at Coronado Springs to drop one person off and then the bus was on its way the All Star Resort.

I did online check-in so that sped things up for us greatly since all of our paperwork was pre-printed for us. We received a ground floor room as I requested in the Broadway 8 building. I also requested to be near transportation thinking maybe it would put us closer to the busses. Nope it put it near the parking lot though! My misunderstanding and will know for future reference. We grab some lunch in the food court and then it was back to the room to let Emilia take her nap as we have Chef Mickey reservations at 6:20 pm.

We left our room around 5 pm to head to the Contemporary Resort. We boarded the Magic Kingdom bus since there is no resort to resort bus transportation. Once we arrived at the MK we went to will call to pick up our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) tickets for Saturday. Then we made the short walk to the Contemporary. After browsing the shops for a few minutes we checked into Chef Mickey’s at 6 pm and were seated at 6:20. First they took our picture with Chef Mickey instead of the statue that we had last time before sitting us down.

Goofy and Pluto were in our section and would be arriving at our table shortly. Herm went to the buffet quickly to get Emilia something to eat while we waited for these two characters. We were able to enjoy our dinner a little bit before Minnie and Donald made it into our section. Emilia wasn’t too interested in Donald as she was quickly saying “Bye Donald.” By the time Minnie made it to our table Emilia was done eating and wanted to be on our side of the table. Luckily Minnie squeezed into the booth with her. Minnie was her favorite character! Now that we had seen all of the characters it was time for dessert.

They bought Herm a free birthday cupcake as I put on our reservation that we were celebrating his birthday.

After dinner we looked at the other gift shop in the Contemporary where Emilia was eyeing up the Cinderella’s Castle play set again. She did this last November at the Grand Floridian too.

We were now going to catch the bus to Downtown Disney from the Contemporary. Now I don’t understand why people complain about the All Stars having to share busses at certain times of the day because I think the bus sharing to DTD from the Contemporary and then to the Poly is way worse! The resorts are not as close as the All Stars are and with the money you are paying to stay there you would think that they would have their own busses.

First up at Downtown Disney is the Lego Store for Emilia to play on the playground there and for me to look for a birthday present for Xavier. No luck on that front as most of that stuff I can buy at home. Then we went to the World of Disney store in search of the Minnie Witch Halloween Costume. We found the costume but unfortunately they don’t make it in a toddler size. The smallest size that it comes in is a small which is a 5-6. So we are back to the drawing board on what to dress Emilia up for Halloween. Next up is the Once upon a Toy store to get more Mr. Potato Head pieces. Herm let me buy the big huge potato head as it was a better deal then buying 2 boxes of parts. I spent at least a half hour stuffing this potato with as many pieces as I could fit. I had fun doing it! Back to resort as we are doing rope drop at Animal Kingdom in the morning!

More of our trip to follow later!

Check out my other website that has scrapbook layouts on it that I have created. Nothing of this trip yet but you can see layouts of Emilia and other Family things.

www.ashleysscrapbookcreations.shutterfly.com