It was going to be our last day at the Magic Kingdom and Wesley was begging to wear his pirate costume again.
It worked out with our Fast Passes and I did my best to time our last little ride of Pirates of the Caribbean so that we'd be a little early to the Pirate show. I was hoping if we got there early, got front row seats and with Wesley dressed up, he might get picked for the show.
Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial:
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Resisting The Dark Side
Today was our day at Hollywood Studios and we were on a mission. Jedi Training Academy. You see, only 15 kids are picked per show and there are 10 shows per day. So when the gates opened, we sent the grandparents on the mad dash to the sign up. The thought was, they didn't have bags and we had to get the stroller through the bag check, so they were a little a head of us. BUT, you have to have the child WITH you when you sign up - we didn't know that - but a quick phone call to us (thank goodness for cell phones!) let us know to bring Wesley right away. We got over there and were fortunate enough to make the cut off and into the 4:40 show. We had to be back at 4:10, so at that point we were off to explore the park.
Lunch at the Brown Derby for the Fantasmic package - worked out awesome!
Back to Jedi Training
Headed over to Fantasmic - Wesley loved it!
Lunch at the Brown Derby for the Fantasmic package - worked out awesome!
Back to Jedi Training
Headed over to Fantasmic - Wesley loved it!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Epcot: Party of 5
Tuesday's plan was to try to stay up late for the Illuminations fireworks show, and Wesley doesn't take naps for us anymore. So, we slept in and it was much needed by all of us!
When we got up, we grabbed pop tarts to eat at the bus stop and took the bus to Epcot. Upon arrival, we immediately grabbed fast passes for Soarin'. Well, I sent DH to grab the Fast passes while DS and I were going to catch Captain EO. DH didn't have a burning desire to watch the movie again since we saw it in November, but we had a discussion about it at home a few weeks earlier and DS piped up that he wanted to watch it. I doubted he even remembered it, but sure enough he was able to recount the tale of the good guys going to see the bad lady to make her beautiful after singing a song and dancing.
Captain EO was over, so we took a Journey Into Our Imagination. Details are a little fuzzy, but I think Greg's parents arrived and had done Spaceship Earth. So, while they went to get fast passes for Soarin' and they planned to ride Living With The Land, our plan was to catch Spaceship Earth. En route to Spaceship Earth, Wesley saw Donald Duck in the character meet & greet in/near Innoventions. He asked to do it, we explained to him that it was a 30 min wait. He wanted to wait, so we did it. DS and DH got on line while I bought an autograph book/pen real quick. This may have been Wesley's 4th trip and he has met plenty of characters, but I thought he might be old enough to enjoy collecting autographs.
We had 12:05 Priority Seating reservations at the Coral Reef, but we cancelled them without any issue. We headed over to The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends and the infectious tune "Big Blue World" became our sing song catch phrase for the week. We had a quick lunch at the Electric Umbrella - I remember having a Caesar Salad that was CHOCK full of chicken - and Wesley had his own lunch but really enjoyed eating my salad with me.
Details are a little sketchy, but Greg's parents went back to their hotel for a few hours and I think it was time for us to ride Soarin, so that is what we did. Afterwards, we took Wesley for his first tour around the countries. Yep, it was his FOURTH trip and we still hadn't done that. Hey, he is only 4 and a half and previous to this, he would nap for us and our touring plan was a bit different.
Anyway, I remember Mexico was first and we did the boat ride - which Wesley really liked! After that, onto Norway and another boat ride. Well, it was a boat ride that dumped you into a movie about the people of Norway (that dumps you into a gift shop). I don't know what it was, but Wesley LOVED the Norway movie. Like, it was over and he asked to watch it again. We let him watch it one more time and were able to persuade him to come out with the promise of a treat. They have a wonderful little bakery in Norway and I got the School Bread - Oh My GOODNESS that stuff is awesome! Seriously, seriously yummy! Wesley got Worms in Dirt - and made a mess - and loved every minute of eating that little sucker! Greg had a beer - not sure if he ate something or not, but I remember he liked the beer.
China - we saw the movie and then I don't remember what we did. I think we had a 2nd fast pass for Soarin from Greg's parents, so we went in that direction. I found a stuffed Pascal in Mousegear for my niece. We let Wesley pick out a stuffed animal - and he picked Stitch who is now his best friend. I remember we stopped in the Coca Cola Ice Station Cool and we let Wesley try the many carbonated beverages of the world - which we never do. He even asked us "Hey, why you guys letting me drink soda?" To which we explained it was a special occasion and we needed him to stay up late ;)
Our trip did coincide with Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival and they had a special Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden set up. We followed the signs and saw the little pixie home and stumbled upon a little playground. We let Wesley play and do his thing and it was so relaxing! Then Wesley asked to go to another playground, to which I told him that was it. A lady piped up - "Oh there is another playground - over by the Rose Garden." So off we were to the "other" playground that really was quite nice! More relaxation and taking it easy for this family!
Greg's parents came back to Epcot and met us at the playground. We walked past Canada and then over to the UK. We had a 6:55 Priority Seating at the Rose and Crown in the UK pavilion. When we checked in, I requested a table on the patio, hoping we could drag dinner out long enough to catch Illuminations from our seats. We had to wait a bit for our table, but were given a pager, so we did a little exploring.
The UK has a couple of phone booths that I thought Wesley would get a kick out of and I completely underestimated how much joy they'd give that kid!
Dinner was yummy! I split an order of Fish & Chips with my mother in law and then had a No Sugar Added Fruit Trifle for dessert and it was so good!!! We watched the fireworks - which I LOVE - and then did the mass migration to the bus stop.
When we got up, we grabbed pop tarts to eat at the bus stop and took the bus to Epcot. Upon arrival, we immediately grabbed fast passes for Soarin'. Well, I sent DH to grab the Fast passes while DS and I were going to catch Captain EO. DH didn't have a burning desire to watch the movie again since we saw it in November, but we had a discussion about it at home a few weeks earlier and DS piped up that he wanted to watch it. I doubted he even remembered it, but sure enough he was able to recount the tale of the good guys going to see the bad lady to make her beautiful after singing a song and dancing.
Captain EO was over, so we took a Journey Into Our Imagination. Details are a little fuzzy, but I think Greg's parents arrived and had done Spaceship Earth. So, while they went to get fast passes for Soarin' and they planned to ride Living With The Land, our plan was to catch Spaceship Earth. En route to Spaceship Earth, Wesley saw Donald Duck in the character meet & greet in/near Innoventions. He asked to do it, we explained to him that it was a 30 min wait. He wanted to wait, so we did it. DS and DH got on line while I bought an autograph book/pen real quick. This may have been Wesley's 4th trip and he has met plenty of characters, but I thought he might be old enough to enjoy collecting autographs.
We had 12:05 Priority Seating reservations at the Coral Reef, but we cancelled them without any issue. We headed over to The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends and the infectious tune "Big Blue World" became our sing song catch phrase for the week. We had a quick lunch at the Electric Umbrella - I remember having a Caesar Salad that was CHOCK full of chicken - and Wesley had his own lunch but really enjoyed eating my salad with me.
Details are a little sketchy, but Greg's parents went back to their hotel for a few hours and I think it was time for us to ride Soarin, so that is what we did. Afterwards, we took Wesley for his first tour around the countries. Yep, it was his FOURTH trip and we still hadn't done that. Hey, he is only 4 and a half and previous to this, he would nap for us and our touring plan was a bit different.
Anyway, I remember Mexico was first and we did the boat ride - which Wesley really liked! After that, onto Norway and another boat ride. Well, it was a boat ride that dumped you into a movie about the people of Norway (that dumps you into a gift shop). I don't know what it was, but Wesley LOVED the Norway movie. Like, it was over and he asked to watch it again. We let him watch it one more time and were able to persuade him to come out with the promise of a treat. They have a wonderful little bakery in Norway and I got the School Bread - Oh My GOODNESS that stuff is awesome! Seriously, seriously yummy! Wesley got Worms in Dirt - and made a mess - and loved every minute of eating that little sucker! Greg had a beer - not sure if he ate something or not, but I remember he liked the beer.
China - we saw the movie and then I don't remember what we did. I think we had a 2nd fast pass for Soarin from Greg's parents, so we went in that direction. I found a stuffed Pascal in Mousegear for my niece. We let Wesley pick out a stuffed animal - and he picked Stitch who is now his best friend. I remember we stopped in the Coca Cola Ice Station Cool and we let Wesley try the many carbonated beverages of the world - which we never do. He even asked us "Hey, why you guys letting me drink soda?" To which we explained it was a special occasion and we needed him to stay up late ;)
Our trip did coincide with Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival and they had a special Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden set up. We followed the signs and saw the little pixie home and stumbled upon a little playground. We let Wesley play and do his thing and it was so relaxing! Then Wesley asked to go to another playground, to which I told him that was it. A lady piped up - "Oh there is another playground - over by the Rose Garden." So off we were to the "other" playground that really was quite nice! More relaxation and taking it easy for this family!
Greg's parents came back to Epcot and met us at the playground. We walked past Canada and then over to the UK. We had a 6:55 Priority Seating at the Rose and Crown in the UK pavilion. When we checked in, I requested a table on the patio, hoping we could drag dinner out long enough to catch Illuminations from our seats. We had to wait a bit for our table, but were given a pager, so we did a little exploring.
The UK has a couple of phone booths that I thought Wesley would get a kick out of and I completely underestimated how much joy they'd give that kid!
Dinner was yummy! I split an order of Fish & Chips with my mother in law and then had a No Sugar Added Fruit Trifle for dessert and it was so good!!! We watched the fireworks - which I LOVE - and then did the mass migration to the bus stop.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Thomas Damploather
The cast:
Me (Gail) 34 yo wife to
Greg (aka DH) 36 yo dad to
Wesley (aka DS) 4.5 year old - this is his 4th trip to WDW.
Pre-trip info: We live in Maryland and are DVC owners. We bought annual passes in November (and had a great trip at the Wilderness Lodge Villas!) and the thought was to try to get 3 trips out of these passes and then take a big break. Since my in laws live in "The Villages" - a retirement community in Florida, and Greg's sister was pregnant (and due the end of February), we figured a mid-March trip would be perfect timing. I tried to get us into Bay Lake Towers, but it wasn't available, so we took our 2nd choice - The Wilderness Lodge. We flew down to Orlando bright and early on St Patrick's Day. Greg's parents picked us up at the airport and we went to his sister's home to meet Wesley's newest cousin. So, that was Saturday. Sunday we rested and then Monday we were going to... DISNEY WORLD!!!
We were up bright an early and off to *pause* (wait for it) Wald Disney World!!! It was about an hour drive from The Villages to Disney. We got to the Wilderness Lodge and our room was not ready. I had done online check in, so it only took a short time to give our luggage to bell services and get our paperwork. We headed over to the boat dock and over to the Magic Kingdom.
Wesley was *just* tall enough to ride Space Mountain, so we grabbed some Fast Passes and then hopped on board!
After Space, we toured tomorrowland and then had lunch at Casey's Corner. Nothing like a good ol' hot dog from Main Street!
I had made a 1:10 reservation with The Pirate's League, so we headed over for his transformation.
Wesley picked the Captain Jack Sparrow make up and I went ahead and splurged on the costume for him. We don't really do the souvenir thing, so I was OK with it. We waited for his name to be called and then went inside where he changed into his costume. He rolled the dice and was given his pirate name - Thomas Damploather. The transformation from sweet 4 year old to scurvy sea dog began and Wesley - errr... Thomas - was very patient for the whole make up application.
When the transformation was complete, he was given his sash and magical pirate sword. The sword had been forged with pixie dust and should it ever hit someone, it will magically disappear from Wesley's hand and reappear in his parent's hands where it should remain for the rest of the day. Wesley/Thomas took the oath and then it was off to the Secret Room.
After the Secret Room, was time to pay and Wesley very proudly handed over his little ziploc bag of cash/change he had been earning over the months leading up to the experience. We are trying to teach Wesley that we go to work and save our money so we can do fun things like Disney World and we felt this was an important lesson to teach him. The ladies at the cash registers thought Wesley was SO adorable paying his bill!!! Of course he was a little short, so we picked up the difference. He had a little change left over, so they gave him a little black satchel to keep his treasure in. It was all so cute!!!
We rode some more rides, Pirate of the Caribbean was first of course!
The poor kid was SO tired - we had had so much fun the days before we arrived and an early start this morning, so he was TUCKERED out!
We were getting anxious to get into our room (I was hoping Wesley would nap - yeah right!), so we went back to the Wilderness Lodge. Had a beautiful 1 bedroom villa - room 3540 - that was close enough to the elevator, but far enough it was quiet.
For dinner we went to the Whispering Canyon Cafe (at the Wilderness Lodge), where our little Pirate took the lead in the pony race...
I wasn't really planning on writing a full trip report, so I didn't write things down - Hence, the details are kind of lacking. I remember I had the bacon/cheddar/popcorn soup and it was yummy. We might have gone swimming, but I do remember it was a low key evening.
Me (Gail) 34 yo wife to
Greg (aka DH) 36 yo dad to
Wesley (aka DS) 4.5 year old - this is his 4th trip to WDW.
Pre-trip info: We live in Maryland and are DVC owners. We bought annual passes in November (and had a great trip at the Wilderness Lodge Villas!) and the thought was to try to get 3 trips out of these passes and then take a big break. Since my in laws live in "The Villages" - a retirement community in Florida, and Greg's sister was pregnant (and due the end of February), we figured a mid-March trip would be perfect timing. I tried to get us into Bay Lake Towers, but it wasn't available, so we took our 2nd choice - The Wilderness Lodge. We flew down to Orlando bright and early on St Patrick's Day. Greg's parents picked us up at the airport and we went to his sister's home to meet Wesley's newest cousin. So, that was Saturday. Sunday we rested and then Monday we were going to... DISNEY WORLD!!!
We were up bright an early and off to *pause* (wait for it) Wald Disney World!!! It was about an hour drive from The Villages to Disney. We got to the Wilderness Lodge and our room was not ready. I had done online check in, so it only took a short time to give our luggage to bell services and get our paperwork. We headed over to the boat dock and over to the Magic Kingdom.
Wesley was *just* tall enough to ride Space Mountain, so we grabbed some Fast Passes and then hopped on board!
After Space, we toured tomorrowland and then had lunch at Casey's Corner. Nothing like a good ol' hot dog from Main Street!
I had made a 1:10 reservation with The Pirate's League, so we headed over for his transformation.
Wesley picked the Captain Jack Sparrow make up and I went ahead and splurged on the costume for him. We don't really do the souvenir thing, so I was OK with it. We waited for his name to be called and then went inside where he changed into his costume. He rolled the dice and was given his pirate name - Thomas Damploather. The transformation from sweet 4 year old to scurvy sea dog began and Wesley - errr... Thomas - was very patient for the whole make up application.
When the transformation was complete, he was given his sash and magical pirate sword. The sword had been forged with pixie dust and should it ever hit someone, it will magically disappear from Wesley's hand and reappear in his parent's hands where it should remain for the rest of the day. Wesley/Thomas took the oath and then it was off to the Secret Room.
After the Secret Room, was time to pay and Wesley very proudly handed over his little ziploc bag of cash/change he had been earning over the months leading up to the experience. We are trying to teach Wesley that we go to work and save our money so we can do fun things like Disney World and we felt this was an important lesson to teach him. The ladies at the cash registers thought Wesley was SO adorable paying his bill!!! Of course he was a little short, so we picked up the difference. He had a little change left over, so they gave him a little black satchel to keep his treasure in. It was all so cute!!!
We rode some more rides, Pirate of the Caribbean was first of course!
The poor kid was SO tired - we had had so much fun the days before we arrived and an early start this morning, so he was TUCKERED out!
We were getting anxious to get into our room (I was hoping Wesley would nap - yeah right!), so we went back to the Wilderness Lodge. Had a beautiful 1 bedroom villa - room 3540 - that was close enough to the elevator, but far enough it was quiet.
For dinner we went to the Whispering Canyon Cafe (at the Wilderness Lodge), where our little Pirate took the lead in the pony race...
I wasn't really planning on writing a full trip report, so I didn't write things down - Hence, the details are kind of lacking. I remember I had the bacon/cheddar/popcorn soup and it was yummy. We might have gone swimming, but I do remember it was a low key evening.
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