Photo TR:You can take the girl out of Disney, BUT………

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

"Cheesecake Factory... never heard of it"...LOL!

I guess if he hasn't heard of it, it's not any good or doesn't exist.

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

Claire was very worried we would miss the show sitting at the beach area. We kept telling her we had plenty of time, but she still thought we should be next to the building…waiting.
We finally decided it was time to head over that way. We went ahead of Skip and were going to use the bathroom before getting in line to check in.

I took this on the way over….the lawnmower tree. I really don’t “get it”. But I have seen it in other TR’s before.





I tried to get a shot of the carriage…not so great…but I tried.



The line for check in was pretty long and Claire thought we should skip using the bathroom and get in it. I told her no, why wait in a long line when we could just go to the bathroom and come back out…and hopefully it would be shorter.

When we did get back out to the line, Skip was in it and it was much shorter. We trades spots with him and he went off to the bathroom too.

We got checked in and then waited some more.



This was my last “where are we” picture I posted.



We just kind of sat around and waited. Many people were lining up by the stairs, and Claire thought we would miss it. Again, we told her that we could see the doors and when they opened we would head that way.



When the doors opened we walked slowly that way and easily got in. There were a few others like us who didn’t need to rush in and be first. We have seen this show 2 other times, so we knew we didn’t have to be the first in. Your table has already been assigned.

We had a decent table on the first floor. In fact the 2nd floor wasn’t even used. We had food waiting on the table for us and we dug right in.









Drink orders were taken. Beer is included with the price and I went for that this night.











Soon the show started. The Pioneer Players come in from the rear. They are always so much fun and they do mingle in the crowd too.





The guy in the plaid pants has been in every show we have seen.









There is a lot of singing and dancing and corny jokes.







One thing to note…the Hoop Dee Doo song is no longer sung. I believe it was the song they came in to, and it might’ve been sung when they left too. I don’t remember the exact details, but Brook told me about it last summer at AEP. It had to do with something about…the guy who wrote it died and his family wouldn’t negotiate the rights with Disney, so they had to stop singing it.







I spotted a cast member by our table and I was ready. I knew she was scoping us out!



Claire was very embarrassed.



When they sang the song about where you are from, we were one of the people they sang about. The will ask what state you are from and then make up a little song about it. It’s kind of funny. We live in Ohio, and the funny thing is, the other states they sang about were Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, all our bordering states. I guess it was spring break in our area of the country.





The players then take a break and the main course comes out. Claire always wonders what they are doing when they disappear, so we often tell her that they are eating back stage. LOL















The meal consist of ribs, chicken, mashed potatoes, cowboy beans, (which I find to be absolutely disgusting), and corn. I think it years past it was corn on the cob, but now it’s corn in a bowl.



The food is decent…not nothing to write home about, but still good. And in the 3 times we have now gone, the first time the food was fabulous, the 2nd time it was just OK, and this time it was in between those 2 rankings. I would say it’s very similar to the skillet at Whispering Canyon Café.

It couldn’t have been too bad, because I ate soooo much, especially the mashed potatoes. I swear I over indulged to the point of feeling sick…and Skip even ate more…

After we eat for a while, the players come back out again. Again we were a lucky family, but I can’t remember what for this time.



This guy is just hilarious.



Claire’s favorite character…”Claire”.







They sing “Oh My Darling” and act it out. Until I saw this show for the first time, I had no clue really what the song is about. Of course I hear Huckleberry dog sing it, but who knew it was a tragic story about a girl dying…and then the guy ends up with her sister. LOL



















Towards the end of the show is dessert time and they do a song about strawberry short cake…because that is what we are about to eat!











And here is the only picture I got of the strawberry shortcake.



It is DARN good stuff, but I was so full that I could only eat a few bites.

Claire and I ran to the bathroom then really quickly. We knew it was close to over, and she had to go, and in a few minutes time the bathroom would have a line.

At the end they bring out washboards and we get to make noise. Always a highlight for the kids…and kids at heart. (notice the big kid behind the washboard playing too.)







It was time for the players to leave.



We had a great time as usual. We headed out (and sure enough there was a huge line at the bathroom), and got in line for a bus to take us back to the front. This time we weren’t so lucky. It was jammed packed and it was one that went around the campgrounds making several stops along the way. We had to stand till it emptied out a bit more. We heard some people talking who were coming back from the Magic Kingdom and they made the comment that it was taking just about an hour to get back to their campsite. As much as I like Ft. Wilderness, this is a reason I wouldn’t want to stay there. It’s huge and spread out and involves a lot of travel time. If I stayed there, I would definitely want a golf cart to get around.
Speaking of golf carts. We saw the redneck version of one as we made our way to the front. Grandpa had a scooter and about 4 kids piled in it with him. Even the bus drive was laughing about it.

Once we got to the front we got back to the car and headed back to the Quality Inn. Claire completely conked out. She was a tired girl. When we got back to the hotel I tried to get a picture of her, but she woke up as I was getting the camera out.
We headed off to bed, with a little bit of TV (Skip has to watch some before bed every night, no matter what the time) and we drifted off to dream land once again. The next day was going to be busy as well, but we made a slight change in the original plans and part of that was to let Claire sleep in just a tad bit.

And Day 3 came to an end.

[MechanicCan you see the donkey in my toast?]

I took this on the way over….the lawnmower tree. I really don’t “get it”. But I have seen it in other TR’s before.

The lawnmower tree grew up around, and basically consumed, an old push-type reel lawnmower that was leaned up against it. What remains of the mower can be seen near the base of the tree. Thanks for the latest installment of the TR.

[RoCoBonafide Donkey Expert]

Just finished reading this entire thread; what a pleasure. Every page is loaded with so much charm, and I laughed heartily more times than I can count. Thanks so much for the incredible time and effort you've put into this delightful trip report!

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

I took this on the way over….the lawnmower tree. I really don’t “get it”. But I have seen it in other TR’s before.

The lawnmower tree grew up around, and basically consumed, an old push-type reel lawnmower that was leaned up against it. What remains of the mower can be seen near the base of the tree. Thanks for the latest installment of the TR.

So it is a real lawnmwoer then. I wasn't sure if it was "Disneyfied" or not. LOL

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

Just finished reading this entire thread; what a pleasure. Every page is loaded with so much charm, and I laughed heartily more times than I can count. Thanks so much for the incredible time and effort you've put into this delightful trip report!

Thanks so much for reading along. I wish I could post more and faster, but real life gets in the way sometimes. We just got done with a crazy busy weekend, so I hope to get back at this and get our last 2 days finished up.

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

Day 4 ~ Thursday March 29

I no longer have notes to go by, so I am going to wing this by memory and pictures. (I wish I would’ve taken the time to finish up those notes!!!)

I woke up fairly early again. Probably around 6:30 and got myself ready and out for a morning stroll. I came back to the room to find this. It’s hilarious how much of a bed hog that Claire is.



I think Skip got up around 7:30 or so and he said his mission this morning was to get some inserts in his shoes to hopefully make them more comfortable. He went off for breakfast and I stayed in the room. I think I woke Claire up around 8:40ish.
We had a slight change in our original plans. Skip had wanted to add a Magic Kingdom day after we booked the Universal trip. We decided this would be the day we would go, but we would head to Universal first and then after half of a day there, head over to MK…that was scratched. We were now making a full day at MK.
Claire got up and I got her dressed while Skip ran off to a drug store to fix his shoe problem.
When he got back, we were ready. He just needed to cut his inserts to fit his shoes. Being the prepared person I am…I had a scissors packed in our bags. You will be amazed at how many times this bugger has come in handy, and it’s a must on my packing list now.

Claire was impressed with the pieces he cut off and carried them around. LOL! She held them in the car like they were gold.

Off to Mk we went. I took a few pictures on my phone as we drove.







As soon as we got there I knew it was going to be crazy busy. We were in one of the further out parking lots from the looks of it.
We parked and headed to the tram.



There was some confusion about where to line up (yes there were a ton of people waiting for the tram already and some missed the previous one). A CM directed people to go further down as where we were standing was not right and you “may miss the next tram”.
Skip about flung me over to the right spot. LOL> He got a dirty look from me……. He was trying to prove he knew more than I did…..good for him. I must admit, when it comes to parking at MK, I am not super knowledgeable. It’s been years since I did it…and I really don’t like driving to the parks and the trams, etc. I prefer Disney buses/transportation much better.



Well good thing Skip did direct me to the right spot because we made it on the next tram and MANY did not. There were people LOUDLY complaining about not making it on for the last 2 trams…when the CM once again announced that they were in the wrong spot.





We arrived at TTC and it was a mad house. Ok, most were running to the Monorail, but we had to get tickets yet. Since this was an add on, we decided not to pre-buy tickets beforehand …just in case we changed our minds.



Believe it or not, we weren’t the only ones who needed to buy tickets, which kind of surprised me. There were quite a few people in line. Skip and Claire got in line and I kind of walked around and found a kiosk. I didn’t even know these existed. Skip saw me looking at it and hollered back to me and asked what it was. I told him it was a kiosk to buy tickets (mind you, not one single person was using them either) and you had to use a credit card to be able to purchase here. He jumped right out of line and pulled out his card. It was pretty easy to use (though I’m not sure he would’ve been able to, LOL, he doesn’t even have an ATM card), and soon we had tickets in hand!



We headed to the monorail and the line was extremely long. I don’t know if we even looked at the ferry line or not, but I told Skip we would take the resort monorail. He was so worried we would get in trouble for doing so. I told him anyone can take it. I did also tell him that it might not be a lot faster because it makes stops, but at least we weren’t waiting in a long line. We basically walked on the resort train.

Soon we were off to the Poly. Skip was just amazed this was “legal” to do. He kept asking people if they knew this train went to the MK. It was actually kind of embarrassing. LOL!



Our next stop was the Grand Floridian. Both stops were short and sweet.





And we made it to the Magic Kingdom! YAY!!!!!



As we walked off the monorail I heard a couple with a baby stroller talking about how crowded it was. They were amazed that so many people would take their kids out of school. I kept my mouth shut, but I know TONS of people, myself included, do this regularly. This year was not one of them however. Claire had spring break that week, along with several other schools in the nation. I guess because they only had a baby they weren’t familiar with spring break happening for a month or so prior to Easter. They must’ve not done much research.

I guess I was going for artsy here…or I was lopsided.



And the clock is wrong…..we arrived at 10 AM!



It was PACKED! We could tell right away that this would be a busy day.





Claire had to go to the bathroom immediately, so Skip said he would head off to the smoking section over by the Emporium. I told him it no longer existed…How would I know that he said. Well I have been here twice now in the last year and it was gone and fast pass machines are now there. He still didn’t believe me.

I rushed Claire off to the bathroom and went looking for Skip again. I thought he might be over there since he didn’t believe me and he wasn’t. I did pick up princess FP’s though for later. I don’t remember where we found him, but we did.

The plan was to head towards Pirates of the Caribbean, which is my favorite ride…but our plans never happen the way we plan them.





Look at the ugly skrim thing going on….takes away from a beautiful view.



Trying for the balloon shot that I never get quite the way I want.

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

We are now on our way down Main street, but I have to take a few pictures first…..like you are surprised by that? LOL













Skip said he wanted to stop at a smoking area before we headed to pirates, so behind the castle we went.



Claire decided to map out our route while waiting.





And I took a few pictures.









As we left the area we saw that Philharmagic was letting people in and Skip said we should go in there….OK. Funny thing is, he had no idea what it was. I know Claire and I have done it in the past, but I am not sure if Skip ever had. I kept telling him he had, but the more I think about it I do remember the one year Claire and I did it he had gone back to the room because he was in so much pain, which after months of testing we found out he needed a new hop…which still isn’t right after 2 surgeries. Anyways, I “might” have been wrong……but we’ll keep that secret from Skip.









This picture cracks me up.



One picture inside and then I put the camera away.



After we enjoyed Philharmagic, I went to get a Fast pass for Peter Pan. I had “thought” that when you got a Princess FP, you could still get a regular FP as well. Well I was wrong, or this rule has changed because it would not allow me to get one. Oh well, I would come back and get one when the time was right.

We headed off to Small World next. I know many people really aren’t fans of this, but I will always love it. The line was long, but it moved fairly fast.







Soon we were on our boat and off to the land of singing.

[jenseibDonkeys are my way of life!]

We decided now would be a good time for lunch. It was a little after 11 and we hoped to beat the major lunch rush. We decided that we would try Pinocchio’s Haus. It’s been MANY years since I have eaten here……. Probably 1997. We got in line and checked out the menu. I decided that Claire and I should share since I wasn’t at the point of starving and I knew she wouldn’t eat a whole meal. I asked her what she wanted….big mistake…..she wanted chicken nuggets. UGH. I tried to convince her that pizza was the way to go, for something different, but she wouldn’t budge, so chicken nuggets is what we got. Skip got a meatball sandwich if I remember right. As we were ordering I noticed they had chocolate cake. I am not a huge fan of chocolate cake, but in years past I always loved the Disney version as it was so fudgy and I loved the frosting, so I added that to our order too.
I waited for the order while Skip and Claire went in search of a table and then Claire came back to wait with me so she could show me where the table was. It was very busy now. I’m glad we hadn’t waited any longer or we wouldn’t have found an empty table to easily.

As I have mentioned before, I tend to attract pushy people. There was a girl waiting in the out line and she kept trying to get in front of me. I’m not sure if she had ordered or what, but she kept trying to push her way through me and some other families. It was taking them awhile to fill orders and hers never did come before ours, so I am not sure what her deal was, but it was kind of annoying.

We sat down and filled ourselves up.



I had to get the picture fast because they were going to devour it before I had a chance.

I must say the chocolate cake was a bit of a letdown. It’s not as good as it used to be. They changed the fudgy frosting. It was OK, but I won’t go out of my way to order it now.

After we were well fed and full, Claire and I headed back up front for the Princess meet. Skip said he was going to find a bench and rest. He did say his feet were doing much better with the new inserts, but his legs were still tired.

I think I was able to grab the Peter Pan FP before we headed that way as well.

I took pictures on our journey back towards the front.





















We met a few “characters” on the way too.







We got in line and it looked long…but hey, this is the Fast pass line and it will move quickly…right…and not nearly as long as the stand-by looked.



We were given one of these too. .



And soon after we got in line we realized that Skip had the backsack with the pillowcase for signatures. There was no way we were about to go back and get that, and Claire said she was Ok without autographs since she has seen the princesses before

And then we waited …and waited…and waited. We didn’t move much at all. But at least we did move, while the stand by line…was pretty much at a complete halt.



I’m not sure what the problem was, but this seemed to take forever. And part of the feeling was from the people behind us…yes again, the pushy people that like to get behind me.

This family didn’t speak much English from what I could tell. The kids were antsy, I can understand that, but they kept bumping into people all around. Every time we did move, the mom would shout something in her language and the kids would take off up ahead of several people….every time. I don’t know if she was trying to get them to cut or what, but then they would come back after people would kind of send them back or no one would let the parents by to catch up with them. It was just kind of strange.

I think we waited over 20 minutes in the line before we got to make it to the next room to wait. It seemed longer than that. Even Skip had called and asked what was taking so long.

We were the last family to go in the room. The pushy people behind us didn’t make the cut. So we had a breather from them for at least a few minutes. Claire kept commenting to me how bratty the kids were. LOL….like she is a perfect angel all the time.

I took some practice shots while we waited.







I don’t know what Aurora was doing, but she looks like a posed mannequin here.

[RoCoBonafide Donkey Expert]

I'm definitely feeling some Castle envy right now.