Stallings Family - June 2005 • WDW Trip Reports

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Stallings Family - June 2005

Stallings from Tennessee Me- Kim (33), dh Max (35), ds (Tyler) 5 1/2, ds Colby (2), ds Nicholas (18 months), best friends from Illinois Greg (34), Amie (33), Ben (10), Kyle (9), Mason (4), and Aliyah (3)

We rented a house with our friends from Illinois for this trip. It sleeps 14- it has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Again, I can't say how much we loved the house! The kids have so much room to play. And of course, the older boys love the pool. We have a full kitchen and laundry room too!

We are off to Magic Kingdom!! We got up early at our house. We rented a 4 bedroom/3 bath house that was 10 minutes from Disney. It had a private pool and LOTS of living space. It was wonderful!
We arrived at Magic Kingdom and was parked by 8:00. We then hopped the monorail - which the kids loved. We were all checked in and watched the opening of the Kingdom. Our friends went and rented their strollers and we went to guest services to pick up a Birthday Button for Colby- who would turn three that next Friday! WOW! We stopped to get a picture taken in front of the castle and the kids wanted to stop to get pictures and autographs from Goofy, Chip, and Dale.
Finally we were off to the first ride.... the kids spy the teacups and want to ride. No waiting ..so we go for it. Then we were off to ride Winnie the Pooh (10 minute wait) and Dumbo (15 mintue wait). Everyone LOVED the Pooh ride. I was so glad we got all 7 kids on Dumbo with not that long of a wait. We then were on our way to Mickey's Philharmagic and the kids went wild over this! I really loved this show. It was so precious to see the little ones in glasses and their faces as they experienced 3D as only Disney can provide! Colby kept reaching his hands out trying to catch things that were flying at him!! We only waited 10 minutes.
The kids then rode the Carosel while we waited to check in for our reservations for Cinderella's Castle for lunch at 11:00. By this time the kids were ready for a break and very hungry. They had a little snack, but needed a good breakfast. Our party of 11 got called in quickly and my baby (Nicholas) was not in a very happy mood at this time. He calmed down once we got some food in his tummy. My oldest was already getting so excited to fill up his autograph book. I had bought Creative Memories Mickey albums for all three boys and pages were made of all the characters that we knew we would see. Tyler would find the page with the stickers to match the character and was ready for the autograph. The food was OK and the character interaction was good. We saw Belle (blue dress). fairy godmother, Cinderella, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).
After breakfast we were off to Small World (10 minute wait) and Peter Pan (20 mintue wait). Small World looks so much better now since they have redone all the dolls throughout the ride. All the children loved it. Nicholas and Aliyah fell asleep. After those two rides we went on Haunted Mansion (15 mintue wait). My dh loves this ride and has ridden it each time he has been to Disney (7 times now!) I was glad that the kids were not afraid. We only had 1 out of the 7 kids that were afraid. By now it was getting to be about 1:30 and all lines were getting to be so long.
My family and our friends split up for the afternoon. Our friends went back to the house to rest and my family decided to stay a little longer. We took our kids to Toon Town. Tyler and I rode Goofy's Barnstormer and we saw MInnie and Mickey's house. They enjoyed that. Nicholas and Colby were finally both asleep. So, my dh and Tyler rode the TomorrowLand Indy Speedway.
We made our way to LIberty Square to see the 3:00 Share A Dream Come True Parade. It was fantastic! I know that not everyone loves parades, but our kids really liked them. We watched the parade, changed the kids, got a good drink and then checked into Liberty Tree Tavern for our 4:30 Dinner reservations. We LOVED LTT. The food and break were what we all needed. Got some great photos and autographs!! By the time we were done it was about 6:00.
We did a little shopping and met our friends so the big kids could ride Space Mountian. I was so surprised when my 5 year old rode! He is so brave. My dh and I both rode with him. We all had fast passes.
We then lined up for SpectroMagic. The kids were so tired by then that no-one enjoyed it. Even lining up early we had to hold our two oldest on our shoulders. We left after this. I really wanted to stay for the Wishes Fireworks, but we had all we could take by this point!! Note to self------ take children back to house for a break each day!!!! I know I read that everywhere, but did I listen??? NO!
All in all.... a very magical start to our vacation.

Best Part- Dumbo, Mickey's Philharmagic, Pooh, Share A Dream Come True Parade, and Liberty Tree Tavern

Worst Part- cranky children (our fault) during the Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast and for SpectroMagic Parade.

For Day 2 our friends (Stinemates from Illinois) went to Typhoon Lagoon - while we took our kids to Animal Kingdom. We met my cousin Robbie and his family there. They stayed at the All Star Movies Resort. We met at Animal Kingdom at 7:45. We had a PS at Donald's Breakfastasurus for 8:00! We got right into the parks. I have to say that I really love getting into the park early and seeing the park less crowded!! LOL! We got to breakfast and got in right away. We got a great picture taken of all of us before entering the breakfast. It was buffet style. And it was so yummy!! The kids ate everything and lots of fresh fruit also!! We especially loved the pancakes. Everyone really enjoyed this breakfast and the character interaction was really good. My oldest son Tyler was very excited to get to spend the day with his cousins. We will for sure do this breakfast again when we come back.
I have heard either you love Animal Kingdom or you don't care much for it. As for our families- we really loved it. The first ride we hit at 9:10 was Kilimanjaro Safari. The kids had their bellies full and were ready to go and see some animals. It was early so we saw lots of animals. Their favorite were the big elephants. Hang onto your hats for this bumpy ride. After this wonderful ride.... we went to the Festival of the Lion King. This is not to be missed. It kept everyones attention. We got great seats and did not have to wait very long. It was cool in their and it really kept the kids attention!! I love shows anyway - (I am a big broadway musical fan!) So, I wasn't going to miss this show. I got great pics of the show too! Even baby Nicholas kept clapping.
After the Lion King show...we saw Pochantas and her Friends show. It was ok, but the big boys wanted to ride some rides. They had enough shows already. SO we headed over to DionLand. The rode the Primeval Whirl and the TriceraTop Spin ride. Colby (almost 3) loved riding on the Triceratops! We even saw Lucky the Dinosaur- which was really cool for all 5 of the boys.
After all this it was time for a good snack and break. We were then ready to do the Character Greeting Trails. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Chip, Dale, and Goofy. There were NO LINES. This was about 3:30.
We then went to get in line for the Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade and everyone really enjoyed the jammin music and characters. It was well worth seeing and we got in line about 30 minutes early and the kids got to see everything.
Before we left we went to the Boneyard. I didn't think that we would EVER get the kids out of there. They got sprayed, ran around, and dug for bones!! What more could a young boy want???? It was perfect.
Another great day. We have so much more of Animal Kingdom that we want to do. I hope we get back.

Best: Donald's Breakfastasaurus, Boneyard, Lion King Show, Character Greeting Trails

Worst: Hot Day and I didn't get to see the Tarzan show and enjoy watching Tarzan. BOO HOO!!

We had another early morning PS for the Princess Storybook Breakfast at 8:50. Out of the seven kids - we have only one girl and she wanted to see Princesses! So we reserved this breakfast. We saw Belle, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Snow White, Cinderella (again- I didn't think she would appear here) and Jasmine. We had done Cinderella's Royal Table - 2 day prior to this and saw Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Alice, and Mary Poppins. The characters were fine here- we had hoped to see Mulan and Ariel here but did not. The food was not very good here. I was bland and the kids did not eat much. We did not like this breakfast and all said that we would not do this one again. We did love seeing Snow White- she was so great with the kids... she talked to my son and told him how brave and strong he was because he had lost so many teeth and he told her it did not hurt. She also talked to Greg (our friend) a lot because he had on a Grumpy shirt and she wanted to know why he was Grumpy!! TOO CUTE!! Of course the men in our families said that the money for the breakfast was worth it because they saw Jasmine.... I reminded my dh that I was going to see Tarzan before I left! LOL!!
Epcot is a beautiful park. It is so big and spread out. WOW! Our friends adopted their daughter from China- so they were excited to see the China section later that afternoon. After the breakfast we all headed to Mission: Space and Test Track. We got Fast Passes for Test Track and did the baby swap. We LOVE fast pass and baby swap.... it was great. The guys rode with some of our boys and then the girls rode after with the ones who wanted to go again. The little ones were busy looking at all the cars in the waiting area. Very nice. For Mission: Space the guys took the three older boys and the girls stayed with the younger ones in the gift shop and the Space Command Center/Space Base. We enjoyed that. There was a KidKot FunStop in the giftshop also. The best part was that as we were leaving Mickey and Goofy dressed up in their space gear were out for pictures. They just got out there so there was no line!!! YIPPEE!!
After those two rides.... we walked around to visit some of the countries. We all loved the China area because of Aliyah- our friends had been to China to adopt Aliyah a little over 2 years ago.
Rode Soarin' and loved this ride. It is breathtaking. I was so glad to get to ride this.
By this time.. I had very tired kiddos.... so we went back to the house to rest and nap a while. I wanted to go and see Illuminations. After having cranky kids for SpectroMagic.... I knew better. If I wanted them ( and me) to enjoy Illuminations then the better nap!
Back in the park after a good nap by 7:45 and got a place for Illuninations. While my dh saved our prime spot..... I took the kids to the potty and got them a yummy snack. They were happy children! Yeah! Our families really enjoyed Illuminations. It is worth getting settled early and enjoying the show. All the kids were excited about the fireworks.

Best part: Illuminations, Snow White, and Test Track

Worst Part: food at Princess Storybook breakfast

We were up early and at MGM by 8:15. Since we had such a big group.... everyone kind of split up to do whatever they wanted. We were to meet at Noon at the Sci-Fi Diner. Our family started with Playhouse Disney- we got to the first show. With children that are 5, 2 and 1.... this was a must see. They love the singing and dancing. My little ones loved the bubbles! We saw Bear in the Big Blue House, Book of Pooh, Stanley, and JoJo's Circus!! It was a prefect way to start our day. We then went to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We only waited about 15 mintues.... not bad. The show was great and it kept the boys attention. Again, bubbles and lots of singing!! LOVED IT! As long as the kids are happy..... I am happy. After this..... we decided that this was going to be a Character Autograph Adventure Day. We set out for the trailers to see who we could meet. We met JoJo and Goliath, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, and Sorcer Mickey. Then we headed towards the Sci-Fi Diner and was just in time to meet all our friends. Before we checked in for our PS at Sci-Fi we met Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc!! My boys were beyond excited. I never imagined how excited my oldest would be to get his book signed and both of his brother's books too!!
We ate at Sci-Fi Diner and the boys loved watching the movies playing and getting to eat in a car!! How cool for them. This was a great choice because it was so hot and we needed a break from the heat to get everyone going again. Food was good, but a little expensive for burgers and chicken nuggets! LOL!!
After lunch we headed for Muppet Vision 3-D. The kids knew just what to do during this 3-D show. Everyone enjoyed it so much. Very cute. Who can resist Kermit? Our family then headed to meet the Toy Story Gang- Buzz, Woody, and Jessie- my oldest couldn't get enough of this character chasing. We then went to meet the Power Rangers. He got their signatures and saw their Power Rangers car. So cool. He has never seen much of the Power Rangers, but he really liked them and the neat car.
After the Power Rangers a few of us rode Star Tours. Tyler loved it and really wants to see the new Star Wars Movie! YIKES!! We all then moved on to get Fast Passes for Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. No one in my family rode Tower of Terror.... but my dh, oldest son, and I rode the Rock n Roller coaster. It was great fun!! I was so proud of Tyler- he isn't afraid of anything. We did the fastpass and babyswap! Robbie, Greg and Kyle rode Tower of Terror.
We made our way to meet The Incredibles at the Magic of Disney Animation. After a short movie about annimation- staring Mushu the dragon- too cute... we met Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. Another highlight for my son.
On our way to Hollywood and Vine for our 4:30 PS! This was a wonderful buffet that everyone- ALL OF US- LOVED!! The kids ate everything and couldn't get enough ice cream!! It was wonderful. We ate so much and so long that we missed the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade- BOO HOO!! Everyone was happy for the nice dinner break.
After dinner we headed to see the Beauty and the Beast show. It was really good and the kids were good after dinner and the long break. After the show we made our way to our reserved seating (at 8:00) for Fantasmic!! The show started at 9:00. And by far.... this was my favorite of the night shows!!!!!! OH MY!!!!!! The kids were not scared of the villians.... they were so glued to the show. I was amazed and everyone had a blast. This is a MUST see!!!
What a wondeful day.

Best: Fantasmic!, characters (so many at MGM), and Hollywood and Vine

Worst: I didn't see Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade

After hitting the 4 parks in 4 days....... we needed a relaxing day. So, we slept in later and went to Blizzard Beach. My 5 year old was so excited about the water park. We got to Blizzard Beach at 10:00. We went straight to Tike's Peak to get settled. We got our stuff put out and were all ready. Nicholas was alseep in his stroller, but the other boys were ready to explore Tike's Peak. Tyler and Colby LOVED it! They were everywhere. Tyler loved all the slides and I couldn't get Colby off the slide with the little round rafts! Colby was having so much fun.... I decided to stay with him and Nicholas in the kiddie area. My dh took off with Tyler to ride some of the bigger slides and the lazy river ride. About 1:30 there was an announcement- severe weather was coming.. my dh showed up and we started gathering everything.... a good old tropical storm was about to hit Central Florida. It started raining and we headed out for lunch. We wished we could stay longer at Blizzard Beach, but the kids were so tired!!! Got the kids to nap for a little bit.
Our best friends (Stinemates) Greg and Amie and their 4 children had went to Animal Kingdom and they met us back at the house at 3:00. We all took baths and got ready for our night at Mickey's Backyard BBQ! We made our way to Fort Wilderness with all 7 kids!!! We got checked in and got our BBQ photo taken and then a light rain started to fall. Thank goodness that the BBQ is held under a big pavilian. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip, and Dale all came out decked out in the BBQ outfits- SO CUTE!! We got some great pics with all the kids and the characters. At 6:30 dinner was served. It was all you can eat ribs, chicken, corn, rolls, watermelon, and cake!! We all ate so much. In between eating - the characters walked around.... and danced with the kids. There were shows that had singing, line dancing, and rope tricks. The BBQ was so great. The kids really felt they had some quality time with their favorite characters. The band was great and the kids (and their parents) danced until about 8:30!
For Friday- Colby's Third Birthday in the Magic Kingdom!!!

Best Part: Blizzard Beach Tike's Peak and MIckey's Backyard BBQ

Worst Part: Rain for most of the afternoon and early evening

We all arrived early in the Magic Kingdom for our 8:10 breakfast with Pooh and the Gang at Crystal Palace. We got their and it was Early Magic Hour this day.....so even at 7:30 or so ....it was so crowded. We got checked into Crystal Palace. We waited about 10 mintues to all get tables near each other.
Each family had their own table. Crystal Palace (this is our second visit) remains one of our favorite character meals. The food is so good and the kids love the characters and the little parade with the characters. The food is buffet style and their is soooo much to choose from. The kids ate so good!! We got all the character autographs and pictures we wanted! What a perfect way for the birthday boy to start his day. He had on his birthday button and we all wore matching shirts - that I ordered from the Disney Inkshop online- they had Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger on them all hugging. I had our names put on them. The characters kept pointing to the shirts and thier picture. The characters also loved our autograph books. I had Creative Memories albums with a Mickey head on them.... one for each boy. I had already put down paper and stickers for the characters I knew we would meet. So, all the Pooh characters had a page ready. The kept pointing to the stickers of them!!
We were done with breakfast at about 9:30 and decided that we would split up and meet at Liberty Tree Tavern for our 4:30 dinner reservations. My family rode It's a Small World and Peter Pan again first thing. We then saw Cinderellabration! The kids liked it. We then decided to hit AdentureLand and FrontierLand because we had not done those during our visit on Sunday. We got fastpasses for Splash Mountain with our friends and then later fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Off to AdventureLand... we rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. The kids really enjoyed it. We waitied about 15 mintures. We then spotted Jasmine, Aladdin, and the Genie signing autographs. SO, we hopped in line. We were excited!! Then it was off to Pirates of the Caribbean. The wait was about 10-15 mintures. Not bad at all. After we rode this amazing ride....... who did we spy but Captain Hook and Mr. Smee signing autographs. We didn't have to wait but about 10 mintues. Everyone kept telling Colby Happy Birthday! The CMs really made him feel special. Tyler loved Captain Hook. He decided that we need to dress up like the Peter Pan characters for Halloween. LOL! As we were leaving Hook and Smee... a nice lady told us that Peter Pan and Wendy were right inside the gift shop area by the Pirates ride with no waiting. Of course, we headed that way and they spent lots of time signing autographs and talking to our birthday boy and Tyler- who told Peter that he was going to be him for Halloween! Peter insisted that he would get the most candy of any kid!!
By this time the kids needed a drink and snack. We got nuts, popcorn, and water. We took a little break.
After this little break .. we walked further into AdventureLand and spotted Pochantas and the raccoon! We stopped and got their signatures. Pochantas asked Tyler where he came from. He said Tennessee. She then asked him if he had come to the park in a canoe?? He looked at her funny and then stated..."No.. it was a very very long van ride!!" LOL!! Pochantas laughed and talked to us some more.
After this character time... we headed to Liberty Tree Tavern. All 15 of us were there to celebrate Colby's Third Birthday. LTT was great. They gave us a BIG table and the kids ate great. There was mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, bread, turkey, roast beef, and much more. This is served family style.
After dinner they brought out Colby's BIG cake that I had pre-ordered. It was plenty for all 15 of us. We only had a very little bit left. Of course, we also got all you can eat cobbler and ice cream. Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, and Dale were there!! Pluto was so funny... he took my birthday boy (in his chair) for a spin around the restaruant. I kept saying "Where are you taking him??? I want to follow and get pictures!" Pluto kept licking and playing with all the boys at our table. It was a great birthday dinner for all of us.
After Dinner, the guys used the fastpasses and took all the big boys on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The wait wasn't bad because of the fast passes.
After those two rides, we headed to Tomorrowland. We wanted to ride Space Mountain one more time. We had fastpasses for earlier that afternoon, but the ride was broken down for 4 hours!! We checked again and it was still broken down! We rode Buzz Lightyear and Stich. We were not impressed with Stich. The kids didn't even like it all that much.
My family headed to the Teacups to catch some characters. We met Alice, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee!!!! This took a while because the characters have to take lots of breaks. But, we got all the signatures! YIPPEE!!
By this time it was 7:00 and we went to check one more time on Space Mountain. It was open....so we all did the fastpass/ baby swap thing and rode with the bigger boys!! It started raining right as we were getting on Space Mountain. We were so lucky because it was supposed to rain all day because of the Tropical Storm.
We left Magic Kingdom at 8:00 and headed to our Disney House to pack up! BOO HOO!! Packing up was so much fun!! LOL!!!
What a wonderful and magical vacation!!

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