Originally Posted By u k fan Thanks for the nice comments. I'll do my best to keep this updated but with Easter this weekend I'll probably have to post late!!!
Originally Posted By u k fan PART 3 - EM’S PIN TRADING ADVENTURE!!! So you’ve probably guessed from the title that we did a little Pin Trading on Saturday. There were several new pins released that day to commemorate the opening of Buzz, so we headed to the pin cart to check them out. Emerson was very taken with a Stitch Invasion pin where Stitch is riding Buzz so he decided to buy that and also get a Buzz lanyard that had been released that day which he used to hold his AP. Emerson isn’t necessarily shy, but he had been reticent to talk to CM’s on the previous day so I saw this as an opportunity for him to get more out of his trip and said that I would buy him some pins for trading later that day, but only if he promised to actually trade them. I did that for him once before, bought him a pin to trade and then he bottled out! With pins bought we headed back into Discoveryland. Emerson wanted to visit the Nautilus (it wasn’t open yet) so we did the full DL tour to see if Pizza Planet was open for lunch later. It was. We then headed into Fantasyland and had a drink at Toad Hall, stopping along the way to play the “Let’s see if we can get a penny to stick to the globe outside IASW gameâ€. Em did, I didn’t! We then had a wander through Adventureland and down into Main Street so I could get Em his Pin to trade. I bought him a 3 Euro pin and off we went. Having been warned about sharks at DLP I advised Em to start off trading with CM’s only. He couldn’t believe that they HAD to trade. It took him a while to grasp that they weren’t really their own personal pins. Anyway, as we browsed the shops Em saw a Buzz pin that he liked so he asked the CM for a look and made his first ever trade. He had decided that he would stick to pins with a space theme and had his eye on a few Stitch pins and also the Star Tours logo pin so we headed up to the trading board to see what was there. As luck would have it they had Star Tours so he traded that. They also had another pin he liked so I bought any old 3 Euro pin and traded it for him. We decided to go and check out the pins that guests were displaying across the way outside Plaza Gardens and Em was feeling brave because he asked about a trade for a Stitch pin that the first of them had. He traded that for one of the pins from the board (which was easily replaceable) and then we went and had a chat with the other trader, who had a ton of pins. We talked about the ups and downs of pin trading and he was really nice offering tips and advice. He also told us about a couple of hidden targets on Buzz. And to cap it all off he actually gave Em a pin to help him on his way. It was nothing special, but I thought that was really nice and it saved me 6 Euros! The two traders we met were very nice and were happy to talk to us, it was a very pleasant experience! We then hung about until our Fast Pass time for Buzz and made sure to go for those hidden targets (one we found, one we didn’t) and we both beat our previous scores, Em beating me by about 100,000 and we made the next level! Of course, we had to preserve those scores for posterity so we bought another set of photos! It was good though because Em was able to trade his freebie pin for a Buzz one from the CM who served us! Then there was just time for a quick trip to Endor courtesy of Star Tours, which was a walk on (Ouch! For an attraction on a Saturday Afternoon in a land swamped by guests!) Also, I noticed that Rex didn’t have his tag, is that usual for DLP? I’m sure I’ve seen it before. Then it was off to Pizza Planet for lunch. I had the Pizza Burger and Em had another Mickey Pizza! Now I’m not necessarily and advocate of the Pizza Planet, but kids do love it. For those who haven’t been, it is basically a temporary building that has a small Toy Story themed playground. For example, Rex becomes a slide and the Bucket of Soldiers is a ball pool. If I’m honest I would say it’s better themed to the real PP than the one at WDW, but that don’t mean much. It does have a (fake) Claw Machine though! Anyway, say what you like the Pizza is good and kids love the playground and it’s always on our list of stops if we have kids and is open. Em played in the playground for probably about half an hour while I recharged. He managed to make a friend and even though they couldn’t understand each other (I think he was Spanish) they had a great time. After that we went for a tour of the Nautilus and we talked about 20,000 leagues under the sea. Em had no idea that Nemo came from a book (or film) so I think we’ll remedy that next sleepover night. Even though the film bores me! We then decided to head on over to WDS for another try at Cyber Space Mountain. We had a longer wait this time, but Em was much more adventurous and this time we had jumps and loops and it was much more fun. After that we hopped into the last showing of Cinemagique. I really do love that film. I can’t wait to take my brother to see it on my next trip. He’ll really like it. If I’m honest the next few hours are hazy, but I want to say we went back to the hotel. In fact we must have done because Em didn’t have his gun at dinner – so yeah we went back to the HI and chilled out. I also remember changing my socks because I remember thinking that there goes my spare pair. ?!?!? Oh yeah, I also watched the Weakest Link on BBC1. After that we went out for dinner. We had a meander through Disney Village and decided to head to one of the hotels instead. First stop was the Parkside Diner at Hotel New York, but it was closed which I found odd for a Saturday night, but oh well! So we instead opted for the Sequoia Lodge. There was no wait for the Beaver Creek Tavern so we ate there. I DID have the Salmon! I also had the starter and dessert buffet. Emerson had Pasta Bolognese and also the 2 buffets. Everything was delicious. We also had a couple of non-alcoholic cocktails. I did my best to get Em to try a snail from the buffet, but this is a kid who won’t eat chicken unless it’s nugget shaped, so I had no chance. Emerson had chocolate mousse for dessert and ended up wearing more than he ate! I had to take him to the restroom to clean up! After dinner we browsed round the hotel for a bit and then headed home. Tomorrow was to be a big day, one that we had been building up to for years a day so monumentous that even the excitement of Buzz’s opening day might pale into insignificance, but I’ll have to fill you in on that next time…. COMING SOON: PART 4 – ONE SMALL STEP
Originally Posted By irishfan Great stuff. >>I did my best to get Em to try a snail from the buffet, but this is a kid who won’t eat chicken unless it’s nugget shaped, so I had no chance.<< That cracked me up!
Originally Posted By chickendumpling <<I did that for him once before, bought him a pin to trade and then he bottled out!>> "Bottled out!" I love the way you talk! LOL. And hey, thanks for letting us know fer shur that you did have the salmon! That was a cliffhanger for me before. Oh, and thanks for filling me in on the whole Mickey Puzzle thing. That sounds like some seriously fun food. I love to play with my food. <--looking forward to the next installment. btw, I think you are the coolest for doing this whole "boys only" trip. You tock, u k fan.
Originally Posted By barryb Thanks uk fan for the wonderful trip report! It has been a complete joy to read and follow. BarryB.
Originally Posted By u k fan Thanks all! I think I should only have one more installment plus an epilogue to go. I'll do my best to keep it coming!!!
Originally Posted By irishfan You do realise now that we'll be expecting trip reports like this after every future DLP trip you take.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <I DID have the Salmon! > You DID! LOL! Love it! You and Em are so entertaining!!!
Originally Posted By u k fan In an effort to get this written before my brain turns to mush heres... PART 4 – ONE SMALL STEP I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but Em had never ridden Space Mountain and it’s kind of become one of those burning questions. Like who shot JR? When will Em ride SM? I’d told him at the start of the trip that I would love to take his first ride with him, but that I completely understood if he didn’t want to. We even got Fast Passes earlier in the trip just in case, but they sadly went unused. On Saturday Em finally decided that he would ride SM first thing on Sunday. So we got up bright and early and headed to the park. I wanted to check that Em was Ok with riding and that he wasn’t doing it because of any pressure. He said that he did really want to try it and he would be pleased to get it out of the way because he was tired of being asked about it! So once again we found ourselves at rope drop outside Discoveryland. And after a little pushing (not from us) and one really rude lady who nearly flattened me, and for those who’ve seen me, they know that’s no mean feat, we were headed into the SM building. As we stopped by the picture of the cannon at the top of the stairs I explained the old and new concepts behind DLP’s SM to Em and then we were off! Em loved it! To be honest I don’t remember him saying much as we rode, but I remember screaming “Supernova†when we got to it. I kinda wanted to make sure Em realised what it was, but the minute I did it I felt very silly and wished I hadn’t!! Emerson now had a new favorite attraction! He said that he loved it and wished he’d ridden it sooner. I offered to buy him the photo to commemorate the event, but he didn’t want it so there you go! He wanted to ride it again, so I said we’d come back this evening when the park was quieter. We the headed round to Buzz to get Fast Passes for later. Then as promised earlier in the trip we headed back round to Fantasyland to ride IASW. We stopped at the Teacups for a quick spin (or two); actually we really went for it. I don’t think I’ve ever been as fast! I was a little concerned the cup wouldn’t make it! Anyway, then it was off to IASW, which was now a walk on. Sad to say I noticed that we weren’t looking at a full compliment of dolls, but I think if you weren’t a weirdo like me you wouldn’t notice. Having said that Em noticed that the clown in the balloon at the end didn’t have his sign, so what does that say about him?! I can’t remember what the sign usually says, any takers? I was pleased to see what I’ve dubbed “The Happiest Leopard on Earth†was still there. He’s my fave! Then it was off to Adventureland for an explore. Em had never been up the Swiss Family Treehouse so we did that and he really enjoyed it. I was sad to see so many people treat it as a race to get round. We read everything and spent time looking and were often passed by groups who came in after us. We then headed off to Pont Suspendu and Pont Flotant (Sps?) and explored the roots of the tree. After a bit more mooching it was off to Buzz for our Fast Pass time and sadly neither of us got the hidden targets this time. I forget our scores, but I suspect Em may have beaten me again. I seem to remember it was close! I’m trying to remember where we had lunch that day; I think it may have been the Cable Car Bake Shop again! As it was the last day I wanted to pick up some souvenirs so after Em had written on his postcard home we headed off to Disney Village. I got pressies for my other Nieces and Nephews and crammed 2 boxes full of Mr. Potato Head pieces. They have those pieces in the Disney Store in the village now, though there is a Potato Head warden who keeps you under his beady eye at all times. I assume it’s because the pieces are easy to steal. Needless to say in true u k fan style my boxes were bursting, yet they did kind of shut, until the CM took them out of the basket!! I get it from my mother who can fill one of those self-serve salad bowls at the supermarket with enough to feed the 5,000! Anyway, Em’s a bit of a swimmer and I hate it, but since it was his trip we headed back to the hotel for a chill and a swim. I watched a bit more telly (I’m sure TDG will be thrilled) and Em listened to It’s Halloween-lo-ween on my CD player non-stop for about half an hour. I love that song! Then I roughly packed our case and we headed to the pool. We’d had a bad experience at this pool before and thankfully this time we were a bit more prepared for it. We had a good splash around for a bit and then headed back upstairs to our room. Em had a quick play with his Donald Duck, he really loves it, and then we were off to the park again! We headed straight to SM, which had a 40 min wait time posted (it was nearer to 25 mins in truth) and got in line. Once again Em loved it and I rode it with my feet up and without holding on, just for fun! As soon as we got out Em wanted to ride again so we got straight back in line. This time the wait was around 15-20 mins. I rode with my feet up, not holding on with my eyes shut. I don’t know why, I just did! We then headed over to Buzz for a farewell ride. Again I don’t remember our scores, I think I won this time! And then with 20 mins til park close we hotfooted it over to BTM for our last attraction of the trip. It was kinda nice to go full circle and end where we began, older, wiser, more fluent in Spanish, but still essentially back in the same place. Two friends enjoying the magic of Disney. I’m not going to bore you with me on my soapbox, but I’m starting to put my finger on why I like Disney so much. It’s because I love my family and I enjoy (to quote that Kodak song) Makin’ Memories. Whether that be at the parks or just by watching a DVD. If I’m honest, and I may have said this before, Emerson and I have had some great Disney moments and I’ve always readied myself for the day when something else takes over and he likes soccer or something else that I’m not into and it would be too dramatic to say I’ll lose him, but we won’t have as much in common and one day the bond that we share through Disney won’t be there. Because of that I kind of saw this trip as our last big Disney adventure before I get ready to accept the fact that he’s growing up and it won’t be cool anymore that I have a room full of toys! I’m grateful to Disney that I’ve been able to spend quality time with all of my family through what they do. This seems like a nice place to end it, so I’ll wrap up my trip next time – don’t go away!!! COMING SOON: THE EPILOGUE or BOY WAS QUASI FIT!!!
Originally Posted By irishfan Ukfan, really great report....I'm getting a bit emotional myself after reading your final paragraph.
Originally Posted By u k fan Thanks! I suppose that is an emotional paragraph and it's not really where I thought it was heading. I was about to tell you about my dinner!!!
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy That *was* very touching and introspective, u k fan...and another fantastic report too! And I even got a "mention" at the part about the "telly"! LOL! chickendumpling and I'll be sittin' on pins 'n needles waitin' to hear about that there dinner!
