First trip to the world;Grand Gathering of 12

[joyerbides]

Hello everyone:

This is my first attempt to make a trip report. I have never done this, so please bear with me.

Well, let me introduce the cast. There were 12 of us in all. My family, my nephews family and my younger nephew (who belongs to another sister)

Me: princess: Jana, 35 years old (soon to be 36 in one week). I am obsessed with the Dis boards, and I am now completely obsessed with the World. Already thinking about planning another trip :rolleyes1

DH: pirate: Rob, 33 yrs. old. Loves football (this will come in to play later). He is NOT obsessed with Disney, and thinks I'm nuts for wanting to plan a trip, since we just got home 4 days ago :confused3

DS14: pirate: Nathan. In 8th grade. He is completely obsessed with video games and thinks he is going to make a career out of it. (The only way to get the kid on a plane was to bribe him. He wanted an XBox with XBox live for his birthday, which was yesterday. I told him I would get it for him if he went on the plane with no hassles. He did, but man did he bug the heck out of me for months, to give it to him early)

DS11: pirate: Tyler (AKA: TJ) In 6th grade. Can you say ATTITUDE? Gotta love the tween years. He can't decide if he loves me or hates me. Go figure. :confused3 When he loves me he is the cutest, sweetest, kid. When he hates me....;)

DS6: pirate: Kevin (AKA: Andrew -middle name) In kindergarten. My sweet front toothless child. (lost them a week before we left). He is still momma's boy :hug:

DD3: princess: Alexia (AKA: Lex) My baby :angel: She is full of wonderment and joy. That is until she decides that she has to change her clothes every 5 minutes. (I thought this happened later in life:lmao: ).

The other part of my grandgathering was my DN30 (Chris), his wife Mimi 29, their 3 kids, Hallie 9, Bradley 7, Aiden 4. And I took my other nephew, Ryan 14.

Okay, so now you all know who we are.

We left on Friday, August 31st. Our NW flight left at 12:05 pm. We flew out of Detroit, MI. So we left our house (Toledo, OH) at 9:30 am. I might add that out of the 12 of us, only 3 have ever flown. Nerves were a little high. DH hands were sweating the whole way there:laughing: Going through security was a little rough, and quick. We looked like a bunch of idiots :rotfl2: . We made it on the plane thankfully. And we're off.
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This is DS14, DN14 and DS11 on the plane.

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This is silly DD3 and DH.

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This is DN30, DS6 and DN7.

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DNc9, DNc29 and DN4. Hey who is the guy up front???:lmao:

I'm not in any of the plane pictures, but you'll see me later on.

We get to Orlando MCO by 2:40 p.m. and everyone is ready to go. Especially those in our group who smoke. We haven't smoked since before we left Detroit. There were some grumpy men with us :sad2: .

We get to the DME and go outside to smoke:rolleyes1 and what is the first thing I say? Wow, it's hot out here :rotfl2: Guess what, Jana, you're in Florida. So, we get on the ME and off we go. Of course, it's raining, but who cares, we're on our way to DisneyWorld :yay:

More to follow......

[mkluvsmickey]

Great start! Looking forward to more. :)

[joyerbides]

Continued, Day one.

We arrive at our destination....Saratoga Springs Resort.
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This was a huge deal for us, since we were originally supposed to stay at ASMo, but we were given a free upgrade due to the Free DDP, and the limited space at the values. So of course we took it. Who wouldn't:confused3. We were given 3 one bedroom villas. We went to check in and were given rooms in Congress Park. This was pretty cool, since we could walk to DTD, from our rooms. We were fairly close to the quiet pool, and a short trek to the Springs section, which housed the gift shop, main pool (zero entry pool), arcade, Artist's Palatte, etc.
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We dropped off our stuff (bell services took us to our rooms as this resort is huge, plus my garden grocer delivery was waiting for me 3 hours early :woohoo: ). We decided to head over to DTD, to eat and play at DisneyQuest.

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This is the walkway from our resort to DTD. (See that bag, hanging from the stroller. Take a good look at it, it will be the last time you see it:sad2: .

We get to DTD, and look around us. We have never been here before, so this is really exciting. We head over to DisneyQuest and eat dinner at Foodquest, which is really the Cheesecake factory. This is when we first find out how to use our DDP. It was a little tricky at first but we came through it. Everyone had pizza, except me and DH. He had spaghetti and I had an Italian Panini. So after we eat, it off to play games. Let me tell you, it is not easy to keep track of 8 kids, with only 4 adults. (or I should say 2 adults and 2 men who think they are kids now that they in WDW). This is where the bag comes in to play. Myself and DN29, decide we are going to take the little ones, my DS11 and DN9 back to the resort for a late night swim (kind of late 9:00 pm). DH and DN30 are going to keep DS6 and DN7, and the older boys there to play. We say goodbye and we are on our way.

First call, from DH, "Honey, Chris lost his cell phone" That would be DN30. I let his wife know. NOT HAPPY. We are walking back to the resort, hopefully it's in the room. We get to the room. THANK GOD, it's there. Second Call from DH. "UGH, honey, do you have my bag?" Me: "No, you have it.",
DH, "No I don't. I think I lost it". Needless to say, at this point, DH is upset. He had his brand new Dale Earnhardt Jr. sunglasses in there, his eyeglasses case and DD3 pull ups in it. He files a lost bag claim, and guess what, they come back to the resort.

This trip is not starting off very well ::rolleyes1. I guess that's what you get when you let the men go off by themselves:lmao:.

So we swim a little longer then head back to our rooms. Night one is done.

Day 2 coming soon....

[joyerbides]

Well we start day 2 off with a freaky wake up call at 6:00 a.m. by Stitch. I think Mickey was on there too. It was pretty creepy. I get up and get the older kids up along with DH. Of course this is only our first park day, so everyone was ready to get up.

We all head over to the bus stop to catch the bus. We see several other park busses go by, but no Epcot bus.....HMMM.... There it is! It's coming our way, it's in front of us.....It's leaving :confused3 . Yes, it did not even stop, it just went right on by. Now, this is only the first day to use these busses, but I'm pretty sure, the driver saw us and didn't give a rat's behind. Very undisney:confused: Ok, we'll keep waiting. About 10 minutes later another Epcot bus comes. :yay: We get on it and head for Epcot. We get there, go through the bag check, etc..... We missed the rope drop (Stupid bus driver...:mad: ). Will not let it ruin the day. First thing we do, is get autographs with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale.
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(There I am)
The older boys went off by themselves in Futureworld, so they didn't have the luxury of getting their autographs. After meeting the characters, we head straight for Soarin. We were going to get fastpasses, but didn't need to. Since we had little ones, we did the rider switch. Very nice:love: I decided to stay and be the switcher. During this time, two of the 3 boys come back. Hello? Where is TJ? They said he was being a brat, so they left him behind. Ok, now I'm mad :mad: How could they do this. By this time, DH and the rest of the gang, come off the ride. DH see's that I'm about to have a melt down, so he says to go on the ride and he will find TJ. Luckily, for those 2 boys, DH found DS11 and they were all waiting for me by the time I got off the ride.
It's about 10:30 am now and DH and DN30 are looking at their watches. This is the about the time, they decide that they are going to go to the ESPN club to watch their beloved Michigan Wolverines play their first game of the season. Ok, no problem. We're only in DISNEYWORLD :confused3. So they go and take DS14 and DN14 with them. The rest of us move on. We went to The Land, The Living Seas and right about this time, a huge storm moves in. I'm talking, pouring down rain, lightning and thunder. Did I mention lightening???? Yes, it was close by too. So, just like everyone else, we stayed close to the buildings. Of course, our strollers got soaked along with my itinerary :scared: I worked hard on that thing darn it.

Well, in hind sight, I now realize that that lighting storm was probably because our Wolverines lost to Appalacian State :rotfl2:

We ate lunch at the Electric Umbrella. It was pretty good. We had burgers and fries.

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(DS6, DD3, DS11)

Well, we trudged on after the rain storm. It actually got sunny and HOT again. The kids seemed to do ok though. We didn't make it to Test Track, but we did do Mission Space (the tame version). I would have liked to gone on the other one, but too many scared little ones.

At 4:00 we met up with the guys in Mexico. We ate our first tableservice meal at San Angel Inn. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was perfect.
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After dinner we walked around Mexico for awhile. This kids tried on hats, etc...
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and then we met up with Donald and his buddy Jose (Don't I look a little worse for the wear?)
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We split up from our other group for awhile. They had enough of Mexico and wanted to see other lands ;).

We went to Norway and rode Maelstrom. It was alright. Nothing fantastic. I thought it would be scarier. But alas, it was not.

We headed over to Germany
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After that, we kind of aimlessly walked around World Showcase. This kids were starting to get bored :confused3, so we couldn't really appreciate the countries like I wanted to.

It started to get dark, so we found a spot for illuminations. After thinking about it, this was my favorite nighttime show. I loved them all, but this actually brought tears to my eyes. I have some pictures, but not all of them turned out.
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After Illuminations was over, it was time to call it a day. We headed back to the resort. The older kids went back to the pool for awhile, but the grown ups decided to call it a night and stay in.

Day 3 to be continued.....

[mkluvsmickey]

Another great update! I can imagine its hard to keep all 12 people happy all the time!

Is that a Pal Mickey I see you wearing? We're thinking about getting one for up upcoming trip and just wondering if you thought it was worthwhile?

[LauraAnn630]

Love the trip report! Its a lot like ours with a lot less people. We drove from Ohio to Detroit MI and stayed at SSR too!

I bet is was hard trying to keep to a touring plan. Our group wanted to sleep in!

Cant wait to hear the rest of the story!

[joyerbides]

Another great update! I can imagine its hard to keep all 12 people happy all the time!

Is that a Pal Mickey I see you wearing? We're thinking about getting one for up upcoming trip and just wondering if you thought it was worthwhile?

Yup, it was very hard to keep everyone happy. However, we decided to let the older boys go on their own alot, so they wouldn't complain. It worked sometimes, DS14, kept wanting to go back to DisneyQuest...:confused3
We separated from DN30 and family a couple of times, so we could do what we wanted and they didn't have to follow.

Yes, that is a Pal Mickey. We carried him the first 3 days. After that, he stayed home. He works well, but he was hard to hear. He vibrates when he has something to say, but you can only hear him if you put him up to your ear. So I was stopping alot to listen to him. He was fun to have around, but I found myself so busy looking after everyone else, that he had to take a back seat. My kids absolutely loved him though.

[joyerbides]

Love the trip report! Its a lot like ours with a lot less people. We drove from Ohio to Detroit MI and stayed at SSR too!

I bet is was hard trying to keep to a touring plan. Our group wanted to sleep in!

Cant wait to hear the rest of the story!

Funny thing about that touring plan... I spent months, putting this trip together, had itineraries, touring plans for each park, etc., etc., day 2, as you read earlier, the touring plan was wrecked in the rain., day 3, which I haven't told yet, I forgot it at the room. By the time we got to day 4, who the heck cared, because, no one followed my plans anyways:sad2: We did okay though. We had people who wanted to sleep in too, well the rule was... be at the bus stop by 8:15 and no later or you get left behind to enjoy your day at the resort. This was the plan from the beginning, that way, no one could be mad at someone else for ruining their plans.

[joyerbides]

I'll be trying to day 3 soon. I'm at work and it's the only time I can do this, (Don't tell my boss :rotfl2:) Right now, I actually don't have the time, but I think I might be able to do it this afternoon.

[scottny]

Great report. The pics are great. Looks like a fun day at Epcot. Saratoga looks like a really nice resort.

[mkluvsmickey]

Yup, it was very hard to keep everyone happy. However, we decided to let the older boys go on their own alot, so they wouldn't complain. It worked sometimes, DS14, kept wanting to go back to DisneyQuest...:confused3
We separated from DN30 and family a couple of times, so we could do what we wanted and they didn't have to follow.

Yes, that is a Pal Mickey. We carried him the first 3 days. After that, he stayed home. He works well, but he was hard to hear. He vibrates when he has something to say, but you can only hear him if you put him up to your ear. So I was stopping alot to listen to him. He was fun to have around, but I found myself so busy looking after everyone else, that he had to take a back seat. My kids absolutely loved him though.

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to make a deal with DD that if we get a Pal Mickey she will be responsible for carrying him. :laughing:

Looking forward to your next post! :)

[joyerbides]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to make a deal with DD that if we get a Pal Mickey she will be responsible for carrying him. :laughing:

Looking forward to your next post! :)

We got our Pal Mickey on EBay. They always have them on there. Try there first so you don't have to pay 70.00 at the parks. I think I paid 35.00 for mine and he worked great. Actually, the clip that came with him broke on the 3rd day we had him (thanks to DD3), and I went into one of the pal mickey stores to buy another one and they gave me one for free :flower3: . Now that is service for ya.

[joyerbides]

Great report. The pics are great. Looks like a fun day at Epcot. Saratoga looks like a really nice resort.

Thanks, yes we did have fun at Epcot, except for the storm, but luckily it didn't last for long. SSR was fabulous. Loved it.

[mkluvsmickey]

We got our Pal Mickey on EBay. They always have them on there. Try there first so you don't have to pay 70.00 at the parks. I think I paid 35.00 for mine and he worked great. Actually, the clip that came with him broke on the 3rd day we had him (thanks to DD3), and I went into one of the pal mickey stores to buy another one and they gave me one for free :flower3: . Now that is service for ya.

Thanks for the tip! Any money saved is great! :)

[joyerbides]

Thanks for the tip! Any money saved is great! :)

:thumbsup2

[joyerbides]

DAY 3: Magic Kingdom

Ok, on to day 3. We get our creepy wake up call from Stitch. By this time, I have just decided to pick up the phone, make sure it's him and hang up. It's 6:00 am again. I'm starting to feel tired already. But I can't be tired. Today is Magic Kingdom: Of course, I go and wake up the older boys in their room. Not happy with me. Alot of complaining that it is TOO early to wake up, this is supposed to be vacation. Teenagers....:sad2: I go back to the room, get the little ones ready, I get ready, DH is getting ready and then we make our phone call to DN30 and his fam. We all meet out at the front and walk to the bus stop. Waiting for the bus. Waiting. Waiting. Oh, here it comes. We are on our way. Wow, this is a long bus trip. We FINALLY get there (maybe the ride just seemed long with 8 kids in tow), and head into the park. Wow, there is hardly anyone here :banana: I did do a touring plan for the park, but alas, it is in the room. :eek: Ok, I think I remember it. I know we were supposed to head to Space Mountain first, get fastpasses and head to Fantasyland. Ok, we have to get our photopasses first (forgot to do this in Epcot yesterday). Lets get some pictures:
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This is my family plus my DN14 who is next to me.

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This is DH and DN30. This pictures always cracks me up. They look soooo serious.

Okay, so we are heading towards space mountain. This is good. We are following the touring plan. Oh wait, look its stitch and there is no line. Now, I don't want to be a Disney Nazi or anything, but, this is not the plan. Okay, lets do Stitch. I heard that this may be scary for little ones. We walk right on. Let's just say, I thought it was cute, but DS6 and DNc9 thought this was like a nightmare. Both of them were crying. Not a thing I could do, except hold DS6's hand and tell him it wasn't real. Funny thing, DD3and DN4, had no problem with it. We get off that nightmare and go to Space mountain. No need for fastpasses, we walked right on. Did the riderswitch, cool. After this, I thought we would head to Fantasyland. WRONG AGAIN. Let's just do everything in Tomorrowland. Oh well, lets roll with the punches. We do Monsters Inc. Laughfloor. Very cute, Buzz Lightyear, bought the pictures, very funny. I haven't scanned those pictures yet, sorry. But DS14, looked like he REALLY WAS fighting Emperor Zurg. It was worth the money for that one. We may have ridden something else, but I can't remember off hand. It was time to go to the Crystal Palace for our first Character Meal. We only had to wait about 10 minutes, but it was packed and it was HOT. All of you that were there during this week, know what I am talking about. It was a buffet. It was beautiful and spacious in there. For the life of me, I cannot remember what I ate. I was more concerned with the characters. I do remember that there was alot of food and I enjoyed my meal. Everyone had a good time. In retrospect, however, after doing other character meals, this one seemed rushed (the characters) and they didn't really do anything special. I'll get into more detail later.

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DS14 (Did not want the characters near him, but that all changed later on in the trip)

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DH (isn't he cute?)

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DS6 (he was loving this)

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DNc9, DD3 and DN4

After Crystal Palace we headed over to Adventureland. (I think). We headed over to Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We all rode that. Yippee. It was fun for the little ones. We walked around, not sure what else we did there, it is kind of a blur. I know that we headed over to pirates of carribean. We rode that and everyone loved it. It lets out in the gift shop and I was desperately trying to get out of there. (Every gift shop I heard "Can I get this, I want that, will you buy me this?) So, I rushed out of there in record time. Evidently, we got separated from DN30 and his clan because we couldn't find them. As we were walking out we caught a glimpse of Capt. Hook and Mr. Smee. I wanted their autographs, but didn't catch them in time. Then suddenly, this pirate (human) came up to DS6 and took his hand. Okay, what is this about? He asked him to help him with a rope.
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Obviously, something was about to take place. But what?

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I couldn't believe it. Capt. Jack Sparrow. :yay: This was completely unexpected and totally made my day. I didn't even care now that the dream squad hadn't been seen at all.
Actually, this was the highlight of my day. I took about 15 pictures in all, but I won't overdue it. Heres a couple.
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He kept coming over to DS6 and DS11, and actually picked a bunch of kids to help with the skit, DS6 and DD3 was two of them.
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You can see DD3 and DS6 in the middle

(Where is DN30 and clan? They totally missed this). I found out later that they were in the shop. Boy, was I glad I rushed out of there. I would have been pretty upset missing this.

Afterwards, we all met up, and walked over to the parade. This was fun, but very crowded. I have a million pictures of this too, but I won't overindulge here.

By this time, DD14, was whining that he wanted to go back to the resort room. I thought it was because he wanted to swim. He was complaining alot that he was hot and just didn't want to do anything more. He is prone to this sort of thing as he is addicted to video games and unless he has a controller in his hands, he is not happy. However, this is the time in my touring plan that we were to take a break anyways, so I volunteered to take him back. Everyone except DH, DN30, DS11 and DN14 went back. Yes, the women took the kids, and the men or should I say boys, stayed. We took the bus back and DS14, went to his room. He said he didn't want to swim, he was just going to stay in the room. The rest of us went to the pool. It was closed due to lightening. No rain, just lightening. Finally, after about 20 minutes, the pools opened and we went swimming.
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the kids by the water play area
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We did this for about an hour and we decided it was time to eat. We called the "boys" at the park and decided we would meet at the front of the park. They rode Big Thunder Mountain and Big Splash Mountain without us. :eek: That's okay, I wasn't really in the mood. Before we left, I went to check on DS14. He was sleeping. I asked if he wanted to go back to the park and he said he didn't. I was skeptical about leaving him there alone, but he insisted he would lock himself in the room and not go out. He hadn't eaten since brunch, but I had gotten garden grocier and he had PB&J if he wanted it. Reluctantly, we left him and headed back. Another long trip to MK. The guys met us at the front and we headed back to the park. We ended up at Pinocchio's Village Haus for dinner. It tasted okay. Nothing spectacular. I kept calling DS14, he kept getting mad at me, saying I was waking him up. Geez, try to be a concerned parent. DH suggested that he had heat exhaustion. Could I be more of an idiot?? Of course. So, I called again and told him to drink lots of water. He said he was fine, but he humored me. I wanted to go back, but he told me not to worry, and everyone else said he would be fine as long as he drank lots of fluids and got some rest. So we trudged on. By the time dinner was done, it was getting dark. Time to get ready for Wishes. We got a great spot in the front of the castle. The little ones fell asleep waiting. Then some very rude people in front of us starting standing when the fireworks started. Several people behind me asked them to sit, but they refused and stood the whole time :mad: They didn't speak english and we think they were German. Nothing against German people, just these rude people. The man was VERY rude to everyone who tried to talk to him. Despite this I tried to get pictures. However, this time, my camera decided not to work as well as the night before.
Here are the best of the bunch:
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After the fireworks, I was ready to go, but it WAS EMH that night, so we stayed. We pushed the little ones in their stollers and kept going. We, those of us who did not ride it before, rode BTM. The line was an hour and a half long. I didn't really want to wait, but I did. After this, we were ready to call it a day. So we headed back to the resort for some much needed rest. Needless to say, we never made it to fantasyland. So much for my touring plans. Well, the next day was supposed to be a free NON-PARK day, but I guess that was about to change. How could we skip Fantasyland. No way was that going to happen. So I knew that we would have very little sleep, before we went back to MK.

Just for the record...DS14 slept from the time we dropped him off around 4:00 pm until the next morning when we woke him up. I guess he got the rest he needed;)

To Be Continued.......

[scottny]

great update. I loved CP when we ate there. But it wasn't too busy when we went.
DN14 slept that long I wish I could.
Great pics.
Looking forward to more.

[joyerbides]

DAY FOUR: CHEF MICKEY'S AND MAGIC KINGDOM "AGAIN"

Monday morning arrives too quickly. Creepy stitch again wakes me up, but I hang up on him. Not feeling very Disney this morning. Let's see, 5 hours of sleep? Who's fault is that? I blame those evil people that made me stay until 12:30 at MK last night. That's right, My DH and DN30. That's okay, because I'm about to get my revenge. I wake up DH, YES, it's time to get up honey. Then I call DN30 and his family. I may not be Stitch, but I can be just as annoying if I have to be ;). Awww, they are still sleeping? Well, TIME TO GET UP!!!! So, everyone is up and we are getting ready for our supposed to be free/non park day. You see, no one wanted to follow my touring plans so, here we are on our FREE day, spending it going back to MK. Today is Labor Day. We were going to try to avoid the parks today (crowds) and go resort hopping and shopping. This is not to be however, since I and the kids, totally missed Fantasyland yesterday. Well, it's time for breakfast. We have ADR's at Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary. Well, I guess it's kind of resort hopping, and I did buy our pictures there, so I guess I shopped :rolleyes: . Nevertheless, we make it to Chef Mickey's. Loved the monorail ride, (never did before), and the CR is awsome. We had the breakfast buffet, which was devine. Mickey waffles, and bacon and sausage (loved the sausage), breakfast pizza, potatoes, and more. The characters here were awsome. They played with the kids. They didn't do this at CP. I was pleased with this dining experience. We really had fun. Now, remember, DS14, did not want to interact with the characters. Well, by day 4, I'd had enough of his coolness. So I spoke secretly with Donald and Goofy and Minnie. They agreed with me that he should be more involved. So they went out of their way to mingle.
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Somewhere, I have a picture of Minnie kissing him, but I can't locate it right now. It was quite amusing. He didn't try to hide after that day. He new that if he did, I was just going to make them come to him :lmao: Aha! Found it.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0375.jpg

After breakfast, we made our way back to MK. This time, though, we split up from DN30 and his family. We decided to do our own thing today. Of course the older boys separated again too. So, it was just me, DH, DS6 and DD3 in fantasyland together. Well, we did what everyone wants to do in Fantasyland. We rode Dumbo, and the teacups, and the carousel. We, of course, had to ride It's a small world. Much needed air conditioning, by the way. We were trying to see Ariel, but it was a 50 minute wait, and no way, was I waiting. It was HOT. We did go and watch Mickey's Philharmagic though. I absolutely loved this. Don't ask me why, maybe lack of sleep and the sun getting to me, but I started to get teary-eyed. :confused3 After wiping my eyes, and leaving, we rode Snow White's Scary adventure. Funny thing, DD3 never got scared on any of these rides. She loved them all. Here are some pictures from our second morning at MK.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0402.jpg
DD3 on Teacups

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0405.jpg

DH and DS6 on Dumbo

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0408.jpg

DS6 and DD3 at Ariels Grotto

Before we decided on lunch, we went to go see Storytime with Belle. I needed a rest and besides, I love Beauty and the Beast, so I thought this would be cute. What I didn't realize, was that this was going to be the start of something MAGICAL for DS6 (mostly him) and DD3.

We entered her little area. It was very quaint. We decided to sit in the way back under the shade. Suddenly, one of Belle's "ladies" comes up to DS6 and asks if he would like to help Belle tell her story. His eyes get big, mine start to water, and he nods yes. She takes him up to the front and takes him behind something (I guess this is where they get into costume). Then Belle appears. She starts talking to the audience. She tells the story of her life and how Gaston wants to bully her into marrying her. Suddenly DS6 comes out dressed like Gaston (OMG, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry). His line was "YOU WILL MARRY ME, BELLE". He did it on cue every time. Then, again, one of Belle's ladies comes up to DD3 and asks does she want to help Belle. She is kind of shy, but she said yes, and she went up front too. I was shocked. Not only one, but both of my little ones were up there with Belle. DD3 was "Chip" the teacup. Oh my, this was another Magical highlight to my trip. The story was oh, so cute and afterwards, they all got to go up to Belle and get her autograph and picture taken with her. Let me tell you, DS6 has been in "love" with Belle ever since. He still talks about her and how he was going to marry her :lmao:
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0384.jpg

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After that memorable moment, we caught up with the rest of our group and decided to head to Cosmic Rays for lunch. Their food was pretty good, the air conditioning was FABULOUS!!! I think I had a burger and fries. Who knows. All the counter service meals, were about the same.

We still wanted to see the characters and princesses. Evidently, our other half did that prior to lunch. So we split up again, and headed in that direction. Our main objective was to see Cinderella, Belle (again) and Princess Aurora. We got to their tent and we didn't even have to wait. Thank God, for small favors (more air conditioning). The kids got their pictures and autographs and they even played "ring around the rosie" with them.

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Don't the kids look absolutely in love with Belle?

We walked around MK for a little while longer and decided to call it a day at the park. We had evening ADR's for Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre in MGM at 7:40 pm, so we went back to the resort and kicked it for a little while. Not too long, since we were taking the bus. We headed to MGM and found our restauant. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before we were seated. I thought this place was pretty cool. We had to cars of 6, side by side. The kids thought the movies were pretty stupid, but us adults, appreciated the corniness of it. I had the best oreo milkshake, salad, ribs, and for dessert a hot fudge sundae. Yes, I overindulged. About the time our meals were coming out, our older boys DN14 included, decided to take complete leave of their senses and play that game where you spread your fingers on the table and take a knife (luckily it was a butter knife) and try to stab in between your fingers :headache: . Yes... the CM (server) politely came over to our car, to let me know. This is when the magical day turned a little sour. They could not understand why I was so p.o.'d. I was over reacting:mad: Uh huh, I decided to put in a little call to my Dear Sister, so she could talk to her son. They were mostly quiet after that until we left.

This is the night we had designated for DN30 and wife to go out without the kids (our night was the next night--can't wait). They decided they wanted to stay at MGM for extra magic hours. Well, uh, okay. I guess we'll (DH and myself) take all 8 kids back to the resort, by ourselves. Subtle Pause for effect........ So, 3 stollers later (the older boys had to help) we trudge back to the bus stop and guess what, the 3 and 4 year olds are asleep. Tricky, very tricky. We somehow manage to get everyone on the bus. DH and myself are holding sleeping beauties, and the rest of the gang, I trust with the older boys in the back of the bus. BIG MISTAKE!!!!! It is at night, the lights are out and it sounds like a pep rally after a football game in the back. OMG!!! What it the H E double hockey sticks? I can't even give them the GLARE, cuz it's dark. They are not going to make me get up holding a sleeping 4 year old. Oh, yes they are. So, I got up, went to the back. Grabbed kids, I think they were mine :rotfl: and separated them. I apologize to anyone on the bus that night. They were loud, obnoxious, and yes, I dare to say it...Smelly. Someone thought it was funny to pass gas. Oh for the love of boys...

Well, we managed to get to our stop, get off the bus and boy oh boy, my DH, who very RARELY yells at the kids, let them (all of them, except the sleeping beauties) have it. He made them appologize to me and made them go straight to bed, with no late night swimming. Did I feel bad. NO. They humiliated me on that bus. We took the little ones and put them to bed. You would think that this would be the end of my night, but you would be wrong. You ask, what else could have gone wrong, and I tell you: I go and check with the older boys to make sure that they were in bed and what do I find? Their room is 87 degrees. Holy bat man, it's hot in here. What did you do to the air? They said it was like that when they got in there. Why didn't they come and tell me. Smart alec kids reply, "you told us to go to bed and not to leave our room". :rolleyes: That's what I get I guess. So I call the front desk. They send someone out to the room about 20 minutes later. I called at 11:15 pm. They came and went, and came and went. At 12:45, they said they had it fixed. So, I took their word for it and went back to my room. At 1:00 am, DN30 and wife are back and come get their kids. Will I ever sleep???? Probably not, but I'll try.

But it's not over. Day 5 continued soon.....

[scottny]

I Love Chef Mickey's. 8 kids with just the 2 of you. :scared1: then kids behaving badly by releasing gases in the back :eek: then a 87 degree room. Funny though the reason they did not tell you.

[joyerbides]

I Love Chef Mickey's. 8 kids with just the 2 of you. :scared1: then kids behaving badly by releasing gases in the back :eek: then a 87 degree room. Funny though the reason they did not tell you.

Yes, I can laugh about it now. At the time though :scared:

[joyerbides]

DAY 5: ANIMAL KINGDOM

Tuesday morning: The phone rings: I know it's Stitch, I pick up the phone and hang it right back up. It's enough that the phone is ringing, I'm up. Daily routine, get up, take shower, wake up DH, and little ones. I decide to go to the older kids room to wake them up. Knock, DS14 answers the door and once again I am blasted by the heat of HELL. I walk in the room and it is STILL 87 degrees. Ok, now I'm mad:mad: DS14 tells me it was like this the whole night. I don't even bother asking why he didn't tell me. I go directly to the phone and call the front desk. Conversation that takes place: CM answers phone, I tell her that the room that I am in right now, is still 87 degrees. Tell her about last night, etc. etc. and she says, "We'll send someone over to fix it". (If this was the first night, maybe. However, you must realize that I am surviving on about 5 hours of sleep a night, dealing with 8 children a day (four of which are not mine), more miles on my feet than I have on my van and I am standing in the den of Satan, ok maybe it was one degree less than hell) so, I as politely as I can muster, I tell her "no, that it not going to work. They were in this room for an hour and half last night (in the middle of the night, mind you) and they said it was fixed then. I don't have time for this and this room is not habitable. She said, "no problem, someone will fix it". Ok, maybe polite is not working. I simply say, "I need to speak with a supervisor". She puts me on hold for about 3-4 minutes. Then she comes back on and says "she is busy right now, she'll have to call you back". :confused: I said "Don't worry, I'm coming down". I go to my own room, tell DH that I'm going down there. I call DNC 29 to let her know what is going on and they are STILL asleep. :sad2: Never mind, I leave. Something that is noteworthy. It is 7:45 am. We are supposed to leave at 8:00 am to get to Animal Kingdom. We were going to do the Safari and go to Donald's Breakfastosaurus by 10:00 am. FAT CHANCE now. We were in Congress Park and I made it to the Springs in about 4 minutes. For those of you who do not know, it takes at least 7 minutes to get there walking at a normal pace. I walk in and the supervisor is already at the desk. She said she just talked to DH and he let her know that we have breakfast ressies this morning. She is very sympathetic. I am winded but I try and get out what I have to say. I put it very simply. We are a grand gathering of 12. I was told when I made my ressies, that we would be together. I know it's no guarantee, but they would do everything in their power to have us close. We were not close. They are on the 3rd floor and on the other side of the building. We are on the 4th floor no where near them. I tried to get connecting rooms for our boys, but they said that it was not possible. I tried to downgrade from a one bedroom villa to a studio to make it possible, but no go. I never complained, not once. But now, I am upset about the room and I want them moved. Also, if they move, we have to move because we have to be close. I don't care how they do it, just please do it. Luckily, she gave me no problems. In fact, she moved all of us into a 2 bedroom villa at no charge. THANK YOU GOD!!! She replaced all of our cards, and said to pack our stuff and bell services would move our bags for us. She moved us 2 doors down from my DN30 and his family. Now that's Disney service for you :thumbsup2 I called DH and by the time I got back, it took longer than 4 minutes this time, he had us packed and ready to go. We decided to move ourselves. (Figured it would be faster). Got to our new room, very cool, and unloaded our bags. The older kids were less than pleased that they were going to be in the same room, but at least they were not dying of heat exhaustion. Called DN30, and asked if they were ready. They were. Called the front desk, cancelled bell services and we were off to Animal Kingdom. We got there about 9:30 am. Stopped in front of the tree of life got pictures.
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Decided to wait on the safari, because of our ADR's at 10:00. We hung out in Dinoland until it was time for our breakfast. Rode some rides, can't remember the names, DS11 decided to play some games, won a stuffed dinosaur (great something else to carry) and walked over to Donald's Breakfastosaurus. I have to say, this was by far the BEST character meal we had. Not so much because of the food (it was just as good as Chef Mickey's), or the characters (they were great too), it was because of our server. I wish I would have gotten his name. He was PERFECT. He played with the kids, did magic tricks. Thank God for him, he saved my morning.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0445.jpg

This is him doing magic tricks for the kids.

He played tricks on the adults as well. We never tipped over what was given on the DDP, since the servers were already tipped 18%. However, the kids pooled their money together to tip him, so, not to be outdone, so did we. He probably got and extra $15 that morning on top of his 18%. He was fantastic. Here are a few more pictures from that meal.
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that's me :)

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After breakfast, we headed to Expedition Everest. Did the rider switch again. Loved this ride. Very fun.
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We headed to the trails and checked out the wild life. The trails were very impressive.
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DH is holding the stuffed dinosaur they named sparky :confused3

We headed over to "It's tough to be a bug". Everyone was sporting their bug glasses.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0465.jpg

Remember, when I introduced our cast? Well DS11 has these moments, when he hates me, well, I caught it on film...;)
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0472.jpg

Almost everyone liked this show....some kids cried. I guess sometimes, it's tough to be a kid ;)

We headed over to the Festival of the Lion King. I give this show 2:thumbsup2. It was so powerful, that I actually even cried. Well, that's not saying much, but nonetheless...

I took pictures, but they did not come out very good. We then headed straight over to Pocahontas. That was a cute show too.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0519.jpg
We left that show, and met Flick along the way.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0523.jpg

About this time, the parade started. We had good seats. I won't go on to post a bunch of pictures of this parade, I'll save that for tomorrow's parade.
When the parade ended, we headed over to Dinosaur. Everyone loved that as well. By this time, the park was closing. We missed the safari and Nemo. Such is life. Maybe another day.

We headed out of the park and headed back to the resort. The day is not ended however.

I'll continue that soon......

[scottny]

Sounds like a fun day at AK. Not a fun morning at the resort but at least they resolved it.

[tinawv]

Looks like the beginning of a great TR, and I am absolutely love all the pictures. What a beautiful family you have. Did you find it hard trying to keep everybody together and happy? We had a grand gathering of 8 in 2003, and at times it was hard to keep everybody on track (i.e., some late sleepers, deciding where to eat, and a few temper flare ups). One thing that I learned from our trip, was that you didn't always have to be together 24/7.

Looking forward to more. :)

[joyerbides]

Looks like the beginning of a great TR, and I am absolutely love all the pictures. What a beautiful family you have. Did you find it hard trying to keep everybody together and happy? We had a grand gathering of 8 in 2003, and at times it was hard to keep everybody on track (i.e., some late sleepers, deciding where to eat, and a few temper flare ups). One thing that I learned from our trip, was that you didn't always have to be together 24/7.

Looking forward to more. :)

Thank you :). Yes, at times it was difficult. Not everyone was on the same page all of the time. We did a pretty good job keeping it together, mostly. We had scheduled alot of TS meals, due to the free DDP, and we decided beforehand, where our CS meals would be. It worked out most days. I think the most problems we had were the older boys :sad2: I anticipated melt downs with the little ones. I was not expecting the preteens and teens to be a factor. I thought they would behave appropriately. Just goes to show you, kids are kids until they are fully grown, and then not always. If I had to do it over again, I would have definately had more down time. Not enough sleep. I over reacted alot too. I wanted everything to be perfect, and it wasn't. I knew that beforehand, but once you get there, it's a whole different story. We did have alot of fun though.

[joyerbides]

DAY 5 CONTINUED:

We came back to the resort after a fun filled day at Animal Kingdom. We got back around 6:00 pm. We were originally going to head over to Fort Wilderness for the Chip n' Dale's singalong campfire, but everyone was tired and hot and hungry. So we opted to stay at the resort and hang. Tonite was mine and DH's nite out so, I figured I better get some relaxation in there. We headed to the room to get changed to swim. We decided to eat at Artist's Palette, which is located at the resort. We went in there and that's when it all fell apart. They are a counter service meal. They did not seem to know whether or not we were supposed to get desserts, and they told us the kids couldn't have that particular size cup (uh, those are the only cups out :confused: ), the kids were going every which way....I was about to have a breakdown:sick: . The food there was not good. I had the chicken tenders, and they were anything BUT tender. It was like eating cardboard. Around this time, my DS11, my wonderful child :headache: , flipped out of his chair and fell on his butt. All I could do is stare at him. Of course, DS14 and DN14 were hysterically laughing, and not making things better. I couldn't even speak. How does one fall out of their chair? Actually, the chair flipped while he was in it. My DNc29, took the liberty to go and talk to the boys. I basically needed a padded room by then. They all ate in sulky silence after that, but alas, this was not the end. I called DS11 over to the table when he was finished and tried to talk to him, but this was the "I hate my mom" time, so he was not cooperating. DH (who is step-dad, by the way), tried to take over, but DS11, decided at that moment to make a scene :eek: I very quietly got up, grabbed DS11 by the arm and very quickly took him out of the restaurant. We walked very quickly to the resort room, where I was thinking of all sorts of ways to discipline this very hard headed, obstinate child of mine. The only rational thing I could think to do, was to call his father back in Ohio. He calmed me down, talked to his son and shockingly, it did the trick. The child was ALMOST perfect the rest of the trip.

So, after our episode, I took him back to the pool, retrieved DH and we got ready to go out. Can you say "I would like 15 margaritas, please!!!!" We headed over to DTD and went browsing. This is nice, no kids :) We ended up going to Pleasure Island, and went to the Adventurer's Club. What a hoot. OMG, I needed that laughter. This place was awsome. It was comical, relaxing and just what the doctor ordered. We came home around midnight. (I only had one drink, and it pretty much knocked me on my butt). It was a well deserved night out, and very much needed.

Day 6 to come.....

[scottny]

boys will be boys. i hope when i go everyone behaves it will be me and 3 kids. alone unless my bro and family decide to go. I should be fine i threatened babysitters. LOl.
AC looks like a fun place maybe in 2009 I will get there.

[joyerbides]

DAY 6: MGM STUDIOS

Day 6, is Wednesday. Our day to go to MGM. We have our usual morning ritual. Hang up on Stitch, wake up DH and little ones. Now, I just need to go to the next room to wake up the older boys, so this is nice. Blah, Blah, Blah.
We make it to the bus stop by 8:15 am. Now, keep in mind that we have yet to be at rope drop for any park, thus far. I'm hoping we make it today.
We get there and what do you know? We made rope drop. Holy Cow! I can't believe it. It only took 5 days to do this:rotfl: The day did not seem so hot, the crowd level didn't seem as bad. Could it be happening? Might we have an enjoyable day? Oh, please do not tease....

Here is the first picture of that day, that I took:
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0538.jpg

We headed over to the tower of terror and got fast passes. We decided to do that early, so we wouldn't miss it. It ended up being that we didn't need to do it anyways. We walked right on. We then went to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I thought it was cute. DS6 was scared :confused3 (He'll ride Soarin, Expedition Everest, and all sorts of things that are scary, and doesn't bat an eye. Take him to the little mermaid, and watch out :rotfl: ).

After that we were heading over to watch the High School Musical Pep Rally and we ran into Stitch

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I'm surprised DS6 didn't get scared.

Here's a picture of DD3 and DN4 participating in the pep rally.

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Once that was done, it was time for lunch. We headed over to Toy Story's Pizza Planet. Naturally, we had......PIZZA ;) Actually though, that pizza was good. The kids played games and had a good time. I had quarters that I was supposed to be using for penny presses, so I handed them out, since that plan didn't come to fruition.

We headed out back towards Al's Toy Barn and ran into some "friends"

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While we were getting their autographs, Dnc29 who stayed at Pizza Planet, calls me on my cell phone. "Guess who was just here", she says. I don't know, who? "The dream squad". :scared1: Figures!!!! I haven't seen them the whole time, I leave and they show up :mad: She asked what they won and it was the free dining plan :rolleyes1 . Okay, I don't feel bad now... I already have that. Well, lets move on...

We start walking and run into these characters:

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We didn't want to stand in line, so I just snapped their pictures.

We ended up at the Muppets 3D show next. It was cute and air conditioned so it was fine with me.

Next show was the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt show. Now this show had some serious action to it. I am not really into that sort of thing, but I have to say, I was impressed.

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We headed over to Star Tours after that. Everyone is a big Star Wars fan in the family, so this was NOT to be missed. Of course, it was a big hit. Now it is time to get ready for the parade.

I have to stop here for now.... I will be back soon to finish day 6.

[scottny]

great. :thumbsup2

your pics are so vivid :thumbsup2

[LauraAnn630]

Looks like you all are having a great time! Love the pictures!

[joyerbides]

DAY 6 CONTINUED:

Well, it was time for the parade. We just happened to be standing right at the very beginning of it, so we got to see everyone come out of the doorway. This was good, but we were kind of at a disadvantage, because alot of the pictures, were profiled, or they didn't even look our way until they were past us. Here are just a few:
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During the parade, a CM came over to us and asked if the kids wanted to help her hold her rope at the end of the parade behind Pluto. So when the end came, all of the kids got to be in the parade until the end and then they all got to take a photo with Pluto.

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They all got a real kick out of that. Did I mention, it was raining? (Just sprinkling, but we all got wet).

It was time for our fantasmic dinner reservations at the Hollywood and Vine. Basically, we just ate our dinner and we got a preferred seating pass for Fantasmic later that night. It was buffet style. The food was OK. The kids were complaining that there was nothing for them to eat. I wasn't too impressed, but at least we got our preferred seating for the show later. After dinner, we split up. The guys went to see Indiana Jones, and the girls and DN4 went to see Beauty and the Beast. I have to say, the Beauty and the Beast show was wonderful. I'm glad I chose to see that instead.

We met up after the shows were ended and went to Playhouse Disney Live. The kids (little ones), absolutely adored this show.

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Bear in the Big Blue House

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The kids doing the "Bear Cha Cha Cha".

After the show, it was time to head over to the Fantasmic show. We still had about an hour before it started, but our pass said to be there at that time, so off we went.

The show was phenomenal (sp?) I was trying to take pictures, but for some reason, I couldn't get anything really well. Here are a few, and even those weren't great.

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After the show, we headed back to the resort. It was mine and DNc29's night to go out. So we headed to DTD to shop and the went back to the Adventurer's Club for about and hour and headed home. I was about pooped.

Day 7 Coming soon.......

[ZephyrHawk]

GO BLUE!!!

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Liking the report so far.

[scottny]

Great update.

I loved fantasmic and Beauty and the beast. Both were great. I will not do the preferred seating again I just thought it wasn't worth it.

[joyerbides]

GO BLUE!!!

Sorry, had to get that off my chest. Liking the report so far.

:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

[joyerbides]

Great update.

I loved fantasmic and Beauty and the beast. Both were great. I will not do the preferred seating again I just thought it wasn't worth it.

I agree. It was our first time for fantasmic and I figured this would be a great way to get a good seat. We got good seats, but the wait was a killer, with all those kids. Luckily DNc29 brought playdough for the little ones and it worked for awhile.

[LauraAnn630]

I thought all the seat were pretty good at Fantasmic. Miss it this year.
Maybe next time!

[scottny]

I agree. It was our first time for fantasmic and I figured this would be a great way to get a good seat. We got good seats, but the wait was a killer, with all those kids. Luckily DNc29 brought playdough for the little ones and it worked for awhile.

it was our first time too. the wait was a killer and the walk.

[blessdmommy]

Subscribing to another great upgradee's trip report.
Fabulous photos and very witty writing! :laughing:
Keep it coming!!

[sherabby]

Great trip report!

[joyerbides]

:goodvibes Thanks, everybody!!!:goodvibes

[joyerbides]

DAY 7 -FREEDAY/NON-PARK DAY:

Well, here we are on Thursday. This day really is going to be a non-park day. At least for all of us but one. My big plan for today is: Typhoon Lagoon for a couple of hours, DTD, ADR's for Cinderella's Gala Feast, Shopping at MK, while the guys go back to DTD with the boys. This is the plan. Let's see how it goes.

Well, I get up at the normal time. Do my normal morning things, etc., etc. I read that Typhoon Lagoon opened at 9:00 am. This was in the room packet. I decide that I'm going to take my group early, and not wait for DN30 and family. They will come when they are ready. I had alot planned for this day and didn't want to waste any time. DH decided he did not want to go to TL, because he missed Epcot when he was watching football on Saturday. So he decided to go there and we would meet up later at the resort before we went to DTD. No problem. I take my 4 children and DN14 and we head out the door. Get on the bus, get to TL and there is a line. The park is not yet open. It doesn't open until 10:00 am. So much for that. So we wait. At this point, DS11 asks me where my "card" is. :scared1: Well, hell's bells. I left it at the room, hanging right by the door. (I wore it on a lanyard all week). You know, I got everyone else's but mine. Luckily, DN30 and family decided to sleep in that day, so I called them and asked if they could run to my room and get my card. (DN7 was supposed to be in our room, so his card opened my door; THANK GOD!!!). Of course, this was no problem, they were on their way anyways. For all this, I could have slept in :headache: Well, by the time they came, the park opened, so I was no further ahead. Oh well, lets catch some waves.
DN30 takes DS6 and his son, my DN7 towards the slides. The 3 older boys take off too, so this leaves me, DNc29, DD3 and DN4 and DNC9. We head over to the kids area.
I just want to add: Everyone thinks I'm a locker, just because I have a stroller. No one wanted to actually get a locker, they just threw all of their stuff onto the stroller and left me in charge. Normally, I don't mind being in charge. But this is a different story altogether. Due to the gross amount of clothing and shoes and lanyards and glasses and hats and the kitchen sink (it may as well have been in there), I ended up losing an entire outfit of DD3's. How, you ask? Well, stuff just kept falling off. After awhile, it got to the point where when something would fall, I would simply throw it back on. If it got lost, well.....too bad

Unfortunately, it was DD3's stuff, and she didn't have a choice of where I put her clothes. So lets count here: We lost a bag (DH), DS11 lost his Michigan Crocks (somewhere????), DS6 lost his hat, DD3 lost an entire outfit. Um, I think that's all. But I digress, where was I?

Oh yeah, having loads of fun in the sun.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0813.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0817.jpg

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After awhile, we decide to go down the lazy river. I think it's called that. That was fun. I actually got some sun on this day. Imagine that. I'm in Florida, I should be tan. You couldn't tell by my legs though. Anyways, about this time, DN30 comes back with DS6 and DN7. DN7 is afraid of the speed slides :eek: Say that again... You took him on the speed slides? My kid too? What the.... Well, DS6, actually loved them. So DN30 decides to drop DN7 off with us, so he can enjoy the slides with DS6. :confused: Sure, add another kid, why not? I don't have a closet full of clothes or anything to lug around. DNc29, wasn't too thrilled with this either. So, we decided to discuss it over lunch. We ended up going to the Leaning Palms Counter service. The food was alright. Nothing spectacular. The birds are crazy there though. They were dive bombing our fries.

Anyways, after lunch, we split up again. DN30 took DS6 to the slides and we headed towards the shark reef.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0820.jpg

It was very crowded so we didn't end up going in. We instead headed to the wave pool. We stayed there until it was time to go, about 1:00 pm.

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http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0822.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0825.jpg

The older boys finally found us, and decided they didn't want to eat until we went to DTD. They wanted to eat at DisneyQuest again. So, I called DH and told him we were heading back. He said he'd meet us there. Evidently, he had a very enjoyable time, without kids, at Epcot. He rode everything he wanted to ride. Huh, lucky him. I didn't even get to do that.... OK, no sour grapes here ;)

We headed back to the resort. When we got there DH was already there. Great, lets change and head to DTD.

More to come......

[scottny]

great update.
:thumbsup2

[mkluvsmickey]

Great pictures of Typhoon Lagoon! It looks like alot of fun! In all our trips to Disney we've never been to the water parks. :confused3 (Other than RiverCountry many moons ago.)

[joyerbides]

Sorry I haven't had time to update today. Been really busy. I will definately get on it tomorrow :)

[PrincessTiff]

Wonderful reviews and pics, thank you for sharing!

[joyerbides]

DAY 7 CONTINUED....

Okay, where were we? Oh yes, we are now on our way to DTD for a couple hours of shopping.

We headed to DTD, we walked, of course. Our whole objective was to shop, and let the older boys go back to DisneyQuest. Of course, this didn't happen. Yes, we shopped some, but basically, the kids ended up with more souveniers, and the grown ups (well, me :rolleyes: ) ended up watching everyone else get stuff. The boys didn't end up at DisneyQuest. They did however, shop around with us. DH, DS6 and DN14 wanted to make their own light sabers. So guess what, we did that.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0834.jpg

That took awhile, very hard work to make a perfect light saber, that will just sit in your closet and collect dust.....:rolleyes1, but of course, DH HAD to have one.

After that fun episode of Star Wars, we visited the other fun toy shops. Took some photo opportunities...

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0844.jpg

(Me and DD3)

and basically enjoyed the day. It was getting to be time to get back. We had to get ready for our big dinner with Cinderella. We had ADR's at Cinderella's Gala Feast at the Grand Floridian Cafe. This was the dinner of all dinners. We had to get the girls dressed in their finest princess outfits, as they were about to meet royalty.

Some of you may already know what happened at this not so Gala affair. I posted it in the dining reviews under "Not so Magical Dinner with Cinderella". Those of you who know this story, please bear with me as I will try to explain it all again. For those who do not know the story...well you're in for a real treat.

So, here we are, getting ready, with stars in our eyes, anticipating the best dinner of all. I get DD3 in her dress, take a picture (or about 10, but who's counting?) and get everyone together and head for the bus stop.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0847.jpg

What the???? DD3 falls asleep in her stroller, just that quick. Long week.
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We get to the bus stop, take some more pictures.
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DNc9 as Belle

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0856.jpg
Look, its Belle and Sleeping Beauty :)

The bus finally gets here. We head to MK, then to the GF. We have 5:45 pm dinner ressies.

I have to stop here for minute. I'm getting ready to leave work....

I will be back with an update shortly.

[mkluvsmickey]

Nice cliffhanger! :)

Your girls look adorable in their dresses! princess: princess:

[scottny]

ooh Star wars. :thumbsup2

ok I don;t think I am looking forward to the next part it does not sound good. Ok I am braced for whenever you put it up on here.

[blessdmommy]

The bus finally gets here. We head to MK, then to the GF. We have 5:45 pm dinner ressies.

I have to stop here for minute. I'm getting ready to leave work....

I will be back with an update shortly.

Oh no! Now I gotta go find your dining review. I agree with "what a cliffhanger"

I'm enjoying your report very much.

[DramaQueen]

subcscribing!
a grand gatherong of 12 should make for a VERY interesting trip report!

[joyerbides]

Thanks everyone. Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this. I have been out of town on business. I'll continue here in a sec. I just have to see where I left off ;)

[joyerbides]

DAY 7: CLIFFHANGER REVEALED.....

We head over to Grand Floridan Cafe via bus and monorail. We get there with 15 minutes to spare. It's 5:30 pm, I go up to the front and let them know that we are here and ready to meet the prince and princess.....
Sidenote: When I made the ressies originally, I tried to get all 12 of us at one table and they said it was not possible. Okay, no biggie. So we had separate ressies but they would try to put us close together.

When I went up to the front, with both ressies, they asked if we would like to be seated together instead of apart. Hmmmm, let me think, Uh, yes
They said okay gave us a buzzer and said that the buzzer would vibrate when our table was ready. So we went outside and waited. (The Grand Floridian is beautiful and very classy, by the way.)

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0861.jpg
the princesses waiting outside

So, we are waiting, and waiting and waiting.......
At about 6:00 I go back up to the front and politely ask, how long of a wait do we have. I know our ressies were for 5:45, but we checked in at 5:30. DD3's hair was not holding up well and I was hoping for good princess pictures. At this point, the CM at the front decides to tell me that because we changed our ressies :confused3 that it is taking longer. Now, maybe it's me, but she could have mentioned this when she offered to put us all together. I did not ask to change our ressies, she offered, meaning to me, it wasn't a problem. WRONG. She said that the tables we are getting will be a little longer, since the people sitting in them were just starting dessert.

So, I go back to our waiting area and let everyone know. Sidenote: We had plans for after dinner. I was not expecting this dinner to take all night. This would be foreshadowing;)

So we wait, and wait, and wait.........ZZZZZZZZZ

At 6:20, I go back towards the front and she sees me coming. She comes to me and says, almost ready, they are cleaning the tables. :rolleyes1

Around 6:30 the buzzer vibrates. We waited for about an hour to get seated. Not cool. Oh well, here we go. It has to get better.......

We are seated and get "Unhappy the server". No smile, no magic. I get happier servers at McDonalds. Keep it together, Jana. It'll be okay. While we wait for her to get our drink orders, the mice, Perla and Suzie come around to our tables.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0863.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0870.jpg
notice DD3's hair

At this point we see Cinderella and Prince Charming coming to our tables. :yay: This is good. I was happy about them coming early, so that it didn't interfere with order taking or food eating. WRONG. "Unhappy the server" comes at the same time and cuts right in front of the royal couple to take our orders :mad: Okay, again, maybe its me, but couldn't she wait until they made their rounds? Hello, we weren't there for her, but for them.
Oh, I was sooooo irritated. I mean really, how rude.

Finally, she gets out of the way, and we get to meet them. I was excited for the kids, especially the girls. I do have to say, however, it was very quick and rushed. They didn't stay to mingle, that's for sure.

Here are a couple of pictures:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0873.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0874.jpg

So they come, they go...after all they are very popular and busy:rolleyes1. We are waiting for our appetizers to come to the table. I ordered strawberry soup. I heard on the Diz that it is to die for and I couldn't wait. Not sure what anyone else ordered. I was to preoccupied with everything else. Now, I know that since we met the characters, this meal is going to get better......

Look here comes our appetizers....no, its our food. :confused3

Different CM's are carrying our meals to our tables. Wait, where is my strawberry soup??? I politely let them know that we haven't received our appetizers. They look stumped. They apologize and go get our server. You know, "Unhappy the server". She comes to our table. I am her twin right now....UNHAPPY. I inform her that we didn't get our appetizers. You know what she said to me? Well, it's okay, because they are just soups and salads and we can eat them with our meals. OH NO SHE DIDN'T :mad: At this point, politeness is in high demand, because, it did matter to me. I ordered prime rib, mashed pototoes and some veggie. I did not want to eat cold strawberry soup with my hot prime rib. She then asks if we still want them :confused3 . Let me think???? Duh! About 10 minutes into our meal, our appetizers make it to our table.:mad: My DH is just looking at me and shaking his head. He knows what is coming. He knows me well ;) I get up from the table and go to the front podium and ask to see the manager.
Sidenote: This is on free dining. What in the heck could I possibly expect to get from this? SATISFACTION ;)

Now, I know I am at WDW and I know that I should just let this go, but look...I had, had it by this time. We wait for over an hour for our table, we have the most UNMAGICAL server, in what was supposed to be "THE DINNER" of this vacation, she doesn't care about not getting our appetizers to us and she is a smart alec to boot. I spoke to the manager and let her know what was going on, ALL of it. She apologizes to me and asks what she can do to make it better. Well? I don't know. We are already getting the meal for free. I just wanted her to know, that this woman has pretty much wrecked this dinner. Of course, my kids didn't know the difference. But I did. I was mad. We were celebrating the girls birthdays here and my DN30 as well. So she decided to get them all cakes to make up for this. All right. The sad part is that we were getting dessert already, so we probably wouldn't even eat the cakes. She did say that she would talk to "Unhappy", and inform her that she needs to make things right, for the rest of the meal.

I go back to the table and guess who is there? The Fairy Godmother. So Cool

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0879.jpg
DS14 and DN14

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0881.jpg
DH and DS11

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0882.jpg
DN30
I wanted to throw some pictures of other people in there.

After she leaves, we get our desserts. OMG, they were so good. This is the only food item I thought to take pictures of.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0894.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0900.jpg

We eat our desserts and are stuffed to capacity. Then "Unhappy" shows up with 3 cakes. And guess what, she is smiling for the very first time. I had to take a picture.

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc234/joyerbides/IMG_0890.jpg

We had them box the cakes. We couldn't eat anymore. By the time this meal was over, it was between 8:30 and 8:45. Over 3 hours for this meal. You know what really stunk? "Unhappy the server" got her 18% gratuity, despite her poor service.
Our plans for the evening were looking slim. We had decided to split up. The girls and little ones were going to MK to shop. The boys were going to DTD to head over to DisneyQuest and and hang out. It was okay for the boys, but us girls, we had a problem with the shopping. Mind you, we never got to shop and MK during the week, we were so busy. I was really looking forward to doing this. We got to MK at about 9:00 pm. Spectromagic was just beginning. Of course, we had to stop and watch this, as we missed it earlier in the week. It was awsome. I tried to take pictures, but couldn't get them to come out. After that was over, we headed over on main street to shop. We had about a half an hour....:confused3. All the shops close at 10:00:mad: Figures. We didn't get to shop anywhere else. This stunk, because we were leaving tomorrow. Not a good night.

We ended leaving before wishes was over. We already saw it earlier this week. We headed back to the resort. We had to pack anyways.

(Like I said earlier, I did a review on the Dining board. It's called Not so magical dinner with Cinderella). I wrote that a couple days after we got back. I may have missed some details here, as it is fading from my mind.

Will continue on Day 8........

[scottny]

sorry to hear your dinner was not the best. They should have told you it was going to be a longer wait. 1 hour is extensive.
Glad you said something to the manager about unhappy.
you said the girls didn't notice so that is good. as long as they had fun.
stinks about not being able to shop longer in MK.

[joyerbides]

sorry to hear your dinner was not the best. They should have told you it was going to be a longer wait. 1 hour is extensive.
Glad you said something to the manager about unhappy.
you said the girls didn't notice so that is good. as long as they had fun.
stinks about not being able to shop longer in MK.

Thanks. I'm pretty much over it now. I just hope they get their act together soon. I know they were having problems, because this dinner is supposed to be at 1900 Park Fare. Once they move back, I'm sure it will be fine. I was pretty disappointed to not be able to shop at MK. But this gives me another reason to go back ;)

[blessdmommy]

Thanks for the update. I had to know how your cliffhanger ended and yet I couldn't get the search to work and find your dining review.
That sounds awful about the 8th dwarf "unhappy" being your server. I'm so glad you went and said something. I think lousy servers are why the dining plan is changing to not include gratutity.
Your little princesses were just beautiful!
Great job! :thumbsup2