The Chipmunks Might Be Cute But The Squirrels Are Nuts!

[Applemomma]

Hope noone minds an index of sorts, for the sake of my family.....

Page 1
#1 "Pre-trip report"
#7 "Introducing ....US!"
#10 "A DISclaimer"
#11 "First Travel Day"
#13 "A Dude IN A Suit"
Page 2
#17 "I can see clearly now the rain is gone...."
#22 Arriving at Pop Century
Page 3
#31 "The Great Caffine Crisis of '07!"
#33 "Now Entering the Magic Kingdom!"
#39 "A Pirate, A Cruise and lessons learned...."
#42 "Towel Animals and Teacups"
Page 4
#45 "It's A Princess Pallooza!"
#50 "A DISer sighting and a few characters"
#58 "Our California Adventure"
Page 5
#61 "Soarin over California continued"
#66 "Other People's Parents...."
#70 "Hot dogs, Cheese and Parades of Lights!"
Page 6
#79 "Cows, Birds and Mice! Oh My!
Page 7
#91 "Mickey's House Tour"

A little bit of a Pre trip report…..

As of the date that we left for this Disney vacation, in September 2007, it had been twenty seven YEARS since I had last been to the World. My parents, sister and I had gone there in 1980, when it was only the Magic Kingdom, making the trek from Shelburne, Nova Scotia. The trip was memorable as it was the first and only huge trip our family ever took…..we normally did a car ride to Prince Edward Island or to the cottage…..I can pretty much safely say that it was the one and only time that our family was ever on a commercial airplane together where we weren’t on our way to a funeral.

Of course to my 11 year old mind’s eye (yes go back and count how many years ago the trip was and you’ve now successfully calculated my age) Walt Disney World was everything I would have expected it to be. For years I had been telling my kids about it and telling them stories of that trip, saying that someday I would take them there. So what from that trip could I possibly remember clearly? Well if you are willing to put up with it I’ll give you a brief run down of those memories. I don’t think I made all of them up…..

1)Plane ride from Halifax to Orlando was entertaining mostly because of the two fellows that generously helped themselves to those little bottles of liquor (remember those?). Apparently the singing they were doing was a cover up for their fear of flying because I remember them kissing the ground when we walked down that set of stairs from the plane onto the tarmac.

2)My mother screaming the Lord’s Prayer in my ears on Space Mountain (I still refused to ride it again when we went this trip……). She got us back though as we had to ride IASW twice for her.

3)Seeing Japanese Pearl Divers at SeaWorld and learning the trick to diving to the bottom of the pool…a tip that served me well in swimming lessons.(Yes I know it's not Disney but what can I say....)

4)Disappointed on the way into the Magic Kingdom that the radio was saying the park was filled to capacity and they were turning people around at the gates ….only when we got there the attendant told us that our two day pass meant they were expecting us! :wizard: So packed we had to park on the grass…..Goofy section….now every time we park on the grass somewhere we say we’re parking at Goofy On The Grass :laughing:

My oldest daughter is 10 and ever since she was old enough to talk I’ve told her stories of Disney World. It was the bedtime story of choice on camping trips or when we went away and the storybooks got left behind. Going to Disney was something I had always promised my girls we would do but I had no idea how to swing it on a minimal income.

So imagine my delight when hubby announces that the convention his company is sending him on is in Orlando! :cool1: Not only that but they were actually willing to figure out what it would cost to fly him from our local expensive (and if you’ve ever flown out of Canada you know HOW expensive) airport and give him that money as a travel “allowance” so we can get all four of us on the cheap.:dance3:

And so the planning begins…..Now let me say here that I had no prior knowledge, warning or clue that I was an obsessive compulsive planner. And it started so small and innocently…a web search. And low and behold what should pop up but THE DIS!!! And BAM! I’m hooked! Looooooooong hours spent reading, bookmarking, copy and pasting. :surfweb:

But wait! The computer is in the kitchen! How can I feed my new obsession when I’m upstairs in that study room so affectionately known as the washroom (though as I learned every time I asked in the World where the washroom was it isn’t known there as that! bathroom, restroom, maybe even “loo” but not washroom)?

Well unfortunately (but don’t think I didn’t try) purchasing a laptop to balance on my knees was not to be so I had to fall back on paper. Planning books that is, not writing notes on TP….though it did occasionally get used as bookmarks. So the Unofficial Guide and Passporter took up residence in the Throne Room which also enabled hubby to do some researching too :) And the Disney education began…

[Disneyland_Mama]

Ooh!! A shiny new TR and it's all mine!! :woohoo:

Looking forward to reading about your Mouse adventures, Applemomma! :goodvibes

[Applemomma]

Ooh!! A shiny new TR and it's all mine!! :woohoo:

Looking forward to reading about your Mouse adventures, Applemomma! :goodvibes

ACCCCKKKK!!! Disneyland Mama! :worship: Wow! I feel as though I struck the lottery with you as my first poster! I love your trip reports....studied them in fact, before I left.

We fostered the disappearing Felix, who sat in for our trip for the disappearing Faolan......he'll make a few appearances through the report :)

[Applemomma]

My 10 year old dd is a little disappointed in my title. See she thinks it should be a little more broad ranging regarding our trip...though when I asked for her input she said "I don't know"...hmmm dear, doesn't sound like something anyone would be interested in reading.

The thing is the incident that prompted the title was both unsettling and hilarious, and has probably been brought up more times then anything else we did on the trip. And no it didn't happen on day one so there's a bit of a cliffhanger for you too....

Oh yes, she wanted me to let the potential readership know that I am STILL addicted to "that computer" as she calls it....a little too much like her father she is. :rolleyes1 :rotfl:

[Ricky's Girl]

I'm in! Sounds like you're off to a good start. More please . . . popcorn::

[Applemomma]

I'm in! Sounds like you're off to a good start. More please . . . popcorn::

Welcome Ricky's Girl! I'll post another segment once I get coffeed up a bit......:surfweb:

[Applemomma]

So I suppose I should introduce my traveling companions otherwise known as my family…..

First there’s my hubby, Joe. I suppose I could try and come up with some cute Disney character name for him but he’s a complex guy, a little moody, a little silly, so he’d have to be several characters in one. Everything from Dopey to the woodsman who was supposed to cut out Snow White’s heart. So for the sake of simplicity we’ll just call him Joe.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709150010Medium.jpg

Then there’s my eldest, who again for simplicity sake I’ll refer to as “R”……unless I can come up with something better later on. She’s a lot like her father in her complexity. She’s also hitting that strange world of half child half adolescent….heaven help us all. She’s old enough to know about “the man behind the curtain” (quick Wizard of Oz reference there for ya) but yet young enough to be swept up in it. She was the one freaking out about dd#2 wandering off and worrying about NOT looking silly….poor kid…..I love to embarrass her and the World is FULL of opportunities for that! Hee Hee

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709150007Medium.jpg

And last but far from least is my youngest, as 6 years of age, “L” who is no way shape or form shy, afraid of being adventurious or silly. She’s my best shot for carrying on the Disney obsession in the family! She’s never met an opportunity she didn’t like and is up for anything. Her I have to watch because she’ll take off to explore on her own if I let her. I can see her working at Disney in years to come but don’t put her behind the scenes or in a costume. This gal wants to be front and centre……she’ll do great as one of the resident actors on the main street of MK or MGM!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709150008Medium.jpg

And last there’s me……Applemomma…..I’m a child at heart. I love the simple things and am awe struck by the big ones. I’ll post a picture of me but please keep these things in mind. I do not take a good picture……one eye will always look like it’s half closed (I blame my grandmother for giving me her droppy lids). I am a farmer so I have the requisite “farmer’s tan”….this will be most evident in any shortsleeved shots or, god help me, swimming shots. I will do my best to spare your eyes the glare of my white skin….heck I’ll do my best not to put any pics of me up at all but it might be unavoidable since part way through the week Joe regains custody of the camera. I also cry easily at happy things…a fact that embarrasses my eldest (yes that will be a running thread through out the trip ) and being in the World provided me with many happy weepy moments.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709150009Medium.jpg

So after countless hours of research our reservations are made….Pop Century Sept 15th – 22nd (with free dining no less!!), ADR’s made (places I could only dream off with out free dining…thank you DIS!) and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets packed securely with every confirmation number we had ….. I was leaving nothing to chance! And we’re off……..

[daly7o9]

Ooohh...
This looks like its gonna be good. :thumbsup2 I'm subbin'.

[Applemomma]

Ooohh...
This looks like its gonna be good. :thumbsup2 I'm subbin'.

Hi Daly7o9! Hopefully I won't disappoint you!

[Applemomma]

I'm going to put all my potential readers on notice right now and offer my apologies in advance if you are on a slow internet connection but I am going to post pictures....lots of pictures....and pictures of stuff that you might wonder why the heck I took a picture of that. No, nothing that would get my fingers slapped by the moderators (in truth I didn't see anything that would be finger slapping worthy!).

This little travel report is my opportunity to go through my pictures as though someone was sitting beside me listening attentivly to all my ramblings, which noone in this house seems to have the patience to do sadly :confused3

Now don't panick....they won't be huge. BUT hopefully big enough that if you were there the same time I was you can spot yourself in the background!

Again....my humble apologies....

[Applemomma]

So a major part of getting to Disney is figuring out how to get there…yes? Yes. Usually walking is not an option so most people have to resort to driving or flying. Now if you caught it on my first post we live in Nova Scotia, which is halfway between Walt Disney World and Santa’s North Pole and yet we still explored the “drive” option.

Hmmmm….30 plus hours in a vehicle…with two kids. And two parents. And only one driver because heaven forbid control of the wheel be pried from Joe’s fingers. And yet we were going to do that.

And then we thought about it again…..back to the Dis I go (like I’d left it in the first place). What would it cost to fly out of the States? OH GOOD LORD! :scared1: Honey how would you feel about driving only 10 hours? I have since come to the conclusion that our government is trying to hold us hostage in our own country by making the airport one of those places you can go only if you win the lottery….which by contrast if you do win you get the money tax free so go figure. But we citizens have gotten smart….we run for the border.

So our bags are packed, we’re ready to go.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3022Medium.jpg

At this point I need to introduce two little critters that hitchhiked with us. The little brown guy is “Moose”. He’s our little bit of Canadiana that we wanted to take along with us. The lady in the middle needs no introduction,of course, and then the green fellow is “Felix”. If you are familiar with the Crocker Thread you’d know that some of us volunteered to take some crocs around Disney, take their pictures to post to the Dis boards and then pass the croc on to another family. Unfortunately many of these crocs seemed to rebel with a little taste of freedom and refused to conform to our plans, some running free in the World never to be seen again. Felix is actually a substitute for Faolon who took a side trip. Unfortunately my little French Canadian croc must have joined the reptile underground because he became missing in action too. Should never have taken him to Animal Kingdom…….

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3027Medium.jpg

And we’re off….. but get your atlas out folks. First we have to head north, through New Brunswick before we can turn West and eventually South. Our plan was to leave at 4 am (I wanted to leave at 3 but Joe nixed that one) and we were out the door right on the button. Driving through the darkness I watched a bright light in the sky going along with us. Joe speculated about it being a satellite or the space station. My “child’s heart” knew it was Tinkerbell.

One hour into the trip our little angels were sleeping in the back seat (that’s why I can call them angels).

Two hours into the trip we waved and then made rude gestures to the International “we’d have to be well to do to fly out of” Airport as we drive by it, and the angels were starting to come to life.

As we leave Nova Scotia and enter New Brunswick to make the turn west Felix and Moose get excited because this is MOOSE country and they spend a long time staring out the window hoping to spot one.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3029Medium.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3023Medium.jpg

The girls however preferred to get some last minute Disney cramming in by watching Finding Nemo on Daddy’s laptop with some friends.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3032Medium.jpg

So after breakfast and lunch breaks we didn’t do half bad on time and ended up in Portland, Maine by about 6 pm.

Next up we meet a mouse….but he ain’t Mickey

[Ricky's Girl]

Oooooooh, a cliff hanger. I love it!

You have a lovely family - yourself included. And I didn't notice any droopy eyelids or farmer's tan!

I loved your comment about Tinkerbelle following along with you on the road. So sweet!

Can't wait to read more. As for the tons of pictures - Bring em on!!!

[Applemomma]

After arriving at the Howard Johnson’s in Portland, exploring the hotel a bit (ie. reminding the girls that we knew the pool would be closed for painting before we came but don’t worry there are four at our resort tomorrow night) we headed for the Maine Mall.

I have two reasons for going there. First, to track down and purchase the infamous Body Glide, at the sporting goods store there. In my little rural corner of Nova Scotia I was getting looks like I had two heads when I asked about it but I was convinced I would find it in the Maine Mall. And I did….:)

The second was, of course, rolled into the obvious need to eat supper somewhere. I wanted this trip to have lots of experiences for the kids that they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to do. So where is the ultimate place for kids to eat? You guessed it! CHUCK E. CHEESE!

Now at this point I have to really hand it to my husband. This poor man just drove 10 plus hours and has a pretty good headache. All he really wanted to do was fall asleep after enjoying a cold beer. But instead he sat patiently with our food snapping pictures of the girls going from game to game.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709140013Medium.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709140014Medium.jpg

What an insane place…….do they pump oxygen in there like they do at the casino?!! Mind you it was a good precursor for what was to come….loud kids, germy surfaces and a dude in a rodent suit. Mind you at Disney, Mickey is REAL…not a dude in a suit.

Next up….we hit the skies! Next stop Orlando!!

[LSchrow]

geez, this looks like it's going to be really good!!

great writing, great pix, & i love your side-notes!!
(i rarely subscribe to threads, but i think you have me hooked here!)
:thumbsup2

[DL55]

Love your TR. I laughed through most of it. Pictures are great and you look just fine. My DH has what he calls a golfer's tan, he's about 3 shades of tan, each body part is a different color. :3dglasses

[Applemomma]

LSchrow and DL55 ...... you flatter me! Hopefully I can continue to live up to your expectations!:angel:

Being a true Canadian I just downed a Tim Horton's double double and their newest donut, a chocolate one with crushed candy canes on top, so I'm on a sugarery caffine buzz. But I think I can still hold my hands fairly steady so I'm trying to insert some pictures into my next installment.....hopefully they are in the right order......:surfweb: :woohoo:

[Applemomma]

We started the morning of our first “we’ll be in Disney today!” day by a huge breakfast at Denny’s. “R” thinks it’s very cool that in Disney she is considered an adult and needs to order from the “adult menu” but I think ordering off the regular menu at Denny’s was an eye opener for her.

It was a rainy foggy morning as we drove to the airport. Well, we didn’t; the shuttle driver did. We left our car at the HoJo’s for the week and hopefully no one will take it for a joyride while we’re gone. Hubby was NOT impressed with the weather. Apparently he is quite the nervous flyer but he did hold it together pretty good and none of it rubbed off on the girls. It really didn’t help that the shuttle driver went on about how the Portland airport was the strictest in the country now because that’s where the highjackers flew out of. Thanks buddy. You’re almost as cheerful as my cousin who recommended we stay at a hotel down the road, whose claim to fame was that that was where the highjackers slept.

I wasn’t overly concerned about security because we were there in plenty of time. Neither of us enjoys cutting it close. And we’d both flown a number of times so we knew the routine. This was the girls first time airborne though, so we had grilled them well…shoes off, electronics out and backpack in the bin…no silliness and no stupid jokes! Well they were pros! And we flew through security with no holdups or problems. I did feel bad for an elderly couple just beyond the security tables though. They were obviously trying to fly with something that was a no-no and the guard was trying to explain to them they couldn’t and would have to either put it in their car, mail it to themselves or leave it behind. She was being great with them but you could tell they were really confused. So no security nightmare stories to tell here!


http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3057Medium.jpg

The flight was uneventful as evidenced by these two pics……..

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3058Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3059Medium.jpg

We landed and got to experience the tram ride between terminals…they kids thought it was cool. We only waited a few minutes for our bags, elbowed several people out of the way to pull stuff off the track and continually positioned “L” on top of the every growing pile of bags with strict instructions to bite anyone that tried to touch our stuff. ….okay not really ……

We waved merrily to all the people heading for the car rental booths and walked right out the doors and onto the Thrifty shuttle.

A word about doors….I can’t remember if there was another one of those nasty rotating doors at this point but let me just say that somewhere there is someone with a very sick sense of humor. We invented these bloody things! Are they made purposely to stop once you are trapped inside? Managing airport security was a snap compared to these things! Do they keep statistics on how many people have a nervous breakdown trying to get through them? Shuffle forward….slam into glass…back up….shuffle forward three more inches….slam into glass….:scared:

So let’s speed right ahead through the next bit…..get car approximatly 12 minutes after collecting luggage :drive: ….argue about directions….look for Walmart….look for someplace to answer “R”’s “call of nature”….find little store and discover they don’t call it “washroom” here…..find Walmart….buy supplies…argue over directions some more…..and finally…………..

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3061Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3062Medium.jpg

Sorry about the quality of the last two but I was too busy bouncy up and down in my seat to focus ("We're here! We're here!"). Note to all passengers......the driver really hates it when you do that......

[mdsouth]

Loving the report so far!!! Tell your DD that it was your title that drew me in!
:cool1: :cool1:

Thanks for sharing your trip (pix and all) with us! I am looking forward to reading more! :thumbsup2

I, like yourself, went to WDW once when I was young (13). And have gone only twice as an adult (one with my DH before kids) and once in 2005 with our two kids (then 2 1/2 and 8 years old). We are hoping to go back in 2009.

So, for now, I just get my Disney fix reading trip reports :surfweb:

[DL55]

What pretty sleeping angels. :angel:
We've left a car in a motel parking lot for a week while we flew on vacation and it was still there when we got back. I'm sure yours will be there too. :)
I'm enjoying this. I feel like I'm there with you. :thumbsup2

[DisneyJo]

What a great start and you're there, you're there :yay: What a way to get there though :faint: Even worse than our journey!!!!


Can't wait to read more :goodvibes

[Ricky's Girl]

Enjoyed your update. I'm so excited that "you're there" you would think I was in the back seat of your car. :rotfl2: I love the Pop - hope you did as well.

[Applemomma]

When last we left our traveling family they were (well some of them were ) bouncing in their seats and entering the Pop Century parking lot….can’t you hear the angels singing…..:angel:

With huge grins on our faces we trudge into the lobby and are greeted with….more angels:angel: …..no check-in line up!! Having carefully researched all aspects of this trip I guided our children to the waiting area where they were immediately engrossed in the cartoons while I bounced with their daddy to the lovely young gal from France and cheerfully began our check in process. Now some of you might have gathered from our last name that we (our at least hubby) has French roots. And you would be right…..proud French Acadian roots. Joe has always been proud of his “bilingualism” so when he started speaking French with our check in gal the look on her face was priceless:lmao: ….not sure she’d ever heard her language quite spoken like that . She smiled broadly for him and switched to English….since I was OBVIUOSLY in charge and I barely have a lick of French. All went well until we got our room assignment…..dang……90’s. :sad2:

See, back when we originally booked our room I had booked a preferred room because I had heard how huge the place was and how far the rooms were from the bus and the parking lot. And then the “free dining” frenzy started and armed with my newly found Dis knowledge I had hubby call to rebook our room with that deal at precisely 9am the day it was open to the general public. Apparently the “free dining” button on the Disney computer is attached to the “standard” room button because that’s what our reservation was changed too….unbeknownst to us until our final papers came through.

Then I spent two days on the phone, two faxes and several teeth grinding minutes trying to get back my much anticipated “preferred” room to no avail. At some point pre trip I threw up my hands and said “oh heck, it’s Disney we’re lucky to be going at all…..” and let it be…my only hope was that we wouldn’t be in the 80’s or 90’s section because everyone said it was sooooooo far away…..and quite frankly the computer and cell phone items just ain’t as cute as the Lady and the Tramp. And now here we were with our Pop Century map with the 90’s section circled on it. Dang……

After standing in a second line at concierge to upgrade our tickets and nearly having a panic attack because half my ADR’s were missing and then recovered (note to readers…be sure you book all your ADR’s under the same phone number to avoid panic attacks…failing that be sure to bring confirmation codes) we headed to the car and with a little air out of my Disney bubble headed to our new home. In the 90’s section….dang…

But here’s the thing….I’M AN IDIOT! The 90’s section is perfect, people! Perfect! Yes, we may have been a ways from the dining hall but that’s where the noise is! Our section was so quiet I didn’t even hear the infamous flushing toilets! We were directly, ground floor, in front of the computer pool which thrilled my children and made running back to the room mid swim perfect. It was a stones throw from our car and 2 minutes from the buses! By the end of the week I came to the conclusion that the only thing wrong with our room was that it was a ground floor and thus pretty damp on the floor from the humidity. Didn’t really mind except that our towels never dried which gave my environmentally conscious mind a seizure because we had to use fresh towels every day instead of drying them and reusing them.

Side note…this week I was putting our SkipBo cards away from my “hurricane kit” and I got to have a little Disney memory time. See, I was so conscious of the fact that it was hurricane season when we went that I took a flashlight, snacks and games in case we got stuck in our room for a day or two. Didn’t happen….anyway I finally got around to putting the SkipBo cards back in their box when I realized that nearly all the cards were stuck together…..I nearly wept thinking about the Disney humidity that had stuck them together while they laid in the “hurricane kit” suitcase the whole week we were there.

Back to your regular scheduled program…..

So our bags are dumped on the beds and we head back to Everything Pop to search down and purchase the requisite refillable mugs! Talk about sensory overload! Colors! Noise! People! I think we purchased something to eat but I can’t remember what it was….I was too focused on those mugs. Funny but I can remember very clearly the moment when the cashier took her pliers and snipped the yellow tag off it to make it truly mine.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3064Medium.jpg

What I do remember is my daughters taking 10 seconds flat, once we back in the room, to get their bathing suits on and go swimming! And not in just one but two pools!! I’m afraid it is all a blurr so I can’t remember which one we hit first but here’s a shot from the Hippy Dippy Pool…..note my big old back in the shot….at least you can’t see the farmer’s tan so well in the dark.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/0709150018Medium.jpg

And then of course we were all exhausted so at some point we had to put an end to our “we’ll be in Disney today!” day and were in bed, I believe around 1 am.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3065Medium.jpg

Next up….the girls and I hit the Magic Kingdom!! And a coffee snaffoo….

Please be patient with me...I'm driving to New Hampshire tomorrow for a fruit and vegetable conference and won't be back until Friday, at which time I jump in the vehicle again and take the girls to the big city to a performance of The Nutcracker. So it might not be until Sunday that I can post again....but if it's any consulation to you the camera really starts to get a work out now so my next posts should chew up a lot of your computer's download time :). Have a great week everyone!And thanks for all the feedback! It's great! Making my head swell a bit though.......

[DisneyJo]

Wow that was a busy long day and how great that your bad room turned out really good, not good about the sticky humidity though :scared1:

[born2bird]

Great start! I love your title...:lmao: You have a beautiful family!

Consider me subscribed.

Cheers,
Kim

[DL55]

It's amazing that someone's bad room can turn into someone else's great room. :love: That's why I try not to worry about reviews unless 80-90% are bad.
I'm from New Mexico, no hurricanes, what are SkipBo cards?

[winkers]

Why is it so expensive to fly from Canada?

I'm loving your report!

[Disneyland_Mama]

Whoa Applemomma! I'm all caught up. You are on FI-YAH!!! :lmao:

Lovin' it so far! :teeth:

[Ricky's Girl]

I know some will disagree but I don't think you can get a "bad" location at the Pop. I've been there four times and have been in the 80's, 90's, 70's and 60's. I never felt the walk to the food court and busses was long.

Last time we stayed at CB (for twice the amount of the Pop) we were so far away from the food court that it was a good 30 minute walk. I know they have internal busses at CB but I'd rather walk then wait for a bus.

I'm enjoying your trippie. Any chance of an update soon? popcorn::

[camelotcats]

Your title intrigued me, and your TR kept me here. Subbing. THanks!

[Applemomma]

Hello Folks! I'm back and survived the storms in this North East this week.....we left Manchester, NH at noon Thursday thinking that we could get far enough north and get some shopping done in Portland before the storm arrived....nope...found us in Portland. We ended up spending the night in Brunswick after a VERY scary drive down the highway with zero visibility! :scared1: Got home just after midnight Friday night which meant our drive ended up being 24 hours longer then expected. Oh well, we were safe home.

After all that, the 1.5 hour drive into Halifax with my girls for the Nutcracker ballet on Saturday was a snap (clear roads too!). I HIGHLY recommend starting your holiday off with taking your kids to see The Nutcracker....mine loved it and it's a little high culture shoved down their throats in anotherwise farmers lifestyle :)

Got our second blast of winter last night so the roads are a mess this morning, hence the girls have a storm day, which I don't mind but it's going to screw up the weeks schedule! So I've fired up Photobucket and I shall continue on my journey down memory lane....amidst the sounds of High School Musical 2 Extended Edition coming from the living room, which I'm sure will be playing all day but heck it's my fault because I bought it for them as my penance for missing their Christmas programs this week......

First to catch up....

Wow that was a busy long day and how great that your bad room turned out really good, not good about the sticky humidity though :scared1:

It was VERY long but filled with so many new experiences for the girls that it was fun (people probably thought I was a kook when I had them hugging a palm tree though). The humidity was just one of those things.....

Great start! I love your title...:lmao: You have a beautiful family!


Thanks! I think I'll keep them for awhile :) And welcome!

I'm from New Mexico, no hurricanes, what are SkipBo cards?

We get the occasional, usually downgraded, hurricane here in Nova Scotia so I knew what could happen. Skip-Bo cards are a game of number sequencing. Fun but easy enough to play that our 6 year old has no problems playing. It would make a great stocking stuffer!

Why is it so expensive to fly from Canada?
QUOTE]

Because they like to hold us hostage in Canada! No seriously....it's because of the taxes...we have really high sales tax in most of Canada, 14% in Nova Scotia, so there's that on top of fuel tax, airport tax, air you breath tax....etc...etc... Our base rates start at about where the discount airlines in the US are , after taxes, and go up. Though our Kenyan taxi driver in Portland, who you may meet at the end of my report, did tell us it was cheaper for him to fly home to Kenya out of Toronto then anywhere in the US....go figure...

[QUOTE=Disneyland_Mama;22117423]Whoa Applemomma! I'm all caught up. You are on FI-YAH!!! :lmao:

Lovin' it so far! :teeth:

Thanks!

I know some will disagree but I don't think you can get a "bad" location at the Pop. I've been there four times and have been in the 80's, 90's, 70's and 60's. I never felt the walk to the food court and busses was long.


I think you're right...we explored the whole resort and loved every inch of it.

Your title intrigued me, and your TR kept me here. Subbing. THanks!

Welcome!

[Applemomma]

And now we’re on to our “first full day in Disney!!” day! But if you think I’m wrapping it all up in one day you are insane..I mean mistaken. The best thing about a trip report is that you get to relive your vacation and make it last much much much loooooooonnnnnngggerrrrr then the real trip….plus it’s hard to put a gazillion pictures in one post.

But I left of with the coffee cliffhanger…..

As I discovered in my DIS research, one of the number one discussions in the restaurant forum, apart from free dining, refillable cups and ADR’s, is how BAD the coffee is in the resorts. Now this is not a good thing as I am a serious coffee drinker. In other words…addicted. It’s hard for me to function before my second cup. The kids have learned that they are taking their little lives in their own hands if they ask me to do ANYTHING before cup # 2. But that doesn’t mean I can drink boiled shoe leather just because there’s caffeine in it. So I had a plan. We would bring a can of good old Tim Horton’s coffee with us and purchase a small simple coffee pot at the Walmart when we did our supply run on the way to POP. Which we did, along with a few * ahem * “noncaffeinated” beverages, for only $9…the coffee pot that is…not the alternative drinks.

So after a long, tiring travel day, and a short sleep, I lay in bed after scrabbling for the speaker phone so my kids could hear Stitch and Mickey, listening to the sounds of my husband rummaging around the room, setting up said coffee pot. Water goes in….It seems to be taking a while to get to the next step….slowly an uneasy feeling is dawning on me…..this is taking TOO long…..finally a voice from the darkness (I had yet to actually find the energy to open my eyes) “Dear….did you think to pack a can opener?” CRAP! CRAP- CRAP- CRAP -CRAP!

See the jumbo size cans I buy have a peal back lid instead of the “titanium steel saw through it with a circular saw” lid under the unassuming plastic lid. NEVER occurred to me to look under the stupid plastic lid of the stupid little “get me through the week” can….can you tell I’m still a little bitter?

But we’re at Disney…..there is a feeling of pixie dust in the air as my husband makes the ultimate sacrifice for his caffeine addicted wife. He uses his precious GM keychain (basically a big metal arrow symbol) to pound a hole into the top of the coffee can. Another good reason to be on the ground floor…had we neighbors below us they probably would have been very puzzled by the pounding and then cheering coming from above them. Success!!! Hubby’s keychain wins, though it was showing some war wounds (don’t worry he bought himself another one) and Mommy’s caffeine need is appeased….ahhhhhhh.

Crisis averted we slip in to hyperdrive and Daddy goes off to his conference and the girls and I explore a little of the resort while we get some fruit and danishes from the food court…….

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3067Medium.jpg
Look very closley...you can just see them at the base. I never said I was a GOOD photographer, people!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3068Medium.jpg
Can't have a Tramp without a Lady

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3069Medium.jpg
They were NOT impressed that I made them hold this position for a picture :)

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3070Medium.jpg
See our refillable mugs in the foreground?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3071Medium.jpg
What ARE these mom?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3072Medium.jpg
Can we make a call?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3073Medium.jpg
Too cool!

And then I snapped a shot of the girls with what they were wearing that day incase they wandered away from me….course they changed clothes later and I forgot to take a picture then! It also gives me a chance to show off my window decorations…..I have all kinds of ideas for next time though! Hubby thought I was nuts until he saw other windows!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3075Medium.jpg

And we are off to the buses….and I have a “bad mommy” moment…….


Side note….don’t feel too bad for Joe…the first day of his conference was a golf tournament so he had a good time…..

[DL55]

Love the pictures. I'm glad you did get close enough so we could see them. :laughing:
They thought the positions on Twister were terrible. They should do the game with 4 people...you really get twisted up!
My DH has a tiny screwdriver on his keyring it gets used for a lot of projects. Glad you got your coffee fix. :thumbsup2

[Applemomma]

So back in the room I smear my kiddies with sunscreen, slime their feet, and mine, with Body Glide and check and double check for our park tickets we are finally ready to head for the buses. Unfortunately a Magic Kingdom bus has just pulled away and there are still people waiting but armed with my DIS Knowledge I know it won’t be a long wait for another bus. And I reassure my children for the 100th time that they will get used to the heat….yah right….

Of course this would be one of several rides that we stood on the bus but the kids thought that was cool so we swung around all the corners, tried not to land on people’s laps and generally clung for dear life….what IS it with those drivers that feel they must slam their breaks on in front of Disney buses? Are they jealous of all of us?:scared1:

Here comes “embarrass my eldest” moment number one of the day…..we were lucky enough to be on one of the newer buses and as we turned the final corner into the Magic Kingdom is belts out a fanfare! “Welcome to the Magic Kingdom”…I lost it…..pass the tissue please.

The three of us literally skipped down the walkway from the buses to bag check and remarked that it even felt cooler at the Magic Kingdom ….a false sense of cooling since all the air conditioning from the shops must have been flowing down the slope from the main gates because our “cool” feeling was short lived. Seems we chose to go to the Magic Kingdom on what turned out to be the hottest day of the week. I believe it hit 94 degrees….ugh. Anyway, skipped through bag check and approached the turnstiles where magically all our tickets worked perfectly! Whew! Another one of those DIS boards discussions I won’t have to join in on! :thumbsup2

Here’s our “must have” Main Street shot. I’m amazed I could get the shot since I was literally floating on cloud nine! :cloud9: I’m not very good at keeping other people out of the shot but maybe someone recognizes themselves!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3076Medium.jpg

Then up ahead we could see that a show was going on and I warned the girls that by the time we got up there it would probably be done but not so! It had really just started and we got to watch most of it from a pretty good spot!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3077Medium.jpg

Here’s where I lost it again….my children standing at the feet of Walt himself, watching a show in the Happiest Place On Earth! More tissues please…..

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I didn’t downsize this photo too much so you could see Peter Pan doing his best. That’s L’s hat taking up so much space…again…a photographer I’m not….

I snapped a pic of Pinocchio, fully intending to take pictures of all the bronze statues over the week but it didn’t quite happen.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3081Medium.jpg

After the show was done we walked THROUGH the castle! Through it, people! I don’t think you could do that when I was there as a kid….I was nearly hyperventilating. Good thing R was there and fully prepared to take on all the responsibilities of an adult should her mother completely lose it because believe you and me I was sure close! (Side note…you can tell the excitement of the day by the number of exclamation marks I’ve used.)

It was predetermined by the three of us that we should ride It’s A Small World first because it is their grandmother’s favorite so that was what we did. That was the last time there was complete consensus on our next step….and also the last time we kept to a plan. And yes, I realize we have only just entered the park, but keep in mind at some point during this day we shall encounter my “bad mommy” moment.

[Ricky's Girl]

oooh, bad mommy moment coming up . . . I love a good cliff hanger. :rotfl2:
Thanks for all the pics - you're doing great! Glad your dh managed to save the day with his keychain/can opener. :lmao:

[DL55]

Pictures are great. You can't take a picture in WDW that doesn't have other people in it. :crowded:
My plans last just about as long. They usually end up as: 1) go to Park (what ever one we pick) 2) ride all the good rides first. That's it. :lmao:

[DisneyJo]

So glad you got your coffee :rotfl:

What a great reaction to MK it's so sweet :goodvibes

[born2bird]

Great installment! Your girls are adorable! I am looking forward to reading more popcorn::

[winkers]

I think theres a universal law that says you must have at least one bad mommy moment for each family vacation!

So, spill the beans and make me feel better about my own "moments"!:rotfl2:

[Applemomma]

So I mentioned the heat, right? Hot and sticky but at this point we are still oblivious to it because of a mix of adrenaline and air conditioning. It was lovely and cool inside IASW and just as I remembered it from when I was a kid. Don’t quite recall that woman in the control booth waving to all the passengers like a maniac back then but oh well, she looked like she was having fun. As I recalled to hubby my reaction to experiencing this ride again was best summed up by this thought:” Oh wow this is so cool! Oh good there’s another room….and another one….oh lord there’s another room…..is that the exit? Thank God!”

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3083Medium.jpg

After a quick stop at Cinderella’s fountain we were off to the Carrousel. This time I stood on the floor to take pictures but the kid in me took over the next time I rode it and sat on a horse. I didn’t let them know about Cindy’s favorite horse because that might have started a fist fight between my two urchins over who would have rode it first and then we would have had to stand in line multiple times beating other people’s kids to the favored equine.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3085Medium.jpg

Of course Dumbo is in plain sight of Cindy’s Carrousel so that’s what L wants to do next. Again my DIS board research tells me that this is a slow loading ride and one look at the line up tells me it will be a very…..very…..very….long time standing in the heat before we got to ride an elephant so I promise her that we will do it before our trip is over. In hindsight had it been a few degrees cooler it would have been in my best interest to let the kid do it there and then because I suspect the meltdown that is to occur before too much longer began to root inside her at this point. Even though, to the naked eye no one could tell, there was a major pout erupting below the surface.

Instead we are off to Mickey’s Philharmagic and some welcome, though temporary relief from the heat. The best part? No wait! Like good little dooby’s we walk all the way to the end of our row with our glasses. And let me say right here and now I LOVE THIS SHOW! No amount of reading can clue you in for what the actual experience is like. Both girls loved it though R had her fingers in her ears most of the time (she has noise issues ….what’s a preteen without issues though ). L is still talking about Donald’s butt sticking out of the wall.


Unfortunately, while we were in Philharmagic someone in charge cranked the heat up a few more degrees and we again hit that wall of humidity when we exited. So in a heat induced stupor, and with out a solid grasp of direction, we started to wander and came across the girls first chacaters! Captain Hook and Smee! They were great but let me just say that if you have sensitive children that worry a lot DO NOT make them wear a Tinkerbelle shirt anywhere near Captain Hook. His hate for that fairy makes him shake his hook at even her picture and when he did that to R’s shirt L refused to wear her Tinkerbelle shirt all week.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3087Medium.jpg

Next came across the Jungle Cruise, which of course, was on my “relive my childhood” todo list. This was our first posted wait time (I think it was 20 minutes but it only ended up being 10) but we bravely stood in line, just glad to be under the roof and out of the sun. Unfortunately for the purpose of picture taking I was too involved in bouncing up and down (yes, still) to think to use my camera. I was also too absorbed in other people’s parents and keeping track of their kids. A father with his no-more-then-three-year-old was gabbing on a cell phone and the son was wandering from rope to rope. You could just see the “lost kid crisis” coming. It was obvious to every that Cell Phone Dad wasn’t paying a wick of attention to the kid. One of the handy parts of winding a queue around and around is that you get multiple views of who is behind you, in front of you, behind you again, etc. So when we got closer to the front and a large group was loading into their boat they knew “Cell Phone Dad”’s kid wasn’t in their group and pointed it out to the CM….tears ensued…from the kid, not the CM. While it seemed to be a very culturally diverse group with several different languages being spoken around us,“whose kid is this” has apparently the same meaning in every language and “Cell Phone Dad” was reunited with his wandering child….yes, all the while with said cell phone still to his ear.

One moment please….

My youngest is making me stop my trip report to proudly proclaim to all of you that she ate an ItsAKadoozie in every park, except for Animal Kingdom, where she ate frozen lemonade. This fact actually figures prominently in the reason behind the title of my trip report so I suppose it’s prudent…..back to your regularly scheduled program….

Our Jungle Cruise director was good but our fellow passengers were a bit of a dud…seems they didn’t know you are supposed to laugh at the corny jokes and try as I might I couldn’t get them to follow along. Oh well, here’s a few shots of the view….

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3091Medium.jpg
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So all is well right? Wrong! Remember…there is still a huge internal pout brewing in L and we reach the part of the jungle journey where we enter the very dark cave ….where our chatty-cathy tour guide decides no talking is necessary, spooking my kids to no end. They are NOT happy and mad at me that I didn’t warn them it was a dark ride. The fact that I had last ridden it more then 20 years ago was no excuse to them.

And we stomped our way through Frontierland towards Splash Mountain which I was trying to convince them to do. They were almost convinced until they saw it. “mommy you said you wouldn’t force us to do anything we didn’t want to!” Dang….that came back to bite me in the butt didn’t it….Oh but look! There’s the raft to Tom Sawyer Island! Come on kids…… BUT they are hot, they are hungry they are tired, they are loosing the Disney magic….But kids! There are special paintbrushes, and caves and trails and maybe something cool to drink…..

Now this is where my DIS research failed me. Aunt Polly’s on the Island, that I was hoping would be my salvation, was closed up tight. Dang, dang, dang. Get us off this island mom…. So back to the mainland we go and the pout is beginning to erupt. I want to go swimming, I don’t want to be here….full blown whine…no not from me! From L!

And then it happened....the bad mommy moment…..I became ONE OF THOSE MOTHERS! And yes, the words “Stop whining, we are at Disney World, you need to stop it” came out of my mouth. One look from the woman beside me in line for ice cream made me realize that I was probably going to get talked about once she had walked away…..

DANG!

Okay troups, time to regroup. And the purchase of the first ItsAKadoozie happens, along with a Mickey Head ice cream bar for R and one for me. Small price to pay, folks. We sat in the shade to eat them (fast! they are dripping!) and listen to another little girl rattle on to us about how fun Splash Mountain is (no mom….we aren’t doing it!) And we decide to start heading out of the park with the promise from them that if we see something fun they may try it. We did climb the Swiss Family Tree House but the girls trudged up the stairs and down again like they were being punished for something and refused to stop to let me take pictures.

I put my foot down on Main Street where L proclaimed that shopping would make her feel better, but I did snap this shot of a very hot princess.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3094Medium.jpg

So as we head back on the bus to Pop Century and the promise of a swim I reflect on the morning….

I realized I was expecting my kids to act and behave differently at Disney, simply because it was Disney, and thus set myself up for disappointment. Even though I said I didn’t have a plan of what to do, I secretly did and needed to STOP IT! I really need to let the kids take more of a lead….except that one could get dangerous because then all we would do is shop and swim.

So we’ve had whining, tears, shirts dripping with ice cream, heat stroke and the day isn’t even half over….

Next up….storm clouds roll in but it’s a good thing.

[DL55]

Liked the pictures especially of the little princess boy her cheeks were pink! princess:
The bad mommy moment wasn't too bad assuming you weren't yelling. When it's hot patience wears thin. :goodvibes
I liked your description of IASW as you were riding. :rotfl2:

[Applemomma]

The bad mommy moment wasn't too bad assuming you weren't yelling.

Yelling no...hissing through my teeth...yes :headache:

[Applemomma]

We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted in our window by these cute little guys!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3095Medium.jpg

Here’s a closer look!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3097Medium.jpg

With a quick bite to eat at Everything Pop it was into the swimsuits and jumping into the computer pool for our little group. Well, actually I believe we hit the Computer Pool, the Hippy Dippy Pool AND Goofy’s Geysers all within an hour.

A word about the communal pool experience…. I’m not a fan. Something happens to people sense of personal space when they get into the pool. Games of “throw the nerf ball as hard and as fast as you can” and “see if we can jump over people” may go over well if you are in your own backyard watering hole but not with 100 other people in the vicinity people!! The lifeguards are the unhappiest looking people in the entire World! I suppose they have seen it all and much, much more so they don’t bother laying down the law for such minor things. There were a few times I pulled the kids out and at least once that a lady, who had obviously reached her boiling point long before I had chewed out some teens in a different language but good! They were throwing themselves around the pool with no regard for little kids and I had moved mine to the opposite side in a hurry but my moving must had been the kicker for the lady because she was loudly hollering and pointing at me. “You jerks made that lady feel like her kids were going to get hurt” is another one of those understood-in-any-language phrases.

Okay….vent over….

This particular swim was cut short by the lifeguard himself who had been listening intently to his two way radio and stood to inform everyone that due to electrical activity in the air the pool was closed. And then the skies opened up…

Being good rural folk and never ones to be threatened by a few raindrops and thoroughly refreshed from our time in the pool we regrouped, open up our dollar store rain ponchos and headed to the buses. Didn’t make it though…..electrical activity was a bit of an understatement and the amount of lightening we would have had to brave crossing to the buses was a bit much so it was back to the room to wait it out. Didn’t have to long to wait though and it wasn’t very long before we headed out again.

The girls wanted to head back to the Magic Kingdom so, lessons learned, I let them take the lead and we got in line and within short order were on our way. It rained off an on all the way there but about 20 feet off the bus the sun came out and we had no need of our rain ponchos for the rest of the day! I think I carried those things all week more then we wore them…oh well better to be prepared.

Main Street was very uncrowded, because of the passing storm, so the CM’s had lots of time for the kids.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3098Medium.jpg

We hadn’t had a chance to ride the Tea Cups so that was first on the girls list. I think we rode these three times over the week but this first time I didn’t go full throttle on the spinner…I left that experience for later in the week!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3100Medium.jpg

After they studied the map they decided Mickey’s ToonTown was the next thing to do and they stopped long enough for mommy to take a picture…..see how I wrecked someone else’s photo by sticking my kids in there?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3101Medium.jpg

Minnie’s house was first up and while you can see the backyard was pretty quiet, inside was nuts so we had to keep moving and not stop for pictures…..dang…I think I do take some later in the week though.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3102Medium.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3103Medium.jpg

Next, we get in a line not knowing what it’s for and it’s a Princess Jackpot!!

In case I don’t get on here for the next few days I just want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and all the best of the holidays. God bless!

[Ricky's Girl]

Enjoyed the update! :thumbsup2
Merry Christmas to you and yours! :santa:
I look forward to reading more about your trip when the "holidaze" are over. :cool1:

[winkers]

I have also uttered the "were at disneyworld, you can't act like that" speech to my kids!:lmao:


Merry Christmas!:santa:

[DL55]

Another enjoyable installment. :thumbsup2
I'm not crazy about hotel pools just for that reason. I hate being splashed when it's not my idea. :upsidedow
I still love the teacups, the faster the better!
Merry Christmas!

[Applemomma]

It’s a Princess Pallooza! princess:

Before we completely leave Minnie’s Country House behind I need to tell you about my “99% nearly sure must have been them” celebrity sighting. As we were leaving Minnie’s garden I turned to look behind me and the fellow behind me HAD to have been Dave Marx of PassPorter fame! The woman behind him looked for all the world like his wife Jennifer. I wish now I had had the presence of mind to ask them it they were really them and tell them how I loved their book.:worship: Oh well….perhaps they are reading this (you never really know do you?)

With my game plan of letting the kiddies take the lead, L saw one of her favorite things….A STORE! Otherwise known as Toontown Hall of Fame. Promising them they could look around in a minute I steered them towards the queue for autographs told them to get their books ready.

Waiting outside the doors to the inner sanctum it occurred to me that there were two lines and I had absolutely no idea who we were standing in line to see! Rather then ask we decided to let it be a surprise. Imagine our thrill when the doors opened to…..PRINCESSES, people!! And not just any princesses but Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle! WAHOO!!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3104Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3105Medium.jpg

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This room is great! With only a few people being let in at a time, the heavy curtain draped walls keeping the sound out and the reverent silence of all us “star struck” adults, you really feel like you are having a private audience with royalty. And I spotted my first Disser there, though I didn’t say anything. I can’t remember his official screen name but it was Tim that used to post to the “Pic of the Day” thread that is in love with the mice from Cinderella and the little dolls. He was getting his pic taken with one of his dolls and the princesses. I had a hard job explaining to my eldest why I was tickled to spot Tim.

Side note…..One of our favorite things to do, became watching other little kids with the characters, especially toddlers. Too cute!! I think I could spend the whole day people watching the kids with the characters and people walking up Main Street for the first time…can’t beat those smiles!!:thumbsup2

After convincing my youngest that she absolutely could not spend every cent she had brought with her in the Hall of Fame shop we started to wander back to the castle. I realize now that the day was really starting to wear on the kids but I just couldn’t resist one more “Do you want to try Splash Mountain?” No. “Do you want to go on Goofy’s Barnstormer?” No. “Do you want to go look for the hidden Tinkerbell?” No. Humph.:sad2:

I did manage to get them in the line for Peter Pan, which lasted all of 20 minutes until L decided it was a dark ride and there was no way she was going on it. Well that was 20 minutes we won’t get back but, oh well.

So, it’s off to stake out a spot to watch the fireworks. Now here’s a “learned the hard way” tip. If you don’t want trees in your view for the fireworks you must stake out your spot in FRONT of the Castle about an hour sooner then we did….not on the benches on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. If you want to be able to here the voices in Wishes stake out your spot in FRONT of the Castle not on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. BUT if you want your kids to get a good view of Tinkerbell flying overhead then sit on the stone bench between the moat and the castle, behind the garbage can, on the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. Very cool….looked like Tink has the funnest (I know that’s not the correct way to say that…most fun? job with the most fun? most funnest job? Dang…).

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3114Medium.jpg

Now here’s where I made another rookie mistake. Learn from me people!! :teacher: This was a Magic Kingdom EMH (that’s extra magic hour for resort guests for all those family members reading that don’t have the benefit of Dis Knowledge) but I figured that meant less people going home. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! So we joined the hoard of people heading for the exit and by this time L was extremely tired, and who could blame her; long drive, followed by another travel day, followed by late night, followed by heat. I picked her up just past Walt’s statue and she was asleep by the time we hit Casey’s Corner. And let me tell you folks, for those of you that don’t have one, the average six year old is no light weight. For some reason at this point R was bright eyed and bushy-tailed and thought her little sister falling asleep on me was extremely cute….until I made her carry my Overland Donner bag (yes, I have one…I am a Diser in all aspects – lime green, focker watcher lanyard….the works.).

Okay, so the entire host of resort guests stayed for EMH; they can’t all possibly be staying with us at Pop Century could they?

Apparently they were……

When we got to the line it was already approximately 400 people long….and no bus….and all the way back beyond the queue area….and did I mention no bus? And no where to rest sleeping “suddenly gained 40 more pounds” L? But it what’s a mom to do but avoid the, with out a doubt, “freak out by waking her up to try and stand on her own” scene that would have undoubtedly happened. And by nature, being someone who usually just goes with the flow I figured that we’d just have to stand there and wait, since walking all the way back to the resort was just slightly out of the question.

Then I turned around, and folks, it seems that there were collectively approximately 1,400 people as dumb as me because that’s about how many were in line! There had to be 1000 people behind us….and no, I’m not exaggerating. So R and I contented ourselves with being smart enough to get in line when we did, and say a few prayers for patience for the 1,400th person in line. I’m not sure if this was a usual thing for the Pop line or not, but during the week I heard people talking about “The Great Pop LineUp of Sunday Night” as though it was. Stories of people line jumping after jumping the fence and running through the swamp to the beginning of the line were common, though we saw none of that because at that point the buses started rolling in and the line started chugging right along. We actually made it to the beginning of the line just as the current bus was almost to capacity, but chose to let people behind us go ahead because I knew there was no way I could stand all the way to Pop with the “rapidly getting heavier…my arms are about to give out” monster child my arms were wrapped around. That made a few people extremely happy and I feel like I spread a little Disney Magic by such a simple thing. Another couple behind us thought that was an excellent idea since they too were loaded down with luggage and sleeping babes. So if you were 403-410th in line….you’re welcome.

Side note on bus drivers and manners…..one thing the girls and I noticed a lot during the week is that there was a decided lack of pleases and thank you’s, especially for the folks that get you to and from the parks. Now maybe we are just sensitive to it because, you know we Canadians are a polite people (ahem), but once I had pointed that out to the girls they went into “grateful overdrive”. By the end of the week L was thanking everyone from the bus drivers, to the CM standing at the turnstile, to the lifeguard.

You could tell by the reaction of the bus drivers when we’d say thank you that it didn’t happen for them a lot….and man they put up with a lot! To the bus driver that pulled my ride home up to me the night of the “1,400 collectively leaving the Magic Kingdom at the same time” line, I simply said….”My hero”.

Another tip….bring a cell phone. Makes it much easier to call Daddy to meet you at the bus stop so you can hand off sleeping 120 pound child the minute you step off the bus. Ahhhhhhhh

So with a quiet late night swim in the computer pool for the eldest and I, our first official day in the World was done. And I may have set a new DisBoards record for how many installments it takes to get through one day….

Next up it’s supposed to be our Animal Kingdom day….and a word of warning…if you don’t like to look at people’s pics with their kids and characters you may want to skip the next chapter in our ongoing saga.

[DisneyJo]

Sounded like a great fun packed day, even with a few moans :)

BTW we always say thankyou to the bus drivers :thumbsup2

[winkers]

The ride home always seems to be the worst!
I love town hall and getting to meet the princess there.:lovestruc

[DL55]

What a busy day! Over all it sounded like you had a fun time. At the end of the day waiting even 5 min for the bus feels like forever. :laughing: Hopefully the waits for the buses weren't so bad during the rest of the trip?
Oh boy I love pictures of other peoples kids with characters! :cheer2: I love the ones with the princesses. :lovestruc

[Applemomma]

Well, I’m sure you’ve all experienced the trial and tribulation of spending countless hours pondering when to go to what park, which day. If you are like me you’ve charted the fireworks, parades and emh’s to figure out where to be when. You have decided for months which day of your vacation will be devoted to which park and heaven help us all if we deviate from that plan because the rest of the vacation will NOT accommodate a sudden change in direction. Yah right…..

After the meltdown/bad mommy moment of the first full day my plan went out the window. Within reason of course because I still had to contend with dinner reservations (remember we were on the FREE dining plan and planning to take full advantage!) and there were some events that I most definitely wanted to see. But apart from that I vowed to “go with the flow”.

So on this, our Animal Kingdom day, when we rounded the corner and saw the bus pulling away from a line up that was at least 3 more buses in length I refused to burst into tears. By this time we had discovered the short cut to the buses ….(if you are in the 80’s or 90’s at Pop go under the Big Wheel and cut in behind the building….go to the very end of the building and then cut right across the parking lot and viola! You’re at the Animal Kingdom bus stop….you’re welcome) so I had a couple of minutes to regroup and suggested to my little group that we just jump into the shortest line. The only thing I had really planned to do that day was catch Spectromagic and most of our planned meals weren’t scheduled until later in the week so Daddy could be with us. A fairly easy day to switch gears and a chance to put those Park Hopper tickets to work.

Upon reaching the buses it was fairly obvious that the Epcot line was the shortest and thus we claimed our spots in line behind some very sweet elderly ladies who chatted with the girls and gave them big hugs. They were great and full proof that Disney is for any age.

A side note about waiting for wheelchairs and scooters before boarding the bus yourself. We really only waited a few times for this and it seemed that it depend on the age of the bus how quickly they loaded. My girls were great and patient, realizing that these folks would give a lot is they could just jump on the bus as easily as the rest of us. I imagine that the worst part for these folks is having all of us STARING at the process of getting them on, only because we’re bored and it’s as close as we can get to entertainment right now. I never in the week saw the infamous “one person in the wheelchair boards and 15 family members get on with him to”. What I did find incredibly annoying is the families (there’s always one) that get mad and very vocal with the bus driver when they are not allowed to use the wheelchair access ramp to load their minibus of a stroller and accompanying luggage for that one tiny individual they are carting around. I do understand the need to feel like you are bring enough to cover all of your bases in the parks but really…I’ve had two kids and I can’t fathom bring the whole nursery, including playpen with me, on public transportation. Pack lightly folks. Of course I think these are also the same families that always seem to be in line, two people ahead of me, at Counter Service restaurants chewing the cashier out for something out of her/his control….but that’s another vent in itself.

After not too long of a wait to board a bus we arrived at Epcot, and may I just say that the bus area of Epcot is showing its age. Not so much futuristic as 70’s, in my humble opinion. Once again our tickets worked like a charm and I decided to put another DIS horror story of problematic tickets out of my head.

I loved this park! I love the music when you enter and the architecture of the entrance! I defy anyone to enter that park in a bad mood and make it past Spaceship Earth in the same mood.

Had to stop for the requisite picture….

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3120Medium.jpg

We did have one solid plan for Epcot. We knew we had to ride Soarin as my parents had been here just this past winter and the girls knew that this was their grammy’s favorite ride. So following all the signs we headed in that direction.

But wait! What’s going on in there? Behind some windows we could see CHARACTERS! It was the Character Spot and we had to check it out….get your autograph books ready kids! The CM at the door said it was a 30 minute wait but that was 30 minutes in the air conditioning….we could handle that. Plus, as I explained to the girls the line was not really that long. I said look at the strollers and mentally remove them. Now take out the grownups and remove them because most of them are there with their kids, now add a few more adults back in because yes, there are adults who stand in line for autographs by themselves and someday I may be one of them, and suddenly it doesn’t seem like there are that many people in line ahead of you. And to be able to get 6 characters at once a 30 minute wait is a small price to pay!

But before we get to those pics I must tell you about my first “embarrass my children” moment of the day which happened right here. As we are entering the building a lady, pushing a stroller, grabs my arm and gives me the “look”. Many of you know it, some of you have used it….it’s the “I’m watching you” look from the movie “Meet the Parents”. It’s MomToMy2Kids! She had forgotten her focker lanyard at home but I was proudly sporting mine. If that makes no sense to you let me just sum it up by saying that several hundred people on the DIS boards collectively purchased “Focker Watcher” lanyards to help identify other DISers in the parks. We quickly compared our Overland Donner bags and proclaimed our love of them and then carried on our separate ways. My eldest asked if I knew that lady and I said kind of….again trying to explain about the DIS. It was like meeting an old friend and for the rest of the trip my kids actually got into looking for Lime Green Mickey Heads and lanyards for the rest of the trip.

Okay….fair warning….here’s the pictures……

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3121Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3122Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3123Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3124Medium.jpg

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http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3128Medium.jpg

Next up we go Soarin over California and meet the creature responsible for the title of my trip report.

[DL55]

Sometimes you just have to "go with the flow" especially if there are three bus loads ahead of you. Good idea-- change parks. :thumbsup2
Cute pictures. :cutie:

[DisneyJo]

Great photos and the lanyard worked :yay:

[Applemomma]

Sometimes you just have to "go with the flow" especially if there are three bus loads ahead of you. Good idea-- change parks. :thumbsup2
Cute pictures. :cutie:

Thanks!

Great photos and the lanyard worked :yay:

It did indeed! This won't be the only DIS sighting as a result of the lanyard :)

[Disneyland_Mama]

I know I read Dave and Jennifer Marx were in the world around the same time as you - so you quite possibly did spot them! Schweeeeet! :thumbsup2

I love that you got "The Look" from another DISer because of your Lanyard! That's how my stalker errrr.... DIS friend found me at Epcot! :lmao: LY, Jo!

Your character pics are adorable, as are your girls! :goodvibes

[MinnieMommy]

Why is it so expensive to fly from Canada?


Because they like to hold us hostage in Canada! No seriously....it's because of the taxes...we have really high sales tax in most of Canada, 14% in Nova Scotia, so there's that on top of fuel tax, airport tax, air you breath tax....etc...etc...

:lmao:

A fellow bluenoser lovin' your report! Thanks for sharing!
Can't wait for the next installment! :surfweb:

[Applemomma]

:lmao:

A fellow bluenoser lovin' your report! Thanks for sharing!
Can't wait for the next installment! :surfweb:

Welcome neighbor! Which part are you in? We're in the Valley but desperately wishing for warmer climates right now.....tired of shoveling yet?

[DisneyJo]

That's how my stalker errrr.... DIS friend found me at Epcot! :lmao: LY, Jo! Hey you loved being stalked :rotfl2:

[Applemomma]

Don’t you just hate having to stop to eat? And don’t you just hate how cranky kids get the longer you force them to go without food? So in the effort to avoid the type of circumstances that could lead to another unfortunate “bad mommy” moment I grabbed fast passes for Soarin and led the kids into Sunshine Seasons. And after 20 minutes of them wandering around trying to decide what to eat we sat down and filled up. I was still trying to master the art of “dining plan” ordering (kindly refrain from making fun please….) but the CM helped me figure it all out.

For those of you that like looking at food pics I snapped a couple…..

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3129Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3130Medium.jpg

My asian chicken bowl (I think that’s what it’s called) was excellent. For some reason I didn’t take a picture of R’s lunch but that could have been because our Croc friend, Felix, was hungry that day too and gobbled it up….here he is eyeing L’s “make your own sub”…..

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3131Medium.jpg

We still had quite a bit of time to kill before the fast pass could be used so we wandered through the building and headed outside to the ice cream cart for some dessert. Ice cream carts might rank up there on the list of top 10 attractions in Walt Disney World for my youngest.

Here’s the balloons in the Land pavilion….

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3133Medium.jpg

The gal at the ice cream cart was very pleased when L pronounced ItsaKaDooZie correctly (said it was the first time in days) and L is still taking about that! Small things…..

On our way to a spot of shade to eat our ice cream we come along a squirrel. A sweet innocent squirrel laying flat on his belly in the shade trying to cool off.

“Awwww….take his picture Mommy!”

“Just a second sweetie, Mommy’s tryng to open L’s ItsAKaDoozie”

“Oh look Mommy! He’s looking at us! He’s coming towards us!”

Suddenly the squirrel doesn’t have that sweet innocent look anymore. Suddenly he seems downright demonic! There’s an odd look on his little rodent face and if you drew one of those little cartoon lines between his eyes and where he was staring at it would go right to……you guessed it….the ItsAKaDoozie.

Demon squirrel suddenly makes a dart at L, and it’s fairly obvious he didn’t give a hoot that it was three times the size of him or that it was being held tightly in the fist of a 6 year old. He had full intentions of running up her leg and grabbing the thing, humans be damned! Run, girls, RUN!

I kid you not….we ran like fools from the little crazy rodent and thankfully some big burly men got between us and him stopping him in his little paw tracks. Whew! Finished the ice cream off in record time while R stood facing the direction we had come from, giving us a play by play of where the rodent was. We fully expected him to circle around behind us and pounce again.

On the way back into the Land Pavillion we saw him again but he had no interest in us since we were by then ice cream-less. We took this shot and warmed some other folks that had just uttered the words “oh cute squirrel” that while the two chipmunks back in the Character Meet and Greet were cute, this squirrel was definitely NUTS!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3135Medium.jpg

[bensonmum]

Lovin' it. Can't wait for more!

[DL55]

Ah, but he is cute :cutie: just nuts for ice cream (who isn't?). :banana:

[Applemomma]

Wandering around, killing time for your fast pass window means you find the most interesting spots! Having recovered sufficiently from our experience with the rabid squirrel we head off to look at the fountain by “Honey I Shrunk the Audience”. What a cool series of fountains! We spent a long time watching the water jump from spot to spot and trying to catch it. This is one of those good places to sit if you like to people watch because it’s hilarious to watch unsuspecting people walk between the fountains and get startled when the water suddenly leaps over their heads.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3137Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3138Medium.jpg

After this we deicded to sit inside the building and wait for time to tic away.

Here’s some funny photos L took of us .... please don't count my chins....it was a bad angle :)

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3140Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3141Medium.jpg

And one of Felix guarding our fast passes.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3146Medium.jpg

Pretty quickly it’s time to go. My gosh! Has anyone ever measured how long the corridor is for this place? It’s huge! And this is for the Fast pass! I can’t imagine waiting in the rumored 120 minute long lines…..ugh. I love the themeing for this ride, I love the announcements and I love buddy from Seinfeld doing to intro! What is his name again? And he’s everywhere! You can’t seem to get away from this guy because he pops up in every second movie or tv show I see. I told hubby that this is one star I’d love to have for dinner…he must be a hoot.

Anyway, Soarin blew me away and surpassed all expectations. No motion sickness from any of us and yes, we spotted not one but TWO hidden mickeys! L declared that the ride was “TOTALLY AWESOME” (yes, it was definitely a capital letter statement) and told the CM at the exit that she should try it …..pretty sure she’s been on it a time or two dear….

My memory is getting fuzzy but it seems to me we rode it twice this day…..not sure how we fit it in though I know we did it twice alone and twice with Daddy….oh well….maybe it will come to me.

Next it was off to “Finding Nemo” over at The Seas. But first the sight of the talking seagulls (Mine! Mine! Mine!) triggers the need to find a restroom for some reason and the CM standing at the enterance to the Nemo ride directs us to go in the Exit and use the one at the gift shop. As we enter we are pretty fixated on finding facilities but take note of the escalator and wonder what it leads to. Knowing we’ll get dumped off the ride here I say we’ll explore it when we are done Nemo. Business done we whip back around to the very quiet queue line and spead our way around the fake wooden (or maybe they are supposed to be seaweed) railings that keep people packed in like sardines when it is busy. Once again the ride waiting time post lies and it’s a walk on…..of course we first must take note of the giant “butt”….wish I’d gotten a picture but we were whipping right along.

This was a neat attraction. My two favorite….no make that three….were how they did the jellyfish,how they integrated the cartoon with the real fish and especially the starfish (what was her name) at the end….she cracked me up. We rode this three times in all I think over the week and each time she had a different line, including one that was really appropriate for park closing since it was shutting down for the night that time we rode it but dang is I can remember now what it was. This time though it was a comment on how “…it’s a lovely song but they never stop singing it! They just go on and on and on…..”.

Pop quiz for anyone that knows (and I don’t): How many people a day do the CM’s have to help off the ground when people step off the moving tram onto the moving floor! That takes talent, people!

Okay….time to explore that escalator…because you know that all escalators lead to good things (insert mental imagine of mall shopping here on L’s behalf).

Oh but wait! The nice CM standing there at the end of Nemo tells us that Turtle Talk with Crush is about to start and this is DEFINITLY on our to-do list! So in we go.

Now if you haven’t experienced this one yet it’s a must do on your next trip, people! Don’t think that it’s just for kids! They get the kids to all sit on the floor in front of the screen and parents can sit on the benches in the back…which is what we do. Crush takes to the kids, asks them questions, he makes fun of the parents and everyone hoots.

Bad pic but....

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3147Medium.jpg

I would love to go behind the scenes on this one and see how it is done. I read somewhere, don’t know that it is true, that when this attraction first opened the fellow doing Crush was so good that they would have to close it down on his days off because noone could get it as bang on as he did. Well the guy this day had it down pat! He was hilarious! The animation can’t even be call animation! It was fantastic.

Now my children have inherited many things from me….some good and some bad. One of the things my youngest ha inherited is the wonderful ability to embarrass her sister. And it isn’t long before Crush calls on the little girl with the “blonde fur on her noggin” and L has quite the chat with him. She basically challenges him to swim faster then she can and the race is on….Crush gets the kids to count how fast it takes him to swim around the screen and then makes hilarious facial movements when they keep counting once he arrives back “You dudes do know I’m back right?” Too soon it’s over and with a word from Crush to “Find your parental units and keep your orbital lobes to the front” we exit and head for the escalator.

When we hit the top of that escalator I knew the Disney magic was upon us and that our “fly by the seat of pants” approve was definitely the right way to go because we had no sooner gotten to the top and we heard the magical words “The dolphin demonstration is about to begin if all the kids want to come sit up front”. I hadn’t even clicked in the were were walking up to the aquarium! How dumb am I?! So of course we made a bee-line!

This was really neat. The girls learned a lot about dolphins and the instructor was great with both the kids and the dolphins.

Here’s a pic …I didn’t downsize it too much because it would have been harder to see any smaller….they are doing a smile and wave at the end of their show.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3149Medium.jpg

Then we explored the rest of the area and the girls added it to the growing “must show Daddy after his conference list”. I pointed out to the girls that across the other side of the tank (and man are they huge!) you can see the lights of the restaurant we’re going to eat in Thursday night…..cool mom!

Here’s the real Crush…..again sorry about the picture size.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3150Medium.jpg

Amazing how time flies when you’re having fun but it was time to hit the monorail and head to the Magic Kingdom for the only planned thing of the day…..Spectromagic.

[winkers]

I love turtle talk with crush! My youngest ds was picked to talk to crush and it was the high light of his trip!

[Ricky's Girl]

I'm back! (Did you miss me?) :lmao:
Loved all the updates! Awe, the poor little psycho squirrel only wanted some ice cream. :rotfl2: I would have run too!

Thanks for all the pics. I haven't done Turtle Talk with Crush yet, I'll have to make sure I see it on my next trip. I did see the Nemo show and loved it - especially riding the current. :goodvibes

Can't wait for more. popcorn::

[DL55]

So glad you recovered from the squirrel. :happytv:
We love the jumping fountain too. Can't wait to see Nemo.

[Applemomma]

I love turtle talk with crush! My youngest ds was picked to talk to crush and it was the high light of his trip!

There's still a lot of "Duuuuuuuuudes!" being said around here too :)

I'm back! (Did you miss me?) :lmao:
Loved all the updates! Awe, the poor little psycho squirrel only wanted some ice cream. :rotfl2: I would have run too!

Thanks for all the pics. I haven't done Turtle Talk with Crush yet, I'll have to make sure I see it on my next trip. I did see the Nemo show and loved it - especially riding the current. :goodvibes

Can't wait for more. popcorn::

Yes! Where were you!:headache: . Ohhh I forgot about the current....make that four things I liked.....

So glad you recovered from the squirrel. :happytv:


Not sure we're fully recovered.....still looking suspiciously over shoulders when holding big colored sticks of ice :)

[Applemomma]

“Gather your belongings, stand clear of the doors and TAKE SMALL CHILDREN BY THE HAND”….got to love riding the monorail. :thumbsup2 We always chanted along with the “voice” and continue to use the last line at home on occasion. Never did get the Spanish version memorized though; something to strive for next trip!

Okay….time to stick a few things in that may be not in the proper sequence of events in our trip, since as you will understand, this trip was in SEPTEMBER and it’s is now JANUARY so my memory is getting a little fuzzy. Funny how when you are in the moment you think “I will never ever forget a single second of this trip!”. Yah right…..

I have two “other people’s parents” moments from our trip to share, one negative and one positive, and since both occurred either in the Magic Kingdom or on the way home from the Magic Kingdom I’ll insert them here while we are mentally traveling on the monorail to get to Spectromagic.

First the negative……and keep in mind that this was thankfully the only negative experience we had all week.

At some point we decided to ride Winnie The Pooh and ended up standing behind two women, approximately early 20's, who each had a toddler with them. The little girls were about 2-2.5 years old, maybe older but I'm going by the fact that they were talking quite clearly but still in diapers.

It was a hot and sticky day and one of the moms clearly was not having a good day and was expecting her toddler to stand still without moving a muscle. Ever tried to get a toddler to do that? :scared1: Well the little girls were dancing a little, climbing the railing a little...nothing that would even raise an eyebrow but this lady was getting more and more outraged and was jerking her little girl by the arm, smacking her bottom and whipped her into a full blown hysteria. The other lady with her was trying to distract the child but her own mom kept raging at her every time she moved. The little one was sobbing and clearly afraid of her mother. Mom finally had her over her shoulder, the kid is crying so hard her nose is running which mom is wiping so roughly that I was afraid that she was going to physically hurt her.

I wanted so badly to say something to this woman, to please not treat her daughter like that in front of my kids (who were looking at her with the same kind of fascination you would give to a train wreck) but I truly was afraid she would haul off and punch me. :confused3 You would have thought the fact that EVERYONE in the winding line was staring at her would have clued her in (her friend was certainly noticing that but never said a word to her) but nope.

The part that really broke my heart was when she was reaching over her mother's shoulders to ME saying "I WANT YOU!" when I was trying to make faces at her to distract her. I started to get emotional, which of course concerned my girls even more. It still makes me tear up...:guilty: :sad2:

Finally, she put her down and my dd's, having had enough, went into full play-with-her mode and my youngest asked her name and what rides she had been on....I was pretty proud of her. By then we were to the beginning of the line and they put that little group in a car all by themselves and away they went. Never saw them again but I hope they went right back to their room for the nap they all seemed to desperately need.

When they finally got on the ride the entire line started talking about it and the ladies behind me assured me that I had done the right thing by not confronting her because they thought the same thing...that she would have belted me as soon as looked at me. I thought it would bother the kids and it might have because after we got off the ride I had hugs and kisses and a "thank goodness she's not our mother!"....yes they actually said it.:sad2:

It’s hard to describe in words on page how disturbing the whole thing was but suffice to say I’m still worrying about that kid and I’m hoping there’s someone in “real life” looking out for that family.

Okay….bad one over with ….now for the good, which actually at first I thought was going to be bad!

It was one of those rare bus rides when we got on and actually managed to go all the way to the back of the bus AND get a seat (along the side)! :thumbsup2 As the bus filled up, a man sat beside me with his toddler on his lap (approx 2year old boy….pretty much the same age as the little girl in the above story) and his wife sat beside him with their approximately one year old daughter. We no sooner got on the road and dad starts blowing bubbles and popping them, which his son is fascinated by, but as you can well imagine I’m thinking “hmmmmm….bubbles being popped in my ear….this could be a long ride”. :scared:

Pretty quickly though, his son gets in on the action and starts popping daddy’s bubble himself and finding it hugely entertaining. Baby sister gets in on the action too and is smacking daddy’s face pretty good. L is totally engrossed in this and announces at one bubble popping that “it’s all over your face!”. Oh great….my kid is in on it now too. :rolleyes:

But wait…as I look around every kid on the bloody bus is watching in absolute fascination as the bubble grows and grows and grows and then BAM, son nails it. Every kid from the mid point of the bus back, and a few up front, is watching.

Then I realize that every ADULT is watching too! And not only are we watching we are actually CHEERING when the big bubble gets whammed by the little kid! How this man didn’t end up with two black eyes I don’t know …… but then again maybe he did ….explain that one to your coworkers the Monday after vacation.:laughing:

And to top off the fun this dad actually is letting some of the other kids pop the bubbles too …..what’s a few germs between bus mates. :crazy2:

When we finally reached our destination the bubble fun reluctantly wrapped up, we thanked Bubble-Dad for the entertainment and carried on to where we were spending big bucks for some hi-tech entertainment. Just think….we could have all saved our money and watched wheelchairs loading on buses and popped some bubbles with a friend instead. :rolleyes1 :rotfl2:

Okay….the mental monorail has reached our destination. Next up we’re back in the Magic Kingdom and getting ready for Spectromagic!!

[DL55]

Gee I don't know what to say. Maybe that woman was just having a REALLY bad mommy moment. :sad2:
Who says you have to spend a lot of money to have fun? I agree you could have saved money and just watched that guy on the bus. :rotfl:

[MinnieMommy]

Another great segment Applemomma!

Other people's parents...:scared1:

Bubble Blowing Daddy...:rotfl:

[Applemomma]

Gee I don't know what to say. Maybe that woman was just having a REALLY bad mommy moment. :sad2:
Who says you have to spend a lot of money to have fun? I agree you could have saved money and just watched that guy on the bus. :rotfl:

Another great segment Applemomma!

Other people's parents...:scared1:

Bubble Blowing Daddy...:rotfl:

Thanks for sticking with me! Never fear....we meet some more parents that tip the scales in favor of the "good parents" in the next segment :)

[Applemomma]

Once back in the Magic Kingdom we decide to grab some supper-to-go and stake out a place for watching Spectromagic. Unfortunately it seemed that half the park had thought about doing the same thing and we’d all filed into Casey’s Corner for hotdogs at the same time. In hinde sight I realize that if there isn’t a long line in a restaurant IT AIN'T MEALTIME! So take a lesson from me folks and eat at off times…start training your kids weeks before your trip to eat breakfast at 6:00 , lunch at 2:00 and supper at 9:30….you’ll thank me for it later.

Regardless of the lineups, and the requisite rude person ahead of us in line (there’s always one…got to love the patience of some of the CM’s), we managed to get out of there with a couple of hotdogs and fries to share and snagged prime sidewalk spots near Liberty Square to wait for the parade. Now I’ve got to say that I really, really did not like the hotdogs but that might be because I’m spoiled by our version of wieners here in Nova Scotia (GO LARSENS!) but I found then extra greasy and just ….ugh. Maybe if they were barbequed? BUT the cheese sauce…… oh the cheese sauce for the fries. My kids are spoiled now; they had never thought of dipping their fries in anything but ketchup until I handed it to them. We’ve been looking for it here and Wendy’s restaurant comes close to having the same kind but not quite….anyone know what make it is? Can I get it anywhere? YUM! The hotdogs must have looked good to some people because I was asked twice sitting on the ground where we had gotten them.

Now here’s an invention that must be created….before my next trip. There’s got to be SOMETHING that a grownup can sit on, on the pavement that will prevent the grownup body from completely seizing up. How is it that we get all those extra pounds to cushion everything else but those bones in your butt make direct contact with the stone hard ground? Maybe something like the "thinking pads" we had way back in Girl Guides…..that’s what they were called wasn’t it? Those stacks of newspaper wrapped in plastic we used to use for sitting on around the fake campfire?

But I digress….

Way back in the dark ages when I last visited Walt Disney World they had the Electric Light Parade and I was excited to see what the new ramped up version was like. And is it my imagination but are some of the floating parts of the water parade they have on the Seven Seas Lagoon leftovers from the old Electric Light Parade? We actually got to watch that while waiting in the “Great Pop Century Bus Lineup of Sunday Night” and that whale looked suspiciously familiar!
While the parade did not disappoint my picture taking skills did. I can’t seem to take night shots (or action shots for that matter) to save my life, but here’s a few from that night.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3153Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3155Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3156Medium.jpg

At this point I gave up taking pictures and just watched. :)

The girls loved it and added it to the “Do With Daddy” list. Sadly Daddy will have to wait until next trip because we sacrificed this parade later in the week in favor of going on Soarin one more time (okay make that two more times).

We decided to stick around for Wishes again and this time watched them from the bridge over beside Crystal Palace. Still had trees in our way, R still found it too loud, despite trying earplugs this time, and we still couldn’t hear the soundtrack as well. BUT we did meet a really wonderful family. The parents stood with us for awhile and they had several children ranging from babe-in-arms to teen age and explained that they had just adopted their…..get this….EIGHTH child! Dad said each time they added to the family they came to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, for a day, to celebrate as a family. The list of things they had done that day was exhausting ….no pool break mid afternoon like we did! They went from opening to closing and had a blast. There didn’t seem to be a cranky one in the bunch either. :lovestruc

With both of my girls a little more awake then the night before, and the memory of the long bus lineup fresh in my head, we took our time leaving after Wishes by wandering around. I think R thought we were breaking the rules by not leaving right away but I told her I had it on good authority (thanks DIS!) that we could hang out for an hour or more with no problem even though it wasn’t an Extra Magic Hour night. So we wandered through the castle again and got this shot, which turned out kind of spooky, if you ask me, looked through shops, listened to the Kiss Goodnight and watched the lights go out on the castle.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3162Medium.jpg

Had to take this window shot of the girls while we were wandering too....
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3163Medium.jpg

And my plan worked! Next to no lineup for the bus AND we all got a seat and enjoyed a pleasant, uncrowded ride back to Pop Century, thus ending our second full day in the World.

Tomorrow it’s Chef Mickey’s, more Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney!

[VandyFan10]

this squirrel was definitely NUTS!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3135Medium.jpg

Sub'd popcorn::

Enjoying your pics....your girls are precious :goodvibes

And I'll agree with you....squirrel's are NUTS!!:lmao:

[Backstage_Gal]

Loving the report and subbing, just discovered it tonigh.t But it's 1 am now, So later!

[DL55]

Loved the picture of the castle. :goodvibes
I remember making those pads in Girl Scouts. Kept your bottom from getting dirty. :cutie:

[daly7o9]

popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

Apple - are you there? Hope all is well.

[Applemomma]

I'm here:wave2: .... Just been rather lazy lately. I promise to put one up soon...writing is on my todo list today!

[KimAshton]

I just read your whole TR. Love it.

[daly7o9]

I'm here:wave2: .... Just been rather lazy lately. I promise to put one up soon...writing is on my todo list today!

Hope I didn't make you feel pressured. I just was missin' my Apple fix :)

Heck, I've never even attempted a trip report so I shouldn't be all impatient an' stuff. :hyper:

[Applemomma]

I just read your whole TR. Love it.

Hope I didn't make you feel pressured. I just was missin' my Apple fix :)

Heck, I've never even attempted a trip report so I shouldn't be all impatient an' stuff. :hyper:

oh sucks....you guys are making me blush :flower3: ....new installment up in a sec!

[Applemomma]

All right….time to get off my duff and get some more written on this thing! :surfweb:

Today is a HUGE day so it won’t be taken care of in one fell swoop….so, be forewarned….multiple posts coming!

Since Daddy wasn’t going to be touring with us on this first part of our vacation I wanted to save some of our table service meals for later in the week, when he could enjoy them. Character breakfasts were all ours though! So today is our first one and what a way to start……Chef Mickey’s!

Going on Dis Board advice I had booked a late ADR (10:50) so we could pretend it was lunch. And because I’m so concerned about being late for everything we left Pop Century in lots of time to head over to the Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail to the Contemporary, which meant we had a little bit of time to kill so we headed down Main Street to look around a bit.

And look who we found!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3164Medium.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3165Medium.jpg

Clarabelle was a hoot and was totally in character. She danced with the girls and was thrilled that they had worn pink, her favorite color. Of course the girls don’t know too many “old school” characters but they thought she was great.

As we moved down Main Street L made a new friend…… she loves to shop that one!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3166Medium.jpg

We realized that we hadn’t yet explored Tomorrowland but wandered over there to take a peek. First, though we had to take a few castle shots with our friend Felix who was joining us this morning.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3167Medium.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3168Medium.jpg

Here’s a shot of Tomorrowland and notice how well I managed to get my kids in someone else’s picture. Ain’t I talented!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3169Medium.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3170Medium.jpg

So then it was off to the monorail. The kids thought it was extremely cool when the monorail actually went inside the building and even cooler when they spotted all the birds in the restaurant that had found the opening too! We saw a few little sparrows flitting about eating crumbs off the floor….suppose any of them ever land on your table while you’re eating and help clean up? How very “Snow White” of them!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3172Medium.jpg

There was quite a line of people ahead of us checking in and I fully expected to have to wait awhile since I was 15 minutes early. We gave our name, were handed a pager and directed towards the giant plate and cutlery for our Chef Mickey picture. Now please note that you will NOT see that picture here because when they brought the packages around to the tables I nearly choked on my breakfast when they told me the price! Ack! I can’t recall the exact price but I think it was right around $35 for two pictures! Now those folks matching up the photos to the people eating are definitely in need of sympathy….what a job. I’m sure they get tired of the rejection.

Low and behold as we were getting our picture-that-we-wouldn’t-end-up-buying taken the pager started going off and we were led to our table. Having never been here before I just loved how they walked slowly and asked if we had ever been before and explained in detail how the character visits worked and how the buffet tables worked. It was great. Our server was there right away and got us coffee and juice (yes, regretfully, I made the mistake of ordering coffee :crazy2: ….don’t do it people…learn from me) but told us not to head to the buffet just yet because the characters were about to come around and as she put it “you aren’t really here for the food anyway!”.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3173Medium.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3175Medium.jpg
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I’m not sure why I didn’t get a picture of Goofy posing with the girls but perhaps he was burning something in the kitchen and had to run….entirely possible with Goofy!

The little girl in this shot in the purple dress beside Minnie was incredibly scared of all the characters, to the point of near tears. Turned out though, that it was her birthday,so Minnie had us all get our napkins twirling and singing to her and she decided that Minnie was the real deal and warmed right up to her. My girls got a kick out of watching her interact with Minnie.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3178Medium.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3179Medium.jpg

Because we had an ADR so late in the morning and they weren’t serving lunch that day, the restaurant was pretty much clearing out by the time we got done. With fewer people around we had Mickey all to ourselves for awhile! He sat down with us to take a load off and we had a great one-sided conversation about how we were going to his house next and how busy he must be running everything in the Park AND cooking for us all. He was so in character that I swear in my head I can actually hear Mickey talking to me! It really is so easy to become a kid here.:p

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3182Medium.jpg

Here’s a couple of “food porn” shots for you. L loved the breakfast pizza and I managed to make it here at home with a recipe from off the Boards and it turned out pretty close!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3180Medium.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3181Medium.jpg

All in all we loved Chef Mickey’s and it will definitely be on our to-do list the next time we come.

On leaving the restaurant we headed into the gift shop because I wanted to find a hat with a particular logo on it. Never did find it. I knew that the Contemporary was going through some renovations but I didn’t know until I came back that the gift shop was one of them. Thank goodness because I couldn’t figure out why a deluxe hotel would have such a mediocre gift shop! Apparently it’s much nicer now but when we were there the new shop was basically enclosed in that Disney-“please excuse our mess” bubble.

We did get a shot of the mural though, and a window picture.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3183Medium.jpghttp://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3184Medium.jpg

Then it was back to ….where else….the Magic Kingdom….where a band was announcing our arrival!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3185Medium.jpg

Next up Mickey’s house and we meet some cousins!

[winkers]

How fun to have a band playing for your arrival!:) Chef Mickey's looks like fun.

[DL55]

Your girls are adorable. :cutie: The character breakfast sounded like a lot of fun. :)

[Ms.Grumpy]

Hey Applemomma:wave2:
I just found your TR today while listening to one of my professors lectures!:rolleyes1
All I kept saying in my head is, "I met her!, I met her!". We met while in the line for Soaring. I was so shy about asking you if you "Dised" that you said "excuse me", and then I gave you the focker sign because I saw your lanyard and you totally got it! My DH of course thought I was crazy and your DH was amused by it also. It was nice meeting another Diser, (especially to prove to DH that their are more of us out their!!) I kept looking for you at MNSSHP but never saw you but I will put a picture of us in our costumes because maybe you saw us, we were kind of hard to miss, especially with the lights on DS stroller:lmao:
Well I can't wait to read more, keep them coming!
:cheer2:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j87/gabrielanunez/mm5.jpg

[sunlver]

Just found your TR and loving it.. cant wait to read more :)

[Applemomma]

Hey Applemomma:wave2:
I just found your TR today while listening to one of my professors lectures!:rolleyes1
All I kept saying in my head is, "I met her!, I met her!".


Yah!!!! Ms. Grumpy!!!!!!!!!!!:cool1: :banana: How are you doing! We did indeed meet! I looked for you guys too but to no avail....that place was packed that night! At least more then I thought it would be. After meeting you guys I think my husband finally got the whole Dis-thing :laughing: .

Don't worry...you will be making an appearance further into the trip report.....seems to be taking me a long time just to get through a day but heck I love reliving it. Any plans for a future trip? And what was the lecture on?!!

[Disney owl]

great reports thanks

[flafan]

Hi

I just found your report and I'm all got up. Don't you just love Chef Mickey's It is one of our must do's on everytrip :goodvibes

Looking forward to hearing the rest

[DisneyJo]

Looks like you had tons of fun at CM :goodvibes

[MinnieMommy]

With fewer people around we had Mickey all to ourselves for awhile! He sat down with us to take a load off and we had a great one-sided conversation about how we were going to his house next and how busy he must be running everything in the Park AND cooking for us all. He was so in character that I swear in my head I can actually hear Mickey talking to me! It really is so easy to become a kid here.

Love that Disney Magic! :cool1:

Can't wait for the next installment! popcorn::

[Ms.Grumpy]

Yah!!!! Ms. Grumpy!!!!!!!!!!!:cool1: :banana: How are you doing! We did indeed meet! I looked for you guys too but to no avail....that place was packed that night! At least more then I thought it would be. After meeting you guys I think my husband finally got the whole Dis-thing :laughing: .

Don't worry...you will be making an appearance further into the trip report.....seems to be taking me a long time just to get through a day but heck I love reliving it. Any plans for a future trip? And what was the lecture on?!!

Well I am currently planning my religious wedding to DH in July of this year, (after 5 years of civil matrimony I finally take the leap:rotfl: ). I do want to return this year to WDW but am undecided about doing MNSSHP or MVMCP? Probably leaning towards the first one since DH wants to wear the same costumes, I get the feeling he liked all the attention. Well the lecture was in my Spec Ed 303 class, just the same old introduction, but I have a feeling I will be on the Dis alot during that class!
:cheer2:

[Applemomma]

Well I am currently planning my religious wedding to DH in July of this year, (after 5 years of civil matrimony I finally take the leap:rotfl: ).

Congratulations! The kids must be excited about this! When in July is the big day?

[Applemomma]

Sorry about the long time between posts folks! Blizzard conditions here in our part of Nova Scotia yesterday kept me at home and I desperately want to be back in Florida. Especially after just listening to the DisPodcast and hearing Pete say is was 80 degrees and no humidity! Unfortunately the internet acted up all day so I couldn’t work with Photobucket so I had to put off posting for the day….

So where was I …oh yes…entering the Magic Kingdom yet again! Boy we spent a lot of time in that one park!

Wandering down Main Street I made sure to take a picture of Walt’s name on the window. I’d heard how all the Main Street windows had the names of all the people involved in the creation of the park. Walt’s though is not facing the street though, but on the side of the last building (I believe it’s the Ice Cream shop?) so that he is always facing the Castle.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3186Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3187Medium.jpg

As we wandered past the Castle we caught the last few minutes of Story Time with Belle. I hadn’t realized that it was interactive! This poor dad was a good sport though. His death scene was admirable :)

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3189Medium.jpg

We found a remarkably short lineup for autographs with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum! There were a couple of women in front of us getting their picture taken with them and having a great time …..don’t be afraid to get in on that action if you are without kids! I know some people get dirty looks from people waiting in line if they don’t have kids (as if you are taking away from their 30 seconds with the characters) but I think my girls thought it was great to see grownups having a good time too…..and they thought it was hilarious that Dum…or was it Dee…was picking his nose while the picture was being taken!!

This was the only time too that we saw a kid pull an “ohoh” on a character! As my girls were getting their autographs a boy about 8 years old came running up behind Dee…or was it Dum…and poked him. Dee/Dum immediately started chasing the kid and you should have seen him move!! They must give cast members time to practice running in those big shoes! I’m pretty sure it was NOT the reaction the kid was expecting, as he ran like the police were chasing him. Never did see the parents. My girls just thought it was all part of the show.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3190Medium.jpg

I think the reason the line for the Twins was so short was that Pooh and Tigger were acting as decoys! They were set up on the other side of the Tea cups and the line up for them looked longer then the line for Soarin! We contented ourselves with taking pics from afar ….well actually I refused to stand in line and forced my kid to stand on the concrete bench and take the picture for me. I love Pooh and Tigger but there’s a limit folks! I must confess I felt a little like Character Papparazzi :laughing:

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3191Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3192Medium.jpg

Then, because we had promised Mickey we would, we went to visit his house. So if you will please forgive me I will now chew up all your download time with pictures….sorry Dad (he’s still in “no-high-speed-land” folks …..:sad2: ).

Here’s Mickey’s bedroom, living room (big sportsfan Mickey is!), and his games room complete with Mickey Head checkers….would you consider those Hidden Mickey’s? I love all the details in here.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3193Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3194Medium.jpg

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My favorite has to be the kitchen with all its upgrades in progress. Though letting Goofy renovate may not have been Mickey’s best idea in a while….I left these pictures a bit bigger as the blueprint details are great!

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3197Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3198Medium.jpg

Mickey’s garden is great…he must irrigate :)

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3199Medium.jpg http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3202Medium.jpg

complete with a “not so hidden Mickey” …..

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3200Medium.jpg

and real creatures…..

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3201Medium.jpg

These cactus (cacti? cuctuses?) are my favorite.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3203Medium.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3204Medium.jpg

We didn’t head into the Judges Tent here but skipped through Mickey’s garage and checked out the giant pumpkin. Mickey must have an “in” with Howard Dill (inside Nova Scotia reference there! Google Mr. Dill….we grow them big here in the Valley!)

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3207Medium.jpg

After Mickey’s House Tour I finally broke down and opened up my wallet to go shopping. You can’t go to Disney World and NOT get personalized mouse ears right?

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee66/jdchiasson/Disney/100_3208Medium.jpg

I also got myself a license plate for our van. It isn’t hard for people to know that I had been to Disney when I pull up with my van adorned with my Magic Kingdom plate, jump out wearing my Hundred Acre Woods t-shirt with crocs adorned with Tink, castle and mickey jibbitz and my Year of a Million Dreams reusable mug in my hand :)

Okay…I better get this posted while I can….next up we find our places for the afternoon parade and have one of our best moments of the trip!

[daly7o9]

Yaaaayyyy! Apple's back. :cool1:

Sorry to hear about the crummy weather up there. It is a nice time of year here right now. The 7 month summer... now that's another story.

[MinnieMommy]

Great update! Keep it comin' AppleMamma! :thumbsup2

All this messy weather lately .... we need as much Florida sunshine as possible! :upsidedow Even if it's only available through a trip report... I'll take it! :beach:

[DL55]

Loved the pictures.

[winkers]

I love the pictures. somehow we missed Mickey's house .

[Applemomma]

Yaaaayyyy! Apple's back. :cool1:

Sorry to hear about the crummy weather up there. It is a nice time of year here right now. The 7 month summer... now that's another story.

But at least we're not dodging tornados!

Great update! Keep it comin' AppleMamma! :thumbsup2

All this messy weather lately .... we need as much Florida sunshine as possible! :upsidedow Even if it's only available through a trip report... I'll take it! :beach:

Are you getting pounded with the rain we're being battered with now? On the up side a great neighbor just plowed our sopping wet mess of a drive way out. :grouphug:

Loved the pictures.

Thanks! There's more coming with the parade pics. I've discovered the "26 icon/image" limit so I may have to break it up a bit........

I love the pictures. somehow we missed Mickey's house .

It's easy to miss since Minnie's house comes first .... always seems to be more people in there too...maybe they are there for the cake and popcorn.

[Ms.Grumpy]

Congratulations! The kids must be excited about this! When in July is the big day?

Glad to see you back! Hope the weather is better for you, we keep getting snow and I am sick of seeing thee white stuff everywhere!
Well the big day is on July 25, my moms b-day. It's only five months away and I am more interested in planning my next Disney vacation than the wedding.:confused3
:cheer2:

[MinnieMommy]

popcorn:: Waiting so very patiently for more! :goodvibes

[MinnieMommy]

April Fool's Day!
I thought the kids were joking that it was snowing out... AGAIN! :scared1:
Shine some Florida Sunshine on us AppleMomma!
popcorn::